Study urges ban on military tobacco sales

Military personnel who buy cigarettes may lose their tobacco discount or ability to purchase cigarettes at military grocery stores altogether. The recommendation comes from a newly released report from the Institute of Medicine.

Funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the  study reports that over 30 percent of soldiers use tobacco — a much higher rate than Americans overall, which is estimated around 20 percent.

In a bold move toward the ban of military smoking altogether the study recommended:  “stop selling tobacco products in military commissaries and exchanges. Until accomplishing that, DoD should at the very least sell tobacco products at prices equal to those in local civilian retail stores.”

Cigarette tax is big business across this country.

As recently as January, the federal government imposed an additional 62 cents for a total of $1.01 tax on each package of cigarettes to help fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) that was signed into law in February.

State cigarette taxes across the country range from a low of seven cents to as high as $2.75 per pack.

San Francisco will be imposing a “butt tax” starting October 1. A proposed 20-cent per pack “surcharge” will be imposed to generate revenue for discarded butt clean-up.

With the temptation to buy smokes from mail order, Indian reservations or crossing state lines in an attempt for cheaper cigarettes, the House of Representatives introduced a bill that would prevent tobacco smuggling and ensure the collection of all tobacco taxes. (read the entire article here)

The effort directed towards a tobacco-free military results in a win/win. Military personnel will be healthier, while banning tobacco sales in military grocery stores for this high segment of smokers in our country may tighten the last gap for tobacco tax collection.

Editorial comment: The win/win is for the government. The rediculous non-smoking movement moves forward and more taxes will be captured.

The non-smoking movement fails to inform the public that the number one cause of lung cancer for non-smokers is radon. It’s the second leading cause of lung cancer overall in America. Causing no immediate health symptoms, it is silent, odorless and unable to see in your home, it doesn’t gather the attention that “stinky” cigarette  smoke does. Read about it here.

Alzheimer’s ‘distant cousin’ of mad cow? and other obscure news articles for the day

Obscure news for today include a study grant for further study on Alzheimers. Other news includes a new computer worm detected, an EPA representative admits in Senate hearings that US action alone won’t impact Co2 levels  (we’re downwind from China, who won’t participate. Neither will India)

Alzheimer’s ‘distant cousin’ of mad cow — A researcher at Novato’s Buck Institute for Age Research on Monday received a $1.5 million, four-year federal “Eureka” grant to further study his novel theory that Alzheimer’s Disease affects people in much the same way that mad cow disease acts in cattle [read it at Navato Advance]

Under cyberthreat: defense contractors — The defense industry faces “a near-existential threat from state-sponsored foreign intelligence services” that target sensitive IP, according to a report by the Internet Security Alliance, a nonprofit organization. Northrop Grumman experienced the implications of that threat firsthand recently [read it at Business Week]

Swiss vow to block UBS from handing data to U.S.  — UBS has refused a demand from U.S. authorities that it turn over the names of 52,000 American clients, arguing that to do so would be illegal under Swiss banking secrecy laws and would open it to prosecution at home [read it at New York Times]

Trend Micro discovers new ransomware ‘WORM_RANSOM.FD’ — According to Trend Micro security researchers, they have detected a new ransomware that proliferates through an e-mail on the internet [read it at Spamfighter]

Big banks don’t want California’s IOUs — A group of the biggest U.S. banks said they would stop accepting California’s IOUs on July 3, adding pressure on the state to close its $26.3 billion annual budget gap [read it at Wall Street Journal]

EPA admits cap and trade will fail — “I believe that essential parts of the chart are that the U.S. action alone will not impact CO2 levels,” stated Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson at the hearings held by The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee [read it at Heritage]

15 cameras now watching downtown Albany — Fifteen downtown Albany, Georgia, cameras got their first test with the city’s Fourth of July celebration and are now watching the area day and night [read it at WALB 10]

U.S., German intel: Al Qaeda plots multiple attacks on U.S.-, Israel-bound airliners — Western anti-terror agencies have warned that a group of 15-20 al Qaeda terrorists, who were trained in Pakistan and Algeria to hijack and blow up airliners, deployed secretly to at least six European and Middle East countries in early July [read it at Debka]

Administration issues new rules on egg safety — On July 7, the Presidential Administration released a rule to deal with the nation’s egg problem and used the moment to promise a sweeping overhaul of the system to ensure the safety of spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, melons, beef and chicken [read it at NY Times]

State health officials order clinic to stop performing surgeries — State public health officials ordered the Las Vegas Clinica de Mujeres medical clinic to shut down Tuesday because it was performing surgeries without a license [read it at Las Vegas Review Journal]

See archived obscure daily news

See archives of swine flu progress to date

If you’ve seen an obscure news article that deserves more readership –shoot me an e-mail at WillNeverGiveUp at Live.com

See archived obscure daily news

See archives of swine flu progress to date

If you’ve seen an obscure news article that deserves more readership –shoot me an e-mail at WillNeverGiveUp (at) Live.com

Customs sieze counterfeit sneakers out of China

Palm Beach, Fla. – On June 25, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers detained a shipment of sneakers in order to determine if they were counterfeit and in violation of trade mark rights.

The shipment arrived from China and was in transit to the Bahamas. Once detained, samples were forwarded to the Import Specialists Branch for review and further investigation. After a thorough review CBP import specialists made the determination that the goods were indeed counterfeit. The items were determined to have a MSRP value of $300,000 and on July 7, all were seized.

 ”The people who traffic in this type of crime not only steal from legitimate companies, but they also dupe the unknowing consumer into buying items that are substandard. In some cases a counterfeit item that does not meet the manufacturer’s specifications can even threaten the health or safety of a consumer. CBP Field Operations in Miami is committed to stopping trade in pirated and counterfeit goods,” said Director of Field Operations Harold Woodward.

NRA has concerns about Sotomayor as a supreme court member and other obscure news for the day

NRA concerns about the Sotomayer supreme court appointment and other obscure news found today include the cyberattacks on the federal websites theory along with new Rasmussen poll on the President. Read on!

Cyberattacks on federal Web sites may be smokescreen — …some security experts wonder whether there’s more to the attacks than meets the eye. Denial-of-service attacks against public Web sites can be an effective means of distracting network administrators while other, more sensitive computer systems and applications are targeted. DHS has not released any advisories to indicate more serious attacks occurred against federal computer networks or systems, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t taken place, said a former intelligence official who asked to not be named [Read it at NextGov]

President Obama’s czar system concerns some — There are no constitutional requirements that Czars undergo Senate Conformation Hearings and some lawmakers and Washington interest groups are raising concerns that he may be subverting the authority of Congress and concentrating too much power in the presidency [read it at LA Times]

Seoul subway to save millions of dollars with RFID ticketing technology from STMicroelectronics  — The world’s first RFID-based scheme for single-journey reusable ticketing in mass transportation has recently gone live in Seoul, South Korea, and is expected to save some 3 billion Won (over US$2.4 million) per year [read it at PR Newswire]

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll — Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove while 32% Strongly Approve of the way the President is performing — giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -5 [read it at Rasmussen]

WHO to recommend countries stop testing all flu cases — “What countries ought to do is tailor down their testing,” he said. “It will ease the burden on labs and make testing less of a chore. It is very hard to keep up.” [read it at Bloomberg]

San Quentin won’t accept new inmates, citing flu — Nearly half the 5,200 inmates in the prison north of San Francisco are being quarantined [read it at Mercury News]

NRA has concerns about Sotomayor as a supreme court member — The NRA – influential with Republicans and some conservative Democrats – said senators should question Sotomayor on her views on the Second Amendment and curbs on the right to bear arms, and threatened to oppose her if her answers were “hostile or evasive.” [read it at RGJ]

Russia, U.S. press “reset” button on strained ties, yet key divergences remain — After three rounds of talks behind closed doors before the presidents met, the two leaders finally inked a document of understanding on nuclear weapon control on the first day of their Moscow summit [read it at xinhuanet]

See archived obscure daily news

See archives of swine flu progress to date

If you’ve seen an obscure news article that deserves more readership –shoot me an e-mail at WillNeverGiveUp at Live.com

Read the House Resolution honoring Michael Jackson and other obscure news for the day

Obscure news for today include the Resolution text introduced by the House of Representatives to honor Michael Jacksons life. Also,  the obscure finds today are: A Chevron pipeline was destroyed and new legislation that will not only regulate how crops are raised and harvested but would have the ability to quarantine geographic areas. Much more. Read on…

Read the Michael Jackson House Resolution — Honoring an American legend and musical icon [read it on this site]

U.S. presses Japan on beef, insurance trade barriers — Japan, which ran a $72.7 billion trade surplus with the United States in 2008, was the number one market for U.S. beef before it banned imports in December 2003, after the first case of mad cow disease was found in the United States [read it at Reuters]

Hong Kong tests RFID for product authentication — A GS1 Hong Kong-led project uses UHF EPC tags to allow consumers to verify that goods purchased at Hong Kong International Airport are not counterfeit [read it at RFID Journal]

John Weibel: Food Safety Enhancement Act gives too much power — The proposed bill HR 2479 gives the FDA the power to quarantine a geographic area [read it at Steamboat Pilot & Today]

Chevron pipe ‘destroyed’ in Niger Delta: militants — Nigerian militants said on Monday they destroyed a Chevron oil pipeline junction in the latest attack on Nigeria’s key money earner since the government offered an amnesty [read it at BBC News]

Ex-Goldman employee charged with computer code theft — The U.S. Justice Department arrested a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. employee and charged him with stealing computer codes related to the firm’s high-speed trading platform [read it at Wall Street Journal]

Fraudulent passport numbers leap — The United Kingdom’s Home Office has admitted that 9,256 fraudulent passports were granted in the last two years [read it at Public Service]

TSA agent arrested after avoiding screening in New Jersey — authorities say she avoided a pre-flight screening and boarded a plane [read it at Kansas City.com]

Man found with bomb — Police arrested a man early Saturday who had a bomb in a backpack that he may have been preuse at a school in the area, officials said [read it at the Post Star]

U.S. Navy reorganizes staff to focus on cyber — A new U.S. Navy staff reorganization is expected to beef up the service’s ability to defend its computer and communications networks, as well as exploit and attack an enemy’s systems, by combining intelligence and information technology operations under a new Fleet Cyber Command (FLTCYBERCOM) [read it at Defense News]

See archived obscure daily news

See archives of swine flu progress to date

If you’ve seen an obscure news article that deserves more readership –shoot me an e-mail at WillNeverGiveUp at Live.com

Read the Michael Jackson House Resolution

The House of Representatives introduced a Resolution on June 26, 2009 Honoring Michael Jackson.

Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas (for herself and Ms. Watson) submitted the  following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign  Affairs

Honoring an American legend and musical icon.

Whereas Michael Jackson was not only an accomplished recording and performing artist, he was a noted humanitarian;

Whereas Michael Jackson began his stellar recording career as the featured member of “The Jackson 5”, which was the first act in recorded history to have their first four major label singles “I Want You Back”,“ABC”,“The Love You Save”, and “I’ll Be There”, reached the top of the American charts;

Whereas the internationally recognized “Thriller” released in 1982, which became a smash hit yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide. It was a monumental moment in music history;

Whereas Michael Jackson was labeled “The King of Pop”, Jackson’s music is internationally recognized and critically acclaimed;

Whereas Michael Jackson was one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice;

Whereas in the early 1980s, Michael Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of his music videos airing on MTV, such as “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and “Thriller”–widely credited with transforming the music video from a promotional tool into an art form–helped bring the relatively new channel to fame;

Whereas, on January 10, 1984, Michael Jackson visited the unit for burn victims at Brotman-Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles, and demonstrated his concern with people suffering from grievous injuries;

Whereas, on April 9, 1984, David Smithee, a 14-year-old boy suffering from cystic fibroses was invited to Michael’s home, in response to a dying request to meet Michael. David passed away 7 weeks later;
Whereas, on April 14, 1984, Michael Jackson was single handedly responsible for equipping a 19-bed-unit at Mount Sinai New York Medical Center. This center is now a critical part of the T.J. Martell Foundation for leukemia and cancer research;
Whereas, on July 5, 1984, during the Jackson’s press conference at Tavern On The Green, Michael announced that his portion of the earnings from the Victory Tour would be donated to three charitable organizations: The United Negro College Fund, Camp Good Times, and the T.J. Martell Foundation;

Whereas, on July 14, 1984, after the first concert of the Victory Tour, Michael met 8 terminally ill children backstage;

Whereas, on December 13, 1984, Michael visited the Brotman Memorial Hospital, where he had been treated when he was burned during the producing of a Pepsi commercial. He subsequently donated all the money he received from Pepsi, $1.5 million, to the Michael Jackson Burn Center for Children;

Whereas, on January 28, 1985 Michael and 44 other artists met to record “We Are The World”, written by Michael and Lionel Ritchie, a project devoted to fighting global hunger. The proceeds of this record were donated to the starving people in Africa;

Whereas in 1986, Michael set up the “Michael Jackson UNCF Endowed Scholarship Fund”. This $1.5 million fund is aimed toward assisting students majoring in performance art and communications, with money given each year to students attending a UNCF member college or university;

Whereas, on February 28, 1986, after having had a heart-transplant, 14-year-old Donna Ashlock from California received a call from Michael Jackson. He had heard that she was a fan. Michael invited Donna to his home following her recovery;

Whereas, on September 13, 1987, Michael supported a campaign against racism. He made every effort to publicly support NAACP, in the fight against discrimination of African-American artists;

Whereas in October 1987, at the end of his “Bad Tour”, Michael donated personal items to UNESCO for a charitable auction. The proceeds of his donation were allocated for the education of children in developing countries;

Whereas, on February 1, 1988 The Song “Man In the Mirror” entered the charts. The proceeds from the sales of this record went directly and exclusively to Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a camp for children who suffer from Cancer;

Whereas, on March 1, 1988, at a press conference held by his sponsor Pepsi, Michael presented a $600,000 check to the United Negro College Fund;

Whereas on April 1988, Michael Jackson ensured that free tickets to three concerts in Atlanta, Georgia, were specifically set aside for the Make a Wish Foundation;

Whereas, on May 22, 1988, Michael visited cancer-stricken children in the Bambini-Gesu Children’s Hospital in Rome. He signed autographs and gave away sweets and records to the young patients. He also announced his monetary donation of 100,000 pounds to the hospital;
Whereas, on July 16, 1988, Michael met the Prince of Wales and his wife Diana, where he donated 150,000 pounds for the Prince’s Trust, and a check of 100,000 pounds for the children’s hospital at Great Ormond Street;

Whereas, on July 20, 1988, Michael visited terminally ill children at Great Ormond Street Hospital. At a unit for less critical patients he stayed longer and to engage in story telling time with the children;

Whereas, on August 29, 1988, at his 30th birthday Michael performed a concert in Leeds, England, for the English charity organization “Give For Life”, an organization designed as an immunization charity for children. Michael presented a check for 65,000 pounds;

Whereas on January 1989, the proceeds of one of Michael’s shows in Los Angeles were donated to Childhelp USA, the biggest charity organization against child abuse. In appreciation of the contributions of Michael, Childhelp of Southern California founded the “Michael Jackson International Institute for Research On Child Abuse”;

Whereas, on January 10, 1989, upon the winding down of his “Bad Tour”, Michael Jackson donated tickets for each concert to underprivileged children, and made contributions to hospitals, orphanages and charity organizations throughout each stop on his tour;

Whereas, on February 7, 1989, Michael visited the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, a site of playground violence where 5 children had been tragically killed and 39 had been wounded;

Whereas, on March 5, 1989, Michael invited 200 underprivileged children of the St. Vincent Institute for Handicapped Children and of the organization Big Brothers and Big Sisters to the Circus Vargas in Santa Barbara. Following the event, the children were invited to his ranch to visit his private Zoo at Neverland Ranch;

Whereas in December 1991, Michael’s office MJJ Productions donated more than 200 turkey dinners to needy families in Los Angeles;

Whereas in February 1992, within 11 days Michael covered 30,000 miles in Africa, to visit hospitals, orphanages, schools, churches, and institutions for mentally handicapped children;

Whereas, on February 3, 1992, at a press conference at the New York Radio City Music Hall, Michael announced that he is planning a new world tour, to raise funds for his new “Heal The World” Foundation. This Foundation was designed to support the fight against AIDS, Juvenile Diabetes, the Ronald McDonald Camp, and the Make A Wish Foundation;

Whereas, on May 6, 1992, Michael defrayed the funeral expenses for Ramon Sanchez, who was killed during the Los Angeles riots;

Whereas, on June 26, 1992, Michael presented the Mayor of Munich, Mr. Kronawitter, with a 40,000 DM check for the needy people of the city;

Whereas on July 1992, Michael donated 821,477,296 Lire to La Partita del Cuore (The Heart Match) in Rome and donated 120,000 DM to children’s charities in Estonia and Latvia;

Whereas, on July 25, 1992, at his concert in Dublin, Ireland, Michael announced that he will give 400,000 pounds of the tour earnings to various charities;

Whereas in June 1993, Michael announced a donation of $1.25 million for children suffering as a result of the riots in Los Angeles;

Whereas on October 1993, Michael Jackson donated $100,000 to the Children’s Defense Fund, the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, the Atlanta Project, and the Boys and Girl Clubs of Newark, New Jersey;

Whereas on December 1993, in conjunction with the Gorbachev Foundation, Michael Jackson airlifted 60,000 doses of children’s vaccines to Tblisi, Georgia;

Whereas in 1994, Michael donated $500,000 to Elizabeth Taylor’s AIDS Foundation;

Whereas, on October 1, 1996, Michael donated the proceeds of his Tunisia concert to “The National Solidarity Fund”, a charity dedicated to fighting poverty;

Whereas, on December 9, 1996, during the “History Tour” visit in Manila, Michael visited a Children’s Hospital, where he announced that a portion of his concert earnings will be donated to the renovation of the Hospital;

Whereas the Millennium Issue of the “Guinness Book Of Records” named Michael as “the Pop Star who supports the most charity organizations”;

Whereas in 2004, The African Ambassadors’ Spouses Association, honored Michael Jackson for his worldwide humanitarian efforts, due to his fiscal contribution of more than $50 million to various charities, including many organizations that feed the hungry in Africa; and
Whereas we today mourn with and send our condolences to the children that Michael Jackson left behind: Prince Michael, Paris Michael, and Prince Michael II and his mother, father, brothers, and sisters: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

(1) recognizes Michael Jackson as a global humanitarian and a noted leader in the fight against worldwide hunger and medical crises; and

(2) celebrates Michael Jackson as an accomplished contributor to the worlds of arts and entertainment, scientific advances in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, and global food security.

H Res 600

Computer operated by an eye and more obscure news

The internet romp today came up with obscure news articles not widely reported like the announcement from the Poles that they have constructed a computer operated by an eye and another article about a new tamper resistant umbilical tag! Read on…

ACORN denies name change but former board members remain convinced of re-branding — Wade Rathke, who founded the organization, announced on his blog that ACORN International, one of many affiliate organizations, had officially changed its name to “Community Organizations International.” [read it at Washington Examiner]

Guard RFID releases first tamper resistant active RFID — Guard RFID Solutions Inc., announced that its leading-edge TotGuard Infant Protection solution now has an active RFID based tamper resistant umbilical tag, with a built-in tamper alert mechanism [read it at MoreRFID]

Tamiflu resistance emerges in flu pandemic – Denmark, Japan and Hong Kong have reported finding Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 viruses [read it at News Scientist]

IMS fails high court drug test — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to state laws aimed at limiting the ability of drugmakers to target individual doctors with sales pitches [read it at Connecticut Post / Bloomberg News]

Humans may contract fatal brain disease from farmed fish — A new U.S. research suggests that humans could contract Creutzfeldt Jakob disease — the human form of “mad cow disease” –  from eating farmed fish that are fed byproducts rendered from infected cows [read it at xinhuanet.com]

Chinese Premier stresses maintaining stable economic development — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China will keep consistent macro-economic policies, promote structural adjustment, develop new growth sectors, improve growth quality and increase people’s livelihood to ensure stable and fast economic growth [read it at xinhuanet.com]

Poles have constructed a computer operated by an eye — … allows a paralyzed person to operate a computer moving his/hers eyes only. This device will be also applied for diagnosis of kids with learning disorder and hearing disorder. It is supposed to be 10 times cheaper than similar solutions of western competitors [read it at NewsPoland.com]

BGIL launches RFID car tracker — Bharatiya Global Infomedia has launched a RFID-based Parking Management System designed to track and manage vehicles in parking areas or gated communities [read it at cxotoday.com]

Closing arguments: No more quotas — The Supreme Court in “Ricci v. DeStefano” dealt a final blow to racially motivated hiring. This is the dawning of post-racial America [read it at Philadelphia Inquirer]

Spouse in Ensign affair sought help in letter to Fox News — Partisanship is now so toxic in the US that rightwing leakers feel compelled to leak sex scandals to their own pet press… In a letter dated five days before Sen. John Ensign’s public confession of an extramarital affair, Doug Hampton pleaded to a national Fox News anchorwoman for help in exposing the senator’s “heinous conduct and pursuit” of Hampton’s wife [read it at the Las Vegas Sun]

RU staff to get free I.D. theft protection — Employees of the Redford Union School District will get six months of fraud alert protection free of charge to guard against possible identity theft made possible when their social security numbers were inadvertently printed on envelopes mailed to their homes [read it at Hometown Life]

See archived obscure daily news

See archives of swine flu progress to date

If you’ve seen an obscure news article that deserves more readership –shoot me an e-mail at WillNeverGiveUp at Live.com

Taiwan activists protest over relaxation of US beef imports and more obscure news

Today, while scanning the net, I’ve run across more obscure news. The announcement of three new apple patents; Taiwan citizen reaction to relaxed US beef imports since imposing restrictions because of mad cow; paying for goods at stores with your phone and more. Read on…

Apple files 3 patent on haptic feedback, biometrics and RFID detection  — Apple, the iPhone-maker, filed a patent application for developing technology that would present non-visual feedback when a person touches the screen of a laptop…  two other patent applications, one for technology use of biometrics to spot fingerprints and the other for a radio-frequency recognition reader, have been submitted by Apple [read it at Top News]

Pay-with-your-phone startup raises $8 million — Bling’s RFID-based mobile payments program, Redi Pay Bling, allows users in the U.S. to pay for goods in stores with their phones [read it at Business Insider] (ed. note: asia is already doing this)

U.S. to Donate Drug to Combat Swine Flu — The United States will donate 420,000 packets of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to the Pan-American Health Organization to help fight the swine flu pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, federal health officials said Thursday [read it at New York Times]

Activists protest over relaxation of US beef imports — Taiwan has recently come under strong lobbying from the United States to resume imports of all US beef products. Since 2006 Taiwan has only allowed the import of boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old following outbreaks of BSE, or mad cow disease [read it at Radio Taiwan International]

Data mining: how retailers are fighting thieves and fraudsters — From people ‘forgetting’ to pay for goods to employee fraud, stores are using sophisticated software to target and deter shoplifters [read it at Guardian.co.uk]

See archived obscure daily news

See archives of swine flu progress to date

If you’ve seen an obscure news article that deserves more readership –shoot me an e-mail at WillNeverGiveUp [at] Live.com

Government tax proposed for gold and silver

If you switched from stocks and bonds to gold or silver in an attempt to retain your retirement nest egg you may be in for a huge surprise.

Loss of capital gains revenue for the government from the stock market because of the economic downturn has triggered a new revenue source.

The “Fair Treatment for Precious Metals Investors Act” has been born.

The bill, if passed will amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, in either coin or bar form, in the same manner as equities and mutual funds for purposes of the maximum capital gains rate for individuals.

The bill, sponsored by Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID); Harry Reid (D-NV); John Ensign (D-NV); and James Risch (R-ID)

S 1367

Do you earn more than a school teacher?

No one seems to dispute the argument that school teachers are underpaid – but few outside the education system seem to know how much they make.

Along with their salaries, our teachers receive generous benefits. Included are health care and vacations.

Pay Scale states — based on experience — the national pay generally ranges from $34,226 to $56,355 with an annual bonus of $1,000 per teacher. The average salary is in the low $40,000 range. Los Angeles pays teachers more, while Detroit has lower paid teachers.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) states, according to its’ latest teacher salary survey, the average salary for traditional public school teachers increased 4.5 percent in 2006-07 to $51,009.

Do you earn more than a teacher?

Press argue at White House briefing over “staged” Presidential town hall meetings on healthcare

Today may indeed be a turning point in history. After viewing this short video, it leaves one to ask… is the seemingly coercive relationship between the press and the White House over?

Former Memphis police officer sentenced to prison term of life plus 255 years for civil rights, narcotics, robbery and firearms crimes

JULY 1, 2009 — According to the Department of Justice, Arthur Sease IV, a former Memphis Police Department officer, was sentenced today to a prison term of life plus 255 years by Chief Judge Jon P. McCalla in Memphis, Tenn. A jury convicted Sease in February 2009 of 44 counts of civil rights, narcotics, robbery, and firearms offenses.

“The peace and prosperity of our nation hinge on the integrity of our law enforcement officers,” said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “We will continue to vigorously prosecute police corruption both to protect the rights of individuals and to maintain faith in our legal system.”

“Effective law enforcement begins with honest law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Lawrence J. Laurenzi. “We will aggressively pursue and convict those officers and agents who violate the law and the public’s trust. We have entrusted law enforcement officers with our safety and protection and we demand that they perform their duties honestly and truthfully.”

The evidence at trial showed that from November 2003 through April 2006, Sease conspired with other members of the Memphis Police Department to use their authority as law enforcement officers, to rob suspected drug dealers of cash, cocaine, and marijuana. Sease and his co-conspirators would then resell the stolen drugs for their own profit. The government proved that Sease committed or was involved in 15 separate robberies.

Five other individuals had already pleaded guilty in this case. Andrew Hunt was sentenced in February 2009 to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in September 2006 to a federal civil rights conspiracy, robbery affecting interstate commerce and drug distribution. Former Memphis police officer Antoine Owens pleaded guilty in August 2007 and received a sentence of 63 months incarceration and three years of supervised release in March 2009. Alexander Johnson, another former Memphis police officer, pleaded guilty in April 2007 and was sentenced to 30 months in prison and two years of supervised release in March 2009. Laterrica Woods, a civilian who helped Sease and Hunt with one of their robberies, also pleaded guilty to a civil rights conspiracy in September 2007 and was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release in April 2009. Harold McCall, also a former Memphis police officer, pleaded guilty to a civil rights conspiracy in a related case in May 2007 and received a sentence o
f three years probation including one year of home confinement in June 2009.

“Do you earn more than a teacher?” and other obscure news for July 1

Obscure news for July 1st includes an article published stating that the US DOD mistakenly transferred intercontinental ballistic missile parts to Taiwan. More great articles given little media attention…

Do you earn more than a teacher? — No one seems to dispute the argument that school teachers are underpaid – but no one outside the education system seem to know how much they make [read it at the Examiner]

GAO: Arms sales program still flawed – In March 2008, the Department of Defense disclosed that it mistakenly transferred intercontinental ballistic missile parts to Taiwan through a U.S. program that sells pre-approved defense articles and services to foreign governments  [read it at Military.com]

‘Hacker’s hacker’ from San Francisco pleads guilty in $86 million fraud — A mild-mannered computer geek people once believed could do no wrong admitted Monday to stealing nearly 2 million credit card numbers, which he and others used to rack up more than $86 million in fraudulent charges [read it at Pittsburgh Live]

DOJ opposes antitrust immunity for Continental – According to the Justice Department, Continental and United plan to sell seats on each other’s U.S. flights, combine customer lounges, consolidate operations at airports… [read it at RTTnews]

Tom Davis says he doesn’t want cyber-coordinator job – “For this job to work you’d better get some understandings up front, if you’re the cyber czar and you want to have any clout in this,” Davis said [read it at Federal Computer Week]

China remains spam haven due to ‘bulletproof’ hosting –  An overwhelming majority of Web sites promoted through spam are hosted in China at service providers that many times choose to ignore complaints and allow illegal activity, according to research from the University of Alabama [read it at PC World]

Vontae Davis identity theft incident is another reminder for athletes — Identity theft and fraud affected nearly 10 million Americans last year at a cost of more than $48 billion, according to Javelin Strategy & Research [read it at Palm Beach Post]

AF tests missile in launch from Calif. Coast – It’s an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile [read it at Air Force Times]

Unclear what happens to personal info with Clear  — Hundreds of thousands of people relinquished their personal information for faster passage through TSA – now the company holding your info is out of business – do you need to worry? [read it at Mercury News]

Pro-Iranian regime hackers invade U.S. computers — Hackers posted a caustic message telling the U.S. President to mind his own business and stop talking about the disputed Iranian election on a U.S. university home page on June 24. Attempts to access the Oregon University System’s Web site were automatically redirected to another page… [read it at Enterprise Security Today]

Drowning of the Mississippi Delta due to insufficient sediment supply and global sea-level rise – LSU researchers have concluded that  Coastal restoration projects doomed to fail . Even under best-case scenarios for building massive engineering projects to restore Louisiana’s dying coastline, the Mississippi River can not possibly feed enough sediment into the marshes to prevent ongoing catastrophic land loss, two Louisiana State University (LSU) geologists conclude [read it at nature.com]

See archived obscure daily news

See archives of swine flu progress to date

If you’ve seen an obscure news article that deserves more readership –shoot me an e-mail at WillNeverGiveUp at Live.com

Former water treatment plant superintendent pleads guilty to falsifying reports

June 30, 2009
According to the Department of Justice –  Herbert L. Corn, the former superintendent of the city of Rochester Wastewater Treatment Plant in Rochester, Ind., pleaded guilty June 30 in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Ind., to falsifying monthly discharge monitoring reports that concealed violations of the Clean Water Act at the Rochester plant.

Corn pleaded guilty to a five-count felony information charging him with making false statements in discharge monitoring reports submitted to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). He admitted that from September 2004 and continuing through May 2007, he submitted at least five reports containing false data for treated water that is discharged from the Rochester plant into Mill Creek, a tributary of the Tippecanoe River.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, which is administered and enforced by IDEM as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), before discharging the waste water it collects to Mill Creek, the Rochester plant must treat the water to meet concentration limits on certain pollutants as set forth in its permit. Three pollutants in the permit that have concentration limits are Escherichia Coli bacteria (E. Coli), Ammonia NH3-N and Carbonaceous Biological Oxygen Demand-5 (CBOD). The discharge of pollutants above the concentration limits for these pollutants is a violation of the permit and the Clean Water Act. The Rochester plant is required to report and certify the results of its discharge sampling on a monthly basis to IDEM.

As part of the plea agreement, Corn admitted that on at least five separate occasions from September 2004 and continuing through May 2007 he reported levels in the discharge reports submitted to IDEM that indicated the levels of E. Coli, Ammonia NH3-N, and CBOD-5 were in compliance with the permit concentration limits when he knew in fact they were not.

As a result of the felony conviction, Corn could be sentenced up to two years in prison and fined up to $250,000 for each count.

Nail gun recall and more for June 30 obscure news

Todays obscure news goes all over the board. From lead in lip gloss to the discovery of where the brain action site for alcohol’s is. Read on and enjoy!

76% say government likely to waste stimulus money — Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans believe the rest of the new government spending authorized in the stimulus plan should be cancelled right away, but 36% disagree [read it at Rasmussen Reports]

State health officials warn of lead in Target lip gloss — Indiana state health officials warn Hoosiers that elevated lead levels have been found in products sold at Target stores [read it at Kokomo Perspective]

DEWALT recalls framing nailers due to serious injury hazard — DEWALT D51825 and D51850 Framing Nailers have been recalled due to improperly assembled bump action triggers which could cause the nailer to malfunction and cause serious injury to users or bystanders [read it at U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission]

Veterans Benefits reference guide now available — The latest edition is a 164–page handbook which rovides the latest information on important changes in eligibility for VA medical care and benefits [see it at VA.gov]

Samsung pushes for AM OLED phones — Samsung is pushing for sales of models with the screens, a technology the company believes will give it an edge in the market due to the thinner display, clearer images and reduced power consumption [read it at Korea Times]

Tune-up your finances — Here are stories, interviews and tools designed to help you keep your portfolio running smoothly for years to come [read it at BankRate.com]

Site for alcohol’s action in the brain discovered — A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies brings us closer to understanding how alcohol alters the way brain cells work [read it at Science Daily]

See archived obscure daily news

See archives of swine flu progress to date