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Saturday, November 6, 2010

[ALOCHONA] New Ways Bankers Are Spying on You



New Ways Bankers Are Spying on You
 
Big Banker is watching you—more closely than ever.

With lenders still skittish about making new loans, credit bureaus and others are hawking services that help banks probe deeply into your financial closet. The new offerings include ways to look at your rent and utility payments, figure out your income, gauge your home's value and even rate your banking habits based on details like whether your direct deposits have stopped. All of this could influence your financial freedom—not to mention the number of junk-mail solicitations you receive.

Ken Lin, CEO of Credit Karma, a credit-score information website, knew he had a good credit score. But when he recently applied for a new credit card, he was rejected: The lender had flagged him as a higher credit risk because the value of his California home had declined and his mortgage principal wasn't declining—giving away that he has an interest-only mortgage.

"It's a lot more than just your credit score today," he says.

[GETGO] Mark Matcho

Your credit record still matters, of course. But here are some newer ways lenders and financial-services companies are sizing up your financial behavior and credit-worthiness:

• Bank-depositor behavior scores. Fair Isaac, the creator of the widely used FICO credit score, is marketing bank-depositor behavior scores, which are used by banks to assess their own customers.

The scores are based on balances, deposit records and withdrawal activity, says Debb Gordon, a senior principal consultant at Fair Isaac.

Unlike credit scores—which are most affected after payments are late or credit is maxed out—behavior scores can be a leading indicator of credit risk. They also can help banks identify which of their customers might be ripe for additional services and rewards programs and which might need special attention because, for instance, their direct deposits had stopped.

• Income estimation. This business took off earlier this year after the Federal Reserve allowed lenders to use credit bureaus' income estimates to satisfy new requirements that credit-card applicants show the ability to pay their debts.

The bureaus use credit-record information, such as the size of your credit lines and the age and size of your mortgage, and plug it into models to predict your earnings. Those estimates also may be used to double-check the income you report on credit applications or to determine if you should be preapproved for credit.

You can't see those estimates. But if you are denied credit because of them, you must be given a chance to provide additional information.

• Rent payments. An estimated 40 million consumers, including young people and people who prefer to pay in cash, have too little credit experience to generate a useful credit score. But they are likely to pay rent or utility bills, which could help credit bureaus better assess their credit-worthiness.

Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, bought RentBureau—which collects rental-payment data from large property managers—and expects to integrate that information into credit records before the end of the year.

Even if those consumers don't want credit, that information could help them win better rates from insurers, which may use insurance scores based on credit records, and fatten up thin credit files, which some employers check before making hiring decisions.

Credit bureaus say they also would like to offer data on cellphone payments, but have run into concerns over privacy issues, which may require legislation to untangle.

• Collection triggers. If you owe money, you can run, but you can't hide. Credit bureaus can now send daily reports to collection companies when a debtor's financial status changes—say, if new employment information appears or if a debt starts to decline. A drop in credit use would indicate that the consumer has more capacity to pay and a better chance of repaying other outstanding debts.

• Home values. As home values have plummeted and foreclosures have soared in many states, lenders of all stripes have become more cautious, as Mr. Lin found. Using home values as a factor in credit decisions doesn't appear to be widespread, but it may come into play when someone in, say, Nevada or California applies for a new loan. Of course, it also could work in your favor if you are one of the roughly 25 million Americans who owns a home outright.

• Your wealth. Information about your assets other than homes and cars, which aren't part of the credit record, may soon play a bigger role in your financial life. With a better sense of a consumer's balance sheet, lenders might be able to target potential customers better and also have a fuller sense of their likely risk. Equifax, another of the big three credit bureaus, offers financial-service providers an estimate of liquid wealth as part of a financial "suite" of information.

As all of this becomes a widespread practice, those who are prompt and careful in all aspects of their financial life may have more options—and those who have been sloppy with, say, their bank accounts may be penalized for that.

Write to Karen Blumenthal at karen.blumenthal@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704865104575588803958385376.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth



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[ALOCHONA] Dhaka plans to provide transit to Thimphu



Dhaka plans to provide transit to Thimphu

 

Bangladesh plans to provide transit facility to Bhutan by opening up its Mongla port to the Himalayan kingdom in a deal, expected to be signed shortly, officials said.The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has recently sent a draft of the agreement, prepared by Tariff Commission, to different ministries seeking their comments.

Bhutan has been asking for the transit facility to enable its export-import cargoes pass through the Mongla port, a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Trade officials said an inter-ministerial meeting will be convened sooner to discuss the 'Draft Agreement on Transit between Bhutan and Bangladesh'.

The government is also negotiating with India and Nepal on the transit issue. The draft has clearly mentioned the road maintenance fees, other charges and toll on Bhutanese goods destined for transit to a third country.

"Traffic -in-transit shall be exempted from customs duties, taxes and other charges except charges for transportation and such other charges as are commensurate with the costs of services rendered in respect of such transit in accordance with the domestic legislation including toll taxes, road maintenance fee, etc," says the draft.

The draft said the term 'traffic-in-transit' means the passage of goods including unaccompanied baggage and vehicle across the territory of one country when the passage is a portion of a complete journey, which begins or terminates within the territory of the other country.The agreement will be signed for 10 years, according to the draft.

A top Commerce Ministry official said the ministry is in favor of charging transit fees in the name of transportation fee or maintenance fee as the country's road network and its infrastructure will be damaged due to the heavy traffic movement of transit goods of Bhutan.

He, however, said, everything would depend on political decision."The government is yet to determine its policy decision on imposing transit or transshipment fees on signatory countries," the official said.He said negotiations with Bhutan could begin after consultations with other ministries.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina assured India of giving access of Mongla and Chittagong ports to India, Nepal and Bhutan in January this year.'It was agreed that Bangladesh will allow use of Mongla and Chittagong sea ports for movement of goods to and from India through road and rail,' says the joint communiqué, signed between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and his Indian counterpart in New Delhi. The Banglabandha land port will be used as an entry and exit point for Bhutanese transit goods, a trade official said.

Bangladesh exported goods worth $0.60 million to Bhutan in 2009 fiscal year, while it imported goods from Bhutan worth above $ 50 million during the same period, a trade official said.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=116933&date=2010-11-07


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[ALOCHONA] 10 taka Rice :Promised or not



10 taka Rice : Promised or not
 
 
 
 
 


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[ALOCHONA] AL men attack govt office over candidate selection




 
The leaders and activists of ruling Awami league and its youth front Juba League ransacked on Saturday a government office at Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj and assaulted the officer who runs it.
   They ransacked the Juba Unnayan Office and assaulted the juba unnayan officer for not selecting the candidates of their choice for the second batch of National Service Programme.
   They also disrupted the inauguration of training of the selected candidates.
   It was the second such incident by the ruling party men since September 17, when they assaulted the deputy commissioner and several other senor district administration officers in Pabna on the same ground.
   The officer at Kashiani could not select the candidates according to a list the local ruling party leaders had given to him.
   Local people said that the relief and social welfare secretary of the Kashiani upazila Awami League Sharafat Hossain Lablu, upazila Juba League secretary Amirul Islam, vice-president of SA Khaleque College unit Tuhin Mridha and Kashiani union Awami League secretary Anwar Hossain Aanu, gave a list of candidates of their choice.
   They also put pressure on the upazila jubo unnayan officer for selecting the second batch according to the list.
   And that's why they foiled the training class of the selected candidates, set to begin Saturday morning.
   A contingent of Kashiani police arrived at the juba unnayan office later and scattered the attackers to bring the situation under control.
   The deputy commissioner of Gopalganj, Sheikh Yusuf Harun and the additional superintendent of police Md Shafiqul Islam visited the Juba Unnayan Office in the afternoon and ordered the police to take action against the attackers.
   Yusuf Harun described it as completely unfortunate.
   He said, 'It's clear who made the attack.'
   'I visited the spot and asked the upazila nirbahi officer to lodge a case against the attackers,' he told New Age over phone.
   Replying to a question Harun said 'There was no need for the administration to hold a special inquiry as everyone saw the attackers.'
   'It's clear who made the attack in daylight and it's a criminal offence,' he said.
   The juba uunnayan officer Md Sayaduddin told New Age that the AL and Juba League leaders created undue pressure on him and he could not oblige them.
   The upazila nirbahi officer, Suvash Chandra Biswas said that the demand of the attackers was not lawful and that punitive action was under process against them.
   At 8 PM, Kashiani police station officer-in-charge Mesbah Uddin told New Age that none was arrested in this connection.
   He, however, said that it was 'no big incident.'
   He described it as an 'expression of anger' by local Awami League leaders who ransacked a government office and smashed its windowpanes seeing their favourite candidates left out.
   Kashiani police later said, a case was filed accusing about 40 to 45 people including 10 persons who were identified for their involvement.
   According to bdnews24.com, Sayad alleged that Sarafat Hossain Lavlu Mridha, Kashiani upazila Awami League's social welfare secretary, led the attack.
   He said that Mridha beat him up after he protested against the vandalism.
   After vandalising the government office twice, the ruling party men staged a demonstration demanding Sayad's resignation.
   Mridha, however, denied he did all these vandalism.
   He said, 'Some people demonstrated before the office, when I was passing by. I only wanted to pacify the demonstrators.'
   A ruling Awami League lawmaker led party activists in Pabna to assault the deputy commissioner and other seniors district administration officers in Pabna on September 17 and ransacked the office of the district administration compelling it to postpone the recruitment test at the DC's office.
   At the time the ruling party men damaged government vehicles and property after setting answer scripts and admit cards on fire and snatching mobile phones, wristwatches and money from the candidates.
 


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[ALOCHONA] Obama’s Visit: US Merchants Eyeing Indian Agriculture



Obama's Visit: US Merchants Eyeing Indian Agriculture

By Devinder Sharma

At a time when America is faced with an economic downtrend, US President Barack Obama comes calling in a few days hoping that India will bail him out of the seemingly unending economic crisis. With a huge business team – more than 200 top business chiefs -- accompanying him, US is expecting to increase it exports to India by at least 400 per cent.

Food and Agriculture is one of the major thrust areas where President Obama is likely to make a strong pitch.In 2006, the last time the US President visited India, George Bush had formally launched the Rs 1000-crore Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agricultural Research and Education, when he made a quick visit to Hyderabad. For years later, in 2010, the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative (KIA) appears to be almost in a cold storage, but after having successfully promoted unwanted US technologies on several farm universities.

This followed from the previous visit of prime minister Manmohan Singh to Washington in 2005. Addressing a joint session of the US Congress during his visit, prime minister had said: "The Green Revolution lifted countless millions above poverty.... I am very happy to say that U.S. President George Bush and I have decided to launch second generation of India-US collaboration in agriculture."

Following the agreement, a team of Indian agricultural scientists visited US in December 2005 to work out the modalities of the programme. It was followed by a return visit by US agricultural scientists, and the entire exercise has been kept confidential and prepared in a hush-hush manner.

It was feared that the Indo-US agricultural treaty would bring Indian agriculture under the direct control of US Corporate houses. The dominance of the American agri-business became clear when it became known that the US supermarket giant Wal-Mart, food giant Cargill and the seed multination Monsanto were on the board of the Indo-US Initiative. All these companies are now well entrenched, ready for the next phase.

President Obama is likely to re-energise the dead Indo-US Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture. Since the agreement is facing un-surmountable hurdles because of the inability of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) to pay for staff travels and technologies being imported, it is likely that the US would push through more collaboration in agricultural scientific research through the US-India Strategic Dialogue.

While collaboration in farm research will pave the way for the entry of US agribusiness multinationals, especially technology companies like Monsanto and Du Pont, the thrust of the US talks is going to be on opening up of the food retail and insurance sector. A few weeks back, President Obama had expressed hope that India would allow FDI in big retail. The G-20 Summit in Toronto some months back had also in its final communiqué decided to lift all hurdles to allow big retail to operate.

As a welcome gesture, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to announce the formal approval for FDI in big retail. It was primarily to justify the need for FDI in retail that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had come out with a highly flawed discussion paper to indicate government's rethinking on the controversial subject. "The agriculture sector needs well functioning markets to drive growth, employment and economic prosperity in rural areas," the discussion paper said. A number of economists and researchers joined the chorus singing praise for the role the supermarkets can play.

Despite the destruction of farming globally by the supermarkets, the Ministry for Commerce and Industry is gung-ho about allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retailing, which means allowing the big players like Wal-Mart and Tesco to swamp the Indian market. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has time and again spelt out the need to allow FDI in big retail. Ministry for Commerce had even set up a small committee to prepare the ground for its entry.

If the supermarkets were so efficient and provided dynamism, I would like to know why the US is providing a massive subsidy for agriculture. After all, the world biggest retail giant Wal-mart is based in America and it should have helped American farmers to become economically viable. But it did not happen. American farmers have instead been bailed out by the government, providing a subsidy of Rs 12.50 lakh-crore between 1995 and 2009, and this includes direct income support.

The supermarkets have therefore failed the American farmers. India is therefore importing a failed economic model, which otherwise would help the economic recovery of America.

Entry of the big US food retail signals the complete corporate takeover of Indian agriculture. At a time when the government is busy laying out the infrastructure for the 2nd Green Revolution, which means strengthening agribusiness, a plethora of Indian laws on water, seeds, pesticides, fertilisers, land use policy, contract farming, biodiversity, intellectual property, biotechnology and genetic engineering have either been suitably amended (or are in the process) to facilitate the entry of multinational companies. One of the major thrust areas where Manmohan Singh is expected to assure President Obama of his un-stinted support is the introduction of the controversial genetically engineered crops.

India has already prepared a bill – National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority bill -- awaiting introduction in parliament that allows for a single-window clearance for genetically-modified crops, something that even the US does not allow within its own borders.

In the last few weeks, multinational companies like Monsanto, Wal-Mart and also the US Grain Council has been making a fervent pitch to life the barriers that have come in the way of US exports to India. It is not without reason that the Ministry of Commerce has been seeking fast conclusion of the Doha round of the World Trade Organisation. In the last few weeks, the US has forced Russia to cut down its agricultural subsidies by 50 per cent as a pre-requisite for its entry as a member of the WTO. It is also asking India, Brazil and China to further reduce the industrial tariffs.

India is expected to assure President Obama that it will not press for the reduction of the massive US farm subsidies, especially in cotton, but will provide more market access to US farm goods. All non-trade barriers are being gradually removed, and the US will find it easy to rebuild its sagging economy on the strength of the Indian market.

Indian agriculture provides a sustained market for the US companies. What is good for the commercial interest of the US companies is not necessarily going to be productive for Indian farmers. But then, Manmohan Singh has time and again talked of shifting 70 per cent of the rural population into the urban centres. Bringing agriculture under the yoke of the US business and industry will hasten this population transfer.


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[ALOCHONA] It was a bid to 'avenge' BDR carnage



Army finds Major Helal chose on his own Taposh as target, tagged along 4 juniors, collected explosives from Pilkhana

Fazle Noor Taposh
The five army officers dismissed recently for the bomb attack on Fazle Noor Taposh had done so, believing that the Awami League lawmaker had a hand in the BDR mutiny.

Major Helal, one of the five, was the mastermind behind the blast, which took place on October 21 last year, army sources said.

The officers--one major and four captains--have been sentenced to five years in prison by a court-martial. They began serving their term at Dhaka Central Jail on Thursday.

The convicted servicemen had collected the explosives used in the blast from the BDR Pilkhana headquarters while on duty there after the bloody mutiny, the sources told The Daily Star, citing findings of the probe into the attack on Taposh.

During their trial at Dhaka cantonment, they pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them.

The evidence produced before the court too proved they planned and executed the blast all by themselves.

Taposh, also nephew of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, came under the attack in front of his law chamber at Motijheel. He escaped unscathed, but at least 13 people were injured.

The army sources said Helal and the four captains--Rezaul Karim, Rajib, Fuad and Subayel Ibne Rafique--had been "confined to the line (officers' mess in Dhaka cantonment)" soon after their links to the blast surfaced.

For their conviction, the five will not be allowed to use their ranks as former army officers. They will also not get any benefits from the force.

Describing the background, the sources said Helal was posted to a BDR battalion in Teknaf at the time of Pilkhana carnage in the capital. As mutiny broke out at the barracks there as well, he left his station.

Known all along as an arrogant officer, he later tried on his own to track down those responsible for the BDR mutiny.

In news reports following the BDR mayhem, Taposh's name came up, as some BDR jawans had met him to talk about their demands and grievances months before the mutiny.

This along with Pilkhana being in his constituency led Helal to conclude that Taposh was behind the mutiny.

He soon started planning "to teach him a lesson", which the military considers "absolutely unbecoming of a soldier", noted the sources.

"If an army man has any grievances, we suggest he share those with the higher authorities. He must not take the law into his own hands," said an army officer in return for anonymity.

Helal and the four were among those assigned to recover arms and reorganise the paramilitary troops at the BDR headquarters after the carnage.

During that time, Helal shared with the captains his idea of "teaching Taposh a lesson".

The four, who had either worked with the major before or were his students at the commando training school, agreed and set about planning to that end.

While recovering the arms and ammunition left by the mutineers, they collected some explosives and other bomb-making materials. They did not submit those to the authorities who destroyed the recovered grenades and explosives.

On the evening of October 21 last year, the five took position near Taposh's Motijheel office, and one of them detonated the bomb with a remote control device, the sources said.

They did the job without anyone else's help.

After learning about their officers' involvement in the blast, the army authorities began keeping a close watch on their movement. They also checked the call lists of their mobile phones.

The officers had used five new SIMs during the attack, yet the investigators managed to identify their handsets. They also gathered enough evidence to prove them guilty.

Though the five pleaded guilty to the charges, one of them claimed he was forced to do the job, and another said he was not sure what was actually going on.

The sources said the five staged the blast not to kill Taposh but to "teach the lawmaker a lesson".

If they had done it with an intention to kill him, the army would have tried them differently.

The court-martial awarded them five years' imprisonment under section 55 of the Manual of Bangladesh Army Law.

The section titled "Violation of good order and discipline" reads: "Any person subject to this Act who is guilty of any act, conduct, disorder or neglect to the prejudice of good order and of military discipline shall, on conviction by court martial, be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years, or with such less punishment as is in this Act mentioned."
 


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[ALOCHONA] Fwd: [Dahuk]: Is This The Way To Be Magical?



------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shimul Chaudhury <honestdebater@yahoo.ca>
Date: Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 7:37 AM
Subject: [Dahuk]: Is This The Way To Be Magical?
To:


News from Bangladesh, November 05, 2010
http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=340169

Is This The Way To Be Magical?

By Maimuna Musarrat

On Sunday and Wednesday nights, many of the young women of our country switch on Channel I to watch the Lux Channel I Super Star program. The next morning, in their everyday gossip with friends and family members, they discuss with titanic importance how the stars of the previous night dressed or walked or smiled on the TV screen.

WHY? Because this is a �magical� show which presumably transforms normal girls like you and I or any simple �Jorina� or �Sokhina� into a �magical� super-star!

And WHAT is this? Let me quote from their website:

Two of the topmost brands in Bangladesh, Lux and Channel i, has [sic] come together to create the most aspirational and exciting brand of activities for the young women of Bangladesh. Formally named as Lux Channel i Superstar, and lovingly known as LCSS, a TV extravaganza is a contest and a show all wrapped into an annual happening for the young women of Bangladesh to look forward to. These are the young women who love to play with their beauty, want to flaunt their inner and external beauty and aspire to become that magical mix we call Luxness.

Luxness is about indulging in beautification and flaunting femininity without being apologetic about it. It is about being a woman, feeling wonderful about it and grooming that womanhood to maximize beauty and playfulness. Naturally, Channel i, the first Digital Bangla Channel came forward in 2005 to create Lux Channel i Superstar together with Lux, the international beauty soap brand. [emphasis added]

So what is this message all about?

Men are saying to the YOUNG WOMEN:

We are highly interested in your beauty.

This beauty of yours is not to be left hidden inside the four walls and it needs to appear in public for our voyeuristic pleasures.

Your beauty � external and internal � will create a �magical� mix.

You should boldly express this beauty of yours and �indulge� in beautification; and that will allow us [men] to play with your beauty.

You should feel proud of this beauty and never feel apologetic.

It is your beauty that defines your womanhood.

This is your only way to be magical � becoming a star in few steps.

As a young woman, I want to put these questions to the organizers:

Why can�t you be satisfied with how we normally appear? Why is it so important for young women to appear in various angles and in an explicit, half-naked state?

Is this an honorable way to treat us? Why are our bodies all so important? What about our intellect and intellectual abilities? What about our worth as �human beings�?

Why are you obsessed with our external beauty and why do you remain indifferent to our inner beauty? Are our good character and commendable behavior of no use in your estimation?

Do you advise us to become valuable and honorable by putting our beauty in public display? Do you regard us as mercantile commodities and public properties?

What is there for us to be proud about in displaying our beauty and bodily features which we have not created?

My beauty is not permanent. Today I am young, I am beautiful. Tomorrow I will be old, I will lose my beauty. If my beauty defines my womanhood, then will I lose my womanhood when I grow old?

On my way to �achieve stardom� and �become magical�, why don�t you mention the things that will remain with us all the time, such as: intellect, education, character and mental faculties?

Finally, I want to tell you the organizers that you may deceive some na�ve young women, but not all of us. Let me quote the former US president Abraham Lincoln: �You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.�

And my sincere appeal to my dear sisters:

Think twice before you want to become �magical�. This hypnotic magic may make you an instant star; but in the long run it will objectify you and turn you into a mere commodity. Beware my sisters! This obsession with beauty may take away your worth as human beings! And know that you are always in my prayers!

If you still tell me that this is the way to be magical, then I proudly and willingly choose to remain what I am.

Maimuna Musarrat
Chittagong, Bangladesh





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[ALOCHONA] The Cell Phone Trap



The Cell Phone Trap
 
Review of Devra Davis' book


It is now inconceivable that our world could function without the 5 billion cell phones used globally.  The new book by Devra Davis "Disconnect" deserves your attention.  Indeed, if you use a cell phone a lot it should be mandatory reading.

 

It also seems inconceivable that the trillion dollar cell phone industry and governments worldwide could have pushed this technology without ever having solid research results proving the safety of cell phones.  If true that would be deadly frightening.  But that is exactly the reality.

 

Is this a bizarre slip up or an intentional conspiracy between corporate and government interests?  The more you learn the more you fear.  Nightmarishly, cell phone technology has become too big to fail, no matter its deadly risks.  Government won't protect you, so you have to protect yourself.

 

Let me note that I rarely use my cell phone.  Very few people have my number and I rarely turn it on, except when I need to make a call.  As a former professor of engineering I have always seen technology as offering risks, not just heavily commercialized benefits.  The risks are often dismissed, poorly studied or just plain ignored. 

 

And by now everyone should be concerned that neither government regulations nor corporate responsibility protect us very well from harmful foods, prescription drugs and manufactured products.

 

Facing the truth is often painful, but if you care about protecting your health and the health of people you love, then this is a book you definitely want to read and get others to read.  Make no mistake, what you learn will upset you, but beyond getting angry at companies and the government for not adequately protecting against a man made public health disaster, you will be motivated to change your behavior.  The subtitle sums up the theme: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family.

 

Here are some of the eye-popping facts and insights I picked up from reading of this book.

 

Tests show young men who keep their phones in a pants pocket have reduced sperm counts.

 

Some scientists have, for decades, known about the adverse effects that radiofrequency causes in the brain.  For example, radiofrequency allows chemicals and toxins from the blood, which are normally kept away from the nervous system, to enter the brain and cause disease.

 

The work of Dr. Lennart Hardell in Sweden should make cell phone users reconsider their practices.  Swedes who have used cell phones the most and for the longest times have more malignant brain tumors than others.  After a decade of use the risk of brain tumors is doubled.  Similar results were found by scientists in Israel , Finland , Russia and England .  Hardell has also found that teenagers using cell phones end up after a decade with four times more brain cancers.

 

The book highlights what the distinguished research scientist Dariusz Leszczynski said: "we clearly showed that radiation from a phone had a biological impact.  After this work, which in fact repeated that of many others…the world could no longer pretend that the only problems with cell phones occurred after you could measure a change in temperature.  This view was always mistaken, of course, and our work showed that."  In other words, much lower power than in microwave ovens does not mean the absence of effects on our bodies.

 

Davis makes the inescapable point at the end of the book that "we need to invest in cell phones' safety as we do with other modern technologies."  But it is not clear whether that is proceeding as it should.  Do you think industry and government will do the right thing and risk getting research results that could devastate cell phone usage?  With corporate interests corrupting Congress it is highly unlikely that what is needed in terms of research and regulation will happen.

 

What should cell phone users do?  They and children in particular should not be using cell phones without "ear buds."  They should not keep cell phones that are turned on in their clothing next to their body.  Use the speaker option.  Recognize that texting and other phone functions can be less dangerous than holding a phone next to your head to hear.  Remember that cordless phones also pose similar radiation hazards, so minimize their use at home.

 

I wonder whether the richest and most powerful people in society, like President Obama (and his children), have been strongly advised to not hold cell phones next to the head.

 

Bottom line: Your addiction to cell phone use just might be your downfall.  How much risk do you want to take?  Smart phones are the rage.  Now we need a lot more smart people.  Disconnect.  The more you use your cell phone, the more trapped you are.

 

[Contact Joel S. Hirschhorn through delusionaldemocracy.com.]




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[ALOCHONA] Hasan Huq Inu on Biplobi Sainik Sangstha/ Gonobahini



Hasan Huq Inu on Biplobi Sainik Sangstha/ Gonobahini
 
 



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[ALOCHONA] Films Question Official 9/11 Conspiracy Theory



Films Question Official  9/11 Conspiracy Theory

by CLAUDETTE LANGLEY
grandmarquee2.jpg

For the approximately 500 people who streamed into the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland last Thursday it was at night at the movies with a twist.

The requisite popcorn, soda and hot dogs were there as usual but so too were the unexpected—the activists selling books, videos and stickers questioning the official story of 9/11, and hundreds of curious truth seekers leafing through them, chatting and buying the items.
 

This night out at the movies was offering a lot more than just a Hollywood laugh or cry, it was offering a uniquely Bay Area-style of entertainment—films and speakers questioning a key ingredient in the administration's War on Terror—911, and a call for people to educate themselves and take action.

The crowd that packed the art deco jewel in Oakland came to see a film from Dutch television called "9/11: Attack or Godsend?" and a video titled "World Premier: Flights 11, 175, 77 and 93: The 9/11 Commission's Incredible Tales", featuring David Ray Griffith. Both films carefully picked apart the official story of what happened on Sept.

11, 2001 in New York City.

Oakland/New York Resident Janette MacKinlay, who experienced firsthand the attacks on the World Trade Center, organized the evening titled "Question 9/11 A Call To Activism". She was home in her New York apartment when the planes hit the towers.

"I am a survivor of 9/11,"she said as she began to narrate her slideshow of personal pictures from the attacks. A picture of her holding a wet towel over her face as she left her apartment building came up on the screen. She said that they had to cover their faces with the towels in order to breath because of the ash and dust. "It became a completely altered reality," she said of the area around Ground Zero.

MacKinlay told the crowd that her first reaction to 9/11 was one of deep patriotism and need for vengeance. "I wanted to join the Army and kill Osama bin Laden," said the pleasant-looking MacKinlay with her neat bobbed haircut and oversized glasses.

"I started going to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco," said MacKinlay. "I went to hear some of the commissioners from the 9/11 Inquiry Committee.

"I thought when the report came out that everything was going to be all right," she said. "But when I heard them, they convinced me there was a cover up. The commissioners evaded answering important questions."

So driven by a need to know the truth about what happened that day, she become a member of the local 9/11 Truth chapter in Oakland and decided to organize something that would help others who might have questions about 9/11 learn more.

The films brought to the crowd some chilling concepts. The two experts in the Dutch film, European politicians Michael Meacher and Andreas von Bulow, matter-of-factly proposed that "9/11" was actually the new "Pearl Harbor", as described by the think tank Project for a New American Century, that allowed the Bush administration to enter into war and consequently begin to get a foothold in Middle East.

Meacher was a former member of Prime Minister Tony Blair administration. He said the 9/11 Commission Report answered nothing. "It was a 580-page avoidance," said Meecher. "What 9/11 did was provide a trigger that put in place a geopolitical strategy.

The Griffin video took a close look at the 9/11 Commission's reason why no military aircraft intercepted any of the hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001. Step-by-step Dr. David Ray Griffin, author of the "New Pearl Harbor" and "The 9/11 Commission Report, Omissions and Distortions", showed not only the implausibility of the official report's findings but presented what would have been totally laughable had it not been such a tragedy: in the case of all four un-intercepted jetliners, the commission offered the answer that it was all due to the incompetence on the part of the Federal Aviation Agency.

Among the commissions explanations were air traffic controllers who actually heard over the airwaves that flight 93 had crashed and didn't bother reporting it to a superior.

One of the more stunning revelations came when Griffith presented information that Secretary of Transportation Norman Minetta testified that Vice President Dick Cheney not only knew about the looming attack on the Pentagon but that Minetta had heard Cheney confirm what Minetta believed to be a stand down order. In effect, telling his soldiers not to shoot down the incoming jetliner.

After the films, the audience heard from several 9/11 Truth activists who sounded the call for immediate action."Tonight many of you have taken the first step," said MacKinlay. "The 9/11 Truth Movement is the most important mass movement our country has ever seen."

Carol Brouillet, a major mover and shaker in the Bay Area 9/11 Truth movement encouraged the crowd to not be afraid to take action. "It is a time for courage," she said. "The most horrendous lie we have been told is that we are helpless."She said that each person coming forward and refusing to be silenced is already making a difference and helping to exposed the coverup.

The majority of the attendees at the Feb. 23 event left with a packet of information that would enable them to start their own activism around the issue of 9/11.

MacKinlay provided sample letters and the addresses of the entire Congress and Senate and encouraged the crowd to send letters to every one of them calling for pulling the veil off of the truth about the attacks on the World Trade Center, Sept. 11, 2001.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1804896.php



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[ALOCHONA] Fw: 005 Predator State [1 Attachment]

[Attachment(s) from Isha Khan included below]



--- On Fri, 11/5/10, humayun gauhar <humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com> wrote:

From: humayun gauhar <humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com>
Subject: 005 Predator State
To: "Humayun Gauhar 786" <humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, November 5, 2010, 10:37 PM

Pakistan Today                                                    7th November 2010

 

Predator State

 

Humayun Gauhar

 

Pakistan is not a failed state. It is a predator state. All states are predators, of two kinds: those that prey on other states and those that allow themselves to be preyed upon. The former enrich themselves by plundering smaller states, become developed and are thus able to look after their own people. The latter only have their own people to prey upon, also in two categories: the predator class and the prey, the people. Pakistan and most Third World countries fall in this category.

Leading the field of predators are the three branches of government and their institutions: the judicature, the parliaments and the executives. Above them lies the failure of the state superstructure enshrined in the constitution: instead of protecting the people, it spawns a status quo so iniquitous that the people are consigned to remain forever the prey. The institutions and organizations working under and for these branches of government also help themselves to pieces of the people's flesh – the civil and military bureaucracies, the internal security apparatus, the taxation instruments and so forth. Instead of protecting the people, they prey upon them with abandon. The prey can get nothing without paying bribes, be it for justice, protection, water, jobs, or admission in schools and colleges. In fact, corruption is the system: without it, Pakistan would come to a grinding halt, unless the status quo is changed.

The prime protector of the iniquitous status are the custodians of the constitution and the 'law of the land' that is applied vociferously on the prey but treats rich, the powerful and the influential predators with kid gloves. Thus, small thieves pay the maximum penalty whilst the biggest are sent to the Holy Land or get pardons under the guise of 'national reconciliation'. No wonder our judiciary is largely seized with irrelevance while cases that concern the prey are ignored whilst they waste whatever little money they have in paying rapacious lawyers.

The second biggest custodians of the iniquitous status quo is the military. When a lion tries to gobble up a larger share of the carrion, the smaller lions, the hyenas and the vultures fall upon it and finally a stronger lion throws him out of the pride and takes his place. When the judiciary fails to protect the status quo against a rampaging chief executive from gobbling up more than his share in the status quo, the military moves in to protect everyone's share. Yet, the naive wonder why the Supreme Court always legitimizes the man on horseback with such alacrity. It is doing their job for them, that is why, and protecting their share in the status quo. So, can one then be blamed for the nagging feeling that whilst at one level the famous lawyers movement may have been for the independence of the judiciary, it was also for helping the judges save their jobs? The notion was reinforced recently when the Supreme Court met with unseemly haste in the darkness of the night on the basis of a rumour floated by a television reporter that the prime minister was going to rescind his executive order restoring the judges to their jobs. The PM was quite non-plussed as he had said a day earlier that he was not going to do so. He wondered how the word of a reporter could take precedence over the word of the prime minister. Its all about jobs, my dear prime minister, its all about jobs.

The three branches of government are involved with irrelevance. Parliament is supposed to have the upper hand. Most times, it is in paralysis. When it does have some lucid moments, it is to either enhance the salaries, perks and privileges of its member or pass legislation for its own fortification. The opposition looks the other way at executive excesses, only making friendly noises.

The executive usually comprises the most unlikely of bedfellows so it is constantly battling for survival. If, rarely, one political party has a majority it goes berserk, mutilating the constitution as no military dictator would do with its leader trying to become a civilian dictator. Remember the unmemorable executive born of the 1997 elections with his 'heavy mandate'? The 'heavy mandate' got him.

The superior judiciary too is seized of irrelevance – how judges are appointed or promoted, whether a letter has been written to the Swiss authorities or not, who should be the head of the accountability bureau… Everyone knows that no one will really be brought to account fully and all this is a farce to create the illusion of accountability. Judges wish to be their own appointees and they would be judges in their own cause. What is the use of a parliament then? Independence doesn't mean license. Do they expect the poor man to rejoice that some plunderer has been brought to account despite the fact that his son is about to die of hunger or disease? None of this fills the stomachs of the people, lowers prices, creates jobs, provides security, shelter and clothing… And don't fool yourself that all this irrelevance will provide the environment for stomachs to be filled, or lower prices, create jobs, provide security, housing, clothing, education, medical care, cheap transportation… Yet these and only these are the things that are relevant, not how many vehicles adorn the ridiculous motorcades of tin pot public office holders and officials creating a perpetual nuisance on the streets.

The lower courts are infested with judges that could not make it as lawyers – despite hardly any competition. Lawyers are supposed to be officers of the courts, to assist judges to make the right judgment regardless of their brief. But after the success of their movement, the lawyers have become a law unto themselves and gone on a rampage. They beat up other lawyers; they beat up cameramen and reporters; they beat up policemen; they beat up politicians; one has even beaten a lady client and at least two have viciously tortured their underage girl servants and sent them to hospital. Has any of them been brought to book? Have the bar associations condemned them? You must be joking. What planet do you live on?

People have to wait for years to get their cases heard, under trial prisoners remain in jail for decades forlornly waiting for their cases to be heard. Many die there, unheard. Women have babies in jail that become adults – born imprisoned. People go to the police at their peril. If a woman is raped, she will think twice before going to the police for fear that she might be gang raped by them too. If, perchance, she goes to a Shariat Court, she will have to produce four adult male witnesses to testify that she was indeed the raped and was not the seductress. Remember when a blind girl was sentenced to be stoned to death because she could not identify the rapist and neither produce witnesses? Remember when a young boy was picked up by a policeman near Islamabad's Zero Point and raped? The boy got no justice so he poured kerosene over his body and burnt himself to death. Public sector educational institutions churn out dysfunctional literates unprepared to compete in today's world. Public sector medical services are often deathbeds. Yet, we have the temerity, the gall, to call ourselves an Islamic Republic. We will all burn in Hell for tolerating this.

Mullahs, the media, even teachers are predators, misleading people, spreading sensation to earn more profits and not teaching in schools that pay their salaries but charging huge private tuition fees from the same students. Our sovereignty has become a myth, our independence an empty word, while we allow a superpower to prey on our own people as long as it doesn't interfere with the Pakistani predator's predation.

Hope expired a long time ago. Soon, patience will expire too. Then, there will be an explosion. The predator will become the prey. Goodbye!

humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

END



Attachment(s) from Isha Khan

1 of 1 File(s)


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