December 18, 2011

Strong: AAPS

In a letter to Colorado public health officials, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) opposes a rule requiring workers in health care facilities to have an annual influenza vaccination or lose their jobs. Workers who had a rare religious or medical exemption would be required to wear a mask in patient care areas from November through March.

The religious exemption is too narrowly drawn, AAPS writes, and should be a philosophical exemption, as accepted in many states, to “to avoid inquisitions into matters of faith.” The mask requirement “seems to be nothing more than a punitive retaliation against those who decline the vaccine” and should be dropped, the AAPS letter states, as both immunized and nonimmunized individuals can transmit influenza or other illnesses.

The New Mexico study cited in support of the policy shows a tiny effect: an adjusted odds ratio of only 0.97 for confirmed influenza “outbreaks” (at least one case) in residents of long-term care facilities where 60% of direct-care workers were immunized compared with facilities with a 51% immunization rate. This means that in facilities where more workers were immunized, residents were still 97% as likely to get influenza. “Many other factors could account for the small difference,” states AAPS executive director Jane Orient, M.D.

In the age of “evidence-based medicine,” AAPS notes that there is surprisingly little evidence supporting the efficacy of influenza vaccine, and evidence of safety is also scant. According to a 2006 article in the British Medical Journal by Tom Jeffersonhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626345/, the coordinator of the vaccines section of the Cochrane Collaboration, safety data are reported in only five randomized studies with 2,963 observations. Many repeated doses of similar vaccines likely increase the risk of allergic reactions, and no data exist on the safety of a large number of doses, states Dr. Orient, citing a 2006 article in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. http://www.jpands.org/vol11no3/geier.pdf

Immunizations and pertinent information should be made conveniently available to all workers in medical facilities, states AAPS. But the judgment of medical professionals should be respected; more than half choose to decline the annual shot.

The letter to Colorado officials is available.http://www.aapsonline.org/index.php/site/article/colorado_influenza_letter/

AAPS, a national organization of physicians in all specialties, was founded in 1943 to preserve and promote the practice of private medicine and the sanctity of the patient-physician

Related Posts:

• Medical Journal Article: 14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Reactor Disaster Fallout
• Rick Santorum’s anti-gun history
• Anger over secret drug trials on Indian children
• Fatfat: US Zionist lobby supporting Assad
• News: FDA Won’t Act Against Ag Antibiotic Use

November 14, 2011

Source: Fox News

At Google, X really does mark the spot.

Search-engine giant Google has a secret product lab called Google X feverishly developing blue-sky projects such as space elevators, driverless cars and Internet-enabled household devices (coffee pots? clothing?), The New York Times reported Monday.

The labs are reportedly run “as mysteriously as the C.I.A.,” according to unnamed sources familiar with the project, and housed in two facilities — one in California at the company’s headquarters and one in an undisclosed location elsewhere in the country.

Theyre pretty far out in front right now, Rodney Brooks, a professor emeritus at M.I.T.s computer science and artificial intelligence lab and founder of Heartland Robotics, told the Times. But Googles not an ordinary company, so almost nothing applies.

The lab is largely filled with robotics engineers, according to The New York Times, in spite of the software engineers more commonly employed by the company. But dont get your hopes up: The types of projects cited aren’t the sort of thing the company will be releasing any time soon.

Space elevators, for example, are a concept common in science fiction stories and movies. The idea is simple: Ditch the expensive, dangerous, limited rockets mankind has traditionally relied upon to ferry cargo and crew to outer space in favor of an elevator, a giant platform that tows anything and everything up a tremendous cable to a platform orbiting at a fixed location around the planet.

While discussed widely by researchers and developers, a space elevator is no more than an idea, at present. Likewise, robot cars and interconnected home products are probably not destined for our homes and car ports anytime soon — Google did not officially comment on the status of projects or even the existence of the Google X labs.

Related Posts:

• Judge Declares Law Governing Warrantless Cellphone Tracking Unconstitutional
• Many Android Phones Ship with Rootkit/Surveillance System Called ‘CarrierIQ’
• GE Filed 57,000-Page Tax Return, Paid No Taxes on $14 Billion in Profits
• Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe
• U.S. boosts estimate of auto bailout losses to $23.6B

Related Posts:

• Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Unleashed — Concerns Grow
• Rumor Claims Sandusky “Pimped Out” Boys to Rich Donors
• 12 Facts About Money And Congress That Are So Outrageous That It Is Hard To Believe That They Are Actually True
• ‘Researchers Creating Ultimate Flu Shot’
• Iraq had a Long Tradition as a Center of Higher Learning: How America’s War Destroyed Iraq’s Universities

August 31, 2011

Tiffany Kaiser – Daily Tech

The First Circuit Court of Appeals reached a crucial decision last Friday allowing the public to videotape police officers while they’re on the clock.

The decision comes after a string of incidents where individuals have videotaped police officers and were arrested. Police officers across the United States believed citizens didn’t have the right to videotape them as they conducted official duties, but issues like police brutality put the issue up for debate.

One instance where a citizen was arrested for videotaping an officer was when Khaliah Fitchette, a law-abiding teenager from New Jersey, boarded a bus in Newark. Two police officers boarded the bus as well to remove a drunken man. Fitchette began taping the police officers because of how they were handling the man, and a police officer instructed her to stop recording them. When Fitchette refused, she was arrested and placed in the back of a cop car for two hours while the officers took her phone to delete the video. Fitchette was then released, but she and her mother then filed suit against the Newark Police Department with the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Another example involves Simon Glik, a passerby on the Boston Common. He used his cell phone to tape police officers when the Boston police were punching a man. Citizens surrounding the scene were saying, “You’re hurting him.” Glik never interfered with the police officers’ actions, but recorded the entire incident. The police officers ended up charging Glik with violating a wiretap statute that prohibits secret recording, even though the police officers admitted that they knew Glik was recording them. He was also charged with disturbing the peace and aiding the escape of a prisoner.

While all charges against Glik were dropped due to lack of merit, he still decided to join forces with the ACLU and file a civil rights suit to prevent a similar incident from occurring with others.

On Friday, August 26, 2011, the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which is New England’s highest federal court just below the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled that citizens are allowed to videotape law officials while they conduct official duties.

The city’s attorneys made the argument that police officers should have been exempt from a civil rights lawsuit in the first place in this case because the law is unclear as to whether there’s a “constitutionally protected right to videotape police” conducting their daily duties in public.

“The filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place, including police officers performing their responsibilities, fits comfortably within these principles [of protected First Amendment activity].,” said the Court. “Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting the free discussion of governmental affairs.”

The Court added that the police officers should have understood this all along, and that videotaping public officials is not limited to the press.

“Moreover, changes in technology and society have made the lines between private citizen and journalist exceedingly difficult to draw,” the Court continued. “The proliferation of electronic devices with video-recording capability means that many of our images of current events come from bystanders with a ready cell phone or digital camera rather than a traditional film crew, and news stories are now just as likely to be broken by a blogger at her computer as a reporter at a major newspaper. Such developments make clear why the news-gathering protections of the First Amendment cannot turn on professional credentials or status.”

The Court concluded that police officers are to expect to deal with certain “burdens” as citizens practice First Amendment rights, but that there needs to be a healthy balance between police officers being videotaped while acting irresponsibly and the harassment of officers with recording devices while they’re conducting their duties responsibly.

Related Posts:

• Mall of America visitors unknowingly end up in counterterrorism fusion center reports
• U.S. Sues to Stop AT&T Deal – A Surprisingly Swift Move or Disinformation?
• Judge Declares Law Governing Warrantless Cellphone Tracking Unconstitutional
• NYPD Holds College Student in Jail for Three Days Because She Wasn’t Carrying ID
• America’s “Unnoticed” Military Aggression. US Combat Troops Arrive in Uganda

August 26, 2011

Source: AP

Related Posts:

• What’s the CIA doing at NYPD? Depends whom you ask
• UK spy files reveal details of 1950s Guyana coup
• Obama-appointed US trade adviser linked to illegal deal in Congolese gold
• NYPD Holds College Student in Jail for Three Days Because She Wasn’t Carrying ID
• Britain: CIA Lobbies for Secret Courts

Brandon Dean
for waronyou.com
July 4th, 2011

“We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather bed.”
–Thomas Jefferson

Independence Day is here once more.  The united States has been here for 235 years.  I would like to extend holiday wishes to those who fought and died for the formation of this country.  This is not to those who died in the Civil War, or World War I, or World War II, or any of the other wars we’ve fought in our bloody history.  Far beyond rolling in their graves, the founders of this country would disown us completely if they saw what has become of their posterity.  They have become caricatures of themselves, caricatures which get hauled out of their mothball storage for convenience and frivolity.  The reverence of their sacrifices is lost on most Americans.  Respect for the principles of independence seems to have gone the way of the praise of intellect.

True independence is a rare quality in man.  The formers of this country knew it took leaders of principle to wrest their freedom from the most powerful country on Earth.  Without this leadership, the common man NEVER would have joined the cause of revolution.  The common man spiritually begs for leadership and guidance.  Without this leadership, his mind festers and grows cynical.

Long ago I personally pledged my life, fortune and sacred honor to the cause of freedom, and it has cost me dearly in many ways.  A life of solitude and scorn in the land of Babylon was my gift for idealism.  But I know the most noble fight is the fight you know is hopeless, yet you fight because it’s the only RIGHT thing to do.

In a world of utter corruption, idealism is a stone chained to your foot.  Freedom is there, staring us down with opportunity every second of every day.  Yet convenience, the god of the idle, is like a drug which incapacitates our reasoning faculties.  We are tempted by convenience to stumble in confusion and to worship forced vicissitude.  We praise our destruction every time we press the power button on our remote controls, attempting an escape with our meager pittance of convenience.

But take comfort in the fact that happiness can only be obtained in giving–giving to others who go without the great mental treasure of creativity which comes naturally to a true leader.  The apathetic will look for any excuse to not follow the correct path; they will tear you down in pursuit of their convenience given the slightest provocation.  Those who preach freedom, but live in slavery, do more to destroy the cause of freedom than the worst tyrants.  Lead by example, because THAT is what the common man is waiting for: lack of hypocrisy, as opposed to vain lip service.

There is little hope of paradise on Earth in the form of ANY country, but my prayer is that the contest for freedom presses on regardless of an assurance of victory.  My prayer is that those with the potential to lead get off their lazy asses and do something about it.

This day should not bring joy, but anger.  What is so happy about being enslaved to a ruthless bureaucracy which grinds our souls of glass into tiny shards, then serves it on a platter and calls it “apple pie?”  Where is the room for creative progress in a heart of stone?  If one is terrified of freedom for fear of financial retribution, how could one be expected to lay down his life for the same?  Our freedoms have transmogrified into toys which we covet in the way the founders of this country coveted the creative process.

With every crime committed by our wily yet terrified overlords, my conviction grows stronger.  With every example of apathy in the American populace, my resolve becomes more solidified.  I will not fail in my covenant with destiny and freedom.  This is my prayer.  God bless all true lovers of freedom.  To the rest–enjoy your beer and barbecues while you can.  You are no countryman of mine.

©Brandon Dean, 2011

Related Posts:

• ‘There is no plan B’: Marines defend $385bn cost of F-35 fighter jet programme
• Congress Blesses Israel’s Matrix of Control
• Many secrets behind Disneyland’s rides and attractions
• Britain: CIA Lobbies for Secret Courts
• Banks Demolishing and Trying to Give Wrecked, Looted Homes Away

Related Posts:

• I am sick and tired of hearing about 9/11 and terrorism!
• ‘There is no plan B’: Marines defend $385bn cost of F-35 fighter jet programme
• DEMYSTIFYING 9/11: ISRAEL AND THE TACTICS OF MISTAKE
• WAR DRUMS: Israel Warns US Jews: Iran Could Strike Here
• Drug war hypocrisy: drug trafficking’s big money benefits Big Brother and corrupt banksters

The Spirit of Rachel Corrie (officially known as FINCH) carrying a humanitarian cargo to Gaza was attacked by an Israeli naval patrol within the so-called Palestinian Security Zone on May 15, at 10.54pm EDT.

In the course of the last few hours, Global Research has communicated several times with the Rachel Corrie vessel en route to Gaza. What is provided below is a detailed update. An earlier article was posted at 12.30am EDT

The vessel left the Greek Port of Piraeus, on Wednesday, May 11. The humanitarian initiative is sponsored by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF), chaired by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad.

Participating in this mission are anti-war activists and journalists, consisting of 7 Malaysians, 2 Irish, 2 Indians and 1 Canadian. The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) is a partner in this endeavor. Global Research`s Julie Lévesque is on board the Rachel Corrie:

The cargo ship The Spirit of Rachel Corrie (officially known as FINCH) is carrying 7.5 kilometers of UPVC (plastic) sewage pipes to help restore the devastated sewerage system in Gaza. The ship was named after the courageous American activist who was crushed and killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 while trying to prevent the demolition of another Palestinian home. She died at 23. ( Perdana’s Second Press Release, Nakba and the Spirit of Rachel Corrie: Humanitarian Ship Attacked by Israel now within 1.5 nautical miles of Gazan Waters  Global Research, May 16, 2011)

The Spirit of Rachel Corrie entered Gazan waters without being detected.

The Israeli navy with its radar equipment and advanced communications technology was unaware of the Spirit of Rachel Corrie Mission.

They were unprepared.  They had received no prior information of the Rachel Corrie Mission, which had been planned for several months, scheduled to arrive off the coast of Gaza on the day of the “Nakba” commemoration.

Ironically, Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency was unaware of this mission. The Israeli navy vessels acted in an improvised fashion, without prior knowledge or intelligence. There was no indication that they had received precise instructions from the Israeli government.

At the time of the attack, the passengers on board were under the impression that the ship was still in international waters, when in fact is was one mile inside the “Palestinian Security zone”, namely in Gaza territorial waters, within a short distance of the Gaza coastline. This was an important accomplishment.

Indicated below is the initial report sent to Global Research by text message:

At 10.54 pm Eastern Time (EDT), the Spirit of Rachel Corrie was intercepted by an Israeli ship and a Egyptian ship in international waters [correction: within Gaza Territorial waters]

10:54pm EDT, Gaza 5:54am: We have been intercepted by Israeli ship and Egyptian ship. We are disobeying the orders and sailing ahead to Gaza.

10:57pm EDT, Gaza 5:57am: One Israeli warship coming to us very fast! We are in international waters, therefore they have no right to attack us. We are still sailing ahead.

10:59pm EDT, Gaza 5:59am: They are opening fire across our ship! We are still sailing ahead.

11:09pm EDT, Gaza 6:09am: They are shooting all over the place. We can’t continue …

11:35pm EDT, Gaza 6:35am: They circled our ship twice and fired across our ship. Machine guns. No one was injured. One of the fishing nets caught the propeller, so we can’t move now.

11:37pm EDT, Gaza 6:37am: The Israeli ship was coming from one end and the Egyptian ship was coming from another end. Firing. We are just stalled now. Everybody is okay. No one is injured.

Two Israeli naval vessels initially launched a “warning attack” on the Rachel Corrie, indicating that if the ship did not change course, they would shoot at the crew and the passengers. One of the passengers was almost killed as a result of the attacks. (See Bernama, May 16, 2011)

The following exchange took place between the Israeli navy and the ship as reported by the Free Malaysia Today journalist on board the Spirit of Rachel Corrie:

“Israeli army: This is a warning shot. Turn around.

Captain Jalil Mansor: We are unarmed civilians on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

Israeli army: This is a closed military zone. It’s a violation. Turn around.

Mansor: We will continue (the mission).

The Israelis then headed to the back of the aid vessel and released a second warning shot into the air.

Graham: This is a violation (of international law). We are on a peaceful mission and unarmed.

Israeli army: Turn around. We will fire again.

Graham: You are firing towards unarmed civilians.

Israeli army: We didn’t fire towards unarmed civilians.

Graham: Looks like firing towards us.

Israeli army: We didn’t fire towards you. That is only a warning shot.

Following that conversation, the Israeli army fired two more shots and threatened: “Next time, we will land on your ship.”

Then the Egyptian navy was heard telling the Israelis on the radio: “Stop firing. They are in Egyptian waters.”

Upon realising the presence of Egyptian naval forces, the Israelis departed.” (Free Malaysia Today, http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/05/16/israel-fires-warning-shots-at-msian-ship/ May 16, 2011)

The Egyptian navy guard was initially unaware of what was occurring. The Israeli navy contacted the Egyptian navy and initially got no response.

Our earlier report (filed at 12.30am) following communication with the ship shortly after midnight (March 16) pointed to cooperation between the Israeli navy and their Egyptian counterparts. While there was cooperation, the Egyptians played a supportive role, which served to appeasing the Israeli attacks as well as escorting the Spirit of Rachel Corrie into Egyptian territorial waters.

The Israeli Navy had contacted the Spirit of Rachel Corrie. They were informed regarding the nature of the cargo and that the crew and passengers were unarmed civilians.

The warning attack was aggressive using automatic weapons. Two Israeli naval patrol boats armed with machine guns were deployed. The Israelis also opened fire on a Palestinian fishing boat which was within Gazan territorial waters.

Following the initial “warning attack” they ordered the Spirit of Rachel Corrie to turn back. “Turn around or we’ll shoot”. However, once the ship changed course as demanded by the Israeli commando, they continued firing on the ship:  “They started shooting to kill”

The Egyptian navy ship while communicating with the Israeli Navy was instrumental in escorting the ship to safe haven. The crew of the Egyptian ship was supportive in ensuring the safety of the crew and passengers of the humanitarian vessel.

There was communication between the Israeli and Egyptian ships and the Israeli’s “thanked” the Egyptian ship for having intervened.

The Spirit of Rachel Corrie, its crew and passengers are  now in Egyptian territorial water, anchored off the Egyptian port of Al Arish, within a short distance of  Gaza territorial waters.

It is essential at this stage to mobilize Worldwide in support for the Spirit of Rachel Corrie, break the blockade, open up Gazan territorial waters to aid and trade and also use this opportunity to open the land border between Egypt and Gaza.

The humanitarian convoy is of significance in the process of rehabilitation of Gaza’s public health infrastructure including its sewage system which was partially destroyed by Israeli bombings under Operation Cast Lead:

On 27 December 2008, the Israeli military launched Operation Cast Lead, which not only killed some 1400 Palestinians, but also destroyed vital infrastructure leaving the Gazans with critical water and sewage problems. Repair of the infrastructure has proved impossible as Israel has prevented the entry of construction materials and fuel to resolve this dire situation.

According to a report from the Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH), “the release of 80 million litres of untreated or partially treated sewage into the environment and Mediterranean Sea each day is primarily a result of the Israeli imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip.”

Gaza, one of the world’s most densely populated areas, is currently dealing with serious health issues such as the blue baby syndrome, diarrhea and other waterborne diseases like typhoid and hepatitis A. The World Health Organization is warning of a possible cholera epidemic if nothing is done rapidly to resolve this sanitation crisis.

According to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel: “Between 90% and 95% of the aquifers in the Gaza Strip are not safe for drinking.” The primary cause of the current problem originates from the destruction, during Operation Cast Lead, of “20 kilometers of water pipes, 7.5 kilometers of sewage pipes and 5,700 mobile water tanks”.

While the Gazans are experiencing the dramatic environmental impacts of the sewage and water crisis, the effects have already reached the Israeli shores, and could spread further affecting neighbouring countries. This severe health and environmental issue needs to be dealt with urgently. The international community must demand that the illegal Israeli blockade be lifted.

The Spirit of Rachel Corrie Mission stemmed from PGFP’s participation in the Freedom Flotilla in 2010, in which 9 activists were killed by Israeli commandos. Following a fact finding mission conducted in Gaza in October 2010, PGPF decided to continue its efforts to assist Palestinians and shows this project as the most immediate of all priorities. See Perdana’s Second Press Release, Nakba and the Spirit of Rachel Corrie: Humanitarian Ship Attacked by Israel now within 1.5 nautical miles of Gazan Waters0777 646 2379, Global Research, May 16, 2011)

SPREAD THE WORD. POST ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

Related Posts:

• They hate us for our freedoms
• America’s “Unnoticed” Military Aggression. US Combat Troops Arrive in Uganda
• U.S. Sues to Stop AT&T Deal – A Surprisingly Swift Move or Disinformation?
• Judge Declares Law Governing Warrantless Cellphone Tracking Unconstitutional
• Veteran Health – Exposure to Toxic Chemicals Can Cause Disease Many Years Later

Exxon Makes $30.5 Billion, So GOP Votes Unanimously To Give Them Tax Breaks

May 6, 2011

Source: Think Progress

Exxon Mobil is by far the most profitable company in the new Fortune 500 list, riding “high oil prices to a staggering $30 billion in income” in 2010. Exxon made over $10 billion more than fellow oil giant Chevron, the third most profitable company (AT&T edged out Chevron for the number two spot). ConocoPhillips’ $11.4 billion in profits put it in the 16th spot, giving the three oil giants a combined $60.9 billion in profits in 2010.

Today, the Republicans in the House of Representatives celebrated this massive redistribution of wealth from American families to oil executives. With the support of 7 oil-patch Democrats, 234 Republicans voted to block a bill to eliminate a $1.8 billion annual subsidy that treats oil drilling as “domestic manufacturing”:

House Republicans rejected an effort by Democrats Thursday to use a procedural maneuver to force a vote on a bill to repeal a key oil industry tax break.

As they did in March, House Republicans voted unanimously to defend these wasteful, unaffordable and unfair oil subsidies, even though several members told their constituents they want to end them.

Related Posts:

• The Future For Most Americans: Pathetic Jobs, Bad Debts And A Crappy Economy
• Gaddafi gold-for-oil, dollar-doom plans behind Libya ‘mission’?
• India and China says it won’t cut back on Iran oil imports
• US missiles ‘hit Iranian village’
• Iran Says Oil Will Pass $250 Bbl If Exports Banned

Senate Sneaks RFID Drivers License, Internet ID into Transportation Bill

May 4, 2011

Related Posts:

• Hoyos iris recognition technology enables computer log-in through eye scan
• Blackwater’s New Ethics Chief: John Ashcroft
• Code of Mysterious German Secret Society the ‘Oculist Order’ Cracked Centuries Later
• Britain: CIA Lobbies for Secret Courts
• Syria seizes Israeli weapons

April 26th, 2011

Via: Narco Sphere:

A high-level player with one of the most notorious narco-trafficking organizations in Mexico, the Sinaloa “cartel,” claims that he has been working with the U.S. government for years, according to pleadings filed recently in federal court in Chicago.

That player, Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, is the son of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia — one of the purported top leaders of the Sinaloa drug-trafficking organization. Zambada Niebla was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and last February extradited to the United States to stand trial on narco-trafficking-related charges.

The indictment pending against Zambada Niebla claims he served as the “logistical coordinator” for the “cartel,” helping to oversee an operation that imported into the U.S. “multi-ton quantities of cocaine … using various means, including but not limited to, Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, private aircraft … buses, rail cars, tractor trailers, and automobiles.”

The revelation that Zambada Niebla claims to have been a U.S. government asset, working with its sanction, is a shocking development in the so-called drug war and has gone largely un-reported by the U.S. media. The claim, if true, adds credence to theories long in play that the Mexican and U.S. governments are essentially showing favor toward the Sinaloa drug organization and its leadership, including El Mayo and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Lorea, as part of a broader strategy to weaken and ultimately eliminate rival narco organizations. U.S. and Mexican government officials, of course, have consistently denied that any such arrangement is in place.

Zambada Niebla’s allegation of U.S. government complicity in his narco-trafficking activities is laid out in a two-page court pleading filed in late March with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. The pleading asserts that Zambada Niebla was working with “public authority” “on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”); and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”); and the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”).

“Public authority for the defendant’s [Zambada Niebla’s] acts began from at least on or about January 1, 2004 and continued to and included on or about March 19, 2009,” the court pleading alleges.

Remember: Barry Seal

Related Posts:

• Three Convicted in Terror-Related Cases Later Granted U.S. Citizenship by Obama Administration
• Homeschool, Anti-vaccine Family Being Destroyed by CPS: Chronology of a Kidnapping
• Mexico Buys 100 tonnes/Global Assault on Paper Gold and Silver continues
• Friction Grows Between Lawmakers and DOJ Over ‘Project Gunrunner’ Probe
• SYRIA: Who is Behind The Protest Movement? Fabricating a Pretext for a US-NATO “Humanitarian Intervention”

USDA Moves to Let Monsanto Perform Its Own Environmental Impact Studies on GMOs

April 24th, 2011

Via: Grist:

In early April, the USDA made what I’m reading as a second response to Judge White, this one even more craven. To satisfy the legal system’s pesky demand for environmental impact studies of novel GMO crops, the USDA has settled upon a brilliant solution: let the GMO industry conduct its own environmental impact studies, or pay other researchers to. The USDA announced the program in the Federal Register for April 7, 2011 [PDF].

The biotech/agrichemical industry has applauded the new plan. Karen Batra of the Biotechnology Industry Organization told the Oregon-based ag journal Capital Press that the program will likely speed up the registration process for GMO crops and make the USDA’s approach less vulnerable to legal challenges like the rebuke from Judge White. Capital Press summed up Batra’s assessment of the plan like this: “The pilot program will not only help move crops through the process more quickly, but the added resources will also help the documents hold up in court.”

Related Posts:

• Bold Alligator: Massive 11-Nation Military Drill Aimed At Fending Off Iran In The Straits of Hormuz
• Marines ‘assault’ US beaches in amphibious drill
• Common Food Items Could Contain 180 Times More Fluoride Than Tap Water
• New York City Surveillance Center Staffed with Employees from Large Wall Street Firms
• The DHS Defends Globalism, Not America

Military patrols start Friday night in downtown Columbus

April 25, 2011

Related Posts:

• System D: The Shadow Superpower
• Britain: CIA Lobbies for Secret Courts
• Syria seizes Israeli weapons
• Where was Osama bin Laden on September 11, 2001?
• Britain: Police Break Into Homes; Lecture People About Burglary Risks

Screen Based Public Education

April 7th, 2011

Public education in the U.S. is a weapon of mass mental destruction that has resulted in a sort of national lobotomy. Increasingly, the screens are being used to deliver the payload with greater efficiency.

Via: Los Angeles Times:

Jack London was the subject in Daterrius Hamilton’s online English 3 course. In a high school classroom packed with computers, he read a brief biography of London with single-paragraph excerpts from the author’s works. But the curriculum did not require him, as it had generations of English students, to wade through a tattered copy of “Call of the Wild” or “To Build a Fire.”

Mr. Hamilton, who had failed English 3 in a conventional classroom and was hoping to earn credit online to graduate, was asked a question about the meaning of social Darwinism. He pasted the question into Google and read a summary of a Wikipedia entry. He copied the language, spell-checked it and e-mailed it to his teacher.

Mr. Hamilton, 18, is among the expanding ranks of students in kindergarten through Grade 12 — more than one million in the United States, by one estimate — taking online courses.

Advocates of such courses say they allow schools to offer not only makeup courses, the fastest-growing area, but also a richer menu of electives and Advanced Placement classes when there are not enough students to fill a classroom.

But critics say online education is really driven by a desire to spend less on teachers and buildings, especially as state and local budget crises force deep cuts to education. They note that there is no sound research showing that online courses at the K-12 level are comparable to face-to-face learning.

Related Posts:

• U.S. Meat Widely Contaminated with Drug-Resistant Bacteria
• Judge Declares Law Governing Warrantless Cellphone Tracking Unconstitutional
• Germane Words From The Declaration of Independence and Some Reasons Why (10/9/2011)
• Fear of Repression Spurs Scholars and Activists to Build Alternate Internets
• Raw Food, the Primal Lifestyle and 10 Steps to Revolutionize Your Nutrition

‘American citizen of Jewish origin’ sues Zuckerberg for $1 billion for not removing page fast enough

Perhaps this ‘American citizen of Jewish origin’ should sue the zionists that probably put up the page in the first place…

Facebook sued over Intifada page

‘American citizen of Jewish origin’ sues Zuckerberg for $1 billion for not removing page fast enough

Facebook and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg have been hit with a lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion in damages over a page on the social network which called for a “Third Intifada” against Israel.

Facebook this week shut down the “Third Intifada” page, which had almost 500,000 fans, but the lawsuit filed in a court here claims that the social network showed “negligence” by not quickly responding to appeals to remove the page.

Besides awarding damages, the complaint calls on the court to bar Facebook “from allowing the Facebook page titled ‘Third Palestinian Intifada,’ and other related and similar sites, which advocate violence and death to Jews.”

The suit, a copy of which was obtained by technology blog TechCrunch, was filed in DC Superior Court by Larry Klayman, who describes himself in the complaint as “an American citizen of Jewish origin” who is “active in matters concerning the security of Israel and all people.”

Klayman also identifies himself as the founder of Freedom Watch, whose website describes it as a political advocacy group dedicated to protecting privacy, free speech and other rights and “our national sovereignty against the incompetent, terrorist state-controlled United Nations.”

Facebook dismissed the case as “without merit” and said it would fight.

“While we haven’t been served with a complaint, we believe the case is without merit and we will fight it vigorously,” a Facebook spokesman said.

Facebook shut down the page on Tuesday, several days after Israeli Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein sent a letter to Zuckerberg urging him to remove it.

Facebook said the page was initially tolerated because it “began as a call for peaceful protest” but direct calls for violence began appearing and the page was removed for violating Facebook’s policies.

Source

Related Posts:

• ARAB UPRISINGS NOT A FACEBOOK REVOLUTION
• FACEBOOK TO BECOME ISRAEL’S OFFICIAL ‘PR’ VEHICLE
• Hoyos iris recognition technology enables computer log-in through eye scan
• WAR DRUMS: Israel Warns US Jews: Iran Could Strike Here
• U.S. Sues to Stop AT&T Deal – A Surprisingly Swift Move or Disinformation?