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		<title>Chemical Industry: 1 California Children: 0 Senator Pavley’s BPA Ban Fails Amid Heavy Chemical &amp; Pharmaceutical Industry Lobbying</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:08:20 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[babies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bisphenol A]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cardiovascular disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diabetes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[liver problems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medical problems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scare tactics]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[from centurycitynews.com
video by ABCActionnews
 

Chemical Industry: 1
California Children: 0
 
Senator Pavley’s BPA Ban Fails Amid Heavy Chemical &#38; Pharmaceutical Industry Lobbying 
In the wake of an expensive and shamefully deceptive lobbying campaign waged by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, California Senate members voted down Senator Fran Pavley’s Toxics-Free Babies and Toddlers Act (SB 797). The bill, which [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address>from <a href="http://www.centurycitynews.com" target="_blank">centurycitynews.com</a></address>
<address>video by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/ABCActionNews" target="_blank">ABCActionnews</a></address>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<div id="attachment_769" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 451px"><a href="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hverdagens_kemi_306435a.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-769   " title="Hverdagens_kemi_306435a" src="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Hverdagens_kemi_306435a.jpg" alt="Baby bottle" width="441" height="294" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">image from politiken.dk</p></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><span>Chemical Industry: 1</span></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><span>California</span><span> Children: 0</span></h2>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong> </strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><em><span>Senator Pavley</span></em></strong><strong><em><span>’s BPA Ban Fails Amid Heavy Chemical &amp; Pharmaceutical Industry Lobbying </span></em></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>In the wake of an expensive and shamefully deceptive lobbying campaign waged by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, California Senate members voted down Senator Fran Pavley’s Toxics-Free Babies and Toddlers Act (SB 797). The bill, which was defeated in the final hours of the legislative session late Tuesday night, would have worked in coordination with</span><span>California</span><span>’s Green Chemistry Initiative to ban the use of BPA in feeding products designed for children three and under. With a final vote of 19 -18 the bill was just two votes shy of passage. Two member of the Senate who had previously voted in favor of the bill are out on medical leave.</span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">-<span style="font-size: small;"><span id="more-766"></span></span></h3>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>“It’s a shame that we have failed to protect our most vulnerable citizens from this toxic chemical,” said</span><span>Senator Pavley</span><span> (D–Santa Monica). “This has been a real David vs. Goliath fight and I’m disappointed that some of my colleagues in the Senate chose to side with the powerful chemical and pharmaceutical industries and not with</span><span>California</span><span> children.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>California was poised to join Canada, </span><span>Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, Wisconsin and Washington state <span>and several other cities and counties in the United States that, with significant bi-partisan support, have enacted bans on BPA in baby bottles and other feeding products for children. “The science on BPA clearly shows cause for alarm,” said</span></span><span>Senator Pavley</span><span>. “Every child from every community in our state deserves access to safe, affordable products. “</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Bisphenol-A (BPA) is an artificial hormone that is widely used in shatter-proof plastic baby bottles, sippy cups and the lining of formula cans. It leaches out of containers and into food and drink consumed by babies and young children.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>More than 220 peer-reviewed studies have linked BPA to a host of health problems, including breast and prostrate cancer, infertility, obesity, and neurological and behavioral changes, including autism and hyperactivity.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Senator Pavley</span><span>’s SB 797 was co-authored by Senator Carol Liu, D –</span><span>Pasadena</span><span>, and was sponsored by Breast Cancer Fund, Environmental Working Group and Physicians for Social Responsibility.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>“We are heartbroken, disappointed and perplexed,” said Gretchen Salter of Breast Cancer Fund. “In the seven states that have banned BPA, both Republicans and Democrats have joined together to protect children. I hate to say it, but after an intensive and expensive lobbying campaign by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, it looks like big money has trumped the health of babies in the </span><span>California</span><span> legislature today.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>The bill had widespread support from health care professionals, business owners and a long and diverse list of organizations including; Black Women for Wellness, Latinas for Reproductive Justice, The Help Group for Autism Spectrum Disorders, California Teachers Association, California Nurses Association, Asian Health Services, California Women Infants and Children (WIC), SEIU, California Labor Federation, and Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice to name a few. The opponents included BPA manufacturers Dow and SABIC Innovative Plastics, as well as infant formula makers Abbott, Mead Johnson, and Nestle.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>SB 797 passed the Senate in June of 2009 and the Assembly in July of 2010. However, the bill failed to pass a Senate concurrence vote that would have sent the bill to the governor’s desk. Two Senators who originally voted for the ban in the Senate are now out on medical leave.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><span>Misleading Fear Tactics</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Highly paid lobbyists told some lawmakers food production plants in their districts like General Mills would close even though those plants do not produce any baby food or baby products. Lobbyists for formula companies told lawmakers in both the Assembly and the Senate that alternative products aren’t available and a ban on BPA would cause a formula shortage. Yet, at the same time these companies are marketing a variety of formula and food containers to parents as “BPA free.” Industry lobbyists used their scare tactics on voters by sending direct mail claiming that a BPA ban would be too costly for lower-income families and deprive consumers of access to canned goods. It’s not true.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Affordable alternatives for BPA are already on the market. Playtex, Evenflo, Gerber, Advent and Disney First Years have eliminated it from many of their products. Wal-Mart and Toys R Us have pulled BPA-laced products from their shelves.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>“It’s a shame the chemical and pharmaceutical industries stooped to such low levels to try and confuse voters and lawmakers,” said</span><span>Senator Pavley</span><span>.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><span>What Happens Behind Closed Doors; Industry Tactics Leaked</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>In May 2009, chemical and food industry lobbyists called an emergency brainstorming session to devise an attack plan to kill SB 797 and similar bills pending around the country.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>Meeting behind closed doors at the exclusive Cosmos Club in Washington D.C., representatives from Coca-Cola, Alcoa, Del Monte, Crown, the American Chemistry Council, the North American Metal Packaging Alliance, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association committed a half million dollars to an effort to “prolong the life of BPA.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>A copy of the <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ewg.org%2Ffiles%2FBPA-Joint-Trade-Association.pdf" target="_blank">meeting minutes</a> leaked to the <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/46630742.html" target="_blank">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a>, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/30/AR2009053002121.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>, and Environmental Working Group revealed the attendees discussed employing some disturbing tactics to kill BPA legislation in California including:</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>-Using “fear tactics (e.g. ‘Do you want to have access to baby food anymore?’)”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>-Focusing on “the impact of BPA bans on minorities (Hispanic and African American)</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>and poor,” by insinuating that without BPA, food prices would rise.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>-Finding a “pregnant young mother who would be willing to speak around the country</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>about the benefits of BPA,” something which the group referred to as “the holy grail”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>According to <em><em><span>The Washington Post</span></em></em><em>,</em> the accuracy of the note was confirmed by Kathleen M. Roberts, a lobbyist for the North American Metal Packaging Alliance.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>After the meeting’s minutes were leaked, Coca-Cola disavowed the group’s tactics, but none of the other attendees followed suit.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>While the tactics backfired in states like</span><span>Connecticut</span><span>, they seemed to be working in</span><span>California</span><span> according to a recent story by <a href="http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/lobbyist-plan-use-fear-tactics-fight-bpa-ban-seems-be-working" target="_blank">California Watch/Center for Investigative Reporting</a>.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span>“They stole the playbook from the tobacco industry,” said</span><span>Senator Pavley</span><span>. “And sadly, it worked. But I will continue to fight for the health and well-being of</span><span>California</span><span>’s children and I’m confident this toxic chemical will ultimately be banned for our children’s food and drink.”</span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Cash register receipts contain BPA, a disputed toxin</h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3YD5Km--Tw"><span class="youtube">
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<p id="eow-description" style="text-align: center;">Bisphenol-A or BPA is a chemical used in the making of plastic bottles and containers. Some say the chemical is toxic, and it&#8217;s been linked to receipts</p>
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		<title>crystalline fructose</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChicagoAtEase/~3/NPAgVVdvovc/</link>
		<comments>http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=760#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:49:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fructose]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corn syruo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crystalline fructose]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=760</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[from thegoldenspiral.org
 
The body doesn’t handle large amounts of fructose well. You can maintain life with intravenous glucose, but not with intravenous fructose; severe derangement of liver function results. There’s also evidence that a high intake of fructose elevates levels of circulating fats (serum triglycerides), increasing the risk of heart disease. I never use fructose in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address>from <a href="http://thegoldenspiral.org" target="_blank">thegoldenspiral.org</a></address>
<p> </p>
<p><em>The body doesn’t handle large amounts of fructose well. You can maintain life with intravenous glucose, but not with intravenous fructose; severe derangement of liver function results. There’s also evidence that a high intake of fructose elevates levels of circulating fats (serum triglycerides), increasing the risk of heart disease. I never use fructose in my home.  <a href="http://www.drweil.com/" target="_blank">dr. andrew weil</a></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/fructose.gif" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-762 aligncenter" title="fructose" src="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/fructose.gif" alt="" width="349" height="253" /></a> </p>
<p>So, there is a new criminal in town.  Seems to be the next generation of high fructose corn syrup.  But this guy is even more devious placing himself in “healthy” drinks. </p>
<h3>-<span id="more-760"></span></h3>
<p>I am referring to crystalline fructose.  It is produced by allowing HFCS to crystallize. It is then dried and milled into the desired particle size for packaging.  As a result, it is 100% fructose.  </p>
<p>Fructose is not the best thing for your body.  Fructose exists in foods as either a monosaccharide (free fructose) or as a disaccharide (sucrose). Free fructose does not undergo digestion; however when fructose is consumed in the form of sucrose, digestion occurs entirely in the upper small intestine. As sucrose comes into contact with the membrane of the small intestine, the enzyme sucrase catalyzes the cleavage of sucrose to yield one glucose and fructose unit. Fructose, passes through the small intestine, virtually unchanged, then enters the portal vein and is directed toward the liver.</p>
<p>I know that is a lot of information, so lets see if I can make it a bit more understandable.  When fructose is in the presence of sucrose, your body has a better chance of understanding what to do with it in terms of breaking it down and processing it.  When it stands alone, your body does not know how to metabolize the molecule, so it sends it right to your liver.  This results in the fattening of the liver, or cirrhosis.  So, why is this important.  Well, HFCS is a blend of 45% sucrose and 55% fructose.  Therefore, to an extent your body knows what to do in its presence.  In contrast, crystalline fructose is 100% fructose.  This means you have an even higher chance of developing fatty liver.  </p>
<p>(edit. note.: I do not want this to be used as justification for allowing consumption of HFCS.  HFCS has its own list of harmful reasons to stop ingesting it.  In this example, I am just focusing on the metabolism of the fructose molecule.)</p>
<p>Here is another reason to avoid crystalline fructose…. arsenic.  Yes.  The processing of this molecule allows for acceptable levels of arsenic, heavy metals, lead and chloride.  Again, these are toxic chemicals that your body is unable to process.  The impact on your health is immeasurable.  While, a simple serving of the drink might not be bad, over time the build up of any one of these components can lead to death.  </p>
<p>The biggest reason this particular molecule is so bad is because of the products it is being placed in: health drinks.  Vitamin Water seems to be the most popular of the beverages, but other examples are FUZE, Mistic, SoBe, Snapple and W20 for Women.</p>
<p>There is an entire category of beverage, marketed as healthful for you and your body, most commonly encouraged to drink after your work-out.  In reality, you would be better off drinking a Coke after a hard exercise routine, as compared to Vitamin Water.</p>
<p>This is just another example of how the food industry and the corn industry have managed to get a toxic substance into the food you eat.  As people get away from HFCS, there is something to easily replace it.  And as people become more aware of CF, there will be another substitution.  This is an ongoing process that is damaging the health of Americans.</p>
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		<title>Arizona, Borderlands and U.S.-Mexican Relations</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:27:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Arizona]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[from stratfor.com
by George Friedman
 This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR

 

Arizona’s new law on illegal immigration went into effect last week, albeit severely limited by a federal court ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court undoubtedly will settle the matter, which may also trigger federal regulations. However that turns out, the entire issue cannot simply be seen [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address>from <a href="http://www.stratfor.com" target="_blank">stratfor.com</a></address>
<address>by George Friedman</address>
<address> This report is republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stratfor.com" target="_blank">STRATFOR</a></address>
<address></address>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/geopolitical1.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-735 aligncenter" title="geopolitical" src="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/geopolitical1.jpg" alt="" width="390" height="200" /></a> </p>
<div>
<p>Arizona’s new law on illegal immigration went into effect last week, albeit severely limited by a federal court ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court undoubtedly will settle the matter, which may also trigger federal regulations. However that turns out, the entire issue cannot simply be seen as an internal American legal matter. More broadly, it forms part of the relations between the United States and Mexico, two sovereign nation-states whose internal dynamics and interests are leading them into an era of increasing tension. Arizona and the entire immigration issue have to be viewed in this broader context.</p>
<h3>-<span id="more-755"></span></h3>
<h3>-<img title="More..." src="http://www.americatoday.tv/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" /></h3>
<p>Until the Mexican-American War, it was not clear whether the dominant power in North America would have its capital in <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/net_assessment_united_states?fn=9916840556" target="_blank">Washington</a> or <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20091112_geopolitics_mexico_mountain_fortress_besieged?fn=5716840568" target="_blank">Mexico City</a>. Mexico was the older society with a substantially larger military. The United States, having been founded east of the Appalachian Mountains, had been a weak and vulnerable country. At its founding, it lacked strategic depth and adequate north-south transportation routes. The ability of one colony to support another in the event of war was limited. More important, the United States had the most vulnerable of economies: It was heavily dependent on maritime exports and lacked a navy able to protect its sea-lanes against more powerful European powers like England and Spain. The War of 1812 showed the deep weakness of the United States. By contrast, Mexico had greater strategic depth and less dependence on exports.</p>
<h3>The Centrality of New Orleans</h3>
<p>The <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical_diary/20090701_geopolitical_diary_americas_indivisible_imperatives?fn=4216840546" target="_blank">American solution to this strategic weakness</a> was to expand the United States west of the Appalachians, first into the Northwest Territory ceded to the United States by the United Kingdom and then into the Louisiana Purchase, which Thomas Jefferson ordered bought from France. These two territories gave the United States both strategic depth and a new economic foundation. The regions could support agriculture that produced more than the farmers could consume. Using the Ohio-Missouri-Mississippi river system, products could be shipped south to New Orleans. New Orleans was the farthest point south to which flat-bottomed barges from the north could go, and the farthest inland that oceangoing ships could travel. New Orleans became the single most strategic point in North America. Whoever controlled it controlled the agricultural system developing between the Appalachians and the Rockies. During the War of 1812, the British tried to seize New Orleans, but forces led by Andrew Jackson defeated them in a battle fought after the war itself was completed.</p>
<p>Jackson understood <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/new_orleans_geopolitical_prize?fn=9916840586" target="_blank">the importance of New Orleans to the United States</a>. He also understood that the main threat to New Orleans came from Mexico. The U.S.-Mexican border then stood on the Sabine River, which divides today’s Texas from Louisiana. It was about 200 miles from that border to New Orleans and, at its narrowest point, a little more than 100 miles from the Sabine to the Mississippi.</p>
<p>Mexico therefore represented a fundamental threat to the United States. In response, Jackson authorized a covert operation under Sam Houston to foment an uprising among American settlers in the Mexican department of Texas with the aim of pushing Mexico farther west. With its larger army, a Mexican thrust to the Mississippi was not impossible — nor something the Mexicans would necessarily avoid, as the rising United States threatened Mexican national security.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100405_mexico_and_failed_state_revisited?fn=9916840561" target="_blank">Mexico’s strategic problem</a> was the geography south of the Rio Grande (known in Mexico as the Rio Bravo). This territory consisted of desert and mountains. Settling this area with large populations was impossible. Moving through it was difficult. As a result, Texas was very lightly settled with Mexicans, prompting Mexico initially to encourage Americans to settle there. Once a rising was fomented among the Americans, it took time and enormous effort to send a Mexican army into Texas. When it arrived, it was weary from the journey and short of supplies. The insurgents were defeated at the Alamo and Goliad, but as the Mexicans pushed their line east toward the Mississippi, they were defeated at San Jacinto, near present-day Houston.</p>
<p>The creation of an independent Texas served American interests, relieving the threat to New Orleans and weakening Mexico. The final blow was delivered under President James K. Polk during the Mexican-American War, which (after the Gadsden Purchase) resulted in the modern U.S.-Mexican border. That war severely weakened both the Mexican army and Mexico City, which spent roughly the rest of the century stabilizing Mexico’s original political order.</p>
<h3>A Temporary Resolution</h3>
<p>The U.S. defeat of Mexico settled the issue of the relative power of Mexico and the United States but did not permanently resolve the region’s status; that remained a matter of national power and will. The United States had the same problem with much of the Southwest (aside from California) that Mexico had: It was a relatively unattractive place economically, given that so much of it was inhospitable. The region experienced chronic labor shortages, relatively minor at first but accelerating over time. The acquisition of <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical_diary_immigration_debate?fn=1416840563" target="_blank">relatively low-cost labor</a> became one of the drivers of the region’s economy, and the nearest available labor pool was Mexico. An accelerating population movement out of Mexico and into the territory the United States seized from Mexico paralleled the region’s accelerating economic growth.</p>
<p>The United States and Mexico both saw this as mutually beneficial. From the American point of view, there was a perpetual shortage of low-cost, low-end labor in the region. From the Mexican point of view, Mexico had a population surplus that the Mexican economy could not readily metabolize. The inclination of the United States to pull labor north was thus matched by the inclination of Mexico to push that labor north.</p>
<p>The Mexican government built its social policy around the idea of exporting surplus labor — and as important, using remittances from immigrants to stabilize the Mexican economy. The U.S. government, however, wanted an outcome that was illegal under U.S. law. At times, the federal government made exceptions to the law. When it lacked the political ability to change the law, the United States put limits on the resources needed to enforce the law. The rest of the country didn’t notice this process while the former Mexican borderlands benefited from it economically. There were costs to the United States in this immigrant movement, in health care, education and other areas, but business interests saw these as minor costs while Washington saw them as costs to be borne by the states.</p>
<p>Three fault lines emerged in United States on the topic. One was between the business classes, which benefited directly from the flow of immigrants and could shift the cost of immigration to other social sectors, and those who did not enjoy those benefits. The second lay between the federal government, which saw the costs as trivial, and the states, which saw them as intensifying over time. And third, there were tensions between Mexican-American citizens and other American citizens over the question of illegal migrants. This inherently divisive, potentially explosive mix intensified as the process continued.</p>
<h3>Borderlands and the Geopolitics of Immigration</h3>
<p>Underlying this political process was a geopolitical one. Immigration in any country is destabilizing. Immigrants have destabilized the United States ever since the Scots-Irish changed American culture, taking political power and frightening prior settlers. The same immigrants were indispensible to economic growth. Social and cultural instability proved a low price to pay for the acquisition of new labor.</p>
<p>That equation ultimately also works in the case of <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/borderlands_and_immigrants?fn=2916840587" target="_blank">Mexican migrants</a>, but there is a fundamental difference. When the Irish or the Poles or the South Asians came to the United States, they were physically isolated from their homelands. The Irish might have wanted Roman Catholic schools, but in the end, they had no choice but to assimilate into the dominant culture. The retention of cultural hangovers did not retard basic cultural assimilation, given that they were far from home and surrounded by other, very different, groups.</p>
<p>This is the case for Mexican-Americans in Chicago or Alaska, whether citizens, permanent residents or illegal immigrants. In such locales, they form a substantial but ultimately isolated group, surrounded by other, larger groups and generally integrated into the society and economy. Success requires that subsequent generations follow the path of prior immigrants and integrate. This is not the case, however, for Mexicans moving into the borderlands conquered by the United States just as it is not the case in other borderlands around the world. Immigrant populations in this region are not physically separated from their homeland, but rather can be seen as culturally extending their homeland northward — in this case not into alien territory, but into historically Mexican lands.</p>
<p>This is no different from what takes place in <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100526_slovakia_hungary_spat_over_citizenship?fn=4616840575" target="_blank">borderlands the world over</a>. The political border moves because of war. Members of an alien population suddenly become citizens of a new country. Sometimes, massive waves of immigrants from the group that originally controlled the territory politically move there, undertaking new citizenship or refusing to do so. The cultural status of the borderland shifts between waves of ethnic cleansing and population movement. Politics and economics mix, sometimes peacefully and sometimes explosively.</p>
<p>The Mexican-American War established the political boundary between the two countries. Economic forces on both sides of the border have encouraged both legal and illegal immigration north into the borderland — the area occupied by the United States. The cultural character of the borderland is shifting as the economic and demographic process accelerates. The political border stays where it is while the cultural border moves northward.</p>
<p>The underlying fear of those opposing this process is not economic (although it is frequently expressed that way), but much deeper: It is the fear that the massive population movement will ultimately reverse the military outcome of the 1830s and 1840s, returning the region to Mexico culturally or even politically. Such borderland conflicts rage throughout the world. The fear is that it will rage here.</p>
<p>The problem is that Mexicans are not seen in the traditional context of immigration to the United States. As I have said, some see them as extending their homeland into the United States, rather than as leaving their homeland and coming to the United States. Moreover, by treating illegal immigration as an acceptable mode of immigration, a sense of helplessness is created, a feeling that the prior order of society was being profoundly and illegally changed. And finally, when those who express these concerns are demonized, they become radicalized. The tension between Washington and Arizona — between those who benefit from the migration and those who don’t — and the tension between Mexican-Americans who are legal residents and citizens of the United States and support illegal immigration and non-Mexicans who oppose illegal immigration creates a potentially explosive situation.</p>
<p>Centuries ago, Scots moved to Northern Ireland after the English conquered it. <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100129_northern_ireland_devolution_power_and_potential_violence?fn=6216840538" target="_blank">The question of Northern Ireland</a>, a borderland, was never quite settled. Similarly, Albanians moved to <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100722_kosovo_consequences_icj_opinion?fn=3916840523" target="_blank">now-independent Kosovo</a>, where tensions remain high. The world is filled with borderlands where political and cultural borders don’t coincide and where one group wants to change the political border that another group sees as sacred.</p>
<p>Migration to the United States is a normal process. Migration into the borderlands from Mexico is not. The land was seized from Mexico by force, territory now experiencing a massive national movement — legal and illegal — changing the cultural character of the region. It should come as no surprise that this is destabilizing the region, as instability naturally flows from such forces.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/geopolitics_israel_biblical_and_modern?fn=9416840597" target="_blank">Jewish migration to modern-day Israel</a> represents a worst-case scenario for borderlands. An absence of stable political agreements undergirding this movement characterized this process. One of the characteristics of the <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20090113_geopolitics_palestinians?fn=3916840592" target="_blank">Israeli-Palestinian conflict</a> is mutual demonization. In the case of Arizona, demonization between the two sides also runs deep. The portrayal of supporters of Arizona’s new law as racist and the characterization of critics of that law as un-American is neither new nor promising. It is the way things would sound in a situation likely to get out of hand.</p>
<p>Ultimately, this is not about the Arizona question. It is about the relationship between Mexico and the United States on a range of issues, immigration merely being one of them. The problem as I see it is that the immigration issue is being treated as an internal debate among Americans when it is really about reaching an understanding with Mexico. Immigration has been treated as a subnational issue involving individuals. It is in fact a geopolitical issue between two nation-states. Over the past decades, Washington has tried to avoid turning immigration into an international matter, portraying it rather as an American law enforcement issue. In my view, it cannot be contained in that box any longer.</p>
<address>This report is republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stratfor.com" target="_blank">STRATFOR</a><a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100802_arizona_borderlands_and_us_mexican_relations?utm_source=GWeekly&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=100803&amp;utm_content=readmore&amp;elq=54da32993f9642428d52ac9dd313a362#ixzz0vbQ0wIQm" target="_blank"></a></address>
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		<title>Food: The Ultimate Secret Exposed Addendum – Chemical BPA Linked to Medical Problems</title>
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		<comments>http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=753#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Aug 2010 03:25:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bisphenol A]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cardiovascular disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diabetes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[liver problems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medical problems]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=753</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[from TheAexJonesChannel
 







www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QRKQGvT5Cg
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—A new study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that higher levels of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in people&#8217;s urine were associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver problems. People with the highest BPA levels were twice as likely to suffer from diabetes or cardiovascular problems [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address>from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel" target="_blank">TheAexJonesChannel</a></address>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QRKQGvT5Cg&amp;feature=player_embedded"><span class="youtube">
<object width="425" height="373">
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</span><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QRKQGvT5Cg">www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QRKQGvT5Cg</a></p></a></p>
<p id="eow-description">RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—A new study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that higher levels of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in people&#8217;s urine were associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver problems. People with the highest BPA levels were twice as likely to suffer from diabetes or cardiovascular problems than those with lower levels.</p>
<p>THE DETAILS: Found in those hard-plastic water bottles we all carry, BPA is also used in the lining of some soda, food, and baby-formula cans. The hormonelike chemical has been linked to genital abnormalities, early puberty, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and fertility problems in hundreds of animal studies. This latest study examined data previously collected from 1,455 adults between 18 and 74 years old.</p>
<p><a title="http://www.rodale.com/bpa-and-plastic" dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rodale.com/bpa-and-plastic" target="_blank">http://www.rodale.com/bpa-and-plastic</a></p>
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		<title>God Bless the 12 Republican American Patriots</title>
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		<comments>http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=751#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Jul 2010 05:06:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[first responders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care bill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=751</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ 
&#8230;that voted for the 7+ billion dollar health care bill for the First Responders.
 Yes, God bless them for refusing to play a stupid game that the old school Republicans are making genuine patriotic Americans sick of. Cut the politics when it needs to be cut and help the first responders. I am emotional about this [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> </p>
<h3>&#8230;that voted for the 7+ billion dollar health care bill for the First Responders.</h3>
<p> Yes, God bless them for refusing to play a stupid game that the old school Republicans are making genuine patriotic Americans sick of. Cut the politics when it needs to be cut and help the first responders. I am emotional about this as 9/11 is fresh in my memory and but a faded paragraph in the minds of the Republicans that threw these heroes under the proverbial bus. For once, we have to honor our heroes.</p>
<h3>-<span id="more-751"></span></h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4zwCMf8dsc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4zwCMf8dsc</a></p>
<address style="text-align: center;">video from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/NewYorkLiberal" target="_blank">NewYorkLiberal</a></address>
<p> Hey, the Democrats wanted a 2/3<sup>rd</sup> majority instead of a simple majority? I WANT A 100% UNANIMITY!!! This Republican garbage of “NO” to these HEROES sickens me! I sincerely hope that they remember that date of infamy when our shores were attacked and those brave men and women SELFLESSLY risked all to assist in whatever way they could to save lives at the risk of losing theirs.</p>
<p>You have to deliniate at some point when PATRIOTISM comes before politics and this is one of them.</p>
<p>And here is what is a “sticking point” for the Republicans…</p>
<p>from <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/30/new-york-lawmakers-spar-failed-aid-sick-responders/" target="_blank">foxnews.com</a></p>
<p><em>“To pay the bill&#8217;s estimated $7.4 billion cost over 10 years, the legislation would have prevented foreign multinational corporations incorporated in tax haven countries from avoiding tax on income earned in the U.S.</em></p>
<p><em>Bill supporters said that would close a tax loophole; Republicans branded it a corporate tax increase.”</em></p>
<p>WTF?  FOREIGN multinational companies MORE IMPORTANT than the first responders of 9/11? That’s IT? What  America is this? The first responders THROWN under the bus for the profit of FOREIGN multinational companies. PLEASE, I pray that tea party members see through this obscenity and encourage whatever AMERICAN Republicans are left in Congress to actually THINK about what they are doing and the damage thet are inflicting. I don’t give a hoot if the Democrats praise this bill. I PRAISE IT as it helps OUR AMERICAN heroes.</p>
<p>Thank you for allowing me to vent on this most emotional topic. I am typing through tears now so I will end this comment. Please help our American heroes as they were prous to serve their country.</p>
<p>Simple majority, indeed!</p>
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		<title>Cash register can be a BPA polluter</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChicagoAtEase/~3/xAgjX7QkAVk/</link>
		<comments>http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=744#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:39:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BPA pollution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cash register]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pollution]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=744</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[from foodconsumer.org
by David Liu
 
 
Cash registers from your favorite retailers or service providers may be an important source of environmental pollution.  A new study has found almost 40 percent of thermal paper receipts tested contain high levels of bisphenol A or BPA and worse yet, you could not tell which contains EPA and which does not by [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address>from <a href="http://www.foodconsumer.org" target="_blank">foodconsumer.org</a></address>
<address>by David Liu</address>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"> <a href="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/800px-Bisphenol_A_svg.png" target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-746 alignright" title="800px-Bisphenol_A_svg" src="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/800px-Bisphenol_A_svg-300x99.png" alt="" width="180" height="59" /></a></span></p>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">Cash registers from your favorite retailers or service providers may be an important source of environmental pollution.  A new study has found almost 40 percent of thermal paper receipts tested contain high levels of bisphenol A or BPA and worse yet, you could not tell which contains EPA and which does not by visual inspection.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">Bispehnol A, a biologically active estrogen mimic that is an endocrine disruptor, has been known to cause problems with brain, behavioral or reproductive system in young children, according to a comprehensive report released early by the U.S. National Toxicology </span><span style="color: #000000;">Program. For instance, exposure to BPA has been linked to early puberty in girls and increased risk of breast cancer</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"><strong>-<span id="more-744"></span></strong></span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">The NTP says &#8220;The NTP has some concern for effects on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures to bisphenol A.&#8221; </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">Studies have showed that even an extremely low level of bisphenol A like parts per billion (PPB) can be risky.  Sufficient evidence has prompted Canada and some states in the United States to consider a ban on polycarbonate plastic for baby bottles, which often contain EPA.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">It is news that cash register is a source of BPA contamination even though it&#8217;s been known for long that thermal paper contains bisphenol A.  The widely publicized sources of BPA pollution are infant formula and polycarbonate plastic-based food and beverage containers like water bottles.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">The new study sponsored by the Environmental Working Group or EWG and released July 27 says that sweaty fingers or hands can wipe off a few percentage of EPA from the thermal paper receipts. Because of this, they can be particularly risky for children.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">For the study, University of Missouri researchers commissioned by the EWG tested 36 receipts from a variety of stores, banks, restaurants or cafeteria including Safeway, Whole Foods, Walmart, Chevron, McDonald&#8217;s, Bank of America, the U.S. Postal Service, Cafeterias in the House of Representatives and US senate, Fast Food franchises like Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and McDonald&#8217;s in Japan.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">   </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">As a result, bisphenol A showed up in all but seven thermal paper receipts and sixteen had an average 1.9 percent BPA by weight of a receipt.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">One early study presented at a European Conference indicated that BPA from thermal paper could end up in recycled goods such as toilet paper, according to Science News.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">In 2004, one study led by Martin Gehring and colleagues from Department of Waste Management, Dresden University of technology in Germany showed that BPA contaminated recycled paper products like toilet paper.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">The current study found a receipt from Safeway contains the highest amount of EPA, 2.8 percent by weight of the receipt. </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">Science News reported that one receipt from a McDonald&#8217;s Happy Meal purchased in Clinton Conn carried about 13 mg of BPA, which is equivalent to the amount of bisphenol A found in 126 cans of Chef Boyardee Overstuffed Beef Ravioli in Hearty Tomato &amp; Meat Sauce.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">Next time when you receive a purchase receipt from a cash register, make sure you dispose the receipt properly.</span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;"> </span></div>
<div><span style="color: #000000;">David Liu</span></div>
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		<title>Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 1)</title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:49:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Andrew Breitbart]]></category>
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Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 1) -- 07/21/10
 
Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 2)







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Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 2) -- 07/21/10
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<p>Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 1) -- 07/21/10</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 2)</h3>
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<p id="eow-description">Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 2) -- 07/21/10</p>
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		<title>The Caucasus Cauldron</title>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:47:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ 
from stratfor.com
by George Friedman
This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited some interesting spots over the July 4 weekend. Her itinerary included Poland and Ukraine, both intriguing choices in light of the recent Obama-Medvedev talks in Washington. But she also traveled to a region that has not been [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address> </address>
<address>from <a href="http://www.stratfor.com" target="_blank">stratfor.com</a></address>
<address>by George Friedman</address>
<address>This report is republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stratfor.com" target="_blank">STRATFOR</a></address>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/geopolitical1.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-735 aligncenter" title="geopolitical" src="http://www.chicagoease.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/geopolitical1.jpg" alt="" width="390" height="200" /></a>U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited some interesting spots over the July 4 weekend. Her itinerary included Poland and Ukraine, both intriguing choices in light of the recent <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100622_russian_modernization_part_1_laying_groundwork?fn=2416663830" target="_blank">Obama-Medvedev talks in Washington</a>. But she also traveled to a region that has not been on the American radar screen much in the last two years — namely, the Caucasus — visiting Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.</p>
<p>The stop in Poland coincided with the signing of a new agreement on ballistic missile defense and was designed to sustain U.S.-Polish relations in the face of <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100621_germany_and_russia_move_closer?fn=3716663859" target="_blank">the German-Russian discussions</a> we have discussed. The stop in Ukraine was meant simply to show the flag in a country rapidly moving into the Russian orbit. In both cases, the trip was about the Russians. Regardless of how warm the atmospherics are between the United States and Russia, the fact is that the Russians are continuing to rebuild their regional influence and are taking advantage of European disequilibrium to build new relationships there, too. The United States, still focused on Iraq and Afghanistan, has <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100304_russia?fn=7216663848" target="_blank">limited surplus capacity to apply to resisting the Russians</a>. No amount of atmospherics can hide that fact, certainly not from the Poles or the Ukrainians. Therefore, if not a substantial contribution, the secretary of state’s visit was a symbolic one. But when there is little of substance, symbols matter.</p>
<h3>-</h3>
<h3><span id="more-730"></span></h3>
<p>That the Poland and Ukraine stops so obviously were about the Russians makes the stops in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia all the more interesting. Clinton’s statements during the Caucasian leg of her visit were positive, as one would expect. She expressed her support for Georgia without committing the United States to any arms shipments for Georgia to resist the Russians, who currently are stationed inside Georgia’s northern secessionist regions. In Azerbaijan and Armenia, she called on both countries to settle the issue of <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/armenia_azerbaijan_russia_west_and_nagorno_karabakh?fn=9716663863" target="_blank">Nagorno-Karabakh</a>, a disputed region within western Azerbaijan proper. Armenia took control of the region by force following the Soviet collapse. For Azerbaijan, <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20091211_azerbaijan_plot_thickens_caucasus?fn=7816663895" target="_blank">the return of Nagorno-Karabakh</a> under a U.N. resolution is fundamental to its national security and political strategy. For Armenia, retreat is not politically possible.</p>
<p>This means Clinton’s call for negotiations and her offer of U.S. help are not particularly significant, especially since the call was for Washington to help under the guise of international, not bilateral, negotiations. This is particularly true after Clinton seemed to indicate that <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20091009_armenia_azerbaijan_nagorno_karabakh_talks_collapse?fn=3516663825" target="_blank">the collapse in Turkish-Armenian talks</a> was Turkey’s responsibility and that it was up to Turkey to make the next move. Given that her visit to the region seems on the surface to have achieved little — and indeed, little seems to have been intended — it is worth taking time to understand why she went there in the first place, and the region’s strategic significance.</p>
<h3>The Strategic Significance of the Caucasus</h3>
<p>The Caucasus is the point where Russia, Iran and Turkey meet. For most of the 19th century, the three powers dueled for dominance of the region. This dispute froze during the Soviet period but is certainly in motion again. With none of these primary powers directly controlling the region, there are secondary competitions involving Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, both among these secondary powers and between the secondary powers and the major powers. And given that the region involves the Russians, Iranians and Turks, it is inevitable that the global power would have an interest as well — hence, Hillary Clinton’s visit.</p>
<p>Of all the regions of the world, this one is among the most potentially explosive. It is the most likely to draw in major powers and the most likely to involve the United States. It is quiet now — but like the Balkans in 1990, quiet does not necessarily reassure any of the players. Therefore, seven players are involved in a very small space. Think of it as a cauldron framed by Russia, Iran and Turkey, occasionally stirred by Washington, for whom each of the other three major powers poses special challenges of varying degrees.</p>
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<p>The Caucasus region dominates a land bridge between the Black and Caspian seas. The bridge connects Turkey and Iran to the south with Russia in the north. The region is divided between two mountain ranges, the Greater Caucasus to the north and the Lesser Caucasus in the south; and two plains divided from one another, one in Western Georgia on the Black Sea and another, larger plain in the east in Azerbaijan along the Kura River. A narrow river valley cuts through Georgia, connecting the two plains.</p>
<p>The Greater Caucasus Mountains serve as the southern frontier of Russia. To the north of these mountains, running east to west, lies the Russian agricultural heartland, flat and without any natural barriers. Thus, ever since the beginning of the 19th century, Russia has fought for a significant portion of the Caucasus to block any ambitions by the Turkish or Persian empires. The Caucasus mountains are so difficult to traverse by major military forces that as long as Russia maintains a hold somewhere in the Caucasus, its southern frontier is secure. During the latter part of the 19th century and for most of the Soviet period (except a brief time at the beginning of the era), the Soviet position in the Caucasus ran along the frontier with Turkey and Persia (later Iran). Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were incorporated into the Soviet Union, giving the Soviets a deep penetration of the Caucasus and, along with this, security.</p>
<p>After the fall of the Soviet Union, the three Caucasian republics broke free of Moscow, pushing Russia’s frontier north by between about 160 to 320 kilometers (100-200 miles). The Russians still maintained a position in the Caucasus, but their position was not secure. The northern portion of the Caucasus consisted of Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan and others, all of which had <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100414_caucasus_emirate?fn=6116663849" target="_blank">significant Islamist insurgencies</a> under way. If the Russians abandoned the northeastern Caucasus, their position was breached. But if they stood, they faced an interminable fight.</p>
<p>Georgia borders most of the Russian frontier. In the chaos of the fall of the Soviet Union, various Georgian regions attempted to secede from Georgia with Russian encouragement. From the Georgian point of view, Russia represented a threat. But from the Russian point of view, Georgia represented a double threat. First, the Russians suspected the Georgians of supporting Chechen rebels in the 1990s — a charge the Georgians deny. The more important threat was that the United States selected Georgia as its main ally in the region. The choice made sense if the United States was conducting an encirclement strategy of Russia, which Washington was doing in the 1990s (though it became somewhat distracted from this strategy after 2001). In response to what it saw as U.S. pressure around its periphery, <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/russo_georgian_war_and_balance_power?fn=1016663825" target="_blank">the Russians countered in Georgia in 2008</a> to demonstrate U.S. impotence in the region.</p>
<p>The Russians also maintained a close relationship with Armenia, where they continue to station more than 3,000 troops. The Armenians are deeply hostile to the Turks over demands that Turkey admit to massacres of large number of Armenians in 1915-16. The Armenians and Turks were recently involved in negotiations over the normalization of relations, but these talks collapsed — in our view, because of <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical_diary/20100111_turkishrussian_struggle_over_caucasus?fn=3116663875" target="_blank">Russian interference</a>. The issue was further complicated when a U.S. congressional committee passed a resolution in March condemning Turkey for committing genocide, infuriating the Turks.</p>
<p>One of the countercharges against Armenia is that it has conducted its own massacres of Azerbaijanis. Around the time of the Soviet breakup, it conducted a war against Azerbaijan, replete with the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis in a region known as Nagorno-Karabakh in western Azerbaijan, leaving Azerbaijan with a massive refugee problem. While the U.N. Security Council condemned the invasion, the conflict has been frozen, to use the jargon of diplomats.</p>
<h3>The Importance of Azerbaijan</h3>
<p>For its part, Azerbaijan cannot afford to fight a war against Russian troops in Armenia while it also shares a northern border with Russia. Azerbaijan also faces a significant Iranian problem. There are more Azerbaijanis living in Iran than in Azerbaijan; Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a prominent Azerbaijani-Iranian. The Soviets occupied all of Azerbaijan during World War II but were forced to retreat under British and American pressure after the war, leaving most of Azerbaijan inside Iran. The remainder became a Soviet republic and then an independent state.</p>
<p>The Azerbaijanis are deeply concerned about the Iranians. Azerbaijan is profoundly different from Iran. It is Muslim but heavily secular. It maintains close and formal relations with Israel. It has supported the war in Afghanistan and made logistical facilities available to the United States. The Azerbaijanis claim that Iran is sending clerics north to build Shiite schools that threaten the regime. Obviously, Iran also operates an intelligence network there.</p>
<p>Adding to the complexity, Azerbaijan has long been a major producer of oil and has recently become an exporter of natural gas near the capital of Baku, exporting it to Turkey via a pipeline passing through Georgia. From the Turkish point of view, this provides <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100318_turkey_azerbaijan_and_turkish_pursuit_energy?fn=8816663845" target="_blank">alternative sources of energy to Russia and Iran</a>, something that obviously pleases the United States. It is also an obvious reason why Russia sees Azerbaijan as undermining its position as the region’s dominant energy exporter.</p>
<p>The Russians have an interest, demonstrated in 2008, to move southward into Georgia. Obviously, if they were able to do this — preferably by a change in government and policy in Tbilisi — they would link up with their position in Armenia, becoming a force both on the Turkish border and facing Azerbaijan. <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/russia_courting_azerbaijan_natural_gas?fn=3116663851" target="_blank">The Russians would like to be able to integrate Azerbaijan’s exports</a> into its broader energy policy, which would concentrate power in Russian hands and increase Russian influence on Russia’s periphery. This was made clear by Russia’s recent offer to buy all of Azerbaijan’s natural gas at European-level prices. The Turks would obviously oppose this for the same reason the Russians would want it. Hence, the Turks must support Georgia.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/geopolitics_iran_holding_center_mountain_fortress?fn=3116663836" target="_blank">Iran, which should be viewed as an Azerbaijani country as well as a Persian one</a>, has two reasons to want to dominate Azerbaijan. First, it would give Tehran access to Baku oil, and second, it would give Tehran strategic bargaining power with the Russians, something it does not currently have. In addition, talk of present unrest in Iran notwithstanding, Iran’s single most vulnerable point in the long term is the potential for Azerbaijanis living in Iran to want to unite with an independent Azerbaijani state. This is not in the offing, but if any critical vulnerability exists in the Iranian polity, this is it.</p>
<p>Consider this from the American side. When we look at the map, we notice that Azerbaijan borders both Russia and Iran. That strategic position alone makes it a major asset to the United States. Add to it oil in Baku and investment by U.S. companies, and Azerbaijan becomes even more attractive. Add to this that its oil exports support Turkey and weaken Russian influence, and its value goes up again. Finally, add to it that Turkey infuriated Azerbaijan by negotiating with Armenia without tying the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh to any Turkish-Armenian settlement. Altogether, the United States has the opportunity to forge a beneficial relationship with Azerbaijan that would put U.S. hands on one of Turkey’s sources of oil. At a time when the Turks recognize a declining dependence on the United States, anything that could increase that dependence helps Washington. Moreover, Azerbaijan is a platform from which Washington could make the Iranians uncomfortable, or from which to conduct negotiations with Iran.</p>
<p>An American strategy should include Georgia, but Georgia is always going to be weaker than Russia, and unless the United States is prepared to commit major forces there, the Russians can act, overtly and covertly, at their discretion. A Georgian strategy requires a strong rear base, which Azerbaijan provides, not only strategically but also as a source of capital for Georgia. Georgian-Azerbaijani relations are good, and in the long run so is Turkey’s relation with these two countries.</p>
<p>For Azerbaijan, the burning issue is Nagorno-Karabakh. This is not a burning issue for the United States, but the creation of a stable platform in the region is. Armenia, by far the weakest country economically, is allied with the Russians, and it has Russian troops on its territory. Given that the United States has no interest in who governs Nagorno-Karabakh and there is a U.N. resolution on the table favoring Azerbaijan that serves as cover, it is difficult to understand why the United States is effectively neutral. If the United States is committed to Georgia, which is official policy, then it follows that satisfying Azerbaijan and bringing it into a close relationship to the United States would be beneficial to Washington’s ability to manage relations with Russia, Iran and Turkey.</p>
<p>U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Azerbaijan a month ago and Clinton visited this weekend. As complex as the politics of this region are to outsiders, they are clearly increasing in importance to the United States. We could put it this way: Bosnia and Kosovo were obscure concepts to the world until they blew up. Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia are equally obscure now. They will not remain obscure unless strategic measures are taken. It is not clear to us that Clinton was simply making a courtesy call or had strategy on her mind. But the logic of the American position is that it should think strategically about the Caucasus, and in doing so, logic and regional dynamics point to a strong relationship with Azerbaijan.</p>
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		<title>Doomsday: How BP Gulf disaster may have triggered a ‘world-killing’ event</title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:53:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[methane]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World-killing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=725</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[from helium.com
by Terrence Aym
 
Let&#8217;s hope that this article from helium.com by Terrence Aym is just simple conjecture at this point&#8230;it&#8217;s too close to the Mayan 2012 date for comfort!
Ominous reports are leaking past the BP Gulf salvage operation news blackout that the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico may be about to reach biblical proportions.
251 million [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address>from <a href="http://www.helium.com" target="_blank">helium.com</a></address>
<address>by <a href="http://www.helium.com/users/529618/show_articles" target="_blank">Terrence Aym</a></address>
<p> </p>
<address style="text-align: center;">Let&#8217;s hope that this article from helium.com by Terrence Aym is just simple conjecture at this point&#8230;it&#8217;s too close to the Mayan 2012 date for comfort!</address>
<p>Ominous reports are leaking past the BP Gulf salvage operation news blackout that the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico may be about to reach biblical proportions.</p>
<p>251 million years ago a mammoth undersea methane bubble caused massive explosions, poisoned the atmosphere and destroyed more than 96 percent of all life on Earth. [1] Experts agree that what is known as the Permian extinction event was the greatest mass extinction event in the history of the world. [2]</p>
<p>55 million years later another methane bubble ruptured causing more mass extinctions during the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/11/963" target="_blank">LPTM</a>).</p>
<p>The LPTM lasted 100,000 years. [3]</p>
<p>Those subterranean seas of methane virtually reshaped the planet when they explosively blew from deep beneath the waters of what is today called the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
<h3>-<strong><span id="more-725"></span></strong>Now, worried scientists are increasingly concerned the same series of catastrophic events that led to worldwide death back then may be happening again-and no known technology can stop it.</h3>
<p>The bottom line: BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling operation may have triggered an irreversible, cascading geological Apocalypse that will culminate with the first mass extinction of life on Earth in many millions of years.</p>
<p>The oil giant drilled down miles into a geologically unstable region and may have set the stage for the eventual premature release of a methane mega-bubble.</p>
<p>Ryskin’s methane extinction theory</p>
<p>Northwestern University&#8217;s <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.chem-biol-eng.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/ryskin.html" target="_blank">Gregory Ryskin</a>, a bio-chemical engineer, has a theory: The oceans periodically produce massive eruptions of explosive methane gas. He has documented the scientific evidence that such an event was directly responsible for the mass extinctions that occurred 55 million years ago. [4]</p>
<p>Many geologists concur: &#8220;The consequences of a methane-driven oceanic eruption for marine and terrestrial life are likely to be catastrophic. Figuratively speaking, the erupting region &#8220;boils over,&#8221; ejecting a large amount of methane and other gases (e.g., CO2, H2S) into the atmosphere, and flooding large areas of land. Whereas pure methane is lighter than air, methane loaded with water droplets is much heavier, and thus spreads over the land, mixing with air in the process (and losing water as rain). The air-methane mixture is explosive at methane concentrations between 5% and 15%; as such mixtures form in different locations near the ground and are ignited by lightning, explosions and conflagrations destroy most of the terrestrial life, and also produce great amounts of smoke and of carbon dioxide&#8230;&#8221; [5]</p>
<p>The warning signs of an impending planetary catastrophe—of such great magnitude that the human mind has difficulty grasping it-would be the appearance of large fissures or rifts splitting open the ocean floor, a rise in the elevation of the seabed, and the massive venting of methane and other gases into the surrounding water.</p>
<p>Such occurrences can lead to the rupture of the methane bubble containment—it can then permit the methane to breach the subterranean depths and undergo an explosive decompression as it catapults into the Gulf waters.  [6]</p>
<p>All three warning signs are documented to be occurring in the Gulf.</p>
<p>Ground zero: The Gulf Coast</p>
<p>The people and property located on the greater expanse of the Gulf Coast are sitting at Ground Zero. They will be the first exposed to poisonous, cancer causing chemical gases. They will be the ones that initially experience the full fury of a methane bubble exploding from the ruptured seabed.</p>
<p>The media has been kept away from the emergency salvage measures being taken to forestall the biggest catastrophe in human history. The federal government has warned them away from the epicenter of operations with the threat of a $40,000 fine for each infraction and the possibility of felony arrests.</p>
<p>Why is the press being kept away? Word is that the disaster is escalating.</p>
<p>Cracks and bulges</p>
<p>Methane is now streaming through the porous, rocky seabed at an accelerated rate and gushing from the borehole of the first relief well. The EPA is on record that Rig #1 is releasing methane, benzene, hydrogen sulfide and other toxic gases. Workers there now wear advanced protection including state-of-the-art, military-issued gas masks.</p>
<p>Reports, filtering through from oceanologists and salvage workers in the region, state that the upper level strata of the ocean floor is succumbing to greater and greater pressure. That pressure is causing a huge expanse of the seabed-estimated by some as spreading over thousands of square miles surrounding the BP wellhead-to bulge. Some claim the seabed in the region has risen an astounding 30 feet.</p>
<p>The fractured BP wellhead, site of the former Deepwater Horizon, has become the epicenter of frenetic attempts to quell the monstrous flow of methane.</p>
<p>The subterranean methane is pressurized at 100,000 pounds psi. According to <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Simmons" target="_blank">Matt Simmons</a>, an oil industry expert, the methane pressure at the wellhead has now skyrocketed to a terrifying 40,000 pounds psi.</p>
<p>Another well-respected expert, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ocean.tamu.edu/profile/JKessler" target="_blank">Dr. John Kessler</a> of Texas A&amp;M University has calculated that the ruptured well is spewing 60 percent oil and 40 percent methane. The normal methane amount that escapes from a compromised well is about 5 percent.</p>
<p>More evidence? A huge gash on the ocean floor—like a ragged wound hundreds of feet long—has been reported by the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.omao.noaa.gov/publications/tj_flier.pdf" target="_blank">NOAA research ship, Thomas Jefferson</a>. Before the curtain of the government enforced news blackout again descended abruptly, scientists aboard the ship voiced their concerns that the widening rift may go down miles into the earth.</p>
<p>That gash too is hemorrhaging oil and methane. It’s 10 miles away from the BP epicenter. Other, new fissures, have been spotted as far as 30 miles distant.</p>
<p>Measurements of the multiple oil plumes now appearing miles from the wellhead indicate that as much as a total  of 124,000 barrels of oil are erupting into the Gulf waters daily-that’s about 5,208,000 gallons of oil per day.</p>
<p>Most disturbing of all: Methane levels in the water are now calculated as being almost one million times higher than normal. [7]</p>
<p>Mass death on the water</p>
<p>If the methane bubble—a bubble that could be as big as 20 miles wide—erupts with titanic force from the seabed into the Gulf, every ship, drilling rig and structure within the region of the bubble will immediately sink. All the workers, engineers, Coast Guard personnel and marine biologists participating in the salvage operation will die instantly.</p>
<p>Next, the ocean bottom will collapse, instantaneously displacing up to a trillion cubic feet of water or more and creating a towering supersonic tsunami annihilating everything along the coast and well inland. Like a thermonuclear blast, a high pressure atmospheric wave could precede the tidal wave flattening everything in its path before the water arrives.</p>
<p>When the roaring tsunami does arrive it will scrub away all that is left.</p>
<p>A chemical cocktail of poisons</p>
<p>Some environmentalist experts are calling what’s pouring into the land, sea and air from the seabed breach ’a chemical cocktail of poisons.’</p>
<p>Areas of dead zones devoid of oxygen are driving species of fish into foreign waters, killing plankton and other tiny sea life that are the foundation for the entire food chain, and polluting the air with cancer-causing chemicals and poisonous rainfalls.</p>
<p>A report from one observer in South Carolina documents oily residue left behind after a recent thunderstorm. And before the news blackout fully descended the EPA released data that benzene levels in New Orleans had rocketed to 3,000 parts per billion.</p>
<p>Benzene is extremely toxic and even short term exposure can cause agonizing death from cancerous lesions years later.</p>
<p>The people of Louisiana have been exposed for more than two months—and the benzene levels may be much higher now. The EPA measurement was taken in early May. [8]</p>
<p>Doomsday</p>
<p>While some say it can’t happen because the bulk of the methane is frozen into crystalline form, others point out that the underground methane sea is gradually melting from the nearby surging oil that’s estimated to be as hot as 500 degrees Fahrenheit.</p>
<p>Most experts in the know, however, agree that if the world-changing event does occur it will happen suddenly and within the next 6 months.</p>
<p>So, if events go against  Mankind and the bubble bursts in the coming months, Gregory Ryskin may become one of the most famous people in the world. Of course, he won&#8217;t have long to enjoy his new found fame because very shortly after the methane eruption civilization will collapse.</p>
<p>Perhaps if humanity is very, very lucky, some may find a way to avoid the mass extinction that follows and carry on the human race.</p>
<p>Perhaps.<br />
…………</p>
<p>Sources</p>
<p>[1] <a rel="nofollow" href="http://park.org/Canada/Museum/extinction/permass.html" target="_blank">The Permian extinction event,</a> when 96% of all marine species became extinct 251 million years ago.</p>
<p>[2] “<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/dayearthdied.shtml" target="_blank">The Day The Earth Nearly Died</a>,” BBC Horizon, 2002</p>
<p>[3] <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/12/011210163439.htm" target="_blank">Report about the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum</a> (LPTM), which occurred around 55 million years ago and lasted about 100,000 years. Large undersea methane caused explosions and mass extinctions.</p>
<p>[4] <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/news/archives/313" target="_blank">Ryskin Theory</a><br />
Huge combustible clouds produced by methane gas trapped under the seas and explosively released could have killed off the majority of marine life, land animals, and plants at the end of the Permian era—long before the dinosaurs arrived.</p>
<p>[5] James P. Kennett, Kevin G. Cannariato, Ingrid L. Hendy, Richard J. Behl (2000), &#8220;<a rel="nofollow" href="http://courses.washington.edu/ocean450/Discussion_Topics_Papers/Kennett_Hydrates.pdf" target="_blank">Carbon Isotopic Evidence for Methane Hydrate Instability During Quaternary Interstadials</a>,&#8221; Science 288.</p>
<p>[6] “<a rel="nofollow" href="http://geology.about.com/cs/extinction/a/aa092803.htm" target="_blank">An awesome mix of fire and water may lie behind mass extinctions</a>”</p>
<p>[7] “<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2221822720100622" target="_blank">Methane in Gulf &#8216;astonishingly high&#8217;-US scientist</a>”</p>
<p>[8] Report: “<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGxGVGiD3yk" target="_blank">Air Quality &#8211; Oil Spill</a>” TV 4WWL video</p>
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		<title>Government Suppressing The Truth Knowing The Disaster Coming Will Likely Kill Many People</title>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jul 2010 03:47:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chicago Ease</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BP]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chicagoease.com/?p=720</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[from WatchmansWarning
 







www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPiXEzMzxU
 
NOTE: If the following statement has any semblance of truth and/or reality, this incident will dwarf 9/11 and the terrorists will have been BP and/or Halliburton, so do your own homework and check the article for veracity&#8230;
PLEASE READ ALL OF THE DESCRIPTION BELOW IN ITS ENTIRETY:
This video was found at http://www.infowars.com/bp-homeland-s&#8230; and originated from CNN.
It [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address>from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/WatchmansWarning" target="_blank">WatchmansWarning</a></address>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPiXEzMzxU"><span class="youtube">
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</span><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPiXEzMzxU">www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPiXEzMzxU</a></p></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>NOTE: If the following statement has<em> any</em> semblance of truth and/or reality, this incident will dwarf 9/11 and the terrorists will have been <em>BP and/or Halliburton</em>, so do your own homework and check the article for veracity&#8230;</p>
<p>PLEASE READ ALL OF THE DESCRIPTION BELOW IN ITS ENTIRETY:<br />
This video was found at <a title="http://www.infowars.com/bp-homeland-security-and-cops-work-together-to-deny-first-amendment/" dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.infowars.com/bp-homeland-security-and-cops-work-together-to-deny-first-amendment/" target="_blank">http://www.infowars.com/bp-homeland-s&#8230;</a> and originated from CNN.<br />
It is truly a sign-of-the-times when one sees the absolute disregard of the American government for the American people.</p>
<p>THEY ARE FERVENTLY TRYING TO HIDE THE TRUTH FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!</p>
<p>NO ONE with a hint of common sense would deny news reporters the access they need (safely) to do their job and report on what they find where the Gulf Oil Spill is concerned. That is&#8230;.UNLESS they are actively trying to hide something.</p>
<h3>-<span id="more-720"></span></h3>
<p>Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch government offered to help. It was willing to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms, and it proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands. According to the Houston Chronicle at <a title="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/7043272.html" dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/7043272.html" target="_blank">http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/b&#8230;</a> Obama and BP basically said &#8220;thanks, but no thanks.&#8221; (taken from fireandreamitchell.com)</p>
<p>With all of the oil spewing out of the well since April 20, 2010, there is no way, shape, or form, that any good can result from this no matter how much cleanup is attempted. Our planet will NEVER be the same.</p>
<p>TAKE A LOOK at the oil spewing out right now from a live video feed at <a title="http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/bp-live-oil-spill-cam.html" dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/bp-live-oil-spill-cam.html" target="_blank">http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/bp-l&#8230;</a><br />
This live video feed shows you the tremendous amount of oil being released continually, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it has been doing so non-stop since April 20! This nation is is in serious trouble!</p>
<p>The disperssant Corexit has knowingly been sprayed by BP after being told by the EPA not to use it, knowing that it was extremely dangerous, but BP used it anyway! See <a title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CsxaJ4nBw8." dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CsxaJ4nBw8." target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CsxaJ&#8230;</a></p>
<p>Also, there are reports of a methane gas bubble that is growing under the sea floor and is expected to explode at some future point thereby generating what has been termed a &#8220;super-tsunami&#8221; <a title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMEr4FctWAM&amp;feature=player_embedded" dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMEr4FctWAM&amp;feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMEr4F&#8230;</a><br />
and also <a title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4hfGY6i75w&amp;feature=player_embedded)." dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4hfGY6i75w&amp;feature=player_embedded)." target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4hfGY&#8230;</a> A tsunami of this magnitude would undoubtedly kill an unbelievable number of people in America!<br />
<strong><em>It should be duly noted that the mainstream media hasn&#8217;t said a whisper of the fact that, BP Chief Tony Hayward sold 1.4 million of his shares weeks BEFORE the oil spill! -- Telegraph UK</em></strong><br />
<a title="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html." dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html." target="_blank">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ne&#8230;</a></p>
<p><strong><em>Astonishingly, the mainstream media has also failed to actively report to America that Goldman Sachs ALSO sold $250 million of BP stock BEFORE the oil spill!&#8230;..</em></strong><br />
<a title="http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&amp;aid=19591" dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&amp;aid=19591" target="_blank">http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?co&#8230;</a><br />
&amp;<br />
<a title="http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0602/month-oil-spill-goldman-sachs-sold-250-million-bp-stock/" dir="ltr" rel="nofollow" href="http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0602/month-oil-spill-goldman-sachs-sold-250-million-bp-stock/" target="_blank">http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0602/mont&#8230;</a></p>
<p>Unfortunately, I believe that Obama and others knew very well about this coming horrific disaster. What&#8217;s worse, I believe that this is part and parcel to their agenda which might explain this video and why the reporters are not being allowed to take pictures or get concrete information as to what the situation actually is from one moment to the next.</p>
<p>All I can say to America is&#8230;..GET YOUR SOUL RIGHT WITH THE LORD GOD, through HIS SON&#8230;.YAH&#8217;SHUA (JESUS CHRIST). HE is the only One that can forgive your sins because He is the only One who shed His sinless blood to atone for your sins.</p>
<p>In all likelihood, a great many people in this nation may die. I pray you will seek the Lord before it&#8217;s too late.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether or not this apparent catastrophe occurs, we WILL face the Lord our Creator at some point in the future. My advice to every single one of you, including Mr. Obama, is to REPENT OF YOUR SINS and turn wholly to the Son of the Living God, Yah&#8217;shua.</p>
<p>For all of those who know the Lord, I leave you the following from the Word of the Lord:</p>
<p>Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast&#8230;.Isaiah <a onclick="yt.www.watch.player.seekTo(26*60+20);return false;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPiXEzMzxU#" target="_blank">26:20</a></p>
<p>The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished&#8230;2 Peter 2:9</p>
<p>For everyone else, I leave the following:</p>
<p>Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!&#8230;Isaiah <a onclick="yt.www.watch.player.seekTo(5*60+20);return false;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPiXEzMzxU#" target="_blank">5:20</a></p>
<p>Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon&#8230;.Isaiah 55:6-7</p>
<p>Words of Yah&#8217;shua, The Son of God:</p>
<p>I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me&#8230;.John 14:6</p>
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