the federal income tax was never ratified. in truth there is no law that requires a citizen to pay tax on income from labor. the constitution states that a citizen is only required to pay tax on income that is profit. a small number of individual citizens have challenged the IRS over this in court and won because the govt is unable to show the law that requires a citizen to pay tax on income from labor. The big secret that the IRS does not want anyone to know, is that the income tax is voluntary and not legally required by law. View Comment

Reminds me of the fact that just prior to 9/11, the Bush admin. was warned repeatedly by certain foreign nations that terrorists were determined to attack the US with hijacked planes, .. and the admin. did absolutely nothing in response. .... When C. Rice sat in front of congressional committee and testified that; "There was no way we could have ever imagined people flying planes into buildings.", ... It certainly would appear that she was lying. I always wondered why when after 9/11 Bush declared; "It's my job to protect the American people, and I'm going to do my job." .... no-one said; "So where the hell were you on 9/11 when it mattered most? View Comment

Thanks for the tip mike_c:. View Comment

The city has created quite the blend of new high end apartment buildings and low income crime ridden neighborhoods in the south end of Stamford. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out over time. View Comment

Yeah, but just think of all the Wall St banks that will lose big from the money laundering they do for the drug cartels if we legalize pot and or other recreational drugs. .... Gee, I wonder why the poppy fields in Afghanistan are flourishing in spite of the US occupation. I think it's great that when a big bank gets caught laundering illegal drug money they just pay a fine, .. but when the guy on the street gets caught with an illegal substance in their pocket, ..they go to jail. .... Gotta love Democracy. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/12/11/hsbc-laundering-probe/1760351/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Production_in_Afghanistan View Comment

By the way PTS .... Just thought with your environmental concern you might like to learn about the latest gift our terrific president has given the American people, .. and this one seems to fit right in with him appointing a former Monsanto vice president to the FDA; This one's from Helen Caldicott's web site; 'Nuclear Free Planet' April 9, 2013; "WHITE HOUSE APPROVES RADICAL RADIATION CLEANUP ROLLBACK" "Washington, DC — The White House has given final approval for dramatically raising permissible radioactive levels in drinking water and soil following “radiological incidents,” such as nuclear power-plant accidents and dirty bombs. The final version, slated for Federal Register publication as soon as today, is a win for the nuclear industry which seeks what its proponents call a “new normal” for radiation exposure among the U.S population, according Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, the radiation guides (called Protective Action Guides or PAGs) allow cleanup many times more lax than anything EPA has ever before accepted. These guides govern evacuations, shelter-in-place orders, food restrictions and other actions following a wide range of “radiological emergencies.” The Obama administration blocked a version of these PAGs from going into effect during its first days in office. The version given approval late last Friday is substantially similar to those proposed under Bush but duck some of the most controversial aspects: In soil, the PAGs allow long-term public exposure to radiation in amounts as high as 2,000 millirems. This would, in effect, increase a longstanding 1 in 10,000 person cancer rate to a rate of 1 in 23 persons exposed over a 30-year period; ..." http://www.nuclearfreeplanet.org/news/2013/04/09/white-house-approves-radical-radiation-cleanup-rollback.html#.UWpBtDulSzY.email View Comment

Rebloodlican!? ..... Ha! ..... I wouldn't be one anymore than I would a Democrib. .... I leave such corrupt corporate owned sheeple herding con game gangs to folks like you PTS. View Comment

gsimonel - Whatever is in fact true, .. I would never contest the very serious need to get humanity off of using fossil fuels and to stop polluting our natural environment. Nothing could be more true than that. I for one am in the camp that strongly suspects that technology that could have averted us from this problem years ago has been purposely suppressed towards maintaining the profits and power that has been maintained via fossil fuel energy dependency. View Comment

HAARP certainly is a hot topic. .... I only hope it is not in fact being used to purposely cause major weather phenomenon, but I suspect it may be, at least in certain instances. View Comment

gsimonel - I am only presenting evidence that research in the area has been taking place and apparently still is. ... I am aware of the controversy surrounding this. I was briefly aware some years back of the work referred to in the BBC article I posted here regarding the historical evidence found in both ice core samples and tree ring studies which showed that the claims being made in Al Gores "An Inconvenient Truth" were not so accurate. I am not informed enough to take a position or debate the issue one way or the other. I am only acknowledging the fact that there has been research and controversy taking place on the subject. Along these lines, I became aware five or so years back that there have been scientists who have claimed that their work has been purposely silenced in support of the more main stream view of causes of the problem. Further along the lines of solar activity vs climate research, here is a book on the subject that was published in 2005 by and for NASA. I have not read it; "Sun Weather And Climate"; "This book introduces the general field of Sun-weather/climate relationships, that is, apparent weather and climate responses to solar activity, and provides theoretical and experimental suggestions for further research to identify and investigate the unknown causal mechanisms. It is directed to researchers active in the atmospheric and space sciences who wish to expand their background for meeting the challenge of this newly emerging field and to students who desire a general background in the several disciplinary areas of the field. In the 200-year history of Sun-weather studies, a large body of information has accumulated. Even though the reported results have sometimes been confused, disjointed, and contradictory, there has emerged a growing belief that there are connections between changes on the Sun and changes in the lower atmosphere. There is, however, a deplorable lack of acceptable physical mechanisms to explain those probable connections, and this has prevented widespread acceptance of the reality of solar activity effects on the weather and climate. The discovery of viable mechanisms will strengthen the scientific basis of Sun-weather relationships and may lead to improved predictions of weather and climate. It is obvious that improved predictions would have a profound impact on several crucial societal problems, especially in the areas of global food production and utilization of solar energy for man's needs. This book reviews the correlations between solar activity and weather and climate reported in historical and contemporary literature, addresses the physical linking mechanisms, and suggests experimental concepts for future investigations of such mechanisms. It is our intention to fill a gap in the literature by combining a review of the nature and quality of existing correlations with the basic physics underlying the various scientific disciplines required to pursue studies of physical linking mechanisms. We emphasize the multidisciplinary nature of the subject while providing a basic background in each of the various areas thought to play a role in coupling processes. In following this approach, we hope to acquaint meteorologists with solar and geophysical phenomena, solar physicists with terrestrial atmospheric processes, and so on, thereby stimulating the cross fertilization we believe is necessary for further progress in Sun-weather studies." http://www.amazon.com/Sun-Weather-Climate-John-Herman/dp/1410221997 View Comment

Not me. .... bummer. View Comment

gsimonel - Here is an article from the BBC July of 2004 entitled; "Sunspots reaching 1,000-year high", which addresses the sunspot theories which I am assuming led up to the later theories regarding what I posted above this post regarding the sun spot vs cosmic rays relationship effects. This is just to show you that the subject has been researched and as far as I know (I could be mistaken), is still being pursued by certain scientists; excerpt; - "...A new analysis shows that the Sun is more active now than it has been at anytime in the previous 1,000 years. Scientists based at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich used ice cores from Greenland to construct a picture of our star's activity in the past. They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time that the Earth's climate became steadily warmer. The warming is being amplified by gases from fossil fuel burning, they argue. ..." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3869753.stm View Comment

gsimonel - I think if you look into it further you might find that there has been some significant discussion or research regarding the possible relationship between sunspot or solar activity and climate change on earth. Perhaps more specifically with respect to a possible relationship between sun spot activity and cosmic rays and the possible effects upon climate. For a small example, here is a quote from an article in "The Christian Science Monitor" Sept. 2007 entitled; "Are Sunspots Prime Suspects In Global Warming?"; "... Some pesky correlations – such as the one between sunspot cycles and cloud cover – linger. This has led some scientists to ask if some process in the atmosphere may be boosting those tiny changes. One candidate is UV light. During swings in sunspot cycles, the largest fractional changes in the sun's output occur in the ultraviolet range, Shindell notes. But much of that is absorbed by ozone in the stratosphere – which may be the connection, he suggests. The rise and fall of UV light can alter the amount of heat-trapping ozone in the stratosphere, changing its circulation patterns. These changes can work their way into the layer below, the troposphere, where weather and people meet. Instead of warming the troposphere, changes in solar UV output appear to redistribute warmth, chill, rainfall, and other conditions already present. This mechanism may account for plunging winter temperatures in the Little Ice Age (1450 to 1850) – at least over land in the Northern Hemisphere, he says. Another possibility: cosmic rays But if changes in ultraviolet light tied to sunspot cycles merely stir the climate pot, might something else affect long-term global average temperatures? Enter galactic cosmic rays. In 1997, Danish researcher Henrik Svensmark and a colleague at the Danish Meteorological Institute injected new life into this debate with the first in a set of papers that suggested a strong correlation between an increase in galactic cosmic rays reaching Earth's surface during low points in the sunspot cycle and increased cloud cover. The idea of a big effect on climate from cosmic rays is controversial. For instance, the team that studied sunspots and cloud cover over North America found that average cloudiness rose and fell with the sunspot cycle, but didn't track with cosmic ray trends. Still, a study published last year in Britain showed a small but statistically significant ef­­fect from cosmic rays, notes Rasmus Ben­­estad, who specialized in solar-climate interactions at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Oslo. He is highly skeptical that cosmic rays play a big role in climate, he says. But, he adds, the phenomenon is worth exploring. Dr. Kirkby and colleagues at several institutions aim to do just that. They've designed an aerosol chamber to test how cosmic rays might affect cloud formation and how significant the effect might be. "You really can't settle the issue by more heated debate," he says. "You need experimental data." http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0927/p13s03-sten.html View Comment

No it is not caused by climate change. Solar storms are a natural phenomenon that takes place on the surface of the sun on a fairly regular basis. This is why if you were living much further north than we are here, you would see the Northern Lights fairly often on clear nights. The magnetically charged particles that are thrown off of the sun, are drawn to the magnetic poles of the earth. As they hit the earths atmosphere they ignite in the gasses, causing them to illuminate in a moving wave of colors (usually blues and greens), surging across the night sky. ... It is quite mesmerizing and glorious to witness. As an aside, some scientists today do assert that the primary cause of global warming is from sun spot activity and not caused by humans. A major or unusually large solar storm could in fact fry all electrical circuits on the planet, which would create a major catastrophe that would take months to resolve. The last time such a storm took place humanity was not yet depending upon electricity and as a result the solar flare did not create a problem for us. If it happened today, which it inevitably will some day, it is going to create a major crisis. View Comment

Not unless this cloud cover clears out before 8 pm we won't. .... It sure would be nice to see the Northern Lights one more time. It is truly one of nature's most magnificent phenomenons. View Comment

Sorry Jim .... but I think you are unaware of the bigger picture. If you read the article and view the video I posted further down here, you will see that Obama has most definitely not saved anyone from a depression, He, or I should say the Fed, has merely kicked the can down the road, ensuring that when it does hit, it is going to be far worse than it would have been. ... Common sense understands that you don't get out of debt by creating more debt, but that is and has been the ongoing policy of our Keynesian economy and government that serves primarily to expand it's size and control over the lives of it's citizens. Did you know that researchers at Stanford Univ fairly recently reached the conclusion that the great depression was in fact greatly extended because of the policies of FDR, not in spite of them. They concluded that if it had not been for FDR's policies, the great depression would have ended years earlier than it did. You can google it if you like. If you haven't seen it already, you might find the following documentary that was produced by former US Comptroller David Walker and was released back in 2008 to be of interest. The fundamentals of the problem are greater now than they were then. Here is the condensed 30 min version of the film, although the full version is available on youtube also; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_TjBNjc9Bo View Comment

"US hides real debt, in worse shape than Greece"; " Published on Feb 9, 2013" "The US national debt is twenty times higher than is officially reported, approaching $222 trillion, and today's children could soon be paying their parent's debts, reputed American economist Laurence Kotlikoff told RT. TRANSCRIPT of the interview:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFdYT8OI6b0 View Comment

Read it and weep TNT; "10 Reasons Why The Dollar's Reign As The World Reserve Currency Is About To End" "... Today, more than 60 percent of all foreign currency reserves in the world are in U.S. dollars. But there are big changes on the horizon. The mainstream media in the United States has been strangely silent about this, but some of the biggest economies on earth have been making agreements with each other to move away from using the U.S. dollar in international trade. There are also some oil-producing nations which have begun selling oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, which is a major threat to the petrodollar system which has been in place for nearly four decades. And big international institutions such as the UN and the IMF have even been issuing official reports about the need to move away form the U.S. dollar and toward a new global reserve currency. So the reign of the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency is definitely being threatened, and the coming shift in international trade is going to have massive implications for the U.S. economy. ..." http://seekingalpha.com/article/459471-10-reasons-why-the-dollar-s-reign-as-the-world-reserve-currency-is-about-to-end View Comment

The question is how many jobs have actually been created, and how many people are out of the work force. Job growth has been extraordinarily tepid under Obama, and more and more people are dropping out of the workforce entirely. Obama’s spin notwithstanding, his administration has been a failure on the economy. View Comment

I'd be happy just to have someone in the white house who isn't lying to you and conning you when he's talking to you. It doesn't matter whether it's a Republican or a Democrat. They are all nothing more than corporate owned professional con men/women who are there serving the interests of the globalist agenda, not at all the interests of the common citizens. View Comment