The Rabbit Hole

Nazareth Suburb's Mayor: Christmas Trees "Provocative"

2010-12-27T11:34:00.002+01:00

[Ma'an News Agency | Thursday, 23 December, 2010.]
The mayor of a Jewish suburb of Nazareth sparked outrage on Wednesday after refusing to allow Christmas trees to be placed in town squares, calling them provocative.

Predominantly Jewish Nazareth Illit, or Upper Nazareth, is adjacent to Nazareth, where Christians believe Jesus spent much of his life. It has a sizable Arab Christian minority, as does mostly Muslim Nazareth itself.

"The request of the Arabs to put Christmas trees in the squares in the Arab quarter of Nazareth Illit is provocative," Mayor Shimon Gapso told A.F.P.

"Nazareth Illit is a Jewish city and it will not happen -- not this year and not next year, so long as I am a mayor," he said of the northern Israeli town.

"Nazareth is right next door and they can do what they want there," he said.

His decision angered the town's Arab and Christian minority, who accused him of racism.

"The racism of not putting a tree up is nothing compared to the real racism that we experience here," said Aziz Dahdal, a 35-year-old Christian resident of Nazareth Illit.

"When we asked the mayor to put up a Christmas tree in the Arab neighbourhoods of Nazareth Illit he said this is a Jewish town, not a mixed town," said Shukri Awawdeh, a Muslim Arab member of the town council.

Awawdeh said there were 10,000 Arabs, most of them Christian in the town and there was also a large community of Christian Russian immigrants.

"We told him that decorating a tree is just to share the happiness and cheer with other people in the town," said Awawdeh.

"People here, Jews, Christians and Muslims live in harmony, but when the mayor does something like that, it does not make things better."

Christmas festivities in the Holy Land focus on the West Bank town of Bethlehem, where Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus in a manger. But there are also events in Nazareth, where Jesus is believed to have grown up with his mother Mary and her husband Joseph. [Link.]

Palestinian Community In U.S.: Abbas Only Met With Jewish Community

2010-09-30T17:01:00.003+02:00

[Palestinian Information Center | Saturday, 25 September, 2010.}
The Palestinian community in the US has denied that de facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas had met with its members, affirming that he only met with a limited number of PA employees other than meeting the Jewish community.

The Palestinian community said in a statement on Saturday that the alleged meeting with Abbas never happened.

"We challenge the PA in Ramallah to declare the name of one Palestinian institution or society that participated in this alleged meeting," it said.

The community noted that the only meeting for Abbas with Palestinians was the one held in New York with very few people most of whom working with the PA missions in New York and Washington. It added that the only community Abbas met with during his visit was the Jewish community in the presence of representative of 50 Zionist, racist organizations.

The community declared its objection to the policies of Abbas, describing them as "catastrophic".

It condemned the detention of innocent people in the West Bank and the security coordination with the Israeli occupation authority, adding that it would not meet with Abbas or provide a cover for his capitulatory policy. (Link.

Palestinian Community In U.S.: Abbas Only Met With Jewish Community

2010-09-30T17:01:00.000+02:00

Surrogate Carrying Osama bin Laden's Grandchildren Attacked, Miscarries

2010-09-17T12:52:00.001+02:00

[Gulf News | Monday, 13 September, 2010.]
The British surrogate mother who was carrying Osama Bin Laden's twin grandchildren has suffered a miscarriage.

Louise Pollard was ten weeks into her pregnancy when she lost the children conceived by IVF using the sperm of Bin Laden's son Omar and the eggs of his 54-year-old British wife, Zaina, who was previously known as Jane Felix-Browne.

Pollard was travelling in Syria with Zaina when she was attacked by two men as she walked alone from a cafe to her accommodation late at night.

Her assailants did not speak, but punched her to the ground, and then ran away, leaving her with a black eye and bruising on her arms and legs.

Pollard, a 24-year-old personal assistant from Bristol, managed to get back to her apartment, and later went to hospital where a scan showed she had lost the babies.

"There was no heartbeat," said Pollard, who has previously had two babies for British couples.

She said she has no idea of the motivation for the attack, but says she has been recognised both in the UK and in the Middle East as the Western woman carrying Bin Laden children.

Since her ordeal, which she did not report to the police, Pollard has decided not to attempt another surrogacy for the Bin Ladens, who have now separated amid claims that Omar has developed mental illness.

But she insists her decision has nothing to do with the couple's connection to the world's most wanted terrorist.

(Full story here.)

9/11 Mysteries: Demolitions

2010-09-11T11:49:00.000+02:00

(With Dutch subtitles.)

Ask Your Doctor

2010-03-17T11:44:00.004+01:00

Very funny (but deadly serious) spoof of drug commercials.

Video posted by NealF @ YouTube.
(Running time: 5m:26s)

Zombies Are Real

2010-03-15T13:14:00.002+01:00

Video posted by hijackednation @ YouTube.
(Running time: 11m:00s)

Holland Proposes Giving Over-70s The Right To Die If They "Consider Their Lives Complete"

2010-03-11T09:59:00.003+01:00

[Daily Mail | Wednesday, 10 March, 2010.]
Assisted suicide for anyone over 70 who has simply had enough of life is being considered in Holland. Non-doctors would be trained to administer a lethal potion to elderly people who "consider their lives complete." The radical move would be a world first and push the boundaries even further in the country that first legalised euthanasia. The Dutch parliament is to debate the measure after campaigners for assisted suicide collected 112,500 signatures in a month.

Euthanasia has been available for the terminally ill in Holland since 2002 in cases of "hopeless and unbearable suffering" certified by two doctors, but this would be a far bigger step. Supporters say it would offer a dignified way to die for those over 70 who just want to give up living, without having to resort to difficult or unreliable solitary suicide methods. They might include widows and widowers overwhelmed by grief, those unwilling to face the frailties of extreme old age or people determined to "get out while they’re ahead" and meet death on their own terms.

The assistants who administered the deadly cocktail of sedatives would need to be certified, campaigners said. And they would have to make sure that patients were not acting on a whim or due to a temporary depression, but from a heartfelt and enduring desire to die.

But critics say there is scope for the elderly to come under untoward pressure from unscrupulous relatives. Many religious groups oppose any form of suicide on principle. And the Royal Dutch Medical Association - which played a key role in supporting the nation's euthanasia law - fears patients would use the policy as a way of getting around their own doctors.

Although Switzerland allows assisted suicide in cases where someone is not terminally ill, the Dutch measure would go further. Several European countries allow some assistance to terminally ill people who wish to die. Belgium has followed the Dutch euthanasia model, while Britain and France allow terminally ill people to refuse treatment but stop short of allowing active euthanasia. Around 2,500 euthanasia cases were reported in the Netherlands in 2009, rising gradually in the past decade as doctors have become more willing to disclose the practice. (Full story here.)

Up To 50% Of Somali Food Aid Is Diverted

2010-03-11T09:52:00.002+01:00

[By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press | Wednesday, 10 March, 2010.]
Up to half the food aid intended for the millions of hungry people in Somalia is being diverted to corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local U.N. workers, according to a U.N. Security Council report.

The report blames the problem on improper food distribution in the Horn of Africa nation, which has been plagued by fighting and humanitarian suffering for nearly two decades, according to a U.N. diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not yet been released.

Transporters in Somalia must truck bags of food through roadblocks manned by a bewildering array of militias, insurgents and bandits. Kidnappings and executions are common and the insecurity makes it difficult for senior U.N. officials to travel to the country to check on procedures. Investigators could end up relying on the same people they are probing to provide protection.

The U.N. diplomat told The Associated Press that "a significant diversion" of food delivered by the U.N. food program is being diverted to cartels who were selling it illegally. The findings of the report were first reported by The New York Times on Tuesday Some 3.7 million people in Somalia - nearly half of the population - need aid. (Full story here.)

Extra Small Condoms For 12-Year-Old Boys Go On Sale In Switzerland

2010-03-10T10:16:00.004+01:00

[By Alexandra Williams, Daily Telegraph | Wednesday, 3 March, 2010.]
Called the Hotshot, the condom has been produced after government research showed 12- to 14-year-olds did not use sufficient protection when having sex. The study, conducted on behalf of the Federal Commission for Children and Youth, interviewed 1,480 people aged 10 to 20. It showed more 12- to 14-year-olds were having sex, in comparison with the 1990s.

The Hotshot condoms, which cost 7fr60 (£4.70) for a packet of six, have been created by Lamprecht A.G., a leading condom manufacturer in Switzerland. The company has said the U.K. would be "top priority" if they expanded abroad, considering that it has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe.

Nysse Norballe, a spokesman for the company, said: "At the moment we are only producing the Hotshot in Switzerland. But the U.K. is certainly a very attractive market since there is a very high rate of underage conception. The U.K. would definitely be top priority if we marketed abroad." (Full story here.)

Michigan Kindergartner Suspended For Making A Gun With His Hand

2010-03-10T09:17:00.004+01:00

[By Brian McVicar, Grand Rapids Press | Thursday, 4 March, 2010.]
To the little boy's mother, it was just a 6-year-old boy playing around. But when Mason Jammer, a kindergarten student at Jefferson Elementary in Ionia, curled his fist into the shape of a gun Wednesday and pointed it at another student, school officials said it was no laughing matter.

They suspended Mason until Friday, saying the behavior made other students uncomfortable, said Erin Jammer, Mason's mother. School officials allege Mason had displayed this kind of behavior for several months, despite numerous warnings. "I do think it's too harsh for a six-year-old," said Jammer, who was previously warned that if Mason continued the practice he would be suspended. "He's six and he just likes to play."

Jammer says her son isn't violent, and there are other, more effective ways of teaching him not to make a gun with his hand. "Maybe what you could do is take his recess away," suggested Jammer, adding her son doesn't have toy guns at home. He's only six and he doesn't understand any of this." (Link.)

The Assassination Of Mahmoud al Mabhouh

2010-03-09T13:39:00.002+01:00

A report on the Australian government's investigation into the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al Mabhouh in Dubai.

(Video running time: 4m:00s)

5 Ways Your Television Is Slowly Killing You

2010-03-08T10:38:00.003+01:00

[By Linda Carroll, MSNBC | Friday, 5 March, 2010.]
You’ve accepted the idea that TV makes you dumber. You know there are lots of more edifying things you could be doing with your time than cheering on the contestants on "Survivor."

And unless you’re working out to an exercise video, you know those hours sprawled out in front of the screen are going to make you fatter - not to mention the impact of all that junk food you’ve been tempted to scarf down during the commercial breaks.

But you’ll be surprised to learn the host of other bad things TV can do to you.

1. TV makes you deader.
TV-viewing is a pretty deadly pastime, research suggests. No matter how much time you spend in the gym, every hour you spend in front of the TV increases your risk of dying from heart disease, according to a recent report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Australian researchers studied 8,800 adult men and women for an average of six years and found that every hour spent in front of the TV translated into an 11 percent increase in the risk of death from any cause, a 9 percent increase in the risk of death from cancer and an 18 percent increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. So, compared to people who watched less than two hours of TV a day, those who watched four or more hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from any cause and an 80 percent higher risk of death due to cardiovascular disease. And that was true even among people who didn’t smoke, were thin, ate healthy diets and had low blood pressure and cholesterol.

2. TV makes you drunker.
TV may make you drink more. When it comes to drinking, we’re apparently very susceptible to what we see on TV, according to a report published in Alcohol and Alcoholism. To discover whether what we view actually affects drinking habits, researchers rounded up 80 male university students between the ages of 18 and 29 and plunked them down in a bar-like setting where the students were allowed to watch movies and commercials on TV. The researchers found that men who watched films and commercials in which alcohol was prominently featured immediately reached for a glass of beer or wine and drank an average of 1.5 glasses more than those who watched films and commercials in which alcohol played a less prominent role.

3. TV can make your kid pregnant.
Teens who watched a lot of TV that included sexual content were twice as likely to get pregnant, according to a study published in Pediatrics. Once a year for three years, Rand Corporation researchers surveyed 1,461 youngsters — ages 12 to 17 at the beginning of the study — about TV-viewing habits and sexual behavior. Boys were asked if they had ever gotten a girl pregnant and girls were asked if they had ever been pregnant. To get a handle on how much sexually charged TV kids were watching, the researchers asked teens if and how often they viewed 23 specific programs.

Another study showed that kids who watch two or more hours of TV a day start having sex earlier, according to a report in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Researchers followed 4,808 students for a year. The kids — all ages 15 or younger — had never had sex at the beginning of the study. Among kids with parents who disapproved of teen sex, those who watched two or more hours of TV per day were 72 percent more likely to start having sex by the end of the study. The researchers said they weren’t surprised to find no TV effect among kids with parents who didn’t care about teen sex since those kids were at high risk of early sex anyway.

4. TV weakens your bones.
Hours spent watching TV can set a kid up for later problems with brittle bones, according to a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics. Until we hit 25 or so, we accumulate bone in a kind of savings account. The more bone we build when we’re younger, the less likely we are to develop the brittle-bone disease osteoporosis.

To see whether TV watching might impact kids’ bone growth, researchers followed 214 3-year-olds for four years. The children’s height and weight were checked every four months, along with their activity levels. At each checkup, parents were asked about their kids’ TV-viewing habits. The more TV kids watched, the less bone they grew, regardless of how active they were at other times.

5. TV makes you less engaging.
A recent study found that when the TV is on — even if it’s just in the background — parents interact less with their kids. To learn more about TV’s effects, researchers brought 51 infants and toddlers, each accompanied by a parent, to a university child study center, according to the report published Child Development. Parents and kids were observed for half an hour in a playroom without a TV and then for a half hour with the TV tuned to an adult program such as "Jeopardy!" When the TV was on, parents spent about 20 percent less time talking to their children. And when parents did pay attention to their kids, the quality of the interactions was lower: With a program on in the background, parents were less active, attentive and responsive to their youngsters.

(Link.)

New Study Links Violent Video Games With Violent Behavior

2010-03-08T09:53:00.004+01:00

[By Jennifer LaRue Huget, Washington Post | Monday, 1 March, 2010.]
A study in the March issue of Psychological Bulletin, a journal of the American Psychological Association, shows that playing violent video games increases violent thinking, attitudes and behaviors among players. And it does nothing to promote positive social behaviors.

Psychologist Craig Anderson of Iowa State University and his team analyzed existing studies of 130,000 people from the U.S., Europe and Japan. His findings held for players in Western and Eastern cultures, for male and female players and for players of various ages. They also contradict some earlier studies, whose findings the current authors say are tainted by "selection bias" - the method by which they selected studies to analyze.

The new study notes that while violence in movies and TV shows has long been examined for its potential impact on viewers' proclivity for violence, video gaming, a much newer phenomenon, has not yet been so fully explored.

In its review of data, the new research found that exposure to violent video games was associated with aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition and aggressive "affect." It desensitizes users and is associated with lack of empathy and a lack of "prosocial" behavior. (Full story here.)

From Gameboy To Armageddon

2010-03-08T09:44:00.004+01:00

[BBC Radio 3 | Sunday, 21 February, 2010.]
War games are as old as military history but something has begun to change as war and play converge to create what some call the "military entertainment complex." Ken Hollings pushes the button on this latest phenomenon.

Men have always played at and with soldiers. Gaming has been an essential part of warfare and by the 19th Century it had been developed into the sophisticated "Kriegspiel," derived from the still influential theories of Von Clausewitz and played at military colleges in both Europe and America. These war games then became real games for table-top strategists by the early 20th Century. A remarkable synergy developed between colleges of war and devisers of such games, particularly in America. And in the think tanks of the RAND Corp. gaming theory was used intensively to plot the future of war and nuclear destruction.

But from the late 1970s computer strategy games started to form a powerful loop between gamers and warriors. With the creation of the SIMNET, the military began to develop hugely powerful simulators and now convergence is taking place between military and the entertainment industry. Some say we are living in what Stanford Professor Tim Lenoir has called "the military entertainment complex," with military functions increasingly taking place online, using simulation for training and in the treatment of soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. But is this new realm of war truly a revolution - the shape of things to come - or just more virtual bangs for real bucks? (Link.)

Majority Of Americans Believe Government A Threat To Citizens' Rights

2010-03-08T09:32:00.001+01:00

[By Paul Steinhauser, CNN | Friday, 26 February, 2010.]
A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.

Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government's become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree.

The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans.

According to CNN poll numbers released Sunday, Americans overwhelmingly think that the U.S. government is broken - though the public overwhelmingly holds out hope that what's broken can be fixed.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted February 12-15, with 1,023 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall survey. (Link.)

War In The E.U. As Herman Van Rompuy Makes Power Grab

2010-03-08T09:26:00.000+01:00

[By Bruno Waterfield, Daily Telegraph | Friday, 26 February, 2010.]
National leaders are concerned Mr. Van Rompuy, who had been expected to take a back seat role, is attempting to expand his position. Germany and France backed his candidature on the understanding he would act as an E.U. "chairman" rather than a high-profile leader.

But the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty has triggered bitter in-fighting between Mr. Van Rompuy, Baroness Ashton, the foreign minister, and the Commission over who is in charge of representing Europe on the global stage.

Diplomats are increasingly worried that amid the turf wars there is a danger of Brussels "mission creep" as squabbling EU chiefs try to enlarge their empires at the expense of each other and national sovereignty. National governments, led by Germany, are incensed by an attempt by Mr. Van Rompuy to take on new powers he claims were agreed at an informal summit two weeks ago.

There has been particular anger over a letter he sent to E.U. leaders following the chaotic Feb 11 meeting in Brussels that was dominated by the economic crisis in Greece and talk of a European bail-out. Despite the fact that the meeting only lasted three hours, with Greece the main topic of discussion, Mr Van Rompuy insisted that eight to ten specific points were agreed, a view that has been disputed by most E.U. leaders.

One of the points of the classified letter, seen by The Daily Telegraph, gives Mr. Van Rompuy the right to lead the E.U.'s negotiating team at G20 summits, usurping the role of national governments and the Commission. "There was agreement to take better account of the international dimension. This includes a thorough preparation of the E.U. position for G20, allowing me to effectively and forcefully represent the E.U.'s positions in this important forum," said the letter.

One senior E.U. diplomat said the Lisbon Treaty clearly ruled Mr Van Rompuy out of a major G20 role. "G20 is primarily for national governments. The Commission represents the E.U. on economic or financial matters covered by the internal market," he said. "Van Rompuy only speaks if there is a foreign policy dimension, which is very unlikely. This was not discussed, let alone agreed." (Full story here.)

Austin Suicide Attack: Not A Muslim? Not Terrorism!

2010-03-05T11:10:00.000+01:00

(Video running time: 3m:03s)

Obama Rebranding (Not Ending) Iraq War

2010-02-26T11:16:00.004+01:00

[Agence France-Presse | Thursday, 18 February, 2010.]
President Barack Obama's administration plans to rebrand its military operation in Iraq "Operation New Dawn" beginning September 1, a Pentagon memorandum shows.

The memo, signed by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, shows the Pentagon approving a request to switch the name of the U.S. military effort in Iraq from its current designation - "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

"The request... is approved to take effect 1 September 2010, coinciding with the change of mission for U.S. forces in Iraq.

"Aligning the name change with the change of mission sends a strong signal that Operation Iraqi Freedom has ended and our forces are operating under a new mission," Gates wrote in the memo, first reported by ABC News.

The document, which is addressed to General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, adds the rebranding "presents opportunities to synchronize strategic communication initiatives... and recognize our evolving relationship with the government of Iraq."

The move quickly drew criticism from Military Families United, a national security pressure group.

"You cannot end a war simply by changing its name," Brian Wise, the group's executive director, said in a statement.

"Despite the administration's efforts to spin realities on the ground, their efforts do not change the situation at hand in Iraq.

"Operational military decisions should not be made for purposes of public relations but should be made in the best interests of our nation, the troops on the ground and their families back home." (Full story here.)

Ron Paul Wins C.P.A.C. Straw Poll

2010-02-26T11:02:00.006+01:00

[By Peter Hamby, CNN | Friday, 20 February, 2010.]
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, a stalwart foe of government spending, won a blowout victory Saturday in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference presidential straw poll.

With participants naming "reducing the size of federal government" as their top issue, the 74-year old libertarian hero captured 31 percent of the 2,400 votes cast in the annual contest, usually seen as a barometer of how the G.O.P.'s conservative wing regards their potential presidential candidates.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished second with 22 percent of the vote, ending a three-year winning streak at C.P.A.C. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin finished third with 7 percent of the vote, followed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 6 percent and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence at 5 percent.

Reflecting the college atmosphere of the annual event, young people dominated the voting: 54 percent of participants were between the ages of 18 and 25. (Full story here.)

Nigel Farage Rips E.U. President

2010-02-26T10:49:00.001+01:00

Video posted by EUXTV @ YouTube.
(Running time: 1m:24s)

Struck In A Rut? That Might Be Because Our Movements Are 90% Predictable

2010-02-26T10:25:00.005+01:00

[By Fiona MacRae, Daily Mail | Thursday, 25 February, 2010.]
Like to think of yourself as a spontaneous sort? You are so predictable. We are such creatures of habit that scientists can accurately predict where we'll go and when we'll go there more than 90 per cent of the time. Most of us can usually be found within one to three miles of our home. Even those with a long commute generally do the same things at around the same time each day, the journal Science reports.

In other words, most of us are stuck in a rut. Researcher Albert-Laszlo Barbasi said: "If you drive for one and a half hours to work and back, three hours of your day are taken away so you have little freedom to be spontaneous. You are working, and travelling home and pretty much crashing and preparing for the next day." Globetrotters also follow a well-trodden path, tending to follow familiar routes, rather than visiting new places.

Professor Barbasi, of the respected Harvard Medical School in the U.S., analysed three months of mobile phone data from 50,000 people. Logged by billing companies when they made or received calls and text, it allowed the researchers to pinpoint their location to within two miles. The researchers used this information to build up a pattern of each person's movements during the week and at weekends. They found they could predict where a person would be at given time and get it right up to 93 per cent of the time. Even the most spontaneous sorts were 80 per cent predictable.

Professor Barbasi said: "We are far more predictable than we actually think. You have a regular schedule but think there are people out there who are less regular and are very spontaneous. What we are finding is there aren't those spontaneous people out there. Each of us are very regular and that regularity makes us very predictable. It seems to be something innate to how we are and how we like to behave. On the weekend and during the week, old or young, female or male, we all display a very high degree of predictability." (Full story here.)

Students Spied On With School-Issued Laptops

2010-02-22T22:10:00.002+01:00

[By Steve Watson, Infowars.net | Thursday, 18 February, 2010.]
A school district in Philadelphia faces a class action lawsuit after it allegedly issued laptop computers to 1,800 students across two high schools and then used concealed cameras within the machines to spy on students and their parents without their knowledge or consent.

Lower Merion School District in the suburbs of Philadelphia faces charges of invasion of privacy, theft of private information, and unlawful interception for providing computers with webcams that were remotely and covertly turned on by administrators.

The suit was brought on behalf of all the students and their parents after it was revealed that the computers had been used to monitor students both at school and at home.

The case, Blake J. Robbins v. Lower Merion School District (PDF), was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

According to the filing, the actions of the school district were exposed when one of the school’s vice principals disciplined Mr Robbins’ son for “improper behavior in his home,” and used a photo taken from the computer camera as evidence.

"Michael Robbins thereafter verified, through Ms. Matsko, (an assistant principal) that the school district in fact has the ability to remotely activate the webcam contained in a student's personal laptop computer issued by the school district at any time it chose and to view and capture whatever images were in front of the webcam, all without the knowledge, permission or authorization of any persons then and there using the laptop computer." the complaint states.

"Additionally, by virtue of the fact that the webcam can be remotely activated at any time by the school district, the webcam will capture anything happening in the room in which the laptop computer is located, regardless of whether the student is sitting at the computer and using it." it continues.

Nowhere in any "written documentation accompanying the laptop," or in any "documentation appearing on any Web site or handed out to students or parents concerning the use of the laptop," was any reference made "to the fact that the school district has the ability to remotely activate the embedded webcam at any time the school district wished to intercept images from that webcam of anyone or anything appearing in front of the camera," the complaint also states.

The computers were provided via an initiative funded by state and federal grants to the students at Harriton High School in Rosemont, PA and Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, PA.

According to comments by the district's Superintendent, Christopher McGinley, the initiative "enhances opportunities for ongoing collaboration, and ensures that all students have 24/7 access to school based resources and the ability to seamlessly work on projects and research at school and at home."

What McGinley failed to add was that it also provided the school with 24/7 access to the students and their families.

The plaintiffs also note in their complaint that "the laptops at issue were routinely used by students and family members while at home," and that "many of the images captured and intercepted may consist of images of minors and their parents or friends in compromising or embarrassing positions, including, but not limited to, in various stage of dress or undress."

The plaintiffs are seeking damages in respect of not only a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, but also a host of other federal and state privacy laws, including the Electronic Communication Privacy Act, the Computer Fraud Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act, and Pennsylvania common law. (Link.)

Iraqi Émigrés Learn Horror Of West's Child "Protection" Services

2010-02-17T09:39:00.005+01:00

(Video running time: 5m:16s)

Disgraced Former C.R.U. Director Admits: There Has Been No Global Warming Since 1995

2010-02-16T12:05:00.003+01:00

[By Jonathan Petre, Mail On Sunday | Sunday, 14 February, 2010.]
The academic at the centre of the "Climategate" affair, whose raw data is crucial to the theory of climate change, has admitted that he has trouble "keeping track" of the information.

Colleagues say that the reason Professor Phil Jones has refused Freedom of Information requests is that he may have actually lost the relevant papers.

Professor Jones told the BBC yesterday there was truth in the observations of colleagues that he lacked organisational skills, that his office was swamped with piles of paper and that his record keeping is "not as good as it should be."

The data is crucial to the famous "hockey stick graph" used by climate change advocates to support the theory.

Professor Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.

And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no "statistically significant" warming.

The admissions will be seized on by sceptics as fresh evidence that there are serious flaws at the heart of the science of climate change and the orthodoxy that recent rises in temperature are largely man-made.

Professor Jones has been in the spotlight since he stepped down as director of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit after the leaking of emails that sceptics claim show scientists were manipulating data.

The raw data, collected from hundreds of weather stations around the world and analysed by his unit, has been used for years to bolster efforts by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to press governments to cut carbon dioxide emissions. (Link.)

Sea Level Blunder Enrages Dutch Minister

2010-02-16T10:14:00.004+01:00

[By Rob Kievit, Radio Netherlands Worldwide | Thursday, 4 February, 2010.]
A United Nations report wrongly claimed that more than half of the Netherlands is currently below sea level. In fact, just 20 percent of the country consists of polders that are pumped dry, and which are at risk of flooding if global warming causes rising sea levels. Dutch Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer has ordered a thorough investigation into the quality of the climate reports which she uses to base her policies on.

Climate-sceptic M.P.s were quick to react. Conservative M.P. Helma Neppérus and Richard de Mos from the right-wing Freedom Party want the minister to explain to parliament how these figures were used to decide on national climate policy. "This may invalidate all claims that the last decades were the hottest ever," Mr. De Mos said.

The incorrect figures which date back to 2007 were revealed on Wednesday by the weekly Vrij Nederland. The Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency told reporters that the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (I.P.C.C.) added together two figures supplied by the agency: the area of the Netherlands which is below sea-level and the area which is susceptible to flooding. In fact, these areas overlap, so the figures should not have been combined to produce the 55 percent quoted by the I.P.C.C.

The discovery comes just a week after a prediction about glaciers in the Himalayas proved wrong. Rather than disappearing by 2035, as I.P.C.C. reports claim, the original research underlying the report predicted the mountain ice would last until 2350. (Full story here.)

German Homeschoolers' Political Asylum in America Exposes The E.U. Gulag

2010-02-16T10:09:00.001+01:00

[By Gerald Warner, Daily Telegraph | Monday, 1 February, 2009.]
The case of the homeschooling couple from Germany who were granted political asylum in the United States, about which Ed West blogged recently, becomes even more interesting if one reads the remarks of the man who granted the Romeikes asylum, Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman, of Memphis, Tennessee.

Burman said: “We can’t expect every country to follow our constitution. The world might be a better place if it did. However, the rights being violated here are basic human rights that no country has a right to violate.” He observed: “Homeschoolers are a particular social group that the German government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution… therefore, they are eligible for asylum…”

Those last remarks might have been uttered in 1933. Do we truly realise the significance of what has happened? Do we understand that, as citizens of the European Union, we now belong to a totalitarian state from which fleeing citizens are being granted political asylum in the United States? Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, tyranny is back in business in Germany.

Judge Burman added that the scariest thing about this case was the motivation of the German government. He said that, rather than being concerned with the welfare of the children, it was trying to stamp out parallel societies. Making his court order, the judge voiced concern that, although Germany was a democratic country and an ally, the policy of persecuting homeschoolers was “repellent to everything we believe as Americans.”

That offers a useful insight into how Americans, living in a free country, view the creeping totalitarianism that has engulfed Europe. For this is not just a German issue: we are all helots under state control. Why did the German homeschoolers not seek political asylum in Britain? Because our rulers subscribe to the same tyrannical statist philosophy, is the answer. Every possible obstacle is put in the way of homeschooling parents in Britain.

The mentality is that the state – not parents – is the natural controller and shaper of children’s lives and beliefs. When a schoolgirl can be given an abortion without her parents’ knowledge, we know that, while public utilities may have been privatised, children have been nationalised. The Romeikes who fled from Germany objected to their children being forced to follow a curriculum that they believed was anti-Christian. The same would apply in British state schools, where pornographic sex education is increasingly being made compulsory.

Is that a new idea? Not at all. It was first implemented as government policy in 1919, during the short-lived communist dictatorship of Bela Kun in Hungary, when Georg Lukacs, as deputy commissar for “culture,” enforced his system of Cultural Terrorism, force-feeding children pornographic sex education, teaching them to laugh at their parents and at monogamy and to reject the family and religion. Lukacs was a founder of the Frankfurt School of Marxism, later popularised by Herbert Marcuse, whose demented notions are today called Political Correctness and, as such, have colonised Western governments.

It takes the forthright remarks of an American judge, in a country where the culture war has not yet been lost, to bring home to us in Europe that we already inhabit the Gulag. The Berlin Wall did not “fall” – it was just moved further west. (Link.)

Queens Student Arrested For Doodling On Desk (With Erasable Ink)

2010-02-16T10:03:00.006+01:00

(Video running time: 1m:38s)

Americans Arrested Taking Children Out Of Haiti

2010-02-01T10:10:00.005+01:00

[By Frank Bajak, Associated Press | Monday, 1 February, 2010.]
Ten American Baptists were being held in the Haitian capital Sunday after trying to take 33 children out of Haiti at a time of growing fear about possible child trafficking.

The church members, most from Idaho, said they were trying to rescue abandoned and traumatized children. Officials said they lacked the proper documents when they were arrested Friday night in a bus with earthquake survivors 2 months to 12 years old.

The group said its Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission was an effort to help abandoned children by taking them to an orphanage across the border in the Dominican Republic.

"In this chaos the government is in right now, we were just trying to do the right thing," the group's spokeswoman, Laura Silsby, said at the judicial police headquarters in the capital, where the Americans were being held. Haiti's justice secretary, Amarick Louis, said a commission would meet today to determine whether the group would go before a judge.

No charges had been filed.

The children, some of them sick and dehydrated, were taken to an orphanage run by Austrian-based S.O.S. Children's Villages, which was trying to find their families, said a spokesman there, George Willeit.

"One child, an 8- or 9-year-old, said she thought she was going to some sort of summer or vacation camp in the Dominican Republic," Willeit said.

The members of the Baptist group planned to bus up to 100 kids to a 45-room hotel at Cabarete, a beach resort in the Dominican Republic that they were converting into an orphanage, Silsby said.

Social Affairs Minister Yves Cristallin said they were suspected of taking part in an illegal adoption scheme.

Following the quake, children's rights groups have urged a halt to adoptions until it can be determined that the children have no relatives who can raise them.

Many children in Haitian orphanages have parents who cannot afford to care for them.

The government now requires Prime Minister Max Bellerive to personally authorize the departure of any child as a way to prevent child trafficking - though that has not stopped the flow of orphans abroad. (Link.)

Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From A.I.G. Shadows

2010-02-01T09:23:00.006+01:00

[By David Reilly, Bloomberg.com | Friday, 29 January, 2010.]
The idea of secret banking cabals that control the country and global economy are a given among conspiracy theorists who stockpile ammo, bottled water and peanut butter. After this week’s congressional hearing into the bailout of American International Group Inc., you have to wonder if those folks are crazy after all.

Wednesday’s hearing described a secretive group deploying billions of dollars to favored banks, operating with little oversight by the public or elected officials.

We’re talking about the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose role as the most influential part of the federal-reserve system - apart from the matter of A.I.G.’s bailout - deserves further congressional scrutiny.

The New York Fed is in the hot seat for its decision in November 2008 to buy out, for about $30 billion, insurance contracts A.I.G. sold on toxic debt securities to banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank A.G., among others. That decision, critics say, amounted to a back-door bailout for the banks, which received 100 cents on the dollar for contracts that would have been worth far less had A.I.G. been allowed to fail.

That move came a few weeks after the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department propped up A.I.G. in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s own mid-September bankruptcy filing.

Saving the System

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was head of the New York Fed at the time of the A.I.G. moves. He maintained during Wednesday’s hearing that the New York bank had to buy the insurance contracts, known as credit default swaps, to keep A.I.G. from failing, which would have threatened the financial system.

The hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also focused on what many in Congress believe was the New York Fed’s subsequent attempt to cover up buyout details and who benefited.

By pursuing this line of inquiry, the hearing revealed some of the inner workings of the New York Fed and the outsized role it plays in banking. This insight is especially valuable given that the New York Fed is a quasi-governmental institution that isn’t subject to citizen intrusions such as freedom of information requests, unlike the Federal Reserve.

This impenetrability comes in handy since the bank is the preferred vehicle for many of the Fed’s bailout programs. It’s as though the New York Fed was a black-ops outfit for the nation’s central bank.

Geithner’s Bosses

The New York Fed is one of 12 Federal Reserve Banks that operate under the supervision of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, chaired by Ben Bernanke. Member-bank presidents are appointed by nine-member boards, who themselves are appointed largely by other bankers.

As Representative Marcy Kaptur told Geithner at the hearing: “A lot of people think that the president of the New York Fed works for the U.S. government. But in fact you work for the private banks that elected you.”

And yet the New York Fed played an integral role in the government’s bailout of banks, often receiving surprisingly free rein to act as it saw fit.

Consider A.I.G. Let’s take Geithner at his word that a failure to resolve the insurer’s default swaps would have led to financial Armageddon. Given the stakes, you might think Geithner would have coordinated actions with then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Yet Paulson testified that he wasn’t in the loop.

“I had no involvement at all, in the payment to the counterparties, no involvement whatsoever,” Paulson said.

Bernanke’s Denials

Fed Chairman Bernanke also wasn’t involved. In a written response to questions from Representative Darrell Issa, Bernanke said he “was not directly involved in the negotiations” with A.I.G.’s counterparty banks.

You have to wonder then who really was in charge of our nation’s financial future if A.I.G. posed as grave a threat as Geithner claimed.

Questions about the New York Fed’s accountability grew after Geithner on Nov. 24, 2008, was named by then-President- elect Barack Obama to be Treasury Secretary. Geither said he recused himself from the bank’s day-to-day activities, even though he never actually signed a formal letter of recusal.

That left issues related to disclosures about the deal in the hands of the bank’s lawyers and staff, rather than a top executive. Those staffers didn’t want details of the swaps purchase to become public.

New York Fed staff and outside lawyers from Davis Polk & Wardell edited A.I.G. communications to investors and intervened with the Securities and Exchange Commission to shield details about the buyout transactions, according to a report by Issa.

That the New York Fed, a quasi-governmental body, was able to push around the S.E.C., an executive-branch agency, deserves a congressional hearing all by itself.

Later, when it became clear information would be disclosed, New York Fed legal group staffer James Bergin e-mailed colleagues saying: “I have to think this train is probably going to leave the station soon and we need to focus our efforts on explaining the story as best we can. There were too many people involved in the deals - too many counterparties, too many lawyers and advisors, too many people from A.I.G. - to keep a determined Congress from the information.”

Think of the enormity of that statement. A staffer at a body with little public accountability and that exists to serve bankers is lamenting the inability to keep Congress in the dark.

This belies the culture of secrecy obviously pervasive within the New York Fed. Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns noted during the hearing that the bank initially refused to disclose even the names of other banks that benefited from its actions, arguing this information would somehow harm A.I.G.

"Penchant for Secrecy"

“In fact, when the information was finally released, under pressure from Congress, nothing happened,” Towns said. “It had absolutely no effect on A.I.G.’s business or financial condition. But it did have an effect on the credibility of the Federal Reserve, and it called into question the Fed’s penchant for secrecy.”

Now, I’m not saying Congress should be meddling in interest-rate decisions, or micro-managing bank regulation. Nor do I think we should all don tin-foil hats and start ranting about the Trilateral Commission.

Yet when unelected and unaccountable agencies pick banking winners while trying to end-run Congress, even as taxpayers are forced to lend, spend and guarantee about $8 trillion to prop up the financial system, our collective blood should boil. (Link.)

CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ARREST OF 5 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES FOR TREASON

2010-02-01T09:13:00.002+01:00

[By Gordon Duff, Veterans Today | Friday, 22 January, 2010.]
Five members of the Supreme Court declared that a “corporation” is a person, not a “regular person” but one above all natural laws, subject to no God, no moral code but one with unlimited power over our lives, a power awarded by judges who seem themselves as grand inquisitors in an meant to hunt down all heretics who fail to serve their god, the god of money.

Their ruling has made it legal for foreign controlled corporations to flush unlimited money into our bloated political system to further corrupt something none of us trust and most of us fear. The “corporation/person” that the 5 judges, the “neo-con” purists, have turned the United States over to isn’t even American. Our corporations, especially since our economic meltdown are owned by China, Russia and the oil sheiks along with a few foreign banks. They don’t vote, pay taxes, fight in wars, need dental care, breathe air, drive cars or send children to school. Anyone who thinks these things are people is insane. Anyone who would sell our government to them is a criminal and belongs in prison. There is nothing in the Constitution that makes this “gang of five” bribe sucking clowns above the law. There is nothing in the Constitution that even mentions corporations much less gives them status equal to or greater than the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government.

The Supreme Court of the United States has no right to breathe human life into investment groups owned by terrorist sympathizers, foreign arms dealers or groups working for the downfall of the United States and everything we believe in, but 5 “justices” have done just that. We now have a new government above our government, above our people, one above any law. Five judges have created institutionalized gangsterism as the new form of government for the United States.

No American soldier can ever go to war fighting for a Chinese hedge fund, a German bank or a Saudi Arabian fertilizer company. Will our new debates in Congress be between members representing the opium warlords against the Colombian cartels? Their cash, which long ago has infiltrated one major corporation or bank after another is now heading for your local representative. How important do you think secure borders for America are for these new political “influencers?” (Full editorial here.)

Osama bin Laden: A Dead Nemesis Perpetuated By The Anglo-American Establishment

2010-01-27T14:05:00.000+01:00

In response to the latest phony bin Laden message i'm posting several news reports, compiled by whatREALLYhappened.com, all of which proclaim the C.I.A. asset's death, or the likelihood thereof, in late 2001. The list contains 13 (count 'em) such reports, here are just a few:

"Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December [2001] and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information. The remnants of Osama's gang, however, have mostly stayed silent, either to keep Osama's ghost alive or because they have no means of communication." [New York Times. July 11, 2002]

Pakistan's Musharraf: bin Laden Probably Dead
Pakistan's president says he thinks Osama bin Laden is most likely dead because the suspected terrorist has been unable to get treatment for his kidney disease. [A Bush administration official] said U.S. intelligence is that bin Laden needs dialysis every three days and "it is fairly obvious that that could be an issue when you are running from place to place, and facing the idea of needing to generate electricity in a mountain hideout." [CNN]

Karzai: bin Laden "Probably" Dead
Osama bin Laden is "probably" dead, but former Taliban leader Mullah Omar is alive, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said. [CNN]

F.B.I.: Bin Laden "Probably" Dead
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's counter-terrorism chief, Dale Watson, says he thinks Osama bin Laden is "probably" dead. [BBC]

"Renal dialysis - talking about hemodialysis - is something that really is reserved for patients in end-stage renal failure. That means their kidneys have just completely shut down. The most common cause of something like that would be something like diabetes and hypertension. Once that's happened, if you're separated from your dialysis machine - and incidentally, dialysis machines require electricity, they're going to require clean water, they're going to require a sterile setting - infection is a huge risk with that. If you don't have all those things and a functioning dialysis machine, it's unlikely that you'd survive beyond several days or a week at the most." [CNN]

"Osama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication," the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the al Qaeda leader. "The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Osama 'alive or dead,'" the source said. [FOX News]

Read all 13 articles here.

George W. Obama

2010-01-21T11:05:00.005+01:00

[By Nat Hentoff, Village Voice | Tuesday, 12 January, 2010.]
Before President Obama, it was grimly accurate to write, as I often did in the Voice, that George W. Bush came into the presidency with no discernible background in constitutional civil liberties or any acquaintance with the Constitution itself. Accordingly, he turned the "war on terror" over to Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld - ardent believers that the Constitution presents grave obstacles in a time of global jihad.

But now, Bush's successor - who actually taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago - is continuing much of the Bush-Cheney parallel government and, in some cases, is going much further in disregarding our laws and the international treaties we've signed.

On January 22, 2009, the apostle of "change we can believe in" proclaimed: "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of my presidency." But four months into his first year in command, Obama instructed his attorney general, Eric Holder, to present in a case, Jewel v. National Security Agency, a claim of presidential "sovereign immunity" that not even Dick Cheney had the arrant chutzpah to propose.

Five customers of AT&T had tried to go to court and charge that the government's omnipresent spy, the N.S.A., had been given by AT&T private information from their phone bills and e-mails. In a first, the Obama administration countered - says Kevin Bankston of Electronic Frontier Foundation, representing these citizens stripped of their privacy - that "the U.S. can never be sued for spying that violated federal surveillance statutes, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or the Wiretap Act."

It is one thing, as the Bush regime did, to spy on us without going to court for a warrant, but to maintain that the executive branch can never even be charged with wholly disregarding our rule of law is, as a number of lawyers said, "breathtaking."

On the other hand, to his credit, Obama's very first executive orders in January included the ending of the C.I.A. "renditions"—kidnapping terrorism suspects off the streets in Europe and elsewhere and sending them for interrogation to countries known to torture prisoners. However, in August, the administration admitted that the C.I.A. would continue to send such manacled suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation.

Why send them to a foreign prison if they're not going to be tortured to extract information for the C.I.A.? Oh, the U.S. would get "guarantees" from these nations that the prisoners would not be tortured. That's the same old cozening song that Condoleezza Rice and George W. Bush used to sing robotically.

President Obama also solemnly pledged to have "the most open administration in American history." Nonetheless, his Justice Department lawyers have already invoked "state secrets" to prevent cases brought by victims of the C.I.A. renditions from being heard.

In February, in a lawsuit brought by five graduates of C.I.A. "black sites" before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, one of the judges, visibly surprised at hearing the new "change" president invoking "state secrets," asked the government lawyer, Douglas Letter, "The change in administration has no bearing on this?"

The answer: "No, your honor." This demand for closing this case before it can be heard had, he said, been "thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration, [and] these are authorized positions."

Said the torture graduates' A.C.L.U. lawyer, Ben Wizner: "Much is at stake in this case. If the C.I.A.'s overboard secrecy claims prevail, torture victims will be denied their say in court solely on the basis of an affidavit submitted by their torturers."

Barack Obama a torturer? Not exactly. In this particular case, the torture policy had been set by George W. Bush. President Obama is just agreeing with his predecessor. Does that make Obama complicit in these acts of torture? You decide.

What is clear, beyond a doubt—and not only in "rendition" cases, but in other Obama validations of what Dick Cheney called the necessary "dark side" of the previous administration—has been stated by Jameel Jaffer. Head of the A.C.L.U.'s National Security Project, he is the co-author of the definitive evidence of the Bush-Cheney war crimes that Obama is shielding, Administration of Torture (Columbia University Press).

After the obedient Holder rang the "state secrets" closing bell in the San Francisco case, Jaffer described the link between the Bush and Obama presidencies: "The Bush administration constructed a legal framework for torture, but the Obama administration is constructing a legal framework for impunity."

It's become an Obama trademark: reversing a vigorous position he had previously taken, as when he signed into law the F.I.S.A. (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Amendments Act that, as a senator, he had vowed to filibuster as a protest against their destruction of the Fourth Amendment. And now he's done it again. His government is free to spy on us at will. (Full story here.)

Obama's First Year In Numbers

2010-01-21T10:53:00.006+01:00

[By Harry Kimball, Newser | Monday, 18 January, 1010.]
President Obama is about to celebrate — maybe that's not the right term — one year in office, and the A.P. takes a look at some numbers that have defined his inaugural turn around the sun.

• The Dow: Perhaps the only clear victory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen from 7,949.09 on Jan. 20, 2009, to close at 10,609.65 on Friday.

• Unemployment: 13 million adults were out of work when Obama took office. That number is now 14.7 million.

• Unemployment rate: Also not good. The number has shot up from 7.7% in January 2009 to 10% last month.

• National debt: Up from $10.6 trillion at the beginning of Obama's presidency to $12.3 trillion.

• Foreclosures: 274,399 properties received foreclosure-related notices in January 2009, which jumped to 349,519 in December.

• Afghan surge: The number of U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan is up to 70,000 as of January 12, up from 34,400 in January of last year.

• Iraq pullout: The number of U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq has fallen to 111,000 from 139,500 last year.

• Travel: Obama has been to 21 foreign countries since he took office, 29 states, taken 10 trips to Camp David, and gone on vacation twice.

For more stats, click here.

(Link.)

Poll: Most Americans Would Curb Civil Liberties To Be Safer

2010-01-21T10:36:00.007+01:00

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -Benjamin Franklin

[By Steven Thomma, McClatchy Newspapers | Tuesday, 12 January, 2010.]
After a recent attempted terrorist attack set off a debate about full-body X-rays at airports, a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll finds that Americans lean more toward giving up some of their liberty in exchange for more safety. The survey found 51 percent of Americans agreeing that "it is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism."

At the same time, 36 percent agreed that "some of the government's proposals will go too far in restricting the public's civil liberties." The rest were undecided or said their opinions would depend on circumstances.

As has happened often since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the renewed debate over security is hinging on the balance between personal liberty and safety. The suspect's success in boarding a Detroit-bound plane allegedly carrying explosives is setting off calls for full body scans, which some find an invasion of privacy, and for new restrictions on passengers once they're in flight.

To stop terrorists, Americans look first to better governmental coordination and use of intelligence, the poll found, with 81 percent calling that effective and only 11 percent calling it ineffective. Body scans or full body searches at airports ranked second, named by 74 percent as an effective way to stop terrorism. Nineteen percent called those measures ineffective. (Full story here.)

First Climategate, Now Glaciergate

2010-01-21T10:27:00.003+01:00

[By Lorne Gunter, National Post | Wednesday, 20 January, 2010.]
Hot on the heels of Climategate - the leaking of thousands of emails and computer files that show many of the world’s leading climate scientists fudging the results of their global warming research and contriving to keep skeptics from being published in academic journals - comes what could be called Glaciergate.

Prominent among the claims of impending environmental disaster in the U.N.’s fourth report on climate change, published in 2007, was the prediction that all of the 15,000 glaciers in the Himalayas could melt away by 2035. That’s just 25 years away. Now the Times of London has discovered that this claim was not based on scientific enquiry, but rather on speculation. And old speculation at that.

In 1999 the magazine The New Scientist interviewed an Indian climatologist named Syed Hasnain. He told reporter Fred Pearce that it was his “speculation” that the Himalayan glaciers would “vanish within 40 years as a result of global warming.” Dr. Hasnain cautioned that the data on which his speculation was based had neither been published nor peer reviewed, Mr. Pearce noted his in his article.

The Hasnain interview, according to the Times on Sunday, remained largely dormant until 2005 when the World Wildlife Fund (W.W.F.) cited it in a report it prepared as a lobbying and fundraising tool. The W.W.F. report was not peer-reviewed either (nor need it have been since it was produced by a special interest group to advance its cause). Nonetheless, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (I.P.C.C.) — the U.N.’s official climate research branch — picked up on the W.W.F.’s untested claim and, apparently without doing any further checking of its own, stated in its 2007 report that “glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world and ... the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high,” above 90%.

This is the report that helped secure the I.P.C.C. its Nobel Prize. It is the report that stated categorically that man-made emissions were the main cause of global warming and climate change. Interestingly, it is also the report over which the Climategate scientists sent one another emails urging the destruction of any communication they had about data given to the I.P.C.C., so freedom of information requests could not force them to turn over files showing how they may have manipulated the outcomes of their research.

Also, interestingly, Dr. Hasnain, the scientist whose initial speculation wound up being cited as unequivocal scientific fact by the I.P.C.C., is now head of the glacier research team at an Indian environmental think-tank run by Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the I.P.C.C.

Indian government scientists helping to assemble the I.P.C.C.’s 2007 report warned the Himalayan glacier claim was shaky. They told the U.N. their own research showed comparatively little glacial retreat. But the I.P.C.C. ignored them. Zealots never want to be confused by the facts.

The I.P.C.C.’s previous report, issued in 2001, displayed a hockey-stick graph in five separate locations. It was the centrepiece of the findings.

The graph, developed by then-University of Virginia researcher Michael Mann, purported to show a millennium of relatively stable global-average temperatures followed by a sharp upward spike in the 20th century. The I.P.C.C. insisted this proved industrialization was dangerously altering the climate.

But two Canadian researchers, Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick, showed the graph was meaningless. Prof. Mann had manipulated over 80% of his data sets to ensure the climate numbers produced a hockey stick with ominous 20th-century temperature gains. Nearly any series of numbers plugged into Prof. Mann’s formula produced the same graph.

That’s two I.P.C.C. reports in a row that have featured later-discredited “proofs” of manmade global warming.

Add to that the fact that many of the emails released in Climategate reveal discussions by leading I.P.C.C. scientists about how to exclude dissidents and skeptics from the body’s report-writing processes and you begin to get a glimpse of how contrived and one-sided the UN’s climate investigations have been.

You also get to see how the “settled” science behind climate change alarmism was arrived at — not by scientific consensus, but rather by manipulation, misrepresentation and strong-arming. (Link.)

Monsanto's G.M.O. Corn Linked To Organ Failure

2010-01-21T10:19:00.000+01:00

[Huffington Post | Tuesday, 12 January, 2010.]
In a study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences, analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers found that agricultural giant Monsanto's G.M. corn is linked to organ damage in rats.

According to the study, which was summarized by Adam Shake at Twilight Earth, "Three varieties of Monsanto's G.M. corn - Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 - were approved for consumption by U.S., European and several other national food safety authorities."

Monsanto gathered its own crude statistical data after conducting a 90-day study, even though chronic problems can rarely be found after 90 days, and concluded that the corn was safe for consumption. The stamp of approval may have been premature, however.

In the conclusion of the I.J.B.S. study, researchers wrote:
"Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each G.M. type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity... These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown."

Monsanto has immediately responded to the study, stating that the research is "based on faulty analytical methods and reasoning and do not call into question the safety findings for these products."

The I.J.B.S. study's author Gilles-Eric Séralini responded to the Monsanto statement on the blog, Food Freedom, "Our study contradicts Monsanto conclusions because Monsanto systematically neglects significant health effects in mammals that are different in males and females eating G.M.O.s, or not proportional to the dose. This is a very serious mistake, dramatic for public health. This is the major conclusion revealed by our work, the only careful reanalysis of Monsanto crude statistical data." (Link.)

Obama Extends Diplomatic Immunity To Interpol By Executive Order

2010-01-13T10:56:00.004+01:00

[The New Media Journal | Tuesday, 22 December, 2009.]
President Obama has issued an amendment to Executive Order 12425, designating the international law enforcement agency Interpol as a "public international organization," thus extending diplomatic immunity to the law enforcement group.

The amendment to the Executive Order, which does not need to be put to the senatorial test of "advise and consent," reads:

"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them."

The text of Section 2(c), which now applies to Interpol states:

"(c) Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable."

Because of this move by the Obama Administration any and all Interpol offices in the United States cannot be searched due to its status as a diplomatically protected organization. It's offices are considered sovereign and its files are not subject to legal request, be it by subpoena or discovery.

The website ObamaFile.com notes, "If any branch of government wants to keep documents out of the hands of the U.S. court system, just hand them over to Interpol until the smoke clears." It added that Interpol can maintain files on U.S. citizens.

Diplomatic immunity, usually reserved for those who work at diplomatic missions throughout the United States, exempts persons and offices directly connected to foreign governments from being subject to search and seizure by law enforcement. It exempts said entities from U.S. taxes and extends this protection to immunity from F.O.I.A. requests.

The amendment to Executive Order 12425, signed by Obama on December 17, 2009, declared Interpol records immune from search and seizure, "The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable."

By virtue of this declaration, any information that Interpol may have on political operatives or elected officials in the U.S. - including S.E.I.U. president Andy Stern, domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and President Obama himself - would be immune from any attempts to bring the information to light.

Editor's Note: How convenient.

(Link.)

Council Of Europe Health Chief Declares H1N1 Pandemic A Fraud

2010-01-13T10:24:00.003+01:00

Video posted by AlJazeeraEnglish @ YouTube.
(Running time: 2m:52s)

Fury At Vaccine Scandal

2010-01-13T10:12:00.001+01:00

Hundreds of public sector workers who claim their lives have been wrecked by vaccines say the Government has abandoned them.

[By Lucy Johnston, Sunday Express | Sunday, 10 January, 2010.]
Up to 200 doctors, nurses, firefighters, prison officers, police officers, forensic scientists and binmen say they have developed serious physical and mental health problems after injections essential for their work over the past 10 years. All have given up their jobs and some are now 60 per cent disabled.

Last night it emerged they are to miss out on payouts, prompting furore among campaigners. More than 150 M.P.s have lent their support to demands for a better deal for the victims.

Olivia Price, of the Vaccine Victim Support Group, said: “These people have given their lives in the service of looking after others and this is how they’re repaid. They’ve lost their careers and are a burden to their families. It is very degrading.”

Frontline health workers, social workers, prison officers and binmen have to be vaccinated against hepatitis B as a condition of their employment.

This is to protect them from contracting potentially fatal conditions from infected blood through needle injuries or physical assaults.

Although they are not legally forced to have the vaccinations, without them they are not allowed to work.

Experts believe the injections caused the health problems, which include chronic fatigue, muscle pain, weakness and cognitive problems, because illnesses developed soon after vaccination. In one case Steve Robinson, a previously fit 43-year-old father of three, was vaccinated six years ago against hepatitis A, B and polio, tetanus and diphtheria as part of his work as a forensic specialist.

Two days later he became ill and developed muscle weakness and chronic fatigue. Mr. Robinson, from Morpeth, Northumberland, is now 60 per cent disabled, which an industrial injuries tribunal put down to the vaccinations.

He has also been diagnosed with macrophagic myofascitis, a disabling condition which may be caused by the aluminum in vaccines. He also suffers from problems that cause him to fall with no warning. He said: “Before I had the vaccinations I was very healthy, a keen mountain biker and enjoyed walking and keeping fit.

“Now I have very poor mobility and walk with sticks, I am constantly tired.” In up to 10 of the 200 cases, Government officials have already ruled, on the balance of probabilities, that the vaccines caused the damage. (Full story here.)

Over 700 Pakistani Civilians Killed In 44 U.S. Drone Strikes In 2009

2010-01-10T12:28:00.008+01:00

[DAWN.com | Saturday, 2 January, 2010.]
Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by U.S. drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.

According to the statistics compiled by Pakistani authorities, the Afghanistan-based U.S. drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting the tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009.

For each al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by U.S. drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities.

The success percentage for the drone hits during 2009 was hardly 11 per cent. On average, 58 civilians were killed in these attacks every month, 12 persons every week and almost two people every day. Most of the attacks were carried out on the basis of human intelligence, reportedly provided by the Pakistani and Afghan tribesmen, who are spying for the U.S.-led allied forces in Afghanistan. (Full story here.)

One In Eight Jailed U.S. Youths Is Sexually Abused

2010-01-10T12:11:00.005+01:00

[Agence France-Presse | Saturday, 9 January, 2010.]
Around one in eight youths in prison in the United States, some as young as 12, have been sexually abused by another inmate or jail staff, a first-ever survey by the Department of Justice shows.

Eighty percent of abuse cases involved a member of the prison staff, and in nearly all those cases, the alleged offenders were women - even though less than half the staff in U.S. juvenile prisons are women - the first National Survey of Youth in Custody report, which was published Thursday, said.

In more than a third of cases where a member of prison staff abused a youngster, force was used or threatened, the survey showed.

Boys, who make up the majority of young prison inmates in the United States, were more likely than girls to report unwanted sexual activity with a member of prison staff: 10.8 percent of the boys surveyed said they had been sexually abused by prison staff compared with less than five percent of girls.

Nearly 9,200 young inmates in 195 large state or privately-owned prisons were interviewed for the survey between June 2008 and April last year.

The youngest of the inmates was 12, the oldest 24, and only a third of the young convicts were older than 18, a statistician at the Department of Justice told A.F.P.

Some 26,550 youngsters are incarcerated in large state or privately run prisons across the United States, according to the report. (Full story here.)

Waves From Body Scanners "Unzip" Double-Stranded DNA

2010-01-10T10:57:00.009+01:00

A new model of the way the THz waves interact with DNA explains how the damage is done and why evidence has been so hard to gather.

[Technology Review | Friday, 30 October, 2009.]
Great things are expected of terahertz waves, the radiation that fills the slot in the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and the infrared. Terahertz waves pass through non-conducting materials such as clothes , paper, wood and brick and so cameras sensitive to them can peer inside envelopes, into living rooms and "frisk" people at distance.

The way terahertz waves are absorbed and emitted can also be used to determine the chemical composition of a material. And even though they don't travel far inside the body, there is great hope that the waves can be used to spot tumours near the surface of the skin.

With all that potential, it's no wonder that research on terahertz waves has exploded in the last ten years or so.

But what of the health effects of terahertz waves? At first glance, it's easy to dismiss any notion that they can be damaging. Terahertz photons are not energetic enough to break chemical bonds or ionise atoms or molecules, the chief reasons why higher energy photons such as x-rays and UV rays are so bad for us. But could there be another mechanism at work?

The evidence that terahertz radiation damages biological systems is mixed. "Some studies reported significant genetic damage while others, although similar, showed none," say Boian Alexandrov at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and a few buddies. Now these guys think they know why.

Alexandrov and co have created a model to investigate how THz fields interact with double-stranded DNA and what they've found is remarkable. They say that although the forces generated are tiny, resonant effects allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. That's a jaw dropping conclusion.

And it also explains why the evidence has been so hard to garner. Ordinary resonant effects are not powerful enough to do do this kind of damage but nonlinear resonances can. These nonlinear instabilities are much less likely to form which explains why the character of THz genotoxic effects are probabilistic rather than deterministic, say the team.

This should set the cat among the pigeons. Of course, terahertz waves are a natural part of environment, just like visible and infrared light. But a new generation of cameras are set to appear that not only record terahertz waves but also bombard us with them. And if our exposure is set to increase, the question that urgently needs answering is what level of terahertz exposure is safe.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0910.5294: DNA Breathing Dynamics in the Presence of a Terahertz Field

(Link.)

Dutch Police Developing Portable Naked Body Scanners

2010-01-10T10:44:00.005+01:00

[By Wilmer Heck, NRC Handelsblad | Friday, 8 January, 2010.]
It might be the wet dream of every police agent. A portable weapons-detector to see through the clothing of people on the street, checking for pistols, knives and brass knuckles. A futuristic fantasy? Actually, the technology already exists. Look at the security scanners installed at Amsterdam’s schiphol airport for flights to the U.S. They were a response to the thwarted bombing of a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. So-called millimetre-wave technology helps the scanners detect banned items, explosive powders and liquids in pockets or on bodies.

So why not develop new, better and smaller versions as quickly as possible? Detectors that can see through people’s clothing from metres away, so portable they can be used on the street. That’s the question that occurred to the police in Rotterdam Rijnmond, the region surrounding Rotterdam.

“A lot of people are walking around in the open with weapons,” says Paul de Kruijf, innovation manager of the police force, who conducts research into how new technology can make police work more effective. “A lot of shootings are taking place. If we want security, mobile weapons detectors can help.”

Rotterdam’s police force has received a government grant to develop a mobile weapons detector worth half a million euros, a government spokesman confirmed. (It has to share the grant with another police organisation.) Now the police are approaching companies, universities and research institutes with a proposal containing the requirements such a device must fulfill and the situations in which it would be applied. The goal is to develop a prototype ready for production and delivery to the Dutch police within three years.

The document, a copy of which has been obtained by NRC Handelsblad, proposes that the mobile scanner be initially introduced mainly as an alternative to random body searches that are now conducted on a regular basis I high-risk areas. “Apart from the fact that many innocent citizens have to undergo body searches (infringement of privacy), thorough body searches take at least two minutes per person,” states the document. The mobile weapons detector is thus good news both on privacy grounds and in saving time, the police argue. (Full story here.)

Russia Bans U.S. Poultry Over Chlorine

2010-01-10T10:38:00.000+01:00

[By Dan Flynn, Food Safety News | Thursday, 7 January, 2010.]
With as much as 30,000 tons of American poultry in the pipeline to Russia, the government in Moscow imposed a ban on future U.S. poultry imports on New Year's Day.

Russia joins the European Union in prohibiting the use of chlorine as an anti-microbial treatment in poultry production, which is commonly used in the United States.

As for birds in the pipeline, U.S.A. Poultry and Egg Export Council President Jim Summers said he thinks based on earlier assurances from the Russian Veterinary Service that poultry in transit will be allowed to enter.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defended the use of chlorine by the American poultry industry.

"Since chlorine has been used as an anti-microbial treatment for more than 25 years, this resolution effectively blocks U.S. exports of poultry to Russia, has a devastating impact on the U.S. poultry industry and trade, and raised the costs of poultry products for Russia's consumers," says U.S.D.A. spokeswoman Katie Gorscak.

She said there is overwhelming scientific evidence that chlorine is safe and effective as a disinfectant for poultry.

American poultry exports to Russia are the biggest component of U.S. agricultural exports to the former Soviet Union. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Russia has grown to become American's tenth largest Ag export market for a total of $1.8 billion in 2008. Poultry was almost half of that amount. (Full story here.)

A Call To The People Of The World To Support Iceland Against Financial Blackmail

2010-01-07T09:03:00.004+01:00

Editor’s note: Birgitta Jónsdóttir is the leader of The Movement, a group within the Icelandic Parliament which has emerged from the mass struggle of Icelanders against the financial blackmail brought to bear against their country by the governments in London and The Hague, with the backing of the I.M.F., in the wake of the insolvency of three large Icelandic banks in the midst of the Lehman Brothers-AIG world financial panic of September-October2008. Birgitta Jonsdottir is a courageous leader in the fight for national sovereignty, independence, dignity, and the economic well-being and future of her country.

[By Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Infowars | Wednesday, 6 January, 2010.]
January 5, 2010 is a historical day for Icelanders. The Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson had a tough decision to make, and difficult choices to make. To listen to the 23% of the nation that signed a petition calling on him to put the state guarantee for 5.4 billion dollars to be paid to the British and Dutch governments to a national referendum. Or to ignore the nation and sign the bill for the government, after the bill had been passed through the parliament with a narrow vote on December 30, 2009 after months of acrimonious debate, tainted with secrecy and dishonesty on the part of the government. Every day throughout the debate, new information would emerge and documents would leak to local media or wikileaks. Yesterday, the people of Iceland finally had a chance to have something to say about their fate, because if the state guarantee is accepted it will mean that Iceland will become like a third world country, spending its G.D.P. largely on paying interest on foreign debt. Last summer, a bill for a state guarantee was passed that had a significant meaning not only for Iceland, but also for other nations around the world facing the same problems of private debt being forced on taxpayers. The bill included a reasonable and fair way of handling the interest and the debt: Icelanders would pay, but only a certain percentage of their G.D.P., and if there were to be another financial black hole, they would not pay during that time. Thus it comes as no surprise that the Dutch and British governments reacted so swiftly with a condemnation of Iceland’s citizens for having the audacity to think they have the right to exercise their democratic rights in deciding for themselves what is in the best economic interests of their nation.

Let’s also put this debt into perspective: 320.000 people live in Iceland, each and every person on the island, including children and the elderly, the disabled and the poor, would have to pay around $30,000 under the bill. The danger if Icelanders will accept this enormous burden is that the entire welfare system would simply collapse with no money to run it. On January 5th the Icelandic president had the courage, backed up by his nation, to place the interest of the people before that of the banks.

Of course there has been an incredible spin by the government controlled media, attacking the nation and the president for this simple and fair demand. The U.K. and Dutch media were also full of misleading news, saying the nation had demanded not to pay, and that we would become isolated and there were even suggestions that the British navy should flex its muscles against this nation which has no military. As if the terrorist act they imposed on us was not enough during the darkest hour of our crises to bring us further down!

The spin is failing because people around the world are finally starting to hear our side of the story, and other suppressed nations have perhaps seen this as a sign that they can also rise up against the corpocracy in our world where those with the money have as a rule always won. Let’s hope the nation will not been coaxed into fear of isolation and let’s hope the people of the world will join in this experiment of letting the interest of the peoples rise above the interests of banks, corporations, and international bullies such as the I.M.F. We need your support. I will soon issue a comprehensive report on the entire Icesave saga.

Love and rage from Iceland,

Birgitta Jónsdóttir

(Link.)

Naked Body Scanners To Be Installed In Canadian Airports

2010-01-07T08:38:00.002+01:00

[Canadian Press | Wednesday, 6 January, 2010.]
Travellers may have to bare it all now that the government has announced plans to install dozens of scanners that can peer through clothing at airports across Canada.

An airport watch system will also be set up to look for suspicious passengers and tab them for further screening.

"We've got to stay ahead of the terrorist elements," Transport Minister John Baird said Tuesday in announcing plans to buy 44 of the $250,000 machines.

The announcement was part of an international response to a Christmas Day attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a jetliner over Michigan by igniting explosives sewn into his underwear.

"We must remain vigilant," Baird said.

The United States has already demanded tighter screening of passengers from 14 countries, including Nigeria. Canada has banned certain types of carry-on bags for U.S.-bound air passengers.

Baird and other government officials couldn't say whether passengers from the 14 countries on the U.S. list will face more checks at Canadian airports.

Britain also wants to deploy the scanners at its airports, but the government has run into opposition over privacy concerns. Canada's privacy commissioner doesn't share those worries. (Full story here.)

Afghan Government Report: Western Troops Executed Eight Children In Kunar Province

2010-01-05T11:18:00.007+01:00

[By Jerome Starkey, London Times | Thursday, 31 December, 2009.]
American-led troops were accused yesterday of dragging innocent children from their beds and shooting them during a night raid that left ten people dead.

Afghan government investigators said that eight schoolchildren were killed, all but one of them from the same family. Locals said that some victims were handcuffed before being killed.

Western military sources said that the dead were all part of an Afghan terrorist cell responsible for manufacturing improvised explosive devices (I.E.D.s,) which have claimed the lives of countless soldiers and civilians.

“This was a joint operation that was conducted against an I.E.D. cell that Afghan and U.S. officials had been developing information against for some time,” said a senior N.A.T.O. insider. But he admitted that “the facts about what actually went down are in dispute.”

The allegations of civilian casualties led to protests in Kabul and Jalalabad, with children as young as 10 chanting “Death to America” and demanding that foreign forces should leave Afghanistan at once.

President Karzai sent a team of investigators to Narang district, in eastern Kunar province, after reports of a massacre first surfaced on Monday.

“The delegation concluded that a unit of international forces descended from a plane Sunday night into Ghazi Khan village in Narang district of the eastern province of Kunar and took ten people from three homes, eight of them school students in grades six, nine and ten, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family, and shot them dead,” a statement on President Karzai’s website said.

Assadullah Wafa, who led the investigation, said that U.S. soldiers flew to Kunar from Kabul, suggesting that they were part of a special forces unit.

“At around 1 am, three nights ago, some American troops with helicopters left Kabul and landed around two kilometres away from the village,” he told The Times. “The troops walked from the helicopters to the houses and, according to my investigation, they gathered all the students from two rooms, into one room, and opened fire.” Mr. Wafa, a former governor of Helmand province, met President Karzai to discuss his findings yesterday. “I spoke to the local headmaster,” he said. “It’s impossible they were al Qaeda. They were children, they were civilians, they were innocent. I condemn this attack.”

In a telephone interview last night, the headmaster said that the victims were asleep in three rooms when the troops arrived. “Seven students were in one room,” said Rahman Jan Ehsas. “A student and one guest were in another room, a guest room, and a farmer was asleep with his wife in a third building.

“First the foreign troops entered the guest room and shot two of them. Then they entered another room and handcuffed the seven students. Then they killed them. Abdul Khaliq [the farmer] heard shooting and came outside. When they saw him they shot him as well. He was outside. That’s why his wife wasn’t killed.”

A local elder, Jan Mohammed, said that three boys were killed in one room and five were handcuffed before they were shot. “I saw their school books covered in blood,” he said.

The investigation found that eight of the victims were aged from 11 to 17. The guest was a shepherd boy, 12, called Samar Gul, the headmaster said. He said that six of the students were at high school and two were at primary school. He said that all the students were his nephews. In Jalalabad, protesters set alight a U.S. flag and an effigy of President Obama after chanting “Death to Obama” and “Death to foreign forces”. In Kabul, protesters held up banners showing photographs of dead children alongside placards demanding “Foreign troops leave Afghanistan” and “Stop killing us.” (Full story here.)

Lt. General McInerney: All Muslim Males Aged 18-28 Must Be STRIP-SEARCHED At Airports

2010-01-05T11:12:00.001+01:00

Retired Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney says that a U.S. airliner will be blown out of the sky in the coming months if we don't adopt "very serious and harsh" screening procedures.

Video posted by Mediaite @ YouTube.
(Running time: 3m:47s)

U.S. Warned About Attack; Abdul Mutallab On Terror List, Barred From Britain

2009-12-28T10:19:00.004+01:00

[By Jason Lewis & Sharon Churcher, Mail On Sunday | Sunday, 27 December, 2009.]
President Obama ordered an urgent review of airline security tonight, demanding to know how a former British student identified as a terror risk was allowed to board transatlantic plane before attempting to blow it up. Tonight it also emerged that Al Qaeda had warned of a terror attack just days before the attempt to bring down the jet carrying 278 passengers. In a chilling video posted on an extremist internet on December 21, a bearded man in head-dress warned: "We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God."

Tonight there were question marks over why known radical Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab was allowed to evade security, as it became clear just how close he came to downing the jet. Even his millionaire father had warned authorities that he believed his son may be a risk.

President Obama wants to know how he was allowed to board the plane and also ordered a review of security watch-lists in the U.S. after it emerged the Nigerian was placed on a list as a terror risk.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on American news channel NBC the President called for "a review to ... figure out why an individual with the chemical explosive he had on him could get on a plane in Amsterdam and fly into the United States."

Four weeks ago Abdulmutallab's father told the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, that he was concerned about his son's religious beliefs. This information was passed on to U.S. intelligence officials. The alleged bomber was also on a separate U.S. terror database, but was not considered an immediate threat. His name was absent from "no-fly" lists. (Full story here.)

Flight 253 Passenger: Sharp-Dressed Man Aided Terror Suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab Onto Plane Without Passport

2009-12-28T09:52:00.005+01:00

[By Sheena Harrison, Metro Detroit | Saturday, 26 december, 2009.]
A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport.

Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., who posted an earlier comment about his experience, talked exclusively with MLive.com and confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass. He and his wife, Lori, were returning from a safari in Uganda when they boarded the N.W.A. flight on Friday. Haskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man.

Kurt and Lori Haskell are attorneys with Haskell Law Firm in Taylor. Their expertise includes bankruptcy, family law and estate planning.

While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, 'He's from Sudan and we do this all the time.'”

Mutallab is Nigerian. Haskell believes the man may have been trying to garner sympathy for Mutallab's lack of documents by portraying him as a Sudanese refugee.

The ticket agent referred Mutallab and his companion to her manager down the hall, and Haskell didn't see Mutallab again until after he allegedly tried to detonate an explosive on the plane.

Haskell said the flight was mostly unremarkable. That was until he heard a flight attendant say she smelled smoke, just after the pilot announced the plane would land in Detroit in 10 minutes. Haskell got out of his seat to view the brewing commotion.

“I stood up and walked a couple feet ahead to get a closer look, and that's when I saw the flames,” said Haskell, who sat about seven rows behind Mutallab. “It started to spread pretty quickly. It went up the wall, all the way to ceiling.”

Haskell, who described Mutallab as a diminutive man who looks like a teenager, said about 30 seconds passed between the first mention of smoke and when Mutallab was subdued by fellow passengers.

“He didn't fight back at all. This wasn't a big skirmish,” Haskell said. “A couple guys jumped on him and hauled him away.”

The ordeal has Haskell and his wife a little shaken. Flight attendants were screaming during the fire and the pilot sounded notably nervous when bringing the plane in for a landing, he said.

“Immediately, the pilot came on and said two words: emergency landing,” Haskell said. “And that was it. The plane sped up instead of slowing down. You could tell he floored it.”

As Mutallab was being led out of the plane in handcuffs, Haskell said he realized that was the same man he saw trying to board the plane in Amsterdam.

Passengers had to wait about 20 minutes before they were allowed to exit the plane. Haskell said he and other passengers waited about six hours to be interviewed by the FBI.

About an hour after landing, Haskell said he saw another man being taken into custody. But a spokeswoman from the F.B.I. in Detroit said Mutallab was the only person taken into custody. (Link.)

Troops Face Prison If They Get Pregnant

2009-12-22T10:14:00.002+01:00

[Daily Mail | Sunday, 20 december, 2009.]
A top U.S. commander is threatening soldiers who fall pregnant on active service with jail. Under the new policy, troops expecting a baby face court martial and a possible prison term – and so do the men who made them pregnant. And the rule applies to married couples at war together, who are expected to make sure their love lives do not interfere with duty.

Usual U.S. Army policy is to send pregnant soldiers home from combat zones within 14 days. But Major General Anthony Cucolo, who runs U.S. operations in northern Iraq, issued the new orders because he said he was losing too many women with critical skills. He needed the threat of court martial and jail time as an extra deterrent, he said.

All troops under his command are covered by the extension to the military’s legal code – the first time the U.S. Army has made pregnancy a punishable offence. "I've got a mission to do, I'm given a finite number of soldiers with which to do it and I need every one of them," Maj Gen Cucolo said. "So I'm going to take every measure I can to keep them all strong, fit and with me for the twelve months we are in the combat zone."

Married soldiers on active service should either put their love lives on hold or take precautions. It was a 'black and white' issue, he said. Legal experts said the policy raised serious ethical questions. (Full story here.)

Lord Monckton Assaulted To The Point Of Unconsciousness By Euro-Thug Police At Copenhagen

2009-12-22T09:55:00.005+01:00

Is The European Police State Going Global?

[By The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, Sonoran Wekly Review | Sunday, 19 december, 2009.]
Today the gloves came off and the true purpose of the “global warming” scare became nakedly visible. Ugo Chavez, the Socialist president of Venezuela, blamed “global warming” on capitalism – and received a standing ovation from very nearly all of the delegates, lamentably including those from those of the capitalist nations of the West that are on the far Left – and that means too many of them.

Previously Robert Mugabe, dictator of Rhodesia, who had refused to leave office when he had been soundly defeated in a recent election, had also won plaudits at the conference for saying that the West ought to pay him plenty of money in reparation of our supposed “climate debt.”

Inside the conference center, “world leader” after “world leader” got up and postured about the need to Save The Planet, the imperative to do a deal, the necessity to save the small island nations from drowning, etc., etc., etc.

Outside, in the real world, it was snowing, and a foretaste of the Brave New World being cooked up by “world leaders” in their fantasy-land was already evident. Some 20,000 observers from non-governmental organizations – nearly all of them true-believing Green groups funded by taxpayers – had been accredited to the conference.

However, without warning the U.N. had capriciously decided that all but 300 of them were to be excluded from the conference today, and all but 90 would be excluded on the final day.

Of course, this being the inept U.N., no one had bothered to notify those of the N.G.O.s that were not true-believers in the U.N.’s camp. So Senator Steve Fielding of Australia and I turned up with a few dozen other delegates, to be left standing in the cold for a couple of hours while the U.N. laboriously worked out what to do with us.

In the end, they decided to turn us away, which they did with an ill grace and in a bad-tempered manner. As soon as the decision was final, the Danish police moved in. One of them began the now familiar technique of manhandling me, in the same fashion as one of his colleagues had done the previous day.

Once again, conscious that a police helicopter with a high-resolution camera was hovering overhead, I thrust my hands into my pockets in accordance with the St. John Ambulance crowd-control training, looked my assailant in the eye and told him, quietly but firmly, to take his hands off me.

He complied, but then decided to have another go. I told him a second time, and he let go a second time. I turned to go and, after I had turned my back, he gave me a mighty shove that flung me to the ground and knocked me out.

I came to some time later (not sure exactly how long,) to find my head being cradled by my friends, some of whom were doing their best to keep the police thugs at bay while the volunteer ambulance-men attended to me.

I was picked up and dusted me off. I could not remember where I had left my telephone, which had been in my hand at the time when I was assaulted. I rather fuzzily asked where it was, and one of the police goons shouted, “He alleges he had a mobile phone.”

In fact, the phone was in my coat pocket, where my hand had been at the time of the assault. The ambulance crew led me away and laid me down under a blanket for 20 minutes to get warm, plying me with water and keeping me amused with some colorfully colloquial English that they had learned.

I thanked them for their kindness, left them a donation for their splendid service, and rejoined my friends. A very senior police officer then came up and asked if I was all right. Yes, I said, but no thanks to one of his officers, who had pushed me hard from behind when my back was turned and had sent me flying.

The police chief said that none of his officers would have done such a thing. I said that several witnesses had seen the incident, which I intended to report. I said I had hoped to receive an apology but had not received one, and would include that in my report. The policeman went off looking glum, and with good reason.

To assault an accredited representative of a conference your nation is hosting, and to do it while your own police cameramen are filming from above, and to do it without any provocation except my polite, non-threatening request that I should not be manhandled, is not a career-enhancing move, as that police chief is about to discover to his cost.

Nor does this incident, and far too many like it, reflect the slightest credit on Denmark. We must make reasonable allowance for the fact that the unspeakable security service of the U.N., which is universally detested by those at this conference, was ordering the Danish police about. The tension between the alien force and the indigenous men on the ground had grown throughout the conference.

However, the Danish police were far too free with their hands when pushing us around, and that is not acceptable in a free society. But then, Europe is no longer a free society. It is, in effect, a tyranny ruled by the unelected Kommissars of the European Union. That is perhaps one reason why police forces throughout Europe, including that in the U.K., have become far more brutal than was once acceptable in their treatment of the citizens they are sworn to serve.

It is exactly this species of tyranny that the U.N. would like to impose upon the entire planet, in the name of saving us from ourselves – or, as Ugo Chavez would put it, saving us from Western capitalist democracy.

A few weeks ago, at a major conference in New York, I spoke about this tendency towards tyranny with Dr. Vaclav Klaus, the distinguished economist and doughty fighter for freedom and democracy who is President of the Czech Republic.

While we still have one or two statesmen of his caliber, there is hope for Europe and the world. Unfortunately, he refused to come to Copenhagen, telling me that there was no point, now that the lunatics were firmly in control of the asylum.

However, I asked him whether the draft Copenhagen Treaty’s proposal for what amounted to a communistic world government reminded him of the Communism under which he and his country had suffered for so long.

He thought for a moment – as statesmen always do before answering an unusual question – and said, “Maybe it is not brutal. But in all other respects, what it proposes is far too close to Communism for comfort.”

Today, as I lay in the snow with a cut knee, a bruised back, a banged head, a ruined suit, and a written-off coat, I wondered whether the brutality of the New World Order was moving closer than President Klaus – or any of us – had realized. (Link.)

Obama Orders Missile Strikes On Yemen

2009-12-21T17:07:00.003+01:00

Yo, Barky! How many freakin' countries are you planning to attack?! This is really getting SICK...

(Video running time: 2m:06s)

High-Stakes Duel Between Rep. Paul And Bernanke Intensifies

2009-12-10T09:14:00.005+01:00

[By Silla Brush, The Hill | Tuesday, 8 December, 2009.]
Rep. Ron Paul and Ben Bernanke are locked in a clash of titans. Paul, the 74-year-old House libertarian from Texas with the high-pitched voice, has fought for decades to kill off the Federal Reserve. Bernanke, the mild-mannered ex-Princeton professor and chairman of the bank, is waging a high-stakes battle for the Fed’s reputation. And he’s doing everything possible to knock out Paul.

The fight is still in the early rounds. But with the full House expected to vote this week to give government auditors more power to scrutinize the Fed, Paul has the upper hand. The Senate is a much more difficult round for Paul, though a similar stew of liberal and conservative support is starting to simmer in the upper chamber behind the Republican’s wonky auditing measure.

Bernanke and Paul have never met one-on-one behind closed doors, Paul’s office said. The battle has taken place in public — on blogs, with grassroots activists and during congressional hearings. Bernanke has testified against the provision, given lengthy media interviews, written op-eds and attempted to lift the cloud of secrecy that hangs over the bank.

The Fed is audited, he argues, but allowing government scrutiny of interest rate decisions will politicize the Fed. Opening the door to congressionally requested audits would compromise the market’s confidence in the bank.

Paul, a longstanding supporter of a new gold standard, made his case formally in his recently published book, End the Fed. The 2008 presidential candidate’s crusade is no longer a quixotic quest. He is a prime beneficiary of the grassroots anger this year against government bailouts for Wall Street.

First introduced in February, Paul’s bill to audit the Fed has gained 317 co-sponsors, a shocking three-quarters of the House. The bill has not won over many Democrats in leadership, but it has picked up several committee chairmen, including Reps. Bart Gordon (Tenn.,) Jim Oberstar (Minn.) and John Spratt (S.C.)

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.,) a prominent Paul ally on the bill, has provided a huge boost to the effort with his firebrand strain of liberal politics. Grayson has publicly slammed the Fed, going so far as calling its top lobbyist a “K Street whore” before apologizing. Paul himself said the full force of “lobbyists for the Fed” is stacked against him.

As the popularity of the Paul-Grayson measure rose this year, Bernanke’s fell. Praised by many economists for taking the necessary steps to right the economy over the last year, his overall public approval has soured. A Rasmussen poll in November showed that just 21 percent of those surveyed thought Bernanke should be reappointed. Meanwhile, 79 percent of those polled said auditing the Fed is a good idea.

Republicans have jumped behind Paul, who stood out in last year’s G.O.P. presidential primary for his outspokenness against the Iraq war. “There needs to be Fed independence and accountability for those dollars to at least look back at those decisions,” said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas). (Full story here.)

Copenhagen Climate Summit In Disarray After "Danish Text" Leak

2009-12-09T09:27:00.005+01:00

Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the U.N.'s negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol

[By John Vidal, The Guardian | Tuesday, 8 December, 2009.]
The U.N. Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the U.N.'s role in all future climate change negotiations.

The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals.

The so-called Danish text, a secret draft agreement worked on by a group of individuals known as "the circle of commitment" – but understood to include the U.K., U.S. and Denmark – has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalised this week.

The agreement, leaked to the Guardian, is a departure from the Kyoto protocol's principle that rich nations, which have emitted the bulk of the CO₂, should take on firm and binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, while poorer nations were not compelled to act. The draft hands effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank; would abandon the Kyoto protocol – the only legally binding treaty that the world has on emissions reductions; and would make any money to help poor countries adapt to climate change dependent on them taking a range of actions.

The document was described last night by one senior diplomat as "a very dangerous document for developing countries. It is a fundamental reworking of the U.N. balance of obligations. It is to be superimposed without discussion on the talks."

A confidential analysis of the text by developing countries also seen by the Guardian shows deep unease over details of the text. In particular, it is understood to:

• Force developing countries to agree to specific emission cuts and measures that were not part of the original U.N. agreement;

• Divide poor countries further by creating a new category of developing countries called "the most vulnerable";

• Weaken the U.N.'s role in handling climate finance;

• Not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tonnes.

Developing countries that have seen the text are understood to be furious that it is being promoted by rich countries without their knowledge and without discussion in the negotiations.

"It is being done in secret. Clearly the intention is to get [Barack] Obama and the leaders of other rich countries to muscle it through when they arrive next week. It effectively is the end of the U.N. process," said one diplomat, who asked to remain nameless. (Full story here.)

Yes, The Climate Changes - So What?!

2009-12-08T09:50:00.003+01:00

Incredible interview with Christopher Monckton

Video posted by RussiaToday @ YouTube.
(Running time: 11m:54s)

Copenhagen NO!! - Philadelphia YES!!

2009-12-08T09:46:00.002+01:00

Lest we forget...

Video posted by DoNotTread0nMe @ YouTube.
(Running time: 5m:54s)

Free Sex For All Climate Conference Delegates

2009-12-08T09:17:00.011+01:00

Limos, Prostitutes & Caviar - COP15 Is Nothing But A Debauched Holiday For The Global Elite

[By Andrew Gilligan, London Telegraph | Saturday, 5 December, 2009.]
On a normal day, Majken Friss Jorgensen, managing director of Copenhagen's biggest limousine company, says her firm has twelve vehicles on the road. During the "summit to save the world," which opens here tomorrow, she will have 200.

"We thought they were not going to have many cars, due to it being a climate convention," she says. "But it seems that somebody last week looked at the weather report."

Ms Jorgensen reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42. "We haven't got enough limos in the country to fulfil the demand," she says. "We're having to drive them in hundreds of miles from Germany and Sweden."

And the total number of electric cars or hybrids among that number? "Five," says Ms Jorgensen. "The government has some alternative fuel cars but the rest will be petrol or diesel. We don't have any hybrids in Denmark, unfortunately, due to the extreme taxes on those cars. It makes no sense at all, but it's very Danish."

The airport says it is expecting up to 140 extra private jets during the peak period alone, so far over its capacity that the planes will have to fly off to regional airports – or to Sweden – to park, returning to Copenhagen to pick up their V.I.P. passengers.

As well 15,000 delegates and officials, 5,000 journalists and 98 world leaders, the Danish capital will be blessed by the presence of Leonardo DiCaprio, Daryl Hannah, Helena Christensen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Prince Charles. A Republican U.S. senator, Jim Inhofe, is jetting in at the head of an anti-climate-change "Truth Squad." The top hotels – all fully booked at £650 a night – are readying their Climate Convention menus of (no doubt sustainable) scallops, foie gras and sculpted caviar wedges.

And this being Scandinavia, even the prostitutes are doing their bit for the planet. Outraged by a council postcard urging delegates to "be sustainable, don't buy sex," the local sex workers' union – they have unions here – has announced that all its 1,400 members will give free intercourse to anyone with a climate conference delegate's pass. The term "carbon dating" just took on an entirely new meaning.

At least the sex will be CO₂-neutral. According to the organisers, the eleven-day conference, including the participants' travel, will create a total of 41,000 tonnes of "carbon dioxide equivalent," equal to the amount produced over the same period by a city the size of Middlesbrough. (Full story here.)

Worse Than Bush

2009-12-08T09:06:00.004+01:00

[By Mike Whitney, The Smirking Chimp | Wednesday, 2 December, 2009.]
George Bush never pretended to be something he wasn't. The same cannot be said for Barack Obama. Obama exploited the persona of a reformer to the maximum extent. And it worked. He rode into the White House on a wave of public enthusiasm. As soon as he was sworn in, he kicked the left to the curb, expanded the G.W.O.T., [Global War On Terrorism] and reinforced the regressive policies of the Bush administration.

Last night's speech is just the icing on the cake. It exposes Obama as a fraud and a hypocrite. The policy has not changed at all. In fact, it is getting worse. More than 2 million people have been driven from their homes in the Swat Valley. These are the victims of Obama's undeclared war in Pakistan. Hundreds more have been killed in robotic-drone attacks, the Pentagon's twisted antidote to additional troop commitments. Obama has appointed death squad leader Stanley McChrystal to oversee military operations in Afghanistan, proof-positive that U.S. strategy will soon devolve into massive covert bloodletting, ethnic cleansing and cross-border strikes on villages in the tribal areas of Waziristan.

Obama supporters need to "man up" and admit they were wrong; admit that clinging to false hope and fairy dust is a stupid and lethal way to cast one's vote. Everyone who voted for Obama needs to accept responsibility for the gratuitous violence about to befall the Afghan people. You voted for him. The blood is on your hands.

Obama's public approval ratings are dropping like a stone. The glitz and the glamor are beginning to wear-thin. Now he's just another homicidal maniac disguised as a respected world leader. He's doomed to be a one-term president. Good riddance. (Link.)

Speaking Truth To Power

2009-12-07T13:26:00.004+01:00

On Tuesday, November 24th, 2009, We Are Change Chicago attended a book signing with former vice president Al Gore, at the Borders Bookstore on 150 N. State Street...

Video posted by wearechange @ YouTube.
(Running time: 6m:11s)

Fallout Over "ClimateGate" Data Leak Grows

2009-12-07T12:23:00.003+01:00

[By Declan McCullagh, CBS News | Wednesday, 2 December, 2009.]
Ripples created by the disclosure of global warming files now being called "ClimateGate" continue to spread, with congressional attention growing and the head of a prominent climate change group stepping aside.

Phil Jones, the head of the Climactic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, said on Tuesday that he will relinquish his post while the U.K. school conducts an investigation into allegations of scientific and professional misconduct.

Jones' announcement comes as he and his allies, who published some of the foundational data used to support the claim that global warming exists, have been pummeled by waves of criticism. As CBSNews.com reported last week, the leaked files show that prominent scientists were so wedded to theories of man-made global warming that they ridiculed dissenters who asked for copies of their data, plotted how to keep researchers who reached different conclusions from publishing, and concealed apparently buggy computer code from being disclosed under the Freedom of Information law.

The reverberations have extended beyond the campus of the University of East Anglia and the CRU. E-mail messages from Michael Mann, a professor in the meteorology department at Penn State University who has argued that mankind is threatening "entire ecosystems with extinction in the decades ahead if we continue to burn fossil fuels at current rates," appeared in the leaked files. Now Penn State has opened an investigation into Mann's work, and the U.K.'s weather agency has been forced on the defensive as well.

Some mainstream academics working in the area have distanced themselves from Mann, Jones, and other researchers whose correspondence has drawn allegations of impropriety. Aynsley Kellow, a professor at the University of Tasmania who was an expert reviewer for a U.N. global warming report, told ABC Radio there was evidence of a "willingness to manipulate raw data to suit predetermined results, you've got a resistance to any notion of transparency, an active resistance to freedom of information requests or quite reasonable requests from scientists to have a look at data so that it can be verified."

Hans von Storch, director of the Director of Institute for Coastal Research who was assailed by Mann in one e-mail message, calls the CRU axis a "cartel" and suggests that Jones and others avoid reviewing papers. A colleague, Eduardo Zorita, went further and said Mann and his allies "should be barred" from future United Nations proceedings and warned that "the scientific debate has been in many instances hijacked to advance other agendas." (Full story here.)

Met Office Plans To Re-Examine 160 Years Of Climate Data

2009-12-07T12:14:00.005+01:00

[By Ben Webster, London Times | Saturday, 5 December, 2009.]
The Met Office plans to re-examine 160 years of temperature data after admitting that public confidence in the science on man-made global warming has been shattered by leaked e-mails.

The new analysis of the data will take three years, meaning that the Met Office will not be able to state with absolute confidence the extent of the warming trend until the end of 2012.

The Met Office database is one of three main sources of temperature data analysis on which the U.N.’s main climate change science body relies for its assessment that global warming is a serious danger to the world. This assessment is the basis for next week’s climate change talks in Copenhagen aimed at cutting CO₂ emissions.

The Government is attempting to stop the Met Office from carrying out the re-examination, arguing that it would be seized upon by climate change sceptics.

The Met Office works closely with the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (C.R.U.), which is being investigated after e-mails written by its director, Phil Jones, appeared to show an attempt to manipulate temperature data and block alternative scientific views. (Full story here.)

Christmas Trees Banned For Climate Summit

2009-12-07T12:05:00.004+01:00

Participants in the COP15 climate summit should not be subject to Christmas symbols such as fir trees, says the foreign ministry

[Copenhagen Post | Friday, 4 December, 2009.]
Although the COP15 climate conference is set to take place during the Christmas season, the Foreign Ministry believes the holiday and all its symbols should be kept well clear of the summit.

That point was bluntly illustrated when a sponsorship providing numerous Nordmann fir trees for the conference was rejected by the ministry, according to public broadcaster DR.

The trees – the most common species used as Christmas trees in Denmark – were intended to be placed as decorations for the entrance of Bella Center, where the conference is taking place.

But Christmas is a religious holiday that has no place at a United Nations function, according to the Foreign Ministry’s Svend Olling, who is the head of practical planning for the climate summit.

"We have to remember that this is a U.N. conference and, as the centre then becomes U.N. territory, there can be no Christmas trees in the decor, because the U.N. wishes to maintain neutrality," said Olling. (Full story here.)

Bisphenol A Found In 90% Of Newborns

2009-12-07T12:00:00.003+01:00

[By Meg Kissinger, Journal Sentinel | Thursday, 3 December, 2009.]
A study released Wednesday which found that nine of 10 babies tested were born with bisphenol A in their systems has renewed calls for the chemical to be banned. In the study commissioned by the Environmental Working Group, scientists found the chemical in nine of 10 randomly selected samples of umbilical cord blood.

Previous studies have found B.P.A. in the urine of 93% of Americans tested. But Wednesday's study is the first to find it in the cord blood of U.S. newborns. "It's alarming," Janet Gray, director of the Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer project at Vassar College, said of the study results. "What more evidence do we need to act?"

More than 6 billion pounds of B.P.A. are used each year to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. The chemical is used in thousands of common products, including the lining of nearly all food and beverage cans and as coating for carbonless paper receipts.

B.P.A., which was developed as a synthetic estrogen, has been linked to breast and prostate cancer, cognitive and behavioral problems, reproductive failures, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and obesity.

Scientists and health advocates have called for the chemical to be banned but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declared it to be safe for all uses - though that decision, based on two studies paid for by the chemical industry, is being reviewed.

The F.D.A.'s decision had been due Monday, but the agency postponed its decision. Agency officials said they are working to complete it within weeks. (Full story here.)

Democrats In Revolt Over Obama’s Troop Surge

2009-11-30T12:05:00.004+01:00

[By Christina Lamb, London Times | Sunday, 29 November, 2009.]
Barack Obama's much-vaunted eloquence faces the biggest test of his presidential career this week when he takes to the stage at West Point military academy to explain to a nation that thought it had elected an anti-war president why he is escalating the conflict in Afghanistan.

After almost three months of agonising, nine war councils and endless leaks, the president will finally make his views known on Tuesday when he is expected to announce that he is sending about 30,000 more troops. This will push up American forces to 100,000 and the total number of allied forces to almost 140,000, as many troops as the Soviet Union had in Afghanistan.

The carefully chosen backdrop cannot disguise Obama’s dilemma. Somehow he has to convince his own public that the United States has an exit strategy and will not become bogged down, as it did in Vietnam, while making clear to the Taliban and Pakistan that it has not lost its resolve and will stay as long as it takes.

Obama’s toughest challenge will be to win over his most loyal political supporters. He is facing a growing revolt in the Democratic party over why the U.S. needs to be in Afghanistan at all when the real threat - al Qaeda - is in Pakistan, and over the spiralling cost in both lives and dollars.

“I think the operative question is why we’re there,” said Anna Eshoo, a Democratic congresswoman who sits on the House intelligence committee. “That’s what I’ll be wanting to hear from the president.”

Eshoo, who represents a seat in California where unemployment is at a post-war high of 12.5%, is one of a growing number of voices in the party questioning whether the nation can afford the war.

The annual bill for the extra troops is estimated at $30 billion (£18.2 billion), on top of the $10 billion-a-month the war is costing. “We’re still not out of Iraq and we’re getting deeper into Afghanistan, both of which are hugely expensive,” she said.

She has joined David Obey, a Democratic congressman from Wisconsin, to introduce legislation that would impose a surtax on all taxpayers to fund the war. “It doesn’t seem fair that the sacrifice is being made only by military and their families,” she said. (Full story here.)

Why Climategate Won't Stop The Greens

2009-11-30T11:50:00.003+01:00

[By Lorrie Goldstein, Ottawa Sun | Thursday, 26 November, 2009.]
If you're wondering how the robot-like march of the world's politicians towards Copenhagen can possibly continue in the face of the scientific scandal dubbed "climategate," it's because Big Government, Big Business and Big Green don't give a s*** about "the science."

They never have.

What "climategate" suggests is many of the world's leading climate scientists didn't either. Apparently they stifled their own doubts about recent global cooling not explained by their computer models, manipulated data, plotted ways to avoid releasing it under freedom of information laws and attacked fellow scientists and scientific journals for publishing even peer-reviewed literature of which they did not approve.

Now they and their media shills -- who sneered that all who questioned their phony "consensus" were despicable "deniers," the moral equivalent of those who deny the Holocaust -- are the ones in denial about the enormity of the scandal enveloping them.

So they desperately try to portray it as the routine "messy" business of science, lamely insisting, "nothing to see here folks, move along."

Before the Internet -- which has given ordinary people a way to fight back against the received wisdom of so-called "wise elites" -- they might have gotten away with it.

But not now, as knowledgeable climate bloggers are advancing the story and forcing the co-opted mainstream media to cover a scandal most would rather ignore.

The problem, however, is those who hijacked science to predict a looming Armageddon unless we do exactly as they say, have already done their damage.

The moment they convinced politicians the way to avert the End of Days was to put a price on emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the unholy alliance of Big Government, Big Business and Big Green was forged.

Big Government wants more of your taxes. Big Business wants more of your income. Big Green wants you and your children to bow down to its agenda of enforced austerity.

What about saving the planet, you ask? This was never about saving the planet. This is about money and power. Your money. Their power.

If it was about saving the planet, "cap-and-trade" (a.k.a. cap-and-tax) -- how Big Government, Big Business and Big Green ludicrously pretend we will "fight" global warming and "save the planet" -- would have been consigned to the dust bin of history because it doesn't work. We know it doesn't work because Europe's five-year-old cap-and-trade market -- the Emissions Trading Scheme -- has done nothing to make the world cooler.

All it's done is make hedge fund managers, speculators and Big Energy giddy with windfall profits, while making everyone else poorer by driving up the cost of energy, and thus of most goods and services, which need energy to be lighted, heated, cooled, grown, constructed, manufactured, produced and transported. (Full story here.)

Christopher Monckton Discusses Climategate

2009-11-30T11:11:00.005+01:00

Incredible interview, presented here in a 5-part video playlist:

Click PLAY once and all 5 videos will be shown consecutively.
Videos posted by TheAlexJonesChannel @ YouTube.
(Total running time: 52m:52s)

Birth Control: The Most Effective Way Of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

2009-11-30T10:26:00.002+01:00

[By Ben Webster, London Times | Thursday, 19 November, 2009.]
Investing in birth control to reduce population growth could be more effective in cutting greenhouse gas emissions than building wind turbines or nuclear power stations, according to a United Nations report. Taking action to prevent one billion births by 2050 would save as much carbon dioxide as constructing 2 million giant wind turbines.

The UN Population Fund report predicts that the global population could reach 10.5 billion by 2050, up from 6.8 billion today, unless urgent action is taken to reduce fertility rates.

It says that even its medium-growth forecast of 2.3 billion more people by 2050, which assumes a fall in average fertility from 2.56 to 2.02 children per woman, would make it much harder to achieve the cuts in carbon emissions needed to prevent catastrophic climate change.

The report says that reducing population growth would allow the 2050 target for global average emissions per person to be increased significantly above the 2 tonnes recommended by Lord Stern, the author of an influential government report on global warming in 2006. Living standards would be higher because each person would be able to emit more CO2.

The report says: “No human is genuinely carbon neutral. Therefore, everyone is part of the problem, so everyone must be part of the solution in some way.

“Each birth results not only in the emissions attributable to that person in his or her lifetime, but also the emissions of all his or her descendents.”

The report rejects the idea of Chinese-style laws to control population but says that a similar outcome could be achieved by promoting contraception and ensuring that women are better educated. (Full story here.

Netherlands To Levy "Green" Road Tax By The Kilometre

2009-11-30T10:12:00.000+01:00

[The Independent | Saturday, 14 November, 2009.]
The Dutch government said Friday it wants to introduce a "green" road tax by the kilometre from 2012 aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent and halving congestion.

"Each vehicle will be equipped with a G.P.S. device that tracks how many kilometres are driven and when and where. This data will be then be sent to a collection agency that will send out the bill," the transport ministry said in a statement.

Ownership and sales taxes, about a quarter of the cost of a new car, will be scrapped and replaced by the "price per kilometre" system aimed at cutting the Netherlands' carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent. "Traffic jams will be halved and it helps the environment," the ministry said.

Dutch motorists driving a standard family saloon will be charged 3 euro cents per kilometre (seven U.S. cents per mile) in 2012. That would increase to 6.7 cents (16 U.S. cents per mile) in 2018, according to the proposed law. Every vehicle type will have a base rate, which depends on its size, weight and carbon dioxide emissions.

Taxis, vehicles for the disabled, buses, motorcycles and classic cars will all be exempt. "An alternative payment will be introduced for foreign vehicles," the ministry statement added.

The Dutch cabinet approved the road tax bill on Friday. It will need the backing of parliament before it becomes law. (Link.)

Playing With Weather Stirs Debate In China

2009-11-30T10:05:00.000+01:00

[Agence France-Presse | Wednesday, 11 november, 2009.]
Chinese scientists artificially induced the second major snowstorm to wreak havoc in Beijing this season, state media said, reigniting debate over the practice of tinkering with Mother Nature.

After the earliest snow to hit the capital in 22 years fell on November 1, the capital was again shrouded in white Tuesday with more snow expected in the coming three days, the National Meteorological Centre said.

The China Daily, citing an unnamed official, said the Beijing Weather Modification Office had artificially induced both storms by seeding clouds with chemicals, a practice that can increase precipitation by up to 20 percent.

The office refused to comment on the report when contacted by AFP. On Tuesday, an official had said the storm was "natural".

City weather officials have previously said that such methods are aimed at alleviating a drought over much of north China, including Beijing, that has lingered for more than a decade.

But residents have griped about the flight delays, traffic snarls, cancelled classes and other inconveniences of a surprise snow storm, saying officials could warn them if they are planning to toy with the clouds.

Beyond the day-to-day hassles, experts said the weather manipulation had other undesirable side-effects in the longer term, the paper reported.

"No one can tell how much weather manipulation will change the sky," Xiao Gang, a professor in the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the paper.

"We should not depend too much on artificial measures to get rain or snow, because there are too many uncertainties up in the sky."

Zhao Nan, a Beijing engineer, was quoted as saying the more than 5,500 tonnes of erosive snow-melting chloride used on city roads Tuesday -- nearly half the annual allotment -- could "erode steel structures of buildings." (Full story here.)

Batch Of H1N1 Vaccine Pulled After Bad Reactions

2009-11-30T09:56:00.002+01:00

[CTV | Friday, 20 November, 2008.]
More than 100,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine are being withdrawn across the country, after Manitoba health officials announced Thursday they'd noticed a higher-than-usual number of allergic reactions from one batch.

Vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline has asked several provinces to set aside the 170,000 doses from the questionable batch. G.S.K. say the batch recall is a precaution an they will investigate to see whether there is something wrong with the batch.

"G.S.K. is taking this cautionary action because the Public Health Agency of Canada has received a higher than expected number of reports of anaphylaxis in this lot number compared to other lots," the company said in a written statement Thursday.

One or two allergic reactions are expected in a batch that size. But health officials recorded six severe allergic reactions and alerted G.S.K. Dr. Joel Kettner, Manitoba's Chief Medical Officer of Health, urged people not to be alarmed, noting the anaphylaxis reactions were short-lived and all the patients recovered.

"We've been asked by the manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline not to use this vaccine at this time, pending further investigation," said Kettner at a press conference Thursday. "We are being cautious and following the advice... to hold onto the remaining stock until we get further information." About 1,500 doses of the vaccine were sent to Ontario, but officials say none were administered. Officials are now shelving them until the investigation is complete. (Full story here.)

The Goal Of Every H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine: Immunotoxicity, Neurotoxicity And Sterility

2009-11-30T09:52:00.004+01:00

[Prevent Disease.com | Friday, 30 October, 2009.]
Science dictates that only a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study can generate unbiased results in any clinical trial. In the history of vaccine development, no such study has ever been performed. It is only unscientific opinions and pharmaceutical propaganda which have propelled the mythological validity, safety and effectiveness of vaccines. Dozens of controlled studies have scientifically verified the immunotoxicty, neurotoxicity and sterility of common vaccine ingredients which destroy human health, yet they are all ignored by conventional medicine.

There should be a public outcry and challenge to every public health official, medical specialist or scientist (from any country) who justifies the inoculation of their population without providing the evidence of safety and effectiveness of the respective H1N1 vaccine in their country.

The public should be demanding that their governments materialize at least one vaccine trial which is randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled that can scientifically validate the assertions of public health officials.

Since the pharmacokinetic properties of vaccines are not studied, vaccine manufacturers cannot deny any of the toxic effects listed below. The reason they never analyze the absorption, distribution, metabolism or excretion of these ingredients is because it would eradicate the vaccine industry. However the individual effects of each ingredient and their toxic effects on cells are well documented.

Every Physician, Nurse or medical personnel who administers the H1N1 vaccine (or any vaccine) should be asking themselves why they are injecting the following ingredients into patients that have been scientifically proven to cause immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, sterility and cancer:

Novartis Focetria Adjuvanted H1N1
Influenza Vaccine Ingredients/Toxicity
Polysorbate 80: Sterilie Agent
Potassium Chloride: Neurotoxin
Squalene: Neurotoxin
Thimerosal: Neurotoxin

Novartis H1N1 Monovalent Influenza Vaccine Ingredients/Toxicity
Beta-Propiolactone: Carcinogen
Polymyxin: Neurotoxin
Neomycin: Immunotoxin
Thimerosal: Neurotoxin

GlaxoSmithKline Arepanrix Adjuvanted
H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Ingredients/Toxicity
Formaldehyde : Carcinogen
Polysorbate 80: Sterilie Agent
Sodium Deoxycholate: Immunotoxin
Squalene: Neurotoxin
Thimerosal: Neurotoxin

GlaxoSmithKline Pandemrix Adjuvanted
H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Ingredients/Toxicity
Octoxynol 10: Immunotoxin
Polysorbate 80: Sterilie Agent
Potassium Chloride: Neurotoxin
Sodium Deoxycholate: Immunotoxin
Squalene: Neurotoxin
Thimerosal: Neurotoxin

GlaxoSmithKline Fluarix 2009-2010
Formula Ingredients/Toxicity
Formaldehyde : Carcinogen
Octoxynol 10: Immunotoxin
Polysorbate 80: Sterilie Agent
Sodium Deoxycholate: Immunotoxin

Sanofi-Pasteur H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Ingredients/Toxicity
Formaldehyde : Carcinogen
Polyethylene Glycol: Systemic Toxin
Thimerosal: Neurotoxin

MedImmune H1N1 Vaccine Ingredients/Toxicity
Monosodium Glutamate: Neurotoxin
Gentamicin Sulfate: Nephrotoxic
Monobasic Potassium Phosphate: Immunotoxin

FLUARIX 2009 Latest Package Insert Ingredients/Toxicity
Formaldehyde : Carcinogen
Gentamicin Sulfate: Nephrotoxic
Polysorbate 80: Sterilie Agent
Sodium Deoxycholate: Immunotoxin
Thimerosal: Neurotoxin

CSL PANVAX H1N1 Vaccine Ingredients/Toxicity
Beta-Propiolactone: Carcinogen
Neomycin: Immunotoxin
Sodium Taurodeoxycholate: Carcinogen/Immunotoxin
Polymyxin: Neurotoxin
Thimerosal: Neurotoxin

CSL Afluria H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Ingredients/Toxicity
Beta-Propiolactone: Carcinogen
Neomycin Sulfate: Immunotoxin
Polymyxin B: Neurotoxin
Potassium Chloride: Neurotoxin
Sodium Taurodeoxycholate: Carcinogen/Immunotoxin
Thimerosal: Neurotoxin

Note: An additional CSL H1N1 Vaccine is Undergoing Trials with AS03 Adjuvant which contains Squalene. (Link.)

Canadian Military Handed Over Innocent Afghans To Torture

2009-11-23T09:24:00.003+01:00

[By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press | Wednesday, 18 November, 2009.]
A federal official has dropped a political bombshell on Parliament, alleging suspects handed over by Canada to Afghan authorities were tortured - and that the government was at best indifferent and at worst tried to cover it up.

Richard Colvin, an intelligence officer based in Washington who spent 18 months in Afghanistan in the No. 2 diplomatic post, delivered the stunning revelations to a packed committee room Wednesday.

His calm, precise recitation to the special House of Commons committee on Afghanistan directly contradicts nearly three years of assurances by the Conservative government that there was no credible evidence prisoners handed over to local authorities were abused, in violation of international law.

Colvin said the sweeping roundups of prisoners - many of them likely innocent - and their subsequent abuse has driven a wedge between Canada and the people of Kandahar, and destroyed much of the good will soldiers have fought and died to achieve.

"In my judgment, some of our actions in Kandahar, including complicity in torture, turned local people against us," he told a hushed room, where opposition MPs sat with mouths wide-open at what they were hearing.

"Instead of winning hearts and minds, we caused Kandaharis to fear the foreigners."

And he warned ominously that "Canada's detainee practises alienated us from the population and strengthened the insurgency."

In a meticulous seven-page opening statement, Colvin picked apart the handling of the prisoner issue by the Conservative government and the military, starting with the assurance that no torture had taken place.

He told MPs that captives taken by Canadian troops and handed over to the Afghans were subjected to beatings and electric shocks in 2006 and early 2007.

"According to our information, the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured," he said. "For interrogators in Kandahar, it was standard operating procedure."

Colvin said he remains concerned because Canada continues to hand over its prisoners to the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service. (Full story here.)

Arnold Schwarzenegger Visits Iraq, Aims To Transfer Military Tactics To California

2009-11-23T08:59:00.008+01:00

[By Oliver August, London Times | Monday, 16 November, 2009.]
The governor of California trots out his most famous one-liner wherever he goes but, at the Victory military base in Baghdad today, he apparently meant it.

“I’ll be back,” Arnold Schwarzenegger growled after working out with a group of American soldiers on active duty in Iraq, all with necks and trunks as thick as his.

The muscleman who rose to Hollywood fame as The Terminator came to the site of America’s bloodiest war in a generation to cheer up troops, but also because there are important lessons to be learnt here.

Mr. Schwarzenegger said he wants to study counter-insurgency strategies developed by the U.S. military when Iraq was on the brink of civil war, and bring them back to the mean streets of California, where criminal gangs rule entire neighbourhoods, especially in large cities.

Already, police officers in some parts of the state are attempting to copy the hard-won lessons that helped to calm down the western Iraqi city of Falluja and the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad, where insurgents once reigned openly.

The transfer of counter-insurgency tactics from the military to the police is being pioneered in the central Californian town of Salinas. Combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are already advising the local authorities on how to conduct their own “surge,” as the U.S. counter-insurgency campaign of President Bush is known. (Full story here.)

British Soldier Arrested At Anti-War Demonstration, Faces 10 Years In Prison

2009-11-23T08:31:00.000+01:00

[Daily Mail | Wednesday, 11 November, 2009.]
A soldier facing charges of desertion for refusing to return to Afghanistan has been arrested and charged with five further offences after joining an anti-war demonstration. Lance Corporal Joe Glenton led a protest in London last month against the continued presence of British troops in Afghanistan. He was already facing a court martial but according to the Stop the War Coalition the new charges carry a maximum of 10 years imprisonment.

The group's convener Lindsey German said last night: "This is not about breach of military regulations. In the last few days a range of military personnel have been speaking in the media in defence of this appalling war. I doubt if any of them have been arrested. This is about the persecution of a soldier who believes in telling the truth in accordance with his conscience. He is saying what the majority of the population believes - that this war is unwinnable and immoral. The anti-war movement will be doing everything possible to get him released."

Lance Corporal Glenton, 27, from the Royal Logistic Corps, addressed a rally of more than 5,000 anti-war protesters packed into London's Trafalgar Square in October. He told the crowd he had witnessed sights during his time in Afghanistan that forced him to question the morality of his role.

The married soldier, from Norwich, told onlookers: "I'm here today to make a stand beside you because I believe great wrongs have been perpetrated in Afghanistan. I cannot, in good conscience, be part of them. I'm bound by law and moral duty to try and stop them. I'm a soldier and I belong to the profession of arms. I expected to go to war but I also expected that the need to defend this country's interests would be legal and justifiable. I don't think this is too much to ask. It's now apparent that the conflict is neither of these and that's why I must make this stand."

The Ministry of Defence refused to comment when asked about the further charges. But spokesman confirmed Lance Corporal Glenton is currently subject to disciplinary action. He said: "I can confirm that disciplinary action against a serving soldier from the Royal Logistic Corps is currently in progress." As this matter is subject to court martial proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

The soldier, based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, is facing a court martial, adjourned to January, for alleged desertion after going absent without leave in 2007. He is charged with disobeying a lawful command. He joined the Army in 2004. If convicted, he faces two years in prison.

Speaking during last month's rally, he said: "The occupation in Afghanistan is at best dubious in terms of legality and morality. I can't be involved in it on that basis and, not only that, I am also bound to try and stop it, try and change things. That's the law, the occupation of a country like that, regime change, these things are all illegal." He said military personnel told him not to appear at the rally. But despite the threat of prison, he said he was determined to speak out.

He said: "People keep telling me I'm brave but I don't feel brave at all - I feel fairly terrified. It's not going to stop me, I'm going to keep going. I won't be silenced. I'll keep talking and doing what I think is right. I have to or I'll have to live with this forever if I don't." (Link.)

Taliban Take Eastern Nouristan: Residents Relieved, Schools Reopen

2009-11-23T08:29:00.001+01:00

(Video running time: 3m:15s)

Taliban Fighters Display U.S. Weapons

2009-11-23T08:18:00.002+01:00

Video posted by AlJazeeraEnglish @ YouTube.
(Running time: 1m:50s)

Confronting Today's Sepration Wall

2009-11-11T11:55:00.003+01:00

The world that saw the collapse of the Berlin wall twenty years ago has been witnessing for years the construction of another separation wall being built by Israel on the occupied Palestinian territories. This wall continues to be built and nothing stands in front of it but weekly protests. The People's Committee For Resisting The Wall says that this wall will be brought down just like the one in Berlin...

(Video running time: 3m:43s)

American Nationals Found Carrying Illegal Weapons In Pakistan, Again

2009-11-11T11:15:00.000+01:00

[By Kashif Abbasi Kaswar Klasra, The Nation | Wednesday, 28 October, 2009.]
Once again, 4 American nationals were caught red-handed by Capital Police in the wee hours of Tuesday when they were carrying weapons publicly. However, they managed to secure release and continue their journey to a mysterious destination, sources informed.

According to details, police personnel deployed here at Nawaz Chowk, sector F-8, intercepted two suspicious vehicles in the wee hours of Tuesday. During the search, police recovered weapons from their custody. The riders of these vehicles were found, once again, to be American nationals.

To the surprise of many, the Americans were allowed to go along with their arms after an anonymous call that the officer in command at police picket received at the same time when preliminary investigation were being carried out from the foreigners.

Though it is not clear who asked the police to let the Americans go, sources revealed that U.S. Embassy officials came into action swiftly and got their nationals freed after contacting high-ups of Pakistan’s Interior Ministry.

When contacted, Foreign Office spokesman told The Nation that there existed no law in Pakistan that might allow any foreigner or diplomat, including Americans, to move on busy roads of capital with illegal arms.

Talking to TheNation, the Spokesperson of U.S. Embassy Richard Snelsire said he was unaware about the incident.

Following Tuesday’s incident, a wave of anger, fear and uncertainty has been felt across the federal capital. It was not the first incident of such kind in the Federal Capital wherein foreigners were nabbed by police for keeping illegal arms. It has been observed that in a number of incidents police intercepted foreigners including American diplomats cruising busy roads of Islamabad carrying sophisticated arms and let them free after interception of "hidden hands."

Some days ago, police officials deployed at a picket intercepted two Dutch diplomats and recovered sophisticated weapons including hand grenades from their possession. The police lodged a formal complaint, however, no such action was initiated in repeated cases of US diplomats and nationals who were allowed to go.

Following the incident, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik also stated that no foreigner would be allowed to carry illegal arms with him/her. “The violators would be dealt with an iron hand,” he added.

However, Americans were found violating the law of the land and to the surprise of the Minister himself, violators were given a safe passage every time. (Link.)

Carbon Ration Account For All Proposed By Environment Agency

2009-11-11T10:49:00.003+01:00

[Ben Webster, London Times | Monday, 9 November, 2009.]
Everyone should be given an annual carbon ration and face financial penalties if they exceed it, under a proposal by the Environment Agency.

Lord Smith of Finsbury, the agency’s chairman, will say today that rationing is the fairest and most effective way of meeting Britain’s legally binding targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

People would be given a “carbon account” and a unique number that they would have to submit when making purchases of carbon-intensive items such as petrol, electricity or airline tickets. As with a bank account, people would receive statements showing the carbon weight of each purchase and how much of their ration remained.

If they used up their ration within a year, they would have to buy extra credits from those who had not used their full allowance.

Lord Smith, who was Culture Secretary in Tony Blair’s Government, believes that the system would encourage people to think about the carbon cost of their purchases as well as reward those who lived frugally and did little travelling, who could make a significant profit from selling their unused credits.

Speaking at the agency’s annual conference in London, Lord Smith will say that carbon rationing would help people to “judge how they want to develop their own quality of life in a sustainable way.”

Under the Climate Change Act, Britain is obliged to cut its emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050. This means annual CO2 emissions per person will have to fall from about 9 tonnes to only 2 tonnes. (Full story here.)

Hunger In America: Half Of Our Children On Food Stamps

2009-11-11T09:58:00.004+01:00

[CBS News | Tuesday, 3 November, 2009.]
Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say.

The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

"Your neighbor may be using some of these programs but it's not the kind of thing people want to talk about," Rank said.

The analysis was released Monday in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The authors say it's a medical issue pediatricians need to be aware of because children on food stamps are at risk for malnutrition and other ills linked with poverty.

"This is a real danger sign that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect children," Rank said.

Rank and Cornell University sociologist Thomas Hirschl studied data from a nationally representative survey of 4,800 American households interviewed annually from 1968 through 1997 by the University of Michigan. About 18,000 adults and children were involved.

Overall, about 49 percent of all children were on food stamps at some point by the age of 20, the analysis found. That includes 90 percent of black children and 37 percent of whites. The analysis didn't include other ethnic groups. (Full story here.)

Planned Parenthood Leader Resigns After Watching Ultrasound Of Abortion

2009-11-11T09:51:00.002+01:00

Court Slaps Gag Order On Abby Johnson

(Video running time: 2m:11s)

Aborted Fetus Cells Used In Beauty Creams

2009-11-11T09:45:00.000+01:00

[By Valerie Richardson, Washington Times | Tuesday, 3 November, 2009.]
A San Francisco cosmetics company has ignited an outcry among pro-lifers for including an unexpected ingredient in its anti-aging creams: skin-cell proteins from an aborted fetus.

Children of God for Life, a watchdog group that monitors the use of fetal material in medical products, called last week for a boycott of all treatments manufactured by Neocutis Inc., which acknowledges that the key ingredient in its product line was developed from an aborted boy.

"There's just no excuse for using aborted babies in skin-care products," said Debi Vinnedge, executive director of Children of God for Life, a 10-year-old organization based in Murfreesboro, Tenn. "The reaction, the shock and anger I've seen is incredible."

In a statement released Friday, in response to a wave of condemnation from pro-life and religious blogs, Neocutis defended the use of its trademarked ingredient, Processed Skin Cell Proteins, or PSP, arguing that the fetal cell line was harvested in a responsible, ethical manner for use in treating severe dermatological injuries.

The ingredient was developed at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland from proteins in the skin tissue of a 14-week-old male baby electively aborted at the university's hospital and donated to the Swiss university. The abortion was deemed medically necessary because the baby could not survive to term, according to Neocutis.

The fetal skin cell line was taken from a piece of skin the size of a postage stamp and donated voluntarily by the parents for medical research. The donation was approved by the hospital's medical ethics committee and in accordance with Swiss laws, said the Neocutis statement. (Full story here.)

French Activists File Charges Of "Attempted Poisoning" Against H1N1 Vaccine Campaign

2009-10-31T09:36:00.004+01:00

[By Michael Cosgrove, Flesh & Stone | Saturday, 24 October, 2009.]
In what is being seen as the first of many such actions to come, nine individuals have filed formal charges claiming that the H1N1 campaign is a deliberate attempt to poison the French population.

These charges, which were filed yesterday, could not come at a more inopportune moment for the government and health specialists. The vaccination campaign got underway last Tuesday in a climate of national skepticism as to the vaccine’s safety and efficiency, and this news will surely boost the morale of the increasing number of anti-vaccine lobbyists who are beginning to organize their resistance to any attempt to vaccinate the population against H1N1.

Nine inhabitants of the Isére region of France are cited as joint plaintiffs in the case, including a health sector worker, a teacher and a radio talk show host. They met each other at various public meetings held to denounce the vaccine’s alleged health risks.

The charges take the form of a ‘plainte contre X’ which means that the perpetrator of an alleged crime or felony is not known, or is not named, in the charge sheet. This is a commonly used manner of filing complaints in France, particularly where the charges relate to supposed government implication in alleged breaches of the law. In cases where those trials proceed after prior examination of the facts, the specific persons or organizations concerned are designated and charged as the trial proceeds.

Jean-Pierre Joseph, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, describes the vaccination campaign as “A veritable attempt to poison.” He confirmed that the charges were filed at the High Court in Grenoble before the court’s senior examining magistrate. He said other court cases involving other plaintiffs would begin soon

The various charges filed included one of “Attempting to administer substances… of a nature which could result in death.”

“The aim is to put a stop to what we consider to be an act of poisoning,” according to Joseph. “The interest of this action is that people in France now have a means by which to express their concern as citizens by saying publicly “We are aware that the vaccination campaign is a swindle.”

Similar court actions are planned in other areas of the Isére, as well as in Paris, Pau and Nantes, and several hundred vaccine opponents are beginning to organize themselves on the internet with a view to filing class action charges.

The government and health authorities are currently battling to persuade people to get vaccinated against increasingly difficult odds. Opposition to the campaign has been increasing steadily, and various polls taken over the last few days put the figure for those who do not intend to get vaccinated as high as 70 percent. (Full story here.)

No Men OR Women Needed: Scientists Create Sperm And Eggs From Stem Cells

2009-10-31T09:26:00.000+01:00

[By Fiona MacRae, Daily Mail | Thursday, 29 October, 2009.]
Human eggs and sperm have been grown in the laboratory in research which could change the face of parenthood. It paves the way for a cure for infertility and could help those left sterile by cancer treatment to have children who are biologically their own.

But it raises a number of moral and ethical concerns. These include the possibility of children being born through entirely artificial means, and men and women being sidelined from the process of making babies. Opponents argue that it is wrong to meddle with the building blocks of life and warn that the advances taking place to tackle infertility risk distorting and damaging relations between family members.

The U.S. government-funded research also offers the prospect of a "miracle pill" which staves off the menopause, allowing women to wait longer to have a child. It centres on stem cells, widely seen as a repair kit for the body. Scientists at Stanford University in California found the right cocktail of chemicals and vitamins to coax the cells into becoming eggs and sperm.

The sperm had heads and short tails and are thought to have been mature enough to fertilise an egg. The eggs were at a much earlier stage but were still much more developed than any created so far by other scientists.

The double success, published in the journal Nature, raises the prospect of men and women one day "growing" their own sperm and eggs for use in I.V.F. treatments. The American team used stem cells taken from embryos in the first days of life but hope to repeat the process with slivers of skin. The skin cells would first be exposed to a mixture which wound back their biological clocks to embryonic stem cell state, before being transformed into sperm or eggs.

Starting with a person's own skin would also mean the lab-grown sperm or eggs would not be rejected by the body. The science also raises the possibility of "male eggs" made from men's skin and "female sperm" from women's skin. This would allow gay couples to have children genetically their own, although many scientists are sceptical about whether it is possible to create sperm from female cells, which lack the male Y chromosome. (Full story here.)

Why Boys Are Turning Into Girls

2009-10-31T09:15:00.000+01:00

[By Geoffrey Lean, London Telegraph | Friday, 23 October, 2009.]
Here's something rather rotten from the State of Denmark. Its government yesterday unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, nappies, sunscreen lotion and moisturising cream.

The 326-page report, published by the environment protection agency, is the latest piece in an increasingly alarming jigsaw. A picture is emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminising male children all over the developed world. And anti-pollution measures and regulations are falling far short of getting to grips with it.

Sperm counts are falling so fast that young men are less fertile than their fathers and produce only a third as much, proportionately, as hamsters. And gender-bending chemicals are increasingly being blamed for the mystery of the "lost boys": babies who should normally be male who have been born as girls instead.

The Danish government set out to find out how much contamination from gender-bending chemicals a two-year-old child was exposed to every day. It concluded that a child could be "at critical risk" from just a few exposures to high levels of the substances, such as from rubber clogs, and imperilled by the amount it absorbed from sources ranging from food to sunscreens.

The results build on earlier studies showing that British children have higher levels of gender-bending chemicals in their blood than their parents or grandparents. Indeed WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund), which commissioned the older research, warned that the chemicals were so widespread that "there is very little, if anything, individuals can do to prevent contamination of themselves and their families." Prominent among them are dioxins, PVC, flame retardants, phthalates (extensively used to soften plastics) and the now largely banned PCBs, one and a half million tons of which were used in countless products from paints to electrical equipment.

Young boys, like those in the Danish study, could end up producing less sperm and developing feminised behaviour. Research at Rotterdam's Erasmus University found that boys whose mothers were exposed to PCBs and dioxins were more likely to play with dolls and tea sets and dress up in female clothes.

And it is in the womb that babies are most vulnerable; a study of umbilical cords from British mothers found that every one contained hazardous chemicals. Scientists at the University of Rochester in New York discovered that boys born to women exposed to phthalates had smaller penises and other feminisation of the genitals.

The contamination may also offer a clue to a mysterious shift in the sex of babies. Normally 106 boys are born for every 100 girls: it is thought to be nature's way of making up for the fact that men were more likely to be killed hunting or in conflict. But the proportion of females is rising, so much so that some 250,000 babies who statistically should have been boys have ended up as girls in Japan and the United States alone. In Britain, the discrepancy amounts to thousands of babies a year. (Full story here.)

Lack Of Choice, Loss Of Freedom

2009-10-28T09:18:00.003+01:00

[Holistic Moms Network | Sunday, 25 October, 2009.]
President Obama has paved the road for the end of freedom and choice for parents (and others) in this country. Declaring the swine flu pandemic to be a national emergency, President Obama has given broad powers enabling the government to act as they deem appropriate to prevent and treat this illness.

Despite the C.D.C.'s own reporting that the swine flu pandemic may well have peaked out already, the President has initiated a crisis state inciting both fear and panic. But his actions are not going without criticism. Mike Adams of the Natural News ponders the motivation behind declaring a state of emergency, even more concerning coming on the heels of the rescission of NY H1N1 mandate for health care workers and growing media reports of public distrust of the vaccine and the severity of the swine flu. The more resistance to the vaccine that arises, the harder the push to enforce it.

This second of two actions to broaden government powers during a "pandemic" also "allows drug companies, health officials and anyone who gives experimental vaccines to Americans during a declared public health emergency, to be protected from liability if people get hurt." There will be no recourse despite reports of adverse flu vaccine reactions, including the tragic story of Desiree Jennings. The insert to the H1N1 vaccination itself clearly states the the potential side effects including increased risk of hospitalization and wheezing in young children, immune system disorders, Guillain-Barre syndrome (G.B.S.), and gastrointestinal disorders. And there is no regard for reports of deaths from the swine flu vaccine along with hundreds of cases of G.B.S. And what about the swelling number of credible, informed professionals who warn of the danger of the swine flu vaccination? Do any of these factor into the equation?

Parents across the country are scared. Not by swine flu, but by the lack of choice and loss of freedom that they are facing. Most physicians are not helping matters. Anecdotal reports from Holistic Moms across the nation indicate that anyone appearing in a health care facility with flu-like symptoms are being told they have H1N1, without testing, simply because "no other flu viruses" are circulating this early in the season, inflating reports without any clinical evidence.

Will parents lose all choice in this emergency? Can we no longer decide what medical practices are or are not appropriate for our children? We have seen "mishaps" already of children given the vaccine "by mistake."

As parents, we have a right to make informed, educated decisions about the health and well-being of our children. We should be guided by the principles of informed consent. As the National Vaccine Information Center explains:

"Informed consent has been the central ethical principle of the practice of modern medicine since the Nuremberg Code was issued by the Nuremberg Tribunal after World War II. Although the Nuremberg Code specifically addressed the human right for human beings to give their voluntary informed consent to participate in scientific experiments, the First Principle of the Nuremberg Code has become an ethical standard for allowing patients to give their voluntary consent to engage in medical interventions that carry a risk of harm."

Without such a guiding principle, we and our children are not only at risk but also have no legal means for justice. A national emergency indeed. (Link.)

Fifth Swine Flu Vaccine Death In Sweden

2009-10-28T09:15:00.001+01:00

Vaccinations Still Go Ahead As Planned

[By Johan Niklasson, The Flu Case | Tuesday, 27 October, 2009.]
Media in Sweden is having a tough time maintaining the propaganda as more and more people question the reasons for the mass vaccination. Now, authorities say that if not "80% of the population takes the shot, we risk 100 deaths from the swine flu". Most Swedes know that a normal flu season see several thousand dead from complications from the seasonal flu so the proportions of the propaganda coming from media and the government has caused a growing revolt against the massive attempts to scare people to take the poisonous injection.

We have earlier reported on the first death, the second death (also here), the third death and the fourth death in Sweden from the poisonous Pandemrix vaccin shot.

Today, Svenska Dagbladet reports that over 350 cases of side effects from the Pandemrix "swine flu" shot, has been recorded so far. It has also become clear that this shot contains the most deadly mix of substances of all the known vaccines manufactured against the so called "swine flu" H1N1 influenza. The official number of deaths from the "swine flu" vaccine is now five. And that is only those who have strong immediate reactons, the long term effects are usually never even investigated. If you would die from the shot two weeks after you took it, your death would not be considered to have anything to do with the vaccination. Severe health problems years after will of course be very hard to link to the poisonous injection. Even if these five official cases died within days, the official story is of course as expected: "none of these deaths has been confirmed to be linked to the vaccine".

In Aftonbladet, Jan Liliemark from The Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (SMI) says: "- Nothing points to a connection. There will be more deaths. We are looking for a pattern, if the cases have something in common. We have so far not found any clear connections between them yet." Officially 198 cases of confirmed "swine flu" exist in Sweden today among a population of over 9 million. How these cases have been tested and determined is not clear.

As always with statistics like this, historically we know that very few of all real side effects are actually reported. Optimistically, up to ten per cent would be reported. It is also highly likely that deaths are being kept secret by the authorities so that the massive and hugely expensive vaccination program will not come to a complete stop. Too many have put their job, reputation and title at stake for the truth to be reported and published.

So far, three people have been reported dead from complications from getting the H1N1 virus. Five dead from the flu shot before the real vaccination campaign has even started should be an indication to question the vaccine and the strategy chosen but the authorities have so much prestige invested that it is unlikely it will ever happen - no matter how many will die from the poisonous injections. (Full story here.)

No Role For Democracy In Search For Europe's First President

2009-10-28T09:12:00.005+01:00

[By David Charter, London Times | Wednesday, 21 October, 2009.]
The Reform Act of 1832 swept away dozens of Britain’s “rotten boroughs,” where comfortable sinecures were left in the hands of a tiny number of voters. The 2009 Lisbon treaty will give an electorate of 27 the power to choose the president of Europe.

In one of the European Union’s greatest missed opportunities - in a long list - the European elite shunned calls to add the spice of democracy to their bureaucracy by making their first president directly elected by its 500 million citizens.

This is the job created under the E.U.’s Lisbon treaty that has been linked to Tony Blair, who has declined to confirm his candidacy before the the treaty is ratified by the Czech Republic - the final E.U. country yet to complete this process.

Almost nothing about the method of choosing a suitable candidate is written down, meaning that, in time-honoured fashion, the E.U. will revert to the cosy back-room stitch-up.

The first President of the European Council will be chosen by the consensus of the leaders of the E.U. states, which in practice means weeks of diplomatic horse trading followed by a shouting match at the next E.U. summit as each country tries to extract what it can from the deal.

If Britain is to get the top job, then France will probably want the new post of E.U. foreign minister as compensation and Germany must have a key role in the next European Commission, possibly responsible for Europe’s internal market or economic affairs.

No matter if a Pole, Dane or Portuguese has the right credentials for the presidential position. They cannot win, because a Pole heads the European Parliament, a Dane just got Nato and José Manuel Barroso, the former Portuguese Prime Minister, has been chosen for a second term in charge of the European Commission.

Under an unwritten but well-understood rule, these jobs must be shared around the member states in an equitable fashion, so that north and south, big and small, Left and Right are all fairly represented.

The shortlist will be drawn up by Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister of Sweden, who holds the current six-month rotating presidency of the E.U. He is making up his own rules for this and is planning to ask each state for a maximum of two names, to be whittled down to no more than two or three for the 27 leaders to chew over. (Full story here.)

Afghan Police Open Fire On Demonstration

2009-10-28T08:57:00.004+01:00

[By Sardar Ahmad, Agence France-Presse | Tuesday, 27 October, 2009.]
Afghan police Monday opened fire and turned a water cannon on demonstrators angry about allegations that Western troops torched a Koran, wounding at least three people, officials and witnesses said.

Clashes erupted as police tried to prevent around 300 students, most of them men, from marching on parliament, the city's criminal investigation police chief, Sayed Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, told AFP.

The UN mission in Kabul responded with an appeal for calm with a run-off presidential election less than a fortnight away.

"Police fired at the crowd, one bullet hit me. I was closing my shop at the time," Sherullah, an 18-year-old man who suffered a bullet wound to his hip, said from his hospital bed.

"They (policemen) were just firing. They were firing at the people," he said.

Sayedzada denied that police fired towards the crowd, saying they only aimed their guns in the air. They also used water cannon, the police chief added.

But a doctor at the emergency ward of Ibn Sina hospital said that at least three men suffering from "bullet wounds" had been admitted for treatment.

More than 15 police were also wounded in clashes between the angry mob and security forces, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw about three dozen people, mainly young students, herded into a police vehicle and taken away.

"We were demonstrating, we wanted to protest the burning of Koran by the foreign forces but the police came and started beating us," a young man, refusing to give his name, said from the back of a police vehicle.

Another man, one side of his face covered in blood, said: "They beat us up, they fired at the people." (Full story here.)

To Cut "Global Warming," Swedes Study Their Plates

2009-10-28T08:53:00.000+01:00

[By Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times | Thursday, 22 October, 2009.]
Shopping for oatmeal, Helena Bergstrom, 37, admitted that she was flummoxed by the label on the blue box reading, “Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product.” “Right now, I don’t know what this means,” said Ms. Bergstrom, a pharmaceutical company employee.

But if a new experiment here succeeds, she and millions of other Swedes will soon find out. New labels listing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of foods, from whole wheat pasta to fast food burgers, are appearing on some grocery items and restaurant menus around the country.

People who live to eat might dismiss this as silly. But changing one’s diet can be as effective in reducing emissions of climate-changing gases as changing the car one drives or doing away with the clothes dryer, scientific experts say.

“We’re the first to do it, and it’s a new way of thinking for us,” said Ulf Bohman, head of the Nutrition Department at the Swedish National Food Administration, which was given the task last year of creating new food guidelines giving equal weight to climate and health. “We’re used to thinking about safety and nutrition as one thing and environmental as another.”

Some of the proposed new dietary guidelines, released over the summer, may seem startling to the uninitiated. They recommend that Swedes favor carrots over cucumbers and tomatoes, for example. (Unlike carrots, the latter two must be grown in heated greenhouses here, consuming energy.)

They are not counseled to eat more fish, despite the health benefits, because Europe’s stocks are depleted.

And somewhat less surprisingly, they are advised to substitute beans or chicken for red meat, in view of the heavy greenhouse gas emissions associated with raising cattle.

“For consumers, it’s hard,” Mr. Bohman acknowledged. “You are getting environmental advice that you have to coordinate with, ‘How can I eat healthier?’ ”

Many Swedish diners say it is just too much to ask. “I wish I could say that the information has made me change what I eat, but it hasn’t,” said Richard Lalander, 27, who was eating a Max hamburger (1.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions) in the shadow of a menu board revealing that a chicken sandwich (0.4 kilograms) would have been better for the planet.

Yet if the new food guidelines were religiously heeded, some experts say, Sweden could cut its emissions from food production by 20 to 50 percent. An estimated 25 percent of the emissions produced by people in industrialized nations can be traced to the food they eat, according to recent research here. (Full story here.)

Secret Court Seizes £3.2 Billion From Elderly And Mentally Impaired

2009-10-28T08:49:00.003+01:00

[By Jason Lewis, Mail On Sunday | Sunday, 25 October, 2009.]
A secret court is seizing the assets of thousands of elderly and mentally impaired people and turning control of their lives over to the State - against the wishes of their relatives.

The draconian measures are being imposed by the little-known Court of Protection, set up two years ago to act in the interests of people suffering from Alzheimer's or other mental incapacity.

The court hears about 23,000 cases a year - always in private - involving people deemed unable to take their own decisions. Using far-reaching powers, the court has so far taken control of more than £3.2billion of assets.

The cases involve civil servants from the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), which last year took £23million in fees directly from the bank accounts of those struck down by mental illness, involved in accidents or suffering from dementia.

The officials are legally required to act in cases where people do not have a 'living will', or lasting power of attorney, which hands control of their assets over to family or friends.

But the system elicited an extraordinary 3,000 complaints in its first 18 months of operation. Among them were allegations that officials failed to consult relatives, imposed huge fees and even 'raided' elderly people's homes searching for documents.

Carers trying to cope with a mentally impaired loved one, forced to apply for a court order to access money, said they felt the system put them under suspicion as it assumed at the outset that they were out to defraud their relatives. (Full story here.)

Mobile Phone Use Linked To Brain Tumors

2009-10-28T08:39:00.008+01:00

[Daily Express | Saturday, 24 October, 2009.]
Long-term mobile phone users could face a higher risk of developing cancer in later life, according to a decade-long study. The report, to be published later this year, has reportedly found that heavy mobile use is linked to brain tumours. The survey of 12,800 people in 13 countries has been overseen by the World Health Organisation.

Preliminary results of the inquiry, which is looking at whether mobile phone exposure is linked to three types of brain tumour and a tumour of the salivary gland, have been sent to a scientific journal. The findings are expected to put pressure on the British Government – which has insisted that mobile phones are safe – to issue stronger warnings to users. (Link.)

Gardasil Researcher Drops A Bombshell

2009-10-28T08:31:00.003+01:00

Controversial Drug Will Do Little To Reduce Cervical Cancer Rates, Efficacy Never Tested On Girls Under 15

[By Susan Brinkmann, The Bulletin | Sunday, 25 October, 2009.]
Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they’re being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15.

Dr. Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, made these remarks during an address at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia on Oct. 2-4. Although her talk was intended to promote the vaccine, participants said they came away convinced the vaccine should not be received.

“I came away from the talk with the perception that the risk of adverse side effects is so much greater than the risk of cervical cancer, I couldn’t help but question why we need the vaccine at all,” said Joan Robinson, Assistant Editor at the Population Research Institute.

Dr. Harper began her remarks by explaining that 70 percent of all H.P.V. infections resolve themselves without treatment within a year. Within two years, the number climbs to 90 percent. Of the remaining 10 percent of H.P.V. infections, only half will develop into cervical cancer, which leaves little need for the vaccine.

She went on to surprise the audience by stating that the incidence of cervical cancer in the U.S. is already so low that “even if we get the vaccine and continue Pap. screening, we will not lower the rate of cervical cancer in the U.S.”

There will be no decrease in cervical cancer until at least 70 percent of the population is vaccinated, and even then, the decrease will be minimal.

Apparently, conventional treatment and preventative measures are already cutting the cervical cancer rate by four percent a year. At this rate, in 60 years, there will be a 91.4 percent decline just with current treatment. Even if 70 percent of women get the shot and required boosters over the same time period, which is highly unlikely, Harper says Gardasil still could not claim to do as much as traditional care is already doing.

Dr. Harper, who also serves as a consultant to the World Health Organization, further undercut the case for mass vaccination by saying that “four out of five women with cervical cancer are in developing countries.”

Ms. Robinson said she could not help but wonder, “If this is the case, then why vaccinate at all? But from the murmurs of the doctors in the audience, it was apparent that the same thought was occurring to them.”

However, at this point, Dr. Harper dropped an even bigger bombshell on the audience when she announced that, “There have been no efficacy trials in girls under 15 years.”

Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil, studied only a small group of girls under 16 who had been vaccinated, but did not follow them long enough to conclude sufficient presence of effective HPV antibodies.

This is not the first time Dr. Harper revealed the fact that Merck never tested Gardasil for safety in young girls. During a 2007 interview with KPC News.com, she said giving the vaccine to girls as young as 11 years-old “is a great big public health experiment.”

At the time, which was at the height of Merck’s controversial drive to have the vaccine mandated in schools, Dr. Harper remained steadfastly opposed to the idea and said she had been trying for months to convince major television and print media about her concerns, “but no one will print it.”

“It is silly to mandate vaccination of 11 to 12 year old girls,” she said at the time. “There also is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue.”

When asked why she was speaking out, she said: “I want to be able to sleep with myself when I go to bed at night.” (Full story here.)

CBS News: Swine Flu Cases Seriously Overestimated

2009-10-28T08:27:00.003+01:00

(Video running time: 9m:53s)

Child Vaccinated At School AGAINST PARENTS' WISHES

2009-10-28T08:19:00.001+01:00

Video posted by 2009disclosure @ YouTube.
(Running time: 2m:20s)

Immune-Suppressing, Carcinogenic Hand Sanitizers In Schools To Prevent H1N1 Flu

2009-10-22T12:45:00.002+02:00

[By Marco Torres, PreventDisease.com | Monday, 19 October, 2009.]
Rinse-free hand sanitizers are, by definition, intended for degerming skin without the aid of rinsing with soap and water. This type of product has steadily gained popularity in schools and public facilities to prevent the flu. However, the risks of using such hand sanitizers far exceed the benefits as most have carcinogenic and immune suppressing compounds.

Health agencies across the world have annouced a need for immediate and persistent protection from harmful microbes and viruses, especially those considered by world health officials as imminent threats such as the H1N1 flu. Yet, the solutions proposed for antiseptic preparations are often deadlier than diseases themselves and at a detriment to long-term health.

This is especially a concern when it comes to their promotion in schools and public facilities which cater to millions of children. "Our plan is to give students safe topical protection that is easily accessible and prevents germs from spreading," stated Charolette Dubois, a public health nurse in Montreal. Dubois said she considers most hand sanitizers safe, although she admits never actually looking at the ingredients.

Many brands of sanitizers contain more than 60 percent alcohol, the same type found in alcoholic drinks, but others are made with isopropyl alcohol, which can be fatal, even in small doses if children ingest it.

“As kids return to classrooms it is more important than ever that we take steps to slow the spread of influenza-like viruses, including the novel H1N1 virus,” said Dr. Mark Horton, who is the director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

An alcohol-free hand sanitizer, like Soapopular recently launched in the UK, can be the first line of defence against the spread of swine flu, claims its Canadian manufacturers. Soapopular has been popping up all over the U.K., Canada and U.S. child care venues, schools and health care facilities. It carries FDA approval in the U.S., Health Canada approval in Canada and MHRA approval to market in the UK.

The soapopular product differs from most hand sanitizers in that it does not use alcohol as its main active ingredient. They claim it makes it a safer option for children since it contains an ammonium compound called Benzalkonium Chloride (BAC), which clinical research has shown to destroy most viruses in seconds including avian flu, SARS, influenza and H1N1 virus.

On closer examination of soapopular and similar products that contain Benzalkonium Chloride, there are alarming toxic effects which are a far greater risk to our health than any prevention benefits they tout.

Benzalkonium chloride is an allergen, carncinogen and immunosuppresive chemical. Several studies have cast doubt on its reputation for safety. It is widely used in mouthwashes, spermicidal creams, and in various other cleaners and disinfectants. It requires higher concentrations to be effective against specific bacteria and viruses.

BAC is also commonly used in oil field industry as a corrosion inhibitor and specifically used for military applications.

In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency approved it's reregistration based on studies that directly contradicted earlier publications which positively correlate its use with mutagenic, allergic and immunosuppresive effects on human health.

In toxicology, BAC is also used as the median lethal dose, LD50 (abbreviation for “Lethal Dose, 50%”), required to kill half the members of a tested population.

A disinfectant containing benzalkonium chloride and the related compound didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) has been identified as the most probable cause of birth defects and fertility problems in caged mice.

In the cosmetic safety database, there is moderate to strong evidence that it is an immune, skin and respiratory toxicant. One or more in vitro tests on mammalian cells exposed to BAC show positive mutation effects. Its use is restricted in cosmetic ingredients in Canada.

The Safety (MSDS) data sheet at the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory in Oxford University shows that BAC is a corrosive, toxic substance that causes burns. It is harmful by inhalation, ingestion and through skin contact. In addition is may cause reproductive defects and act as a mutagen.

Ironically, the material safety sheet on sciencelab.com indicates that if there is serious skin contact with this chemical, a person is to wash with a disinfectant soap, cover the contaminated skin with an anti-bacterial cream and seek immediate medical attention.

Despite the scientifically established and toxic nature of BAC, its integration into hand sanitizers in schools and health facilities does not seem to concern health officials and regulating health agencies. They insist there are no dangers or health risks associated with using them in the short or long term. Quite the contrary, as they would like us to believe the benefit of using BAC far exceeds the risks of contracting a mild flu.

These are the same regulating agencies that use deceptive science to tell us that vaccines are safe and pharmaceuticals have no long-term effects on our health. They may also soon tell us that pigs can fly and bees can not. (Link)

U.S. Attacks Iran Via C.I.A.-Funded Jundullah Terror Group

2009-10-20T10:21:00.005+02:00

Bush's covert war in Iran gets even uglier under Obama

[By Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet | Monday, 19 October, 2009.]
The U.S. government effectively attacked Iran yesterday after its proxy terror group Jundullah launched a suicide bomb attack against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at their headquarters in Pishin, near the border with Pakistan.

Leaders of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Sunni terrorist group Jundullah have claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Iran that killed over 40 people yesterday. The group is funded and trained by the C.I.A. and is being used to destabilize the government of Iran, according to reports out of the London Telegraph and ABC News.

In the aftermath of the attack, which killed at least five commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard along with scores of others, media reports have swung between Iranian accusations of U.S. and British involvement and blanket denials on behalf of the U.S. State Department.

However, the fact that Jundullah, who have since claimed responsibility for the attack and named the bomber as Abdol Vahed Mohammadi Saravani, are openly financed and run by the C.I.A. and Mossad is not up for debate, it has been widely reported for years.

“President George W Bush has given the C.I.A. approval to launch covert “black” operations to achieve regime change in Iran, intelligence sources have revealed. Mr Bush has signed an official document endorsing C.I.A. plans for a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs,” reported the London Telegraph in May, 2007.

Part of that destabilization campaign involved the the C.I.A. “Giving arms-length support, supplying money and weapons, to an Iranian militant group, Jundullah, which has conducted raids into Iran from bases in Pakistan,” stated the report.

Jundullah is a Sunni Al-Qaeda offshoot organization that was formerly headed by alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The fact that it is being directly supported by the U.S. government under both Bush and now Obama destroys the whole legitimacy of the “war on terror” in an instant.

The group has been blamed for a number of bombings inside Iran aimed at destabilizing Ahmadinejad’s government and is also active in Pakistan, having been fingered for its involvement in attacks on police stations and car bombings at the Pakistan-U.S. Cultural Center in 2004.

The group also produces propaganda tapes and literature for al Qaeda’s media wing, As-Sahab, which is in turn closely affiliated with the military-industrial complex front IntelCenter, the group that makes available al Qaeda videos to the western media.

In May 2008, ABC News reported on how Pakistan was threatening to turn over six members of Jundullah to Iran after they were taken into custody by Pakistani authorities.

“U.S. officials tell ABC News U.S. intelligence officers frequently meet and advise Jundullah leaders, and current and former intelligence officers are working to prevent the men from being sent to Iran,” reported ABC news, highlighting again the close relationship between the terror group and the C.I.A. (Full story here.)

Obama Steps Up Bombing Of Pakistan Despite Civilian Casualties

2009-10-20T10:16:00.001+02:00

[By Sherwood Ross, National Expositor | Monday, 19 October, 2009.]
“Even if a precise account is elusive,” writes Jane Mayer in the October 26th The New Yorker, “the outlines are clear: the C.I.A. has joined the Pakistani intelligence service in an aggressive campaign to eradicate local and foreign militants, who have taken refuge in some of the most inaccessible parts of the country.”

Based on a study just completed by the non-profit, New America Foundation of Washington, D.C., “the number of drone strikes has risen dramatically since Obama became President,” Mayer reports.

In fact, the first two strikes took place on Jan. 23, the President’s third day in office and the second of these hit the wrong house, that of a pro-government tribal leader that killed his entire family, including three children, one just five years of age.

At any time, the C.I.A. apparently has “multiple drones flying over Pakistan, scouting for targets,” the magazine reports. So many Predators and its more heavily armed companion, the Reaper, are being purchased that defense manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, of Poway, Calif., can hardly make them fast enough. The Air Force is said to possess 200.

Mayer writes, “the embrace of the Predator program has occurred with remarkably little public discussion, given that it represents a radically new and geographically unbounded use of state-sanctioned lethal force.” Today, Mayer writes, “there is no longer any doubt that targeted killing has become official U.S. policy.” And according to Gary Solis, who teaches at Georgetown University’s Law Center, nobody in the government calls it assassination. “Not only would we have expressed abhorrence of such a policy a few years ago; we did,” Solis is quoted as saying. (Full story here.)