Despite an Epidemic of Murder in Mexico, Gun Laws are Strict South of the Border

Proponents of gun control in the United States claim that easy access to guns is the main cause of violent crime in the country.  Perhaps that stance needs to be reconsidered.  It is little known in America that Mexico has extremely strict gun laws.  According to the Mexican - U.S. Consulate , guns and knives are illegal in the Latin American nation without a special permit.  The specifics of what few weapons are allowed in Mexico can be viewed in the following blog:  http://panda.com/mexicoguns/ .  Because of these oppressive laws, Mexican nationals have been left no choice but to turn to black market for their own protection, in order to defend themselves from the violent drug gangs of Mexico.  Read the following NPR news story for more details:  http://www.npr.org/2012/01/28/145996427/mexican-community-takes-taboo-stance-on-guns?sc=fb&cc=fp

The Fringe Web Vol. I: American Underground Nihilist Society

Post-Liberalism

Part one of a mini-series on the Unofficial Version Magazine family of websites (https://twitter.com/#!/unoffversmag, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unofficial-Version-Magazine/292311554143612 , and others listed here - http://unofficialversionmag.blogspot.com/ ) , UVM will showcase the American Underground Nihilist Society, or A.N.U.S. ( LOL - http://www.anus.com/ ). anus.com is infamous around the Interwebz for their well-written heavy metal album reviews and pompous quasi-intellectual, neo-fascist, psuedo-Nazi ideology that is made apparent in their manifestos and essays. One claim of fame is that this web site was a serious front for the so-called Libertarian National Socialist Green Party (http://www.warbaby.com/dh2k/html/p-lnsg.html ).

News Remix

"Is The Editorial Cartoon Dead?" by The Big Think

"‘Time cloak’ hid event in experiment, physicists say" by The Washington Post

"Sounds of the sea: Listening online to the ocean floor" by the BBC

"Microsoft Taking Head For Avoid Ghetto App" by the Inquisitr

"Objective Comparison of the U.S. to Regimes Labeled Repressive" by Equity Jungle

Is Obama becoming a libertarian?

“No business or nonprofit leader would allow this kind of duplication or unnecessary complexity in their operations,” Obama said. “So why is it okay in our government? It’s not. It has to change.” - the Washington Post

After pushing for sweeping tax cuts for the middle class and cutting the military budget, President Obama is now suggesting another budget cutting move.  According to the Washington Post , Barrack Obama wants congress to approve the consolidation of 5 federal agencies, including Commerce and the Small Business Administration.  Could the U.S. president, who spent generously early in his term, now be interested in fiscal conservatism?  Or are these moves to attract voters who value eliminating U.S. debt to help with his 2012 bid fro reelection?

Chinese laborers join together in suicide pact to demand better working conditions

The Chinese factory Foxconn has installed nets to catch suicide jumpers to prevent suicide at their worker dormitories.

According to a report by Bloomberg Businessweek , about 300 workers at China's Foxconn manufacturing facility have agreed upon a suicide pact in order to protest poor working conditions at the factory.  The immense industrial campus employs approximately 350,000 to 400,000 laborers, and is responsible for the manufacture of popular electronics such as Microsoft's Xbox and several Apple products, among others.

UPDATE:  According to ZDNet , a major factor in the latest threats of suicide by FoxConn workers was the company's refusal to give severance pay to several workers who demanded higher pay and better working conditions.  FoxConn refused to honor the workers' demands but offered them a resignation with severance, which the manufacturer subsequently refused to pay.  Full article:  http://www.zdnet.com/blog/asia/chinese-workers-threaten-suicide-at-foxconn-not-8216why-but-8216is-enough-being-done/681

Doomsday clock moves one minute closer to midnight

According to CBC , we have moved one minute closer to midnight on the "death clock".  According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the doomsday clock represents how close humanity is to "catastrophic destruction".  As it stands, the current time on the doomsday clock is currently set at 11:55 PM.

America still the world's wealthiest nation despite recent financial crisis

"If you think you’re not rich, think again, because you only have to earn $34,000 after taxes to rank among the world’s wealthiest 1%." - NY Daily News

According to a recent article by the NY Daily News , half of the United States' population is in the world's richest 1 percentile.  Individuals with a take home income of $34,000 annually are among the world's financial elite, with families of 4 who bring home $136,000 after taxes being among planet Earth's wealthiest families.  According to the article, the global mean income is $1225 per year, which is scarcely enough for Americans enough to survive on monthly, let alone yearly.  While the income gap has steadily increased within the United States since the Great Depression, poverty within America is apparently affluence when compared with all other nations.  This information was accumulated by World Bank economist Branko Milanovic , who claimed that “There is nobody [in the richest 1%] from Africa, China, India or from East Europe or Russia”.  Perhaps Milanovic was quoted out of context by the NY Daily News, but it appears that he has ignored that fact that according to Forbes , Moscow has the world's highest population of billionaires.  Regardless of any skewing of the facts, Americans enjoy an unparalleled level of economic prosperity, despite an estimated combined unemployment/underemployment rate of 16.6%, according to MSN .

How edible is black food dye?

In a report by UVM writer Mike Brooks and also covered by the CBC, a Belgian fast food chain will be serving a burger on an artificially dyed black bun.  The unusual concoction is shown in the following article:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/01/darth-vader-burger-added-to-french-fast-food-chain-menu.html

And currently on UVM's Tumblr front page:

http://unofficialversion.tumblr.com/

Obama, Pentagon to cut military spending

"The tide of war is receding", President Barrack Obama

The Obama administration announced today a drastic change in military strategy, which includes deep spending cuts and ending the United States' ability to fight to major wars simultaneously, according to breaking news today from CNN .

Will Obama stand firm in the face of oil lobbyist pressure?

"A determination to decide anything less than that I believe will have huge political consequences." - Jack Gerard on what would happen if Barrack Obama rejected Keystone XL

In the wake of the 2008, President Obama succumbed to threats of an economic collapse and passed the TARP legislation.  Late in the summer of 2011, Obama once again yielded to the pressure to raise the Federal Debt Ceiling.  In both of these cases, the financial industry were vocal proponents of those controversial acts of legislation.  Whether or not those measures to stimulate the U.S. economy were necessary are up to history to decide.  According to an article by the Associated Press on Google's news service , now the oil industry is using heavy handed rhetoric and threatening president Obama's political life with the controversial TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline.  The pipeline would carry "tar sands" oil from Canada through the central U.S. to the Gulf Coast, crossing many fragile natural features, including the Ogalla Aquifer, which yields approximately 30 percent of the nation's fresh water, according to the U.S. Geological Survey .  Support and opposition of the pipeline is wholly bipartisan, with oil industry friendly republicans and union supporting democrats in favor of construction, while environmentally conscious democrats and native Midwestern republican ranchers and farmers opposed.

The Tin Foil Hat: Wierd Blog Posts of the Week 12/24/2011 - 12/31/2011

Top Ten Cryptozoology Stroies of 2011

UFO Descends Over Taipei, Taiwain on New Years - Multiple Angles

Indeffinate detention of American citizens without due process now technically legal

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

The United States may have completely ignored the advice of one of her founding fathers with the passage of the NDAA act, which contains language that, under the auspices of protecting America from terrorism, would allow the government to indefinitely detain anyone, including American citizens, without due process or trial.  President Obama expressed "serious reservations" according to an article by the Associated Press , but ended up signing the bill into law anyway on New Year's Eve, December 31st, 2011.