As of 2007, the world became a majority urban place. The largest movements of people in human history are occurring right now, as vast populations relocate to urban and semi-urban areas in pursuit of a better...

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Cancellation of PAL international and domestic flights,and it's not  because of severe weather disturbance.But how can you fly when there are no pilots?For two weeks now,an exodus of pilots to higher-paying foreign carriers cancelled several flights,resulting to passengers being stranded,giving Philippine Airlines management a big headache.PAL said that the pilots violated their contracts,this will result to filing of charges against them.They are now asking former pilots,promoted to higher posts to fly the Airbus A320 while they look for replacements.PAL reiterated that they cannot stop their employees seeking greener pasture,but they need to tell management about their resignation six months in advanced so as not to disrupt flight schedules.

In New York City, a town where you often think there are little surprises left, art.party.theater.company has managed to both intrigue and surprise with a new art theater installation - a silver foil wrapped box that is said to contain a famous person or star.

 

It's an open invitation. You are asked  to come to Bryant Park on Friday, between the hours of 6:30pm and 8:30pm for a private 'meet and greet' with a famous celebrity who is there for no other reason than to meet you. But bring your sense of humor and patience as both may be sorely tried at this intriguing and somewhat mysterious bit of theater.

 

The staff will warn you that you may wait a long time and not get in... but if you do, you will be face to face with a person whom you like, are very familiar with, and will likely be happy to meet. Farce or fact? I never found out as I was one of the many who never got in to meet the personality in the 'Starbox'. And there's another catch. Had I made it in, I am sworn to secrecy, thereby leaving the mystery hanging for others like an Agatha Christie whose last pages I have ripped out.

 

As you wait in line you will be treated to a bit of theater as characters come in and out of your field of vision, intrude on your thoughts and engage you in ways you never imagined. This is theater at it's best as the audience becomes the play.

 

On a more practical note it will be a lot more enjoyable if you are wearing comfortable shoes as you will stand or lean a long time. The line moves excrutiatingly slowly and in the two hours plus I was there I actually saw very few people go into the 'starbox'. Did anyone from the audience actually get in? It's impossible to know as there is so much slight of hand going on. In many ways this show is almost as much about magic and alchemy as it is theater.

 

Starbox strives to be so much more. It's about how we communicate, the cult of celebrity, how people interact with strangers and the little stories that make up our lives. It's an interesting concept and an intriguing mystery. Offered the opportunity to go back and get in to meet the 'star' I will probably take it.

 

Starbox is at Bryant Park the next two Fridays, August 7 and August 13 between the hours of 6:30pm and 8:30pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chelsea Clinton visited the picturesque town of Ashland, Oregon and spoke, along with her father Bill Clinton, on the campus of Southern Oregon University during the presidential campaign for her mother, Hillary Clinton.

 

Chelsea Clinton appeared with Bill Clinton on May 18, 2008 at SOU.

 

I shot this video and edited it while I was working as Web Editor for the Ashland Daily Tidings. I did it as a part of my own personal training exercise.

 

I covered the event as a journalist. All of those interviewed were aware they were on camera and speaking to a journalist.

 

In light of Chelsea getting married, I am posting this video as a nostalgic look back at her appearance on the campaign trail.

A senior Iranian lawmaker has dismissed any restrictions on uranium enrichment to 20 percent, saying Tehran will go ahead with its nuclear activities.

"Iran will continue its nuclear activities to enrich uranium to a level of 20 percent if the fuel needed for the Tehran research reactor is supplied," a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Zohreh Elahian told Fars News Agency on Saturday.

She further added that future talks between Iran and the Vienna group -- the US, Russia, France and the International Atomic Energy Agency - or P5+1 - Russia, China, Britain, France and the US plus Germany - should not breach Tehran's inalienable right to use nuclear technology for peaceful applications.

Some days back, Iranian MPs have passed a bill obligating Tehran to continue 20-percent uranium enrichment, defying mounting Western pressure to halt such work, Fars news agency reported.

Then for sure Iran is not going to suspend enrichment, same as before only difference is they even don’t see 20% enrichment as their limit.

Now, what you going to do Mr. Obama? Your knowledge about Iran is Zero.

I definitely recommend that if anyone visits Syria, seeing the citadel in Aleppo is a must! Besides it being over 1,000 years old, and having ruins of both Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods, the Citadel contains so many details and areas to see that you simply get lost in the many hours it takes you to explore the place. This old theater stage was one of my favorite parts of the Citadel, because not only is the stage and view breath-taking, but simply getting from the front gate to this area takes so long due to the maze-like structure of the ruins.

Today, August 1, 2010, the Philippines commemorates the first death anniversary of former President Corazon Aquino. She was the 11th President, and the first Filipino woman President of the Philippines, from February 25, 1986 to June 30, 1992.

The Philippine nation remembers and honors former President Cory Aquino in so many ways. She exemplified the values and qualities of a mother - love, warmth, enthusiasm, courage, faith, selflessness and inspiration. She was indeed the "Mother of the Filipino people."

Before running for presidency, she was asked why she decided to run for president. She replied: she had asked herself, “What if I could make a difference?”

During her presidency for six years and four months, she restored the Philippine democracy, and promoted people empowerment, peace and human rights.

After her presidency, she remained active in political activities, international engagement, and charitable and social initiatives.

After her death, she left many legacy and memory to the Filipino people, as well as to her followers and friends around the world.

The commemoration of her first death anniversary is also a celebration to honor her as the icon of Philippine democracy.

In this episode of LIFE ADDICT....

 

     we travel to visit a CARE psycho/social program in the area of Haiti known as Carrefour. CARE has created a safe place for the Haitian community to come and express itself and find ways to heal after the disasterous earthquake. In this story we see healing in action. This is a clear example of the CARE organizations mandate to empowering and elevate locals to positions of in community leadership I.E. teach a man/women to fish.......

 

 

thanks

every one at CARE

, HSELLERS & @sanlin

VILLERS-AU-TERTRE (France): A French nursing assistant admitted on Thursday suffocating eight of her newborn babies and stashing their tiny bodies in plastic bags in a quiet village, officials said.

 

Dominique Cottrez, 45, was charged with the murders after telling police "she did not want any more children and did not want to see a doctor to get contraception," said local prosecutor Eric Vaillant.

 

Cottrez's husband Pierre-Marie Cottrez, also 45, was freed after denying any knowledge of the killings which came to light when police found skeletal remains wrapped in plastic at two village addresses.

 

His wife, whose heavy build appears to have concealed the pregnancies from acquaintances, now faces trial and life imprisonment.

 

Investigators said she had confessed to suffocating the babies shortly after birth and concealing the bodies from her husband. The father told officers he had never suspected his wife was pregnant.

 

In past cases in France some defendants have said they were in denial about their pregnancies and not fully responsible for their actions, but Vaillant said Cottrez had admitted to being "perfectly aware" of her condition.

 

Stunned residents of the pair's quiet village of Villers-au-Tertre in northern France put flowers and candles outside the two houses where police had found the infants' bodies over the previous few days.

 

Prosecutors described it as the worst case of infanticide in recent French history, following a string of similar cases in which isolated and troubled mothers disposed of their newborns.

 

The suspects were brought before a magistrate in the nearby town of Douai to hear the charges.

 

Pierre-Marie Cottrez worked as a carpenter and was a respected member of the council in Villers-au-Tertre, a 620-strong community.

 

"He's on his third term in office. He used to volunteer in the community. He's a respectable man," local mayor Patrick Mercier told reporters.

 

Mercier said the councillor's wife was a more withdrawn person who rarely took part in village life. He said she had a weight problem which might be the reason why any pregnancies had passed unnoticed.

 

"No-one was aware of anything at all," said the shocked mayor.

 

The pair were arrested on Tuesday and questioned all day Wednesday while police used sniffer dogs to search two addresses after the new owners of a home found the bones of two infants while digging in their garden.

 

The house previously belonged to the parents of the arrested woman.

 

Search teams then headed on to the couple's current home in another part of the village, where six more sets of remains were found inside the building, a local councillor told reporters.

 

Gendarmes were deployed outside one of the houses where the bodies were found, and sealed off the entrance to the macabre scene with plastic sheeting.

 

"I'm thinking of all the children in the world. I'm thinking of all the children who didn't ask to be born and were thrown out a few hours later," said local priest Father Robert Meignotte.

 

"I'm very upset. I baptise five children every Sunday in the 17 villages of the parish. You don't just throw children out like that in a big bag. It's incomprehensible," he said.

 

"I'm still in shock," said a former mayor of Villers-au-Tertre, Daniel Collignon, describing the village as a very calm and rural place and echoing the sentiments of many local people.

 

The couple had lived in the village for 15 years and had two grown-up daughters who have children themselves. Neither showed any sign of unusual behaviour, local residents said.

 

The incident follows a string of similar cases in France.

 

Earlier this year a mother was convicted of killing six of her newborn children and hiding them in the cellar of her house in northwestern France.

 

Another notorious recent case was of a mother who was jailed in June last year for smothering two boys born in secret at her expatriate home in South Korea, and a third child born in France, and hiding them in a freezer.

  Today when we woke up the air was a little nicer no cereal smell but the oil smell was less. Maybe the work on the river was helping... A neighbor knocks on the door and asks for the 800 number and to use the phone.... I say no problem and we sit outside.  He says he has been feeling ill.. and would like a hotel.  They say he has to leave a number... I give him mine... he gives my number  to the person .. they tell him they will call him back.  He goes back to his place frustrated.

     My husband and I have our morning coffee and I get an e-mail from another neighbor... the tv channel didn't show me in the interview... I am relieved they chose Anne interview and not ours.  My neighbor said it was short but she looked good.   I thank the media gods...

       My husband says he isn't feeling great and doesn't want to go down to the river.  I am not feeling well either and the headache is starting up.  My neighbor comes out and says he isn't feeling well and is worried about his mom who lives the opposite side of the park ...  They are thinking of giving in and going to the hotel as well. 

     I decide to go down to the river..  on my way back ... allergy man stops me ... he says he has an Embridge employye on line somewhere down in Mississippi.... I tell the guy that I would like a hotel.  He says he will call back... I give him my name, phone number, and address. 

      Allergy man and family are getting out and going camping for a few days... has to get the kids out of there.  I am feeling relieved... I think if I had kids I would do anything to get them out here and there are few kids left in the park.  

     I go inside and tell my husband I am going to the other bridge to see what is going on... he goes with me.

    The boat is there  with a couple of guys in it and guys on shore and the bridge... they are trying to rearrange the booms... Water and oil still goes over them... and the stench from river is much higher because of the boat engine... we leave, both of us are feeling off balance and nauseated...  We decide to stay in today and see if that helps. It hasn't ... 

     We are not in the evacuation area and the morning local paper says they will not expand it at this time... they say it's probably over a million gallons of oil in the river ... by EPA estimates... hmm who do I believe... EPA or Embridge... not too hard to figure out who I believe.

     I check out a few other I reports about the river... one of them makes me want to cry... I have a always loved animals and he shows a muskrat  that makes me want to weep...Well done Nomadic dog from Hell,  Michigan.   We have seen a couple of animals dash... through the area... but at night and all we see is a black blur. One a racoon, the other we think maybe a fox but are unsure... the birds are all gone and my neighbors and I have noticed that even all the birds we have at our feeders are gone.

     I get a report from a wildlife group cleaning animals they have 500 plus volunteers and I notice there are people from other states and a few Canadians.... Bravo to you all !!!

      I met a couple from the Lansing Area who have a road construction company... they think that some of their equipment could work to separate oil components from the water... He doesn't know who to contact... I tell him there is an 800 number but that there are workers on the other bridge... He goes and checks it out...  I hope they listen because they need to figure something out... this river has a lot of rocks .. he says the water could be beautiful again...

   People are showing up from other cities and even states.... so I guess the word is getting out.  I wondered if I should give up... when one of the ladies on the bridge tonight said -- don't give up... someone has to tell it... Her and her husband had come from Kalamazoo to see what was going on ... they said it was worse at our bridges that further up river... so maybe they are making progress up there......

    Never did get a call back Embridge.... neither did my neighbors... but a nice guy and  lady from Calhoun County Health department stopped by offered water if we needed it , left his number and  a hotel in Kalamazoo.... but no dogs allowed.  They are working on something for Battle Creek residents but he said it would probably be announced Sunday or Monday... The 2 responses locally to calls or e-mail questions   Calhoun County Health Dept  Paul M and nice lady  and  Tony G of Emmet township. 

    .  They took the boats and the boons out of the river  by us tonight... not sure why... ...  Maybe the current was too much or too rocky or too many logs... but the odor tonight was even worse... Guess its the way the wind blows... I once had a boss who told me I could be like a dog with a bone... I wouldn't let it go...

     So Kalamazoo Lady from the bridge... someone has to tell it and I will keep telling it ... If you see oil in Morrow Lake - take a picture ... a picture is worth a 1000 words...

        Michigan Residents and Responders  Bravo

             Embridge - Step it up...        

AN OPEN LETTER TO

PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike
any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive
Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no
visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth
growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus
don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming
others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned
yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to
publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail..

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America '
crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style
country where the government sector dominates instead of the private
sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system
with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly
capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose
that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of
living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics
against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from
challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider
opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both
omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything
you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the
Limbaugh's, Hannity's, O'Reillys and Becks who offer opposing,
conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will
probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Cash-strapped Filipinos looking for ways to augment the family income,who you gonna call? Bombaysters! Motorcycle riding Bombays(Indians)peddling items from umbrellas to blankets,name it they have it! They also lend money to micro-enterprises.Bombays or Indians,maligned for their usurious lending practices,the 5-6 thing wherein you borrow let’s say 5 pesos today,expects you to repay 6 pesos within a week.Come hell or high water,without fail,they will collect payments every single day.Parents used to scare kids about Bombays,what with their long beards and turbans,that if they don’t behave,Bombays are out to get them.Now it’s the other way around.Kids scare their parents.Knowing that they owe the Indians some cash,kids will tell their parents not to go out for the Bombays are outside.Seriously now,loan sharks they are often branded because of the high interest rates but they assume risks what no bank will take.They supply funds for those small-scale businesses and to people who are not credit worthy by normal standard

By Guest Writer Government of  Pakistan introduced National Internship Program for unemployed fresh graduated youths to gain practical experience in different public-sector organizations. Every year the program witness influx of fresh talent eager to exploit their...

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July 31, 2010 | 8:40 pmDocuments released by a congressional committee Saturday show that the U.S. Coast Guard appeared to flout a May 25 Obama administration directive that sought to limit the use of chemical dispersants on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to “rare cases.”

“BP  carpet-bombed the ocean with these chemicals, and the Coast Guard  allowed them to do it,” said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman  of the House energy and environment subcommittee. "After we discovered  how toxic these chemicals really are, they had no business being spread  across the gulf in this manner."

Dispersants were authorized by  federal officials despite their toxicity because the ecological damage  from oil was deemed to be worse.  But scientists say that the chemicals,  which break up the oil into tiny droplets, have contributed to large  plumes of hydrocarbons below the ocean's surface. And it is unclear  whether the danger to marine organisms may be higher from toxic  dispersants or from oil.

Markey, who has been investigating massive  use of toxic chemicals to disperse oil from the BP spill for several  months, released the Coast Guard documents along with a stern nine-page letter to retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen, the national incident commander. The letter described, based on the  documents, a chaotic and indiscriminate decision-making process in  allowing BP daily exemptions from the May 25 directive.

 

The  documents show that from May 26 to mid-July, when the runaway oil well  was plugged, more than 74 exemption requests from BP to spray surface  dispersants were granted by the Coast Guard, usually within the same  day.  On five occasions BP requested advance approval to apply 6,000  gallons of dispersant each day to the ocean surface for an entire week,  amounting to 35 days of pre-approved continuous use. Every request was  approved.          # The Environmental Protection Agency, although a party to the  original directive, was virtually excluded from the daily decisions on  chemical dispersants until June 22, almost a month after the directive,  according to the documents. In early June, an EPA official complained  that “the approval process appears to be somewhat pro forma, and not as  rigorous as EPA desires,” according to one memorandum.

 

The  documents also reveal contradictions in accounts of how much chemical  dispersant was being used. According to DeepwaterHorizonResponse.com,  the government’s official website, 1.8 million gallons of dispersants  have been sprayed on the surface of the gulf and beneath the water since  the April 20 rig explosion. ”The validity of those numbers are now in  question,” Markey said, citing “huge discrepancies” that raise questions  as to whether the Coast Guard “exercised appropriate oversight.”

The  EPA calculates that the total use of dispersants underwater and on the  surface declined about 72% from its peak after the May 26 order. But it  is unclear whether most of the reduction came from underwater  dispersants, as opposed to the surface dispersants permitted by the  exemptions.

EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said in an e-mail,  "The use of dispersant is always a difficult decision, with  environmental trade-offs that must be taken seriously into  consideration. As a result, its use in response to the BP spill was  subject to numerous strict conditions once it quickly became apparent  that BP wanted to use it in unprecedented quantities and in novel ways.

"Specifically,  EPA approved subsea dispersant use only after requiring multiple tests  to confirm its use would be effective 5,000 feet below the surface and  only after BP was directed to put in place a comprehensive monitoring  program that ensured close observation of the ecological impact.

"Soon  after, following two days of skyrocketing dispersant usage by BP, which  peaked at 70,000 gallons on May 24, mainly on the surface of the water,  Administrator Lisa Jackson worked with then-Federal On-Scene  Coordinator Rear Admiral Mary Landry to put in place a directive making  dispersant use a last resort and capping its use both on the surface and  sub sea.

"Administrator Jackson and Rear Admiral Landry also  ordered BP to implement a 75 percent overall reduction of dispersant use  from that peak usage."

The Coast Guard was authorized to grant  waivers to increase dispersants, and "initally EPA was not involved in  day-to-day decisions about granting such waivers, and EPA staff were  notified after waivers were granted," he acknowledged.

"

While  EPA may not have concurred with every individual waiver granted by the  Federal On-Scene Coordinator, the Agency believes dispersant use has  been an essential tool in mitigating this spill’s impact, preventing  millions of gallons of oil from doing even more damage to sensitive  marshes, wetlands and beaches and the economy of the Gulf coast,"  Gilfillan wrote.

 

Responding to the Markey investigation, BP spokesman Steve Rinehart wrote  in an e-mail, “We were in regular communication with EPA on the topic of  dispersant use and we followed the direction of the Unified Command,”  the federal agency in charge of spill response. He added that  “dispersant use was pre-approved as a response tool, and approved during  the response, because it is effective and, on balance, less harmful”  than undispersed oil.

Coast Guard spokesman Mike Lutz said Saturday that he was unaware of the Markey documents, but would request official response.

--Margot Roosevelt

Twitter: @latenvironmentFacebook: latimesenvironmentMore in: Gulf oil spill, toxic substances
[This is an article in The Los Angeles Times I read and wanted to make note.]

The waters of the Havens will separate and a dirty Tar Ball called Earth shaw appear. And God will cast it out into the eternal bliss of never ending tar balls. Where it belongs, along with all the other condemned.

And a Clean and new Universe will appear where all will, will be free of the Terror of all Tar Balls.

Luke 3:33 The Ending of Tar Balls.

 

New Revelations When the Tar ball washed up 3:33 LUKE

Come out Saturday August 14th to the Knott  county Sportsplex in Knott county,KY.in support of Appalachia coal  miners who are under attack by  our president and his  cohart Lisa  Jackson. President Obama along with his handpicked staff is determined to shut down coal mining.  EPA director Lisa Jackson has said that she does not care about the jobs  that would be lost by shutting surface mining jobs down. We as citizens  of the United States of America need to remind the President and other  politicians involved that they can be took out with (ONE FINGER) on the  voting machines. Our 14th amendment gives the people of the United  States the right to work and provide a living for our families. The  constitution is very plain in stating that people who against you  providing a living for your family are your enemies. Wake up America and  put that one finger to work to rid us of the tyrants who want to shut  our jobs down in the Appalachian coal mining states.We  end up with good usable land after it has been surface mined. If all electricity from coal (50%) was shut off for 1 week the economic cost would be trillions of dollars. Our government and national security would be shut down. You dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out.  Google where your coal fired power plants are in the U.S.A. and its very  plain what can happen if the coal mining industry  is curtailed.  Thanks, Cordis Cuzz Bishop

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Antelope Valley, California – The Crown Fire that has burned through 13,980 acres in the High Desert of Southern California since 2:32 pm (2232 UTC) Thursday was at 82% containment Saturday evening, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

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Sunday, August 1, 2010

Former United States vice president Al Gore will not be facing assault charges due to allegations made by a masseuse in 2006, according to the Portland, Oregon district attorney's office.

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Saturday, July 31, 2010

Officials say the bus was returning from the Dead Sea to the Jordanian capital of Amman, when it overturned on a steep turn near the Dead Sea. The two women killed were employees of the United Nations Development Program.

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