FIRETOWN!

Monsanto Uprooted :: Germany Bans Cultivation of GM Corn

firetown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:21:08 +0000

Germany has banned the cultivation of GM corn, claiming that MON 810 is dangerous for the environment. But that argument might not stand up in court and Berlin could face fines totalling millions of euros if American multinational Monsanto decides to challenge the prohibition on its seed.

The sowing season may be just around the corner, but this year German farmers will not be planting gentically modified crops: German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner announced Tuesday she was banning the cultivation of GM corn in Germany.

DPA

Greenpeace activists take a sample from a Monsanto test site near Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia: The GM crop MON 810 has been banned in Germany.

Under the new regulations, the cultivation of MON 810, a GM corn produced by the American biotech giant Monsanto, will be prohibited in Germany, as will the sale of its seed. Aigner told reporters Tuesday she had legitimate reasons to believe that MON 810 posed “a danger to the environment,” a position which she said the Environment Ministry also supported. In taking the step, Aigner is taking advantage of a clause in EU law which allows individual countries to impose such bans.

“Contrary to assertions stating otherwise, my decision is not politically motivated,” Aigner said, referring to reports that she had come under pressure to impose a ban from within her party, the conservative Bavaria-based Christian Social Union. She stressed that the ban should be understood as an “individual case” and not as a statement of principle regarding future policy relating to genetic engineering.

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) both welcomed the ban. Greenpeace’s genetic engineering expert, Stephanie Töwe, said the decision was long overdue, explaining that numerous scientific studies demonstrated that GM corn was a danger to the environment.

However the ban could prove costly for the German government. Experts in Aigner’s ministry recently told SPIEGEL that it will be hard to prove conclusively that MON 810 damages the environment, which could enable Monsanto to win a court case opposing the ban and potentially expose the government to €6-7 million ($7.9-9.2 million) in damages.

Monsanto said Tuesday that it would look into the question of whether it would take legal proceedings as quickly as possible. Andreas Thierfelder, spokesman for Monsanto Germany, said the matter was very urgent as the planting season was just about to start.

Aigner has recently come under pressure from Bavaria to ban GM corn. Bavaria’s Environment Minister Markus Söder wants to turn Germany into a “GM food-free zone.” Environmental groups have long called for a ban on GM crops in Germany, arguing that they pose a danger to plants and animals.

However, supporters of genetic engineering argue that a ban could prompt research companies and institutes to pull up stakes and leave Germany. Wolfgang Herrmann, president of Munich’s Technical University, has said that a prohibition risks precipitating “an exodus of researchers.”

The issue has exposed a split between Bavaria’s CSU and its larger sister party, Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. Katherina Reiche, deputy chairwoman of the CDU/CSU’s parliamentary group, has complained of the “CSU’s irresponsible, cheap propaganda,” claiming that it could harm German industry. She argued that anti-GM sentiment was one reason a subsidiary of the German chemical giant Bayer decided to moved its facilities for genetic engineering from Potsdam, near Berlin, to Belgium.

MON 810 was approved for cultivation in Europe by the European Union in 1998 and is currently the only GM crop which can be grown in Germany. The plant produces a toxin to fight off a certain pest, the voracious larvae of the corn borer moth. The crop was due to be planted this year on a total area of around 3,600 hectares (8,896 acres) in Germany. The cultivation of MON 810 is already banned in five other EU member states, namely Austria, Hungary, Greece, France and Luxembourg.

dgs
Source

U.S. Government Lays Groundwork for Full Blown Fascist Police State

firetown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:36:24 +0000

From Facebook:
7/19/10 Top Secret America

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/

Naomi Wolf On Obama’s Slide Into Fascism

http://deanesmay.com/2009/09/01/naomi-wolf-on-obamas-slide-into-fascism/

For More on Real ID and Microchip Implants Visit:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&suggest¬e_id=391632378339#!/notes/will-pitts/real-id-and-microchips-implants/391773173339

Fascist America, in 10 easy steps

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment

Nicholas Cage of “Knowing” Continues Predicted Oilspill Saga With Amnesty International

firetown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:49:09 +0000

Of course Nicholas Cage has to be the one now finding Amnesty International worthy of saving us. Could it be any more blatant than convincing us to look at a channel controlled by the United Nations to save the people? Read below:

Nicolas Cage with Amnesty International call for Americans to support voice of Gulf people
Photo: Wikipedia

Human rights standards guarantee the right of people to be informed of and to participate in the decisions that may affect their rights. Gulf residents have a right to participate not only in decisions pertaining to the recovery process, but also in assessing the potential impacts of future projects on health, access to clean water and livelihoods. – Amnesty International

Amnesty International and Nicolas Cage are working to prevent the Gulf Coast peoples’ voice from drowning in the crime against humanity. They are calling for self-determination through community councils, a democratic way to address the crisis instead of the present non-democratic, top-down military method of controlling the crime against humanity. For them to succeed, they need readers here to contact respective representatives and ask that they give Gulf Coast residents a voice in rebuilding their own future.

Below is today’s Amnesty International message from Jason Opeña Disterhoft, A1′s Demand Dignity Campaigner calling on the nation to support people of the Gulf.
The Gulf oil spill brought an already vulnerable region to its knees.
After spending the last 5 years picking up the pieces from the worst hurricane to ever hit the United States, survivors are now cleaning up after one of the worst environmental disasters in history.

But residents can’t help the Gulf fully recover when they don’t even have a seat at the table. Decisions are being made that will have an enormous impact on long-term health, on coastal wetlands and wildlife, and on two major industries in the Gulf Coast: fishing and tourism.

Congress can ensure that these kinds of decisions aren’t just being made with the community in mind, but that residents are actively engaged in the decision-making process.
Empower Gulf Coast residents during the Gulf spill clean-up by giving them a voice in the recovery process!

After the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, a citizens’ advisory council was created to provide community oversight of the clean-up efforts and prevent future oil spills. This council is considered by many to have played a critical role in leveling the discussions between the company responsible for the damages and the people adversely affected.

A citizens’ advisory council in the Gulf Coast would guarantee representation for communities of color and low-income communities – groups disproportionately impacted during crises, as evidenced in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Gulf spill.

Seen here …

Founded in London in 1961, Amnesty draws attention to human rights abuses and campaigns for compliance with international laws and standards. It works to mobilise public opinion to exert pressure on governments that perpetrate abuses.[2] The organisation was awarded the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its “campaign against torture”,[3] and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 1978.[4]

Wikipedia

Appears to me Nick is doing what he is ordered to to ensure nobody goes to any other channels than the ones ready to use the oil spill to their advantage. United Nations all the way.

Mysterious Russian ‘Buzzer’ radio broadcast changes

firetown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:34:44 +0000

The output of a mysterious radio station in Russia, which has been broadcasting the same monotonous signal almost continuously for 20 years, has suddenly changed.

Numbers stations are shortwave radio stations that broadcast computer-generated voices reading numbers, words, letters or Morse code. Their purpose has never been uncovered, but evidence from spy cases suggests that they’re used to broadcast coded information to secret agents.

Over the past week or so, the output of one particular station that broadcasts from near Povarovo, Russia, increased dramatically. The station has a callsign of UVB-76, but is known as “The Buzzer” by its listeners because of the short, monotonous buzz tone that it normally plays 21 to 34 times per minute. It’s only deviated from that signal three times previously — briefly in 1997, 2002 and 2006.

In early August, a garbled recording of a voice speaking Russian was heard by listeners. A few days later, on 23 August at 13:35UTC, a clearer voice read out the following message twice: “UVB-76, UVB-76 — 93 882 naimina 74 14 35 74 — 9 3 8 8 2 nikolai, anna, ivan, michail, ivan, nikolai, anna, 7, 4, 1, 4, 3, 5, 7, 4″, before returning to its normal broadcasting.

Since then, a number of other distorted voices have appeared over the normal buzzing transmission, as well as knocks and shuffles, as if someone were moving things around inside the broadcasting room. It’s believed that the transmission site has an open microphone, which occasionally picks up sounds from technicians working within the broadcast site.

Various fans of the station have begun the process of trying to decode the signal. Interpreting the numbers as co-ordinates gives a location in the middle of the Barents Sea, between Norway and Russia, where there’s large scale oil and gas production, and where the Russian army plans to test anti-aircraft missiles in the near future.

Others suspect that it might be a transmission that signals the availability of another system — like a dead man’s switch, possibly even for Russia’s Cold War-era Dead Hand fail-deadly system, which was to trigger ICBM launches if a nuclear strike from the United States was detected. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, it may have been repurposed.

The transmissions continue, and are being documented on the Wikipedia page for the station. If you’d like to help, it’s possible to listen in yourself, as one fan has rigged up a web stream of the signal. It’s currently very busy, however, so if you have difficulty tuning in, then try again later.

What are your theories for what the signal might be?

Source

Skull and Bones Kerry tops wealthiest U.S. lawmaker list. Worth: $188.6 million

firetown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:17:06 +0000

“it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” , so goes the saying.
So look who is making money as a U.S. Senator, none other than
Skull and Bones member John Kerry:

“Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) tops the list for the second year in a row. His minimum net worth was $188.6 million at the end of 2009, up by more than $20 million from 2008, according to his financial disclosure form.”

Seen here …

The only newcomer to the Top 10 list is Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who came straight in at No. 5. He replaced Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.), the 10th wealthiest member in 2008. Teague fell off the top 50 list after the value of a company he has a stake in — Teaco Energy Services Inc. — fell in value from $39.6 million in 2008 to at the least $1 million in 2009.

There were a few other new faces in the Top 50, including Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), who received an inheritance after his late father, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), died in 2009.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) also made the list.

Twenty-seven Democrats along with 23 Republicans make up the 50 richest in Congress; 30 House members and 20 senators are on the list.

The bulk of Kerry’s wealth is credited to his spouse, Teresa Heinz Kerry, who inherited hundreds of millions of dollars after her late husband, the ketchup heir Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.), died in a plane crash in 1991.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), with a net worth of $160.1 million, is the second-richest member of Congress under The Hill’s formula, even though his wealth declined by more than $4 million in 2009.

He is followed by Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), who saw her net wealth leap to $152.3 million, a jump of more than $40 million from a year ago.

The rest of the top 10 are Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), McCaul, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Continue …

Seems like the media done an extra good job painting him as harmless:

Kerry’s job was to ensure Bush would be re-elected in 2004. His false war hero stories exploded by the time his nomination was sealed.

Kerry is more powerful than the masses are aware of. And through his connections and innocent goofy persona he manages to continue being very effective in everything that he does.

Could it have to do with his membership in Skull And Bones?

Honolulu Fire Tornado

firetown — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:54:03 +0000

This could or could not be HAARP, but the technology to accomplish this does exist. It leaves us with concerns how easy it would be to spray poinsoneous dispersants all over the United States.

Declare Independence! Raise the Flag – Higher, Higher!

firetown — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:22:13 +0000

Declare Independence – Dont’ Let Them Do That To You

Raise the Flag – Higher, Higher!

Gulf Coast Claims Facility Fails To Pay As Promised?

firetown — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:11:16 +0000

Apparently so as more and more gulf coast residents are coming out complaining about this:

——————————————————————————–

The GCCF(Gulf Coast Claims Facility)is a joke. Ken Feinberg has made promises that he hasn’t kept. He promised that individuals would be paid within 48 hours and within 7 days for businesses. As of friday not a single person has been paid. Sunday is the 7th day for businesses. They are collecting the interest on the money. They are giving money to help the tourism but what about the people? Alot of us are getting ready to loose all that we have and I know some have already lost everything. What happened to “you will not loose your homes” Mr. Feinberg? I hope you enjoy your dinner in your home because alot of us don’t or are not going to have that basic necessity of life.

Thank you Mr. Feinberg. NOT!!!!

From here: GCCF & Ken Feinberg are a joke

Flashback: Alex Jones During 9/11

firetown — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:55:07 +0000

Pretty staged, like this:

Apparently it’s drama that sells and no matter what your true feelings and knowledge about something are, if you present something dramatically, people immediately love it. It’s that simple.

He reminds me of Glenn Beck. He is Glenn Beck for the little more awake.

In other words: He has info I can use if I really have absolutely zero time to do my own research. But generally speaking I stay away completely from Alex.

The entire Gergen inteview causes people to continue claiming “Alex Jones gave it to him good!”.

Oh right, a little bit of bashing and ambush does justice and overwrites the fact that Gergen’s participation in human sacrifice is now official?

They are playing you like a fiddle.

Stick with facts and stay away from the people paid to fool you into laying back down.

Mike Dammann

New Oil Eating Bacteria Discovered

firetown — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:33:27 +0000

There are some encouraging signs from the Gulf of Mexico that bacteria are consuming the underwater oil plume from the broken BP well. The news comes just days after oceanographer Christopher Reddy and a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said they had found a big underwater oil plume in May and June, but no signs of oil-eating bacteria.
At the time, Reddy said microbes are about as predictable as teenagers. “Microbes are pretty selective in how they eat oil,” he explained.

“Sometimes they kick in; sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they do the easiest work and they don’t do the hard work.”

The thing that I’m learning from this project is that there are no shortage of surprises from the microbial point of view.

- Benjamin Van Mooy, scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The hard work is what scientists had been hoping to see — bacteria consuming the more toxic chemicals in the oil plume and rendering them harmless. Reddy said sooner or later, the bugs should show up.
And now, apparently, they have.

“There’s this unique cold-loving bacteria,” says Terry Hazen, a microbiologist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. “They actually grow better at 5 degrees than they do at room temperature.”

Hazen and a large team of scientists found these new, coldwater bacteria in the oil plume, 3,000 feet deep, and in the same plume the WHOI team was following. There are several kinds of microbes, in fact — and they’re eating the oil.

“Oil is the only carbon source down there deep, so they immediately take advantage of that,” says Hazen. “And of course they undoubtedly have been adapted to that over millions of years.”

That’s because oil has been in the water for millions of years, bubbling up from the seabed. “The Gulf has natural seeps that have been putting the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez spill into the Gulf every year,” he says.

Every Spill Is Unique

So why hadn’t other scientists seen the bacteria? One possibility is that they were looking for low oxygen levels in the water and didn’t see that. Low oxygen is the principal sign that lots of bacteria are eating oil.
But Hazen says in this case, ocean currents and the use of dispersants has spread the oil out into a thin veil of tiny droplets. So the bacteria are spread out too, and you don’t find concentrated areas with low oxygen levels.

The reason Hazen’s team found the bacteria is that they looked for genes and enzymes that the microbes express when they eat oil.

“The thing that I’m learning from this project is that there are no shortage of surprises from the microbial point of view,” says Benjamin Van Mooy, a scientist with the WHOI team.

Van Mooy says every oil spill is unique “because the oil has a unique composition and it’s also being released into an environment with its own unique chemical and physical factors at play. And there’s also the microbial community.”

Scientists working on the Gulf spill say that’s why it’s hard to predict how the remaining oil in the Gulf will behave. Unlike the Exxon Valdez spill, the BP oil was released at the seafloor, under great pressure. Dispersants spread it out into cold water, but as it rose, it reached much warmer water.

Hazen says it appears that the combination of bacteria and ocean mixing could degrade and disperse the remaining oil in a matter of weeks. “It does fit with what we’ve seen,” he says. “So in the last three weeks, the plume at depth is completely undetectable.”

But “gone” doesn’t necessarily mean the Gulf is free of BP’s oil. Van Mooy points out that oil has scores of chemical constituents. Bacteria consume the “low hanging fruit” first, but the harder stuff takes longer to digest. And scientists who track oil say the plume may thin out in one place and then pop up in another.

The research, published in the journal Science, was funded by the federal Energy Department, along with support from BP through a university consortium.

More here …