How they Transformed the World:

States That Can't Pay for Themselves

California is going to Washington, D.C., to ask for $7 billion to cover its budget shortfall. Otherwise it won't be able to pay for its teachers, cops, firemen, and other essential services. Unfortunately, California won't be alone. A number of other states are experiencing a huge dive in tax revenue and could be going cap in hand to Uncle Sam alarmingly soon. How bad could it get? The potential cost for all the 31 states facing both major and minor shortfalls could be as much as $53.4 billion. see: Fed To Financially Absorb State Governments

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Iceland is all but officially bankrupt

REYKJAVIK: People go bankrupt all the time. Companies do, too. But countries?

Iceland is bankrupt," said Arsaell Valfells, a professor at the University of Iceland. "The Icelandic krona is history. The IMF has to come and rescue us." see: Iceland Internet Bank Chaos Has Chilling Effect

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Switzerland: Illegal for Scientists to Humiliate Plants in Experiments; wallstreetjournal ZURICH -- For years, Swiss scientists have blithely created genetically modified rice, corn and apples. But did they ever stop to consider just how humiliating such experiments may be to plants?

That's a question they must now ask. Last spring, this small Alpine nation began mandating that geneticists conduct their research without trampling on a plant's dignity. see: Ecuador Gives 'Rights' to Nature

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Chicago to Create Tax-Funded High School for Homosexual and Transgender Students

The Social Justice High School - Pride Campus, slated to open in 2010, will incorporate lessons in sexual identity into its history and literature curricula.

Along with normal classes, like English and math, the school’s literature and history curricula will feature notable homosexual and lesbian figures, along with lectures on sexual identity.

The proposed school awaits final approval by the Chicago Board of Education, which is set to consider the matter on Oct. 22.

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And of course, the creation of a police state:
update on the Oct 1 '08 'homeland' troop deployment and on: Globalizing the U.S. Economy And Martial Law

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Heard of the The Midnight Cry?