Energy For the Future.

Energy For the Future.

A New -And Its Real- Nuclear Reactor

Babcock & Wilcox announced last week that it’s new subsidiary B&W Modular Nuclear Energy, LLC will be offering a new design that’s passively safe, scalable and modular using the old light water reactor method. That might not sound like a big deal, but in the face of the regulatory thresholds to cross, it’s a very smart strategy.

Babcock & Wilcox Integrated Modular Reactor Design. Click image for the largest view.

The new modules are sized to the 125 to 750 MWe outputs. Those sizes get to the good sized plant at the large rating and at the small end offers upgrades to current facilities and module reactors can be added as needs increase. The shift out from reactors that shouldn’t need the giant confinement domes may well be coming, so dropping construction costs.

The reactors are five-year fuel cycle devices or they run continuously for five years without a refueling. Emissions are nil outside of the needs for the building and construction of rectors and the sites. This has to make sensible environment types happy and relieve consumers that sure supply at affordable prices might still be the future.

The B&W site lists these features:

• Integral nuclear system design.
• Passive safety systems.
• Underground containment.
• Five-year operating cycle between refueling.
• Scalable, modular design is flexible for local needs.
• Multi-unit (1 to 10+) plant.
• Used fuel stored in spent fuel pool for life of the reactor (60 years).
• North American shop-manufactured.

These features when viewed in a combined set offer a dramatic change in nuclear power. Today a utility would ask the government for permissions to build something that has already been through the bureaucratic grinder. That something would be an approved design. The application then would go through whatever hoops have been set up by law and the regulations. The process takes years, million of dollars and may or may not be approved. It’s a big risk for the utility and its customers. Remember, utilities can go broke, too.

Having smaller reactors that could be ganged together for larger output could well cut those costs, or perhaps reduce the repeated application process. The passive safety design also sets up a simpler and easier to run training and safety program. Mounted below ground minimizes a wealth of issues that above surface installations would need. Perhaps most importantly is the reactor can be manufactured, permitting the economies of volume and standardization to work, in a factory with the opportunity to have more intense quality control and mass-produced parts. One would really like to see the dollar numbers comparing a manufactured unit vs. an on site, single design, custom built with all the safety and containment paraphernalia a current reactor needs.

B&W believes this optimized ALWR Generation III++ nuclear technology can be certified, manufactured and operated within today’s existing regulatory, industrial supply chain and utility operational infrastructure. If they pull that off, the unit can be delivered by rail. Now that’s a major change, indeed.

Another notable issue is the construction period is; now grab your seat belt, only three years. That aspect also is a cost reducing issue that leads to others when considering the modular design. One can be built and running while others are added over time.

Babcock & Wilcox Modular Nuclear Reactor 500MWe. Click image for the largest view.

The environment is also going to benefit. The estimate is 57 million tons of CO2 will not be emitted over the life of the new reactors. That really means less coal and natural gas gets burned allowing the supply to feed other markets. The local impacts are minimal as well. These reactors are not very big. Underground installation keeps them out of the way from such as tornadoes and terrorist’s planes. The steam condenser is air cooled, which should be a source for secondary energy recovery.

That’s all for the good. The political side isn’t so bright. Obama has killed the Yucca Mountain used fuel repository. The Republicans showed up for the company’s press conference totaling four, three Senators and a Representative. One Democrat showed up. Not good. But we’re here, watching. Fusion and thorium are years off, so this move by Babcock & Wilcox is timely.

The issue of interest though, reactor fuel efficiency isn’t covered, a disappointment. One would expect good numbers here, as it’s a later design.

Yet it’s timely because this is a certain remedy for using so much coal, the excuse behind the cap and trade scheme. It’s a case of using innovation and technology to improve the electrical power supply that may well lead to more and cheaper. It’s just the medicine for an ailing economy and well, energy for economic growth and progress.

That puts the Hyperion small reactor and now the Babcock and Wilcox “mPower” reactor front and center for uranium fueled reactors. Both are modular, transportable and much less expensive than the old technology and likely the huge later generation reactors for new installations. Things are looking very good form a technology standpoint. Now if the economy and the politicians could catch up, an economy with high efficiency electrical power could come to the future soon.

Using Carbon Nanotubes in Lithium Batteries Can Dramatically Improve Energy Capacity

ScienceDaily (June 21, 2010) — Batteries might gain a boost in power capacity as a result of a new finding from researchers at MIT. They found that using carbon nanotubes for one of the battery’s electrodes produced a significant increase — up to tenfold — in the amount of power it could deliver from a given weight of material, compared to a conventional lithium-ion battery. Such electrodes might find applications in small portable devices, and with further research might also lead to improved batteries for larger, more power-hungry applications.

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To produce the powerful new electrode material, the team used a layer-by-layer fabrication method, in which a base material is alternately dipped in solutions containing carbon nanotubes that have been treated with simple organic compounds that give them either a positive or negative net charge. When these layers are alternated on a surface, they bond tightly together because of the complementary charges, making a stable and durable film.

The findings, by a team led by Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Yang Shao-Horn, in collaboration with Bayer Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering Paula Hammond, are reported in a paper published June 20 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The lead authors are chemical engineering student Seung Woo Lee PhD ’10 and postdoctoral researcher Naoaki Yabuuchi.

Batteries, such as the lithium-ion batteries widely used in portable electronics, are made up of three basic components: two electrodes (called the anode, or negative electrode, and the cathode, or positive electrode) separated by an electrolyte, an electrically conductive material through which charged particles, or ions, can move easily. When these batteries are in use, positively charged lithium ions travel across the electrolyte to the cathode, producing an electric current; when they are recharged, an external current causes these ions to move the opposite way, so they become embedded in the spaces in the porous material of the anode.

In the new battery electrode, carbon nanotubes — a form of pure carbon in which sheets of carbon atoms are rolled up into tiny tubes — “self-assemble” into a tightly bound structure that is porous at the nanometer scale (billionths of a meter). In addition, the carbon nanotubes have many oxygen groups on their surfaces, which can store a large number of lithium ions; this enables carbon nanotubes for the first time to serve as the positive electrode in lithium batteries, instead of just the negative electrode.

This “electrostatic self-assembly” process is important, Hammond explains, because ordinarily carbon nanotubes on a surface tend to clump together in bundles, leaving fewer exposed surfaces to undergo reactions. By incorporating organic molecules on the nanotubes, they assemble in a way that “has a high degree of porosity while having a great number of nanotubes present,” she says.

Lithium batteries with the new material demonstrate some of the advantages of both capacitors, which can produce very high power outputs in short bursts, and lithium batteries, which can provide lower power steadily for long periods, Lee says. The energy output for a given weight of this new electrode material was shown to be five times greater than for conventional capacitors, and the total power delivery rate was 10 times that of lithium-ion batteries, the team says. This performance can be attributed to good conduction of ions and electrons in the electrode, and efficient lithium storage on the surface of the nanotubes.

In addition to their high power output, the carbon nanotube electrodes showed very good stability over time. After 1,000 cycles of charging and discharging a test battery, there was no detectable change in the material’s performance.

The electrodes the team produced had thicknesses up to a few microns, and the improvements in energy delivery only were seen at high-power output levels. In future work, the team aims to produce thicker electrodes and extend the improved performance to low-power outputs as well, they say. In its present form, the material might have applications for small, portable electronic devices, says Shao-Horn, but if the reported high power capability were demonstrated in a much thicker form — with thicknesses of hundreds of microns rather than just a few — it might eventually be suitable for other applications such as hybrid cars.

While the electrode material was produced by alternately dipping a substrate into two different solutions — a relatively time-consuming process — Hammond suggests that the process could be modified by instead spraying the alternate layers onto a moving ribbon of material, a technique now being developed in her lab. This could eventually open the possibility of a continuous manufacturing process that could be scaled up to high volumes for commercial production, and could also be used to produce thicker electrodes with a greater power capacity. “There isn’t a real limit” on the potential thickness, Hammond says. “The only limit is the time it takes to make the layers,” and the spraying technique can be up to 100 times faster than dipping, she says.

Lee says that while carbon nanotubes have been produced in limited quantities so far, a number of companies are currently gearing up for mass production of the material, which could help to make it a viable material for large-scale battery manufacturing.

New Method for Producing Graphene Paves Way for Mass Production of Nanomaterial

ScienceDaily (June 22, 2010) — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a simple new method for producing large quantities of the promising nanomaterial graphene. The new technique works at room temperature, needs little processing, and paves the way for cost-effective mass production of graphene.

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An atom-thick sheet of carbon arranged in a honeycomb structure, graphene has unique mechanical and electrical properties and is considered a potential heir to copper and silicon as the fundamental building block of nanoelectronics. Since graphene’s discovery in 2004, researchers have been searching for an easy method to produce it in bulk quantities.

A team of interdisciplinary researchers, led by Swastik Kar, research assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy at Rensselaer, has brought science a step closer to realizing this important goal. By submerging graphite in a mixture of dilute organic acid, alcohol, and water, and then exposing it to ultrasonic sound, the team discovered that the acid works as a “molecular wedge, ” which separates sheets of graphene from the parent graphite. The process results in the creation of large quantities of undamaged, high-quality graphene dispersed in water. Kar and team then used the graphene to build chemical sensors and ultracapacitors.

“There are other known techniques for fabricating graphene, but our process is advantageous for mass production as it is low cost, performed at room temperature, devoid of any harsh chemicals, and thus is friendly to a number of technologies where temperature and environmental limitations exist,” Kar said. “The process does not need any controlled environment chambers, which enhances its simplicity without compromising its scalability. This simplicity enabled us to directly demonstrate high-performance applications related to environmental sensing and energy storage, which have become issues of global importance.”

Results of the study, titled “Stable Aqueous Dispersions of Non-Covalently Functionalized Graphene from Graphite and their Multifunctional High-Performance Applications,” were published online by the journal Nano Letters. The study will also be the cover story of the November print edition of Nano Letters.

Graphene eluded scientists for years but was finally made in the laboratory in 2004 with the help of a common office supply — clear adhesive tape. Graphite, the common material used in most pencils, is made up of countless layers of graphene. Researchers at first simply used the gentle stickiness of tape to pull layers of graphene from a piece of graphite.

Today, graphene fabrication is much more sophisticated. The most commonly used method, however, which involves oxidizing graphite and reducing the oxide at a later stage in the process, results in a degradation of graphene’s attractive conductive properties, Kar said. His team took a different route.

The researchers dissolved 1-pyrenecarboxylic acid (PCA) in a solution of water and methanol, and then introduced bulk graphite powder. The pyrene part of PCA is mostly hydrophobic, and clings to the surface of the also-hydrophobic graphite. The mixture is exposed to ultrasonic sound, which vibrates and agitates the graphite. As the molecular bonds holding together the graphene sheets in graphite start to weaken because of the agitation, the PCA also exploits these weakening bonds and works its way between the layers of graphene that make up the graphite. Ultimately, this coordinated attack results in layers of graphene flaking off of the graphite and into the water. The PCA also helps ensure the graphene does not clump and remains evenly dispersed in the water. Water is benign, and is an ideal vehicle through which graphene can be introduced into new applications and areas of research, Kar said.

“We believe that our method also will be useful for applications of graphene which require an aqueous medium, such as biomolecular experiments with living cells, or investigations involving glucose or protein interactions with graphene,” he said.

Using ultrathin membranes fabricated from graphene, the research team developed chemical sensors that can easily identify ethanol from within a mixture of different gases and vapors. Such a sensor could possibly be used as an industrial leakage detector or a breath-alcohol analyzer. The researchers also used the graphene to build an ultra-thin energy-storage device. The double-layer capacitor demonstrated high specific capacitance, power, and energy density, and performed far superior to similar devices fabricated in the past using graphene. Both devices show great promise for further performance enhancements, Kar said.

Co-authors on the Nano Letters paper are Rensselaer Post Doctoral Research Associate Xiaohong An; Assistant Professor Kim M. Lewis; Clinical Professor and Center for Integrated Electronics Associate Director Morris Washington; and Professor Saroj Nayak, all of the Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy; Rensselaer doctoral student Trevor Simmons of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology; along with Rakesh Shah, Christopher Wolfe, and Saikat Talapatra of the Department of Physics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

The research project was supported by the Interconnect Focus Center New York at Rensselaer, as well as the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Graphene, as seen in the above renderings, is an atom-thick sheet of carbon arranged in a honeycomb structure. It has unique mechanical and electrical properties and is considered a potential heir to copper and silicon as the fundamental building blocks of nanoelectronics, but is difficult to produce in bulk. A team of Rensselaer researchers has brought science a step closer to realizing this important goal of a simple, efficient way to mass-produce graphene. (Credit: Rensselaer/Kar)

Virus-Built Battery Could Power Cars, Electronic Devices

ScienceDaily (Apr. 3, 2009) — For the first time, MIT researchers have shown they can genetically engineer viruses to build both the positively and negatively charged ends of a lithium-ion battery.

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The new virus-produced batteries have the same energy capacity and power performance as state-of-the-art rechargeable batteries being considered to power plug-in hybrid cars, and they could also be used to power a range of personal electronic devices, said Angela Belcher, the MIT materials scientist who led the research team.

The new batteries, described in the April 2 online edition of Science, could be manufactured with a cheap and environmentally benign process: The synthesis takes place at and below room temperature and requires no harmful organic solvents, and the materials that go into the battery are non-toxic.

In a traditional lithium-ion battery, lithium ions flow between a negatively charged anode, usually graphite, and the positively charged cathode, usually cobalt oxide or lithium iron phosphate. Three years ago, an MIT team led by Belcher reported that it had engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire.

In the latest work, the team focused on building a highly powerful cathode to pair up with the anode, said Belcher, the Germeshausen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Engineering. Cathodes are more difficult to build than anodes because they must be highly conducting to be a fast electrode, however, most candidate materials for cathodes are highly insulating (non-conductive).

To achieve that, the researchers, including MIT Professor Gerbrand Ceder of materials science and Associate Professor Michael Strano of chemical engineering, genetically engineered viruses that first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then grab hold of carbon nanotubes to create a network of highly conductive material.

Because the viruses recognize and bind specifically to certain materials (carbon nanotubes in this case), each iron phosphate nanowire can be electrically “wired” to conducting carbon nanotube networks. Electrons can travel along the carbon nanotube networks, percolating throughout the electrodes to the iron phosphate and transferring energy in a very short time.

The viruses are a common bacteriophage, which infect bacteria but are harmless to humans.

The team found that incorporating carbon nanotubes increases the cathode’s conductivity without adding too much weight to the battery. In lab tests, batteries with the new cathode material could be charged and discharged at least 100 times without losing any capacitance. That is fewer charge cycles than currently available lithium-ion batteries, but “we expect them to be able to go much longer,” Belcher said.

The prototype is packaged as a typical coin cell battery, but the technology allows for the assembly of very lightweight, flexible and conformable batteries that can take the shape of their container.

Last week, MIT President Susan Hockfield took the prototype battery to a press briefing at the White House where she and U.S. President Barack Obama spoke about the need for federal funding to advance new clean-energy technologies.

Now that the researchers have demonstrated they can wire virus batteries at the nanoscale, they intend to pursue even better batteries using materials with higher voltage and capacitance, such as manganese phosphate and nickel phosphate, said Belcher. Once that next generation is ready, the technology could go into commercial production, she said.

Lead authors of the Science paper are Yun Jung Lee and Hyunjung Yi, graduate students in materials science and engineering. Other authors are Woo-Jae Kim, postdoctoral fellow in chemical engineering; Kisuk Kang, recent MIT PhD recipient in materials science and engineering; and Dong Soo Yun, research engineer in materials science and engineering.

The research was funded by the Army Research Office Institute of the Institute of Collaborative Technologies, and the National Science Foundation through the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers program.

1. Fabricating Genetically Engineered High-Power Lithium Ion Batteries Using Multiple Virus Genes. Science, 2009; DOI: 10.1126/science.1171541

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Angela Belcher holds a display of the virus-built battery she helped engineer. The battery — the silver-colored disc — is being used to power an LED. (Credit: Photo by Donna Coveney)

MU Researchers Create Smaller and More Efficient Nuclear Battery

Mizzou scientist develops a powerful nuclear battery that uses a liquid semiconductor

Oct. 07, 2009

Story Contact(s):
Kelsey Jackson, JacksonKN@missouri.edu, (573) 882-8353

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.

“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density,” said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries.”

Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, currently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can pose concerns, Kwon said they are safe.

“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said. “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”

His innovation is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor. Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.

“The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said. “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”

Kwon has been collaborating with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, and is working to build and test the battery at the facility. In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that the battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair. They’ve also applied for a provisional patent.

Kwon’s research has been published in the Journal of Applied Physics Letters and Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. In addition, last June, he received an “outstanding paper” award for his research on nuclear batteries at the IEEE International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems in Denver (Transducers 2009).

Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries.” The nuclear batteries are providing power for a decade or more. There are various radiation sources for energy levels of watts to kilowatts. Higher power levels would tend to need radiation shielding. The smaller devices would provide a fraction of a watt, but again last for a decade.

The Navy thinks it is feasible to scale liquid nuclear batteries to the 100 kw to 1 MW levels. For that kind of application, you could have the radiation shielding.

Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, currently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can pose concerns, Kwon said they are safe.

“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said. “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”

His innovation is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor. Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.

“The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor,” Kwon said. “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”

Jae Kwon’s recent paper submitted to the 15th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems was awarded the honor of being selected as “outstanding paper”

“The hard part of using radioactive decay is that when you harvest the energy, part of that energy goes towards creating defects that damage a solid-state semiconductor,” Robertson, associate director of the research reactor, said. “Our hypothesis is that with a liquid-state semiconductor, the same damage won’t happen. So we created a battery without that part degrading over time.”

A long-lived power source not much larger than a MEMS device could be a hot property in the MEMS manufacturing industry. But Kwon says that there is “a long way to go” before his battery is ready for commercial marketing.

“Not necessarily in terms of a long time, but we have a lot of work before it is ready for industry. At this moment, we’re still at the fundamental research level,” he said.

Kwon, Robertson and their team are currently focused on increasing the power output and shrinking the size of the battery even further – among other things, they are exploring using other materials besides the sulfur-35 isotope they are currently using. They’ve also filed for a provisional patent.

“In the future, the battery can be thinner than the thickness of a human hair,” Kwon said.

Artificial Cells Communicate and Cooperate Like Biological Cells, Ants

Artificial Cells Communicate and Cooperate Like Biological Cells, Ants

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2010) — Inspired by the social interactions of ants and slime molds, University of Pittsburgh engineers have designed artificial cells capable of self-organizing into independent groups that can communicate and cooperate.

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Recently reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the research is a significant step toward producing synthetic cells that behave like natural organisms and could perform important, microscale functions in fields ranging from the chemical industry to medicine.

The team presents in the PNAS paper computational models that provide a blueprint for developing artificial cells — or microcapsules — that can communicate, move independently, and transport “cargo” such as chemicals needed for reactions. Most importantly, the “biologically inspired” devices function entirely through simple physical and chemical processes, behaving like complex natural organisms but without the complicated internal biochemistry, said corresponding author Anna Balazs, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering.

The Pitt group’s microcapsules interact by secreting nanoparticles in a way similar to that used by biological cells signal to communicate and assemble into groups. And with a nod to ants, the cells leave chemical trails as they travel, prompting fellow microcapsules to follow. Balazs worked with lead author German Kolmakov and Victor Yashin, both postdoctoral researchers in Pitt’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, who produced the cell models; and with Pitt professor of electrical and computer engineering Steven Levitan, who devised the ant-like trailing ability.

The researchers write that communication hinges on the interaction between microcapsules exchanging two different types of nanoparticles. The “signaling” cell secretes nanoparticles known as agonists that prompt the second “target” microcapsule to emit nanoparticles known as antagonists.

In one video of the interaction, as the signaling cell emits the agonist nanoparticles, the target cell responds with antagonists that stop the first cell from secreting. Once the signaling cell goes dormant, the target cell likewise stops releasing antagonists — which makes the signaling cell start up again. The microcapsules get locked into a cycle that equates to an intercellular conversation, a dialogue humans could control by adjusting the capsules’ permeability and the quantity of nanoparticles they contain.

Locomotion results as the released nanoparticles alter the surface underneath the microcapsules. The cell’s polymer-based walls begin to push on the fluid surrounding the capsule and the fluid pushes back even harder, moving the capsule. At the same time, the nanoparticles from the signaling cell pull it toward the target cells. Groups of capsules begin to form as the signaling cell rolls along, picking up target cells. In practical use, Balazs said, the signaling cell could transport target cells loaded with cargo; the team’s next step is to control the order in which target cells are collected and dropped off.

The researchers adjusted the particle output of the signaling cell to create various cell formations. One video clip shows the trailing “ants,” wherein the particle secretions of one microcapsule group are delayed until another group passes by and activates it. The newly awakened cluster then follows the chemical residue left behind by the lead group.

A second film depicts a “dragon” formation comprising two cooperating signaling cells (shown as red) leading a large group of targets. Similar to these are “snakes” made up of competing signaling capsules pulling respective lines of target cells.

University of Pittsburgh (2010, July 20). Artificial cells communicate and cooperate like biological cells, ants. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 20, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/07/100719142452.htm

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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The above image shows the cells in “snake” formation as competing signaling capsules (shown in red) pull respective lines of target cells in opposite directions. (Credit: University of Pittsburgh)

Plants can think and perform computations

Plants can think and perform computations, say scientists

Plants are able to assess their environment by analyzing light, and are able to “remember” light they have experienced recently. By analyzing chemical reactions in leaves, scientists have come to appreciate that plants possess a kind of intelligence.

BBC News has a terrific story on a group of researchers who believe they have found the plant equivalent of the nervous system, which functions by translating light into chemical reactions – and remembering those reactions over time. Plants need to analyze and remember different wavelengths of light in order to prepare for seasonal variations in pests and pathogens in the air.

According to BBC News:

What was even more peculiar, Professor [Stanislaw] Karpinski said, was that the plants’ responses changed depending on the colour of the light that was being shone on them. There were characteristic [changes] for red, blue and white light,” he explained.

He suspected that the plants might use the information encoded in the light to stimulate protective chemical reactions. He and his colleagues examined this more closely by looking at the effect of different colours of light on the plants’ immunity to disease.

“When we shone the light for on the plant for one hour and then infected it [with a virus or with bacteria] 24 hours after that light exposure, it resisted the infection,” he explained.

“But when we infected the plant before shining the light, it could not build up resistance.

“[So the plant] has a specific memory for the light which builds its immunity against pathogens, and it can adjust to varying light conditions.”

He said that plants used information encrypted in the light to immunise themselves against seasonal pathogens.

“Every day or week of the season has… a characteristic light quality,” Professor Karpinski explained. “So the plants perform a sort of biological light computation, using information contained in the light to immunise themselves against diseases that are prevalent during that season.”

Professor Christine Foyer, a plant scientist from the University of Leeds, said the study “took our thinking one step forward”.

“Plants have to survive stresses, such as drought or cold, and live through it and keep growing,” she told BBC News.

“This requires an appraisal of the situation and an appropriate response – that’s a form of intelligence.”

So the Triffids aren’t that far from the truth after all?

via BBC News

“Watching the pot come to a boil” Liberal journalists conspired on racism charges

“Watching the pot come to a boil”

21-Jul-10 News — Liberal journalists conspired on racism charges

PIIGS to the slaughter

Liberal mainstream journalists conspired to call Obama opponents racist

In a happening reminiscent of last fall’s release of the “Climate-gate,” some e-mail messages exchanged on a list server for liberal and left journalists, professors and analysts only have been released.

The formerly secret “Journolist” e-mail list server came to light last month, when it was revealed by the conservative Daily Caller web site, revealing that Washington Post David Weigel was guilty of biased reporting. Weigel resigned, and the Journolist list server was shut down.

Now in a new story, the Daily Caller has released additional e-mail messages showing that there during the 2008 presidential election there was widespread bias among mainstream reporters, who conspired to aid the Obama campaign by targeting Obama opponents and smearing them as racists.

In one case, there was a discussion of Obama’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who had given sermons in which he yelled, “God Damn America! God Damn America!” Left-wing reporter Spencer Ackerman posted the following on the Journolist list server:

“And I think this threads the needle. If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.”

In fact, as we recall, this is exactly the strategy that was followed, not only by journalists, but by members of the Obama campaign itself. Even Bill and Hillary Clinton were labeled racist when they disagreed with Obama. And the strategy continues to this day, as we saw recently when the NAACP accused the Tea Party of being a racist organization.

To be fair, only a small group of liberal journalists took part in this smear campaign, but apparently the ones who didn’t participate were not offended enough to blow the whistle on the smear campaign.

This is just one more example of a sickness that we see over and over again. Here are some other examples:

• Financial engineers at investment banks created trillions of dollars of synthetic securities that turned out to be “toxic assets,” and defrauded investors in order to collect fat fees and commissions.
• Financial regulators ignored or encouraged fraud, and are still encouraging it to this day, by telling banks not to mark toxic assets to market prices, thus continuing to defraud investors with bloated balance sheets.
• Financial journalists at CNBC, WSJ, and other mainstream outlets present only positive news in order to please sponsors.
• The health care legislation passed by Congress was based on misrepresentations and many lies, resulting in something of economic insanity, as I’ve said many times.
• The climate change researchers have been largely exonerated of making up data, but they’re still guilty of hiding unfavorable results from the media and skeptics.

This is only a small fraction of the things that I’ve written about over the years, and that’s only a fraction of the things you can read about in the mainstream media.

There’s something like this happening almost every day. Is there anyone in any leadership position who can say anything that we should believe?

More evidence of stock market analyst incompetence

This is really amazing, and shows how incompetent financial analysts are.

The following graph from the McKinsey newsletter compares estimated earnings growth with actual earnings growth for the stock market:

Estimated vs actual earnings growth (Source: McKinsey)

As you can see, stock market analysts almost always estimate annual earnings growth to be 10-12% annually. However, the actual annual earnings growth has been only 6%.

What should we make of this? These guys always make the same estimates, year after year, and their estimates are, on the average, 100% wrong. Don’t these guys ever learn?

PIIGS to the slaughter

The acronym PIIGS refers to the countries Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain — the European countries in greatest financial trouble, and considered most likely to need a bailout. In fact, these countries were already bailed out by the trillion dollar bailout in May. (See “11-May-10 News — Europe’s super-nuclear bailout.”) Much of the bailout money came from Germany.

A lengthy analysis in the Asia Times points out that the PIIGS countries are going to need further bailouts, but that they won’t be coming.

According to the article,

• Germany’s unemployment rate is much lower than that of the PIIGS countries.
• The Germans hated the bailout package. To the German public, it appears that “Thrifty, hard-working Germans in May bailed out dissolute, corrupt, feckless, spendthrift and lazy Greeks, Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese.”
• Germany doesn’t need Europe as much as it used to. Germany has an export-driven economy, but now Germany is shipping a lot more to Poland, Russia and China.

The conclusion is that when “the next round of European debt crisis erupts, Germany will not come to the rescue.”

Additional links

In the last two months, street protests have been growing in Egypt for a variety of reasons — demanidng higher wages and better working conditions, and condemning the government’s role in the blockade of Gaza. With Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak near death, it’s feared that Egypt may be on the brink of chaos. Global Post

It seems that the days of a Chinese foreign policy based on not ‘rocking the boat’ are over. Over the next few years, expect Beijing to increasingly assert itself as a global power. Geopolitical Monitor

There is evidence that Pakistani nationals were involved in the recent suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda. The Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. CS Monitor

Direct democracy is so deeply rooted in Switzerland that almost every decision to change the law is taken by public referendum. Thus, Switzerland has refused to agree to allow itself to be ruled by Brussels, or to automatically accept European Union laws. Officials are looking for a compromise. EuObserver

PKK terrorists have notified Turkish government officials that they will disarm Turkey will agree to certain demands granting Kurds with political and cultural rights. BBC

Snakes need love too. Omaha.com

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 21-Jul-10 News — Liberal journalists conspired on racism charges thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (21-Jul-2010) Permanent Link

20-Jul-10 News — Hungary and Ireland face new financial problems

Stress tests for Europe’s banks to be released on Friday

Hungary rebuffs IMF on austerity and will no longer receive aid

Hungary has split with the International Monetary Fund by refusing to honor the austerity commitments that it made in 2008 in return for a $25 billion bailout package. Now that the bailout money is running out, Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban told an IMF representative over the weekend that he will not approve further austerity measures demanded by the IMF. As a result, the IMF walked out of the meeting, and announced that no more aid will be provided to Hungary, according to Bloomberg.

“The austerity policy of the last 4-5 years, introduced at the cost of growth and competitiveness cannot be continued,” said Hungary’s Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy, according to Budapest Business Journal.

Without further IMF funding, Hungary will not be able to pay its bills unless it finds another source of money, and that source will be an “extraordinary financial sector tax,” according to the article.

Hungary’s financial situation is not as bad as Greece’s, but the IMF’s firm response to Hungary’s rebellion will send a strong signal to Greece, according to Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, writing in the Telegraph. The Greek government is facing enormous political pressure to ease its own austerity program, and the governing party may splinter over the issue.

Whether Hungary can survive without IMF money is highly doubtful, according to the article. Tim Ash of RBS is quoted as saying that Hungary is playing a “dangerous game,” and that, “If there is another bout of global risk aversion, Hungary is the first target. It has $40bn of reserves, or five months import cover, but in the end it probably can’t survive without IMF money,”

What I find most interesting about this story today is that many people, including some analysts, are applauding Hungary’s government for standing up to the mean ol’ IMF.

Reuters blogger Felix Salmon says that, “all of this is good news, I think: global markets are less prone to panic, and even Hungarian markets seem to have made peace with the idea that there might not be an IMF backstop for the time being. Maybe the ‘new normal’ is, slowly, becoming normal.”

The Hungarian Social Forum welcomed the Hungarian government’s actions regarding the IMF, according to the Budapest Business Journal:

“The government proved to be responsible towards Hungarian citizens living from their work by not giving in to the European Union’s demands on introducing further austerity measures in exchange for receiving the remaining part of the stand-by loan. …International creditors should acknowledge that Hungary’s stability is not only a budgetary issue but also a social one, which also affects the international financial systems and the stability of Europe as well.”

At times like this, I’m always reminded of the story of the man who jumps out the window on the 50th floor of a skyscraper. As he’s going by the 20th floor, someone yells out the window, “How are you doing?” He shouts back, “Everything’s great so far!”

Moody’s downgrades Ireland’s debt

Moody’s Investor Service lowered its rating on Irish government bonds on Monday. The Irish Times quotes Moody’s Ireland analysts as saying, that the “downgrade [was] primarily driven by the Irish Government’s gradual but significant loss of financial strength, as reflected by its deteriorating debt affordability.”

This downgrade is a bitter disappointment to the Irish. They’ve taken very aggressive austerity measures — raised taxes and slashed public sector pay — in the wake of a destructive real estate bubble, according to Fortune.

Unemployment in Ireland has reached 13%, compared with 10% overall in the European Union. Interest rates on Irish bonds have been going up, forcing the government to pay more to bond investors.

According to London’s Daily Mail, the situations in Ireland and Hungary have alarmed investors at the prospect of Europe plunging back into recession.

This would be particularly painful for Britain, which is counting on a business-led export boom to bring growth back to Britain’s economy.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, this is wishful thinking, as the financial crisis has much farther to go.

European Union will release results of stress tests on Friday

EU financial analysts are actually in quite a tizzy this week, holding their breath to see what will happen on Friday afternoon, when the results of stress tests for 91 European banks are released.

The stress test results could have major effects on the stock markets. If the banks do well, then stocks may rise; but if they do too well, then investors will assume that the tests weren’t tough enough, according to the AP. On the other hand, if the banks do poorly, then stocks may fall sharply.

Additional links

Concern is growing for the health of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is thought to be terminally ill, dying from cancer. Mubarak became president after Anwar Sadat was assassinated by terrorists in 1981, and has been a close American ally. Egypt is in a generational Crisis era, and a succession crisis could destabilize the country. Washington Times

Xinhua is claiming that Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents are training monkeys to use AK-47 rifles and other weapons to attack American troops, and is attributing this story to an unnamed British media agency. Xinhua

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday that Afghanistan will need Nato troops for many years to come. “After nine years of international involvement it has become painfully clear that the price we have to pay is much higher than expected — especially regarding the international and Afghan soldiers killed. It cannot be disputed that the international community underestimated the size of this challenge in the beginning.” Spiegel

Leaders of former Soviet republics Belarus and Georgia are teaming up against the Kremlin. Moscow Times

Somalia’s al-Shabaab terrorists were following a cynical but well-known strategy when they bombed civilians in Uganda last week. The strategy is to provoke more foreign intervention, especially from the United States, and then portray itself as fighting a nationalist struggle. ISN Security Watch

Last week’s drug cartel car bomb that killed two officers in Ciudad Juarez indicates that the ‘Colombianization’ of Mexico nearly complete. CS Monitor

Now that the United Nations has failed to blame North Korea for the torpedoed sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, the South Koreans are hoping to get a condemnation of North Korea this week at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Tensions are still very high on the Korean peninsula, and many people believe that South Korea will make some revenge military strike. AFP

Syria’s Education Minister has issued a decree banning women from wearing full Islamic veil on university campuses. The decision was taken “at the request of a number of parents” who do not want their children to be educated in an “environment of extremism.” VOA

Many law firms are cutting back on their summer internship programs. LA Times

According to the IRS, the IRS will need a great deal more funding to implement “the most extensive social benefit program the IRS has been asked to implement in recent history.” The IRS will need many new employees to conduct audits of citizens to determine who has the health insurance “as required by law,” and collecting penalties from Americans who don’t. WSJ (Access).

Financially troubled towns are ripping up street pavement and turning paved roads into gravel roads, in order to save money. WSJ (Access).

Big-breasted women are more intelligent than small-breasted women — by 10 IQ points. Beyond Jane

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 20-Jul-10 News — Hungary and Ireland face new financial problems thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (20-Jul-2010) Permanent Link

It Gets Worse By The Day!

• A Disclaimer Of Sorts

  I think it is important to state the true ideals of this blog, even though my use of the word nigger always seems to negate my intentions. Listed as a “Hate” site (subsection General Hate) for three years running in the annual “The Year In Hate” edition of the SPLC’s rag of propaganda bullshit liberal spin “The Intelligence Report”, I think I should be given the opportunity to explain the mistake they make based solely on my use of the word nigger. I do not hate niggers. I repeat. I DO NOT HATE niggers. I may get angry and slip and say I do, but I really don’t. Because hating a species for instinctual behavior is unfair. I like to use the innocent cute little squirrel as an example. The little rodent motherfuckers who get into my attic and chew the hell out of everything, shit all over the place and stink it up with their piss. I don’t hate squirrels…I just don’t want the fuckers in my attic. Their behavior is unacceptable to me. I choose not to encourage squirrels to set up their nests in my attic. I don’t hate them. I call them mother fucking rodents and other hostile names based on their behavior, but I don’t hate them. Same goes for niggers. I find them as insignificant as squirrels or any other pests of nature. I prefer not to have them near me and I find their behavior in general to be unacceptable to a civilized society. People like the SPLC choose to label me hateful when in fact, I have a great deal of sympathy for niggers. God man…I’d hate to BE one, but I can’t find it in my heart to hate them. Not simply because they are niggers. On individual levels, yes…I can hate as good as the next guy. But in general…no. Niggers can’t help being niggers. So when you censors roll in here to close me up for Hate Speech or other bullshit unfounded reasons, please consider my honest feelings. I do not encourage anyone to deliberately try to harm any niggers unless they are in your kitchen with a gun or a knife with their dick hanging out of their pants. Likewise…don’t fuck with squirrels unless they are destroying your attic. It really is a simple fundamental point of view every sane and somewhat intelligent person should be able to understand.

• There are Niggers, but there are NO black people…

  
  This is just a myth created to try to explain why some niggers give the impression they are functioning normally as humans. Remember…niggers are niggers. Some have greater amounts of human DNA circulating within their composition, but they are still niggers. Given adequate time, all niggers will prove this theory. If it helps you sleep at night knowing that YOU don’t subscribe to my philosophies concerning niggers, so be it. Just heed my warnings. Keep a distance and spend limited time with them in their natural habitat. And good fucking luck!

It Gets Worse By The Day!

The elephant in the room has no clothes.  Someone had to say it.  Niggpocrisy has reached a new level of stupid today.  Never thought they could get any more stupid but then, the one thing you can always count on niggers for is to prove just how much more stupid they can get.  The En Dubba A Ceepee has made an executive decision today that the so called tea party movement in America is based primarily on racism and the total obsession white people have with denying niggers their glory every time they feel they have accomplished anything.  Niggers are calling US racists.  The same niggers who believe it was justified to drop all charges against the white hating violence advocating chimpanzee group “The New Black Panthers”.  The ones who think to be truly free in America, niggers have to kill a crakka and a crakka’s baby.  Those niggers.  Calling white people who rally against an oppressive government and a socialist takeover of their government racist simply because they managed to squeeze a nigger into the White House.  Those niggers.  The ones who think Hallmark stayed up all night trying to figure out a way to call nigger sows “black whores” in a graduation card with an outer space theme.  Those are the niggers who are calling everyone who disagrees with the policies of their president racist.  Those niggers.

Niggers are by far the most narcissistic group of subhuman organisms on the planet.  They honestly believe every single solitary moment of every day on Earth is all about race and niggers.  We should just call the Sun “the Nigger”, because in the minds of their appointed leaders, every fucking thing revolves around them.  It has become so glaringly obvious, only a moron missing all five senses could mistake it.  Niggers have proven how ridiculous their species is.  Thanks to the En Dubba A Ceepee, we can all see just how fucked up this world has become at the paws of these creatures.  Now all we need to do is revolt and clean up this horrible mess.  Any suggestions?

Amazing

Surprising!  Marvelous!  Bullshit.  Get a new word Glenn Beck, because after listening to half an hour of his nigger ass kissing and whining about how racist the liberals are, I can barely stand listening to the guy anymore!  I love his ideals, principles and his knowledge of history.  I love how he tries to move people to act against the tyranny this country is engulfed in with this incompetent administration.  I admire Glenn Beck because he finds the truth and spills it on national radio and Fox TV.  But today he sat and licked the asses of niggers simply to prove he isn’t a racist.  I was disappointed.  If the guy is afraid of being called a racist, say nothing at all.  It was like listening to him tell us all, “Some of my best friends are black.”  And if I hear the word Amazing one more fucking time I’m gonna burst into ice cubes.  Why…HOW can everything be fucking amazing?  Am I the only one who gets this annoyed when people use a word to death?  Every fucking good thing Beck could come up with today wasn’t just good enough to be good…it had to be fucking amazing.  In the context of niggers, how on earth can he even say it without vomiting?  And his little lap dogs are right there behind him yelping, “yes Glenn yes…amazing!   Just absolutely amazing!”  I hate when people I like piss me off to this extent and for such a trivial reason.  Now I won’t be able to listen to him anymore without trying to count the “amazings”. Plus his insistence that he loves niggers leaves a really sour taste in my mouth too.  I couldn’t even pretend to say that for any reason…unless I totally sold myself out for the profits.   Bastard.

But then, as I listened to Hannity later in the same day I realized…he too thinks every damn thing is amazing.  It’s out of control now I guess.  So I watched a crow picking at a discarded bag of McDonald’s crap laying in a parking lot.  I was waiting for someone and it was 97 ° outside with humidity levels up around the perspiration seepage of a silver back NBA player in double overtime.  It was hot out.  I wondered if the crow was the least bit concerned with his cholesterol.  He was eating a greasy french fry off sweltering pavement.  Do crows have issues with arterial blockages?  They should if they’re going to be eating crap like McDonald’s french fries.  And what about diabetes?  Potatoes and other carbs can lead to raised sugar.  Do crows get that too?  I know my cat is diabetic so why not a stupid ass crow?  Fucking thing eats garbage. I suppose as birds go, the crow is their nigger.  He was “lovin’ it”!  As all this was happening a big black wasp landed on my windshield.  It just sat there baking in the AlGore sun, tip toeing around slowly.  I leaned up to get a close look.  Nigger birds, then nigger bugs…what a day.  Mean looking little prick I thought.  And I think the little turd was looking back at me.  We made eye contact and I think I read its little mind just then.  It said, “If I were six feet tall, you’d be fucked.”  I had to agree.  Imagine if wasps were our size?  Jesus man, that would be …fucking amazing!

The White House

Sometimes my thoughts wander to things like what the White House might look like when this nightmare is over.  It is common knowledge we only see what the doting press want us to see, and when DC niggers walk by a mess like the White House might be in, they see nothing out of the ordinary.  It is the inside I am more concerned with however.

I’ve been inside homes abandoned by niggers after only living in them briefly.  I have seen the damage a pack of wild apes can inflict upon brand new furnishings and decor.  How will these chimps differ?  Are their Affirmative Action law degrees going to guarantee their children aren’t spray painting the walls?  Is inherent destruction and an irresponsible nature of typical behavior going to be overtaken by a new found  desire to give a shit about a place they will be moving from in a specific time frame?  Get real, as the bruthas themselves often say.  You can take the niggers out of Chicago but you can’t take the niggers out of niggers.  I suspect there is an amplified staff devoted to cleaning up after these slobs.  You’d almost have to expect it, given typical nigger lifestyles.  How many times have we seen “the underprivileged” given brand new digs only to be in a shambles within months?  They expect the maintenance to come with everything they are handed, so throwing away trash and wiping up spilled grape soda, or even flushing toilets is beyond their scope of responsibility.  So what does that mean for our precious old White House?  Either they have a staff struggling to keep up with the filthy nature of niggers living in subsidized housing, or the place is being turned into a mini Detroit while the Gulf of Mexico fills with sludge and goo balls.  Whatever the case, we can be sure of one thing.  YT will be cleaning up the mess and baboons will never be held accountable.  Because let’s face it.  What did we expect?

Left Wing Extremists

I don’t suppose they will be called Left Wing Extremists since they will be driving into our heads the need for their total control of our lives.  There will be some sort of kind and gentle name for the fuckers who will be busting down our doors to take our guns and reeducate our children. Something green I suppose too.  Like The Environmental Protection Agency, or some ridiculous shit like that.  You know, to protect us from our freedoms and our inability to choose for ourselves.   And no doubt all this stupid shit will be staffed by niggers.  What else would willingly steal the rights of law abiding citizens but a bunch of impressionable functionally illiterate apes?  People won’t just lay down and destroy their own like this, so these LWEs need niggers.  They need stupid organisms to carry out their ultimate goals.  And as they continue to drive the myth that niggers are viable members of our society, we forget they are the biggest racists on the face of the Earth.  They view civilization through the eyes of predatory beasts locked behind cages looking out at us with no idea how reality functions.  Niggers believe the rest of society is strictly out to get them and that we hide the truth from them.  Niggers have no concept of earning a living or making financial gains through investment.  Niggers see the results of wealth and believe it magically appears in the dark of night by fairies and pixies and sparkling wands!  They now want their share.  Their nigger president has promised he will give it to them too and by this big deception, he will entice them to join the movement to push us aside and take what they believe is theirs.  They want the free rides humans have been on for all of existence.  It is the niggers turn now.  LWEs will be the only ones to gain from all of this however because quite simply, they hate niggers even more than the law abiding Right!  Once they utilize the niggers to accomplish their agenda, the niggers will be cast aside as usual and returned to their natural habitat…the slums and ghettos they create from everything given to them for free.  And the natural instinct of the general nigger population always proves too powerfully lazy to fight it. Unless the niggers hands are held every step of their lives, they always revert back to nothingness.  This is what makes them such effective tools for the agendas of Left Wing Extremists.

Finally Figured It Out.

Thank goodness we have niggers to explain everything to us all, especially why we hate them so much.  Here I was thinking it was because I detest dark brown skin and swollen lips, flat wide noses and woolen pelts. Turns out I had it all wrong.  Turns out, according to just about every nigger that has ever tried to comment on this blog and other places of nigger bashing, it’s strictly a sexual jealousy.  A fixation on their genitals that I just can’t get past.  A rage that all my white women want niggers and their enormous deformities.  Has nothing to do with their violent nature or their animalistic savage instincts.  It’s their cocks.  Who the fuck could have known?  All this time, while being thoroughly disgusted with the ease with which niggers destroy human life, my biggest problem with them was their cocks.  I’m going to really have to examine this deeper.  See exactly why huge purple engorged shafts of pulsating animal flesh force me to have such a disdain for niggers.  It is an intriguing theory.  I sure am glad we have niggers around to explain all this to us.  Stupid YT.

http://fedupintolerant.com/

Only in Africa:

Desperate Addicts Inject Others’ Blood

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Desperate heroin users in a few African cities have begun engaging in a practice that is so dangerous it is almost unthinkable: they deliberately inject themselves with another addict’s blood, researchers say, in an effort to share the high or stave off the pangs of withdrawal.

The practice, called flashblood or sometimes flushblood, is not common, but has been reported in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the island of Zanzibar and in Mombasa, Kenya.

It puts users at the highest possible risk of contracting AIDS and hepatitis. While most AIDS transmission in Africa is by heterosexual sex, the use of heroin is growing in some cities, and experts are warning that flashblood — along with syringe-sharing and other dangerous habits — could fuel a new wave of AIDS infections.

“Injecting yourself with fresh blood is a crazy practice — it’s the most effective way of infecting yourself with H.I.V.,” said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which supports the researchers who discovered the practice. “Even though the number who do it is a relatively small group, they are vectors for H.I.V. because they support themselves by sex work.”

Sheryl A. McCurdy, a professor of public health at the University of Texas in Houston, first described the practice five years ago in a brief letter to The British Medical Journal and recently published a study of it in the journal Addiction.

“I don’t really know how widespread it is,” said Dr. McCurdy who is contacting other researchers working with addicts to get them to survey their subjects about it. “There’s pretty circular movement in East Africa, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in other cities.”

Increasing use of heroin in parts of Africa has the potential to magnify the AIDS epidemic.

In most East African countries like Tanzania and Kenya, only 3 to 8 percent of adults are infected with the AIDS virus, far fewer than in southern Africa, where the rates reach 15 to 25 percent.

But among those who inject heroin, the rates are far higher. In Tanzania, about 42 percent of addicts are infected. The rate is even higher — 64 percent — among female addicts, Dr. McCurdy said, and since most support themselves through prostitution, they are in two high-risk groups, and their customers are at risk of catching the disease.

Most of the addicts she has interviewed who practice flashblood, Dr. McCurdy said, are women. For them, sharing blood is more of an act of kindness than an attempt to get high: a woman who has made enough money to buy a sachet of heroin will share blood to help a friend avoid withdrawal. The friend is often a fellow sex worker who has become too old or sick to find customers.

By contrast, on Zanzibar, it is mostly among men, according to a 2006 study in The African Journal of Drug and Alcohol Studies, which found that about 9 percent of the 200 drug-injectors interviewed practiced it.

There have also been reports in East African newspapers of addicts selling their blood, but those have not been confirmed by medical researchers.

And, there have been scattered reports of flashblood-type practices in other countries with large numbers of heroin addicts, including Pakistan, but they also have not been confirmed by researchers.

Whether or not someone can actually a get drug rush from such a relatively tiny amount of blood has never been tested, Dr. McCurdy said. Humans have about five quarts of blood and the flashblood-user injects less than a teaspoon.

“They say they do,” she said. “They pass out as if they just got a high. But I’ve talked to doctors who say that could be entirely the placebo effect.”

One possibility, she said, is that traces of the drug are still in the syringe. After piercing a vein, an addict will typically draw some blood into the syringe, push it back out and repeat that three or four times to make sure all the heroin has been flushed into their blood. Those offering flashblood will usually hand over the syringe after only one in-out cycle.

The heroin sold in East Africa, she added, is often quite strong because it has come from relatively pure shipments on their way to Europe from Afghanistan or Asia.

Until recently, heroin use was uncommon on the continent because most Africans are too poor for traffickers to bother with. But in the last decade, smugglers have begun using port cities like Dar es Salaam and Mombasa and airport cities like Nairobi and Johannesburg as way stations on their routes: law-enforcement officials can often be bribed, and couriers from countries with no history of drug smuggling may escape searches by European border officers. The couriers may be paid in drugs, which they resell.

With more local users, more heroin is being sold in Africa. In the last decade, law-enforcement and drug treatment agencies said, heroin use has increased, especially in Kenya and Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria. Brown heroin that must be heated and inhaled — “chasing the dragon” — has given way to water-soluble white heroin that can be injected. Prices have fallen by as much as 90 percent.

While a teaspoon of blood is more than enough to transfer diseases like AIDS, said Dr. James AuBuchon, president-elect of the American Association of Blood Banks, it would not be enough to cause a life-threatening immune reaction, as can ensue when a patient gets a transfusion from someone of the wrong blood type. Instead, “you’d likely get only brief symptoms,” he said.

Dr. AuBuchon, who practices in Seattle, said he had never heard of flashblood, but added that he was horrified by the idea.

“What,” he asked, “are they thinking?”

2nd American Revolution!

2nd American Revolution!

Minus the one black trooper.

Funny

Funny

AL QAEDA EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

Leaderless Resistance

Leaderless Resistance By Louis Beam

The concept of Leaderless Resistance was proposed by Col. Ulius Louis Amoss, who was the founder of International Service of Information Incorporated, located in Baltimore, Maryland. Col. Amoss died more than fifteen years ago, but during his life was a tireless opponent of communism, as well as a skilled Intelligence Officer. Col. Amoss first wrote of Leaderless Resistance on April 17, 1962. His theories of organization were primarily directed against the threat of eventual Communist take-over in the United States. The present writer, with the benefit of having lived many years beyond Col. Amoss, has taken his theories and expounded upon them. Col. Amoss feared the Communists. This author fears the federal government. Communism now represents a threat to no one in the United States, while federal tyranny represents a threat to everyone . The writer has joyfully lived long enough to see the dying breaths of communism, but may, unhappily, remain long enough to see the last grasps of freedom in America.

In the hope that, somehow, America can still produce the brave sons and daughters necessary to fight off ever increasing persecution and oppression, this essay is offered. Frankly, it is too close to call at this point. Those who love liberty, and believe in freedom enough to fight for it are rare today, but within the bosom of every once great nation, there remains secreted, the pearls of former greatness. They are there. I have looked into their sparking eyes; sharing a brief moment in time with them as I passed through this life. Relished their friendship, endured their pain, and they mine. We are a band of brothers, native to the soil gaining strength one from another as we have rushed head long into a battle that all the weaker, timid men, say we can not win. Perhaps…but then again, perhaps we can. It’s not over till the last freedom fighter is buried or imprisoned, or the same happens to those who would destroy their freedom.

Barring any cataclysmic events, the struggle will yet go on for years. The passage of time will make it clear to even the more slow among us that the government is the foremost threat to the life, and liberty of the folk. The government will no doubt make today’s oppressiveness look like grade school work compared to what they have planned in the future. Meanwhile, there are those of us who continue to hope that somehow the few can do what the many have not. We are cognizant that before things get better they will certainly get worse as government shows a willingness to use ever more severe police state measures against dissidents. This changing situation makes it clear that those who oppose state repression must be prepared to alter, adapt, and modify their behavior, strategy, and tactics as circumstances warrant. Failure to consider new methods and implement them as necessary will make the government’s efforts at suppression uncomplicated. It is the duty of every patriot to make the tyrant’s life miserable. When one fails to do so he not only fails himself, but his people.

With this in mind, current methods of resistance to tyranny employed by those who love our race, culture, and heritage must pass a litmus test of soundness. Methods must be objectively measured as to their effectiveness, as well as to whether they make the government’s intention of repression more possible or more difficult. Those not working to aid our objectives must be discarded or the government benefits from our failure to do so.

As honest men who have banded together into groups or associations of a political or religious nature are falsely labeled “domestic terrorists” or “cultists” and suppressed, it will become necessary to consider other methods of organization–or as the case may very well call for: non-organization. One should keep in mind that it is not in the government’s interest to eliminate all groups. Some few must remain in order to perpetuate the smoke and mirrors vision for the masses that America is a “free democratic country” where dissent is allowed. Most organizations, however, that possess the potential for effective resistance will not be allowed to continue. Anyone who is so naive as to believe the most powerful government on earth will not crush any who pose a real threat to that power, should not be active, but rather, at home studying political history.

The question as to who is to be left alone and who is not, will be answered by how groups and individuals deal with several factors such as: avoidance of conspiracy plots, rejection of feeble minded malcontents, insistence upon quality of the participants, avoidance of all contact with the front men for the federals–the news media–and, finally, camouflage (which can be defined as the ability to blend in the public’s eye the more committed groups of resistance with mainstream “kosher” associations that are generally seen as harmless.) Primarily though, whether any organization is allowed to continue in the future will be a matter of how big a threat a group represents. Not a threat in terms of armed might or political ability, for there is none of either for the present, but rather, threat in terms of potentiality. It is potential the federals fear most. Whether that potential exists in an individual or group is incidental. The federals measure potential threat in terms of what might happen given a situation conducive to action on the part of a restive organization or individual. Accurate intelligence gathering allows them to assess the potential. Showing one’s hand before the bets are made, is a sure way to loose.

The movement for freedom is rapidly approaching the point where for many people, the option of belonging to a group will be nonexistent. For others, group membership will be a viable option for only the immediate future. Eventually, and perhaps much sooner than most believe possible, the price paid for membership will exceed any perceived benefit. But for now, some of the groups that do exist often serve a useful purpose either for the newcomer who can be indoctrinated into the ideology of the struggle, or for generating positive propaganda to reach potential freedom fighters. It is sure that, for the most part, this struggle is rapidly becoming a matter of individual action, each of its participants making a private decision in the quietness of his heart to resist: to resist by any means necessary. It is hard to know what others will do, for no man truly knows another man’s heart. It is enough to know what one himself will do. A great teacher once said “know thyself.” Few men really do, but let each of us, promise ourselves, not to go quietly to the fate our would-be masters have planned.

The concept of Leaderless Resistance is nothing less than a fundamental departure in theories of organization. The orthodox scheme of organization is diagrammatically represented by the pyramid, with the mass at the bottom and the leader at the top. This fundamental of organization is to be seen not only in armies, which are of course, the best illustration of the pyramid structure, with the mass of soldiery, the privates, at the bottom responsible to corporals who are in turn responsible to sergeants, and so on up the entire chain of command to the generals at the top. But the same structure is seen in corporations, ladies’ garden clubs and in our political system itself. This orthodox “pyramid” scheme of organization is to be seen basically in all existing political, social and religious structures in the world today from the Federal government to the Roman Catholic Church. The Constitution of the United States, in the wisdom of the Founders, tried to sublimate the essential dictatorial nature of pyramidal organization by dividing authority into three: executive, legislative and judicial. But the pyramid remains essentially untouched.

This scheme of organization, the pyramid, is however, not only useless, but extremely dangerous for the participants when it is utilized in a resistance movement against state tyranny. Especially is this so in technologically advanced societies where electronic surveillance can often penetrate the structure revealing its chain of command. Experience has revealed over and over again that anti-state, political organizations utilizing this method of command and control are easy prey for government infiltration, entrapment, and destruction of the personnel involved. This has been seen repeatedly in the United States where pro-government infiltrators or agent provocateurs weasel their way into patriotic groups and destroy them from within.

In the pyramid type of organization, an infiltrator can destroy anything which is beneath his level of infiltration and often those above him as well. If the traitor has infiltrated at the top, then the entire organization from the top down is compromised and may be traduced at will.

An alternative to the pyramid type of organization is the cell system. In the past, many political groups (both right and left) have used the cell system to further their objectives. Two examples will suffice. During the American Revolution “committees of correspondence” were formed throughout the Thirteen colonies.

Their purpose was to subvert the government and thereby aid the cause of independence. The “Sons of Liberty”, who made a name for themselves dumping government taxed tea into the harbor at Boston, were the action arm of the committees of correspondence. Each committee was a secret cell that operated totally independently of the other cells. Information on the government was passed from committee to committee, from colony to colony, and then acted upon on a local basis. Yet even in these bygone days of poor communication, of weeks to months for a letter to be delivered, the committees without any central direction whatsoever, were remarkable similar in tactics employed to resist government tyranny. It was, as the first American patriots knew, totally unnecessary for anyone to give an order for anything. Information was made available to each committee, and each committee acted as it saw fit. A recent example of the cell system taken from the left wing of politics are the Communists. The Communist, in order to get around the obvious problems involved in pyramidal organization, developed to an art the cell system. They had numerous independent cells which operated completely isolated from one another and particularly with no knowledge of each other, but were orchestrated together by a central headquarters. For instance, during World War II, in Washington, it is known that there were at least six secret Communist cells operating at high levels in the United States government (plus all the open Communists who were protected and promoted by President Roosevelt), however, only one of the cells was rooted out and destroyed. How many more actually were operating no one can say for sure.

The Communist cells which operated in the U.S until late 1991 under Soviet control could have at their command a leader, who held a social position which appeared to be very lowly. He could be, for example, a busboy in a restaurant, but in reality a colonel or a general in the Soviet Secret Service, the KGB. Under him could be a number of cells and a person active in one cell would almost never have knowledge of individuals who are active in another cell. The value of this is that while any one cell can be infiltrated, exposed or destroyed, such action will have no effect on the other cells; in fact, the members of the other cells will be supporting that cell which is under attack and ordinarily would lend very strong support to it in many ways. This is at least part of the reason, no doubt, that whenever in the past Communists were attacked in this country, support for them sprang up in many unexpected places.

The efficient and effective operation of a cell system after the Communist model, is of course, dependent upon central direction, which means impressive organization, funding from the top, and outside support, all of which the Communists had. Obviously, American patriots have none of these things at the top or anywhere else, and so an effective cell organization based upon the Soviet system of operation is impossible.

Two things become clear from the above discussion. First, that the pyramid type of organization can be penetrated quite easily and it thus is not a sound method of organization in situations where the government has the resources and desire to penetrate the structure; which is the situation in this country. Secondly, that the normal qualifications for the cell structure based upon the Red model does not exist in the U.S. for patriots. This understood, the question arises “What method is left for those resisting state tyranny?” The answer comes from Col. Amoss who proposed the “Phantom Cell” mode of organization. Which he described as Leaderless Resistance. A system of organization that is based upon the cell organization, but does not have any central control or direction, that is in fact almost identical to the methods used by the Committees of Correspondence during the American Revolution. Utilizing the Leaderless Resistance concept, all individuals and groups operate independently of each other, and never report to a central headquarters or single leader for direction or instruction, as would those who belong to a typical pyramid organization.

At first glance, such a type of organization seems unrealistic, primarily because there appears to be no organization. The natural question thus arises as to how are the “Phantom cells” and individuals to cooperate with each other when there is no intercommunication or central direction? The answer to this question is that participants in a program of Leaderless Resistance through phantom cell or individual action must know exactly what they are doing, and how to do it. It becomes the responsibility of the individual to acquire the necessary skills and information as to what is to be done. This is by no means as impractical as it appears, because it is certainly true that in any movement, all persons involved have the same general outlook, are acquainted with the same philosophy, and generally react to given situations in similar ways. The pervious history of the committees of correspondence during the American Revolution show this to be true.

Since the entire purpose of Leaderless Resistance is to defeat state tyranny (at least insofar as this essay is concerned), all members of phantom cells or individuals will tend to react to objective events in the same way through usual tactics of resistance. Organs of information distribution such as newspapers, leaflets, computers, etc., which are widely available to all, keep each person informed of events, allowing for a planned response that will take many variations. No one need issue an order to anyone. Those idealist truly committed to the cause of freedom will act when they feel the time is ripe, or will take their cue from others who precede them. While it is true that much could be said against this type of structure as a method of resistance, it must be kept in mind that Leaderless Resistance is a child of necessity. The alternatives to it have been show to be unworkable or impractical. Leaderless Resistance has worked before in the American Revolution, and if the truly committed put it to use for themselves, it will work now.

It goes almost without saying that Leaderless Resistance leads to very small or even one man cells of resistance. Those who join organizations to play “let’s pretend” or who are “groupies” will quickly be weeded out. While for those who are serious about their opposition to federal despotism, this is exactly what is desired.

From the point of view of tyrants and would be potentates in the federal bureaucracy and police agencies, nothing is more desirable than that those who oppose them be UNIFIED in their command structure, and that every person who opposes them belong to a pyramid type group. Such groups and organizations are an easy kill. Especially in light of the fact that the Justice (sic) Department promised in 1987 that there would never be another group that opposed them that they did not have at least one informer in. These federal “friends of government” are intelligence agents. They gather information that can be used at the whim of a federal D.A. to prosecute. The line of battle has been drawn. Patriots are required therefore, to make a conscious decision to either aid the government in its illegal spying, by continuing with old methods of organization and resistance, or to make the enemie’s job more difficult by implementing effective countermeasures.

Now there will, no doubt, be mentally handicapped people out there who, while standing at a podium with an American flag draped in the background, and a lone eagle soaring in the sky above, will state emphatically in their best sounding red, white, and blue voice, “So what if the government is spying? We are not violating any laws.” Such crippled thinking by any serious person is the best example that there is a need for special education classes. The person making such a statement is totally out of contact with political reality in this country, and unfit for leadership of any thing more than a dog sleigh in the Alaskan wilderness. The old “Born on the fourth of July” mentality that has influenced so much of the American patriot’s thinking in the past will not save him from the government in the future. “Reeducation” for non-thinkers of this type will take place in the federal prison system where there are no flags or eagles, but abundance of men who were “not violating any law.”

Most groups who “unify” their disparate associates into a single structure have short political lives. Therefore, those movement leaders constantly calling for unity of organization rather than the desirable unity of purpose, usually fall into one of three categories.

They may not be sound political tacticians, but rather, just committed men who feel unity would help their cause, while not realizing that the government would greatly benefit from such efforts. The Federal objective, to imprison or destroy all who oppose them, is made easier in pyramid organizations. Or perhaps, they do not fully understand the struggle they are involved in and that the government they oppose has declared a state of war against those fighting for faith, folk, freedom and constitutional liberty. Those in power will use any means to rid themselves of opposition. The third class calling for unity and let us hope this is the minority of the three, are men more desirous of the supposed power that a large organization would bestow, than of actually achieving their stated purpose.

Conversely, the last thing Federal snoops would have, if they had any choice in the matter, is a thousand different small phantom cells opposing them. It is easy to see why. Such a situation is an intelligence nightmare for a government intent upon knowing everything they possibly can about those who oppose them. The Federals, able to amass overwhelming strength of numbers, manpower, resources, intelligence gathering, and capability at any given time, need only a focal point to direct their anger. A single penetration of a pyramid type of organization can lead to the destruction of the whole. Whereas, Leaderless Resistance presents no single opportunity for the Federals to destroy a significant portion of the Resistance.

With the announcement by the Department of Justice (sic) that 300 FBI agents formerly assigned to watching Soviet spies in the US (domestic counter intelligence) are now to be used to “combat crime”, the federal government is preparing the way for a major assault upon those persons opposed to their policies. Many anti-government groups dedicated to the preservation of the America of our forefathers can expect shortly to feel the brunt of a new federal assault upon liberty.

It is clear, therefore, that it is time to rethink traditional strategy and tactics when it comes to opposing a modern police state. America is quickly moving into a long dark night of police state tyranny, where the rights now accepted by most as being inalienable will disappear. Let the coming night be filled with a thousand points of resistance. Like the fog which forms when conditions are right and disappears when they are not, so must the resistance to tyranny be.

The Seditionist #12, February 92

Modern Public Education

Modern Public Education

Declaration of War

Declaration of War

“It is now a dark and dismal time in the history of our Race. All about us lie the green graves of our sires, yet, in a land once ours we have become a people dispossessed. Our heroes and culture have been insulted and degraded. The mongrel hordes clamor to sever us from our inheritance. Yet our people do not care.

Throughout this land our children are being coerced into accepting nonwhites for their idols, their companions, and worst of all for their mates. A course which has taken us straight to oblivion. Yet our people do not see. Not by accident but by design these terrible things have come to pass. It is self-evident to all who have eyes to see that an evil shadow has fallen across our once fair land. Evidence abounds that a certain, vile, alien people have taken control of our country. How is it that a parasite has gained dominion over its host? Instead of being vigilant our fathers have slept.

What are we to do? How bleak these aliens have made our children’s future. All about us the land is dying. Our cities swarm with dusky hordes. The water is rancid and the air is rank. Our farms are being seized by usurious leeches and our people are being forced off the land. The capitalists and communists pick gleefully at our bones while the vile, hook-nosed masters of usury orchestrate our destruction.

We hereby declare ourselves a free and sovereign people. We claim a territorial imperative that will consist of the entire North American continent north of Mexico. As soldiers of the Aryan Resistance Movement (ARM) we will conduct ourselves in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

We now close this Declaration with an open letter to congress and our signatures confirming our intent to do battle. Let friend and foe alike be made aware: This Is War! We the following of sound body and mind under no duress, do hereby sign this document of our own free will, stating forthrightfully and without fear that we declare ourselves to be in a full and unrelenting state of war with those forces seeking and consciously promoting the destruction of our Faith and our Race. Therefore, for Blood, Soil and Honor, and for the future of our children, we commit ourselves to battle. Amen.”

The Order, Brüder Schweigen

Why Not War?

Why Not War?

By Peter D. Schiff

There is overwhelming agreement among economists that the Second World War was responsible for decisively ending the Great Depression. When asked why the wars in Iran and Afghanistan are failing to make the same impact today, they often claim that the current conflicts are simply too small to be economically significant.

There is, of course, much irony here. No one argues that World War II, with its genocide, tens of millions of combatant casualties, and wholesale destruction of cities and regions, was good for humanity. But the improved American economy of the late 1940s seems to illustrate the benefits of large-scale government stimulus. This conundrum may be causing some to wonder how we could capture the good without the bad.

If one believes that government spending can create economic growth, then the answer should be simple: let’s have a huge pretend war that rivals the Second World War in size. However, this time, let’s not kill anyone.

Most economists believe that massive federal government spending on tanks, uniforms, bullets, and battleships used in World War II, as well the jobs created to actually wage the War, finally put to an end the paralyzing “deflationary trap” that had existed since the Crash of 1929. Many further argue that war spending succeeded where the much smaller New Deal programs of the 1930s had fallen short.

The numbers were indeed staggering. From 1940 to 1944, federal spending shot up more than six times from just $9.5 billion to $72 billion. This increase led to a corresponding $75 billion expansion of US nominal GDP, from $101 billion in 1940 to $175 billion by 1944. In other words, the war effort caused US GDP to increase close to 75% in just four years!

The War also wiped out the country’s chronic unemployment problems. In 1940, eleven years after the Crash, unemployment was still at a stubbornly high 8.1%. By 1944, the figure had dropped to less than 1%. The fresh influx of government spending and deployment of working-age men overseas drew women into the workforce in unprecedented numbers, thereby greatly expanding economic output. In addition, government spending on wartime technology produced a great many breakthroughs that impacted consumer goods production for decades.

So, why not have the United States declare a fake war on Russia (a grudge match that is, after all, long overdue)? Both countries could immediately order full employment and revitalize their respective manufacturing sectors. Instead of live munitions, we could build all varieties of paint guns, water balloons, and stink bombs.

Once new armies have been drafted and properly outfitted with harmless weaponry, our two countries could stage exciting war games. Perhaps the US could mount an amphibious invasion of Kamchatka (just like in Risk!). As far as the destruction goes, let’s just bring in Pixar and James Cameron. With limitless funds from Washington, these Hollywood magicians could surely produce simulated mayhem more spectacular than Pearl Harbor or D-Day. The spectacle could be televised- with advertising revenue going straight to the government.

The competition could be extended so that the winner of the pseudo-conflict could challenge another country to an all-out fake war. I’m sure France or Italy wouldn’t mind putting a few notches in the ‘win’ column. The stimulus could be never-ending.

If the US can’t find any willing international partners, we could always re-create the Civil War. Missed the Monitor vs. the Merrimack the first time? No worries, we’ll do it again!

But to repeat the impact of World War II today would require a truly massive effort. Replicating the six-fold increase in the federal budget that was seen in the early 1940s would result in a nearly $20 trillion budget today. That equates to $67,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. Surely, the tremendous GDP growth created by such spending would make short work of the so-called Great Recession.

The big question is how to pay for it. To a degree that will surprise many, the US funded its World War II effort largely by raising taxes and tapping into Americans’ personal savings. Both of those avenues are nowhere near as promising today as they were in 1941.

Current tax burdens are now much higher than they were before the War, so raising taxes today would be much more difficult. The “Victory Tax” of 1942 sharply raised income tax rates and allowed, for the first time in our nation’s history, taxes to be withheld directly from paychecks. The hikes were originally intended to be temporary but have, of course, far outlasted their purpose. It would be unlikely that Americans would accept higher taxes today to fund a real war, let alone a pretend one.

That leaves savings, which was the War’s primary source of funding. During the War, Americans purchased approximately $186 billion worth of war bonds, accounting for nearly three quarters of total federal spending from 1941-1945. Today, we don’t have the savings to pay for our current spending, let alone any significant expansions. Even if we could convince the Chinese to loan us a large chunk of the $20 trillion (on top of the $1 trillion we already owe them), how could we ever pay them back?

If all of this seems absurd, that’s because it is. War is a great way to destroy things, but it’s a terrible way to grow an economy.

What is often overlooked is that war creates hardship, and not just for those who endure the violence. Yes, US production increased during the Second World War, but very little of that was of use to anyone but soldiers. Consumers can’t use a bomber to take a family vacation.

The goal of an economy is to raise living standards. During the War, as productive output was diverted to the front, consumer goods were rationed back home and living standards fell. While it’s easy to see the numerical results of wartime spending, it is much harder to see the civilian cutbacks that enabled it.

The truth is that we cannot spend our way out of our current crisis, no matter how great a spectacle we create. Even if we spent on infrastructure rather than war, we would still have no means to fund it, and there would still be no guarantee that the economy would grow as a result.

What we need is more savings, more free enterprise, more production, and a return of American competitiveness in the global economy. Yes, we need Rosie the Riveter – but this time she has to work in the private sector making things that don’t explode. To do this, we need less government spending, not more.

White Lies

White Lies

By Paul E. Gottfried

Richard Hoste seems to differ from my view that the Right (used, of course, in a very broad sense) could in no way benefit from misrepresenting MLK as a small-government conservative. Richard believes that if we continue to tell blacks the noble lie, which the neoconservatives and Glenn Beck have worked so hard to spread, we may be able to neutralize all the race-hustling black leaders.

There are at least three problems with this argument that come readily to mind. One, the lie is so transparent that until now only movement conservatives have bought it; and in this case we are dealing with people who are so incredibly gullible or so thoroughly bribed that they’ll say anything they’re told to say by those who move their strings. I myself have never met a movement conservative or GOP hack who actually thought that King was a “conservative theologian” or an exponent of Thomistic natural law. Rather I’ve encountered dolts who read NR or Weekly Standard and who have told me “we should say this because that’s what we have to say.” Of course the same humanoids have proclaimed Joe Lieberman to be a conservative “because he’s good on the war.”

Two, nobody, including blacks, could possibly believe the crass lie that Richard wishes to see propagated. There is overwhelming evidence, plus media treatment of King’s life and influence, that would keep anybody with even room temperature intelligence (which may exclude most movement conservatives) from buying the proffered snake oil. Watching Beck go nuts (that is more nuts than he usually seems) because a black celebrity described King as a socialist, I had the definite feeling of being on Mars. Does anyone on this planet with even a grade school education not know that King was a left-leaning socialist, who favored special rights for his race? One can quote until the cows come home that banal line about judging people by “the content of their character.” But this does not change the rest of King’s politics, which are an open book, even for blacks.

Three, the cult of King is intertwined with a political purpose, from which it cannot be dislodged. It is a replacement theology for a now mostly moribund Christianity, which incorporates certain older religious themes but places them in a multicultural context. King is the suffering Redeemer, whose birthday comes a few weeks after the traditional date for celebrating the Christian Redeemer; and his death was expiatory, like that of Christ, although, unlike Christ’s kingdom, that of the black socialist savior is situated in this world. King’s mission began the process of cleansing white America of its original sin of racism. But this redemption did not work all at once when he died. Further sacrifice is demanded of the sinner in the form of the demands that the fallen Redeemer laid upon us, that is, more socialism, more set-asides, more rites of atonement, etc. To try to change this powerful symbolism by reconstructing King into something he clearly was not, perhaps a precursor of Glenn Beck or David Horowitz, is a fool’s errand. King was exactly what he was. That he has become the replacement Deity in a post-Christian public theology may strike some of us as laughable. But that elevation is connected to what he said and did. The cult of MLK reflects a certain reality, while Richard’s counter-narrative builds on nothing more than a neocon lie.

Black Conservatives as rare as the most rare of creatures

Black Conservatives: as rare as the most rare of creatures

Any May not really exist.

Black Conservatives Take Lead Role In Tea Party Movement

Though the tea party movement has attracted criticism for its supposed lack of diversity, minority activists who are involved say the movement has little to do with race, and that it is attracting a more diverse crowd every day (hat tip: Yahoo! Black Conservatives usergroup). Lloyd Marcus’ [pictured] conservatism started when he was 9. His family had just moved out of the “ghetto” to a brand-new high rise in Baltimore — within months, he said, the “dream come true” turned into a nightmare, as the building of welfare-collecting black residents became a den of crime. His father moved the family out as soon as he got a job with the city fire department, but “my cousins never escaped,” Mr. Marcus said. He cried as he told the story.

Mr. Marcus, a black conservative who is now involved in the growing tea party movement, attributes the problems of his childhood neighborhood, his extended family and the black community in general to a “cradle-to-grave government dependency” that in the case of his cousins enabled an idle life of crime and drug abuse. To him, President Obama’s policies perpetuate that dependency. That’s why, he says, it baffles him and other black conservatives when the tea party movement is dismissed as somehow anti-black, as a rowdy bunch of ignorant, white protesters who have it in for the nation’s first black president. “This is the nicest angry mob I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Marcus, who is a musician in Florida, said.

William Owens, a black author and publisher who with his wife traveled on the Tea Party Express tours with Mr. Marcus and has spoken at just about every stop along the way, also came out strongly against Barack Obama in 2008. He published the book, Obama: Why Black America Should Have Doubts, before the election, in an attempt to address what he called a “misguided passion” toward the former U.S. senator in black America. When the tea party movement started last year, he said he found a way to build on what he was already doing, outside the Republican Party system which he calls out of touch. He first spoke at a rally in Las Vegas on tax day last April. “It was just a natural fit,” Mr. Owens said.

Mr. Owens said the rallies are still “mostly white,” but that more blacks are getting involved. He took particular umbrage at Chris Matthews’ comment contending that the rallies were monochromatic, blasting out a press release that criticized the MSNBC host for “pushing conservative black Americans to the back of the media bus.” Mr. Owens now publishes a journal documenting the tea party cross-country tours. The Multi-Cultural Conservative Coalition is also sponsoring the next leg of the Tea Party Express.

Despite the enthusiastic involvement of black conservatives in the tea party rallies and trips, President Obama still enjoys seemingly unshakable support from the majority of black Americans. A recent poll from Gallup put his approval rating among blacks at 91 percent. Among whites, that number was 42 percent. Tea party groups also might not be doing themselves any favors when some of their supporters are photographed holding somewhat shocking signs at rallies — such as one last year that said, “The White House has a lyin’ African.” But such demonstrators may be the exception.

Lollar started speaking at tea party events last winter and said his biggest motivation is opposition to the stimulus package — both the $787 billion package that passed last February and the sequel that some Democrats are trying to push this year.Charles Lollar, a Maryland-based tea party supporter who is black, said there’s no validity to the racism charges. “I’ve seen black faces in the crowd. I’ve seen Latino faces in the crowd….It’s not a movement of color. It’s not a movement of party. It’s a movement of principle. It’s a movement of America,” he said. Mr. Lollar has since parlayed his activism into a high-stakes campaign. The Charles County businessman is hoping win the GOP nomination to challenge House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), in the congressional midterm this November. However, Mr. Lollar, whose previous post was as chairman of the Charles County Republican Central Committee, has an uphill battle to unseat the nation’s second most powerful House Democrat.

Locust: very few exist, but pushed to chose a side, they will choose their own kind.  Don’t get me wrong, its great that they value some of what we white nationalist value, but can they convince the rest of their kind in the next couple years?  Its a little late in the game. Sorry, I don’t trust you blacks to make that “change” when lives and our white civilization is on the line, see you soon on the battlefield where skin will be your uniform.

Rising Right

Rising Right – UK

Rising right Across Europe

Barack Obama—After Two Rough Years, An Even Bigger Wake-Up Call Is Coming

By Steve Sailer

President Barack Obama was marketed to America as the magic cure for its racial divisions. But in my book America’s Half-Blood Prince Barack Obama’s “Story Of Race And Inheritance”, based on a close study of Obama’s own much-purchased, little-read autobiography Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, I argued that Obama was in fact fundamentally motivated by race and that some people, probably his credulous white supporters, were in for a big surprise.

This is exactly what has happened. Obama has proved racially divisive both for implicit and explicit reasons. Eighteen months into his Presidency, the races are farther apart in their views of him than when he came to office.

Here are Obama’s Gallup Poll approval ratings every week since his Inauguration:

Black support for the black President remains almost rock solid, standing at 89 percent through the week ending July 11, 2010—slightly higher than in his first week in office.

But Obama’s approval rating among whites is now only 38 percent—51 points below the black level. The white approval rating has fallen 25 points since January 2009.

It’s important to note that the white approval rating was as high as 60 percent as late as the week of May 10, 2009. The subsequent sharp fall-off is usually blamed on the economy.

But an alternative explanation is that white disenchantment with Obama appears to have set in during the warm weather months of 2009—about the time of Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court (May 26, 2009); the Supreme Court’s rebuke of Sotomayor’s ruling in the Ricci case (June 29, 2009); and the ludicrous damage-controlling “Beer Summit” featuring Professor Henry Louis Gates and an Obama-dissed Cambridge, MA police officer, James Crowley (July 22-30, 2009).

Since the end of summer 2009, Obama’s staffers, such as the cynical Chicagoan Rahm Emanuel, have worked diligently to keep their boss from alarming whites with obvious racial gaffes—as when he responded frankly to the Henry Louis Gates question at one of his rare press conferences. Obama’s rating among whites has continued to trickle downward, but at a less catastrophic rate.

On the other hand, his staff’s perceived need to prevent “Obama from being Obama” has likely contributed to Obama’s current guarded, depressive affect.

For a man proclaimed an inspirational political genius in 2008, he strikes many people in 2010 as a downer, a bit of a buzzkill.

And Obama’s allies continue to provoke racial squabbles. For example, the NAACP is trying to “concern troll” [=undermine] the Tea Party movement into dropping all that stuff about endless deficits and conduct purges of purported racists in its ranks. And the public is just waking up to the fact that Congresswoman Maxine Waters has larded the new financial reform bill with racial quotas.

Hispanics’ feelings toward Obama lie in between those of blacks and whites, as is so common in American racial patterns. The President’s Hispanic ratings have fallen roughly in parallel with white opinion, with the big drop starting a little later in 2009. This also follows a long tradition: Hispanic voters generally follow changes in white opinion, just more erratically, and stay significantly to the left of whites for perfectly understandable reasons of self-interest: they are much more enthusiastic about racial / ethnic preferences and tax-and-spend policies from which they hope to benefit at white expense.

Over the last decade, the Main Stream Media has carried countless credulous articles about the Hispanic vote. Most are based on self-serving talking points fed to journalists by so-called Hispanic leaders.

But there is a dirty little secret in all this: Hispanic voters seldom pay much attention to whatever the press proclaims to be their burning issues, such as Sotomayor or Arizona’s SB1070.

For example, Hispanic warmth toward Obama hit its peak (85 percent) a few weeks before he nominated Sonia Sotomayor on May 26, 2009. By August, he was down in the 60s with Hispanics.

One high school teacher told me that, throughout June 2009, he repeatedly brought up the Puerto Rican judge’s name to inspire his mostly Mexican-American classes. One youth responded that he’d heard she was Cuban. But the rest never had any idea (even an incorrect one) about who she was or why anybody would think they’d care about her.

Similarly, in the weeks before Obama went to war against the citizens of Arizona in late April 2010 over SB1070, his Hispanic approval rating had been in the 60s. Now, it’s at 55.

The fact is that Hispanics, on average, don’t pay all that much attention to the news. They tend to be younger, less literate, less interested in America, and less interested in public affairs in general.

The decline of the Los Angeles Times would be a sad reminder of this—it has long tried to compete with the New York Times for the title of the Most Serious Newspaper in the country, but its circulation area has become increasingly Hispanic—if the paper hadn’t been such an enthusiastic backer of the cause of its own destruction.

The conventional wisdom that says that the GOP must submit to the rising tide of Latinos. I have repeatedly argued that this is simply overblown. Despite their numbers, Hispanics are not the most formidable challenge any political party has ever confronted. They don’t have terribly charismatic leaders, they don’t have a determined and focused rank and file, and they don’t have much of a claim on the conscience of America. Their main political advantage so far has been that they’ve bored whites and blacks into inattention regarding illegal immigration.

In contrast to Hispanics, however, black opinion tends to swing (to the extent that this rather monolithic bloc swings at all) in the opposite direction to white opinion. For example, Ronald Reagan increased his share of the white vote from 56 percent in 1980 to 64 percent in 1984. But his share of the black vote dropped from 11 percent to 9 percent.

This tendency for Hispanics to follow broad white political trends (while remaining consistently to the left of whites) has shown up throughout the history of exit polling. Journalists always label Hispanics a crucial “swing vote”. But in fact they are more of a “flow vote” that fluctuates with the overall tide.

For example, the GOP candidates for the House did their best among Hispanics in Newt Gingrich’s big year of 1994, gaining 39 percent of the vote—which was also the same year they did their best among whites.

There may be an even dirtier secret reason for this behavior: Hispanics don’t particularly like blacks. In fact, nobody likes blacks as much as whites do. Everybody else around the world has certain prejudices against blacks—and they don’t feel terribly guilty about having them, either. Hispanics, for example, come from cultures in which people of 100 percent African descent are at the bottom of the social ladder, and everybody else tries to be perceived as whiter, or marry somebody whiter. Even a race warrior like President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela traded in his dark-skinned first wife for an Eastern European-looking blonde.

So the “Rainbow Coalition” may not be as formidable as its advocates imagine.

Nevertheless, the Obama Administration’s first two years make it even more unmistakable than ever that American politics are Balkanizing racially.

As I wrote in VDARE.com in 2002:

“… I am uncomfortable with the idea of the two major parties splitting into racial blocs.

“But there’s a simple solution. If you don’t want whites to act like a minority group—e.g. racially-conscious, bloc-voting, biased, prickly, led by racial racketeers constantly proclaiming their group’s victimization—then the government should stop making whites a minority through mass immigration.”

Needless to say, the Bush Administration ignored my advice and pursued the opposite policy. And probably that is still the GOP Establishment’s instinct, given the rumors that it intends to respond to the surging immigration issue, not by supporting a moratorium, but by urging a guest worker program.

What does the rest of Obama’s term hold for his party—and America?

Recently, the pragmatic domestic policy influence on Obama of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, a ferocious competitor dedicated to winning victories today, seems to be waning. It’s not that Emanuel wouldn’t mind putting millions of illegal immigrants on the path to voting Democratic, it’s just that he can’t see how to get away with it over the next few years.

Yet, the lawsuit against Arizona filed by Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder, a descendant of the mulatto elite of Barbados, represents the ascendancy of the Elect-a-New-People-to-Rule-the-Future side of Obama’s otherwise cautious personality.

A Time article of July 14 by Jay Newton-Small “Will Obama’s Immigration Focus Hurt Democrats?“ reports:

“Back in 2007, when Rahm Emanuel was in charge of electing Democrats to the House, he famously marveled at how immigration reform had overtaken Social Security as ‘the third rail of American politics.’ … Instead, western Democrats—egged on by rather large swaths of their moderate white base—are growing increasingly nervous at the Administration’s twin push on immigration …”

The article quotes a “senior Democratic aide” as saying “The White House’s infatuation with immigration reform is a lose-lose proposal for Democrats this election year.”

I wonder if that “senior Democratic aide’s” initials are R.E.? Will we be seeing President Obama announcing that his Chief of Staff has decided to move on to spend more time with his family?

In part, the Obama-Holder strategy of attacking Arizona and pushing amnesty is based on old-fashioned Karl Rovian delusions about the Hispanic vote. Greg Sargent noted in the Washington Post:

“Obama’s immigration speech was partly driven by serious White House concern about the impact of softening Latino support for the president in major swing states like Nevada, Colorado and Florida.”

In other words, Obama realizes no more than George W. Bush did that he’s being lied to by self-interested Hispanic politicians and consultants about the size and motivations of the Hispanic vote. They are all prisoners of “the dominant interpretation of reality.” The repeated failures of its predictions simply mean that its nostrums have not been tried hard enough yet.

Obama has lived almost his entire life in a bubble of entitlement and theory divorced from reality. My prediction: he will get an even bigger wake-up call than we’ve seen to date.

[Steve Sailer (email him) is movie critic for The American Conservative. His website www.iSteve.blogspot.com features his daily blog. His new book, AMERICA’S HALF-BLOOD PRINCE: BARACK OBAMA’S "STORY OF RACE AND INHERITANCE", is available here.]