Scientology founders great-grandson blasts church

Jamie DeWolf, the great-grandson of L. Ron Hubbard the Scientology founder, says that the Scientology church destroyed his family.

Even though he never met his great grandfather DeWolf has labeled Hubbard as a “portly red-headed charismatic lying con-man pseudoscience self-help author” and describes Scientology as a “pyramid scheme that sells secrets and they sell them under the guise of self-help.”

In an interview with CBS out of San Francisco, DeWolf relates a story of how the church spied and followed on him with a number of Scientologists.

DeWolf feels that Tom Cruise is a “golden mascot,” and that his marriage breakup with Katie Holmes, was probably due to her becoming aware of the behind the scenes of Scientology.  However he views Cruise as “… another victim of the mirage that my great grandfather created around himself,”

See Scientology founders great-grandson blasts church | Fox News.

Mob ‘attacks’ police during Islamic veil ID check – FRANCE – FRANCE 24

Mob ‘attacks’ police during Islamic veil ID check – FRANCE – FRANCE 24.

A mob of around 50 people attacked police as they ID checked a woman wearing the full Islamic veil in Marseille, France.

It is illegal to wear the full veil in France after former President Sarkozy, passed the controversial law in 2010.

Four people were arrested, but very soon released; a move which has angered the head of the Alliance police union.

Marseille has problems with gun crime and violence is common, relations between locals and the authorities are already tense.

‘Dark Knight’ shooting suspect James Holmes claims amnesia

James Holmes, accused mass murderer, indicated to jailhouse workers that he does not know why he is in jail.

Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding another 58 at a midnight premiere of the latest Batman installment at the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora, Colorado.

See EXCLUSIVE: ‘Dark Knight’ shooting suspect James Holmes claims amnesia – NY Daily News.

Researchers list top 10 airports for spreading disease

Disease might not be spreading from people, maybe its the airports.

A recent study looking at the 40 largest airports in the Unites States performed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Civil and Environmental Engineering department looked at the airports most likely to spread a disease.

  1. JFK International, New York
  2. Los Angeles International Airport
  3. Honolulu International Airport
  4. San Francisco International Airport
  5. Newark Liberty International Airport
  6. Chicago O’Hare International Airport
  7. Washington Dulles International Airport
  8. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
  9. Miami International Airport
  10. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

see Researchers list top 10 airports for spreading disease – CNN.com.

Chick-fil-A fallout over corporate statement

Chick-fil-A… “We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit,” and “…treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”

Reaction by some has been swift and furious.

Roseanne Barr released a mostly unprintable tweet saying in part, that people who eat “antibiotic filled tortured chickens 4Christ… deserves to get the cancer that is sure to come.”

Proco “Joe” Morena, a Chicago City Alderman states that he will block any attempt by the chain from opening in his district stating that Chick-fil-A’s president Dan Cathy is “guilty as charged… If you are discriminating against a segment of the community, I don’t want you in the 1st Ward.” and that Cathy’s comments were “bigoted, homophobic.”

Rahm Emmanuel followed similarly with “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values. They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents. This would be a bad investment, since it would be empty.”

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino also does not want a Chick-fil-A in his city.

Jim Henson Co. the Muppets creator, has broken out of a partnership with Chick-fil-A.

See Chick-fil-A gay fallout: Chicago ban, Facebook gaffe, Malkin blog – latimes.com.

San Francisco Library Removing Barriers for Porn Viewing

The San Francisco Public Library, located beside the San Francisco City Hall, is now including privacy screens on its computers for your internet pornography watching enjoyment.

The United States Supreme Court however, has a current ruling from 2000 and that was ratified in 2003 that requires public libraries to have filters that block adult content, otherwise they are not eligible for federal funding for online education or even internet access funding.

This ruling is called CIPA, or the Children’s Internet Protection Act.  To receive discounts on internet access and online educational offerings libraries must install protections for children.  These protections, or filters can be turned off on a request made by an adult patron as filters can block other sites inadvertently as well.

see San Francisco Library Porn Shield Lets Patrons View Adult Content In Private (VIDEO).

Israelis fear breach of Syria’s chemical arsenal

In Israel there was a rush to get gas masks on Wednesday over fears of Syria’s chemical weapons being used against them.

Until recently, there was no concern in Israel about becoming involved in the conflict inside Syria as the focus of Israel has been on the Iranian threat.

The nerve and mustard gas agents that are believed to be stockpiled in Syria could be open to fall into the hands of rouge groups such as Islamic militants from Hezbollah or others should Syria’s current government fall.

“For us, that’s a casus belli, or red line,” stated Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday.  On Israeli radio he indicated that Israel would act immediately to prevent that.

See Israelis fear breach of Syria’s chemical arsenal – International News | San Francisco Luxury Living.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay form lobbying group

A new lobbying group is being formed according to the Washington Post today.

Google, Facebook, Amazon and eBay will make up the group which will be called The Internet Association and as stated by them, will be “the unified voice of the Internet economy, representing the interests of Americas leading Internet companies and their global community of users.”

It will be led by Michael Beckerman who is the former deputy staff director of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and former advisor to United States Representative, Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican.

See Report: Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay form lobbying group – Pulse of the Bay – The Bay Citizen.

Government Analyzing Conversations In Real Time

According to a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee, the agency is analyzing and storing all electronic communications in real time.

Whistleblower William Binney says that NSA has a google like ability to search any conversation using keywords.

NSA now has the legal authority to do so and has had it since 2008.  They have had the ability to intercept all calls made by phones, email communication and text messages without probable cause.

Binney identifies  “The sheer size of that capacity indicates that the NSA is not filtering personal electronic communications such as email before storage but is, in fact, storing all that they are collecting.”

According to Binney, in a sworn statement before the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, that the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the NSA and the DoD (Department of Defense) have “put in place technological improvements relating to the capabilities of a database to pull together past emails as well as … and future ones as they come in so that it does not require an individualized search.”

see » Whistleblower: NSA Analyzing Conversations In Real Time Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!.

Obama: Under Me “People Have A New Attitude Toward America”

“… people have a new attitude toward America. … We see it everywhere we go,” President Obama, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno Nevada.

Under Obama People see things different in this country.  The attitude is different.  Or, the mindset is different.

Why?

See Obama: Under Me “People Have A New Attitude Toward America” And “More Confidence” | RealClearPolitics.

Oakland: Dead zones plague police radios

Lt. Fred Mestas of the Oakland Police Department remembers the day he was face to face with a robbery suspect who looked like he was carrying a concealed shotgun.   When he went to his radio for backup he saw that he had no signal.

He was in a dead spot.  His transmission was ‘somehow’ blocked.

This story was just this fall.  Despite an $18 million system he could not use his communication device.

The dead zones extend to hundreds of buildings including the basement of police headquarters!

See Oakland: Dead zones plague police radios – SFGate.

Cities in Italy at Risk of Bankruptcy

There are ten Italian cities facing a high risk of bankruptcy. Most of them are in the south of the country, and have long histories of financial mismanagement, corruption and mafia infiltration. However, there are some from the more prosperous north.

The warning comes after Mario Monti, the Italian Prime Minister, warned that the Italian island of Sicily is at risk of default. Sicily has a high degree of financial autonomy, but the Italian government are poised to take over the financial affairs of the island.

Default for these cities could mean trash is uncollected and schools fail to reopen after the summer vacation.

Could France Become Another Greece?

It seems a week does not go by without more pictures of Greeks rioting and protesting their current economic situation. Just this week the Greek Prime Minister has said that Greece is in the midst of a Great Depression.

Now economists are looking closely at the French economy; France numbers are pointing towards the same outcome as Greece. France currently has an eye wateringly high debt to GDP ratio:  86.1% of GDP (146% if ECB liabilities and bank guarantees are included). Although the UK and America have similar levels of indebtedness they have the mechanisms to do something about it. They also have far more political will to change the socialist policies causing the problem.

In France there is no political will at present, to change the labor laws, and encourage free enterprise. Since coming to power in May, Francois Hollande has already reduced the pension age, increased taxation on the wealthy, increased public spending, and increased the money governments are to pay to the EU. He has also opted out of EU regulations to cap nations budget deficits.

If France continues on this present course the economic death spiral seen in Greece will come to France some time soon.

For more analysis of the situation see The Telegraph