Facebook uses YOUR face to promote products to other users

If you use Facebook and think your personal information is private and secure, think again. Back in January, the social media empire unveiled a new “Sponsored Stories” function that attaches user photos to the goods and services they “Like” in order to market such products…

Years of social unrest on the horizon if economies fall like dominoes

(NaturalNews) Have you been paying attention to the economic collapse of Europe? How about the rising debt of the United States ? If not, you should be, because these events are very likely to have a real effect on your future quality of life and safety. Last week leaders from the world’s top 20 economies were warned that a social tsunami is coming if their economies tank in the form of massive unrest that could even lead to the collapse of some governments. The United Nations International Labor Organization says souring economies will bring the loss of millions of jobs, a phenomenon that is likely to trigger social chaos on an unprecedented scale. Think of the Occupy Wall Street protests on steroids. The UN agency austerity measures being taken by some overextended European nations – Greece, Italy, and Portugal, to name a few – have already triggered angry protests. When those measures are ramped up, to bring bloated Eurozone budgets into line with reality, the frustration is only going to rise, and so are the protests for widespread unrest. In 40 percent of the countries it examined, the ILO said risks of social unrest are rising. Uncertainly, anger, frustration and the loss of benefits will all combine to create an environment that, according to some, is due to explode. Barclays chief Robert E. Diamond, Jr., says “the threat of further social unrest remains if we don’t work together to generate stronger economic growth and more jobs.” The rising threat is not without precedent. Economic crises in the past have threatened to tear apart a nation’s social fabric. Events like the Boston Tea Party, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution in 1905, general strikes in Barcelona, Spain in 1919, sit-down strikes in Flint, Mich., Poland’s Solidarity strikes in 1980 and uprisings all throughout the Middle East have all resulted in political changes that, in turn, improved conditions for the populations involved and the governments those protests affected. But this time things are different. People aren’t protesting unfair work conditions, low wages or unsafe environments. Scores of millions are literally losing portions of what they have worked for, the result of overpromising by politicians, and they’re angry about it. Many feel like they have nothing more to lose. And in terms of maintaining civil order, that’s the last thing you want – millions of people who feel so desperate they don’t think things can get any worse for them, no matter what they do. The governments in Europe, as well as the boys and girls in Washington, need to understand they could be sitting on ticking social time bombs. They need to figure out how to dig themselves out of the economic hole they are in, and fast.

Google spider technology now capable of cataloging, archiving comments made through Facebook

(NaturalNews) The days of internet anonymity are waning as the veil of privacy that used to accompany making comments on articles and blogs is a thing of the past. TIME – Techland reports that Google has updated its “Googlebots” technology to track and index AJAX / Javascript comments made through Facebook, as well as through several other major comment engines including Livefyre and Disqus. For many years, Googlebot “web spiders” have been tracking and archiving websites. This is how the Google search engine is able to pull up webpage results when users input various search queries. But the technology has been expanded to include the capture of content made through third-party comment systems as well, which today include comments made directly under a real name. The announcement comes just a few weeks after it was discovered that Facebook directly tracks user activity on the internet, even after a person is logged out of the social networking site: http://www.naturalnews.com/033713_Facebook_tracking.html While the comment indexing system has the potential to improve the quality and integrity of comments made on websites — after all, who wants his real name permanently attached to a potentially inflammatory or inappropriate comment that is searchable by anyone? — it may also discourage some individuals from making comments at all. A major concern centers around the fact that comments made through such portals will now be easily searchable simply by typing a person’s name into a search engine. Anything a person has said on the web using his or her real name will be instantly retrievable. And websites that use these comment systems, for example NaturalNews now uses Facebook comments will be identified in searches based on user comment as well. In other words, if you make comments with Facebook using your real name, anyone can Google search your name and title, and everything you have ever written in a comment section under that name and title will be instantly accessible. The new indexing system only applies to comment systems linked to third-party websites. Private Facebook comments made on someone’s “Wall,” for instance, are not traceable by Googlebots, at least not yet. Sources for this article include: http://techland.time.com/2011/11/02/google-can-now-index-your-comments-made-through-facebook/

Big government gone wild: Social Security on the verge of insolvency

(NaturalNews) Do you remember the recent debate in Congress and the White House to raise the government’s ability to borrow even more money? The “debate” that was long on raising the debt ceiling but short on actually cutting government spending ? It wasn’t enough that our leaders failure to effect long term, meaningful budget reform resulted in a leading credit rating agency downgrading U.S. credit for the first time in our history, but now the budgetary chickens are really coming home to roost. High unemployment, combined with the rapid growth in baby boomer retirements has strapped Social Security for cash and it is now being pushed to brink of insolvency . The longer the economy remains in the tank, the more strain it will put on this massively expensive entitlement program. We have known for more than a decade that Social Security was going broke . As far back as 1997, the Brookings Institute, among many other think tanks, predicted that an enormous amount of seniors born in the years following World War II were about to retire, and that doing so would put an equally enormous fiscal strain on Social Security. What many analysts didn’t predict, however, is the amount of Americans who would come to rely on Social Security’s disability benefits (and others) as a result of a tanking economy. It’s all adding up, and it’s doing so much faster than anyone anticipated. The government says applications for benefits are up 50 percent from a decade ago, and that there is such a backlog now some people wait two years before their cases get resolved. New estimates by Congress aren’t encouraging; they forecast that the trust fund that supports Social Security will run out of money in just a few short years, by 2017, meaning the system will be unable to pay full benefits by then. The long-term prospects for this aren’t any better. In about 20 years, Social Security’s retirement fund will run out of funds too, meaning it also won’t be able to pay full benefits. Unless Congress acts, that is. And what are some of the proposals? Raise the retirement age. Conduct means testing to see if wealthier Americans (who are still paying into the benefit) can be denied. Raise taxes. Most lawmakers and policy wonks are suggesting everything to save or extend this costly entitlement, but nothing to privatize or end it so the taxpayer can get off the hook financially for funding it. At the rate the system is being drained, even if the economy improves and fewer Americans seek benefits in the short term, the system will still have to pay out trillions in benefits for baby boomers. The best way to prevent the system from bankrupting itself is to reduce the amount of benefits it pays. That seems pretty simple. But when you demonize the issue for the sake of votes, there isn’t much chance that’s going to happen. So the next best thing is to eliminate the liability altogether, and that means adopting a small-government, personal liberty solution. Give workers the right to opt out of the government system by giving us choices in how to save for our own retirement. The Congressional Budget Office has studied how other nations, including Chile, Argentina and Great Britain, have done so, and successfully. It’s clear we can’t afford this forever. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. Sources: http://news.yahoo.com/social-security-disability-verge-insolvency-090119318.html http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=1065&type=0&sequence=7 http://www.brookings.edu/articles/1997/summer_saving_gale.aspx

UK hospital staff heartlessly left man to die in hallway, ten hours later dragged his corpse away

(NaturalNews) In a shocking display of utter disregard for their fellow man, staff at Edale House in Manchester, England, which is part of the Manchester Health and Social Care Trust (MHSCT), denied entry to drunk and intoxicated 41-year-old Peter Thompson, whom they left to die on a hallway floor for ten hours before eventually dragging his body away like a “dead animal.” Video footage of the event shows a lifeless Thompson lying in a hospital corridor as nurses repeatedly step over him, and a senior nurse later had the audacity to claim that such actions were “the appropriate method of handling the situation.” You can watch that footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtSH69yLk0g Thompson had a lengthy history of alcohol and drug abuse, and the night he voluntarily tried to gain admission to the ward for care, he refused to hand over a bottle of vodka before passing out on the floor. However, nurses and hospital staff made no attempt to show any compassion for the man once he was passed out, which would have been as simple as taking the bottle away from him, and moving him into a hospital bed where he could have been monitored. “It was just inhumane what they did and I just cannot understand how in this day and age this can be allowed to happen,” said Peter’s father Alan Thompson, 71, to the UK’s Daily Mail . “Seeing your own flesh and blood being dragged across the floor like a dead animal is heartbreaking.” Both Alan and his wife Rene added that the events surrounding their son’s death exhibited “disgusting neglect.” Worse, a coroner report later revealed that Thompson’s death was “wholly preventable,” had nurses made even simple and basic efforts to care for him. The pathologist report explained that Thompson died from fatal alcohol poisoning, which was compounded by anti-psychotic drugs. Upon review, the inquest jury found that Thompson died of “death by misadventure contributed to by neglect.” According to the Daily Mail , Manchester coroner Nigel Meadows plans to write both MHSCT and the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council to push for an investigation into the three nurses who carelessly and needlessly allowed Thompson to die. Thompson’s parents have also received an unknown amount of monetary compensation for the incident, but a representative of the family stated that “no amount of money can ever compensate them for their loss.” Sources for this story include: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2000824/NHS-indignity-Peter-Thompsons-body-ignored-hours-corridor-Edale-House-unit.html

Medicare bankrupt by 2024, says government

(NaturalNews) – Almost every American who has read a newspaper, watched T.V. or signed onto the Internet in the past few years knows that Medicare, one of the government’s largest entitlement programs, is in financial dire straits and is heading for insolvency. What you may not know is that Medicare bankruptcy is closer than even the most pessimistic of previous estimates. An annual report issued last week by the trustees of Medicare said the program won’t have enough funds to pay full benefits by 2024, a full five years sooner than last year’s estimate and one that may yet be even rosier than reality. “Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing, and will require legislative corrections if disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers are to be avoided,” a summary of the report said. Moreover, a statement issued with the annual report by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said more must be done to boost financing for the program, such as “contain health-care costs,” lest Medicare – and the government’s other healthcare entitlement programs – become “unsustainable.” The truth is, the program has long since been “unsustainable,” because for years it’s been little more than a Ponzi scheme, as tax dollars from one generation are used to finance previous – and future – generations . Investigative journalist John Stossel says what’s really going on with Medicare is that the young are picking up the healthcare tab for senior citizens, even those who are financially well-off. And while today’s Medicare recipients did, in fact, contribute to the program from their own paychecks when they were still working, experts Stossel says “the average Medicare beneficiary today collects two to three times more money than he paid in.” “We locked up Bernie Madoff for running a Ponzi scheme. Medicare is a bigger one,” says Stossel. Worse, the unfunded portion of Medicare is bad and getting worse. A 2008 assessment by the program’s trustees found that Medicare’s unfunded liability portion is $74 trillion , five times more than Social Security’s unfunded liability. And the government only expects its healthcare outlays to grow. One of the reasons why Medicare – and any government-run healthcare system, for that matter – is so expensive and an impediment to better healthcare in the first place is because it is a system that is inherently inefficient. And that built-in inefficiency is why so much Medicare money is wasted on entire industries like Big Pharma . “While our health-care system has some of the most innovative treatments in the world, Medicare’s payment system imposes many barriers to innovations in using those treatments efficiently and effectively,” says John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis. “In normal markets, cost efficiencies and quality improvements mean larger net revenues when an entrepreneur finds a better way to provide products or services. By contrast, entrepreneurial efforts under Medicare all too often find their greatest reward when they exploit the system by finding ways to bill more for more services, rather than improve it.” Goodman says studies show that patients – especially those who are chronically ill – “can often manage their own care as well as, or better than, conventional physician care, and at lower costs, when given the support they need.” Now that Medicare’s officially broke, what better time to implement real healthcare reform and let people pursue their own, natural , solutions?

Are you a Sheeple? Take the Sheeple Quiz and find out

(NaturalNews) Have you herd about the Sheeple Quiz? Although most NaturalNews readers will easily beat it, it’s a fun quiz to find out how smart (or gullible) your friends really are. So let ‘em take the Sheeple Quiz! And then you’ll know whether they’re independent thinkers or just zombie-minded sheeple like the rest of the flock. Here’s the quiz. Choose “A” or “B” as the answer for each question, then check your score below. The Sheeple Quiz #1) The purpose of the mainstream media is to: A) Keep you informed. B) Feed you misinformation while keeping you distracted from the real issues our world is facing. #2) Social Security is: A) A financial safety net that makes sure people have a retirement income. B) A government-run Ponzi scheme that requires more and more people to keep paying in just to stay afloat and will ultimately collapse into total bankruptcy. #3) The fluoride dripped into municipal water supplies is: A) A naturally-occurring mineral. B) An industrial chemical waste byproduct. #4) When you donate money to find the cure for cancer, that money goes: A) To fund research programs that assess actual cancer cures for the purpose of freely sharing them with the public. B) To fund mammogram campaigns that actually irradiate women’s breasts, causing the very cancers that earn huge profits for the cancer treatment industry. #5) The national debt is: A) Under control and will be paid off in a few years. B) Out of control and will spiral into a runaway debt collapse. #6) GMOs will: A) Feed the world and prevent starvation. B) Threaten the future of life on our planet through genetic contamination and widespread crop failures. #7) The FDA protects: A) The people from dangerous medicines. B) The financial interests of the drug companies. #8) The EPA’s real agenda is to: A) Protect the environment. B) Protect the financial interests of the chemical companies whose toxic products destroy the environment. #9) The Federal Reserve functions to: A) Stabilize the economy and keep America strong. B) Loot the economy and control America’s economy for the interests of the few. #10) The purpose of TSA checkpoints at airports is to: A) Keep air passengers safe and secure. B) Indoctrinate Americans into surrendering to police state invasions of their privacy. #11) The practical function of the U.S. Supreme Court is to: A) Protect the constitutional rights of the citizens. B) Legitimize federal tyranny over the People by ignoring the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. #12) Vaccines are based on: A) Gold standard science that conclusively proves their safety and effectiveness. B) Quackery and fraud combined with a persistent medical mythology that utterly lacks a factual basis. #13) Herbs and superfoods: A) Are medically useless and cannot treat, prevent or cure any disease. B) Contain powerful plant-based medicines that can help reverse and prevent disease. #14) In Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq, America: A) Led a humanitarian effort to save innocent people from tyranny. B) Waged an illegal imperialist war to occupy foreign nations and control their oil. #15) The U.S. Bill of Rights A) Grants you rights and freedoms. B) Merely acknowledges the rights and freedoms you already possess. Score your Sheeple Quiz To score your Sheeple Quiz, simply add up the total number of “A” answers. If you answered “A” 10 times or more… You are a total news-watching, gullible fairytale swallowing Sheeple! Be sure to keep taking those medications and watching more network news. Don’t bother thinking for yourself because you seem to be incapable of accomplishing that. If you answered “A” fewer than 10 times… You are sadly Sheeple-minded but there is hope for your rescue. Learn more about the world around you and train yourself to think critically so you can depart from the herd mentality. If you answered “A” fewer than 5 times… You are an unusually intelligent free-minded thinker who questions the world around you and doesn’t buy into the usual propaganda. You still got suckered on a few items, so there’s more yet to learn. But you’re on the right track! If you answered “A” exactly zero times… You are the complete opposite of a Sheeple. You’re independent minded, well informed and probably a regular reader of NaturalNews.com. Stay on track and question events in the world around you. Eat more superfoods to maintain your healthy immune system and cognitive function. Avoid the toxic chemicals in foods, medicines and lawn care products. Keep reading the alternative press and voice your intelligent views to others willing to listen. (But don’t waste your time on those who aren’t.) Thank you for taking the Sheeple quiz here on NaturalNews.

US government will soon seize your retirement account

(NaturalNews) – When it comes to your retirement account, you probably keep an eye on Wall Street and the financial markets because when they lose value, your account loses value. Little did you know you are going to have to keep an eye on Uncle Sam as well, because he’s eyeing your retirement too, and he could soon take what he will claim is his fair share of it. If you think that sounds absurd, think again. In fact, it’s a concept that is already being used by some governments , the most recent of which is Ireland. In a bid to finance a “jobs” program, the Irish government, which is heavily in debt, is set to impose a new levy – read “tax” – on private retirement accounts. The accounts of government workers will be exempt. “It’s truly disgusting logic to force private workers to pay for years of political incompetence while absolving government employees,” writes Simon Black, entrepreneur and founder of SovereignMan.com , a Web site about financial and practical independence. Black says the idea of robbing private pension funds by broke governments to pay for existing or expanding government programs is an idea that is catching on. “Pension funds are attractive targets for politicians who have wide eyes and the most carnal thoughts at the site of any large pool of cash,” he says, noting that the French government last year adopted laws “allowing politicians to steal retirement funds from the public in order to pay off other debts.” It’s an idea that is catching on in the United States too, mostly because there are trillions of dollars in private retirement accounts, and the federal government is trillions of dollars in debt – with trillions more promised in benefits like Social Security, Medicare and now a massive new health care law. Black says it’s likely any attempt by the U.S. government to seize private retirement accounts would be preceded by a cataclysmic economic event similar to the 2008 financial crisis, only worse. This time, lawmakers will respond by changing investment law that may force retirement account holders to invest a portion of their savings in, say, 30-year Treasury notes. Some lawmakers are onto this, however. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has recently criticized such efforts in a letter to the Obama administration warning against attempts to confiscate Americans’ retirement accounts.

Discovery by Israeli scientists may lead to development of ‘green’ pesticides

(NaturalNews) Scientists from Tel Aviv University’s (TAU) Department of Physics and Astronomy have developed a bacterial “Social-IQ score” system that they say paves the way for the development of intelligence-based “green” pesticides. If successfully replicated, the discovery could lead to a viable replacement for the toxic, chemical-based pesticides currently used in conventional agriculture. “Bacteria are our worst enemies, but they can also be our best friends,” said Alexandra Sirota-Madi, a research student at TAU and co-author of the recent study. “To better exploit their capabilities and to outsmart pathogenic bacteria, we must realize their social intelligence.” The way it works, at least in theory, is that if scientists can outsmart the “smartest” bacteria, they can then develop unique, non-chemical methods of deterring crop damage. And though it may seem revolutionary, the process is actually what bacteria do naturally in soil when they are not disrupted by toxic pesticides. Researchers identified both the Vortex and two different Paenibacillus bacterial strains to be the world’s smartest bacteria. And most of the harmful bacteria that currently threatens agriculture is not very intelligent. So by planting the “smart” bacteria along with the “dumb” bacteria, the harmful strains can successfully be mitigated without requiring any other external applications. Soil bacteria is necessary to protect plants from foreign invaders. Much like stomach and gut bacteria, soil bacteria works in harmony with one another to keep the system in proper health. It is only when this balance is upset by things like toxic pesticides that conditions rapidly decline and disease ensues. “Thanks to the special capabilities of our bacteria strain, it can be used by researchers globally to further investigate the social intelligence of bacteria,” added Sirota-Madi. “When we can determine how smart they really are, we can use them as biotechnology factories and apply them optimally in agriculture.” Sources for this story include: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/afot-tgo012411.php

Fukushima dumping of radioactive water into Pacific Ocean violates international law

(NaturalNews) The mass dumping of highly radioactive water (measured at 7.5 million times the normal allowed levels) into the Pacific Ocean is not just an environmental disaster; it’s also a violation of international law. The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter , passed in 1972, forbids nations and companies from dumping toxic wastes into the ocean. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Prevention_of_Marine_Pollution_by_Dumping_of_Wastes_and_Other_Matter) Japan, it turns out, gave the Fukushima complex special permission to release all this radiation, despite the international law. Of course, even Japan’s granting of this “special permission” is, itself, a violation of that same international law. But who’s keeping track, anyway? Those managing this disaster in Japan say that releasing radiation into the ocean is their only remaining option right now. As reported in TIME, “There was no choice but to take this step to prevent (other) highly radioactive water from spreading into the sea,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. “The fact that radioactive water is being deliberately dumped into the sea is very regrettable and one we are very sorry about.” (http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/04/05/fukushima-dumping-into-the-sea/) Well, I guess it’s all okay if they feel sorry about it, then. But South Korea isn’t happy about it, that’s for sure: They lodged an official protest with Japan yesterday, complaining about their dumping of radioactive water into the ocean (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/concern-over-dumping-of-water-from-fukushima-plant-s-korea-raises-radioactive-alarm/story-e6frg6so-1226034303711). What South Korea realizes is something the rest of the world won’t dare admit: Fukushima has become the “dirty bomb” of the Pacific , releasing huge quantities of radiation on an ongoing basis, directly into the environment with no end in sight. The global damage this could cause over the next few decades is incalculable. Has anybody stopped to consider how Japan is going to be able to pay for all this damage? There’s no question that the nation is going to have to start selling off U.S. debt holdings in the near future, and that could spell the beginning of the end of the U.S. runaway debt bubble, resulting in an inability for the United States to find any more buyers of its debt. Uh oh, I feel a “hair cut” coming for the U.S. government, which may soon find itself begging for loans from world nations in order to keep itself alive. And that sad scenario won’t last very long, either, because as soon as the American people wake up and realize their social security money has long since been looted and spent by the feds, we’re likely going to see a mass of public protests that could thrust this nation into political chaos. And to think, it all started when planet Earth shrugged off the coast of Japan. Or, you might say, Atlas Shrugged.

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