The Cooke Report
On the X Zone Radio Show
For
November 13, 2007

Each week, we discuss many of these issues on the top alternative talk show in Canada, the "X" Zone Radio Show, with Rob McConnell, one of the most respected, insightful, and enlightened personalities in the media today.  Please tune in for The Cooke Report, an alternative, often humorous, and always informative look at the news and events that most effect our world, with Rob McConnell and yours truly, Patrick Cooke.   Check for times of this show, and all the very interesting guests and events on the "X" Zone Radio Show, by clicking the graphic below:

Archives
Oct. 22, 2007  -   Oct. 29, 2007 -  Nov.  5, 2007-  Nov.  9, 2007

"A popular government without popular information, or means of acquiring it,
is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own
governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
President James Madison, 1822

San Francisco Bay Oil Spill

Heavy Duty Bunker Oil
            The fuel that spilled from a container ship into San Francisco Bay on Wednesday is a "nasty" oil that breaks down slowly, is hard to clean up and could affect marine life for years, environmentalists and oil-spill experts say.  The heavy-duty bunker fuel oil that leaked from the Cosco Busan after it clipped the base of one of the Bay Bridge's towers is what's left over after oil is refined for gasoline, and "it's the nastiest stuff around," said Gerald Graham of Victoria, British Columbia, who has been trained by the Canadian coast guard as an on-scene commander for oil spill cleanups.

Criminal Probe Opens in California Oil Spill
            A harbor pilot under investigation in San Francisco Bay's biggest oil spill in two decades initially believed the damage to his ship was minor, radioing that the vessel had just "touched" the Bay Bridge, his lawyer said Monday.  In fact, Wednesday's collision ripped a gash in the fuel tank of the Hong Kong-based Cosco Busan, unleashing 58,000 gallons of thick, toxic fuel oil that was still being cleaned up.

San Francisco Bay Ship Pilot's Actions Investigated
            Last week's San Francisco Bay oil spill was an "unbelievable human failure," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday as he promised a thorough investigation into the accident and what he said was the U.S. Coast Guard's slow response.

Governor Suspends Fishing and Crabbing
            On Tuesday, with drifts of fuel and bunker tar still present on portions of the bay and found in patches from the Gulf of the Farallones to near Bodega Bay, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an order suspending all fishing and crabbing for human consumption in areas affected by the spill.

Spill Could Hurt San Francisco Tourism
            The oil spill that has already fouled San Francisco Bay and delayed the Dungeness crab season is raising fears that visitors will be reluctant to dine in the city's famed seafood restaurants.




U.S.  Sending its Problems North

U.S. Lemons Found on Canadian Car Lots
            Hundreds of vehicles labeled lemons in the United States are turning up at Canadian dealerships where some unsuspecting customers are being offered defective cars, CBC News has learned.




UFOs

Former Pilots and Officials Call for New U.S. UFO Probe
            Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich may have been ridiculed for saying he had seen a UFO, but for some former military pilots and other observers, unidentified flying objects are no laughing matter.   An international panel of two dozen former pilots and government officials called on the U.S. government on Monday to reopen its generation-old UFO investigation as a matter of safety and security given continuing reports about flying discs, glowing spheres and other strange sightings.

From Blue Book to X Files: Washington UFO Event Features Brass and Politicians
            The UFO Disclosure press conference at the prestigious National Press Club was organized and run very well. Only accredited journalists were present, and each official or witness spoke to their personal experience concerning a craft whose origin could not be explained by anomalous weather, local military activity, flares, or commercial flight. Incidents ranged from a 1986 sighting over Anchorage by Japan Air Lines pilots and crew who saw a object with flashing lights that was six times the size of their 747, to a large disc seen by commercial pilots last spring at Chicago O’Hare that suddenly lifted up into the air above the airport.

UFO Conference
            The National Press Club held a UFO Close Encounters press conference today on UFOs, outlining the need for new UFO joint investigations among the top aviation countries.

Larry King UFO Special
            A governor, a UFO documentary producer, an actress, two military witnesses, and a skeptic tell their side of the story on Larry King Live

Clinton Library Releases Files on UFOs
            Under fire for its sluggish processing of files from President Clinton's White House, the National Archives released files and photographs yesterday responding to 14 Freedom of Information Act requests from members of the public.




Weird Stuff

The Screams of the Damned
            A geological group who drilled a hole about 14.4 kilometers deep in the crust of the earth are saying that they heard human screams. Screams have been heard from the condemned souls from earth's deepest hole. Terrified scientists are afraid they have let loose the evil powers of hell up to the earth's surface.

Best to Use Tools When Loosening Lug Nut
            A man trying to loosen a stubborn lug nut blasted the wheel with a 12-gauge shotgun, injuring himself badly in both legs, sheriff's deputies said.

Illinois Student Gets Detention for Hugging
            Two hugs equals two days of detention for 13-year-old Megan Coulter. The eighth-grader was punished for violating a school policy banning public displays of affection when she hugged two friends Friday.

On Your Head Right Now! Dandruff's Genes Sequenced
            First, researchers grew enough fungus to give dandruff to 10 million people. Next, they sequenced its genes. Then they found out that not only does an icky fungus live on your head and cause dandruff-- but it could be having sex. On your head. Right now.

Die and You're Under Arrest!: Britain's Most Stupid Laws
            Queen Elizabeth II's speech in the British parliament Tuesday may have been routine but at least nobody got bored to death. That would have been against the law.




Environment

Yellowstone Super Volcano Inflating with Molten Rock at Record Rate
            The Yellowstone "super volcano" rose at a record rate since mid-2004, likely because a Los Angeles-sized, pancake-shaped blob of molten rock was injected 6 miles beneath the slumbering giant, University of Utah scientists report in the journal Science.

World's Smallest Bear Faces Extinction
            The world's smallest bear species faces extinction because of deforestation and poaching in its Southeast Asian home, a conservation group said Monday.   The sun bear, whose habitat stretches from India to Indonesia, has been classified as vulnerable by the World Conservation Union.

Trade Agreement Encourages Deforestation of Peruvian Amazon and Massive Greenhouse Gas Emissions
            Amazon Watch today condemned the U.S. House of Representatives’ vote to approve a “Free” Trade Agreement (FTA) with Peru, warning that the treaty would encourage devastation of the Peruvian Amazon, and abuses against the region’s indigenous peoples.

Indonesian Forest Destruction Dammed
            Volunteers and local forest communities have halted the destruction of an area of swamp forest in Sumatra, Indonesia. They are building five dams across three-metre deep canals used in logging and draining peatland for conversion into a commercial palm oil plantation.

Warnings of Long-Term Damage After Russian Oil Spill
            An environmental disaster began to unfold in southern Russia on Monday as tens of thousands of oil-slicked seabirds and globules of heavy oil dotted the shoreline, a day after at least 11 ships, including a small oil tanker, sank or broke apart in a fierce storm, Russian officials said.

Tiny Smart Cars Aiming to Make It Big in USA
            They might measure a mere 2.5 meters (eight feet) in length and only be capable of carrying two passengers, but tiny Smart cars are aiming to make it big in the United States, where hulking gas-guzzlers have long been the kings of the road.

New Technique Creates Cheap, Abundant Hydrogen: Report
            US researchers have developed a method of producing hydrogen gas from biodegradable organic material, potentially providing an abundant source of this clean-burning fuel, according to a study released Monday.




Star Wars

Space Defense Program Gets Extra Funding
            The $459 billion bill, which awaits President Bush's signature, provides $100 million for a new "prompt global strike" program that could deliver a conventional, precision-guided warhead anywhere in the world within two hours. It takes funds away from development of a conventional warhead for the Navy's submarine-launched Trident Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and from an Air Force plan for the Common Aero Vehicle.




Fraud in War
Broken Supply Channel Sent Weapons for Iraq Astray
            By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weapons from the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a military contractor. But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some American officials and executives, selling AK-47 assault rifles, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand — Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors.




Freedom Under Fire

Definition Changing for People's Privacy
            As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

The Real News
What's Really Going On That Effects the World!

To view the massive and comprehensive data base of articles we have linked on these and many other vital subjects go here:
Humanity on the Edge of Annihilation - A Table of Contents
And also visit:
The Environment in Peril
Can We Make a Difference?

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