Theosophical Society Summary
A Brief Summary of the Last 100 Years
I find this interesting. This book is from a group known as the Theosophical Society founded by Madame Blavatsky in 1875. She wrote "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" which laid out the idea of the Ayrian race. While in prison, Hitler read this book and based much of "Mein Kampf" on the ideas expressed within the Theosophical doctrine explained in Blavatsky's book. Hitler also called for a "New World Order" over and over in his speeches which was something Blavatsky called for in her writings.
After the fall of the Nazi's the UN was established in 1947. The original publishing company for the UN was previously called "Lucifer's Trust" who changed their name in 1922 to "Lucis Trust" and still currently have their offices located in the UN's main office suites. This is also the main publishing company for material on Theosophy. Theosophy also spawned an Esoteric circle called the Baha'i faith which was composed of a Theosophical group who believe a man who called himself "Bahá'u'lláh" was Christ, Buddha, Krishna and all the other world messiahs reincarnated.
For some odd unknown and unexplainable reason, Baha'ism is the only religion that has a vote as a NGO on the UN council. In addition, they are the only religion with a "meditation room" inside the UN's main building featuring art work by Dag Hammarskjöld/Bo Beskow.
Granted, many hard studied people on this subject will try to argue that today's Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky's writings differ just slightly, it's no different in overall premise, or ideas. Alice Bailey received control of Theosophy and went on to write the "The Externalization of the Hierarchy" in 1957 which spoke about the need for a New World Order underneath a new world spirituality religion in which the non adherents were to be disposed of. Linked above is that book. I highly recommend taking the time to read it.
Written By: Unnamed for Now
I find this interesting. This book is from a group known as the Theosophical Society founded by Madame Blavatsky in 1875. She wrote "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" which laid out the idea of the Ayrian race. While in prison, Hitler read this book and based much of "Mein Kampf" on the ideas expressed within the Theosophical doctrine explained in Blavatsky's book. Hitler also called for a "New World Order" over and over in his speeches which was something Blavatsky called for in her writings.
After the fall of the Nazi's the UN was established in 1947. The original publishing company for the UN was previously called "Lucifer's Trust" who changed their name in 1922 to "Lucis Trust" and still currently have their offices located in the UN's main office suites. This is also the main publishing company for material on Theosophy. Theosophy also spawned an Esoteric circle called the Baha'i faith which was composed of a Theosophical group who believe a man who called himself "Bahá'u'lláh" was Christ, Buddha, Krishna and all the other world messiahs reincarnated.
For some odd unknown and unexplainable reason, Baha'ism is the only religion that has a vote as a NGO on the UN council. In addition, they are the only religion with a "meditation room" inside the UN's main building featuring art work by Dag Hammarskjöld/Bo Beskow.
Granted, many hard studied people on this subject will try to argue that today's Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky's writings differ just slightly, it's no different in overall premise, or ideas. Alice Bailey received control of Theosophy and went on to write the "The Externalization of the Hierarchy" in 1957 which spoke about the need for a New World Order underneath a new world spirituality religion in which the non adherents were to be disposed of. Linked above is that book. I highly recommend taking the time to read it.
Written By: Unnamed for Now
Japan eyes possible damage to spent nuclear fuel
Tokyo Electric said Thursday night that the sample was the first time they have taken a reading off one of the spent fuel pools. The water temperature in the No. 4 pool was 90 degrees Celsius, more than twice a normal reading, and more coolant water was poured into the reservoir on Wednesday.
The company said it suspects the fuel rods were damaged due to insufficient coolant at some point since the crisis began, but could not clarify the timing.
Nishiyama told reporters Thursday evening that the fuel rods have not suffered "any particular damage." Officials are still looking at the readings from that water sample before reaching a final conclusion, but said the radiation reading was "most probably due to debris" blown into the badly damaged housing around the No. 4 reactor.
Source: CNN
Fukushima radiation taints US milk supplies at levels 300% higher than EPA maximums
As far as the water supplies are concerned, it is important to note that the EPA isonlytesting for radioactive Iodine-131. There are no readings or data available for cesium, uranium, or plutonium -- all of which are being continuously emitted from Fukushima, as far as we know -- even though these elements are all much more deadly than Iodine-131. Even so, the following water supplies have thus far tested positive for Iodine-131, with the dates they were collected in parenthesis to the right:
Los Angeles, Calif. - 0.39 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Baxter), Penn. - 0.46 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Belmont), Penn. - 1.3 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Queen), Penn. - 2.2 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Muscle Shoals, Al. - 0.16 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Niagara Falls, NY - 0.14 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Denver, Colo. - 0.17 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Detroit, Mich. - 0.28 pCi/l (3/31/11)
East Liverpool, Oh. - 0.42 pCi/l (3/30/11)
Trenton, NJ - 0.38 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Painesville, Oh. - 0.43 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Columbia, Penn. - 0.20 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (4442), Tenn. - 0.28 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (772), Tenn. - 0.20 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (360), Tenn. - 0.18 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Helena, Mont. - 0.18 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Waretown, NJ - 0.38 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Cincinnati, Oh. - 0.13 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Pittsburgh, Penn. - 0.36 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Oak Ridge (371), Tenn. - 0.63 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Chattanooga, Tenn. - 1.6 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Boise, Id. - 0.2 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Richland, Wash. - 0.23 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Los Angeles, Calif. - 0.39 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Baxter), Penn. - 0.46 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Belmont), Penn. - 1.3 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Queen), Penn. - 2.2 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Muscle Shoals, Al. - 0.16 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Niagara Falls, NY - 0.14 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Denver, Colo. - 0.17 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Detroit, Mich. - 0.28 pCi/l (3/31/11)
East Liverpool, Oh. - 0.42 pCi/l (3/30/11)
Trenton, NJ - 0.38 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Painesville, Oh. - 0.43 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Columbia, Penn. - 0.20 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (4442), Tenn. - 0.28 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (772), Tenn. - 0.20 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (360), Tenn. - 0.18 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Helena, Mont. - 0.18 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Waretown, NJ - 0.38 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Cincinnati, Oh. - 0.13 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Pittsburgh, Penn. - 0.36 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Oak Ridge (371), Tenn. - 0.63 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Chattanooga, Tenn. - 1.6 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Boise, Id. - 0.2 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Richland, Wash. - 0.23 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Source: naturalnews.
400,000 to develop cancer in 200 km radius of Fukushima
On March 15th, Dr. Russell Blaylock, M.D said that if a radiation plume from Japan hit the U.S. west coast it could pose a threat to the nations crops and the people who eat them. As we know, levels of radiation in milk in three states has been recorded at much higher levels than normal, causing some to believe that the radiation has indeed hit the U.S. food supply.
As we have noted in multiple articles, the risk in the United States is not radiation sickness, instead there will be an increased risk of cancer.
“Most of the health risks are not going to be due to acute radiation poisoning,” Blaylock told Newsmax. “It’s going to be a risk of increased cancer.
“When we look at Chernobyl, most of West Germany was heavily contaminated. Norway, Sweden. Hungary was terribly contaminated. The radiation was taken up into the plants. The food was radioactive. They took the milk and turned it into cheese. The cheese was radioactive.”
We now know that milk/cheese has been contaminated and products bought in a grocery store in San Fransisco tested positive for radioactive iodine 131.
A French research body on radioactivity has stated that the radiation levels that have been found in Europe are no longer negligible and pregnant women and children should avoid risky behavior.
Source: alexanderhiggins
EPA: New Radiation Highs in Little Rock Milk, Philadelphia Drinking Water
The Little Rock milk sample contained 8.9 picoCuries per liter. It was collected on March 30. On Sunday, EPA released data showing milk in Hilo, Hawaii with 24 pCi/L of cesium-134, 19 of cesium-137, and 18 of Iodine-131.
Three drinking water samples collected in Philadelphia on April 4 contained Iodine-131, according to Saturday’s data release:
A sample from the city’s Queen Lane Treatment Plant showed 2.2 picoCuries per liter—the highest concentration in EPA’s drinking water data so far.
Water collected at the Belmont Treatment Plant contained 1.3 picocuries, and
Three drinking water samples collected in Philadelphia on April 4 contained Iodine-131, according to Saturday’s data release:
A sample from the city’s Queen Lane Treatment Plant showed 2.2 picoCuries per liter—the highest concentration in EPA’s drinking water data so far.
Water collected at the Belmont Treatment Plant contained 1.3 picocuries, and
Radiation Detected In Drinking Water In 13 More US Cities, Cesium-137 In Vermont Milk
Drinking Water
Radioactive Iodine-131 was found in drinking water samples from 13 cities. Those cities are listed below, with the amount of Iodine-131 in picocuries per liter. The EPA’s maximum contaminant level for Iodine-131 in drinking water is 3 picocuries per liter.
- Oak Ridge, TN collected 3/28: 0.63
- Oak Ridge, TN collected at three sites 3/29: 0.28, 0.20, 0.18
- Chatanooga, TN collected 3/28: 1.6
- Helena, MT collected 3/28: 0.18
- Columbia, PA collected 3/29: 0.20
- Cincinatti, OH collected 3/28: 0.13
- Pittsburgh, PA collected 3/28: 0.36
- East Liverpool, OH collected 3/30: 0.42
- Painesville, OH collected 3/29: 0.43
- Denver, CO collected 3/30: 0.17
- Detroit, MI collected 3/31: 0.28
- Trenton, NJ collected 3/31: 0.38
- Waretown, NJ collected 3/31: 0.38
- Muscle Shoals, AL collected 3/31: 0.16
Precipitation
In the data released Friday, iodine-131 was found in rainwater samples from the following locations:
- Salt Lake City, UT collected 3/17: 8.1
- Boston, MA collected 3/22: 92
- Montgomery, Alabama collected 3/30: 3.7
- Boise, ID collected 3/27: 390
As reported above, the Boise sample also contained 42 pC/m3 of Cesium-134, and 36 of Cesium-137.
Air
In the most recent data, iodine-131 was found in air filters in the following locations. In the case of air samples, the radiation is measured in picoCuries per cubic meter.
- Montgomery, AL collected 3/31: 0.055
- Nome AK collected 3/30: 0.17
- Nome AK collected 3/29: 0.36
- Nome AK collected 3/27: 0.36
- Nome AK collected 3/26: 0.46
- Nome AK collected 3/25: 0.26
- Juneau AKcollected 3/26: 0.43
- Juneau AK collected 3/27: 0.38
- Juneau AK collected 3/30: 0.28
- Dutch Harbor AK collected 3/30: 0.14
- Dutch Harbor AK collected 3/29: 0.11
- Dutch Harbor AK colleccted 3/26: 0.21
- Boise, ID collected 3/27: 0.22
- Boise, ID collected 3/29: 0.27
- Boise, ID collected 3/28: 0.32
- Las Vegas NV collected 3/28: 0.30
- Las Vegas, NV collected 3/30:: 0.088
- Las Vegas, NV collected 3/29: 0.044
UCB Food Chain Sampling Results | The Nuclear Engineering Department At UC Berkeley
Radionuclides, once deposited by rainwater or air onto the ground, will find their way through the ecosystem. We are already tracking its path from rainwater to creek runoff to tap water, but we would also like to monitor how much these isotopes that make their way into our food. For example, how much gets taken up by the grass and eventually winds up in our milk?
We have been collecting produce that is as local as possible to test for the radioactive isotopes. We might expect different kinds of plants to take up different quantities of cesium and iodine, so we are trying to measure as many different plants and fruits as we are able to. So far, we have measuredgrass, wild mushrooms, spinach, strawberries, cilantro, kale, and arugula. We have also measured local topsoil.
The topsoil, grass, and wild mushroom samples collected so far all come from the same place, so comparing grass samples to each other is a fair "apples to apples" comparison. For most of the produce, different samples came from different markets and different farms, so there will be many factors influencing the results. This variety of produce helps provide a picture of the food chain as a whole. But for understanding the time-dependence of the food chain results, the grass and soil is what to look at.
In the tables below, we are providing two numbers for each of the isotopes. The first is a standard concentration unit of Becquerel per kilogram (Bq/kg) which is the number of particles decaying per second in each kilogram of the sample. The number in parentheses after the activity is the number of kilograms that one would need to consume to equal the radiation exposure of a single round trip flight from San Francisco to Washington D.C. (0.05 mSv). For more information on how this equivalent dose is calculated, the details are here: How Effective Dose is Calculated
The experimental setup used for the food testing is the same setup used for the Rainwater Collection Experiment.
Gigabyte Cooking Up Dual-Boot Android/Windows 7 Tablets for Later in the Year
Add Gigabyte’s name to the list of companies having a go at making Android tablets with models due out by the end of the year. The Taiwanese manufacturer’s plans include 7 and 10-inch devices as well as a dual-bootable tablet featuring both Android and Windows 7 (the Windows-only S1080 is pictured above). These tablets should be among the first to utilize Intel’s Atom processor geared towards tablets, with the 7 and 10-inch models launching in July. They will run the increasingly outdated Android 2.2 and Android 3.0 Honeycomb respectively. The first two Android models will be followed in October by the dual-boot model.
The only other spec revealed is more a lack of spec: the devices definitely won’t have a USB port. While no price is set, Senior Vice President Richard Ma said the aim is to keep them priced below $400 US. Of the group, we are most interested in the dual-boot version, as the concept has been tried preciously and yet to really catch on on.
[via PCWorld]
Record Levels of Fukushima Japan Nuclear Radiation To Be Carried Toward US
The science ministry says radiation levels in seawater off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture are the highest since it began monitoring them about 3 weeks ago.
The ministry says the level of iodine-131 was 88.5 becquerels per liter in a sample taken on Monday in the sea about 30 kilometers east of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The figure is 2.2 times the government’s upper limit for wastewater from nuclear facilities.
Secret Weapons Program Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant?
A fire ignited inside the damaged housing of the Unit 4 reactor, reportedly due to overheating of spent uranium fuel rods in a dry cooling pool. But the size of the fire indicates that this reactor was running hot for some purpose other than electricity generation. Its omission from the list of electricity-generating operations raises the question of whether Unit 4 was being used to enrich uranium, the first step of the process leading to extraction of weapons-grade fissionable material.
The bloom of irradiated seawater across the Pacific comprises another piece of the puzzle, because its underground source is untraceable (or, perhaps, unmentionable). The flooded labyrinth of pipes, where the bodies of two missing nuclear workers—never before disclosed to the press— were found, could well contain the answer to the mystery: a lab that none dare name.
The substance of undisclosed talks between Tokyo and Washington can be surmised from disruptions to my recent phone calls to a Japanese journalist colleague. While inside the radioactive hot zone, his roaming number was disconnected, along with the mobiles of nuclear workers at Fukushima 1 who are denied phone access to the outside world. The service suspension is not due to design flaws. When helping to prepare the Tohoku crisis response plan in 1996, my effort was directed at ensuring that mobile base stations have back-up power with fast recharge.
A subsequent phone call when my colleague returned to Tokyo went dead when I mentioned "GE.” That incident occurred on the day that GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt landed in Tokyo with a pledge to rebuild the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant. Such apparent eavesdropping is only possible if national phone carrier NTT is cooperating with the signals-intercepts program of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).
The Siberian high-pressure zone ensures a strong and steady wind flow over northern Japan, but the region's utility companies have not taken advantage of this natural energy resource. The reason is that TEPCO, based in Tokyo and controlling the largest energy market, acts much as a shogun over the nine regional power companies and the national grid. Its deep pockets influence high bureaucrats, publishers and politicians like Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, while nuclear ambitions keep the defense contractors and generals on its side. Yet TEPCO is not quite the top dog. Its senior partner in this mega-enterprise is Kishi's brainchild, METI.
The national test site for offshore wind is unfortunately not located in windswept Hokkaido or Niigata, but farther to the southeast, in Chiba Prefecture. Findings from these tests to decide the fate of wind energy won't be released until 2015. The sponsor of that slow-moving trial project is TEPCO.
Meanwhile in 2009, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a muted warning on Japan's heightened drive for a nuclear bomb— and promptly did nothing. The White House has to turn a blind eye to the radiation streaming through American skies or risk exposure of a blatant double standard on nuclear proliferation by an ally. Besides, Washington's quiet approval for a Japanese bomb doesn't quite sit well with the memory of either Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima.
In and of itself, a nuclear deterrence capability would be neither objectionable nor illegal— in the unlikely event that the majority of Japanese voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to Article 9. Legalized possession would require safety inspections, strict controls and transparency of the sort that could have hastened the Fukushima emergency response. Covert weapons development, in contrast, is rife with problems. In the event of an emergency, like the one happening at this moment, secrecy must be enforced at all cost— even if it means countless more hibakusha, or nuclear victims.
Instead of enabling a regional deterrence system and a return to great-power status, the Manchurian deal planted the time bombs now spewing radiation around the world. The nihilism at the heart of this nuclear threat to humanity lies not inside Fukushima 1, but within the national security mindset. The specter of self-destruction can be ended only with the abrogation of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, the root cause of the secrecy that fatally delayed the nuclear workers' fight against meltdown.
Yoichi Shimatsu who is Editor-at-large with the 4th Media is a Hong Kong–based environmental writer. He is the former
Source: globalresearch.ca
The Shutdown And The Deficit
Whatever happens with the government shutdown, it won't make much difference for the deficit.
The cuts being debated amount to roughly $35 billion. That's about 2 percent of this year's projected deficit.
Source: npr.org
Testimony from Japan: "A Ship with no Captain". Evolving Coverup of a Nuclear Disaster...
Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency “says the damaged facilities have been releasing a massive amount of radioactive substances, which are posing a threat to human health and the environment over a wide area.”
Today the Fukushima plant looks like a war zone due to TEPCO’s negligence. Their record of lying and falsification is well documented at the Citizens for Nuclear Information Center in Tokyo (CNIC) which has a bi-monthly newsletter available in their archives. It is published in both Japanese and English.
On April 1st (and this is no fool’s joke), 16 Japanese experts on nuclear power engineering, nuclear physics and radiology issued a frightening statement, saying that they “do not rule out the possibility that as time goes on, a molten core melts a weak part of a pressure vessel and enters a containment vessel, destroying the reactor's function to contain radioactive substances, or that hydrogen gas forming inside a pressure vessel explodes and destroys a containment vessel, causing serious radioactive contamination over a large expanse of land and sea....the current makeshift efforts to cool the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors will not be able to completely cool down molten nuclear fuel so as it will not burst through the bottom of pressure vessels.”
It has been long been rumored that the Japanese nuke industry uses homeless and other desperate workers to carry out dangerous cleaning operations in their aging reactors. A 1995 British television documentary entitled “Nuclear Ginza” revealed this astonishing practice. Photo journalist Kenji Higuchi presented stunning interviews with workers who had suffered radiation exposure in the plants. Higuchi once told me the film was blocked from being shown on NHK, the government TV news station.
Masayoshi Yamamoto, a professor of radiology at Kanazawa University, finds the cesium-137 to be the most worrisome because of its 30 half life. He stated that if continuous leakage into the ocean is not prevented, "[a]ll of Japan's sea products will probably be labeled unsafe and other nations will blame Japan if radiation is detected in their marine products."
Source: globalresearch.ca
On April 1st (and this is no fool’s joke), 16 Japanese experts on nuclear power engineering, nuclear physics and radiology issued a frightening statement, saying that they “do not rule out the possibility that as time goes on, a molten core melts a weak part of a pressure vessel and enters a containment vessel, destroying the reactor's function to contain radioactive substances, or that hydrogen gas forming inside a pressure vessel explodes and destroys a containment vessel, causing serious radioactive contamination over a large expanse of land and sea....the current makeshift efforts to cool the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors will not be able to completely cool down molten nuclear fuel so as it will not burst through the bottom of pressure vessels.”
It has been long been rumored that the Japanese nuke industry uses homeless and other desperate workers to carry out dangerous cleaning operations in their aging reactors. A 1995 British television documentary entitled “Nuclear Ginza” revealed this astonishing practice. Photo journalist Kenji Higuchi presented stunning interviews with workers who had suffered radiation exposure in the plants. Higuchi once told me the film was blocked from being shown on NHK, the government TV news station.
Masayoshi Yamamoto, a professor of radiology at Kanazawa University, finds the cesium-137 to be the most worrisome because of its 30 half life. He stated that if continuous leakage into the ocean is not prevented, "[a]ll of Japan's sea products will probably be labeled unsafe and other nations will blame Japan if radiation is detected in their marine products."
Source: globalresearch.ca
In 2005, one out of four large corporations paid no income taxes at all
In 2005, one out of four large corporations paid no income taxes at all even though they collected $1.1 trillion in revenue over that one-year period.
In 2009, Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits. Not only did Exxon not pay any federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to SEC filings.
Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, even though it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.
Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.
Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year, received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.
In 2008, Goldman Sachs only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.
Last year, Citigroup made over $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes, even though it received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department. Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS. According to a New York Times article, “G.E. is so good at avoiding taxes that some people consider its tax department to be the best in the world, even better than any law firm’s.”
Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year, even though it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.
ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, which made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.
Ford’s federal income tax rate was just 2.3 percent in 2009 even though it made $3 billion in profits.
Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made over $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.
Over the last five years, Southwest Airlines paid a federal income tax rate of 6.3 percent, Yahoo paid 7 percent, and Prudential Financial paid 7.6 percent.
Source: pantslessprogressive
In 2009, Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits. Not only did Exxon not pay any federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to SEC filings.
Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, even though it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.
Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.
Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year, received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.
In 2008, Goldman Sachs only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.
Last year, Citigroup made over $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes, even though it received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department. Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS. According to a New York Times article, “G.E. is so good at avoiding taxes that some people consider its tax department to be the best in the world, even better than any law firm’s.”
Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year, even though it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.
ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, which made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.
Ford’s federal income tax rate was just 2.3 percent in 2009 even though it made $3 billion in profits.
Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made over $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.
Over the last five years, Southwest Airlines paid a federal income tax rate of 6.3 percent, Yahoo paid 7 percent, and Prudential Financial paid 7.6 percent.
Source: pantslessprogressive
OpenSignalMaps Offers Real World Cell Coverage Maps
What your cellular providers claims is their coverage area and what their actual coverage area is can be two different things. OpenSignalMap offers a glimpse into the real world coverage of multiple cell providers.
Hit up the site, plug in the zip code you want to survey, and then check out the coverage either via tower density or a signal heat map. The map includes 2G, 3G, and 4G providers and coverage. Hit up the link below to take it for a spin.
OpenSignalMaps [via Make Use Of]
Renewable Energy Production May Overtake Nuclear Power This Year In US
It still may be a relatively small amount of the total US energy supply inasmuch as the shift to clean energy still has a long way to go, but new data from the Energy Information Agency shows that in 2010 all renewable energy sources combined produced roughly 11% of total primary energy supply. That's just as much as nuclear power. And as Climate Progress points out, renewables will likely overtake nuclear power in the US later this year:
Since 2007, nuclear power has been flat while renewable resources have delivered 22% more primary energy. So, again, it's entirely possible if not likely that renewables will deliver more primary production than nuclear sometime this year -- and once they do pass nukes, renewables will stay almost certainly stay ahead throughout this century, given that their costs are declining, unlike nuclear.
Source: treehugger
25 Shocking Facts That Prove That The Entire U.S. Health Care Industry Has Become One Giant Money Making Scam
The following are 25 shocking facts that prove that the entire U.S. health care industry is one giant money making scam....
#1 The chairman of Aetna, the third largest health insurance company in the United States, brought in a staggering $68.7 million during 2010. Ron Williams exercised stock options that were worth approximately $50.3 million and he raked in an additional $18.4 million in wages and other forms of compensation. The funny thing is that he left the company and didn't even work the whole year.
#2 The top executives at the five largest for-profit health insurance companies in the United States combined to receive nearly $200 million in total compensation in 2009.
#3 One study found that approximately 41 percent of working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
#4 Over the last decade, the number of Americans without health insurance has risen from about 38 million to about 52 million.
#5 According to one survey, approximately 1 out of every 4 Californians under the age of 65 has absolutely no health insurance.
#6 According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States. Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.
#7 Profits at U.S. health insurance companies increased by 56 percent during 2009.
#8 According to a report by Health Care for America Now, America's five biggest for-profit health insurance companies ended 2009 with a combined profit of $12.2 billion.
#9 Health insurance rate increases are getting out of control. According to the Los Angeles Times, Blue Shield of California plans to raise rates an average of 30% to 35%, and some individual policy holders could see their health insurance premiums rise by a whopping 59 percent this year alone.
#10 According to an article on the Mother Jones website, health insurance premiums for small employers in the U.S. increased 180% between 1999 and 2009.
#11 Why are c-sections on the rise? It is because a vaginal delivery costs approximately $5,992 on average, while a c-section costs approximately $8,558 on average.
#12 Since 2003, health insurance companies have shelled out more than $42 million in state-level campaign contributions.
#13 Between 2000 and 2006, wages in the United States increased by 3.8%, but health care premiums increased by 87%.
#14 There were more than two dozen pharmaceutical companies that made over a billion dollars in profits in 2008.
#15 Each year, tens of billions of dollars is spent on pharmaceutical marketing in the United States alone.
#16 Nearly half of all Americans now use prescription drugs on a regular basis according to a CDC report that was just released. According to the report, approximately one-third of all Americans use two or more pharmaceutical drugs, and more than ten percent of all Americans use five or more prescription drugs on a regular basis.
#17 According to the CDC, approximately three quarters of a million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the United States because of adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs.
#18 The Food and Drug Administration reported 1,742 prescription drug recalls in 2009, which was a gigantic increase from 426 drug recalls in 2008.
#19 Lawyers are certainly doing their part to contribute to soaring health care costs. According to one recent study, the medical liability system in the United States added approximately $55.6 billion to the cost of health care in 2008.
#20 According to one doctor interviewed by Fox News, "a gunshot wound to the head, chest or abdomen" will cost $13,000 at his hospital the moment the victim comes in the door, and then there will be significant additional charges depending on how bad the wound is.
#21 In America today, if you have an illness that requires intensive care for an extended period of time, it is ridiculously really easy to rack up medical bills that total over 1 million dollars.
#22 It is estimated that hospitals overcharge Americans by about 10 billion dollars every single year.
#23 One trained medical billing advocate says that over 90 percent of the medical bills that she has audited contain "gross overcharges".
#24 It is not uncommon for insurance companies to get hospitals to knock their bills down by up to 95 percent, but if you are uninsured or you don't know how the system works then you are out of luck.
#25 According to one recent report, Americans spend approximately twice as much as residents of other developed countries on health care.
Source: endoftheamericandream
Yes, They Really Do Want To Reduce The Population – 22 Shocking Population Control Quotes From The Global Elite That Will Make You Want To Lose Your Lunch
Most Americans have absolutely no idea, but a very dark philosophy is spreading like wildfire among the global elite. This philosophy is an obsessive belief that humanity has become a cancer that is destroying the earth. There are now large numbers of global leaders that are convinced that the exploding population of the world has become like a virus or a plague, and that it must be combated as such. In fact, it would be very difficult to understate just how obsessed many members of the global elite are with population control. The United Nations puts out position papers about it, universities have entire courses dedicated to it, radical population control advocates have been appointed to some of the highest political positions in the world, and some of the wealthiest people on the planet get together just to talk about it. Those who believe in this philosophy are constantly talking about the need for "increased access" to abortion, contraception and other "family planning" services. But even with all of their efforts, the population of the world is still expanding and those who believe in this population control philosophy are getting nervous.
So just who are these people among the global elite who believe so fervently in population control? Some of the names you are about to read below might totally shock you. Many of them are some of the biggest names in the world. For example, Prince Charles gave a major speech just the other day in which he bemoaned the rapidly expanding world population: "I could have chosen Mumbai, Cairo or Mexico City; wherever you look, the world’s population is increasing fast. It goes up by the equivalent of the entire population of the United Kingdom every year. Which means that this poor planet of ours, which already struggles to sustain 6.8 billion people, will somehow have to support over 9 billion people within 50 years."
Many among the global elite believe that the growing world population is the number one problem facing the world. Many of them are absolutely convinced that overpopulation is the primary cause of "climate change", is ruining our environment, and threatens to turn the entire globe into one gigantic third world slum.
Of course all of that is nonsense, but this is what they actually believe, and the scary thing is that most of them are in positions of power and influence where they can actually do quite a bit to advance their insidious agenda.
The following are 22 shocking population control quotes from the global elite that will make you want to lose your lunch....
"What would it take to accelerate fertility decline in the least developed countries?"
#2) Microsoft's Bill Gates....
"The world today has 6.8 billion people. That's heading up to about nine billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent."
#3) Barack Obama's top science advisor, John P. Holdren....
"A program of sterilizing women after their second or third child, despite the relatively greater difficulty of the operation than vasectomy, might be easier to implement than trying to sterilize men.
The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births."
#4) George W. Bush's science advisor Paul Ehrlich....
"Each person we add now disproportionately impacts on the environment and life-support systems of the planet."
#5) U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg....
"Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of."
#6) A United Nations Population Fund report entitled "Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate"....
"No human is genuinely 'carbon neutral,' especially when all greenhouse gases are figured into the equation."
#7) David Rockefeller....
"The negative impact of population growth on all of our planetary ecosystems is becoming appallingly evident."
#8) Jacques Cousteau....
"In order to stabilize world population, we must eliminate 350,000 people per day."
#9) CNN Founder Ted Turner....
"A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal."
#10) Dave Foreman, Earth First Co-Founder....
"My three main goals would be to reduce human population to about 100 million worldwide, destroy the industrial infrastructure and see wilderness, with it’s full complement of species, returning throughout the world."
#11) Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh....
"If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels."
#12) David Brower, first Executive Director of the Sierra Club....
"Childbearing [should be] a punishable crime against society, unless the parents hold a government license ... All potential parents [should be] required to use contraceptive chemicals, the government issuing antidotes to citizens chosen for childbearing."
#13) Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger....
"The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."
#14) Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger. Woman, Morality, and Birth Control. New York: New York Publishing Company, 1922. Page 12....
"Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race."
#15) Princeton philosopher Peter Singer....
"So why don’t we make ourselves the last generation on earth? If we would all agree to have ourselves sterilized then no sacrifices would be required — we could party our way into extinction!"
#16) Thomas Ferguson, former official in the U.S. State Department Office of Population Affairs....
"There is a single theme behind all our work–we must reduce population levels. Either governments do it our way, through nice clean methods, or they will get the kinds of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control, it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it…."
#17) Mikhail Gorbachev....
"We must speak more clearly about sexuality, contraception, about abortion, about values that control population, because the ecological crisis, in short, is the population crisis. Cut the population by 90% and there aren't enough people left to do a great deal of ecological damage."
#18) John Guillebaud, professor of family planning at University College London....
"The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights. An extra child is the equivalent of a lot of flights across the planet."
"This planet might be able to support perhaps as many as half a billion people who could live a sustainable life in relative comfort. Human populations must be greatly diminished, and as quickly as possible to limit further environmental damage."
"This year, the United States renewed funding of reproductive healthcare through the United Nations Population Fund, and more funding is on the way. The U.S. Congress recently appropriated more than $648 million in foreign assistance to family planning and reproductive health programs worldwide. That’s the largest allocation in more than a decade – since we last had a Democratic president, I might add."
#21) Clinton adviser Nina Fedoroff....
"We need to continue to decrease the growth rate of the global population; the planet can't support many more people."
#22) The first of the "new 10 commandments" on the Georgia Guidestones....
"Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature."
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