Sunday, July 29, 2012

Scientology Katie Holmes Memos

The Church of Scientology is Trying to Discredit Katie Holmes, reports Radar Online

Now that Katie Holmes has separated from Tom Cruise, the big bad Church of Scientology is going to schmear her, so says Radar Online.

When a member goes bad in the eyes of Scientology, the typical punishment is excommunication. But if the person is deemed to be threatening to the reputation of Scientology, that result can be more than "disconnection."

Something along these lines, Samantha Domingo, the ex-wife of Placido Domingo, Jr., said that she suffered after she left the Church of Scientology after 24 years of membership. “Disconnection is the main weapon of Scientology,” Ms. Domingo told The Hollywood Reporter.

After Ms. Domingo left Scientology, she said that she was labelled a "suppressive person" by the church, which means that the church regarded her as a troublemaker, in layman's terms. Because of ex-members fears' of retribution, other ex-church members fear for poor Katie. Radar Online reported that there are already internal church memos being circulated about Katie.

Former Scientology spokesperson Mike Rinder was quoted by Radar Online as having said, "Katie Holmes is probably the biggest suppressive person out there right now."

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Fran Lebowitz Criticises Mike Bloomberg Over Hospital Closings

Read Also : Fran Lebowitz And Frank Rich At The Town Hall : A Review Of The State Of The Union Conversation


At NYUFASP book launch, Fran Lebowitz slammed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bill Rudin.

Fran Lebowitz denounced New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's record on hospital closings in a speech about the larger issues of mega, zone-busting real estate development deals that are destroying the social fabric of New York City

At 10:53, Ms. Lebowitz begins to speak about the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital. She describes Bill Rudin as one of the mayor's best friends.

When St. Vincent's Hospital closed, I said, "Where is that mayor ? Where's that health conscious mayor -- that mayor, who doesn't let Fran smoke a cigarette in a restaurant ? Where is that mayor ? Not a sound out of that mayor, when they closed the only hospital in the entire neighborhood. And I said, "Wait until you see, who ends up with that property, which is now way too valuable to use as a hospital. Billy Rudin is going to end up with that property," and he did. And he is one of the mayor's best friends. Okay, how many hospitals did this mayor close ? How many hospitals closed under him ? Public health is what the mayor is in charge of.

The purpose of her speech was the book launch of 'While We Were Sleeping : NYU and the Destruction of New York' at McNally Jackson bookstore in SoHo.

Make a pledge today to support Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn on Kickstarter.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Divestment From Corrupt Private Health Insurance Industry

Health Care Workers, Patients Lead Fight for Divestment from Corrupt Private Health Insurance Industry : Presbyterian Church and TIAA-CREF Hear Their Call

Too Pig To Fail, Congress Sucking on Campaign Contributions from the Healthcare Industry prevent real reform and lead to corruption.

By Katie Robbins

In the midst of a fierce debate on the national level around the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, the Divestment Campaign for Health Care made its official debut. Its stated mission: “to expose how the health insurance industry puts the need for profit above the needs of patients and to escalate public support for total removal of the private health insurance companies from our nation’s health care.”

Leading advocacy organizations dedicated to single-payer health care are committed to pursuing a divestment campaign from private health insurance companies in order to transform the treatment of health care as a commodity into a basic human right for all people in the U.S.

“We are responsible for our investments, and particularly as health care workers and patients, we see the immorality of the private health insurance companies as they deny payment for care in order to create huge profits for shareholders. Those who stand for a just and equitable health care system must recognize the corrupting force of the private health insurance industry on our political process that costs tens of thousands of lives every year in addition to being a huge financial drain,” states Dr. Rob Stone, M.D.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) became the first major institution to take steps towards divestment from private health insurance. On July 7th, the church’s national assembly unanimously passed a resolution stating they will “evaluate the variance between church principles of universal access and affordability on the one hand and corporate objectives on the other. It will also assess the likelihood of significant change in corporate behavior.”

The resolution passed after moving testimony was delivered by Rev. Dr. Johanna W.H. van Wijk-Bos, the widow of the original author of the resolution, Rev. A. David Bos who passed away from a sudden case of pneumonia last year, stating before the committee:

“As he lay in the hospital, struggling with the oxygen mask provided to give his lungs the air they needed, he spoke haltingly what would be his last words on this earth: ‘How much will this cost?’ He died six days later. Three weeks after his death a representative from our health insurance company informed me in a telephone call that they rejected the claim to pay for my husband’s hospitalization and medical costs because of a ‘pre-existing condition.’”

Rev. Dr. van Wijk-Bos felt confident the work they had done would lead to full exposure of these corrupt companies because “corporate interests are incompatible with patient care.”

On the heels of this successful endorsement from the Presbyterian Church, activists gathered inside and outside the pension fund giant TIAA-CREF’s shareholder meeting in New York City to call attention to their holdings in private health insurance. Members of TIAA-CREF were shocked to learn that private health insurance companies are considered part of their socially responsible investment portfolio.

Sandy Fox, psychiatric social worker from Pittsburgh, PA, received applause from the other attendees when she asked President and CEO Roger Ferguson, Jr. about these holdings:

“How do you justify including health insurance companies–CIGNA, Humana, Aetna, Coventry, and WellPoint– in CREF-Social Choice? Private health insurance companies add enormous cost but no value to health care. Furthermore, these companies violate 3 of the 5 social criteria for inclusion in the fund including:

1) NOT “devoted to human rights;”

2) NOT “dedicated to producing high-quality and safe products;” and

3) NOT “managed in an exemplary and ethical manner.”

...We come to you today to demand that you immediately divest from these ruthless companies.”

Shortly before the meeting, the Campaign launched a petition to TIAA-CREF calling for them to move their money out of private health insurance receiving nearly 2000 signers in just a few days.

The Divestment Campaign for Health Care calls upon all people of conscience to shed light on the duplicitous practices that continue in the private health insurance industry. As the Campaign’s mission statement says “We have nothing to lose. Health insurance companies have everything to lose as their stock prices drop and their influence wanes. Go to your religious organization, your union, your pension plan, your 401k advisor, your university endowment, your city council, your friends and neighbors, and tell them it’s time to get the health insurers out!”

Originally posted at : Healthcare Not Wealthcare

Madonna Plays at l'Olympia in Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - Pop star Madonna treated fans to an intimate show at Paris' famed Olympia theatre on Thursday, voicing her love for a France that is open to minorities and artists and reinterpreting "Je t'aime moi non plus," a song laced with sexual innuendo.

The concert was short, and many fans were not pleased that the surprise performance was so brief. * Fans were disappointed that the intimate performance was so brief ; Madonna was 45 minutes late to take the stage, and then she only played for 45 minutes. (Le Parisien) * Madonna à l'Olympia : la réponse à Marine Le Pen et les huées des fans (Le Monde) * Madonna booed at the end of his concert at the Olympia 26/07 (YouTube)

Madonna, who has always had a forceful personality, could have done better at being softer to her intimate audience last night. And her fans could have also diffused the tension by being a little more compassionate and grateful : the were after all serving witness to a historic concert performance by Madonna at l'Olympia.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

At, Fukushima, Fake Dosimeter Readings Lead To Excessive Worker Radiation Exposure

Build-Up, a subcontractor to the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, used lead to fake dosimeter readings at Fukushima plant

From The Asahi Shimbun :

Workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant were ordered to cover their dosimeters with lead plates to keep radiation doses low enough to continue working under dangerous conditions, the Asahi Shimbun has learned.

Some refused the orders. Others raised questions about their safety and the legality of the practice. But the man in charge, a senior official of a subcontractor of Tokyo Electric Power Co., warned them that they would lose their jobs--and any chance of employment at other nuclear plants--if they failed to comply.

The pocket-sized dosimeters sound an alarm when they detect high radiation levels. A worker who has been exposed to an accumulated dose of 50 millisieverts within a year must stop working and stay away from the area for a certain period of time.

The 54-year-old senior official at Build-Up, a midsize construction company based in Fukushima Prefecture, worked out a system to ensure the dosimeters would not reach the limit, according to the workers. It included having the workers themselves build the lead cover that would prevent the radiation from reaching the dosimeters.

The president of Build-Up acknowledged on July 21 that the senior official had nine people work at the nuclear plant for about three hours on Dec. 1 with their dosimeters shielded by the lead plates.

The senior official, who acted as a site foreman, initially denied giving such instructions. But he later admitted to his actions over the phone to the Build-Up president.

A number of the workers explained the process in detail. And one of them provided The Asahi Shimbun with a recording of a meeting the Build-Up foreman had with defiant workers on the night of Dec. 2 at an inn in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, where the workers stayed.

The conversation shows the foreman growing increasingly agitated by the workers’ refusal to rig their dosimeters.

The workers’ job was to wind insulating material around hoses of a treatment system for radioactive water near the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 reactor buildings of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant, assigned the task to Tokyo Energy and Systems Inc., a TEPCO group company, which then subcontracted part of the work to Build-Up.

The 10 or so workers organized for the task included Build-Up employees and others dispatched by brokers from various parts of Japan.

According to workers, about half of the team assembled in an area of the nuclear plant on Nov. 30, where the Build-Up foreman presented a lead plate about 1 square meter in size and several millimeters thick.

He ordered the workers to draw lines on the plate and cut out pieces using special scissors. The workers then used vises and hammers to reshape the pieces so that they would cover the front, sides and bottom of their personal dosimeters.

On Dec. 1, the Build-Up foreman instructed the team members to cover their dosimeters with the lead plates. But three of the workers refused, prompting the boss to hold a meeting with them on Dec. 2.

‘YOU CAN'T MAKE LIVING WHEN THE DOSE RUNS OUT’

The Build-Up foreman denied the conversation took place. But the defiant workers said the recording of the meeting is accurate.

According to the recording, the foreman said, “Everybody who works for nuclear plants know that the limit is 50 millisieverts per year. If you get exposed to a lot of radiation, you will reach that limit in less than a year. It could run out in three or four months."

He continued: "You can't live by nuclear plants around the year unless you take care of your own radiation doses. You simply can't go and work somewhere else when you are not allowed to work for nuclear plants. You can no longer make a living when the dose runs out. Do you understand that? The 50 millisieverts just keeps running out."

One of the workers tried to interject, saying, "As for me, this is something that we shouldn't do ... ."

But the foreman interrupted, saying: "I know only too well that we shouldn't do that. If you don't want to do so, you don't have to."

Another worker gave his opinion: "I think this is almost a crime."

The foreman retorted: "Did I ever coerce you? I am just saying, 'Please do it if you can convince yourself to do it for your own sake.'”

The foreman also supervises work projects at other nuclear plants in Japan. He said in the recording that he could not allow all the doses at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to be used up.

The workers said the foreman likely wanted all of the workers to use the lead shields to prevent wide variations in the readings on the dosimeters.

At the meeting, they continued to demand an explanation on why they had to use the lead covers.

"Unless you use a lead shield, you can no longer work when the dose is up," the foreman emphasized.

"YOU ARE NOT CUT OUT FOR WORKING AT NUCLEAR PLANTS"

The foreman also recalled a preliminary inspection made in late November by Build-Up staff near the No. 1 through No. 4 reactor buildings. The area was still littered with debris from the hydrogen explosions of March last year, and the foreman said his personal dosimeter began beeping.

"I realized at once that (the radiation levels) were high. I decided, at my own discretion, that we should do that when we work in that area."

The workers said they were convinced that "do that" meant rigging the dosimeters.

The foreman also indicated he had faked his own radiation dose readings in the past. "I have done so before in order to take care of my doses," he said.

His words were still not enough to persuade the workers, so he adopted a tougher tone.

"Perhaps you are not cut out for working at nuclear plants," he said. "Go back to your hometown and do some other job."

Both sides remained far apart during the one-hour talk. The three workers quit their jobs and returned to their hometowns the following day.

But the other workers complied.

‘MAKE SURE NOBODY SEES WHAT YOU ARE DOING’

TEPCO records show that one Build-Up worker was exposed to more than 10 millisieverts of radiation in December alone, placing him near the top percentile among the approximately 5,000 people who worked at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant at the time. However, he was believed to have used a lead shield over his dosimeter, meaning he was likely exposed to even larger doses of radiation.

According to the Build-Up workers, on Dec. 1, they changed into protective suits at the J-Village, a soccer stadium 20 kilometers south of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant that is used as a relay base for workers. They said the Build-Up foreman then issued instructions.

"Today, we will enter areas of high radiation levels. We will wear the lead boxes," he said.

The foreman told the workers to take a bus to the Main Anti-Earthquake Building on the premises of the nuclear plant, where they would receive TEPCO's dosimeters. They were to put the devices in their breast pockets beneath their protection suits and change into a vehicle for exclusive use by Build-Up staff.

Once inside the Build-Up vehicle, each worker would be given a lead cover. The workers were to rip their protection suits, cover their personal dosimeters with the lead sheaths and cover the tears in their protective suits with tape.

"Make sure nobody sees what you are doing," he told each worker. "Did you understand? You'll do so, won't you?"

However, the three workers surprised the foreman by rejecting his orders.

"I am not forcing you. Go back if you don't want to do so," he said. He walked toward the bus bound for the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant with the other workers who agreed to follow his instructions.

The foreman picked one man from the team and told him to drive the defiant workers to the lodging in Iwaki.

"No other company wants to work in areas with high radiation levels," the driver told the workers during the ride. "That's why that kind of work ends up in the hands of Build-Up. But you can make good money that way."

(This article was written by Jun Sato, Chiaki Fujimori, Miki Aoki, Tamiyuki Kihara and Takayuki Kihara.)

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Andrew Cuomo Stealth Texting Scandal

* Gov. Cuomo says it's no big secret - reason for unrecorded texting system is fear of hacking. The Daily News reported Monday that Cuomo refuses to communicate by email. If aides can’t talk in person or by phone, they are told to use the BlackBerry PIN-to-PIN messaging system — a function that leaves no lasting trail because it bypasses data-saving email servers. Baruch College’s Doug Muzzio said, “There’s an element of the stealth governorship here. It’s all part of their strategy to tightly control information and message.”

* Gov. Cuomo uses BlackBerry pin-to-pin messaging system to contact key staffers when they can't talk on the phone. A message sent over a data server can always be recovered, even when deleted. Not so for PIN messages, which are gone forever once killed, a spokesman for BlackBerry operator Research In Motion said. And while much of the back-and-forth communication between the governor and his aides is private, it could be subject to subpoena by ethics investigators, prosecutors and possibly members of the Legislature in the event of a probe. All this secrecy, even though Cuomo "promised to have the most open and transparent administration in state history."

Monday, July 16, 2012

Madonna Marine Le Pen Lawsuit

The New York Daily News reported that Madonna faces a lawsuit from France's extremist right-wing National Front political party, because the Material Girl flashed a Nazi swastika image over a picture of Marine Le Pen during a concert at le Stade de France in Paris on Bastille Day last Saturday. ''National Front spokesman Alain Vizier told the AP that the party is planning to file a complaint in the French court next week for these 'insults,' '' reported The Daily News.

Read more at 20 Minutes : Marine Le Pen affublée d'une croix gammée: Que risque Madonna?

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Madonna's Concert Stade de France : Marine Le Pen's Swastika Scandal

Madonna was all the talk of Paris, even before the city's huge Bastille Day festival. The Queen of Pop was giving a concert in the grand Stade de France just north of Paris, and the paparazzi were in full force, describing Madonna as exhausted and tired. But tonight, she put on a fabulous show, our sources tell us, as demonstrated this insider's photo (above). Madonna is still the epitome of glamour and style.

Madonna created a scandal (as usual) by projecting an image of the right-wing politician, Marine Le Pen, bearing a swastika on her forehead. Madonna had first aired the controversial image of Ms. Le Pen in Tel Aviv on May 31. After the image's debut, Ms. Le Pen shot back by describing Madonna as being one of the "old singers," who go to extremes for publicity. But last month, Ms. Le Pen escalated her rhetoric and threatened to sue the Material Girl if the controversial image was not removed from the montage of images and video as part of Madonna's concert. No word, yet, on Ms. Le Pen's reaction to the use of the image at le Stade de France.

Fire at South Street Seaport

Fire breaks out at South Street Seaport ; FDNY put out the blaze. No casualties reported, according to The New York Post. * Fire officials say a heavy blaze at New York City's crowded South Street Seaport shopping spot has been put out without any injuries. Battalion Chief John Sarrocco said flames enveloped a 100-foot stretch of Pier 17, which was teeming with several hundred people when the fire broke out about 4 p.m. Saturday. (NY Post) * Fire Causes Smoke and Panic at the South Street Seaport (NYT)

2003 Iraq NYC protests Censorship ?

A Google search for news stories about this string : nyc war protest 2003 (without quotation marks) (which is broad enough to pick up the massive anti-war protest and rally, which took place in New York City on February 15, 2003) turns up no results. Why does Google provide no links to news articles to a simple search for this historical event ?

Friday, July 13, 2012

AT&T Domestic Cellphone Surveillance

Cellphone carriers filed reports with the U.S. Congress indicating that the telecommunication companies "responded to a startling 1.3 million demands for subscriber information last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the course of investigations. ...AT&T alone now responds to an average of more than 700 requests a day, with about 230 of them regarded as emergencies that do not require the normal court orders and subpoena. That is roughly triple the number it fielded in 2007, the company said," according to The New York Times.

2012-05-29 ATT Response to Rep Ed Markey - Domestic Spying

Read more letters to mobile carriers reagrding use of cell phone tracking by law enforcement on Rep. Ed Markey's website.

Monday, July 9, 2012

What is the Robin Hood Tax ?

Robin-Hood-Tax, Robin-Hood-Tax

Simply put, the big idea behind the Robin Hood Tax is to generate hundreds of billions of dollars. That money could provide funding for jobs to kickstart the economy and get America back on its feet. It could help save the social safety net here and around the world. And it will come from fairer taxation of the financial sector.

This small tax of less than ½ of 1% on Wall Street transactions can generate hundreds of billions of dollars each year in the US alone.

Enough to protect American schools, housing, local governments and hospitals. Enough to pay for lifesaving AIDS medicines. Enough to support people and communities around the world – and deal with the climate challenges we're facing.

It won't affect ordinary Americans, their personal savings, or every day consumer activity, such as ATMs or debit cards. It's easy to enforce and tough to evade.

This is a tax on Wall Street, which created the greatest economic crisis in our nation, and globally, since the Great Depression. The same people who have returned to record profits and bonuses while ordinary Americans, the 99%, continue to pay the price of their crisis.

So it's time for justice for ordinary families and businesses. For American families faced with a choice between buying food or paying the heating bill.

The Robin Hood Tax is just. The banks can afford it. The systems are in place to collect it. It won't affect ordinary members of the public, their bank accounts or their savings. It's fair, it's timely, and it's possible.

It's not a tax on the people, but a tax for the people.

Armstrong Anti-Doping Lawsuit Dismissed

2012 07 09 Armstrong v Tygart Judges Order 2012 07 09 Armstrong Anti Doping Lawsuit