Be ready for the Bank Run of 2012 Global Financial Meltdown

Bank Run
Bank Run!

Daniel J Leach

I have been saying that the Global Financial Meltdown was just around the corner for years now!  It finally looks like we are on the verge of this happening this year.  I would not be surprised if this happens in October 2012!  This is a case of history repeating itself! “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana

   A bank run occurs when a large number of bank customers withdraw their deposits because they believe the bank might fail. As more people withdraw their deposits, the likelihood of default increases, and this encourages further withdrawals. This can destabilize the bank to the point where it faces bankruptcy.[1]

The stock market crash of October 1929 left the American public highly nervous and at the time, making it the largest single bank failure in American history.

In December 1931, New York’s Bank of the United States collapsed. The bank had more than $200 million in deposits at the time, making it the largest single bank failure in American history.

The bank runs of 1930 were followed by similar banking panics in the spring and fall of 1931 and the fall of 1932. In some instances, bank runs were started simply by rumors of a bank’s inability or unwillingness to pay out funds. In December 1930, the New York Times reported that a small merchant in the Bronx went to a branch of the Bank of the United States and asked to sell his stock in the institution. When told the stock was a good investment and advised not to sell, he left the bank and began spreading rumors that the bank had refused to sell his stock. Within hours, a crowd had gathered outside the bank, and that afternoon between 2,500 and 3,500 depositors withdrew a total of $2 million in funds.

 

Copied from http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com

The Global Financial Meltdown has dramatically worsened as Corporations and China Jump Aboard The “Institutional” Global Bank Run As Banks Fall Apart As Their Seams.

Earlier today the world saw a global financial meltdown as investors dumped everything from stocks to commodities and literally everything in between.

Global Financial Meltdown: Investors Dump Nearly Everything Amidst Worldwide Market Crash

Global Meltdown - Investors Are Dumping Everything

Major Stock Market Indexes, Commodities, Currencies And Everything In Between Is Being Dumped By Investors Across The Globe In The Midst Of A Global Financial Meltdown.

The financial markets across the globe are facing one of the most massive sell-offs in recent memory.

The Dow Jones Industrial average has sold off over 467 points today. When and when you add that on top of 284 point drop following yesterday’s crash FED’s statement, which announced operation ‘twist’ and warned of significant downside risk and strains in global financial markets, we have a 751 point drop in the DOW since 2:45 PM est yesterday, which is the largest 2 day slump since 2008.

There are an endless parade of economic statistics many of which are the worse since the Great Depression and World War 2 era. We have also seen 111 of the s&P 500 hit fresh 52 week lows, a drop in global currencies – beside the dollar, oil dropping into the high $70 per barrel range and gold plummeting over 5% to trade in the low $1,700 per ounce range.

Business Week points out the massive crash in U.S. stocks immediately below while CNBC points out further below that this in fact a global meltdown – investors are dumping everything.

[…]

Read The Rest…

While today’s sell off was monumental and in fact is on course for the 3rd worse week on Wall Street ever, the sell-off was on the heels of the FED’s economic outlook. Today’s Global Financial Meltdown is about to become much worse as a slew of news reports out today reveal the run on the European banks has spread to include corporations and institutions pulling their money out of banks and China finally arriving at the party.

As a backdrop, the IMF warned the entire global financial systems is more vulnerable to collapse than at any other time since the 2008 financial crisis. The alarm is being sounded with the stern warning the European debt crisis could trigger the complete collapse of the entire global financial system at any minute. On the other hand, the alternative media and independent economists warn we are in fact in of a great depression style collapse. The only difference is this time around we would be facing a global depression. But as the ship their countrymen sail on continues to sink, bureaucrats continueto play politics and put their partisan interests above the interest of their constituents.

The run on European banks has already began with from the customers pulling their money from banks some time ago. While the corporate media kept the run on the Greece banks on the hush the media blackout didn’t stop the run nor did it stop the run from spreading to other nations. Simply put, the public is learning they can’t trust their governments and they can’t trust the media. Indeed the withdrawal of deposits from the banks in Greece has quietly spread across the other European nations only to spread into some of the supposedly most stable banks in the Euro-zone, the French banks.

Now we have learned the run on the banks that was originally limited to customers has now spread to include corporate and institutional clients withdrawing their money from the banks. First, we caught wind of the rumor that Siemens pulled its cash from one of the French banks. Then came theconfirmation came that Siemens pulled $500 million Euros from Societe Generale. Siemens of course is a huge conglomerate. For such a huge corporation to lose trust in one of the supposedly most stable of the French banks is clearly a very significant development. To be clear, the ramification have simply rocked the markets and the many more corporations soon will follow. In fact, some corporations and nations have followed their lead.

Consider the breaking news that The Bank of China has stopped doing business with four major European banks. To be exact thy have stopped trading swaps and foreign exchange forwards with the Societe Gnerale, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and the Swiss banking giant UBS.

Speaking of BNP Paribas, Reggie Middleton – who long predicted the collapse of Lehman’s and Bear Stearns far ahead of anyone else because of their shady banking practices – has been warning for months BNP Paribas is ripe for a Lehman style collapse. Reggie argues that BNP Paribas is engaging in the same practices and fraud that caused Lehman’s and Bear Stearn’s to collapse.

While on the subject of China, we learn today they are not immune to the bank run either. China Securities Journal reveals that 420 billion yuan have been pulled out of the big four state-owned Chinese bank during the 15 days of September. Even bank employees are pulling their deposits from the banks as it is estimated that three trillion yuan has been diverted to illegal money lenders which pay interest rates 10 times higher than the one-year Chinese bank deposit rate.

Today we also learn that Insurer Lloyd’s of London confirmed it’s withdrawing deposits from all of the European banks for fear they may collapse. The rationalization for their withdrawal is quite simple – if world is worried about the European governments themselves collapsing then on must assume the sovereign debt collapse will also cause the banks themselves to collapse.

Still that message doesn’t seem to be reaching the retail banking client and the corporate owned media is to blame for repeatedly assuring the public there bank deposits are safe because the banks are insured by their respective European government.

When we see corporations not buying the propaganda being pushed by the media and instead withdrawing their deposits that should be a clear sign to the retail client it is time to withdraw their deposits. Unfortunately, too many people believe their governments and the media would never lie to them so some of them will unfortunately need to learn the hard way.

However, anyone keeping up with the details of latest financial news that doesn’t quite make the headlines knows that banks across the world have been hit with a parade of credit rating cuts warning of their risk of collapse. Those same cuts have been coupled with recent credit rating cuts of the sovereign of nations themselves, most notably the credit downgrades of the United States and Italy.

Adding to the bleak reality a global financial collapse may be imminent is the fact that 9 Banks failed last years EU stress test and another 16 barely passed the test. Yet instead of being proactive and shoring up capital to assure the survival of financial turmoil, we have seen many banks continue to conduct business in absolute denial they were at risk. In ignorance of reality the banks have sat around for over a year knowing they are at risk of collapse while doing little to nothing the improve their situation. Why should they act? They know when shit hits the fan taxpayers will be bent over the barrel and be forced to give the banks billions in bailouts from which the executives will collect lavish bonuses.

Now we have warnings from top economists and the FED that there is significant downside risk and strains in the global financial system that threatens the entire system. The is coupled with warnings from the IMF and EU leaders to immediately recapitalize the banks or face collapse. The calls for recapitalization have persisted for weeks with no action taken to stave off the collapse. Meanwhile, the consequences of not acting immediately continue to become more severe by the day.

The EU credit markets have frozen up and the situation is now beyond the point of dire. The question is which bank will be the first to collapse.

While all eyes seem to be focused on the Euro banks across the pond, banks back in the US are not immune from the crisis and neither are the Chinese banks.

In fact, Bank of America has been hammered by the alternative media as needing capitalization but BAC has denied those allegations and the corporate media has dismissed the alternative media reports as comments from fringe blogs. Until today that is.

Pimco’s Mohamed El-Erian raised the alarm today about the health of French banks and went on to point out there is an institutional run on thosebanks.

CNBC, went on to use the metrics El-Erain used to measure the health of the French banks to measure the health of US banks and found US banks aren’t nearly as healthy as Wall Street would like to believe.

All About Astragalus, The Cancer Fighter

Image

(NaturalNews) Astragalus is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb that has been around for over 4,000 years. Astragalus is an adaptogenic, nontoxic herb and plant extract that helps the body resist the damaging effects of stress while restoring normal physiological function. Astragalus aids adrenal function, digestion, metabolism, combats fatigue and increases stamina. Astragalus is very effective in helping people with AIDS and has even proven to have an anti-tumor effect and can increase the efficacy of chemotherapy.

A native plant of China, astragalus is officially known as astragalus membranaceus: AKA Milk Vetch Root and Huang Qi. Astragalus is a perennial plant that grows up to 4 feet tall. The root of the plant has a sweet taste and contains choline, flavonoids, amino acids-gamma aminobutyric acid, canavanine, beta-sitosterol, saponins (astragalosides) and oil. The primary actions of astragalus are adaptogenic and immunomodulating. The secondary actions are anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, cardiotonic, diuretic and hepatoprotective.

Medicinal Use

Astragalus is an herb that has actions in nearly all of the body systems. It is used to treat chronic colds, Epstein Barr Virus, HIV and candida by preventing infection recurrence. Astragalus stimulates bone marrow blood cells while enhancing deep immune strength. Studies show that the polysaccharides in astragalus increase phagocytosis (the engulfing of microorganism invaders by the immune system), increase production of immunoglobulins and macrophages and modulate the pituitary-adrenal cortical activity. Astragalus protects the kidneys and lungs from damage from autoantibody complexes, regulates sweating, decreases fatigue and increases tolerance to stress.

Astragalus protects against oxidative damage by increasing mitochondrial function without increasing the mitochondrial oxygen consumption. In the liver, astragalus is a mild choleretic and also increases repairs in chronic viral hepatitis while reducing inflammation and othersymptoms. Astragalus also lengthens telomeres for longevity(TA 65 is a very pricey extract made from Astragalus that is touted to reduce all the effects of aging and mimics pretty much all the benefits of the inexpensive herb form of astragalus). Astragalus even increases motility of human sperm.

Astragalus is considered to be a cardiac tonic.In the cardiovascular system, the saponins in astragalus inhibit lipid peroxidation in the myocardium and one study using patients with angina revealed that cardiac output increased after two weeks of treatment. Astragalus strengthens left ventricular function and reduces free radical damage in patients after a heart attack and increases super oxide dismutase activity in cardiac muscle.

Astragalus: the unsung cancer fighter

Studies at the University of Houston have shown that astragalus can improve immune function in cancer patients by increasing T-cell counts. Astragalus increases the ability of NK cells and T-cells to kill cancer cells while switching on the anti-tumor activity of Interleukin-2. Inchemotherapy treatmentsastragalus provides anti-neoplastic activity anddecreasesimmunosupression. Astragalus reduces the consequences with both chemo and radiation of fatigue,weight loss, anemia, nausea and loss of strength while increasing WBC production for leucopenia (a common side effect of immunosuppressive therapy), thereby decreasing life-threatening infections.

Even though this incredible herb is listed on the Botanical Herbs Board Exams and in theCompendium of Pharmacological Actions of Medicinal Plants and Their Constituents, naming the benefits of astragalus can bring a warning letter from both the FDA and FTC, as Dr. Andrew Weil found out when he listed the benefits of taking astragalus to prevent the swine flu. So don’t expect to see any of this information on a vitamin or herb label. Despite what modern medicine and the FDA says, healing did occur long before pharmaceuticals were invented. True health comes by good foods, minerals, herbs, fasting and cleansing. Astragalus is a good guy for natural health!

Sources:

Compendium of Pharmacological Actions of Medicinal Plants and Their Constituents, Compiled and copyrighted by Eric Yarnell, ND Actions of Medicinal Plants 2007 Eric Yarnell, ND

Zhang CZ, Wang SX, Zhang Y, Chen JP, Liang XM. “In vitro estrogenic activities of Chinese medicinal plants traditionally used for the management of menopausal symptoms.” J Ethnopharmacol 2005;98(3):295-300.

Nutrition 740 notes Spring 2006, Dr. Mona Morstein, SCNM

http://www.cancertutor.com/WarBetween/War_Cure_Rates.htmlhttp://cms.herbalgram.org/herbclip/pdfs/121581-151.pdf

About the author:
Craig Stellpflug is a Cancer Nutrition Specialist, Lifestyle Coach and Neuro Development Consultant at Healing Pathways Medical Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ. With 17 years of clinical experience working with both brain disorders and cancer, Craig has seen first-hand the devastating effects of vaccines and pharmaceuticals on the human body and has come to the conclusion that a natural lifestyle and natural remedies are the true answers to health and vibrant living. You can find his daily health blog atwww.blog.realhealthtalk.comand his articles and radio show archives atwww.realhealthtalk.com

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/035924_astragalus_cancer_prevention.html#ixzz1vathSZRH

Do Not Give Up, Do Not Give In; Give back!

By Daniel J Leach

Anti New World Order Party
Freedom and Liberty

We are beginning to see the great Silent Majority begin to awaken to the Global Agenda of the New World Order! From the Tea Party to the Occupy Movement the seeds of Liberty are beginning to take root and grow a great Liberty Tree. “In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot” (Mark Twain).

As a Truth Seeker, Patriot and Political activist in this modern-day internet social networking arena, I find myself relating to the greatest of Patriots and Freedom fighters the world has ever known! Our world’s history is full of people who stood up for the Truth: “If you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth” (Gandhi), and were rejected for going against society’s norms or so-called “truths” of that time in which they lived!  Even the Lord Jesus Christ, God of the Universe, was rejected by his own! “And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house” (Jesus Christ, http://bible.cc/matthew/13-57.htm).

The Battle that we fight for as Truth-Tellers or Patriots is for the Minds and Hearts of Men, for the masses, for those who are blinded by the lies, “The function of a civil resistance is to provoke response, and we will continue to provoke until they respond or change the law. They are not in control; we are” (Gandhi). “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Bible). Truth cannot be won with a sword or by a bomb,  But with the Education and Knowledge comes Freedom and Liberty! There are those who will curse you and call you all kinds of names because you want to speak the Truth! “In a time of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, italics added).

They the uninformed masses of people ignorant and starving for the truth will call you Crazy or a Conspiracy Theorist, not really understanding that they themselves are truly under Mind Control or NLP (Nero Linguistic Programming). They will defend the lies even unto death, slaves to the lie suffering from a form of Mass-Stockholm syndrome The Syndrome has also been explained in evolutionary terms by a phenomenon sometimes referred to as Capture-bonding.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (King James Bible).

Even Einstein was called Crazy “Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance. (Albert Einstein). “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win” (Mahatma Gandhi). “Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always.” (Gandhi).

I find it encouraging that others have come before me to lay the seeds of Truth that enable Justice, Liberty and Freedom for all! “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Thomas Jefferson).

I am reminded of a quote from  the speech “Citizenship in a Republic” Theodore Roosevelt delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910 called,

THE MAN IN THE ARENA

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Download PDF of complete speech

As I learn more about the great men in our world’s history who stood against injustice and for the Truth and Justice for all men great and small, rich and poor! I find a inner strength to face those who would carry out such atrocities and to be bold even unto death!

Anti New World Order Party and We Are Change Rochester Monthly Meetup for May 2012

  • (((Meet UP)))AntiNWOParty (((Meet-UP))) Broadcast Live for those who cant make it out but would still like to attend the Meetup. http://www.blogtv.com/People/AntiNWOPartyHow to find us: http://AntiNewWorldOrderParty.Wordpress.com/

    Anti New World Order Party, Hope For Rochester Ministry, Campaign For Liberty and We Are Change Rochester along with the Rochester Tea Party organizations will be Networking

    Illuminati – Christianity – Prophecy – Islam & The New World Order

    All of these things have affected or are affecting life in America and her place in history. America was the greatest nation to ever rise on the face of the earth. It was no accident that America came to be, or the time period in which she did. We hope that this Meet-Up, and our Q&A panels will shed some light on these subjects, and help you to see America’s role in past, present and future history.

    Admission is Free! Donations are welcome, but in no way requried.

    Doors open at 2:30 PM, Meet-up starts at 3:15 PM. Come early and visit the tables of some of our sponsors as they share information about their ministries.

    “Anti New World Order Party, in solidarity with the CampaignforLibertyToday.com and We Are Change Rochester want our leaders to be our servants. The “New World Order” is, by all the evidence, ruling our country in defiance of the United States Constitution!”

    Mission: to recruit, educate and motivate American citizens at the grassroots level to perform their constitutionally definded role in the governance , by providing opportunities, knowledge and training to ensure limited constitutional governance.

 Please RSVP

http://www.facebook.com/events/296601547081778/

Adam Kokesh and Poker Face Came to Rochester NY

Adam Kokesh and Poker Face Came to Rochester NY Saturday night for Rock The Primary 2012 a Ron Paul event

Unedited Uncut! with Daniel J Leach and Adam Kokesh at McGinny’s Sports Pub .

If you live near Rochester, you did not want to be anyplace else but McGinnys Sports Pub on East River Road for Rock The Primary Party from 6pm-midnight. Guest speaker Adam Kokesh and liberty protest band Poker Face for a Rocking good time.   Poker Face Played at “Rock The Primary” for the first time.   While Adam Kokesh of Adam VS the Man gave a inspirational speech in support of freedom Liberty and Dr Ron Paul for the 2012 Presidential run.   April 21, 2012 Poker Face performing April 21, 2012 in Rochester, NY at McGinny’s Sports Pub
Angela RH Adam is a wonderful person. We had a great time Saturday. It was a lot of planning and hard work but very much worth it.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adam Kokesh

Adam Charles Kokesh (born February 1, 1982) is an American activist and talk radio host. Kokesh was a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and is a veteran of the Iraq War. He is an outspoken opponent of the U.S. military intervention in Iraq and has received media attention related to anti-war protest activities. He is the son of Charles Kokesh, a Santa Fe venture capitalist, founder of a firm called Technology Funding and owner of the Santa Fe Horse Park.

Marine Corps service

Kokesh attended the Native American Preparatory School in San Ysidro, New Mexico. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1999. In 2004, he served in Fallujah. He was a liaison between the U.S. military and Iraqi civilians as a member of the 3rd Civil Affairs Group. He also worked a security checkpoint while in Iraq. He brought home a pistol from Iraq in 2004 in violation of military rules, which prevented his return for a second Iraq tour. Kokesh “had risen to the rank of sergeant after three-and-a-half years in the Reserves” and “was demoted to corporal and soon thereafter discharged honorably with a re-enlistment code that basically said, ‘you can’t re-enlist.'” Having experienced combat in Fallujah, Kokesh received the Combat Action Ribbon and the Navy Commendation Medal after his honorable discharge from active duty.

Poker Face has been dubbed the leading truth/freedom band in the Union. Through the use of various multi-media sources, this four piece band has made it their mission to expose the lies & scandals coming out the Union’s Capitol. With a sound that is unmistakably their own, Poker Face mixes a variety of styles & orchestrations to take you on a true musical journey.
Paul Topete and crew are forever experimenting with new directions. The two previous albums releases focused mainly on developing their works around the keyboard. For the 3rd disc, they have set aside the ivories and focused on a more guitar oriented sound. This has enabled them to create a vibe similar to the acoustic hard rock sound of Alice in Chains or Days of the New, while keeping their roots firmly planted in the melodic classic rock stylings of Boston & Pink Floyd.
The information contained within the Sex, Lies and Politiks album is an in-depth look into the conspiracies and cover-ups committed by a government that serves the agendas of money hungry elitists the control the world, hell bent on domination of the human race.SLP is followed by Made in America. Where the interactivity of the MIA-CD grows exponentially. There are hours of ForeFather and Americas history to investigate, and explore, Pictures of the band, and videos to watch. It is chuck full of eye and ear candy for the parent and the child to see and hear. We made learning about our history FUN!The journey of exposure continues with the driving tunes on the latest album: PEACE OR WAR. Poker Face has released this new musically-explosive CD October of 2009.
Who Was Recently Harassed By FBI – Poker Face The Band
Written by YIKES

by Yikes

Why? Listen At: http://www.TheAmericanVoice.com – Date: Tue. 4.6.10 – Time: 10:00 pm ET ~ 7:00 pm PT ~ Hosted by: John Clark ~ Is Protest ‘Rock’ Bad? ~ Be there or be Un-Aware! …        Why? Because patriotic groups play their music !!! The Hutaree 9. But ‘gangsta Rap’ Oh that’s OK?

Poker Face has been dubbed the leading truth/freedom band in the Union.  Through the use of various multi-media sources, this four piece band has made it their mission to expose the lies & scandals coming out the Union’s Capitol.  With a sound that is unmistakably their own, Poker Face mixes a variety of styles & orchestrations to take you on a true musical journey, while keeping their roots firmly planted in the melodic classic rock stylings of Boston & Pink Floyd.

The information contained within the Sex, Lies and Politiks album is an in-depth look into the conspiracies and cover-ups committed by a government that serves the agendas of money hungry elitists the control the world, hell bent on domination of the human race.

The journey of exposure continues with the driving tunes on the latest album: PEACE OR WAR. Poker Face has released this new musically-explosive CD January 2010.

http://www.pokerface.com/

Poker Face performing April 21, 2012 in Rochester, NY at MicGinny’s Sports Pub. For info go to this link http://www.digitalhda.com/ROCK-THE-PRIMARY.html

Does U.S. put DU (Depleted Uranium) rounds in machine-guns on Great Lakes coast guard vessels?

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
– George Orwell –

Dr. Doug Rokke

Depleted Uranium
The Pentagon Betrayal Of GIs And Americans

John Hanchette editor of USA Today from 1991 to 2001and Pentagon DU expert Dr. Doug Rokke, a serving officer for 30 years. [The Gulf War soldiers were in Iraq a tiny fraction of the time the soldiers are being kept in Iraq.] Rokke says he was ordered to lie about DU, because the military was determined to continue using it, despite the danger to US troops.
Watch the Full Movie CLICK HERE.

Army DU Specialist turned whistleblower
Dr. Doug Rokke- Depleted Uranium
Audio:
 
http://www.apfn.org/audio/rokke-depleted_uranium.mp3

TEDD WEYMAN: THE NUCLEAR WAR ON THE GREAT LAKES
It is known world wide, he says, that DU weapons have long-term implications that, right now corporations and governments are hiding
Video: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/DU_nuclear.htm

Has Our Military Refused to Show This Training Video To Our Troops Now Serving
US ARMY TRAINING VIDEO: 

Depleted Uranium Hazard Awareness
Video: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/DU_training_video.htm

Depleted Uranium Audios:

Doug Rokke

AUDIO: Wed., June 7, 2006: Playlists: M3U | RAM (Individual MP3: Click Here)
Christopher Bollyn speaks with Doug Rokke, and Leuren Moret about the military’s use of Depleted Uranium in munitions. Mr.Rokke is the former Director of the US Army Depleted Uranium Project. Ms. Moret is a geophysicist specializing in atmospheric sciences, a nuclear activist, and a former scientist and whistle blower at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories. http://mp3.rbnlive.com/Piper06.html

S. Firing Plans for
Great Lakes Raise Concerns

MONICA DAVEY / New York Times 16oct2006

U.S. Firing Plans for Great Lakes Raise Concerns MONICA DAVEY / New York Times 16oct2006Target Practice
The Coast Guard wants to mount machine guns on their cutters and small boats around the Great Lakes. Shooting zones for training are shown in red.


Mindfully.org noteThe M240 machine gun is capable of firing Sabot Launched Armour Piercing (SLAP) ammo. We’re checking this out, but it may mean this gun is capable of firing depleted uranium (DU) rounds, which is what the US has been using in the Gulf Region for many years and is both chemically and radiologically toxic. More in DU. . .

M240 information from the US Army…

Entered Army Service 1997

Description and Specifications
A ground-mounted, gas-operated, crew-served machine gun. This reliable 7.62mm machine gun delivers more energy to the target than the smaller caliber M-249 SAW. It is being issued to infantry, armor, combat engineer, special force/rangers, and selected field artillery units that require medium support fires and will replace the ground-mounted M-60 series machine guns currently in use.

Caliber: 7.62 mm
Weight: 27.6 lbs
Max effective range: 1800 m (area target) 800 m (point target)
Rate of fire: 200-600 rounds per minute

Manufacturer
FN Manufacturing (Columbia, SC)

source: 16oct2006
_____________________________________
From the manufacturer…

Information
The M240 was adopted by the U.S. Military following a world-wide competition for a reliable 7.62 mm machine gun for use as a coaxial weapon for armored vehicleapplications. The Coaxial version of the famous Belgian MAG 58, produced by FN Herstal, won this competition. The demonstrated reliability of this weapon, 26,000 Mean Rounds Between Failure (MRBF), makes it the world’s most reliable machine gun. As a result of the outstanding performance of this weapon, vehicle, aviation, and infantry variants are now in use by the U. S. Military. The US variants are produced by FN Manufacturing, a US subsidiary of FN Herstal S.A.

Interoperability
The U. S. produced M240 variants are produced to the exacting specifications of the original MAG 58. consequently, all M240 variants have interchangeable components and are interoperable with foreign-produced NATO equivalent weapons. This has significant advantages in training, logistics support, and tactical versatility. For example, an M240B buttstock and bipod may be carried in an armored vehicle to enable the tank crew to convert the coaxial weapon to an infantry model in the event that they are forced to dismount from a vehicle.

Common Characteristics

  • Gas operated 
  • Fixed head-space and timing 
  • 26,000 mean round between failure (MRBF) 
  • Maximum range 3725 meters 
  • Tracer burnout 900 meters 
  • Cyclic rate of fire:
    Single port: 550 – 650 RMP
  • 3 Port – operator adjustable 750 – 950 RPM 
  • Muzzle velocity 2800 ft/sec 
  • Slap ammunition capableAccessories 
    Egress kit – Consists or a buttstock trigger mechanism and bipod. Allows coaxial or pintle-mounted M240 to be converted for use in the dismounted role.
  • Flexible gun mount 
  • Ring and post sight 
  • Bandoleer hanger 
  • Adaptation hardware for U.S. M122 tripod 
  • Flexible ammunition chuting 
  • Buttstock and bipod for dismount use 
  • 600 and 1200 round capacity ammunition boxes 
  • Armorer’s tool kitsource: FN Manufacturing 16oct2006

GRAND HAVEN, Mich., Oct. 10 — Even in autumn, the cold, silent expanse of Lake Michigan defines this town, where pleasure boats glide into harbor, fishermen wait patiently for salmon and tourists peer up at the lighthouse.

But the United States Coast Guard has a new mission for the waters off of these quiet shores. For the first time, Coast Guard officials want to mount machine guns routinely on their cutters and small boats here and around all five of the Great Lakes as part of a program addressing the threats of terrorism after Sept. 11.

And, for the first time in memory, Coast Guard members plan to use a stretch of water at least five miles off this Michigan shore — and 33 other offshore spots near cities like Cleveland; Rochester; Milwaukee; Duluth, Minn.; and Gary, Ind. — as permanent, live fire shooting zones for training on their new 7.62 mm weapons, which can blast as many as 650 rounds a minute and send fire more than 4,000 yards.

The notion is so unusual that it prompted United States diplomats to negotiate with Canadian authorities in order to agree that it would not violate a 189-year-old treaty, signed after the War of 1812, limiting arms on the Great Lakes.

Many here in Grand Haven, a town whose history is so lovingly intertwined with the Coast Guard that it holds an annual festival celebrating the service branch, say they think of Coast Guard members mainly as the rugged sailors who race off to search for and save troubled boaters. But even here, in a town that calls itself “Coast Guard City U.S.A.,” some say the thought of members firing machine guns anywhere near these waters strikes them as dangerous to ordinary boaters, potentially damaging to the Great Lakes’ ecosystem and, frankly, a somewhat surprising place to be bracing for terrorists.

“You know exactly what’s going to happen with this,” said Bob Foster, 58, who said he spends every chance he gets on the waters here. “Some boater is going to inadvertently drive through the live fire zone and get blown out of the water.”

Carole Loftis, the owner of Snug Harbor, a popular restaurant with windows on the water, said that although she certainly carried concerns, like most Americans, about terrorism, drunken boating seemed a more frequent threat around here. “This seems a little like overkill,” Ms. Loftis said of the shooting plans.

Despite complaints from some charter boat captains, environmental groups and city leaders around the Great Lakes, the Coast Guard defended the need to mount M-240B machine guns on its boats and to test fire them two or three times a year in “safety zones,” about 70 square miles each.

“The Coast Guard has looked at an increased terrorist threat since 2001,” Rear Adm. John E. Crowley Jr., commander of the Coast Guard district that oversees the Great Lakes, said in a telephone interview. “I don’t know when or if something might happen on the Great Lakes, but I don’t want to learn the hard way.”

Some members of the Coast Guard assigned to law enforcement duties always carried weapons, but most of those were personal semiautomatic pistols. Since the arrival of the boat-mounted machine guns, the Coast Guard has conducted 24 training sessions on the lakes this year, although it has halted the exercises temporarily after news of the program seeped out last month and, with it, a barrage of objection.

“When I heard, I thought it was something from The Onion newspaper or an Internet hoax,” said Mike Bradley, the mayor of Sarnia, Ontario, which sits beside Lake Huron, where 6 of the 34 live fire zones are planned. “This whole thing was done way below the radar.”

The Coast Guard’s plans for permanent training zones were published in the Federal Register on Aug. 1, along with the promise of a month for public comment, but city leaders and ordinary boaters said that most of them never came across the document and that the authorities failed to provide them with any other notice of live fire plans — a fact that left some saying they felt as though the Coast Guard, now part of the Department of Homeland Security, was trying quietly to slip the whole weapons program past them.

Herb Bergson, the mayor of Duluth, got a telephone call in September from a resident who said she was listening to her marine scanner, heard talk of shooting on Lake Superior and wanted the mayor to explain what was going on.

“I didn’t know what to tell her,” Mr. Bergson said. “I was caught just flat-footed. No one told me, and they should have.”

Coast Guard leaders — who have since announced nine public meetings in Great Lakes cities, starting Monday, and have extended until Nov. 13 the period for people to weigh in on the idea — acknowledge that they initially failed to publicize the weapons training program. “I’ve got no good answer for that,” said Lt. j.g. Ryan Barone, a spokesman.

But the plans themselves, which ultimately would mean machine guns mounted on the vessels of more than 50 Coast Guard units throughout the Great Lakes, were carefully conceived, Lieutenant Barone said. Information about the proposal and scheduled public meetings is at uscgd9safetyzones.com.

All of the proposed firing zones sit at least five nautical miles from shores and from Canadian waters, as well as far from commercial shipping lanes and sensitive marine areas, Lieutenant Barone said. During the training days, when Coast Guard gunners will shoot at floating foam buoys, other boaters will be notified on marine radio frequencies, he said, and every test will include a designated safety observer.

Admiral Crowley said, “I don’t feel there’s a risk to anyone out there.”

Around the Great Lakes, some people said they were supportive of the presence of machine guns and the planned tests. The risks of terrorism, they said, cannot be underestimated — even in small towns, even in the Upper Midwest. And as with extra airport safety measures, they said, the live fire tests may be inconvenient but they are needed.

Several ferry operators in Michigan, who carry cars and passengers across Lake Michigan, said they were satisfied that their customers would be safe. Ken Alvey, president of the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association, which represents some 80 marine businesses, said he was comfortable knowing that the Coast Guard members would practice on their new weapons.

“To say we don’t have to worry about our open border with Canada would be foolish,” Mr. Alvey said. “You never know what avenue terrorists will take.”

But others, especially recreational boaters and professional fishing guides, said they were worried. Though most emphasized their support and gratitude to the Coast Guard, they said they did not even listen to their radios much anymore (unless a storm is rolling in) and could miss warnings altogether.

Ron Mihevc, who takes customers fishing out of the harbor at Waukegan, Ill., said he feared that the planned firing zone near Waukegan sits “right in the middle” of a prime fishing spot that draws scores of fishermen. Kelly J. Campise, another Waukegan boat captain, said fishermen already were carrying their clients many miles into Lake Michigan in search of salmon and trout at great fuel expense; going still further away to avoid the firing zones would cost still more, he said.

An 89-page environmental study, commissioned by federal authorities, concluded that rounds left in the lakes from the Coast Guard exercises would cause no harm, but Hugh McDiarmid Jr., a spokesman for the Michigan Environmental Council, said a “fuller environmental risk assessment,” given the lead content of the rounds in particular, was needed.

For years, Coast Guard boats have been armed, and training has been conducted off of the coasts of this country, said Brad J. Kieserman, chief of the operations law group at Coast Guard headquarters.

On the Great Lakes, weapons training by military branches like the Navy has also occurred in years gone by, dating back to World War I and World War II. But in keeping with a treaty known as Rush-Bagot from 1817, Coast Guard vessels on the Great Lakes have historically not included naval armaments.

But in 2003, federal authorities sought an understanding with their Canadian counterparts about Rush-Bagot in preparation for mounting machine guns on cutters so that the Coast Guard could “prevent terrorists or others engaged in criminal activities from crossing the United States-Canadian boundary by water,” according to documents from the exchange between the two countries.

In recent days, though, some Canadian mayors, who said they had not heard of the plans until this fall, have objected vehemently. David Miller, the mayor of Toronto, said he worried about practical, safety aspects of the weapons plan and about the environment, but also about the precedent set for the lakes’ more than 94,000 square miles of water.

“Our treaty had always said that the Great Lakes will not be militarized,” Mr. Miller said. “And in effect, this remilitarizes them in the name of a threat from 9/11.”

source: 16oct2006

U.S. puts machine-guns on Great Lakes coast guard vessels
 
I wonder – is this meant to keep the Canadians out or to keep us in?For the first time since 1817, U.S. Coast Guard vessels on the Great Lakes are being outfitted with weapons – machine-guns capable of firing 600 bullets a minute.Until now, coast guard officers have been armed with handguns and rifles, but the vessels themselves haven’t been equipped with weapons.The War of 1812 saw violent battles on Lake Erie and Lake Huron between U.S. troops and British forces, which were largely composed of militias from Britain’s colonies in what is now Canada. After the war, the United States and Britain – and later Canada – agreed to demilitarize the Great Lakes waters.The Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817 allowed each country to station four vessels, each equipped with an 18-pound cannon, to safeguard the Great Lakes.

more:

http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/story/ot-vessels20060315.html

To be fair I posted this comment from a so-called ex Marine.  I do not know if his side of the story is true or not but am always willing to listen to our comments and give credit to them if they help us correct our mistakes.  We want to look at all the facts.

Feb 27, 8:20 pm

MarineMachinegunner0331 commented: Not true, I was a machine gunner, and as of 2010 there was no such ammo for the M240G or M240B. The M2 .50 cal machine gun fires a Sabot Light Armor Piercing round that utilizes a 35. caliber tungsten penetrated wrapped in an injection molded (very very hard) plastic. The A10 (warthog) does use DU (depleted uranium) as an armor-piercing penetrator. This is called DEPLETED uranium because the typical amounts of uranium that you would find IN NATURE (that naturally occur as in not made by man!!) is much less. Uranium is a very dense and hard substance much like tungsten (except better) uranium 238 itself is not fissile (which means no spontaneous atom bomb) and it gives of very low amounts of radiation. In fact before it was used in commercial nuclear reactors it was used in paints and pottery that are still around today….. not giving people cancer.

Could 2012 NLE Cyber Attack DRILL be the Next 911 False Flag, Will This Years Drill Go Live?

By:Daniel J Leach

Reblogged: http://theintelhub.com

NLE 2012: Will This Years Drill Go Live and Result in a False Flag Cyber Attack?

The Intel Hub
By Shepard Ambellas and Alex Thomas
April 4, 2012

The summer of 2012 is fast approaching. As it inches closer, we will start to see a major increase in US and foreign troop movements as well as military equipment movements throughout the CONUS (Continental United States).

While many of the upcoming sightings may well be normal operations as the military does like to do training in the summer, the fact is that parts of our own military, along with foreign and UN troops, are actively planning to take on the American people.

National Level Exercise drills have been in effect for years now and have been covered by many alternative news sources, including The Intel Hub through our yearly Operation Overwatch which we use to gain intel and tips from the public in order to relay them to our readers.

Over the years many people have worried about the numerous National Level Preparedness drills and, in most cases, for good reason.

In 2011, the NLE focused around an earthquake on the New Madrid Fault Zone and the year before resulted in 70 thousand people being evacuated from a Texas city after a fertilizer fire.

Interestingly enough, this years FEMA national preparedness drill is focusing on the threat of a major cyber attack on America’s infrastructure.

The last year has seen dozens of cyber attacks on government websites as well as government propagandists pushing the fear of a cyber attack on the populace. Now we have the Department of Homeland Security making cyber security the main component of their annual preparedness drill.

Although only a small amount of information has been released on NLE2012, we can see from FEMA’s own website what it primary consists of.

FEMA’s website released the following PDF;

National Level Exercise (NLE) 2012Continental

National Level Exercise (NLE) 2012 is part of a series of congressionally mandated preparedness exercises designed to educate and prepare participants for potential catastrophic events.

The NLE 2012 process will examine the nation’s ability to coordinate and implement prevention, preparedness, response and recovery plans and capabilities pertaining to a significant cyber event or a series of events.

NLE 2012 will examine national response plans and procedures, including the National Response Framework (NRF), NRF Cyber Incident Annex, Interim National Cyber Incident Response Plan (NCIRP) and the International Strategy for Cyberspace.

Unique to NLE 2012 will be an emphasis on the shared responsibility among all levels of government, the private sector and the international community to secure cyberspace and respond together to a significant cyber incident.

Obsidian Analysisthe company heading up NLE12 for the private sector, states on their website:

NLE 2012 will comprise four major exercises, including a capstone event. These exercises will share common scenario elements, planning efforts and governance structure.

Participation in each exercise will be determined respectively, but the NLE 2012 process includes the Executive Office of the President; federal, state, local, tribal and territorial department and agency officials and emergency operations elements, nongovernmental and private sector organizations and international partners. These four major exercises include:

Information Exchange: This discussion-based exercise is designed to evaluate the sharing of cyber related information among the intelligence community, law enforcement, federal, state, tribal and local governments, the private sector and international partners, as appropriate

Cyber Incident Management/Virtual Effects: This exercise will examine the coordination and communication processes between public and private stakeholders in response to a significant cyber incident. This will include examining challenges related to managing a cyber event with national security implications.

NLE Capstone/Cyber Physical Effects: This functional exercise will examine challenges related to managing a cyber event with physical consequences and national security implications. This will include addressing cyber and physical interdependencies and impacts while coordinating a Whole Community level cyber and physical response.

Continuity Exercise/Eagle Horizon: This operations-based exercise will evaluate the continuity capability of federal departments and agencies. A component will include a nationwide exercise examining communications capability of the homeland security enterprise under conditions in which critical systems have been degraded or lost.

In addition to the major exercises, the NLE 2012 process will include senior level exercises, building-block events (i.e., seminars, tabletop exercises, and training) and routine exercise planning conferences.

As more information is released on these upcoming national preparedness drills, The Intel Hub will bring them to our readers attention.

Absolutely know the the Truth about the Shroud of Turin

By:Daniel J Leach

Many claim that The Shroud of Turin is Jesus Christ but the  Knights Templar claim that this is Jacques de Molay.  I myself would like to think that this is Jesus Christ but with my research and understanding of history tend to lead me to believe that this is indeed Jacques de Molay and not Jesus Christ.

Geoffroi de Charny (the French Knight who died at the 1356 battle of Poitiers) and his wife Jeanne de Vergy are the first reliably recorded owners of the Turin Shroud. This Geoffroi participated in a failed crusade under Humbert II of Viennois in the late 1340s.[26] He is sometimes confused with Templar Geoffroi de Charney.[27]

This Section Copied from: http://blog.templarhistory.com/2010/03/the-templars-and-the-shroud-of-turin/

Any discussion of the Shroud of Turin is bound to be controversial. Those who view this sacred and holy relic fall into two camps, those that believe it to be the undisputed earthly evidence of a Christ risen and those who believe it to be a medieval forgery.

It is not the intention of this web site to cast doubt on or support the authenticity of the shroud, but rather to show its possible relationship to the Knights Templar. We receive many letters from angry people who wish to enter into lengthy debates about carbon 14 reliability. We are aware of new evidence that puts the reliability of carbon 14 dating in question, so please refrain from telling us of the findings or directing us to URLs that make the claims.

There are two theories that relate to the Templars having been involved with the Shroud, one, which would support the authenticity of the Shroud and another, which would refute it.

In 1204 the Crusaders sacked the city of Constantinople. Among them were the Knights Templar, whom some scholars contend took the Burial shroud of Jesus from the city. To support this theory, author Ian Wilson who wrote the book “The Shroud of Turin: Burial Cloth Of Jesus?” makes the claim that the head that the Templars were accused of worshipping was none other than that of Jesus. His belief is that the Shroud when folded depicted the head of Christ and was referred to as the “Mandylion.” There is a painted panel at Templecombe in England that shows a bearded head like that, which is depicted on the Mandylion.

In their two books, “The Hiram Key” and “The Second Messiah,” authors Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas paint a contrasting picture to the Mandylion theory. The authors theorize that the image on the Shroud of Turin is in fact that of the last Grand Master of the order, Jacques de Molay, who was tortured some months before his execution in 1307. The image on the shroud certainly does fit the description of de Molay as depicted in medieval wood cuts, a long nose, hair shoulder length and parted in the center, a full beard that forked at its base, not to mention the six-foot frame. De Molay was said to be quite tall.

However, many have criticized the theory on the basis that the Templar rule of order forbade the Templars from growing their hair long. What critics of the theory overlook is that during DeMolay’s seven years in prison it is highly unlikely that he would have been afforded such luxuries as good grooming.

Knight and Lomas claim that the shroud figured in the Templars rituals of figurative resurrection and that DeMolay’s tortured body was wrapped in a shroud, which the Templars kept after his death. Lomas and Knight further believe that lactic acid and blood from DeMolay’s tortured body mixed with frankincense (used to whiten the cloth) etching his image into the shroud.

When the shroud was first put on display in 1357 (50 years after the disbanding of the order) by the family of Geoffrey de Charney who was also burned at the stake with de Molay, the first people viewing the shroud recognized the image to be that of Christ.

The authors theorize that Jacques de Molay may have been tortured in a manner similar to Christ as a mockery. Certainly then, the wounds suffered by de Molay where the same as those of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Today it is commonly believed by many, through carbon dating, that the shroud dates to the late 13th century and not to the date of Christ’s supposed crucifixion. It is interesting that the church revealed these carbon dating results on October 13th, 1989, which is the same day the Templars were arrested by Church and State. According to the authors:

“Carbon dating has conclusively shown that the Shroud of Turin dates from between 1260 and 1380, precisely as we would expect if it were the image of Jacques de Molay. There is no other known theory that fits the scientifically established facts. Through experimentation, we know that the figure on the Shroud was on a soft bed of some kind, which strongly suggests that the victim was not dead and was expected to recover.”

The Second Messiah pg. 161 – Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas

Regardless of whether the findings of Ian Wilson or Knight and Lomas are correct, it is evident that this most holy and venerated relic has found its way into the Templar mythos.

Lynn Picknet and Clive Prince, authors of “Turin Shroud: In Whose Image?” present another theory of interest on the matter. Readers will recognize the authors from the book, “The Templar Revelation.” In the authors’ earlier book the duo claim that Leonardo Da Vinci who created an early photographic technique manufactured the image on the shroud of Turin.

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science
Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:01 CDT
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Shroud of Turin

© Public domain
Full-length negative photograph of the Shroud of Turin.

A hoax or a miracle? The Shroud of Turin has inspired this question for centuries. Now, an art historian says this piece of cloth, said to bear the imprint of the crucified body of Jesus Christ, may be something in between.

According to Thomas de Wesselow, formerly of Cambridge University, the controversial shroud is no medieval forgery, as a 1989 attempt at radiocarbon dating suggests. Nor is the strange outline of the body on the fabric a miracle, de Wesselow writes in his new book, The Sign: The Shroud of Turin and the Secret of the Resurrection (Dutton Adult, 2012). Instead, de Wesselow suggests, the shroud was created by natural chemical processes – and then interpreted by Jesus’ followers as a sign of his resurrection.

“People in the past did not view images as just the mundane things that we see them as today. They were potentially alive. They were seen as sources of power,” de Wesselow told LiveScience. The image of Jesus found on the shroud would have been seen as a “living double,” he said. “It seemed like they had a living double after his death and therefore it was seen as Jesus resurrected.”

Believing the shroud

As de Wesselow is quick to admit, this idea is only a hypothesis. No one has tested whether a decomposing body could leave an imprint on shroud-style cloth like the one seen on the shroud. A 2003 paper published in the journal Melanoidins in Food and Health, however, posited that chemicals from the body could react with carbohydrates on the cloth, resulting in a browning reaction similar to the one seen on baked bread. (De Wesselow said he knows of no plans to conduct an experiment to discover if this idea really works.)

Perhaps more problematic is the authenticity of the shroud itself. Radiocarbon dating conducted in 1988 estimated the shroud to medieval times, between approximately A.D. 1260 and 1390. This is also the same time period when records of the shroud begin to appear, suggesting a forgery.

Critics have charged that the researchers who dated the shroud accidentally chose asample of fabric added to the shroud during repairs in the medieval era, skewing the results. That controversy still rages, but de Wesselow is convinced of the shroud’s authenticity from an art history approach.

“It’s nothing like any other medieval work of art,” de Wesselow said. “There’s just nothing like it.”

Among the anachronisms, de Wesselow said, is the realistic nature of the body outline. No one was painting that realistically in the 14th century, he said. Similarly, the body image is in negative (light areas are dark and vice versa), a style not seen until the advent of photography centuries later, he said.

“From an art historian’s point of view, it’s completely inexplicable as a work of art of this period,” de Wesselow said.

Resurrection: spiritual or physical?

If de Wesselow’s belief in the shroud’s legitimacy is likely to rub skeptics the wrong way, his mundane explanation of how the image of Jesus came to be is likely to ruffle religious feathers. According to de Wesselow, there’s no need to invoke a miracle when simple chemistry could explain the imprint. It’s likely, he says, that Jesus’ female followers returned to his tomb to finish anointing his body for burial three days after his death. When they lifted the shroud to complete their work, they would have seen the outline of the body and interpreted it as a sign of Jesus’ spiritual revival.

From there, de Wesselow suspects, the shroud went on tour around the Holy Land, providing physical proof of the resurrection to Jesus’ followers. When the Bible talks about people meeting Jesus post-resurrection, de Wesselow said, what it really means is that they saw the shroud. He cites the early writings of Saint Paul, which focus on a spiritual resurrection, over the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, which were written later and invoke physical resurrection.

“The original conception of the resurrection was that Jesus was resurrected in a spiritual body, not in his physical body,” de Wesselow said.

These ideas are already receiving pushback, though de Wesselow says he’s yet to get responses from people who have read his entire book. Noted skeptic Joe Nickell toldMSNBC’s Alan Boyle that de Wesselow’s ideas were “breathtakingly astonishing,” and not in a good way; Nickell has argued on multiple occasions that the shroud’s spotty historical record and too-perfect image strongly suggest a counterfeit.

On the other end of the religious spectrum, former high-school teacher and Catholic religious speaker David Roemer believes in Jesus’ resurrection, but not the shroud’s authenticity. The image is too clear and the markings said to be blood aren’t smeared as they would be if the cloth had covered a corpse, Roemer told LiveScience.

“When you get an image this detailed, it means it was done by some kind of a human being,” Roemer said.

Unlike many “shroudies,” as believers are deprecatingly called, Roemer suspects the shroud was deliberately created by Gnostic sects in the first or second century. A common religious explanation for the markings is that a flash of energy or radiation accompanied Christ’s resurrection, “burning” his image onto the cloth.

If anything is certain about de Wesselow’s hypothesis, it’s that it is not likely to settle the shroud controversy. Scientific examinations of the delicate cloth are few and far between – and so are disinterested parties. Roemer, for example, recently arrived at a scheduled talk at a Catholic church in New York only to find the talk had been canceled when the priest learned of Roemer’s shroud skepticism. (The Catholic Church has no official position on the shroud’s authenticity.)

Meanwhile, de Wesselow said, people who aren’t driven by faith to accept the cloth as real generally don’t care about the shroud at all.

“The intellectual establishment, if you like, is not interested in shroud science,” he said. “It regards it as fringe and it’s not interested.”

Absolutely Amazing Video Navy jet crashes into Virginia Beach apartment building

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A fighter jet that malfunctioned just after takeoff hurtled into a Virginia Beach apartment complex on Friday in a spectacular crash that sent flames and black smoke billowing from the rubble.

RAW VIDEO: US Military Aircraft Crashes in Virgini...
RAW VIDEO: US Military Aircraft Crashes in Virgini…: A US F-18 naval jet crashed in Virginia Beach.
Written by
The Associated Press
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The burning fuselage of an F/A-18 Hornet lies smoldering after crashing into a residential building in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday, April 6, 2012. The Navy did not immediately return telephone messages left by The Associated Press, but media reports indicate the two aviators were able to eject from the jet before it crashed. They were being treated for injuries that were not considered life threatening. (AP Photo/Kandice Angel)
The burning fuselage of an F/A-18 Hornet lies smoldering after crashing into a residential building in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday, April 6, 2012. The Navy did not immediately return telephone messages left by The Associated Press, but media reports indicate the two aviators were able to eject from the jet before it crashed. They were being treated for injuries that were not considered life threatening. (AP Photo/Kandice Angel) / The Associated Press

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A fighter jet that malfunctioned just after takeoff hurtled into a Virginia Beach apartment complex on Friday in a spectacular crash that sent flames and black smoke billowing from the rubble.

The two pilots managed to eject just before impact, suffering minor injuries along with five others on the ground. Several residents described hearing a loud explosion and looking out their windows to see the red and orange blaze. In the confusion that followed, two men helped one of the bloodied pilots from the two-seat F18 Hornet move to safety.

“Oh, my God, I heard three really loud explosions, then the black smoke went up high in the sky,” said 71-year-old Felissa Ezell, who lives in a townhouse near the crash site.

By evening, emergency crews were searching through the charred remains of the complex, where some 40 apartment units were damaged or destroyed. No fatalities had been reported.

Seven people, including the pilots from nearby Naval Air Station Oceana, were taken to a hospital. All except one of the pilots were released by late afternoon.

Virginia Beach Fire Department Capt. Tim Riley said three residents remained unaccounted for late Friday.

“We don’t know if we have working cell numbers, if they’ve traveled,” Riley said. “We don’t know if people are staying with other people.”

He said crews had done an exhaustive search of about 95 percent of the apartment complex and would continue searching throughout the night.

“We consider ourselves very fortunate,” he said.

The plane had dumped loads of fuel before crashing, though it wasn’t clear if that was because of a malfunction or an intentional maneuver by the pilots, said Capt. Mark Weisgerber with U.S. Fleet Forces Command. He said investigators will try to determine what happened. The jet went down less than 10 miles from Oceana.

Bruce Nedelka, the Virginia Beach EMS division chief, said witnesses saw fuel being dumped from the jet before it went down, and that fuel was found on buildings and vehicles in the area

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