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Latest News
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007#
Ever wonder what British Columbia's most profitable industries are? Logging?
Fishing? Tourism? Ever think to include marijuana? If you haven't, think again.
No longer a hobby for the stereotypical hippie culture of the ‘60s, BC's illegal
marijuana trade industry has evolved into an unstoppable business giant,
dubbed by those involved as 'The Union'. Commanding upwards of $7 billion
Canadian annually, The Union’s roots stretch far and wide. With up to 85% of all 'BC Bud' being exported to the United States, the BC marijuana trade has
become an international issue with consequences that extend far beyond our
borders. When record profits are to be made, who are the players, and when do their motives become questionable?
- Why is marijuana illegal?
- What health risks do we really face?
- Does prohibition work?
- What would happen if we taxed it?
- Medicine, paper, fuel, textiles, food, etc. Are we missing something?
Follow filmmaker Adam Scorgie as he dives head first into Canada's most
socially acceptable illegal activity. Along the way, Adam demystifies the
underground market and brings to light how such a large industry can
function while remaining illegal. By interviewing experts from around the
globe, including growers, clippers, police officers, criminologists, economists,
medical doctors, politicians and pop culture icons, Scorgie examines the cause
and effect nature of the business behind getting high.
Nobody's innocent in this exploration of an industry that may be profiting
more by being illegal. Join Adam Scorgie as he unravels the mystery of The
Union.
Australia bans flu vaccines in children after vomiting, fevers, seizures
Australia bans flu vaccines in children after vomiting, fevers, seizures
Although it's still summer in North America, it is of course winter in Australia, and the flu season is well under way there. As usual, Australian health authorities have been urging parents there to vaccinate their children against the flu, propagating the mythology that flu vaccines are both safe and effective. But this time around, many Australian parents found out the hard way that they were being lied to .
It didn't take long to realize the truth after their children start going into convulsions following the flu vaccine injections. Other children began vomiting or exhibiting dangerously high levels of fever . One child has gone into a coma and may never recover.
As reported in WA Today ( http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/f… )
“Perth mother of two Bea Flint said her 11-month-old boy Avery had a seizure after receiving the first dose of the two-dose flu vaccination on Saturday. Mrs Flint said that after the 9am vaccination she noticed Avery had a minor temperature about 2pm. At 7.45pm, Avery started whimpering and moaning. When Mrs Flint got to his cot the baby had vomited and was lying on his side having a seizure. ‘He couldn't cry – his head was hanging down in the car seat and he couldn't move. I was petrified – it was one of the worst experiences of my life.”
The story goes on to say, “The doctor who treated Avery told Mrs Flint her baby was the fifth child with similar symptoms admitted to the hospital that day.”
In other words, this was no rare event. Vaccinated children suffering severe convulsions were piling up in hospital emergency rooms across the country.
The real kicker, though, is that children started having convulsions two weeks ago but Australian health authoritie s ignored them, insisting that the vaccine was safe and causing it to be injected in yet more babies . Two weeks later, with dozens more children experiencing convulsions (and who knows how many thousands actually being harmed in less obvious ways), Commonwealth chief health officer Professor Jim Bishop finally announced the vaccination ban.
UN climate change group told to stick to science
By BRIAN LILLEY, Parliamentary Bureau
OTTAWA - An international academy of scientists is telling the UN's global climate change research group to stick to science and stay out of advocacy.
The InterAcademy Council, an international group representing scientific bodies from around the world, began a review of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change back in March after a series of controversies over accuracy.
The IPCC's 2007 report on climate change has been found to have a series of errors, some claims were found to have been based on literature from advocacy groups and data had been sexed-up to make the situation sound more desperate.
There were also concerns about a raft of leaked e-mails known as climategate that appeared to show scientists manipulating data.
“IPCC's mandate is to be policy relevant, not policy prescriptive,” the report reads. “However, as noted above, IPCC spokespersons have not always adhered to this mandate. Straying into advocacy can only hurt IPCC's credibility.”
In addition to advising the IPCC to stick to science and leave advocacy and policy to the political world, the report also calls for tighter standards.
The InterAcademy Council says authors of the IPCC report did not always follow procedures for using claims and data that came from unpublished scientific reports, newspaper articles or lobby groups.
The review was headed up by Princeton University Prof. Harold Shapiro, who told reporters one report by an IPCC working group “contains many statements that were assigned high confidence but for which there is little evidence.”
The errors, he said, “did dent the credibility of the process.”
One of those errors was a claim that Himalayan glaciers would melt away completely by 2035, a claim not founded on science.
“At least in our judgment, it came from just not paying close enough attention to what (peer) reviewers said about that example,” Shapiro said.
In addition, Shapiro is recommending the IPCC implement a “rigorous conflict of interest policy” for researchers and officials.
The damning report is not worrying to green groups. Ian Bruce, a climate change specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation, said the scientific evidence of global warming is sound.
“They've made some good recommendations on the importance of transparency and sound science,” said Bruce, when asked about the InterAcademy report.
Bruce said there is no problem with scientists highlighting the problem of climate change and offering solutions, saying that politicians need to decide what the best course of action is.
But deciding what policy is best requires politicians having accurate information said Prof. Ross McKitrick of the University of Guelph.
McKitrick said the fact that the report highlights errors or false claims passed off as fact is worrying.
“That's a pretty shocking judgment and policymakers should demand heads roll over that. It's totally inexcusable,” said McKitrick.
The report also chides editors at the IPCC for not giving adequate consideration of viewpoints that differ from their own.
- With files from Reuters.
Fidel Castro: Osama bin Laden is a US agent
By The Associated Press
Raw Story
Friday, August 27th, 2010
Fidel Castro says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is a bought-and-paid-for CIA agent who always popped up when former President George W. Bush needed to scare the world, arguing that documents recently posted on the Internet prove it.
"Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, bin Laden would appear threatening people with a story about what he was going to do," Castro told state media during a meeting with a Lithuanian-born writer known for advancing conspiracy theories about world domination. "Bush never lacked for bin Laden's support. He was a subordinate."
LOWKEY - OBAMA NATION (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - BANNED FROM TV (DOWNLOAD ON MAY 3RD!!)
FBI paid informant in Bronx synagogue bomb plot $97K, who provided terror suspects with fake bombs
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The jury in the Bronx synagogue bomb plot case was told Wednesday that the informant who provided the four suspects with phony bombs and missiles was paid $97,000 by the FBI .
The FBI gave Pakistani immigrant Shahed Hussain $44,000 for expenses and $53,000 for "his services" over a three-year period, agent Robert Fuller said.
Fuller, the first prosecution witness in the trial that started Tuesday, showed the jury one of the unexploded bombs the would-be terrorists planned to use to blow up one of two Riverdale synagogues.
Defense lawyers contend that without the informant - who they say entrapped the suspects - their bumbling clients would never have tried to blow up two synagogues in Riverdale and shoot down missiles.
James Cromitie , 44, and co-defendants David Williams , 29, Onta Williams , 34, and Laguerre Payen , 28, were caught in May 2009.
Hussain met them at an upstate mosque, where he was sent by the feds. The trial continues today in Manhattan Federal Court . The four suspects face life in prison if convicted.
see article
Genetically Manipulated Crops: The GMO Catastrophe in the USA. A Lesson for the World
by F. William Engdahl
August 18, 2010
Recently the unelected potentates of the EU Commission in Brussels have sought to override what has repeatedly been shown to be the overwhelming opposition of the European Union population to the spread of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in EU agriculture. EU Commission President now has a Maltese accountant as health and enviromnent Commissioner to rubber stamp the adoption of GMO. The former EU Environment Commissioner from Greece was a ferocious GMO opponent. As well, the Chinese government has indicated it may approve a variety of GMO rice. Before things get too far along, they would do well to take a closer look at the world GMO test lab, the USA. There GMO crops are anything but beneficial. Just the opposite.
What is carefully kept out of the Monsanto and other agribusiness propaganda in promoting genetically manipulated crops as an alternative to conventional is the fact that in the entire world until the present, all GMO crops have been manipulated and patented for only two things—to be resistant or “tolerant” to the patented highly toxic herbicide glyphosate chemicals that Monsanto and the others force farmers to buy as condition for buying their patented GMO seeds. The second trait is GMO seeds that have been engineered genetically to resist specific insects. Contrary to public relations myths promoted by the agribusiness giants in their own self-interest, there exists not oné single GMO seed that provides a greater harvest yield than conventional, nor one that requires less toxic chemical herbicides. That is for the simple reason there is no profit to be made in such.
Abbas, Palestinians should die - Israeli rabbi
Sun Aug 29, 2010
(Reuters) - An influential Israeli rabbi has said God should strike the Palestinians and their leader with a plague, calling for their death in a fiery sermon before Middle East peace talks set to begin next week.
"Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this earth," Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual head of the religious Shas party in Israel's government, said in a sermon late on Saturday, using Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's popular name.
"God should strike them and these Palestinians -- evil haters of Israel -- with a plague," the 89-year-old rabbi said in his weekly address to the faithful, excerpts of which were broadcast on Israeli radio on Sunday.
9/11 Experiments: The Mysterious Eutectic Steel
Masterminds, Mosques and Mass Insanity: “War on Terrorism” Propaganda Ratcheted up Ahead of War Escalation
by Larry Chin
Global Research , August 20, 2010
Exemplified by the furor over the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” in New York , and rumors of a new Al-Qaeda “mastermind”, 9/11 “war on terrorism” propaganda has been ramped up to deafening levels by various political factions.
Nearly a decade since Bush/Cheney's 9/11 false flag deception, a fearful, self-destructive American mass public remains fully brainwashed by “war on terrorism” deception--- ignorant of history, and militantly oblivious to facts.
“Ground Zero mosque”: the art of missing the point
The ludicrous uproar over plans to build a Muslim community center in New York , the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” has dominated mainstream corporate news headlines. Political players from all sides, including President Barack Obama have joined the fray , attempting to prove themselves the superior “anti-terrorist”, or the better “commemorator of 9/11, when 3,000 people were killed by Muslim terrorists”. The right-wing is going berserk , gleefully.
Heated arguments have exploded around religion, tolerance, democracy, etc.---everything except the only fact that matters: 9/11 was a false flag operation, courtesy of the Bush-Cheney administration, carried out by an elite consensus, in order to justify the “war on terrorism”, and everything that came with it. Mass murder. Unending resource conquest. A police state within US borders. Open criminality.
Help Put This Ad On Air - Go to BuildingWhat.org
President goes for a swim in the Gulf – or does he?
By Guy Adams
Monday, 16 August 2010
President Barack Obama wanted to convince America that the Gulf of Mexico remains open for business. But perhaps he didn't want the world to catch another glimpse of his hairless chest.
So when he and his daughter, Sasha, took a dip in the sea off Florida this weekend, only the White House photographer was allowed to capture proceedings.
The official picture was intended to provide evidence that the region's beaches are back to normal. Yet it soon emerged that the private beach on which it was taken, off Alligator Point in St Andrew Bay, north-west Florida, isn't technically in the gulf.
We Are Change Vancouver footage of 9/11/08
Featuring music by Payday Monsanto
Scientists dispute White House claim that spilled BP oil has vanished
US government challenged over claims oil has evaporated
Tests show oil is affecting phytoplankton and staying on seabed
Suzanne Goldenberg , US environment correspondent
The White House is facing a growing challenge to its claim that most of the oil from the Deepwater disaster has disappeared from the Gulf of Mexico, as at least two independent teams of scientists reported new evidence of oil persisting deep under the surface of the sea.
Earlier this month, government scientists reported that about 75% of the oil had been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down in the Gulf.
But University of South Florida scientists, returning from a 10-day research voyage, said they found oil on the ocean floor in the DeSoto canyon, a prime spawning ground for fish far to the east of BP's rogue oil well. Preliminary results suggested that oil was getting into the phytoplankton, the microscopic plants at the bottom of the Gulf food chain.
"The idea that this could have an impact on the food web and on the biological system is certainly a reality," David Hollander, a marine geochemist, told the University of South Florida radio station. Smaller organisms would be likely to be affected the most, he added.
see full article
How WikiLeaks Keeps Its Funding Secret
By JEANNE WHALEN and DAVID CRAWFORD
The controversial website WikiLeaks, which argues the cause of openness in leaking classified or confidential documents, has set up an elaborate global financial network to protect a big secret of its own—its funding.
Some governments and corporations angered by the site's publications have lready sued WikiLeaks or blocked access to it, and the group fears that its money and infrastructure could be targeted further, founder Julian Assange said in an interview in London shortly after publishing 76,000 classified U.S. documents about the war in Afghanistan in July. The move sparked international controversy and put WikiLeaks in the spotlight.
In response, the site has established a complex system for collecting and disbursing its donations to obscure their origin and use, Mr. Assange said. Anchoring the system is a foundation in Germany established in memory of a computer hacker who died in 2001.
WikiLeaks's financial stability has waxed and waned during its short history.The site shut down briefly late last year, citing a lack of funds, but Mr. Assange said the group has raised about $1 million since the start of 2010.
WikiLeaks's lack of financial transparency stands in contrast to the total transparency it seeks from governments and corporations.
"It's very hard work to run an organization, let alone one that's constantly being spied upon and sued," Mr. Assange said in the interview. "Judicial decisions can have an effect on an organization's operation. … We can't have our cash flow constrained entirely," he said.
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Bill Gates buys 500,000 stock shares in Monsanto
This is the second quarter portfolio update for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The fund is run by Bill Gates’ personal financial advisor Michael Larson. The portfolio now has the size of $11.9 billion. These are the details of buys.
The largest position in the portfolio of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is Berkshire Hathaway, donated by Warren Buffett. Buffett has famously decided to donate most of his assets to Gates Foundation.
Besides Berkshire Hathaway, Fates foundation is heavily weighted in Consumer Services and industrials. Although being a technology guru, Bill Gates rarely invests in other technology companies. Maybe he knows them too well.
Bill Gates buys Ecolab Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The, Monsanto Company, during the 3-months ended 06/30/2010, according to the most recent filings of his investment company, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Bill Gates owns 31 stocks with a total value of $11.9 billion. These are the details of the buys and sells.
* New Purchases: ECL, GS, MON,
* Added Positions: KOF, XOM,
* Reduced Positions: MTB,
* Sold Out:
'Iraq Exit: Rebranding the Occupation!'
Pregnant women should avoid 'diet' soft drinks: researchers
Pregnant women should avoid 'diet' soft drinks that have been artificially sweetened, experts have said, after a study linked them with premature birth.
By Rebecca Smith , Medical Editor
19 Aug 2010
Research carried out on almost 60,000 pregnant women in Denmark found that those who drank artificially sweetened soft drinks, whether fizzy or still, were more likely to give birth early.
It was found that those who drank one serving per day of artificially sweetened fizzy drink were 38 per cent more likely to give birth before 37 weeks gestation and those who consumed four servings a day were 78 per cent more likely to have their baby prematurely.
The effect was weaker for still artificially soft drinks and there was no link between premature birth and sugar-sweetened drinks, they said.
It is thought the artificial sweeteners are broken down in the body into chemicals which may change the womb, the researchers said.
The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition .
Dr Shelley McGuire, spokesman for the American Society of Nutrition, said: “These findings may be really important in terms of preventing premature births, especially those that are medically induced by a woman's health care provider.
"Certainly, until more experimental work is done, this study suggests that pregnant women should steer clear of artificially sweetened drinks. Quite frankly, pregnant women should be focusing more on nutrient-rich drinks anyway, like milk and fruit juices. And don't forget the water.”
Drug companies accused of 'conning' the public
Drug companies have been accused of conning the public in a report that claimed more than four fifths of new medicines offer few benefits.
An estimated 85 per cent of drugs coming onto the market offer only slight advances on existing treatments while having the potential to cause serious harm due to toxicity or misuse, the study concluded.
The author of the research delivered a damning attack on ''Big Pharma'' at a meeting of sociology experts in the US.
Professor Donald Light described the pharmaceutical industry as a ''market for lemons'' - one in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product, and takes advantage of this fact.
''Sometimes drug companies hide or downplay information about serious side-effects of new drugs and overstate the drugs' benefits,'' said Prof Light, a professor of comparative health policy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, US.
''Then, they spend two to three times more on marketing than on research to persuade doctors to prescribe these new drugs. Doctors may get misleading information and then misinform patients about the risks of a new drug. It's really a two-tier market for lemons.''
see full article
"Real Men Go To Tehran."
Ailing 9/11 responders slam President Obama: Focus on Zadroga health bill, not Ground Zero mosque
BY Erin Einhorn , Adam Lisberg and Richard Sisk
Wednesday, August 18th 2010
Ailing 9/11 responders slammed President Obama on Tuesday for sounding off on the Ground Zero mosque while keeping silent on a $7.2 billion health care bill.
"Why have you failed us? We thought you would be our champion" in pushing the legislation, John Feal wrote to Obama.
One of the thousands who worked at The Pile after the World Trade Center attacks, Feal heads the Fealgood Foundation supporting the responders.
The plight of the Ground Zero heroes, still suffering and dying from illnesses brought on by the toxic cloud over the twin towers' ruins, has taken a backseat to the political posturing over the mosque, Feal said.
The mosque's location "is not an issue for us," he told Obama.
"It is disturbing that you have the time and energy to speak in favor of the mosque, but not on the health crisis caused by the attacks," said Feal, who lost part of a foot when a steel beam fell on him during cleanup work.
9/11: We Will Never Forget
Our Lives Post 9/11
Details of 9/11/10 NYC events here
WeAreChangeVancouver footage of last years events and activism:
Something Stinks About Wikileaks
By F. William Engdahl
8-11-10
Since the dramatic release of a US military film of a US airborne shooting of unarmed journalists in Iraq, Wiki-Leaks has gained global notoreity and credibility as a daring website that releases sensitive material to the public from whistleblowers within various governments. Their latest "coup" involved alleged leak of thousands of pages of supposedly sensitive documents regarding US informers within the Taliban in Afghanistan and their ties to senior people linked to Pakistan's ISI military intelligence. The evidence suggests however that far from an honest leak, it is a calculated disinformation to the gain of the US and perhaps Israeli and Indian intelligence and a coverup of the US and Western role in drug trafficking out of Afghanistan.
Since the posting of the Afghan documents some days ago the Obama White House has given the leaks credibility by claiming further leaks pose a threat to US national security. Yet details of the papers reveals little that is sensitive. The one figure most prominently mentioned, General (Retired) Hamid Gul, former head of the Pakistani military intelligence agency, ISI, is the man who during the 1980's coordinated the CIA-financed Mujahideen guerilla war in Afghanistan against the Soviet regime there. In the latest Wikileaks documents, Gul is accused of regularly meeting Al Qaeda and Taliban leading people and orchestrating suicide attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The leaked documents also claim that Osama bin Laden, who was reported dead three years ago by the late Pakistan candidate Benazir Bhutto on BBC, was still alive, conveniently keeping the myth alove for the Obama Administration War on Terror at a point when most Americans had forgotten the original reason ssthe Bush Administration allegedly invaded Afghanistan to pursue the Saudi Bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks.
Demonizing Pakistan?
The naming of Gul today as a key liaison to the Afghan "Taliban" forms part of a larger pattern of US and British recent efforts to demonize the current Pakistan regime as a key part of the problems in Afghanistan. Such a demonization greatly boosts the position of recent US military ally, India. Furthermore, Pakistan is the only muslim country possessing atomic weapons. The Israeli Defense Forces and the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency reportedly would very much like to change that. A phoney campaign against the politically outspoken Gul via Wikileaks could be part of that geopolitical effort.
The US isn't leaving Iraq, it's rebranding the occupation
Seumas Milne
Guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 4 August 2010
Obama says withdrawal is on schedule, but renaming or outsourcing combat troops won't give Iraqis back their country
For most people in Britain and the US, Iraq is already history. Afghanistan has long since taken the lion's share of media attention, as the death toll of Nato troops rises inexorably. Controversy about Iraq is now almost entirely focused on the original decision to invade: what's happening there in 2010 barely registers.
That will have been reinforced by Barack Obama's declaration this week that US combat troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq at the end of the month "as promised and on schedule". For much of the British and American press, this was the real thing: headlines hailed the "end" of the war and reported "US troops to leave Iraq".
Nothing could be further from the truth. The US isn't withdrawing from Iraq at all – it's rebranding the occupation. Just as George Bush's war on terror was retitled "overseas contingency operations" when Obama became president, US "combat operations" will be rebadged from next month as "stability operations".
But as Major General Stephen Lanza, the US military spokesman in Iraq, told the New York Times: "In practical terms, nothing will change" . After this month's withdrawal, there will still be 50,000 US troops in 94 military bases, "advising" and training the Iraqi army, "providing security" and carrying out "counter-terrorism" missions. In US military speak, that covers pretty well everything they might want to do.
Granted, 50,000 is a major reduction on the numbers in Iraq a year ago. But what Obama once called "the dumb war" goes remorselessly on. In fact, violence has been increasing as the Iraqi political factions remain deadlocked for the fifth month in a row in the Green Zone. More civilians are being killed in Iraq than Afghanistan: 535 last month alone, according to the Iraqi government – the worst figure for two years.
And even though US troops are rarely seen on the streets, they are still dying at a rate of six a month, their bases regularly shelled by resistance groups, while Iraqi troops and US-backed militias are being killed in far greater numbers and al-Qaida – Bush's gift to Iraq – is back in business across swaths of the country. Although hardly noticed in Britain, there are still 150 British troops in Iraq supporting US forces.
Meanwhile, the US government isn't just rebranding the occupation, it's also privatising it. There are around 100,000 private contractors working for the occupying forces, of whom more than 11,000 are armed mercenaries, mostly "third country nationals", typically from the developing world. One Peruvian and two Ugandan security contractors were killed in a rocket attack on the Green Zone only a fortnight ago.
Hopium and Hypocritium
By Cindy Sheehan
August 11, 2010
The arrogance of the Bush administration could never be surpassed, right? Wrong!
Today, Whore House (again, with my apologies to my sex-worker friends) spokeswhore, Robert Gibbs, was quoted as saying this of the “professional left” who liken Obama to his predecessor:
“(They) need to be drug tested,” and that these principled critics of the Empire are “crazy.” This kind of hearkens back to earlier in the Changery when Rahm Emmanuel, Obama Chief of Staff and committed Zionist, called us: “F@#king Retards.” Nice, huh?
Rahm Emmanuel is almost as sensitive as Dick Cheney and Robert Gibbs is almost as smart as Ari Fleischer—George's first Press Secretary.
These quotes of Gibbs' (who's not nearly as perky as Dana Perino) highlight two things for me: the slipperiness of the Obama regime and the stubborn hopenosis of its supporters.
First of all, we were force fed daily doses of mass-media propaganda during the presidential campaign telling us that Obama was a “community organizer,” a “man of the people” and don't forget the famous, “If you want Obama to do the right thing, then you have to make him.” Now the Changer in Chief's staff is telling us if we are critical of him from the “professional” left, we are drug-crazed lunatics—not principled opponents of the Empire.
I know I have been out in front of Chéz Obama (loudly) expressing my views on his foreign policy many times (so much so, I was banned from the Whore House for four months) and single-payer healthcare advocates were doing the same during the entire fascist healthcare give-away to the corporations. Our voices and vision for a more peaceful, sane, and healthier way of doing things have not even been given a seat at the proverbial table. So, what Gibbs is telling us is to: “Just shut the eff up—we don't care what you say or want.”
During the same interview where Robert Gibbs called me (yes, I take it personally) a “drug-crazed lunatic,” he also used the time-tested logical fallacy known as a non-sequitur (it does not follow) to say that we would only be happy if the president delivered “Canadian style healthcare,” and “closed the Pentagon.”
The Omar Khadr travesty
by Glenn Greenwald
...The commission has already ruled that confessions made by Khadr which were clearly obtained through coercion, abuse and torture will be admitted as evidence against him. Prior to the commencement of Khadr's "trial," the commission ruled in another case that the sentence imposed on a Sudanese detainee Ibrahim al-Qosi -- convicted as part of a plea bargain of the dastardly crime of being Osama bin Laden's "cook" -- will be kept secret until he is released. What kind of country has secret sentences?
Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling
Fluoride water 'causes cancer'
Boys at risk from bone tumours, shock research reveals
Bob Woffinden
Sunday 12 June 2005
Fluoride in tap water can cause bone cancer in boys, a disturbing new study indicates, although there is no evidence of a link for girls.
New American research suggests that boys exposed to fluoride between the ages of five and 10 will suffer an increased rate of osteosarcoma - bone cancer - bet-ween the ages of 10 and 19.
In the UK, fluoride is added to tap water on the advice of bodies such as the British Dental Association. The Department of Health maintains that it is a cost-effective public health measure that helps prevent tooth decay in children.
About 10 per cent of the population, six million people, receive fluoridated water, mainly in the Midlands and north-east, and the government plans to extend this, with Manchester expected to be next. About 170 million Americans live in areas with fluoridated water.
The increased cancer risks, identified in a newly available study conducted at the Harvard School of Dental Health, were found at fluoride exposure levels common in both the US and Britain. It was the first examination of the link between exposure to the chemical at the critical period of a child's development and the age of onset of bone cancer.
Although osteosarcoma is rare, accounting for only about 3 per cent of childhood cancers, it is especially dangerous. The mortality rate in the first five years is about 50 per cent, and nearly all survivors have limbs amputated, usually legs.
The research has been made available by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a respected Washington-based research organisation. The group reports that it has assembled a 'strong body of peer-reviewed evidence' and has asked that fluoride in tap water be added to the US government's classified list of substances known or anticipated to cause cancer in humans.
'This is a very specific cancer in a defined population of children,' said Richard Wiles, the group's co-founder. 'When you focus in and look for the incidence of tumours, you see the increase.
'We recognise the potential benefits of fluoride to dental health,' added Wiles, 'but I've spent 20 years in public health, trying to protect kids from toxic exposure. Even with DDT, you don't have the consistently strong data that the compound can cause cancer as you now have with fluoride.'
Half of all fluoride ingested is stored in the body, accumulating in calcifying tissue such as teeth and bones and in the pineal gland in the brain, although more than 90 per cent is taken into the bones.
Ill Tone and Sara Branch - Kill Switch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgIFr4VFMXY
Genetically Modified Salmon Present a Number of Risks to Consumer Health and Environment
Statement from Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Watch
WASHINGTON - August 3 - "As rumors swirl that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may allow the sale of genetically modified (GM) salmon to consumers, flaws in the review process surrounding this controversial disruption to the natural food chain are coming into focus. The FDA, which has been tasked with overseeing the public's health, could approve the divisive science experiment as early as this fall - a decision that consumers strongly oppose. If approved, the salmon would represent the first genetically modified animal sold as food to unsuspecting consumers (currently, there are no labeling requirements in place to assist consumers in identifying and avoiding GM foods)."
"Unfortunately, many in the aquaculture industry seek to genetically engineer fish to speed up production of their product. In this case, the company lobbying the FDA for approval, AquaBounty Technologies, wants to combine salmon genes that control growth hormone with a gene from another fish, the ocean pout. The ocean pout gene would keep the growth hormone in production, effectively creating mutant salmon that grow at twice the normal rate."
"Unfortunately, the FDA's tests (historically used to determine if a non-GM food was safe) were created before GM products became a reality and are insufficient in determining the long-term, unforeseen consequences of the GM salmon in question. Put simply, these dated tests cannot determine the salmon's full allergenicity and toxicity."
Iran War Propaganda Debunked in 7 minutes
British PM on His Claim Iran Has Nuclear Weapons: Sorry
Opposition Mocks Cameron's Latest Foreign Policy Gaffe
by Jason Ditz, August 05, 2010
With his office still trying to cope with outrage over his criticism of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and his criticism of Pakistan's government, British Prime Minister David Cameron caused another stir today by accusing Iran of possessing nuclear weapons.
Speaking about Turkey's interest in joining the European Union, Cameron claimed that the membership could address problems “l ike the fact that Iran has got a nuclear weapon. ” Iran, of course, does not have nuclear weapons. Some of Cameron's aides admitted he “misspoke” and said he was “sorry,” while others maintained that “he is talking about the pursuit of a nuclear weapon.”
The opposition Labour Party was quick to mock Cameron, with one MP declaring “ he is increasingly getting a reputation for being a foreign policy klutz, with two right feet, both of them firmly planted in his mouth. ”
Cameron's lack of clarity in his claims about Iran are likely to be of particular issue, however, as he used Iran's fictional weapons program, along with the “Chinese threat,” as reasons for Britain spending large sums of money on new nuclear weapons of its own.
'US greatest threat to global security'
Aug 5 2010
After only eight months in office, Obama's popularity hits the lowest for any recent president in American history, according to a new national poll.
The poll was conducted by the Gallup organization and published in the newspaper USA Today on Wednesday.
It indicated that support in the United States for the war in Afghanistan is waning. In February, support for Obama's war plan was at 48 percent. It has now dropped to 36 percent. A record 43 percent are now saying it was a mistake to go to war in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Obama's overall job approval, according to the Gallup poll, is the lowest it has ever been. Only 41 percent now think he is doing a good job. Six out of ten disapprove his handling of his job.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Dahlia Wasfi, American justice and political activist, from Wilmington, Delaware. Here is the transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Obama has just seen the biggest dropping support for his new efforts in Afghanistan. Are we starting to see the political impact of the WikiLeaks reports, do you think?
Wasfi: Unfortunately no. I am surprised how there are still 48 percent support among the Americans for the war in Afghanistan. I think it is because of the lack of information that the Americans suffer and that we were misled into that change in the White House would lead to a change in the United States' foreign policy. I think in overall people are unhappy with what is in front of them. The economy is most important for Americans, losses of jobs, foreclosures, which was of course laid out by the Bush administration, and by Clinton administration, have made them unhappy with the current situation. Before that unfortunately we have to recognize that our policy has not changed much in the last couple of decades. Only a change in policy would bring about a real change.
Press TV: Despite Obama's early promise to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan on schedule, it now seems that the senior officials from the White House are actually saying that they are staying beyond the end of August, would be continuing their combat roles, and still have the same mandate. Is that something that has been picked up by the American media or is that something not being zoomed on at all by the American public?
Wasfi: I think that regarding Iraq, the main stream media has picked up on the concept that, as Obama claims, we are on schedule to leave Iraq on time. However, Obama never said that we completely withdraw from Iraq. He said he would leave behind a force that would defend the embassy and defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq. Well, al-Qaeda was not there before we showed up. If you have to defend an embassy with the most powerful military in the world, that might be an indication to you that people living there do not want us there. We in American define al-Qaeda as anyone who attacks American soldiers. Well if American soldiers are illegally occupying a country, you are going to fight back, which mean that we are going to maintain a force there forever, so he actually maintaining allegiance to that claim that the occupation is ending is false. Because the troops that are removed from Iraq would probably be redeployed to Afghanistan. Private contractors and mercenaries would replace them and they make millions upon millions of dollars from American tax payers' dollars to subjugate the Iraqi people.
Meat of second cloned cow offspring 'in UK food chain'
Aug 4 2010
A second case of meat from the offspring of a cloned cow entering the UK's food chain has emerged.
The Food Standards Agency said it came to light as it investigated an earlier case of meat from a Highlands farm bull grown from the embryo of a cloned cow being sold to consumers.
The FSA has admitted it does not know how many embryos from cloned animals have been imported into Britain.
FSA chief Tim Smith said he had no safety concerns about the meat.
However, he said any suppliers would require approval under European law.
The FSA had already traced two bulls born from embryos of a cow cloned in the US that were bought by a farm near Nairn, in the Highlands.
The first of the two animals was slaughtered in July 2009 and its meat entered the food chain.
John Young (Cryptome) and Jack Blood discuss Wikileaks
Pelosi Blocks Oil Spill Investigation
by Connie Hair
07/28/2010
The latest version of the CLEAR Act is slated for a floor vote in the House this week as Democrats look for ways to use the Gulf oil spill as a means to pass elements of their unpopular energy agenda.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stripped out authorization for an independent investigation into the Gulf disaster.
The Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed the amendment in committee markup July 14 offered by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that would establish a bipartisan, independent, National Commission on Outer Continental Shelf Oil Spill Prevention.
Unlike the commission set up by President Obama -- packed only with environmental activists and no petroleum engineers -- the commission unanimously approved by the Natural Resources committee would be comprised of technical experts to study the actual events leading up to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Obama's PROMISE To End The Iraq War - Oct. 27, 2007 - "You Can Take That To The Bank"
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