http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=08 Thu, 23 May 2013 00:56:11 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=08 Wed, 22 May 2013 14:09:18 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=258_1369245961 Bricksnsticks {{ ANOTHER VACATION }} With scandal swirling about the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama may be considering an extended exit from Washington this summer, fleeing for weeks to the Obamas' traditional summer haven, Martha's Vineyard. According to the Boston Globe , "Michelle Obama and the children may be on the island for an extended period." But the president would hardly be suffering by comparison. He may come up on weekends and then stay for two weeks at the end of the summer, the Globe reports. The White House has not commented on the Obamas' vacation plans. The Obamas are said to be eying a house in Farm Neck on the Vineyard. If they land there, the president will have easy access to the lovely Farm Neck Golf Club and Cafe . Here's the view from the tee on the third hole.It appears Michelle may be skipping her usual spring excursion overseas, which in the past has included stops at a luxury resort in Spain and in South Africa . Instead, she'll accompany her husband next month on an official trip to Africa . But not to worry. She already spent two weeks in Hawaii this past winter and jetted out for some Apsen skiing in February. The Obamas opted out of their annual trip to Martha's Vineyard in 2012, likely because they were campaigning and because a luxury sojourn there would have conflicted with the campaign image Obama was trying to project as a fighter for the middle class. http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2013/05/22/michelle-extended-vacation/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=258_1369245961 Bricksnsticks {{ ANOTHER VACATION }} - Michelle Said to be Considering an Extended Vacation michelle obama, vacation Tue, 21 May 2013 09:26:41 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=880_1369142495 AntiPropagaanda GMO Crop Sabotage on the Rise: French citizens destroy trial vineyard GMO grapevines destroyed (AFP) By Rady Ananda Food Freedom Early Sunday morning, French police stood helpless as sixty people, locked inside an open-air field of genetically modified grapevines, uprooted all the plants. In Spain last month, dozens of people destroyed two GMO fields. On the millennial cusp, Indian farmers burned Bt cotton in their Cremate Monsanto campaign. Ignored by multinational corporations and corrupt public policy makers, citizens act to protect the food supply and the planet. The French vineyard is the same field attacked last year when the plants were only cut. But the security features installed after that incident kept authorities at bay while the group accomplished its mission yesterday. Speaking for the group, Olivier Florent told Le Figero that they condemned the use of public funds for open-field testing of GMOs "that we do not want." Pitching tents in the rain near France's National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA) site in Colmar the night before, the group waited until 5 AM before converging on the site and locking the gates behind them. They uprooted all 70 plants, then submitted to arrest. This is the second attack on GMO crops to make international news this year. In July dozens of people destroyed two experimental corn crops in Spain. In an anonymous press release , they wrote, "This kind of direct action is the best way to respond to the fait accompli policy through which the Generalitat, the State and the biotech multinationals have been unilaterally imposing genetically modified organisms." In the late 1990s, Indian farmers burnt Bt cotton fields in their Cremate Monsanto campaign. Monsanto did not disclose to farmers that the GM seeds were experimental. "Despite the heavy use of chemical fertiliser, traces of which still can be observed in the field, the Bt plants grew miserably, less than half the size of the traditional cotton plants in the adjacent fields." After the Haiti earthquake this year, Monsanto offered 475 tons of hybrid corn and terminator vegetable seeds in partnership with USAID. In June, 10,000 Haitian farmers marched in protest of the "poison gift" which produces no viable seeds for future plantings and requires heavy chemical inputs. Haitian farm leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste observed that the biotech plan makes farmers dependent on multinational corporations. In the US, GMOs were secretly foisted on the public in the mid-1990s, and only now is the US Supreme Court addressing the scourge. In June, the high court upheld partial deregulation of GM alfalfa , which permits limited planting while the USDA prepares an Environmental Impact Statement. Natural and organic alfalfa supply is threatened by the very real potential of GM contamination. This would destroy the organic meat and dairy industry. Last Friday, a federal court took a tougher position on GM sugar beets. Judge Jeffrey S. White revoked USDA approval of the GM beet , while allowing for its planting this year only. Also this month, a British farmer exposed that milk and meat from cloned animals had secretly entered the food supply. Public opposition to GM crops has grown in recent years as more evidence surfaces that DNA-altered crops: Require massive chemical inputs which destroy local biodiversity and poison the water tables; Cross-pollinate with natural and weedy crops; Create superweeds ; and Have been shown to cause organ damage , sterility , and diabetes and obesity in mammals. Meanwhile, President Obama has stacked his Administration with biotech insiders going so far as to appoint Islam Siddiqui as Agriculture Trade Negotiator. Siddiqui is a former pesticide lobbyist and vice president of CropLife America, a biotech and pesticide trade group that lobbies to weaken environmental laws. The US is pushing hard at the world to accept GM foods. Recently, the American Farm Bureau Federation called for stronger sanctions against the European Union for its GM crop ban. But as governments and trade agreements circumvent the will of the people, some take matters into their own hands. The rise in GMO crop destruction is a clear indication that the world's people reject chemical and genetic pollution of the food supply and the environment. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=880_1369142495 AntiPropagaanda GMO Crop Sabotage on the Rise: French citizens destroy trial vineyard GMO Crop Sabotage on the Rise: French citizens destroy trial vineyard Mon, 20 May 2013 11:12:51 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d13_1369061584 m16carbine How do you say 'Quagmire' in Farsi? By THANASSIS CAMBANIS, May 2013, Foreign Policy Magazine ARSAL, Lebanon - For more than a year, leaders in Lebanon have anxiously eyed the murderous civil war in Syria, wondering whether it would leap across the border and engulf the small, fractious country. And yet, it is Lebanon that now has jumped decisively into the fray, with Hezbollah's help apparently crucial to the Syrian regime 's strategy and survival. Uniformed Hezbollah fighters openly patrol the northern reaches of Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, fighting on either side of the increasingly porous border with Syria. Rocket and mortar teams target Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters a few miles away, and Lebanese Hezbollah infantry fighters crisscross the "Shiite villages" surrounding the city of Qusayr just across the border in Syria, which now forms one of the pivot points of the conflict. The fighting around Qusayr has brought into the open the parlor game over whether Iran and Hezbollah are active combatants in Syria's war. In an April 30 speech, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hinted at greater involvement from the Lebanese paramilitary group in Syria, warning that the regime had "real friends" who would prevent Syria from "fall into the hands" of the United States and Israel. The thunder of artillery fire in the mountains flanking the Beqaa Valley, like the spate of no-longer-hidden Hezbollah funerals , make clear that Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors have crossed a Rubicon. They are now fully vested factions in the Syrian civil war, and they're committed to an open and escalating fight. Not 20 miles from Hezbollah's position as the crow flies, FSA fighters flee across the border to the Sunni village of Arsal, nestled north in the Beqaa Valley in the mountains separating Lebanon and Syria. They make no distinction between the Syrian army, Hezbollah, and Iran -- because, they say, they get shot at by all three. "We could have common interests with Hezbollah, but they're attacking us. Now there are grudges, which we will have to settle after the war," said Shehadeh Ahmed Sheikh, 24, a self-described mortar man in the FSA. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor of an unfinished home in Arsal. Sheikh had brought with him 16 members of his extended family after their house in Qusayr had been destroyed earlier that week; as we talked, they squatted around him in the dwelling, which they had been assigned to by Arsal's mayor. Like many Sunnis in the area, he referred to Hezbollah, whose name means "the Party of God" in Arabic, as Hezb al-Shaitan -- "the Party of Satan." By supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the hilt, Hezbollah and Iran are risking their hard-won reputation as stewards of an anti-Israel and anti-U.S. alliance that transcends sect and nationality. Syrian combatants increasingly understand the war in sectarian terms: On one side there is the Sunni majority; on the other side, other sects and a small group of Sunnis that have made common cause with the Alawite regime. Western diplomats estimate that a few thousand Hezbollah fighters are involved in the Syrian fighting. Close observers of the group, which carefully guards its operational structure, say that they mistrust any precise numbers. But if Hezbollah has sent hundreds, or even a few thousand, of its best-trained fighters to Syria, that deployment certainly represents a significant percentage of its fighting force. During its 2006 war with Israel, the highest estimate of Hezbollah fighters killed was about 700, with the group's own official death toll closer to 300. Sunnis are increasingly framing the conflict as a sectarian jihad. The influential Lebanese Salafi cleric Ahmad Al-Assir has set up his own militia , suggesting his fighters would be just as willing to confront Hezbollah in Lebanon as they already are to travel to Syria to fight alongside the rebels there. Supporters of the regime and Hezbollah point out that the rebellion tolerates Sunni fundamentalist extremists whereas Assad and Hezbollah rely on a time-tested alliance of minorities, including Alawites, Christians, Druze, and Shiite Muslims. The propaganda of both sides has sharpened a narrative of the Syrian conflict as a struggle between Sunni extremists and old-style authoritarians, who at least protect the minorities they exploit. Deadly identity politics have taken root, and people on both sides of the conflict see it more and more as a matter of survival. Sheikh, the young Sunni fighter, planned to return to battle as soon as he settled his family: "We cannot go back to the way things were before" On the eve of the uprisings just three short years ago, many Arab analysts observed half-jokingly that the most influential state in the Arab world wasn't Arab at all -- it was Iran, awash in oil revenues and ready to lavish cash on a region in the throes of an increasingly hot Sunni-Shiite cold war. Sunni monarchs and dictators fretted about a "Shiite Crescent" linking Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Hezbollah. Tehran, for its part, strutted triumphantly across the Arab stage, bragging about an unstoppable "Axis of Resistance" oiled with ideological fervor and the supreme leader's bank account. What a difference a few uprisings can make. Today, Iran's involvement in Syria has all the makings of a quagmire, and certainly represents the Islamic Republic's biggest strategic setback in the region since its war with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ended in 1988. Syria's conflict has begun to attract so much attention and resources that it threatens to end the era when Iran could nimbly outmaneuver the slow-moving American behemoth in the Middle East. Iran -- already reeling from sanctions -- is spending hundreds of millions of dollars propping up Bashar al-Assad's regime. In the murky arena of sub rosa foreign intervention, it's impossible to keep a detailed count of the dollars, guns, and operatives the Islamic Republic has dispatched to Syria. Westerners and Arab officials who have met in recent months with Syrian government ministers say that Iranian advisers are retooling key ministries to provide copious military training, including to the newly established citizen militias in regime-controlled areas of Syria. "We back Syria," Iranian General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan reiterated on May 5. "If there is need for training we will provide them with the training." In private meetings, Iranian diplomats in the region project insouciance, suggesting that the Islamic Republic can indefinitely sustain its military and financial aid to the Assad regime. To be sure, its burden today is probably bearable. But as sanctions squeeze Iran and it comes under increasing pressure over its nuclear program, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) might find the investment harder to sustain. The conflict shows no signs of ending, and as foreign aid to the rebels escalates, Iran will have to pour in more and more resources simply to maintain a stalemate. If this is Iran's Vietnam, we're only beginning year three. The cost of Tehran's support of Assad can't entirely be measured in dollars. Iran has had to sacrifice most of its other Arab allies on the Syrian altar. As the violence worsened, Hamas gave up its home in Damascus and its warm relationship with Tehran. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government has also adopted a scolding tone toward Iran on Syria. On Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy's first visit to Tehran, he took the opportunity to blast the "oppressive regime" in Damascus, saying it was an "ethical duty" to support the opposition. Gone are the days when Iran held the mantle of popular resistance. Popular Arab movements, including Syria's own rebels, now have the momentum and air of authenticity. Iran's mullahs finally look to the Arab near-abroad as they long have appeared at home -- repressive, authoritarian, and fierce defenders of the status quo." Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Iran's commitment to Assad has put the crown jewel of its assets in the Arab world, Hezbollah, in danger. Just a few years ago, a survey found that Nasrallah was the most popular leader in the Arab world. Along with other members of the "resistance axis," Hezbollah mocked the rest of the Arab world's political movements as toadies and collaborators, happy to submit to American-Israeli hegemony. Today, however, it has sacrificed this popular support and enraged Sunnis across the Arab world by siding with a merciless dictator. Hezbollah used to try to cultivate allies from all sects, so that it wouldn't seem to be pursuing a purely Shiite agenda, but it now appears in the eyes of the Arab world to have cast its lot -- hook, line, and sinker -- with a brutal minority regime in Syria over a popular, largely Islamist movement. A Pew survey last year found that the group's popularity was declining in predominantly Sunni countries such as Egypt and Jordan, while Lebanese Sunnis and Christians also increasingly soured on the party. In the border town of Hermel, usually secretive Hezbollah fighters have openly mobilized. They fight on both sides of the border, protecting a ring of Shiite villages in Syria that connect Damascus to the Alawite heartland. An untold number of Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Syria -- so many that the movement has stopped keeping the funerals secret and has even released videos of some of the martyrs. "We bury our martyrs in the open," Nasrallah said in his recent speech. "We are not ashamed of them." Hezbollah positions in Hermel were shelled on May 12, and the Sunni jihadist Nusra Front reportedly claimed responsibility . In their rhetoric, Lebanese politicians have sought to downplay the sectarian nature of the fight in Syria, and there are plenty of individuals who say they have chosen sides out of interest or ideology, rather than sect. Yet to most of its participants, the conflict has taken on an undeniably sectarian hue: an almost entirely Sunni rebellion, against a regime supported by the majority of Syria's other sects. "There's no difference between Hezbollah, the army, and the Syrian regime," scoffed Mustafa Ezzedine, a driver in Arsal who was recently dragged into the conflict as a literal hostage, kidnapped because he was a Sunni Muslim by a Shiite clan that wanted one of its own kidnapped members released. It doesn't matter that among his guests at a recent, lazy hashish-fueled afternoon tea was a member of that same rival clan: sectarian politics have little regard for personal views. For residents of the Beqaa Valley, the war in Syria has already drifted across the border, and they fear it could get worse quickly. The regional stakes are high as well. On at least one occasion, the Syrian conflict has cost an Iranian military commander his life. In mid-February, a shadowy IRGC officer responsible for overseeing Iranian reconstruction projects in Lebanon who went by the names Hessam Khoshnevis and Hassan Shateri was killed on the road from Damascus to Beirut. Iran put out the story that Israel assassinated their man, but Western and Arab officials told me they had seen reliable intelligence reports that it was a Syrian rebel ambush. A who's who of Lebanese politicians paid condolences at the Iranian embassy, and Hezbollah's number two, Naim Qassem, delivered a long tribute to the fallen IRGC offer at a memorial service in an underground theater in Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. It was the latest sign that Hezbollah is willing to risk everything in supporting the Syrian dictator -- and that Iran just may ask its Lebanese ally to fight to the end, or go down with the ship. "We would be nothing without Iran!" Qassem thundered in his tribute. "Others hide the foreign funds they receive. We proudly open our hands to Iran's gifts. What the resistance needs, they provide." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d13_1369061584 m16carbine How Do You Say 'Quagmire' in Farsi? hezbollah, fsa, saa, syria, syria civil war, iran Sat, 18 May 2013 14:05:51 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=084_1368900087 theLAB Fisker-based Destino still in the works, hundreds of Karma owners seek conversion Wards Auto reports the VL Productions Destino is still moving forward. As you may recall, that machine takes a Fisker Karma hybrid, guts the drivetrain and replaces it with a honking 556 horsepower V8 from General Motors. Bob Lutz , while speaking with Wards , confirmed that VL Productions had obtained 20 Karma "gliders" without a battery, engine or electric motor, and that VL may purchase Karma hybrids from dealers currently looking to dump their inventory. Lutz also says that hundreds of current Karma owners have approached VL Productions about the possibility of converting their hybrids to V8 power. That conversion could cost between $85,000 and $95,000. Right now, VL has around 100 orders for standard Destino models, each with a price tag of $185,000. Not surprisingly, much of that demand has come from the Middle East. Wards reports that the first wave of deliveries are set to begin in the third quarter of this year. Buyers can expect to find a 6.2-liter, supercharged V8 engine lifted from the Cadillac CTS-V under the hood, coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission. Fisker Karma prices tanking on used market Buying into a new, fledgling automaker is always a big risk - the early-adopter upside has the potential to be great, but the downside can look like the mother of all hangovers. Unsurprisingly, that's the unpleasant financial reality facing Fisker Karma owners as they look to unload their extended-range electric sedans while the company's future bleakens. We've been keeping tabs on used Karma prices on eBay Motors and other websites for some time now, and there's been a steady stream of the voluptuous sedans on offer since not long after they first became available. Early on, we initially chalked that up to speculators, but moved on to imagining disgruntled owners as more and more mechanical and electrical problems were brought to light. Now, however, there's a bumper crop of Fisker models on the used market, with NBC News and Business Insider reporting that pre-owned examples are trading for under half their six-digit MSRPs just one year ago. Around 2,500 Karmas were made, and eBay Motors is playing host to 26 of them alone as this piece is being written. Scan over to AOL Autos ' listings, and there are 126 entries. For its part, the embattled startup has yet to declare bankruptcy, but it has laid off most of its employees and hired experts in the field suggesting they will soon. What's more, officials are looking to to recover as much of the $192 million in federal loans the company received , and despite some potential suitors sniffing around, no buyer for the company has emerged. No surprise, then, that Karma owners are looking to unload their models, likely fearing not only for their vehicles' resale values, but also the continued availability of parts and service. Question: If Karma prices continue to crater apace, how soon until shadetree mechanics follow the lead of Bob Lutz's VL Automotive Destino , which bins the Fisker's complex plug-in hybrid powertrain in favor of the supercharged LS9 V8 from the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 ? GM stock prices finally eclipse $33 IPO price General Motors has reached an important milestone this morning: the price for one share of the company has climbed to over $33. That's higher than the Initial Public Offering price from 2010. At roughly 12:15PM Eastern today, GM shares were up $0.97 on the day, some 2.99 percent, for a total of $33.36. The Detroit Free Press reports that the last time GM stock closed over $33 was on May 4, 2011. GM stock has been steadily growing in value throughout 2013. The stock price is up by 14 percent since the start of the year. The jump over $33 per share is undoubtedly great news for both investors and GM employees, who've suffered through some scary moments over the last few years. In 2012, the share price fell below $19. Later that summer, GM CEO Dan Akerson spent some $500,000 on 25,000 shares as a vote of confidence in the embattled automaker (shares that are now worth roughly $825k... nicely played, Dan). As has been widely reported, the $33 price still is far from the break-even point for the shares purchased by the US Government, however. The Treasury Department is still planning on divesting itself of GM shares by early 2014, and would need to see roughly $75 per share to break even on the investment it made in 2009 as part of the company's bankruptcy restructuring. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=084_1368900087 theLAB Investment Opp? KARMA, GMC, INVEST Sat, 18 May 2013 13:28:43 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e02_1368897969 mynipplesexploded Brian Handwerk For National Geographic News Published April 30, 2013 How many conservatives does it take to change a light bulb? A more intriguing question might be, "How many conservatives can you persuade to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs?" New research suggests that fewer will buy such bulbs when they're labeled as being good for the environment, largely because the issue of carbon emission reductions is so politically polarizing in the United States. "I think we've shown the negative consequences of environmental messaging," explained Dena Gromet , of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, lead author of a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . "In particular, you can lose significant portions of people who would otherwise be interested in these products when you use that environmental labeling. So it indicates that different messages can reach different groups." (See related interactive: " Light Bulb Savings Calculator .")The United States is one of many countries forcing a switch to more efficient light bulbs. In January, new efficiency requirements went into effect for 75-watt incandescent bulbs, following new standards on 100-watt bulbs a year earlier. (See related story: " U.S. Bids Farewell to the 75-Watt Incandescent Light Bulb .") The changes are driving a projected 857 kilowatthour-per-household reduction in energy used for U.S. residential lighting by 2040, a greater cut than for any other area of household energy use. But consumer complaints have been persistent, and Congress cut funding to enforce the standards. (See related quiz: " What You Don't Know About Energy-Efficient Lighting. ") The Importance of Price Gromet and colleagues from Wharton and Duke University's Fuqua School of Business first queried 657 volunteers to find out whether their opinions on energy-efficient products were split along a political divide. They were, she reported, and the issue of emissions reductions explained much of that ideological distance.Then, a set of 210 potential buyers were armed with information on the benefits of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL), which last 9,000 hours longer than incandescent bulbs, and cut energy costs by 75 percent. They were asked to choose between lower efficiency and higher efficiency options; efficient bulbs were offered, labeled with a "protect the environment" sticker in some cases, and at other times with a blank sticker.Political divisions appeared in purchasing choices-but not until price became an issue. When all bulbs were priced the same, every participant save one chose the energy-efficient option regardless of political persuasion."That indicates that people recognize the greater economic value of the bulb when there isn't a higher up-front cost," Gromet explained. But when the study represented retail realities, that more efficient options carry a higher up-front price tag (though consumers save money in the long run through lowered utility bills), fewer conservatives were willing to pay the extra cash for bulbs labeled as good for the environment."Our results demonstrated that a choice that wasn't ideologically polarizing without a ("protect the environment") label became polarizing when we included that environmental labeling," Gromet said. "We saw a significant drop-off in conservative people choosing to buy a more expensive, energy-efficient option."The explanation, Gromet suggests, could lie in labeling a consumer choice to represent values that simply aren't shared by all buyers-in this case the environmental issue of reducing carbon emissions."So it makes that choice unattractive to some people even if they recognize that it may be a money-saving choice. When we asked afterward, those consumers identified the CFL bulbs as providing greater monetary savings over time. But they would forgo that option when that product was made to represent a value that was not something they wanted to be identified with." (See related: " Missing the Chance for Big Energy Savings .")The study also suggested that pro-environmental messages don't have much of a positive influence on liberal consumers at the other end of the political spectrum. "We didn't see a significant boost among political liberals when we used the environmental message in our study," Gromet added. "We'd need a lot more data, but one possibility stemming from that is that you're not necessarily getting that much of a boost on the liberal side." Other Factors at Work? Jacquelyn Ottman , a marketing consultant specializing in sustainability who wrote The New Rules of Green Marketing , said she wouldn't expect green labeling to provide a big consumer boost for liberals or conservatives. People buy green products for the value they represent and because they work, she explained. Environmentally aware consumers do appreciate health benefits, and hope to protect the future for their families, but they aren't entirely swayed by green messaging, she said."Green marketing I lump in with things like 'made in America' or 'the union label.' They are nice for some people to think about when purchasing and maybe they add a little value are not really game-changers in terms of swaying decisions. Some people conclude that Americans don't care about the environment because if they did they'd be buying more green products. But by that logic you'd say Americans don't care about America because if they did they'd be buying more 'made in America' products also."As for the possible negative implications of green labeling, Ottman said other factors are likely at work besides politics. Some green offerings still battle stereotypes from decades ago, she said, when many were viewed as "alternative" products that simply didn't work as well and weren't produced by the larger brands consumers had come to trust. "There is a lingering misconception about green products that they don't work and that they are overpriced because they are gouging people based on their sentiments about saving the planet," she said.Some recent market research suggests that a different factor might be at work: Consumer dislike for CFLs may be a far greater problem than price or messaging. Sales of solid-state LED lighting are growing rapidly , even though this high-efficiency choice is more costly than CFLs. The Wharton-Duke study did not test attitudes on LEDs. (See related post: " LED Holiday Lights Boost the Season's Energy Efficiency .")Ottman added that some marketers might be more interested to learn about how short-term versus long-term savings factor into consumers' decision making, especially vis-`a-vis premium pricing for many environmentally preferable products-including light bulbs.That's an issue Gromet hopes to explore as well, along with energy independence and other benefits of efficient products unrelated to the environment."It's an open question whether emphasizing those other aspects of energy-efficiency might have different appeal to different (political sensibilities) and a different impact on consumer decisions," she said.Editors' note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that household energy use for lighting was projected to decrease by 857 percent. It has been corrected to reflect the reduction is 857 kilowatthours. This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge . http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/04/130430-light-bulb-labeling/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e02_1368897969 mynipplesexploded Pro-Environment Light Bulb Labeling Turns Off Conservatives, Study Finds Conservative, GOP, Right, Environment, Green Fri, 17 May 2013 17:31:26 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=01f_1368825980 unxzero M-Class Solar Flare ! Active Region 11748 produced an eruption peaking to M3.2 at 08:57 UTC this morning. Associated with this blast was a 10cm Radio Burst (Ten Flare) measuring 450 Solar Flux Units. We will now need to wait to see if the resulting Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) has an earth bound component, this was a long duration event so a strong CME should follow http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=01f_1368825980 unxzero M3.2 Solar Flare - May 17, 2013 M3.2 Solar Flare - May 17, 2013 Fri, 17 May 2013 13:53:01 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b17_1368812693 plokiju In a letter (PDF) sent to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Attorney General Eric Holder and SEC Chair Mary Jo White on Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) demanded to know why the government keeps accepting financial settlements from criminal bankers when they could instead be taken to trial, convicted and locked up. In six short paragraphs, Warren requested that each institution turn over copies of any internal research "on the trade-offs to the public" between letting big financial firms pay a fine and walk "without admission of guilt" versus moving forward with full-scale prosecutions. The letter was sent as a follow-up to a similar question she asked of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Feb. 14. Warren noted that the OCC replied last week denying the existence of any such research. In her letter sent Tuesday, she went on to add: ...I believe very strongly that if a regulator reveals itself to be unwilling to take large financial institutions all the way to trial - either because it is too timid or because it lacks resources - the regulator has a lot less leverage in settlement negotiations and will be forced to settle on terms that are much more favorable to the wrongdoer. The consequence can be insufficient compensation to those who are harmed by illegal activity and inadequate deterrence of future violations. If large financial institutions can break the law and accumulate millions in profits and, if they get caught, settle by paying out of those profits, they do not have much incentive to follow the law. There's been a rash of mega-settlements between the government and the nation's largest banks in recent years over allegations of foreclosing on people without just cause, knowingly making bad loans and reselling the debt, making false statements to rob from retired pensioners, laundering money for drug cartels, repressive regimes and terrorists, and agreeing to settlements and then ignoring them, to name a few. "The problem is the banks have overwhelming confidence that law enforcement is not taking this seriously," New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said last Monday, appearing on MSNBC. "They have overwhelming confidence that whatever the rules are, they won't be followed up on." Five years on from a financial crisis that nearly froze the flow of credit in the United States and sparked a multi-trillion dollar bailing-out of the global financial industry, few American bankers and big finance executives have faced criminal charges. There is, however, one notable exception: Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff, who defrauded mainly wealthy clients to the tune of $64.8 billion. He said from jail in 2011 that many of his former colleagues on Wall Street engage in criminal insider trading on a regular basis, much like he did. "It's unbelievable, Goldman ... no one has any criminal convictions," Madoff told New York Magazine earlier that year. "The whole new regulatory reform is a joke. The whole government is a Ponzi scheme." http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/15/sen-warren-demands-to-know-why-criminal-bankers-arent-being-locked-up/ Audit: Fed gave $16 trillion in emergency loans Of the $16.1 trillion loaned out, $3.08 trillion went to financial institutions in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium, the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) analysis shows. Additionally, asset swap arrangements were opened with banks in the U.K., Canada, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Mexico, Singapore and Switzerland. Twelve of those arrangements are still ongoing, having been extended through August 2012. Out of all borrowers, Citigroup received the most financial assistance from the Fed, at $2.5 trillion. Morgan Stanley came in second with $2.04 trillion, followed by Merill Lynch at $1.9 trillion and Bank of America at $1.3 trillion. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/21/audit-fed-gave-16-trillion-in-emergency-loans/ I couldn't find a video of the Warren story but here's a related story that will make your blood boil -ed http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b17_1368812693 plokiju Sen. Warren demands to know why criminal bankers aren't being locked up Sen, Warren, demands, why, criminal, bankers, aren't, being, locked, up Thu, 16 May 2013 07:50:42 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ce0_1368704288 Detroit Iron Posted By John Hudson Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - 6:56 PM Insiders with ties to the Obama administration tell The Cable that U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has become the heir apparent to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon -- a post at the epicenter of foreign-policy decision making and arguably more influential than secretary of state, a job for which she withdrew her candidacy last fall amid severe political pressure. "It's definitely happening," a source who recently spoke with Rice told The Cable. "She is sure she is coming and so too her husband and closest friends." "Susan is a very likely candidate to replace him whenever he would choose to leave," agreed Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Obama and counselor at the Washington Institute. "She is close to the president, has the credentials, and has a breadth of experience." Both sources said the timing of succession was uncertain. "I don't believe Tom Donilon is about to leave but would be surprised if he were to remain for the whole second term," Ross said. "But in answer to your question, is very logical." Rice's candidacy for secretary of state imploded in November after she recited talking points about the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi on five Sunday talk shows that turned out to be erroneous. The question now is whether Benghazi's return to the spotlight will affect her potential appointment at a time when the White House is reeling from revelations about the IRS's scrutiny of conservative groups and the Justice Department's subpoena of the calling records of AP journalists. For now, prominent Republicans don't seem inclined to make a fuss. In November, Arizona Sen. John McCain pledged to "do everything in my power to block her from becoming secretary of state"; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said , "I don't think she deserves to be promoted"; and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker said she'd make a better DNC chair: "I think most of us want someone who is more independent minded." But now -- even as Benghazi fever reaches a crescendo following last week's dramatic "whistleblower" hearing and Wednesday's release of 100 pages of Benghazi emails -- the GOP's desire to check her rise has seemingly evaporated, and Republicans have few tools to prevent her appointment, which would not require Senate confirmation. When asked if he was concerned about a future National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Corker, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Cable he was sitting this one out. "In the case of national security advisor," he said, "whomever serves in that position serves at the pleasure of the president. So it's totally his prerogative." When The Cable asked Graham and McCain the same question, their spokesmen declined to comment. In some ways, the deflated interest in Rice is only natural. Though the testimony of State Department witnesses last week served to highlight the inaccuracy of Rice's talk-show appearances, new details of the editing process of her talking points show her nowhere near the drafting process -- just as the administration has long maintained. Meanwhile, a more tantalizing GOP target has emerged in the form of Hillary Clinton, the overwhelming favorite to assume the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Democrats, Republicans and witnesses fixated on Clinton 32 times during discussions in last week's hearing. Rice spokeswoman Erin Pelton declined to comment for this article. White House National Security Council Spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said, "We don't have any personnel announcements to make at this time, and Mr. Donilon has no plans to depart at this point." She added that Donilon is "fully engaged in managing our national security agenda, from his recent trip to Moscow and major address on global energy, to planning for a trip to China in late May and more upcoming speaking events." The administration hasn't shied away from heaping praise on Rice. Last week, at a gala for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Vice President Joe Biden told the audience that the U.N. ambassador has "the absolute, total, complete confidence of the president," and that when she speaks on issues of foreign policy, nobody doubts she's speaking for Obama. Back in March, when colleague Colum Lynch first reported whispers of Rice's comeback, Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, spoke glowingly of Rice's relationship with the president. "Susan always maintains close relations with the president and his national security team, and that continues to be the case," he said. "If anything, the way she handled the Benghazi situation -- and then the withdrawal -- only enhanced her relations here, because she did so with grace and good humor." The president himself has gone out of his way to wink at an expanded role for Rice within his administration. "I have every confidence that Susan has limitless capability to serve our country now and in the years to come, and know that I will continue to rely on her as an advisor and friend," Obama said in a December statement. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/15/will_benghazi_furor_keep_susan_rice_out_of_the_white_house http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ce0_1368704288 Detroit Iron Will Benghazi furor keep Susan Rice out of the White House? Obama administration, Susan Rice, Thu, 16 May 2013 06:28:09 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f55_1368699759 GIXXARDR Ron Burgundy is not the only TV anchor to fall victim to a teleprompter gag. (Story here) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f55_1368699759 GIXXARDR Cute newsreader falls victim to autocue gag. Anchorman, autocue, gag, joke, Roz, Kelly, Today, show, host, Thu, 16 May 2013 04:46:05 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f14_1368692813 alex91 Genova 08 May. The ship called Jolly Nero was manoeuvring out of the port with the help of tugboats in calm conditions when accidentally hit the control tower. 8 people dead and 1 still miss. The cause of crash is not clear. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f14_1368692813 alex91 Ship hit the tower control ship accident tower genova Thu, 09 May 2013 12:41:32 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d25_1368117520 CptSpaulding Daoud Brigade mortar fire over SAA positions. Idlib 08/05 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d25_1368117520 CptSpaulding Syria - Ahrar al-Sham shellig SAA positions <span class="highlight">08</span>/05 syria uprising Wed, 08 May 2013 13:25:38 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=19c_1368033268 CptSpaulding FSA Ninja-Women Commando in action Aleppo 08/05 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=19c_1368033268 CptSpaulding Syria - FSA Ninja-Women Commando in action <span class="highlight">08</span>/05 syria uprising