The Defense Department has officially announced the creation of a “Civilian Expeditionary Workforce,” which will include sending civilians overseas in support of military missions.

The new workforce comes as a result of Defense Department Directive 1404.10, signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon Brown on January 23, 2009.  Per this directive, civilian employees will be asked to volunteer to deploy in support of military missions for up to two years.  They will serve in support of humanitarian, reconstuction, and combat missions.

While it states that volunteers will be initially sought, later on in section 4, subsection (e) paragraph (2) it states:

whenever possible, the DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce will be asked to serve expeditionary requirements voluntarily. Management retains the authority to direct and assign civilian employees, either voluntarily, involuntarily, or on an unexpected basis to accomplish the DoD mission.

This appears to say that the Department of Defense reserves the right to force any of their civilian employees to deploy overseas in combat-support missions.

Some critics have wondered if this is the first step in the creation of a civilian national security force.  While this may sound like silly conspiracy talk, Obama had this to say to an audience in Colorado Springs on July 2, 2008:

“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

As far as I know he has not elaborated on this proposal. (If you have more information please let me know)  However, Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel did write the following in his 2006 book, “The Plan: Big Ideas for America” -

“It’s time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, all Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service.”

If these youth were simply “asked” to serve this time, how many really would?  It seems a plan like Mr. Emmanuel’s would ask for volunteers first, but if that did not suffice, then compulsory “volunteering” would carry the day - just like the new Civilian Expeditionary Force.

Sources - Department of Defense Directive 1404.10 January 23, 2009

 Infowars - Defense Department Announces Civilian Expeditionary Force January 30, 2009

World Net Daily - Obama’s ‘civilian national security force July 15, 2008

This past week NBC rejected an ad for the Super Bowl from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) because it “depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards.”

The ad itself is rather hilarious, and certainly NBC has run things as explicit before.  NBC said they would consider running the ad if the following were changed:

:12- :13- licking pumpkin
:13- :14- touching her breast with her hand while eating broccoli
:19- pumpkin from behind between legs
:21- rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin
:22- screwing herself with broccoli (fuzzy)
:23- asparagus on her lap appearing as if it is ready to be inserted into vagina
:26- licking eggplant
:26- rubbing asparagus on breast

After the ad was rejected, PETA responded, “Ads for fried chicken and burgers are allowed, even though these foods make Americans fat, sick and boring in bed.”
In the end, PETA did not pay the millions for this to run for 30 seconds.  Instead they have received a great deal of free promotion as this thing makes its way around the internet, making them the winner of this silliness.

Sources: Pork Mag - NBC rejects PETA Super Bowl Ad January 30, 2009

PETA - ‘Veggie Love:’ PETA’s Banned Super Bowl Ad

The PETA Files - NBC’s Sexually-Explicit Super Bowl Ad Rejection makes us blush January 27, 2009

Dr. John S. Theon , a former supervisor of James Hansen at NASA , declared himself a global warming skeptic.  He said Hansen’s activity promoting man-made global warming “embarrassed NASA” and that he was “never muzzled.”

Theon wrote, “I appreciate the opportunity to add my name to those who disagree that global warming is man-made…I was, in effect, Hansen’s supervisor because I had to justify his funding, allocate his resources, and evaluate his results. I did not have the authority to give him his annual performance evaluation.”

Hansen runs the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, and has been one of Al Gore’s chief allies in pushing man-made global warming.  Last summer Hansen declared he wanted trials for oil company CEOs and possibly Congressmen who were skeptics.

Theon continued, “Hansen was never muzzled even though he violated NASA’s official agency position on climate forecasting (i.e., we did not know enough to forecast climate change or mankind’s effect on it). Hansen thus embarrassed NASA by coming out with his claims of global warming in 1988 in his testimony before Congress.” 

Explaining his qualifications behind his skepticism of anthropogenic climate change, Theon said, “As Chief of several of NASA Headquarters’ programs (1982-94), an SES position, I was responsible for all weather and climate research in the entire agency, including the  research work by James Hansen, Roy Spencer, Joanne Simpson, and several hundred other scientists at NASA field centers, in academia, and in the private sector who worked on climate research.”

Theon added his name to the growing list of the 650+ international scientists skeptical of man-made global warming who have signed on to the U.S. Senate Minority Report that was released last December.  Here is Senator James Inhofe welcoming his addition to the list -

A brief bio of Theon’s work and qualifications -

Education: B.S. Aero. Engr. (1953-57); Aerodynamicist, Douglas Aircraft Co. (1957-58); As USAF Reserve Officer (1958-60),B.S. Meteorology (1959); Served as Weather Officer 1959-60; M.S, Meteorology (1960-62); NASA Research Scientist, Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (1962-74); Head Meteorology Branch, GSFC (1974-76); Asst. Chief, Lab. for Atmos. Sciences, GSFC (1977-78);  Program Scientist, NASA Global Weather Research Program, NASA Hq. (1978-82); Chief, Atmospheric Dynamics & Radiation Branch NASA Hq., (1982-91); Ph.D.,  Engr. Science & Mech.: course of study and dissertation in atmos. science (1983-85); Chief, Atmospheric Dynamics, Radiation, & Hydrology Branch, NASA Hq. (1991-93); Chief, Climate Processes Research Program, NASA Hq. (1993-94); Senior Scientist, Mission to Planet Earth Office, NASA Hq. (1994-95); Science Consultant, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (1995-99); Science Consultant  Orbital Sciences Corp. (1996-97) and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab., (1997-99).  

Sources: Inhofe EPW Press Blog - James Hansen’s Former NASA Supervisor Declares Himself a Skeptic January 27, 2009  

The Guardian - Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist June 23, 2008

Two new U.S. studies show that nearly half of commercial high-fructose corn syrup samples contained mercury, while one-third of popular brand-name food items made with HFCS also contained mercury.

HFCS is regulary used to sweeten products in place of sugar, with the average American consuming 12 teaspoons of it per day.  Teens and other high consumers consume up to 80% more than the average.  (You have Congress to thank for the prevalence of HFCS in your food, but more on that later.)

The first study, appearing in the current Environmental Health, found mercury in 9 out of 20 samples of commercial HFCS.  The second, done by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade policy, a non-profit watchdog, sampled 55 brand name foods which had HFCS listed as the first or second ingredient.  They found that nearly 1 in 3 contained mercury.

Dr. David Wallinga of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade policy , who co-authored both studies, said, “Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply.”

The President of the Corn Refiners Association (the ones behind those insulting “Sweet Surprise!” commercials ) shot back, “This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance.  Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two re-agents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years. These mercury-free re-agents perform important functions, including adjusting pH balances.”

However, the IATP found four plants in Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia that still use the “mercury-cell” technology.

So why don’t we just use sugar in more products?  Big government.   Ron Paul even used the issue in his book The Revolution.   Basically, Archer Daniels Midland and others lobbied Congress to enact limits on the amount of sugar that could be imported to the U.S., greatly raising its cost.

Archer Daniels Midland currently buys over 1/10th of the nation’s corn crop (which is highly subsidized by the federal government), turning most of it into HFCS, at a huge profit.

We don’t have more products made with real sugar because we pretty much can’t, thanks to Congress.

 Sources: Washington Post -Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury January 28, 2009

Texas Congressman Ron Paul made the rounds of the cable news shows this morning, explaining that to help the current financial crisis we do need more regulation - of the Treasury and Federal Reserve.

As all of Washington is swept up in a frenzy of spending, Paul stands out as the voice of reason.  He points out that we need to look at the reasons why we are in this to begin with - “spending too much, borrowing too much, and inflating too much.”  And so that begs the question, how is spending and borrowing more going to help the problem?

First here he is on CNN’s “American Morning” -

Host Kiran Chetry asks Paul what the President can do about the deepening recession, citing that most economists advocate massive spending by the government.

Paul responds that massive spending would be helpful - if done by the people.  Every penny the government spends has to come from the people. Governments do not spend productively, and the proposed stimulus package would cost each American $6,700 in more debt.  How is that beneficial?

So his answer? Get government out of the way, allow the liquidation of debt and allow prices of houses to go down.  It is hard medicine, but in the long run would be much more productive than massively increasing debt and destroying the dollar, something which is getting closer and closer.

Chetry then retorts with the common response - “the hands off approach didn’t seem to work” she says. But Paul rightly declares, “we never had a hands off approach,” saying “To blame the free market for this calamity is absolutely an intellectual error.”

He then was off to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” -

Again he takes the usual questions attacking free markets and defending more regulation and spending.  Here he points out “no one wants to cut the American Empire.”  Our overseas presence is costing us $1 trillion dollars a year.  To stop wasting that money would immediatly benefit the crisis in this country.

And again Dr. Paul gives his prescription of hard medicine, something the people don’t want to hear and politicians don’t want to say.  There is no easy way out.  When you are in trouble because you’ve been spending beyond your mean, you can’t spend more to get out of it.

Not a day goes by without reports of animal cruelty throughout the United States.  Here are just a few these past days -

Temecula, CA - 67 year old man in jail for suspected animal cruelty after animal control officers found over 300 malnourished or dead dogs and cats at his trailer home.  Responding to a call over a vicious dog, the officers found and followed two dogs, which led them to a pile of dead dogs.  Some had been eaten by other dogs.  204 carcasses were found in black trash bags in sheds and barrels.  It took officers some 12 hours to remove all the animals.

Cecil County, MD - Investigation has begun into the Cecil County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where, ironically, animal cruelty is suspected.  Former employees and volunteers reported seeing abuses, including animal control officers shooting or incinerating live dogs that didn’t succumb to euthanasia.

Houston, TX - Harris County District Attorney Particia Lykes vowed to stop the dumping of dogs killed in illegal dogfighting operations.  “They dump injured dogs and dead dogs. This will no longer be a cemetery for dead dogs,” she declared.

Knox County, KY - Couple indicted on 16 counts of animal cruelty.  The case of Earl Enlow, 24, and Melaine Rogers, 22, began last September when animal control officers found numerous dead and malnourished animals on their property.  At least one horse, rabbit, and cat were found dead, along with 5 dogs and 3 roosters.  Officers seized 13 live dogs and 6 horses, many of which were malnourished.

I think most people would agree the above stories, (especially the 204 carcasses in trash bags), are revolting.  But what about when animal cruelty is done in the name of “gourment” food?  That brings us to the question - what the heck is rennet?  Essentially it is enzymes used in the production of cheese.

According to Wisegeek, “Rennet is an extract from the fourth stomach of young ruminants, such as cows, goats, and sheep. This extract contains a number of enzymes which are designed to help these animals digest their mother’s milk, and when added to milk, rennet will cause the milk to coagulate, forming the curds and whey which are so essential in the cheesemaking process.”

Mostly it comes from the stomachs of baby cows, like this little guy - 

and these stomachs are a by product of making veal.  Normally the baby cows are taken away from their mothers within two or three days of their birth.  Often they are kept chained in small crates so they cannot move.  Since they can’t use their muscles, it keeps the meat nice and tender.

When they are slaughtered, the stomachs are taken and the rennet is used in cheesemaking.  Most cheeses on the market are made in this fashion, but not all.  It is very difficult to tell, however, as ingredients normally just have “enzymes” listed, without the source.

Vegetable and microbial rennet can also be used in place of the stomach enzymes.  The only store I know who labels their cheeses as “Vegetarian” and “Traditional” rennet is Whole Foods. (whose founder happens to be a libertarian vegan )  For those of you who cannot give up cheese but perhaps don’t want to eat the by-product of killing baby cows, here is the best listing I could find of vegetarian cheeses.

A United States Geological Survey (USGS) study conducted last year shows that many man-made chemicals remain in drinking water after treatment processes.

The study tested water samples for about 260 commonly used chemicals.  To create a nationally representative study they used sites in Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon and Texas.  130 of those chemicals, including pesticides, gasoline hydrocarbons and household cleaning products, were found in water before treatment at public water treatment plants.

So most were filtered out, right?  Not quite.  About two out of every three  of the 130 chemicals were found in the water after treatment.  The study says that many are concentrated at the level equivalent to a thimble full of water in an olympic-sized swimming pool, and that they do not pose a threat to human health.

However, safe levels for many of these chemicals have not been established.  Tom Schrempp, director of production at Water District No. 1 of Johnson County explains, “We are concerned that they have been detected, but at this point there is insufficient information to really judge anything. Because there are no standards set for most of the compounds, there isn`t a basis for whether there is a health effect.”

The example of E. coli was raised, as it was not regulated in drinking water until the 1980s.  Also noted is the idea of the “stew effect” - what happens when trace amounts of this chemical meets up with trace amounts of that chemical?

Also important to note is the amount of pharmaceuticals that have been found in drinking water.  Last year the Associated Press discovered trace amounts in the drinking water of at least 46 million Americans. The Pharmacratic State is alive and well in America, pushing pills for everything imaginable.  Many of the chemicals in these drugs are not fully absorbed in the body and are released in the urine.

One of these is oestrogen hormones, released by women taking birth control.  Numerous studies have shown that these hormones have mutilated fish, with many male fish growing eggs in their testes.  And then we drink this water.  This is certainly not a call to ban birth control (I found lots of “religious” websites discussing how this proves birth control is the work of the devil) but we do need to be aware what we are doing and its possible effects in the long run.

One easy thing to do to reduce this problem is use natural cleaning agents.  They are more readily available than ever and many cost about the same as harsh chemical cleaners.

Also, only take the medication that you really need.  Our society is one that always looks for the easy answer and so, if you have a problem, there’s a pill for that.  Many health problems that are treated with pharmaceuticals can be improved by simply eating better and exercising.

Sources: Natural News - Many Man-Made Chemicals Detected in Drinking Water Supplies  January 26, 2009

MSNBC - Drugs in water affect 46 million in U.S. September 11, 2008

New Scientist - Top 11 compounds in US drinking water January 12, 2009

New Scientist - Hunt the Hormones March 23, 2002

A new scientific study tells us that since the 1950s, Antarctica’s freezing temperatures have risen about 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.8 F).  As Reuters reported, “The scientists wrote that the Antarctic warming was ‘difficult to explain’ without linking it to manmade emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels.”

However, that might not be true.  An article published on the website of the journal Nature Geoscience reports that scientists have discovered a still active volcano underneath Antarctica’s ice.  The report, by Hugh F. J. Corr and David G. Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey , details the identification of a layer of volcanic ash and glass shards frozen within a sheet of ice in western Antarctica.

Dr. Vaughan stated that for Antarctica, “This is the first time we have seen a volcano beneath the ice sheet punch a hole through the ice sheet.”  He went on to say that heat from a volcano could currently still be melting ice and thinning the Pine Island Glacier.  However, he does believe that warmer oceans are still the primary cause.

The volcano is estimated to have erupted sometime around 325 BC, shooting up through hundreds of yards of ice above it.  They say it was similar to an under-ice eruption in Iceland in 2004.

It is important to note that the layer they now identified showed up in radar surveys done in 2004 and 2005, but it was mistakenly identified as bedrock.  Isn’t it possible then that there are other volcanoes or natural phenomena yet to be discovered that is affecting melting?  It seems that anytime temperatures are found to have risen anywhere, we immediately jump to man-made emissions as the cause.

Let us keep an open debate on these issues and not follow the hysteria.  Are we damaging the planet?  Of course we are, but are we dramatically altering the planet’s climate to the degree that we are headed for the imminent ecological apocalypse that we so often hear about?

A great deal of what is done under the banner of “environmentalism” is a joke.  Just last week, James Lovelock , the originator of the Gaia theory (the earth is essentially a self-regulating organism), had this to say: “Most of the “green” stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It’s not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it’ll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning.”

Lovelock can be considered one of the earliest environmentalists and it was his work on atmospheric chloroflurocarbons that eventually led to the global CFC ban.  It is clear he is in the man-made global warming camp, but he is objective enough to see the nonsense of so many of its proponents.  Let the real debate begin.

Sources: Reuters - Antarctica is warming, not cooling January 21, 2009 

The New York Times - Scientists find active volcano in Antarctica January 21, 2009

New Scientists - One last chance to save mankind January 23, 2009

Nature Geoscience - A recent volcanic eruption beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet January 20, 2009

Obama has told the American people that his presidency will be the most transparent in history.  To that end his first executive orders focused on ethics and transparency.  He also issued a memorandum on new Freedom of Information Act agency guidelines.

Advocating agencies to err on the side of transparency, it states, “All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government. The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA.”

No matter where you sit on the political spectrum,  transparency of government should be an important issue.  Whether you advocate huge government programs or Constitutionally based small government, you should be able to easily know what exactly is being done with your tax dollars.  When finances are out in the open, it is nearly impossible to hide illegal dealings and the like.  A transparent government is an accountable government.

Transparency must start at the local level.  Leading the way in this is the Sunshine Review website. (which, in the interest of transparency, I have done work on.) The aim of the relatively new site is to document transparency at the state and local level.  Eventually this is to include every county, city and school district in the nation.  In wiki format, it encourages ordinary people to research where they live and report on their government.

Last week the site saw real political change take place due to its actions when St. Charles Parish in Louisiana added more information to their website because of the review on Sunshine Review, a story in the Times-Picayune stated, “in response to the critique [on Sunshine Review], which examined the sites of every parish in the state, she put the parish’s budget online and is preparing to add information about how to obtain public records from the parish.”

It is an easy and effective way for ordinary citizens to push for transparency.

Sources: Jurist Paper Chase: Obama signs executive orders on transparency, ethics January 22, 2009

The Times-Picayune St. Charles redesigns Web site January 22, 2009

According to an intelligence estimate from the Justice Department, Mexican drug trafficking operations have been increasing in the D.C./Baltimore area and will only continue to rise. The JD has called Mexican drug syndicates the greatest organized crime threat to the U.S.

The estimate, known as the 2008 Drug Market Analysis for the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), comes courtesy of the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center .  It says that Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) transport and distribute most of the marijuana and methamphetamine for the area, and are becoming involved with cocaine and heroin.

The report states, “Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the primary wholesale distributors of commercial-grade marijuana in the W/B HIDTA region, while Vietnamese criminal groups with ties to Asian DTOs in Canada have emerged as the principal distributors
of high-potency marijuana in the region.”  Officials say the threat is not new, but should still be taken as a serious public safety concern.

Having spent three years in college in D.C . just a few years back, I can say that anything you wanted was readily available - as it is with pretty much any major city in the United States.  As long as you have a demand, there will be someone there to fill the supply.  For any number of reasons, people always have and always will desire to use drugs.  If you are a free individual, shouldn’t you be able to put whatever you want in your body?

Ask most people if we should continue to prohibit drugs (well, only the ones we deem as “bad”), and they will say “Of course” and ridicule the notion of a free market, or even a well regulated one.  Ask the same people if prohibition of alcohol worked, and they will say “Of course not,” but they fail to see the connection.

For fiscal year 2009, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has a budget of over $14 billion dollars.  This is an absolute waste.  Do the drug warriors actually believe that this war has accomplished anything positive?  They regularly point to terrorists being funded by drug money, but it is the prohibition of drugs that raises prices to astronomical levels.  If they were legal, terrorists could never make the money off of drugs that they do now.

There was a fantastically absurd commercial from the ONDCP some years back which essentially told Johnny and Mary that by purchasing marijuana they were funding terrorists.  (If anyone can find this online, please let me know, my search ended in failure.)  This is exactly the same time of silly propaganda of “Reefer Madness.”   Somehow the billions the U.S. government spent over the years propping up dictatorial regimes is not terrorism, but my purchase of pot is.  Go figure.

One final point - the entire war on drugs is unconstitutional.  At least the alcohol prohibitionists back in the day knew that in order to wage their war, they needed a Constitutional amendment.

Source: CNS News - Mexican Drug Traffickers  Increasing Operations in D.C. Area, Says Intel Assessment January 23, 2009