Bloomberg is banning the wrong thing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18285462

It is not the size of the drink that should be banned but rather the toxic High Fructose Corn Syrup in the drink that should be banned.  If people want a large drink that should not be for the government to dictate.  The toxic ingredient in the drink should be regulated though.

New York City Department of Health describes how drinking one 20 ounce (560ml) sweetened soft drink a day translates into eating 50 pounds (22.6kg) of sugar a year.  He means Fructose.  He says Sugar but he means Fructose.

Jim Harbaugh looks silly.‏

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7989980/jim-harbaugh-insists-alex-smith-not-peyton-manning-was-san-francisco-49ers-plan

Jim Harbaugh says the 49ers always wanted Alex Smith…..If you believe that I have another bridge to sell you.  What a joke this is.

This is like having a date to the prom and then finding out the hottest girl in school just got dumped.  So you go up to her in the middle of the cafeteria and ask her out in front of everybody.  But she proceeds to laugh in your face.  So then you stroll back to your friends and deny you just asked her out.  You try telling everyone you were never really interested and she isn’t that hot.  Besides you already have a girlfriend.  As you try brushing the whole incident off NOBODY believes you……

Jim Harbaugh would have thrown Alex Smith overboard in 2 seconds if Peyton Manning batted his eyes in the 49ers direction.  Trying to deny that after you got rejected just makes you look silly.  Have some dignity Jim and just admit the truth.

March 18^th - http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-pursuingmanning

China's fake military parts

http://www.militaryaerospace.com/news/2012/05/30/economic-watch-u-s-must-stop-using-china-s-fake-military-parts.html

  

Outsourcing-focused trade policy decisions since the early 1990s (Bill Clinton) that, with the enthusiastic support of major defense contractors and big technology companies, have sent much advanced U.S. electronics production to China.  When this began happening in the 90’s I stood and screamed at anybody who would listen “THIS IS NOT GOOD….IS ANYONE PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS PENDING DISASTER……DOES ANYONE CARE ABOUT WHAT THIS ALL MEANS……NOT JUST KILLING JOBS BUT COMPROMISING OUR NATIONAL SECURITY ……..HELLO…….ANYONE…..” But unfortunately nobody on the planet (besides me) cared and now here we are.  Exactly where I said we would be.

Senate Armed Services Committee has once again just reminded Americans that counterfeit imported electronics parts have been "flooding" into major U.S. military systems for years.

in 2009 and 2010 alone, staff found more than 1 million individual "suspect" parts bound for use or actually installed in several types of military aircraft, and even in the Pentagon's anti-ballistic missile systems. More than 70 percent of those suspect parts were traceable to China. 

Moreover, such counterfeiting has been public knowledge since being spotlighted in a Commerce Department report released in January 2010.  If these geniuses only found out about Chinese counterfeiting in January 2010 these people need to read my emails because I have been talking about this topic for over a decade.

The best data available indicate just how alarmingly America's vulnerability has grown. U.S. Business and Industry Council research shows that as of 2010, products from China controlled nearly 28 percent of the total U.S. market for a huge group of civilian electronic components widely used in U.S. defense goods. This Chinese market share has roughly tripled since 1997. Chinese import penetration rates are nearly as high and also surging in categories such as printed circuits, printed circuit assemblies, resistors, transformers and broadcast and wireless communications equipment.

As long as U.S. companies can supply lucrative American civilian and defense customers from very low cost, highly subsidized, regulation- and tax-free Chinese production sites in particular, the Pentagon will remain dangerously dependent on a country that's anything but friendly and whose systemically secretive, cronyist business practices can frustrate even the most intrusive - i.e. unrealistic - monitoring and inspection programs.

Although America has its own unscrupulous businesses, domestic production would be much cheaper to monitor effectively for logistical reasons alone. Don't forget the economic payoffs of recouped output, jobs, innovation capacity and taxable business activity. Throw in improved national security, and it's clear that even the substantial short-term challenges of globally restructuring this major industry don't remotely offset the upside.

http://www.information-age.com/channels/security-and-continuity/news/2105468/security-backdoor-found-in-chinamade-us-military-chip.thtml

Radioactive Blue Fin Tuna in California‏

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57442544/radioactive-bluefin-tuna-crossed-pacific-to-u.s/

Radioactive Blue Fin Tuna found off the coast of California…..  Exactly what I warned you would happen in the post below from March 31, 2011.  The experts said radioactive sea water would not be a problem because it dissipates in the large ocean.  Not only did it not dissipate but the radiation was carried by the fish clear across the entire Pacific Ocean to the coast of California.  Everyone is shocked….Everyone except me.
 

---

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/03/30/Japan-seawater-radiation-3355-times-limit/UPI-73181301483708/

That stinks because I like Sushi and this will probably put a damper on that enjoyment.

Radioactive iodine-131 3,355 times the legal limit was detected in a seawater sample near the damaged nuclear plant in Japan

polluted seawater poses no immediate health risks  because fishing isn't occurring in the evacuation-designated area within 12 miles of the plant and radiated substances would be "significantly diluted" by the time they are consumed.  How comforting. I guess the fish automatically know not to swim into the toxic water.  There is no way the radiation would move further then 12 miles.  No sir! 

Not like they are detecting radiation all the way in NY.  http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/official-trace-radiation-detected-in-ny-1.2788632 

Or all the way in Mass. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/radiation-rain-water-massachusetts-radioactive_n_841188.html

 The toxic water will just automatically stay around the plant and everything outside will be fine.  How nice!  Just fish 13 miles out and everything will be healthy. 

Enjoy!

Hewlett Packard

In 2010 Meg Whitman (former CEO of EBAY) ran for California Governor and talked about the tragedy of unemployment. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRiIvImUaP0

The California Voters didn’t fall for her lies and she lost the election. 

Hewlett Packard wasn’t as smart as the California voters and they hired her as their CEO. 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-hp-outlines-27000-layoffs-3b-in-savings-20120523,0,6181762.story

The result of that decision is 27,000 people are about to lose their jobs……  27,000…. For perspective on that number you should go into the Hartford Civic Center and that is 14,000.  Fill the arena to capacity and then tell everyone they are all fired.  Then have the arena filled a second time and fire all those people too.  That is about what Meg Whitman is doing.  The same Meg Whitman who talked about the problem of unemployment is now going out of her way to create lots more of it. 

HP exclaims laying off 27,000 people will save them 3 Billion Dollars.  Why not just lay off everyone and save even more money. If layoffs are the path to success then just do it completely.

The good news is nobody in China is going to lose their HP job in case you were concerned.  They are all safe. 

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-05-11/news/31664343_1_hp-employee-pc-and-printer-units-webos 

On May 8^th  Meg Whitman said there may be layoffs but NOT in China. She went on to promise that HP wasn't planning on big layoffs in China and she did hint that whatever layoffs are in store they would not be "broad based."  27,000 is NOT broad based.  Good to know.

HP must be the dumbest company on Earth.  First they hired Carley Fiornia who went on to lay off 30,000 HP workers and drove the company straight into the ground.  Her azz was tossed out on the sidewalk with a suitcase full of money.  Later she also lost her election for the US Senate in California.

Then HP brought in their next bozo CEO who decided HP should NOT be making PC’s anymore.  Even though they were the biggest PC maker in the world.

http://techandfilm.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/how-hps-decision-to-stop-making-computers-will-effect-you-and-your-next-computer-purchase/

Then after that jack azz decision was roundly ridiculed they back tracked and said they will still make PC’s.

http://techandfilm.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/hp-to-continue-to-make-computers-after-all/

Now they are led by the idiot Whitman who is back to laying off 27,000 more employees.

HP - Run by idiots!

Cancer Screening...Don't bother!

November 2009 - Woman don’t need mammogram screenings until age 50.  Not age 40 as was previously recommended.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/health/17cancer.html

March 2012 woman don’t need annual pap tests anymore, despite previous recommendations that they were necessary.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/14/health/la-he-pap-tests-20120315

May 2012 Men don’t need to have yearly prostate screening anymore.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/new-data-on-harms-of-prostate-cancer-testing/

For two decades Cancer deaths have been going down because of early detection and prevention efforts. 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/medical/health/medical/cancer/story/2012-01-05/Cancer-death-rates-continue-to-drop/52387824/1

So why now is there a concerted effort to undo all the progress?  Because screening people costs insurance companies lots of money.  If you don’t screen it doesn’t cost insurance companies anything.  That is much better…for them.  If you don’t detect the cancer then insurance companies don’t have to pay to treat the cancer.  More savings.  Once you figure out you have cancer it is probably real late and you will simply die.  Again not a problem for insurance companies.  Dead people are very cheap to treat.

To recap – Don’t screen and save money.  Don’t treat the disease (you don’t know about) and save money.  Once you are so sick you just die…..even more savings.  It is a win, win, win for the big insurance companies. 

The government “panels” are all too happy to help out with this new business plan.  If the government doesn’t recommend screening you can be sure the insurance companies aren’t going to pay for it.  If the insurance companies contribute enough campaign contributions to their favorite political party (both of them) they are sure to get exactly what they want. 

God bless Capitalism.

The Next Economic Meltdown...Student Debt

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/student-loans-weighing-down-a-generation-with-heavy-debt.html

With more than $1 trillion in student loans outstanding in this country, crippling debt is no longer confined to dropouts from for-profit colleges or graduate students who owe on many years of education

About two-thirds of bachelor’s degree recipients borrow money to attend college, either from the government or private lenders, according to a Department of Education survey of 2007-8 graduates; the total number of borrowers is most likely higher since the survey does not track borrowing from family members. 

By contrast, 45 percent of 1992-93 graduates borrowed money; that survey included family borrowing as well as government and private loans. 

“If one is not thinking about where this is headed over the next two or three years, you are just completely missing the warning signs,” said Rajeev V. Date, deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal watchdog created after the financial crisis.

Mr. Date likened excessive student borrowing to risky mortgages. And as with the housing bubble before the economic collapse, the extraordinary growth in student loans has caught many by surprise.

Much like the mortgage brokers who promised pain-free borrowing to homeowners just a few years back, many colleges don’t offer warnings about student debt in the glossy brochures and pitch letters mailed to prospective students. Instead, reading from the same handbook as for-profit colleges, they urge students not to worry about the costs.

The next train wreck is coming.  Choo Choo……

Tarrifs On China...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/business/energy-environment/us-slaps-tariffs-on-chinese-solar-panels.html?_r=1

This is how you know it is an election year.  This is how you know the politicians are feeling the heat of a pissed off electorate for the 12th consecutive year.  Normally you hear YOU CAN’T POSSIBLE HAVE TARRIFFS….TARRIFS ARE BAD…..TARRIFFS KILL THE ECONOMY….But in an election year suddenly tariffs are a great idea.  No what we should do….Tariffs.  How nice!  If they did the same thing all the other years maybe we could fix this never ending catastrophe.  Unfortunately they only get serious for a couple of months every 4 years.

The move by the Commerce Department is certain to infuriate Chinese officials.  Good!!! If they are upset I am happy.

The antidumping decision is among the biggest in American history, covering one of the largest and fastest-growing categories of imports from China, the world’s largest exporter.

It’s really dangerous.” Mr. Li said that Chinese companies would “certainly” retaliate by filing a trade case at China’s commerce  Yeah…this is perfect.  A trade war.  We will stop importing stuff from China and make it all in the USA.  China can stop importing from the USA which is NOTHING.  We will see who wins.

a similar case against China and Vietnam over the manufacture of steel towers for wind turbines, charging that steep government subsidies were giving foreign companies an unfair advantage over American manufacturers.

“China’s method is straightforward: it sets forth industry-specific Five-Year Plans and then uses all forms of national and local subsidies and other governmental support to quickly transfer jobs, supply chains, intellectual property and wealth, to the permanent detriment of U.S. and global manufacturers,” he said. “China’s ability to ramp up and overwhelm an industry is unique and particularly devastating with new and emerging technologies, where global competitors may be less established and can be knocked out more easily and quickly.”

JP Morgan Down $17 Billion

http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2012/05/12/how-jpmorgan-lost-17-5-billion/

Yesterday JP Morgan was down 2 billion.  Today they are now down 17 billion.  Can’t wait to read tomorrows news.

This story is convoluted and difficult to understand.  Not even the “experts” really understand it.  Every article I read is a lot of words and no details as to how you lose billions and billions of dollars.  

Basically JP Morgan was offering insurance to investors who invested in big risky companies (RR Donnelly is one of them) Then there was some manipulation and deception and rival hedge funds started getting annoyed and betting against JP Morgan causing everything to unravel.  It is still unraveling.  

There are derivatives involved.  There are credit default swaps involved.  There is a lot of betting involved.  Pretty much all the things that created the 2008 crisis (which were supposedly fixed (wink wink)) are still happening and achieving the same results.  

All the fans of deregulation can stand up and take another bow as another bank catastrophe unfolds before our eyes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4501762n

60 minutes warned the world about Derivatives back in 1995.  17 years ago they told the world these things could bring down the banking system.  They explained that nobody knows what these things are.  Nobody knows what they do.  Nobody controls them.  Obviously nobody (but me) was paying attention 17 years ago because here we are talking about how JP Morgan has lost 17 billion dollars (in 6 weeks) because of derivatives.

Funny how this stuff always happens in a presidential election year.

JP Morgan

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-sec-jpmorgan-chase-regulators-20120511,0,3897661.story

Regulators are looking into the $2-billion trading loss by JPMorgan Chase & Co., the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday as lawmakers and analysts said the bank's revelation would increase pressure for tighter financial rules.  Tighter regulations……..What a novel idea.   Why didn’t someone think of that idea before……If only someone was smart enough to think regulation are important.

The huge loss from a trading portfolio intended to help the bank manage credit risk comes as JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has helped lead the charge against tougher financial rules being drafted by regulators.  Jamie Dimon is a BFF of Obama.  He has contributed to his campaigns and any time there is a state dinner his name is always on the guest list.  He has lots of ideas on how to f*ck up the country (and economy) and Obama is always more then ready to listen.

"This regrettable news from JPMorgan Chase obviously goes counter to the bank’s narrative blaming excessive regulation for the woes of financial institutions," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of the lead authors of the law.

"The argument that financial institutions do not need the new rules to help them avoid the irresponsible actions that led to the crisis of 2008 is at least $2 billion harder to make today," he continued.

Frank noted a recent estimate by JPMorgan Chase that complying with new regulations would cost the bank $400 million to $600 million.

"In other words, JPMorgan Chase, entirely without any help from the government has lost, in this one set of transactions, five times the amount they claim financial regulation is costing them," Frank said.

An Obama administration official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue, said JPMorgan's trading loss underscored the need to keep pushing to implement the new regulations in the financial reform law.

Time Magazine Getting desperate

http://www.boston.com/Boston/dailydose/2012/05/has-attachment-parenting-gone-too-far-time-magazine-cover-says-yes/euGWReA98P8yRCUnjFklbO/story.html

When I saw this Time cover my first thought was…“What”????  My second thought was “Huh”????  My third thought was “Wow that is completely unnecessary”.  If Time Magazine is looking to create buzz then this is successful.  If they are looking for shock value then they are on the right track.  If they are looking to maintain their reputation as a relevant and respected news magazine they might was to rethink this. 

If people want shock value they read the National Enquirer.  If they want to see naked woman they buy porn magazines.  I am pretty sure most people don’t want to see a hot mom with a 3 year old sucking her boob. If they do they have problems. 

First this is not news.  This is not a hot button topic worthy of national discussion.  Worthy of the cover of Time Magazine.  There are no laws about to be passed on the subject.  There are no protests going on concerning this issue.  It is a non story.  The only point of the story is so Time can put a hot mom on their cover with a three year old sucking her boob.

Everyone on Facebook is talking about the picture but not the topic.  That is because nobody cares about the topic.  This topic without that picture would never make the cover.  It is nothing more then a stunt.

There is a presidential election in 6 months.  There are wars in Afganistan, and Pakistan.  There is civil war in Syria.  There was a terrorist attempt a couple of days back.  There is a standoff in the South China Sea.  Gas is $4.00.  Unemployment is high.  There are a billion important issues and the best Time can come up with is a 3 year old breastfeeding.  Maybe I am getting old but I don’t get it.  Not from them.  If Time Magazine wants to put naked woman on their cover that is fine with me.  But leave the 3 year old out of it.  It is disturbing.

Microsoft Boots Chinese firm for leaking sensitive info‏

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9226877/Microsoft_boots_Chinese_firm_for_leaking_Windows_exploit?source=rss_keyword_edpicks&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+computerworld%2Fs%2Ffeed%2Fkeyword%2FEditorsPicks+%28Computerworld+Editors%27+Picks%29&google_editors_picks=true

Exactly what I have been saying for years…..

Microsoft hands over highly sensitive Windows information to Communist Red China.  China uses that information for hacking.

Microsoft on Thursday identified a Chinese security partner as the source of a leak last March in its highly restricted vulnerability information-sharing program.

"During our investigation into the disclosure of confidential data shared with our Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) partners, we determined that a member ... Hangzhou DPTech Technologies Co., Ltd., had breached our non-disclosure agreement

DPTech is based in Hangzhou, a major city in eastern China southwest of Shanghai. According to the company's website, it develops and sells network security products that include UTM (unified threat management) systems, IPS (intrusion prevention systems) appliances, application firewalls and vulnerability scanning software.

Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security, was stunned that Microsoft named DPTech.  STUNNED…..He was stunned.  He had no idea Microsoft handing over Windows info to China was a problem.  Who could have known that….

Auriemma had uncovered aS vulnerability in Windows' Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) in May 2011, then reported it to TippingPoint. His code was used by the Zero Day Initiative to create a working exploit as part of the bounty program's bug verification work. ZDI passed along the exploit and other information about the RDP vulnerability to Microsoft.

Microsoft patched the RDP vulnerability in its March Patch Tuesday update, and rated the fix "critical," the highest threat ranking in its four-step system.

Later on the same day that Auriemma claimed the leak had given hackers a head start on a worm, Microsoft confirmed that the leak had likely originated with MAPP.

Under MAPP, Microsoft provides select security vendors with technical information and a proof-of-concept exploit before patches go public. MAPP is meant to give the security companies time to craft detection signatures.

MAPP counts 73 companies as members, including several other vendors based in China. Six weeks ago, MAPP's rolls listed 78 firms.

F-22 deploying to UAE...Get ready....‏

On March 6^th I said Israel will be attacking Iran before the US Presidential election and the US will be forced to respond. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501713_162-57424962/iran-us-stealth-fighter-deployment-to-uae-harmful/

Today the US Air force is moving F-22 fighters to the United Arab Emirates.  Iran is not happy about it.  The F-22 has never been deployed to the middle east.  Not for Iraq.  Not for Afghanistan.  Not for Libya.  This is a first. 

The F-22 is the Air Forces most sophisticated fighter jet and will be the first to go in during any conflict with Iran.  It replaces the Stealth Fighter that was retired. 

They stopped making the F-22 because they said it wasn’t needed.  I said it was needed and they should keep making them.  Nobody listens to me so they stopped anyway.  Here they are getting ready to use them in the coming months.  Just like I said they would.  They only have 190 of them so they better not lose any.

Also the F-22  has a tendency to kill its pilots and some don’t want to fly it anymore

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/22-fighter-pilots-fly-troubled-79-billion-jets/story?id=16250417

but that is a different story for another different time.  The important thing is events are happening even if most people are missing it…..Again.

CISPA‏

Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

Republicans love it.  Big Business loves it.  Democrats pretend to hate it.  Wink Wink.

Republicans who are all about…… Freedom……Liberty……..Privacy……..Small Government…..Can’t wait to take away your freedom, liberty, privacy, and increase the powers of the government.

http://techland.time.com/2012/04/30/the-breakdown-who-supports-cispa-and-who-doesnt/

The concern by some is that the bill’s language is too broad, giving companies and the government power to intercept, share or block user information as long as it is to fight “cybersecurity threats.” Proponents say it will increase the ease and speed with which the private and public sectors can cooperate to fight threats against this country’s woefully unprepared networks.

Supporters

When one company detects an attack, sharing information about that attack promptly with other companies can help protect those other companies and their users from being victimized by the same attack.” Sounds reasonable, although some critics of the bill believe tech companies are supporting it because it protects them from lawsuits.

Non-regulatory is the key phrase in the company’s letter to Mike Rogers (R – MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the author of CISPA. The bill makes it much more difficult for a user to sue a company if it gives his or her information over to the government.

Companies and the government would have a lot of freedom to share (Your) information without worrying about legal action.

Opposed

“the bill would allow broad sharing of information with governmental entities without establishing requirements for both industry and the Government to minimize and protect personally identifiable information.”

the Congressional Privacy Caucus proposed an amendment that would have explicitly banned the government from using information for anything other than fighting cybersecurity threats.

If this piece of legislation had a privacy policy, it would be ‘You have no privacy!’. In its current form, this legislation would allow companies to share personal information about consumers with other companies, even if that information has nothing to do with cybersecurity.

The language of the bill is too broad, and it’s hard to know what information will actually be shared by private entities as a result of the bill, or what “cybersecurity systems” will do once they are enabled … CISPA also grants sweeping immunity to companies to share information

Ron Paul called it “Big Brother writ large” and “essentially an internet monitoring bill that permits both the federal government and private companies to view your private online communications with no judicial oversight–provided, of course, that they do so in the name of ‘cybersecurity.’ “

Chen Guangcheng‏

This is a real problem for President Obama in an election year.   What to do…..What to do……

On one hand he has the most important country on Earth in Communist Red China.  Land of the oppressed people who will work for $17.00 a day until they can find a way to kill themselves.  Corporate America loves these slaves.  They need these slaves.  They want these slaves.  Will do anything to make sure they continue to have unfetter access to these slaves.  Priority # 1 is cheap labor to make US products to sell to unemployed Americans. 

For Obama millions of dollars in campaign contributions are at stake.  He must make sure Chinese slavery remains available to his corporate masters.  He also must make sure the Communist government continues to lend Billions and billions and billions of dollars to prop up our hollowed out economy.  Pissing off his creditors would not be good.

On the other hand Obama must pretend he cares about human rights (my belly hurts from laughing as I try to type this).  He must pretend to support democracy (laughing uncontrollably), and freedom (can barely contain myself), and peoples right to protest. (almost fell off my chair).  He must pretend to care about woman’s rights (So hard to type this)  Especially in an election year…….  So this is going to get tricky.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-china-0501-jm-20120501,0,4569020.story

Chen Guangcheng A blind, self-educated lawyer who brought down the wrath of Chinese security agencies by campaigning against forced abortions and sterilizations, he spent four years in prison and additional time under house arrest. That ended when he managed to escape under cover of darkness and, with help from confederates, made his way to Beijing, more than 300 miles away. He then reportedly went to theU.S. Embassy and was granted shelter.

The episode creates an awkward diplomatic situation just days before Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are scheduled to arrive in Beijing for talks on a variety of matters. It also erupts as Washington seeks Chinese cooperation in dealing with intractable dangers in Iran, Syria and North Korea (They left out the Philippians). Chen's flight to U.S. protection could complicate a presidential campaign here, as well as a delicate leadership transition in China that will occur later this year.

For the United States to harbor a fugitive within China's borders will doubtless stir nationalist resentment of the West. But no American president is likely to simply hand over a peaceable dissident to the mercies of the Chinese security apparatus.

What did this fugitive do again?   attention ought to focus at least briefly on the government policies that Chen took such risks to protest.

Most gruesome is family planning agencies' practice of dragging pregnant women out of their homes to have their fetuses destroyed, as part of the government's long-standing one-child policy. Forced abortions have occurred as late as nine months into a pregnancy.

The victims may also have IUDs inserted without their consent to prevent future pregnancies. The advocacy group All Girls Allowed says these atrocities help explain why China is the only nation on Earth where women are more likely to commit suicide than are men.

Chen's crime was to publicize this savagery by filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of women subjected to it.

Sounds like the kinda guy who should be in Jail.  China…..What a beautiful place.

What is going on in the NBA‏

It is one negative headline after another.  These are not the kind of headlines the NBA is looking to start their playoffs. 

Stoudemire punches a fire extinguisher and hurts his hand.  Will miss games.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/7875526/2012-nba-playoffs-amare-stoudemire-new-york-knicks-injures-hand-loss

Rondo bumps a ref and is suspended.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/7872911/2012-nba-playoffs-boston-celtics-rajon-rondo-suspended-game-2-bumping-official

Ron Artest (Meta World Peace) elbows a player and is suspended 7 games.

http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/lakers/post/_/id/29764/metta-world-peace-suspended-seven-games-by-the-nba

Derrick Rose (Reigning league MVP) blows out his knee and is done for the year.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicagobulls/post/_/id/8637/roses-torn-acl-dashes-title-hopes

All this negative news overshadows the actual games.  Not good.

Airbus A380 Wing Cracks‏

Airbus A380 wings are made out of the same sh*tty composite material the Dreamliner is made out of.  The same sh*tty material that causes the tail to fall off other Airbus planes. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380

While most of the fuselage is aluminium, composite materials comprise more than 20% of the A380's airframe.^[115] Carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, glass-fibre reinforced plastic and quartz-fibre reinforced plastic are used extensively in wings,

On the A380 the wings have been cracking after just 4 years of use.  Causing Airbus to lose business and pay for costly repairs.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/airbus-to-cover-costs-of-superjumbo-wing-cracks-20120427-1xp4u.html

Qantas has found the more serious ''type-two'' cracks in the wings of the two A380s it has inspected since European air-safety authorities issued an airworthiness directive in February

Emirates, the world's largest operator of A380s, has complained about the loss of tens of millions of dollars in revenue from it having to take six of its 21 A380s out of service.

''This is a maintenance issue … it has nothing to do with the safety of flights. It is unfortunate we have to replace some of those parts but it happens,''   Cracking wings is not a safety issue?  Are you sure? 

Maintenance is changing the oil.  Not fixing cracks in the structure that holds the plane at 38,000 feet.  That is called a sh*tty design.

The type-two cracks have been found in the brackets that attach the A380's wing ribs - frames that extend along the width of the wing - to the wing's metal skin.

European aircraft manufacturer insists the setback has not dented interest in its flagship aircraft from airlines and the flying public. 

Really…. then why are your customers postponing their orders?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qatar-airways-to-defer-airbus-a380-deliveries-2012-05-01

"We are scheduled to get the Airbus A380 delivery in October next year but Qatar Airways will have to defer the deliveries of those airplanes until we have a very clear picture on the issues of the wing which is now in the process of modification.  Sounds like your customers are concerned…

This routine “maintenance” issue is slowing down productions too.  Strange that something so routine would have such an effect.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/26/us-airbus-a-idUSBRE83P0A520120426