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Latest News
Polish Politicians Don Guy Fawkes/Anonymous Masks To Protest ACTA Signing
from the isn't-that-infringing? dept
There's been lots of talk today about how various EU governments are agreeing to sign ACTA (which still needs to be ratified by the EU Parliament). It's gotten the most attention in Poland , where there were mass protests -- but the government there still signed. Of course, not everyone in the Polish government agreed. Amazingly, officials from the Palikot's Movement held up the famed Guy Fawkes/Anonymous masks in Parliament to protest the vote:
Of course, we should note that, from the picture, it sure looks like those masks are "counterfeit" copies of the official Guy Fawkes mask that Time Warner holds the rights to . Good thing ACTA is coming into force to stop such blatant "counterfeiting," huh?
Say NO to ACTA
Oil Free Coast: Vancouver
Join Rex Weyler, Nathan Cullen and Art Sterritt for an afternoon Panel Discussion on tankers, pipelines and how to protect and preserve our beautiful pacific coast. A unique opportunity to talk with First Nations & Environmental Groups about what oil tankers on our coast will mean to us all. Several environmental groups will have information tables set up.
Free Admission * Everyone Welcome * Wheelchair Accessible * ASL Interpreters* Free Child Care
When:
Jan 22, 2012
from 01:30 PM to 05:00 PM
Where:
Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC
Panel Speakers:
Rex Weyler, Tanker Free BC, director of the original Greenpeace Foundation, American / Canadian author, journalist and ecologist http:// www.tankerfreebc.org/ , http://rexweyler.com/
Nathan Cullen, former NDP Environment and Natural Resources Critic, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP, NDP Leadership Candidate www.nathancullen.ca
Art Sterritt, Executive Director, Coastal First Nations (Great Bear Initiative Society) http:// www.coastalfirstnations.ca/
Moderator:
Leslie Kemp, Coordinator Sustainable Communities Program, Langara College
Music:
Ta'Kaiya Blaney, Tla'Amin Environmental Singer Songwriter http:// www.takaiyablaney.com/
Program:
1:00pm Doors Open: Information tables (environmental groups), Tea/coffee/juice
1:30pm Performance by Ta'Kaiya Blaney, Tla'Amin Environmental Singer Songwriter
2:00-3:00pm First Nations Blessing, Panel discussion
3:00-4:00pm Questions and discussion with audience
4:00-5:00pm Information tables (environmental groups), refreshments, informal discussion
Environmental Groups with Information Tables at January 22 event
· False Creek Watershed Society
· Georgia Strait Alliance
· Salmon are Sacred
· Sierra Club
· Tanker Free BC
· Village Vancouver
· Western Wilderness Committee
Sponsors with Information Tables at January 22 event
· Coastal First Nations (Great Bear Initiative Society)
· Nathan Cullen, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP, NDP Leadership Candidate
More information about this event…
Israeli Lobby launch new Super PAC effort to bring down Ron Paul
by Patrick Henningsen
For decades, lobbies and special interests have ruled Capitol Hill, with PACs effectively steering the outcome of every major political campaign by injecting money and buying influence. Now we find out that Texas Congressman and GOP candidate Ron Paul has been targeted by a new breed of PAC, this time with foreign backing.
In recent years, activists and advocates have won back some ground in terms of placing limits and disclosure on campaign donations from individuals, businesses and have attempted to rein in some of the financial influence of political action committees (PACs). Just when one dragon was slayed, another, more menacing one was born. Enter the world of the Super PAC.
As 501c organizations, these new Super PACs take advantage of recent election funding rulings which allow corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to operate totally independently – and spend as much as they wish on election campaign media packages. Super PACs can also hold fundraisers to solicit money from donors – with no limits. The rise of the Super PAC has meant a complete runaround of any campaign ethics, or campaign finance regulation.
Where the game was often played according to how much special interests could buy a candidate, the game has now shifted into darker areas, namely, how special interests can take down, and eliminate a candidate during the early part of an election cycle. South Carolina residents are currently being slammed with a record number of Super PAC-funded TV adverts, some of which are negative in nature. More shocking is the fact that all these Super PAC ads are being paid for by just a handful of wealthy donors and establishment syndicates.
According to a recent article in the Washington Post this week , David Donnelly, National Campaigns Director for the Public Campaign Action Fund revealed, “There are probably fewer than 100 people who are fueling 90 percent of this outside money right now.” The report also adds:
In total, these new and unrestrained political action committees spent more than $15 million supporting GOP candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire and are now outspending the official campaigns in South Carolina by 2 to 1, according to advertising and expenditure data.
Out of this small handful of mega-rich donors, the Israeli lobby is represented heavily. The Washington Post adds here:
And casino magnate Sheldon Adelson recently dashed off a $5 million check to a group backing former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), marking what may be the largest single political contribution in U.S. history. Adelson is well known for supporting hard-line policies favoring Israel while also advocating measures that would benefit the gambling industry.
This level of allowable interference in US campaigns has seen Super PACs propping up certain alternate horses in the political race, in order to take votes away from the any serious rival to Establishment's front-runner of choice. Based on election results and major polling, Mitt Romney's only serious rival coming out of New Hampshire would be Ron Paul, yet, large sums of money are still flowing elsewhere in the field. Why?
In terms of the remaining GOP field, one could not find a more unappealing and unpopular candidate to commit millions in PAC funds for the duration of the primaries than Rick Santorum. Similarly, a complete non-runner and failure in all polling, John Huntsman, managed to bag a cool $2.5 million late in the game from the Super PAC, ‘Our Destiny', which floated his campaign through Iowa and New Hampshire. Both men have secured some heavy backing, but skeptics should really be asking after these primaries have concluded, how a candidate with no real national support base could continue through the primaries – at such a great expense .
Monsanto’s Best-Selling Herbicide Roundup Linked to Infertility
Andre Evans
A recent study has found that Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide may be responsible for causing infertility. After reviewing the many already well-documented negative impacts Roundup has on the environment and living creatures, it is no surprise to add yet another item to the list.
Monsanto’s Best-Selling Herbicide Roundup Linked to Infertility
Researchers tested roundup on mature male rats at a concentration range between 1 and 10,000 parts per million (ppm), and found that within 1 to 48 hours of exposure, testicular cells of the mature rats were either damaged or killed. According to the study, even at a concentration of 1 ppm, the Roundup was able to affect the test subjects by decreasing their testosterone concentrations by as much as 35%.
How can such small levels of exposure have such a profound effect on the reproductive system?
Roundup, being a glyphosate-based herbicide is also known to have endocrine disrupting properties.
Much like BPA, glyphosate-based herbicides have the ability to interfere with the natural hormonal balance in the human body, thereby introducing a number of health risks along with even the smallest levels of exposure. These chemicals are strong enough to affect your metabolism, behavior and mood, reproductive organs, and even provoke cancer.
The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?
By Ronnie Cummins
Jan 27, 2011
"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." - Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011
In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market , Organic Valley , and Stonyfield Farm , has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.
In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and "seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of "conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.
In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers "for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."
In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry," even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government "oversight" of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must."
The Radioactive Waste Crisis
by LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
Before the month of January is out, the US Department of Energy's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future will unveil the result of its two year-long investigation into what to do with the accumulated radioactive waste at the country's nuclear power plants. By this year's end, that waste will constitute a mountain 70 years high, with the first cupful generated on December 2, 1942 at the Fermi lab not far from Chicago when scientists first created a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
There remains no viable solution for either the management or certainly the “disposal” of nuclear waste. Yet, the one recommendation that will not be contained in the DOE report is to stop making any more of it. While a child would never be allowed to continue piling up toys in his or her room indefinitely, failing to tidy up the mess, the nuclear industry continues to be permitted to manufacture some of the world's most toxic detritus without a cleanup plan.
A sneak peak last July at the Commission's draft report confirms that no new miracles are to be unveiled this month. Its preferred “solution” appears to be “centralized interim” storage, an allegedly temporary but potentially permanent parking lot dumpsite for highly radioactive waste that, based on past practices, will likely be targeted for an Indian reservation or a poor community of color. “Centralized interim” storage sites for the country's irradiated reactor fuel rods could easily become permanent if no suitable geological repository site is found. It will mean transporting the waste from reactors predominantly located east of the Mississippi to a likely more remote, western location. And these wastes would then have to be moved again, transported past potentially 50 million homes, en route to a “permanent” dump site or for reprocessing.
Reprocessing, a chemical separation used extensively in France, creates enormous amounts of additional radioactive wastes that are discharged into the air and sea and a plutonium stockpile that could be diverted for nuclear weapons use. The Commission looks unlikely to recommend reprocessing for now but the DOE is still willing to squander tens to hundreds of millions of dollars a year of taxpayers' money on research and development.
The repository debacle ended temporarily in 2011 with the wise cancelation of the scientifically flawed proposed Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. But new moves are afoot to search for an alternative site with the granite states – such as Vermont, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Carolina – highly favored. The Blue Ribbon Commission may point to the granite repository currently under construction in Finland as the way forward. But as one Scandinavian official stated unforgettably in the haunting documentary, Into Eternity , that examines the implications for the future if the Finnish repository is ever completed – in reality, “nobody knows anything at all.”
Jewish man gets caught red handed spraying anti-Jewish hate messages in New York
Also see:
'Jewish student caught painting Swastikas on her own door then claiming Anti-Semitic Attack'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLt5U7VcHw8
Who controls Canadian media?
Rex Weyler
Posted: Dec 4th, 2011
On the left, Friday's Vancouver Sun cover page the day after 131 First Nations announced they will not allow the Enbridge pipeline through their territories. On the right, Saturday's Vancouver Sun cover page the day after one First Nation indiviual erroneously announced that his nation would take a bribe and support the pipeline. Screenshot provided by Jens Wieting.
On Friday, the day after 70 BC Indigenous nations added their signatures to the Fraser River Declaration, bringing the total number of indigenous nations to 131 BC nations declaring "No Tar Sands development on our traditional territories" -- with a public ceremony at Vancouver's Public Library, with public presentations by chiefs, from nations who had completed in-depth research, due process, legal analysis, and after conferring with their people and councils, the Vancouver Sun ran two front page stories about ..
"Dog Rescuers" and "Problem Gamblers" Then, on Saturday, when one lone member of the Gitxsan Nation allowed his name to be associated with a story promoted by Enbridge that the Gitxsan Nation would take the Enbridge bribe of $7 million to support the pipeline -- a story that turns out to be completely false according to a statement from the Gitxsan people later that day (see below), who say no such deal has been completed, that the community had not been consulted, and that they are "outraged" by this premature and false announcement -- the Vancouver Sun ran a full, 5-column banner headline declaring: "Gitxsan support Enbridge pipeline" Without checking its sources, without confirming the story with the Gitxsan community, the Vancouver Sun apparently accepted this piece of Enbridge public relations hype as "news" and blasted out a front page headline, ignoring the 171 BC First Nations who had just declared: "No tar sands development on our traditional territory," and who stated unequivocally: "These pipelines will not be built." Adios, once great newspaper of BC.
Canadian fish eaters threatened by Fukushima radiation: anti-nuclear group
By Alex Roslin
January 14, 2012
After the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years, authorities in Canada said people living here were safe and faced no health risks from the fallout from Fukushima.
They said most of the radiation from the crippled Japanese nuclear power plant would fall into the ocean, where it would be diluted and not pose any danger.
Dr. Dale Dewar wasn't convinced. Dewar, a family physician in Wynyard, Sask., doesn't eat a lot of seafood herself, but when her grandchildren come to visit, she carefully checks seafood labels.
She wants to make sure she isn't serving them anything that might come from the western Pacific Ocean.
Dewar, the executive director of Physicians for Global Survival, a Canadian anti-nuclear group, says the Canadian government has downplayed the radiation risks from Fukushima and is doing little to monitor them.
“We suspect we're going to see more cancers, decreased fetal viability, decreased fertility, increased metabolic defects — and we expect them to be generational,” she said.
Evidence has emerged that the impacts of the disaster on the Pacific Ocean are worse than expected.
Since a tsunami and earthquake destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant last March, radioactive cesium has consistently been found in 60 to 80 per cent of Japanese fishing catches each month, as tested by Japan's Fisheries Agency.
In November, 65 per cent of the catches tested positive for cesium (a radioactive material created by nuclear reactors), according to a Montreal Gazette analysis of data on the fisheries agency's website. Cesium is a long-lived radionuclide that persists in the environment and increases the risk of cancer, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which says the most common form of radioactive cesium has a half-life of 30 years.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which monitors food safety, says it is aware of the numbers but says the amounts of cesium detected are small.
“Approximately 60 per cent of fish have shown to have detectable levels of radionuclides,” it said in an emailed statement.
“The majority of exported fish to Canada are caught much farther from the coast of Japan, and the Japanese testing has shown that these fish have not been contaminated with high levels of radionuclides.”
But the Japanese data show elevated levels of contamination in several seafood species that Japan has exported to Canada in recent years.
In November, 18 per cent of cod exceeded a new radiation ceiling for food to be implemented in Japan in April — along with 21 per cent of eel, 22 per cent of sole and 33 per cent of seaweed.
Overall, one in five of the 1,100 catches tested in November exceeded the new ceiling of 100 becquerels per kilogram. (Canada's ceiling for radiation in food is much higher: 1,000 becquerels per kilogram.)
“I would probably be hesitant to eat a lot of those fish,” said Nicholas Fisher, a marine sciences professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
see full article
Radioactive iodine in rainwater: Public was in the dark
Montreal Gazette
By ALEX ROSLIN, Special to the Gazette
January 13, 2012
After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Canadian health officials assured a nervous public that virtually no radioactive fallout had drifted to Canada.
But last March, a Health Canada monitoring station in Calgary detected an average of 8.18 becquerels per litre of radioactive iodine (an isotope released by the nuclear accident) in rainwater, the data shows.
The level easily exceeded the Canadian guideline of six becquerels of iodine per litre for drinking water, acknowledged Eric Pellerin, chief of Health Canada's radiation-surveillance division.
“It's above the recommended level (for drinking water),” he said in an interview. “At any time you sample it, it should not exceed the guideline.”
Canadian authorities didn't disclose the high radiation reading at the time.
In contrast, the state of Virginia issued a don't-drink-rainwater advisory in late March after iodine levels in rain in a nearby city spiked to 3.4 becquerels per litre on a single day. That was less than half of the level seen in Calgary during the entire month of March.
Radioactive iodine also appeared in smaller amounts in March in Vancouver (which saw an average of 0.69 becquerels per litre in rainwater, up from zero before Fukushima), Winnipeg (which got 0.64 becquerels per litre) and Ottawa (which had 1.67 becquerels per litre), the data shows.
These other levels didn't exceed the Canadian limit for drinking water. But the level in Ottawa did surpass the more stringent ceiling for drinking water used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The data still isn't posted on Health Canada's web page devoted to the impacts of Fukushima.
Pellerin said he doesn't know why Health Canada didn't make the data public. “I can't answer that. The communication aspect could be improved.”
The rainwater data also raises questions about how Ottawa monitors radiation after a nuclear crisis:
Some of Health Canada's numbers are much lower than those reported by other radiation researchers. Simon Fraser University nuclear chemist Krzysztof Starosta found iodine levels in rainwater in Burnaby, B.C., spiked to 13 becquerels per litre in March – many times higher than the levels Health Canada detected in nearby Vancouver.
Rain was tested only at the end of each month, after a network of monitoring stations sent samples to Ottawa. This meant the radiation spikes last March were only discovered in early April, after rainwater samples were sent to Ottawa for testing – too late to alert the public, including those who collect rain for drinking and gardening.
In contrast, the EPA tested the rain for radiation every day and immediately reported the data on its website.
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
Ron Paul - War Propaganda
The marines urination video doesn't show the real war crime
The urination video does not shock me so much as the public's tolerance of these immoral wars that make criminals of marines
Ross Caputi
Friday 13 January 2012
The video of US marines urinating on Afghan corpses does not shock me. Though their behavior is disgusting and unacceptable, I find the public's reaction to this video far more troubling. People are not outraged that there are dead Afghans; they are outraged at the manner in which the dead are treated. This is indicative of our culture's tolerance for war and war crimes – as long as they are done in a gentlemanly fashion.
During the second siege of Fallujah, blatant war crimes were committed, yet the corporate media reported them with indifference. The siege itself was a war crime, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross Summary of International Law, because indiscriminate tactics were used, constant care was not taken to protect the civilian population, proper distinction between civilians and combatants was not made, medical personnel and medical units were not protected, indiscriminate weapons were used, and recent research about the current health crisis in Fallujah suggests that poisonous weapons may have been used as well.
Many of these war crimes were reported by the corporate media, though they were not described as such. For example, the New York Times reported on 8 November 2004 that American forces "seized" the Fallujah general hospital. An incident that I witnessed, as did Paul Wood and Robbie Wright from the BBC, was when my unit fired grenades into a house until it collapsed – with full knowledge that there were two resistance fighters and a young boy (roughly 10 years old) inside. Paul Wood interviewed the lieutenant at the scene, and he acknowledged that they had killed the young boy. In both of these reports, war crimes and Geneva Conventions were never mentioned, and the façade of honorable conduct was preserved.
Mitt Romney meets dieing medical marijuana patient.
Marijuana Smoking Does Not Harm Lungs, Study Finds
By ANAHAD O'CONNORNY Times
A large new government study has found that smoking marijuana on a regular basis, even over many years, does not impair lung function.
Marijuana, the country's most widely used illicit drug, has become increasingly popular and less stigmatized in recent years, particularly among young adults. One government report released in December found that one out of 15 high school students now smokes marijuana nearly every day, a growth fueled in part by the spread of medicinal marijuana, which is legal in 16 states. With its use rising, questions about the drug's long-term medical consequences have garnered more attention.
The new research is one of the most extensive looks to date at whether long-term marijuana use causes pulmonary damage, and specifically whether its impact on the lungs is as harmful as smoking cigarettes. The researchers followed more than 5,000 people over two decades and found that regularly smoking marijuana — the equivalent of up to a joint a day over seven years — did not impair performance on a lung function test. The test, a measure of pulmonary obstruction that looks at the amount of air a person can force out in one second after taking a deep breath, is typically worsened by smoking tobacco.
In something of a twist, the researchers found that compared to nonsmokers, marijuana users performed slightly better on the lung function test, though the improvement was minuscule. “Even with this tiny increase in airflow, I have to admit that I really doubt that there's any real increase in lung health,” said Dr. Stefan Kertesz, an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham school of medicine and an author of the study. The finding may merely reflect marijuana smokers' years of “training” in taking deep inhalations and holding the smoke, the researchers said.
see full article
Hacking Democracy - Full Length
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVTXbARGXso
The World is Endorsing Ron Paul For President 2012
Senior B.C. Mountie arrested for cocaine theft
CTV
Jan 11th 2012
A senior RCMP officer in British Columbia has been arrested and suspended from the force for allegedly stealing cocaine from police drug exhibits.
Staff Sgt. Stuart Seib, commander of RCMP's Merritt, B.C., detachment, has been charged with theft. Investigators say additional charges are expected as the investigation continues. The RCMP allege Seib stole and used cocaine from drug exhibits on more than one occasion.
Chief Supt. Mike Sekela said police became aware of the alleged theft last week after Seib confided in another officer.
An investigation was immediately launched and Seib, an 18-year veteran of the force, has been suspended with pay. That may change after an upcoming review of his suspension.
"The process is underway to proceed with a recommendation that the member be suspended without pay," Sekela said at a news conference in Chilliwack, B.C. Wednesday.
"I understand that news like this is very concerning," Sekela said. "As the officer in charge of all of the detachments in the southeast district, these actions do not meet my expectations or those of the public."
Sekela said his senior management team has met with other employees of the Merritt detachment and community leaders to discuss the situation.
Seib joined the Merritt detachment in November.
"While the alleged actions of this member are extremely troubling, they are clearly not representative of the high moral and ethical standards of the vast majority of the members of the RCMP," Sekela said.
Will You Occupy AIPAC?
January 9th, 2012 · Posted by Occupy AIPAC!
Dear friends,
We are excited to announce that plans for OCCUPY AIPAC are under way and we hope you will join us March 2-6 in Washington DC.
With the Occupy movement that has swept the country demanding social and economic justice, many have concluded that AIPAC—the powerful pro-Israeli government lobby that distorts U.S. policy in the Middle East— is a mandatory “occupy target”. Adbusters, the magazine that issued the initial visionary call for the takeover of Wall St. on September 17th, has declared: “ The time has come for the Occupy Movement to demand an end to the Occupation of Palestine… We need a hashtag, #occupyAIPAC” (Kalle Lasn) .
Timed to coincide with the annual AIPAC policy conference in March 2012, the Occupy AIPAC summit will be a long weekend of teach-ins, cultural performances, protests and creative direct actions, and a sneak preview of the forthcoming film Roadmap to Apartheid. Our Saturday conference will feature educational panels on Iran, Palestine, the Arab Uprisings and the Occupy Movement ( see the list of speakers ). Sponsors and endorsers include the Institute of Policy Studies, Just Foreign Policy, Interfaith Peace Builders (IFPB), the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Jewish Voice for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine chapters, and over 120 other groups .
Right now AIPAC is trying to drag us into a disastrous war with Iran, just as they pushed the Iraq war. We must show our opposition by exposing AIPAC and standing against a war with Iran. AIPAC's underhanded tactics and their manipulation of our political process destroys the possibility of a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis. Recent public criticisms of the Israel lobby make the call to Occupy AIPAC all the more relevant.
Now is the time to make a large, people-powered push to show our opposition to the stranglehold the Israel lobby continues to hold over our government.
Register for the conference or support this summit with a donation . Your outreach and presence is critical to help us ensure a strong turnout, because now is the time to Occupy AIPAC, not Palestine!
In solidarity,
Medea, Rae, Alli and Sasha
The Occupy AIPAC team
http://occupyaipac.org
@occupyaipac
In addition to peace and justice groups around the country, we are reaching out to Occupy communities for support and participation ( see the Occupy AIPAC GA resolution ). If your group would like to endorse or join this effort, please email occupyaipac@gmail.com .
Canadian Banking System Fraud Exposed - Bill Abram
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuP2hH0Kpro
WAKE UP Canada ... Canadians need to realize that they too are living with the same type of Federal Reserve private banking fraud.
This is a great overview of Canadian banking and a clear explanation of how the international private banking cartel hijacked Canada in 1974 by taking control of the issuance of money. This private banking cartel and has been robbing Canada blind ever since, and has currently put Canadians into $500 Billion dollars of debt.
The debt is actually the compound interest accumulated by borrowing this printed money from the private banking cartel. Canada, like the US, and like all countries does NOT need private banks to issue it's nation's currency ... countries can print their own money interest-free.
Core Of Corruption 2: Echoes of Treason - Extended Trailer - Film Release Date is March 27, 2012
CNN Censors & Cuts Off A Veteran Who Supports Ron Paul During Interview
Politically / Environmentally motivated, conscious hip hop music
New album by Ill Tone available for download
http://illtone.bandcamp.com/album/america-did-it
http://www.reverbnation.com/illtone420
Media Lies and the Onset of War
Council on Foreign Relations publishes article "Time to Attack Iran"
Time to Attack Iran
Why a Strike is the Least Bad Option
In early October, U.S. officials accused Iranian operatives of planning to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States on American soil. Iran denied the charges, but the episode has already managed to increase tensions between Washington and Tehran. Although the Obama administration has not publicly threatened to retaliate with military force, the allegations have underscored the real and growing risk that the two sides could go to war sometime soon -- particularly over Iran's advancing nuclear program.
For several years now, starting long before this episode, American pundits and policymakers have been debating whether the United States should attack Iran and attempt to eliminate its nuclear facilities. Proponents of a strike have argued that the only thing worse than military action against Iran would be an Iran armed with nuclear weapons. Critics, meanwhile, have warned that such a raid would likely fail and, even if it succeeded, would spark a full-fledged war and a global economic crisis. They have urged the United States to rely on nonmilitary options, such as diplomacy, sanctions, and covert operations, to prevent Iran from acquiring a bomb. Fearing the costs of a bombing campaign, most critics maintain that if these other tactics fail to impede Tehran's progress, the United States should simply learn to live with a nuclear Iran.
see full article
***FLASHBACK***
Neo Conservative PNAC article from 1998 "How To attack Iraq"
http://www.newamericancentury.org/AttackIraq-Nov16,98.pdf
Diseased seals in Alaska tested for radiation
Scientists in Alaska are investigating whether local seals are being sickened by radiation from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
Scores of ring seals have washed up on Alaska's Arctic coastline since July, suffering or killed by a mysterious disease marked by bleeding lesions on the hind flippers, irritated skin around the nose and eyes and patchy hair loss on the animals' fur coats.
Biologists at first thought the seals were suffering from a virus, but they have so far been unable to identify one, and tests are now underway to find out if radiation is a factor.
"We recently received samples of seal tissue from diseased animals captured near St Lawrence Island with a request to examine the material for radioactivity," said John Kelley, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
"There is concern expressed by some members of the local communities that there may be some relationship to the Fukushima nuclear reactor's damage," he said.
The results of the tests would not be available for "several weeks," Kelley said.
Water tests have not picked up any evidence of elevated radiation in US Pacific waters since the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which caused multiple fuel meltdowns at the Fukushima plant and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the surrounding area.
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have been seeking the cause of the diseased seals for weeks, but have so far found no answers.
TEPCO says it 'no longer owns' Fukushima fallout
Rick Wallace, Tokyo correspondent
The Australian
IN terms of sheer chutzpah, Tokyo Electric Power Co's claim that it no longer owns the radioactive isotopes that spewed out of its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March takes some beating.
In defending a lawsuit from a Fukushima Prefecture golf club, lawyers said the radioactive cesium that had blighted the Sunfield Nihonmatsu golf course's fairways and greens was the club's problem. The utility has taken a similarly hard line defending claims from ryokan (inn) and onsen (spa) owners.
TEPCO's lawyers used the arcane legal principle of res nullius to argue the emissions that escaped after the tsunami and earthquake triggered a meltdown were no longer its responsibility. "Radioactive materials (such as cesium) that scattered and fell from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant belong to individual landowners, not TEPCO," the utility told Tokyo District Court.
The chief operating officer of the prestigious golf course, Tsutomo Yamane, told The Australian that he and his staff were stunned: "I couldn't believe my ears. I told my employees, 'TEPCO is saying the radiation doesn't belong to them', and they said 'I beg your pardon'."The court rejected TEPCO's argument, but ruled it was the responsibility of local, prefectural and national governments to clean it up.
The case - and the club's bid for $160 million in clean-up costs - has proceeded to the High Court amid fears the ruling could result in some local governments being bankrupted.
US judge rules Iran responsible for 9/11
By Daniel Harding, New York
Saturday, December 24, 2011
A US judge has signed a default judgment finding Iran, the Taliban and al-Qaida liable for the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Judge George Daniels in Manhattan signed the judgement a week after hearing evidence in the 10-year-old case.
The signed ruling came in a $100 billion lawsuit brought by victims' families.
He directed a magistrate judge to preside over remaining issues, including fixing compensatory and punitive damages.
Judge Daniels signed findings of fact saying the plaintiffs had established that the attacks were caused by the support the defendants provided to al-Qaida.
It also said Iran continued to provide material support and resources to al-Qaida by providing a safe haven for al-Qaida leadership and rank-and-file members.
During last week's hearing, September 11 victims' families sat through a four-hour presentation from lawyers who cited evidence supporting their claims that Iran actively assisted the hijackers of planes that crashed into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
Former members of the September 11 Commission and three Iranian defectors also spoke.
It would be near impossible to collect any damages, especially from the Taliban or al-Qaida.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly denied any Iranian connection in the September 11 attacks or with al-Qaida.
see article
***FLASHBACK***
Bush admits that Iraq Had Nothing To Do With 9/11
Youtube censors video ' Fake Al Qaeda Actors EXPOSED! Adam Gadahn & Yousef al-Khattab '
Regarding your account: TheParadigmShift
The YouTube Community has flagged one or more of your videos as inappropriate. Once a video is flagged, it is reviewed by the YouTube Team against our Community Guidelines. Upon review, we have determined that the following video(s) contain content in violation of these guidelines, and have been disabled:
Fake Al Qaeda Actors EXPOSED! Adam Gadahn & Yousef al-Khattab
YouTube blocks content where necessary to comply with local laws in certain countries. Check your videos to make sure they comply with your own country's laws to prevent videos from being blocked in the future.
For more information on YouTube's Community Guidelines and how they are enforced, please visit the help center http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=92486.
Sincerely,
The YouTube Team
Here is a link to where another Youtube user re-posted the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zins-m0hESI
U.S. urges science journals not to publish details of man-made pandemic-level bird-flu virus
By Kerry Sheridan
WASHINGTON — The journals Science and Nature said Tuesday they were mulling whether to publish details of a man-made mutant killer flu virus that has sparked concerns of mass deaths if it were released.
A U.S. government's science advisory committee urged that key details be withheld so that people seeking to do harm to the public would not be able to replicate the virus which could cause millions of deaths.
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) reviewed two scientific papers relating to the findings and recommended that the journals considering them “make changes in the manuscripts,” a statement said.
“Due to the importance of the findings to the public health and research communities, the NSABB recommended that the general conclusions highlighting the novel outcome be published, but that the manuscripts not include the methodological and other details that could enable replication of the experiments by those who would seek to do harm.”
The virus in question is an H5N1 avian influenza strain that was genetically altered in a Dutch lab so it can pass easily between ferrets.
That means it is likely contagious among humans for the first time, and could trigger a lethal pandemic if it emerged in nature or were set loose by terrorists, experts have said.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu is fatal in 60 percent of human cases but only 350 people have so far died from the disease largely because it cannot, yet, be transmitted between humans.
Editors from the journals Science and Nature said they were considering the U.S. government's request.
Monsanto spent $2 million lobbying gov't in 3Q
WASHINGTON (AP) - Monsanto Co. spent $2 million in the third quarter to lobby the federal government on issues including regulations for genetically engineered crops and patent reforms, according to a recent disclosure report.
That's slightly more than the $1.9 million Monsanto spent a year earlier and up almost 18 percent from the $1.7 million it spent during previous quarter.
The world's largest seed company lobbied Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture over regulations that would affect the distribution of genetically engineered crops like the company's Roundup Ready sugar beets and alfalfa, according to the disclosure the company filed Oct. 18 with the House clerk's office.
The company also lobbied Congress on patent protection reforms. Monsanto spends years, or sometimes more than a decade, developing patented strains of genetically engineered crops. Maintaining those patent rights is key to the company's profit model.
The Top 12 Cancer-Causing products in the Average Home
Feb 23, 2011
Among many other cancer causing products commonly found in the home, this dirty dozen list has made it to the Hall of Shame. The Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC) and Ralph Nader have released a “Dirty Dozen” list of consumer products used in most American homes, and manufactured by giant U.S. corporations.
The “Dirty Dozen” products contain a wide-range of carcinogenic and other toxic ingredients and contaminants to which most of us are exposed daily.
COSMETICS AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
Talcum Powder - (Johnson & Johnson. Inc.)
Labeled Toxic Ingredient:
TALC, Carcinogenic and a risk factor for ovarian cancer; lung irritant.
Cover Girl Replenishing Natural Finish Make Up (Foundation) (Procter & Gamble. Inc.)
Labeled Toxic Ingredients
BHA, Carcinogenic.
TALC, Carcinogenic; Lung Irritant.
TRIETHANOLAMINE (TEA), Interacts with nitrites to form carcinogenic nitrosamines.
LANOLIN, Often contaminated with DDT and other carcinogenic pesticides.
PARABENS, Contact dermatitis.
FRAGRANCE, Wide range of unlabeled, untested, and toxic ingredients; contact dermatitis.
Crest Tartar Control Toothpaste – (Procter & Gamble. Inc.)
Labeled Toxic Ingredients:
FD&C BLUE #1, Carcinogenic.
SACCHARIN, Carcinogenic.
FLUORIDE, Possibly carcinogenic.
see full article
Medical Journal Article: 14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Reactor Disaster Fallout
Impact Seen As Roughly Comparable to Radiation-Related Deaths After Chernobyl; Infants Are Hardest Hit, With Continuing Research Showing Even Higher Possible Death Count.
WASHINGTON , Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan , according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services. This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.
Authors Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman note that their estimate of 14,000 excess U.S. deaths in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns is comparable to the 16,500 excess deaths in the 17 weeks after the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. The rise in reported deaths after Fukushima was largest among U.S. infants under age one. The 2010-2011 increase for infant deaths in the spring was 1.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 8.37 percent in the preceding 14 weeks.
The IJHS article will be published Tuesday and will be available online as of 11 a.m. EST at http://www.radiation.org .
Just six days after the disastrous meltdowns struck four reactors at Fukushima on March 11 , scientists detected the plume of toxic fallout had arrived over American shores. Subsequent measurements by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found levels of radiation in air, water, and milk hundreds of times above normal across the U.S. The highest detected levels of Iodine-131 in precipitation in the U.S. were as follows (normal is about 2 picocuries I-131 per liter of water): Boise, ID (390); Kansas City (200); Salt Lake City (190); Jacksonville, FL (150); Olympia, WA (125); and Boston, MA (92).
Epidemiologist Joseph Mangano , MPH MBA, said: "This study of Fukushima health hazards is the first to be published in a scientific journal. It raises concerns, and strongly suggests that health studies continue, to understand the true impact of Fukushima in Japan and around the world. Findings are important to the current debate of whether to build new reactors, and how long to keep aging ones in operation."
Mangano is executive director, Radiation and Public Health Project, and the author of 27 peer-reviewed medical journal articles and letters.
Internist and toxicologist Janette Sherman , MD, said: "Based on our continuing research, the actual death count here may be as high as 18,000, with influenza and pneumonia, which were up five-fold in the period in question as a cause of death. Deaths are seen across all ages, but we continue to find that infants are hardest hit because their tissues are rapidly multiplying, they have undeveloped immune systems, and the doses of radioisotopes are proportionally greater than for adults."
Dr. Sherman is an adjunct professor, Western Michigan University , and contributing editor of "Chernobyl - Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment" published by the NY Academy of Sciences in 2009, and author of "Chemical Exposure and Disease and Life's Delicate Balance - Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues weekly reports on numbers of deaths for 122 U.S. cities with a population over 100,000, or about 25-30 percent of the U.S. In the 14 weeks after Fukushima fallout arrived in the U.S. ( March 20 to June 25 ), deaths reported to the CDC rose 4.46 percent from the same period in 2010, compared to just 2.34 percent in the 14 weeks prior. Estimated excess deaths during this period for the entire U.S. are about 14,000.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A streaming audio replay of a related news event will be available on the Web at http://www.radiation.org as of 4 p.m. EST / 2100 GMT on December 19, 2011 . Embargoed copies of the medical journal article are available by contacting Ailis Aaron Wolf , (703) 276-3265 or aawolf@hastingsgroup.com .
SOURCE Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman , International Journal of Health Services
Back to top RELATED LINKS
http://www.radiation.org
No, the U.S. is not leaving Iraq
Thousands of armed U.S. private contractors will be based in the country, and the potential for violence is real
Dec 17th
In a speech at Fort Bragg, N.C., Wednesday, President Obama declared that the war in Iraq is over.
“I've come to speak to you about the end of the war in Iraq,” he told gathered troops. “Over the last few months, the final work of leaving Iraq has been done. Dozens of bases with American names that housed thousands of American troops have been closed down or turned over to the Iraqis. Thousands of tons of equipment have been packed up and shipped out. Tomorrow, the colors of United States Forces-Iraq — the colors you fought under — will be formally cased in a ceremony in Baghdad.”
All the specifics were true. But what about Obama's claim that the war has come to a end?
The truth is more complicated. It turns out the Obama administration is leaving behind a huge contingent from the State Department along with thousands of armed private contractors. The possibility for violence between Americans and Iraqis is very real.
To dig into the details, I spoke to Spencer Ackerman, who has been covering the issue closely for Wired's Danger Room.
The administration is saying the war is over. Is the Defense Department leaving anyone behind?
There's going to be something called the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq that exists after the troop pullout on Dec. 31. That's going to be under the auspices of the U.S. embassy, so there's not going to be a military command in Iraq. It's going to be a pretty small, 150-person office that will do training — things like helping the Iraqi air force understand how to operate the F-16s we're selling them. That's a pretty typical relationship for countries who have bought American military hardware.
What about the State Department?
State is going to leave behind the largest embassy that it has on the planet. All told, there are going to be 18,000 people who work for this embassy. Very few of those will be diplomats. Others will be American civil service workers. A great number will be non-Iraqi contractors who do things like the laundry, mail services, cleaning, etc. Then there's going to be a substantial component of armed private security contractors. Depending on whose numbers you believe, there will be 3,500 to 5,500 of them.
Obama Signs NDAA Martial Law
BIG DOG - New Ron Paul Ad
Joe Rogan & Duncan Trussell on the National Defense Authorization Act
Gaddafi death 'may be a war crime', says chief prosecutor at The Hague
International Criminal Court chief has 'serious suspicions' over death of leader
Footage before Gaddafi's death showed him being beaten and abused by captors
December 16th 2011
By Chris Parsons
The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has said there are 'serious suspicions' that the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was a war crime.
Luis Moreno Ocampo said he sent a letter to the head of the National Transitional Council asking what the new government's plans are to investigate alleged war crimes by all parties, including the rebels.
The uprising against Gaddafi's 42-year rule erupted in February, quickly escalated into civil war, and ended in October with Gaddafi's capture and death in unclear circumstances.
Witness accounts and video taken of the deposed dictator after his capture by rebel fighters show that he was beaten and abused by his captors, and there were strong indications he was killed in custody.
Mr Moreno Ocampo said.: 'The death of Muammar Gaddafi is one of the issues to be clarified - what happened - because there are serious suspicions that it was a war crime.'
He said what the ICC does on Gaddafi's death and other war crimes will depend on what Libya's interim government does because under the Rome statute that established the war crimes tribunal, the ICC only steps in if national authorities are unwilling or unable to act.
Ron Paul & Joe Rogan on the Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno
Joe Rogan and The War Pigs
Indefinite Detention Law Hall of Shame - List of Senators Who Voted Yes on the NDAA bill (And a list of their twitter accounts)
December 14
Below is the list of the Senators who voted yes on the NDAA bill which provides for indefinite detention of "any person who has committed a belligerent act" (See section 1031 (b) 2 of s1867 (National Defense Authorization Act of 2012) . The term "belligerent act" is extremely wide and could applied to any form of resistance including protesting in the streets or even speaking out against the U.S. government. Be sure to also visit the list of the twitter ids for the senators who voted for NDAA below.
Voted Yes
Sen. Daniel Akaka [D, HI]
Sen. Lamar Alexander [R, TN]
Sen. Kelly Ayotte [R, NH]
Sen. John Barrasso [R, WY]
Sen. Max Baucus [D, MT]
Sen. Mark Begich [D, AK]
Sen. Michael Bennet [D, CO]
Sen. Jeff Bingaman [D, NM]
Sen. Richard Blumenthal [D, CT]
Sen. Roy Blunt [R, MO]
Sen. John Boozman [R, AR]
Sen. Barbara Boxer [D, CA]
Sen. Scott Brown [R, MA]
Sen. Sherrod Brown [D, OH]
Sen. Richard Burr [R, NC]
Sen. Maria Cantwell [D, WA]
Sen. Benjamin Cardin [D, MD]
Sen. Thomas Carper [D, DE]
Sen. Robert Casey [D, PA]
Sen. Saxby Chambliss [R, GA]
Sen. Daniel Coats [R, IN]
Sen. Thad Cochran [R, MS]
Sen. Susan Collins [R, ME]
Sen. Kent Conrad [D, ND]
Sen. Chris Coons [D, DE]
Sen. Bob Corker [R, TN]
Sen. John Cornyn [R, TX]
Sen. Michael Crapo [R, ID]
Sen. Jim DeMint [R, SC]
Sen. Richard Durbin [D, IL]
Sen. Michael Enzi [R, WY]
Sen. Dianne Feinstein [D, CA]
Sen. Al Franken [D, MN]
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand [D, NY]
Sen. Lindsey Graham [R, SC]
Sen. Charles Grassley [R, IA]
Sen. Kay Hagan [D, NC]
Sen. Orrin Hatch [R, UT]
Sen. Dean Heller [R, NV]
Sen. John Hoeven [R, ND]
Sen. Kay Hutchison [R, TX]
Sen. James Inhofe [R, OK]
Sen. Daniel Inouye [D, HI]
Sen. John Isakson [R, GA]
Sen. Mike Johanns [R, NE]
Sen. Ron Johnson [R, WI]
Sen. Tim Johnson [D, SD]
Sen. John Kerry [D, MA]
Sen. Mark Kirk [R, IL]
Sen. Amy Klobuchar [D, MN]
Sen. Herbert Kohl [D, WI]
Sen. Jon Kyl [R, AZ]
Sen. Mary Landrieu [D, LA]
Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D, NJ]
Sen. Patrick Leahy [D, VT]
Sen. Carl Levin [D, MI]
Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT]
Sen. Richard Lugar [R, IN]
Sen. Joe Manchin [D, WV]
Sen. John McCain [R, AZ]
Sen. Claire McCaskill [D, MO]
Sen. Mitch McConnell [R, KY]
Sen. Robert Menéndez [D, NJ]
Sen. Barbara Mikulski [D, MD]
Sen. Jerry Moran [R, KS]
Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R, AK]
Sen. Patty Murray [D, WA]
Sen. Ben Nelson [D, NE]
Sen. Bill Nelson [D, FL]
Sen. Robert Portman [R, OH]
Sen. Mark Pryor [D, AR]
Sen. John Reed [D, RI]
Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV]
Sen. James Risch [R, ID]
Sen. Pat Roberts [R, KS]
Sen. John Rockefeller [D, WV]
Sen. Marco Rubio [R, FL]
Sen. Charles Schumer [D, NY]
Sen. Jefferson Sessions [R, AL]
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen [D, NH]
Sen. Richard Shelby [R, AL]
Sen. Olympia Snowe [R, ME]
Sen. Debbie Ann Stabenow [D, MI]
Sen. Jon Tester [D, MT]
Sen. John Thune [R, SD]
Sen. Patrick Toomey [R, PA]
Sen. Tom Udall [D, NM]
Sen. Mark Udall [D, CO]
Sen. David Vitter [R, LA]
Sen. Mark Warner [D, VA]
Sen. Jim Webb [D, VA]
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [D, RI]
Sen. Roger Wicker [R, MS]
Voted No
Sen. Rand Paul [R, KY]
Sen. Jeff Merkley [D, OR]
Sen. Ron Wyden [D, OR]
Sen. Mike Lee [R, UT]
Sen. Thomas Harkin [D, IA]
Sen. Thomas Coburn [R, OK]
Sen. Bernard Sanders [I, VT]
Here is a list of twitter IDs for senators who voted for S1867 Defense Authorization act. #NDAA
@senjohnbarrasso @senronjohnson @senrockefeller @sen_joemanchin @pattymurray @us_sen_cantwell @markwarner @senatorleahy @orrinhatch @kaybaileyhutch @senalexander @senbobcorker @johnthune @senronjohnson @grahamblo @senwhitehouse @sentoomey @senbobcasey @jiminhofe @robportman @sensherrodbrown @senjohnhoeven @kayhagan @senschumer @sengillibrand @tomudall @SenatorMenendez @senatorlautenberg @jeanneshaheen @senatorayotte @senatorreid @deanheller @mike_johanns @senbennelson @clairecmc @rogerwicker @alfranken @stabenow @sencarllevin @johnkerry @scottbrownma @senatorsnowe @senatorcollins @davidvitter @senlandrieu @mcconnellpress @moranforkansas @tomharkin @senatorlugar @sendancoats @senatorkirk @senatordurbin @daniel_inouye @senatorakaka @senatorisakson @saxby08 @senbillnelson @chriscoons @senatorcarper @joelieberman @senblumenthal @markudall @mbennet @barbaraboxer @johnboozman @senjohnmccain @lisamurkowski @senatorbigich @senshelbypress @senatorsessions @johncornyn @marcorubio @chuckgrassley @senatorburr @senatorsanders @jimdemint
Senators who voted for the NDAA who do not have twitter accounts:
Kohl (D-WI) Webb (D-VA) Reed (D-RI) Conrad (D-ND) Bingaman (D-NM) Cochran (R-MS) Klobuchar (D-MN) Cardin (D-MD) Mikulski (D-MD) Roberts (R-KS) Kirk (R-IL) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA) Pryor (D-AR) Kyl (R-AZ) Risch (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID)
Following are the senators who voted *against* the act who are on twitter:
@senrandpaul @tomcoburn @senmikelee @senjeffmerkley @ronwyden @senatorsanders
Senators who votes against who are *not* on twitter:
Harkin (D-IA)
see article
New 9/11 Eyewitness Evidence of Bombs at WTC
Also see:
...the bomb hit the lobby first, a couple of seconds later the first plane hit."
Medicinal Cannabis and its Impact on Human Health
In this myth shattering, information packed documentary, learn from physicians and leading researchers about medicinal cannabis and its demonstrated affects on human health.
Topics include:
*What the consensus is from over 15000 scientific and medical trials
*What conditions have been proven to benefit from medical marijuana
*Its historical use as medicine dating back over 5300 years
*Methods of delivery and their different advantages
*Government sponsored studies intended to show Marijuana having negative effects that yielded the exact opposite results
*Common myths about negative effects of Marijuana and what the research really says about these topics
This game-changing movie presents the most comprehensive synopsis to date of the real science surrounding the world's most controversial plant.
Nappy Riddem feat. Asheru - One World Sovereignty - #OWS
Nappy Riddem joins Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park!!!
Song Title: One World Sovereignty
Artist: Nappy Riddem
Album: One World Sovereignty (FKX042)
Label: Fort Knox Recordings
Filmed at Zuccotti Park - New York City, NY
October 2011
Produced by Jesse Justice
2nd Camera Tim Fabrizio
FREE DOWNLOAD of MP3 here:
http://nappyriddem.fortknoxrecordings.com/2011/12/08/world-premiere-video-one...
"One World Sovereignty" is available on iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/one-world-sovereignty/id468976064
Connect with Nappy Riddem:
http://www.nappyriddem.com
http://www.twitter.com/nappyriddem
http://www.soundcloud.com/nappyriddem
http://www.facebook.com/nappyriddem
Sterilisation: Peru's darkest secret
An investigation into whether Alberto Fujimori's government carried out mass forced sterilisations in the 1990s has been reopened
Simeon Tegel
Dec 8, 2011
Victoria Vigo shows no flicker of emotion as she recounts how she discovered – by chance – that she had been surgically sterilised against her will. Heavily pregnant, she was admitted to a public hospital in the city of Piura, on Peru's northern coast, in April 1996 to undergo a Caesarian section. Within hours of the procedure, her ailing new-born child had died and Ms Vigo, 32 at the time, was being consoled by two doctors.
"I was exhausted and just wanted to go home," Ms Vigo says. "The doctors were trying to comfort me and one told me I was still very young and could have more children. But then, afterwards, I overheard them talking and the other said that it would not be possible for me to conceive as he had sterilised me."
Not only had Ms Vigo never given her permission for the procedure. The doctor had omitted it from her clinical records and failed to inform her. "I felt totally violated and brutalised. I still cannot understand what motivated him," Ms Vigo says. "He sterilised me and then hid the evidence. I could have tried for years to have another child without even knowing I could never conceive."
Doubly traumatised, Ms Vigo went home without confronting the doctor. But she eventually sued him and, in 2003, won damages of approximately £2,000. During the trial, Ms Vigo says, the doctor claimed that he had been following instructions and that the practice of sterilising patients – with or without their knowledge or consent – was standard among Peru's public healthcare providers.
That allegation may now finally be tested in court, after Peru's Attorney General last month reopened an investigation into the alleged forced sterilisations during the government of Alberto Fujimori, President from 1990 to 2000, who is currently serving a 25-year prison term for embezzlement and directing death squads during the crackdown against the Maoist Shining Path.
The investigation will look at the entire issue of forced sterilisations while focusing on one sample case, of Mamerita Mestanza, a 33-year-old, Quechua-speaking mother-of-seven, from the Andean region of Cajamarca. She died in 1998 from complications from sterilisation surgery that health officials allegedly harassed her into accepting.
According to human rights groups, there may have been as many as 300,000 victims, overwhelmingly women, the majority of them poor and often indigenous, Quechua-speakers with limited Spanish. "They were the weakest and most vulnerable," says Ms Vigo, whose case remains the only one to have reached the courts in Peru.
A Noble Lie - Trailer
Available Dec 2011
Bad things that might be good for you: Marijuana and chocolate
November 13, 2011
Marijuana may prevent Alzheimer's
Several studies released over the past seven years have demonstrated the ability of the active ingredient in marijuana to provide protection to neurons against toxic molecules implicated in Alzheimer's disease.
According to a 2004 study published in the very respectable Journal of Neurochemistry, “cannabidiol exerts a combination of neuroprotective, anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic effects against beta-amyloid peptide toxicity, and that inhibition of caspase 3 appearance from its inactive precursor, pro-caspase 3, by cannabidiol is involved in the signalling pathway for this neuroprotection.” Got that?
A 2006 study by a whole different set of scientists published in the peer-reviewed journal Molecular Pharmaceutics appeared to support the earlier finding, noting “this study provides a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism through which cannabinoid molecules may directly impact the progression of this debilitating disease.” The authors note that cannabinoids appear to be more effective than the approved medications at treating the effects of Alzheimer's on neurons in the lab.
No word yet on whether cannabidiol has any beneficial effect outside the laboratory, other than triggering pizza delivery.
Chocolate helps your heart and fights cancer
Dark chocolate contains hundreds of chemicals, many of which can affect your health, according to the Harvard Men's Health Watch. Dark chocolate is one of the world's richest sources of flavonoids, which are known to have anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and cancer-fighting qualities.
Flavonoids can stop certain cholesterols from oxidizing into their most damaging forms while increasing levels of good cholesterol, according to Harvard's news service. Studies have also shown that dark chocolate can lower blood pressure and prevent blood-platelet activation, which lead to stroke and heart attack.
Mice given a single dose of epicatechin, a compound found in dark chocolate, suffered far less damage after an induced stroke than those mice that had none. Somehow the compound started a reaction that protected the cells from damage by free radicals released as a result of the trauma.
When it comes to chocolate, darker is better and cocoa is even better than that, as it lacks the added fat and sugar found in chocolate bars.
Experts all seem to agree that milk chocolate is a waste of time.
see article
Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study Shows
Apr. 17, 2007
— The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.
They say this is the first set of experiments to show that the compound, Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy.
THC that targets cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 is similar in function to endocannabinoids, which are cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body and activate these receptors. The researchers suggest that THC or other designer agents that activate these receptors might be used in a targeted fashion to treat lung cancer.
"The beauty of this study is that we are showing that a substance of abuse, if used prudently, may offer a new road to therapy against lung cancer," said Anju Preet, Ph.D., a researcher in the Division of Experimental Medicine.
Acting through cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2, endocannabinoids (as well as THC) are thought to play a role in variety of biological functions, including pain and anxiety control, and inflammation. Although a medical derivative of THC, known as Marinol, has been approved for use as an appetite stimulant for cancer patients, and a small number of U.S. states allow use of medical marijuana to treat the same side effect, few studies have shown that THC might have anti-tumor activity, Preet says. The only clinical trial testing THC as a treatment against cancer growth was a recently completed British pilot study in human glioblastoma.
Fukushima 45 ton radioactive water leak poisons ocean
Female scientist charged with child molesting and bestiality is back at work at the Centers for Disease Control
Daily Mail.co.ukThe senior government scientist facing child molestation and bestiality charges has returned to her high-powered job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr Kimberly Quinlan Lindsey, 44, is accused of engaging in 'immoral and indecent' sex acts with a a six-year-old boy.
She and her live-in boyfriend, 42-year-old Thomas Westerman, were arrested in October and are both free on bail. Mr Westerman is charged with two counts of child molesting.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Dr Lindsey has returned to work at the government's top research lab for communicable diseases and medical and health issues.
The CDC will not comment on her case, though officials said they are aware of the charges.
The acts are alleged to have taken place between January 2010 to August 2011, according to authorities.
An investigation was started into the child molestation charges after a medical professional alerted police.
see full article
The Light Bulb Conspiracy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5DCwN28y8o
Planned Obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand.
As a magazine for advertisers succinctly puts it: The article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business – and a tragedy for the modern growth society which relies on an ever-accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away.
The Light Bulb Conspiracy combines investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers.
This film travels to France, Germany, Spain and the US to find witnesses of a business practice which has become the basis of the modern economy, and brings back disquieting pictures from Africa where discarded electronics are piling up in huge cemeteries for electronic waste.
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