Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander

From IFC News website:

The Girl With the Foreign Language Franchise

How “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” became the year’s surprise arthouse hit.

Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal

We live only 45 miles away from the border and Ciudad Juarez, the current heart of the drug wars in Mexico. When we moved here, we made frequent trips to Mexico, to either Juarez or Palomas a smaller border town to the west. It was a fun outing. We would eat there, shop for goods, and always bring back some relatively cheap Tequila and Kahlua. Many local residents went there for inexpensive dental care, and prescription drugs. Sadly, in the last 2 and a half years, tourism to Juarez has ended. The drug violence there has reached unimaginable proportions. The latest high-profile incident was a bombing targeting police. While tourists per se are not being targeted, there have been plenty of US citizens killed in the violence. Some by accident, some intentionally. Thousands of Juarez residents have fled the city. In fact, the new Mayor of Juarez has a home in El Paso.

Now according to this Bloomberg Financial News report, American banks, Wells Fargo and Wachovia, have admitted to laundering BILLIONS of dollars in drug money. Combined with the billions in aid given to the Mexican government to finance Calderon’s war against the drug cartels, we, the United States, are financing both sides of the war.  So why isn’t this reported in the “mainstream ” media?

Feeling safe in the US? Well you should, or maybe shouldn’t.

A hidden world, growing beyond control

This recent Washington Post article chronicles the massive build-up in the spy business since 9/11. Sadly, the build-up has been so large and so fast, that coordination is non-existent and redundancy rampant! So not only are more people spying (on us!), 854,000 with top-secret clearances, but there effectiveness is no better than it was before 9/11. The article took 2 years to research and it is thorough and frightening.

And, if you are not depressed enough, check this out:

Billionaire Pedophile Goes Free

Once again, proof that in America, justice (or what passes for it) belongs to the rich! I’ll bet Michael Jackson would agree.

For 6 seasons now, I have been watching the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch. In case you haven’t heard about it, Deadliest Catch, puts cameramen aboard several Alaska crab fishing boats, and follows them as they fish the Bearing Sea for King and Opilio(or snow) crab. Of course the catch seasons are in the winter, on the Bearing Sea! That’s the coldest and worst weather time of the year. There is something fascinating about watching a bunch of men working at a job that most of us would never want to try. Yes, I had heard the stories about Alaska fisherman making a fortune for a few weeks of fishing. After watching this series you realize the truth, that it is hard, dangerous work, with no guarantees.

Part of the attraction of this series is that they have followed pretty much the same 4 or 5 crab boats over the seasons. As a result, you got to know the captains and crews of the boats. The camera work is breathtaking. And I’ve developed a strong respect for the (mostly) anonymous cameramen/producers who risk their lives and safety to get the shots The show has become a hit for Discovery Channel, and several of the captains and crew members have even appeared on TV talk shows. I’ve seen Captain Sig Hansen and his brother on Jay Leno.

One of the crab boats that has been a part of the show since season 1 is the Cornelia Marie, with Captain Phil Harris. Among the deckhands on the Cornelia Marie are Captain Phil’s 2 sons Jake and Josh. It was not a secret that Captain Phil died during the season. News of his stroke and eventual passing was in the mainstream media. It even was in the Local Las Cruces paper. Last night’s episode included Captain Phil passing away. Surprisingly, Captain Phil and his family allowed the cameraman/producer full access to the family, and the hospital. In real life, families are never polished and neat. They are usually messy and emotional. Phil’s family was no exception, and I find it amazing and brave that they allowed their emotional struggles to be filmed and displayed on the show. It was riveting TV. You can read an interview with Josh here.

Deadliest Catch is almost over for the year. I believe there is one more episode left. If you haven’t watched it, Discovery Channel usually repeats it, and you can watch full episodes at Discoverychannel.com. I strongly suggest you try to catch it.

EW.com recap here.

HeliumDoomsday: How BP Gulf disaster may have triggered a ‘world-killing’ event

This morning, I noticed an increase in aircraft near our house and went outside to look. Sure enough, there was an impressive column of smoke rising from the mountains, and all day there was a steady string of air drops by fire bombers. Tonight, the fire has crested the mountains, and there is a line of fire slowly moving down the mountains. Fortunately, it is still a good distance away from our house, and the sparse vegetation does not lend itself to a rapid advance, still, it is disconcerting to see this fire that has been burning for a week making headway.

From AOL:

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

I bet you won’t hear this story on the nightly news!!!

Read the full story here:

A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

So, I found this news article interesting:

Delta Flight Canceled Because Of Flight Attendants Fighting

But, there are issues that are not getting any (or very little) attention. One of them is the item known as ‘Net Neutrality’. I have read so much bunk about this lately, so here is a simple easy to understand explanation:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11kLmWha6o

Now go visit this site for more information. Save the Internet

You may only have one more night of Moon watching. Tomorrow morning (7:31 AM EDT), NASA plans to bomb the Moon with the upper stage of an Atlas-Centaur rocket. Presumably this is a scientific experiment to examine the amount of water is on the Moon. I think it could be the end of our beloved satellite.  Read all about it here. Or go to the NASA web site, or watch it on NASA TV, if you get that channel.