Olympics and Hajj to Shut Down due to Swine Flu – Global Warming?
Paradigm Shift Environmental Alliance | 02.11.2009 06:15 | Anti-militarism | Bio-technology | Climate Chaos | World
Olympics and Hajj to Shut Down due to Swine Flu – Global Warming?
Swine flu ’second wave’ begins in Saudi Arabia: minister
(AFP) Oct. 30. 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gOscomcwODGRxDhvnZMfNXbZa1mA
RIYADH — A second wave of swine flu has begun in Saudi Arabia, the health ministry said on Friday, as the death toll from A(H1N1) neared 60 just weeks before the annual hajj brings two million pilgrims to the country.
“The ministry of health said a second wave of the swine flu virus began in early October with the beginning of the fall and cooler weather,” the official SPA news agency reported…
Several schools were closed around the country during the past week and the authorities are girding for the possibility that swine flu cases could rocket with the arrival of more than two million pilgrims in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the hajj over the next three weeks. (Officially Nov. 25-29 2009)
FACTBOX-Countries impose restrictions on Mecca pilgrimage
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSLT239445
Oct 29 (Reuters) – Waves of H1N1 flu spread by some three million pilgrims travelling to and from Mecca for November’s haj threaten to pile pressure on healthcare systems around the world, disease experts said on Thursday.
Several Muslim countries have imposed restrictions on the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia because of worries about a major outbreak of H1N1 flu.
Swine flu fears grow, Obama declares H1N1 a national emergency
OCTOBER 24, 2009 REUTERS
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Swine+fears+grow+Obama+declares+H1N1+national+emergency/2141664/story.html
Officials have also declared that Canada is in its “second wave” of the H1N1 pandemic.
British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories were hit weeks ago, but now there is significant sickness in the rest of the country.
Paradigm Shift Environmental Alliance is calling for the immediate Shut-down of the Vancouver-Whistler (B.C.) Winter Olympics (Feb. 12-28 2010) And the Annual Al Hajj
Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina And Urges a Severe Travel Advisory to these regions.
We do so for the following reasons, based on the best interests of the World’s Security:
* The Province of British Columbia, was Ground Zero in the Second Wave of H1N1(Swine Flu) in Canada.
The Vancouver organizers estimate that the Games will be attended by Global Corporate and Political Leaders, some 5,000 athletes and Olympic officials, 10,000 media representatives, over 6,000 out of province law enforcement officers,14,000 volunteers and up to 2.3 million spectators.
* The Port of Vancouver is the Gateway to China, Asia, Russia, U.S., Europe, the Southern Hemisphere and indeed the world for the Winter Olympics 2010.
It is the perfect timing and breeding ground- Vector for Mutating Disease, the H1N1 Swine flu virus and Triggering the Third Wave of Swine Flu of which the lethality(mortality) has the probability to increase as in the case with the original swine flu, the Spanish Flu.
We demand the World Health Organization(WHO), the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) and other pertinent governments and health bodies to Act now, or be held accountable on a personal and professional basis. It is better to err on the side of the world’s safety is it not?
* The arguments are similar for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, with the added danger that
the Swine flu has the potential to devastate economies of Islamic majorities, as well as mortality and sickness. The House of Saud, King Fahd must act now , or it will be held personally accountable.
Prophet Muhammad’s Patterns of Peaceful Communication
http://www.prophetmuhammadleadership.org/prophet_muhammad%20pattern%20of%20peaceful%20communication.htm
By:Ali Zohery
The Prophet Muhammad was assigned the Mission of peace in the world by Allah. The fundamental purpose was to attain peace with the lord, peace with the universe and peace with the people. The Quran, in very plain words, announces the arrival of the prophet of peace in these words: “ O People of the book! Our Messenger has come to you, Light has come to you from Allah and a book which guides to the truth, whereby Allah leads to ways of peace those who seek His pleasure.” ( 5:17-18) These verse stress that the Prophet was sent to guide the people to the way of peace. The west misunderstood Islam and stereotyping it with violence and terrorism.
What does it mean to be a Muslim? Islam literally means submission, and, in Arabic, the root word for Islam (SLM) is peace. To be Muslim, then, is the struggle to peacefully submit to reality, and this implies a perfectly balanced sense of self. Self that is founded on the knowledge of its place in Creation, and that exists in perfect empathy with the rest of Creation.)from an article in Islam online: The Conquering Force of Islam,By Ramzi Kysia, 11/12/2001)
Peace is the most common word on a Muslim’s tongue. Whenever two people meet, they exchange greetings, wishing each other peace: “Peace be upon you.” But peace cannot prevail except through justice. Since the concept of justice may differ from one man to another, or from one society to another, Muslims believe that real justice is that which is specified by Allah (God).
H1N1 detected 13 days after fever onset
New research suggests that those who have come down with swine flu are still infectious many days later
Carly Weeks Last updated on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 2:51AM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/h1n1-swine-flu/h1n1-detected-13-days-after-fever-onset/article1344256/
Researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that elementary school children who contracted the H1N1 virus during an outbreak earlier this year tested positive for the virus up to 13 days after the onset of fever.
The findings, led by researchers at the CDC and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, are being presented at the Infectious Disease Society of America’s annual meeting in Philadelphia.
They raise questions about H1N1’s contagiousness and whether those infected should take steps to avoid infecting others even after they’ve recovered…
It’s a significant finding that may change conventional thinking about the contagious period associated with H1N1.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says that people with H1N1 may be contagious for up to seven days after the onset of symptoms. But as more research emerges suggesting that period could last even longer, it may require public health officials to modify their communication.
WHO Reporting 31 Strains of the H1N1 Virus Resistant to Tamiflu
Sunday October 11, 2009
http://ent.about.com/b/2009/10/11/who-reporting-31-strains-of-the-h1n1-virus-resistant-to-tamiflu.htm
The World Health Organization (WHO) is reporting 31 strains of the H1N1 virus which have mutated and are now resistant to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir). Since the outbreak of the current H1N1 pandemic Tamiflu has been at the front line of defense. Tamiflu is an antiviral drug which is capable of preventing someone from catching H1N1, (if taken within the first 48 hours after an individual has been exposed), reducing the duration and severity of the illness, and decreasing the risk of passing H1N1 on to others. Many health care workers have been taking Tamiflu to prevent catching H1N1 themselves.
HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY BEWARE TAMIFLU
By Scott Sarvay Story Published: Oct 29, 2009 at 11:39 AM
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/67227197.html
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – The Federal Government has been recommending Tamiflu to combat the symptoms of H1N1.
But is it hurting the overall effort of fighting the virus?
Fort Wayne – Allen County Health officials say it is.
They say there are only two forms of medicine that can fight the H1N1 virus, the vaccine they’ve been distributing in the injectable and nasal mist forms and Tamiflu.
And since viruses can mutate and build up resistance to medications, that leaves few options when those two stop working.
Tamiflu-Resistant Swine Flu Passed Person-to-Person in U.S.
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/flu-/632578.html
THURSDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) — U.S. researchers say they’ve spotted the first case of a Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu virus passing between two people — raising the specter that more widespread resistance will render the antiviral drug less useful in combating the pandemic.
Flu fear
Commentary: Look who’s profiting from this year’s flu season(Donald Rumsfeld)
By Brett Arends, WSJ.com Oct. 19, 2009, 11:19
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/look-whos-profiting-from-the-flu-pandemic-2009-10-19
I put a call into his office, but the former Secretary of Defense doesn’t want to comment. (His staff says Rummy is hard at work on his memoirs. Ominous news for the GOP: The book is penciled in to hit the bookstores next fall — just around the time of the mid-term elections).
Rumsfeld is the highest profile figure associated with Gilead Sciences Inc.(GILD 42.55, -0.40, -0.93%), the California biopharma behind the Tamiflu vaccine. He is the company’s former chairman, and at the last disclosure a few years back still held a stake in the company worth somewhere up to $25 million.
One thing we know for certain: Flu times are good times at Gilead. No stockholders anywhere stand to make as much from flu panic.
“The biggest beneficiary to the world’s dilemma with the H1N1 virus is Gilead Sciences,” says a report from research firm BWS Financial, Inc. Gilead will be in a sweet spot if swine flu turns into mass panic, it says. “We believe (Gilead) remains the true investment on the H1N1 theme.”
Gilead licensed its Tamiflu vaccine to pharmaceutical giant Roche back in 1996, but gets lucrative royalties on sales. Gilead’s revenue from Tamiflu came to about $400 million during the bird flu panic in 2006-2007, BWS estimates.
An analysis by Deutsche Bank predicts Gilead will get about $195 million revenue from Tamiflu just in the fourth quarter of this year, and another $137 million in the first quarter of next year. Deutsche argues that Wall Street has so far underestimated the likely gains. (Deutsche’s analysis is based on results from Roche, which has just reported its third quarter figures. Gilead gets its cut from Roche’s sales one quarter later.)
Tamiflu is only one part of the business. Gilead is a broad biotech company. But Wall Street loves a story, and if the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, causes a stampede this winter Gilead could get a lot of attention.
The irony about flu vaccines is that they may not even work. A very plausible takedown on the flu vaccine business was published recently in The Atlantic. Read here. But don’t expect that to hurt demand. Everyone and their aunt will probably be crowding into emergency rooms at the first sign of a runny nose this winter, demanding treatments, regardless of any effectiveness.
In the so-called home of the brave, the easiest thing to sell is fear.
Gilead stock was only about $16 four years ago. But in 2005 it took off, after the Bush administration responded to the bird flu panic by ordering large quantities of Tamiflu. It has since tripled to about $46.
On the advice of government counsel at the time, Mr. Rumsfeld recused himself from all decisions about Tamiflu and pandemic preparedness. But the rules should really forbid him, or any Secretary of Defense, from owning shares directly at all.
Gilead’s booming stock price has generated a lot of windfalls at the company. According to the most recent public filings, executives and staff are sitting on share and option awards that may be worth about $1.6 billion at current levels. That would be, remarkably, an average of $400,000 per person for the 4,000-employee firm, although of course the benefits are hardly distributed equally. Chairman and Chief Executive John Martin made $11 million a year in each of the last two years, and booked a personal profit of $28.5 million by exercising stock options just in 2008.
The Tamiflu connection is proving good news for left-wing conspiracy theorists. In his last financial disclosure as defense secretary, more than two years ago, Donald Rumsfeld revealed he still owned a stake in Gilead worth somewhere between $5 million and $25 million. Since then Gilead shares have risen by nearly a half. Of course, we don’t know what — if anything — he holds now.
Is it too late to get in on the action? Maybe. Gilead shares, at around $46, look pretty reasonably priced at 17 times next year’s forecast earnings. But call options offer a leveraged bet on further swine flu hysteria: For $3 a share you can buy a $50 call good at any point between now and next May.
From here on this document reads as a factual narrative ultimate Halloween story:
Second-Class Medicine
Germans Unhappy with Alternative Swine Flu Vaccine for Politicians 10/19/2009
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,656028,00.html
SPIEGEL over the weekend reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel, a number of her ministers and other government officials would receive a vaccine manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Baxter — the same vaccine that the German military opted for, as was reported last week.
The mass-circulation tabloid Bild on Monday plastered the story on its front page on Monday, assuring its readers that “experts are accusing the government” of serving up “second class medicine” to ordinary Germans.
Fevers and Headaches
The controversy centers on an additive included in the vaccine manufactured by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The additive includes an inactive strain of the entire flu virus as opposed to virus fragments. Critics say the additive can increase the risk of side effects from the flu vaccine such as fevers and headaches.
Supporters counter that the additive is safe, and its use allows the drug manufacturer to quickly produce more doses of the vaccine. The SPIEGEL story mentioned that the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine, with the additive, has undergone more testing than the Baxter version.
An Interior Ministry spokesman told SPIEGEL that the Baxter vaccine had been ordered for all ministries and other agencies as well as for the employees of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the authority responsible for approving vaccines.
Merkel’s spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm on Monday denied that Merkel was taking a different vaccine than the one available to ordinary Germans. He said that the Baxter vaccine had been ordered four months ago as part of a deal hammered out one year ago and has nothing to do with recent concerns surrounding the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine.
‘Second-Class Medicine’
Still, voices have become raised. The Green Party’s health expert Biggi Bender said that the separate vaccines amount to “big risk for the people, little risk for the government. This type of second-class medicine cannot be allowed to exist in a democracy.”
Leading physicians also complained about the planned vaccination. The head of the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn, Martin Exner, said: “The fact that politicians and top civil servants in ministries will be vaccinated with a vaccine other than the people is a terrible sign. Today politicians must take what they recommend.”
Virologist Alexander Kekulé Hall of the University Hospital said the fact “that the members of the Federal Government and the authorities have any other vaccine is a scandal.”
The Interior Ministry has also rejected the sharp criticism. A spokeswoman for Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble pointed out that at that time the Baxter vaccine was ordered the differences between the two vaccines was not yet an issue. The Paul Ehrlich Institute has repeatedly defended its decision to provide the population with the GlaxoSmithKline version, known as Pandemrix.
The weekend scandal has drowned out a second debate which has been raging in recent weeks in the US and which has also found resonance here in Germany: whether such a massive vaccination program is necessary in the first place.
Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, chairman of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, has called the planned vaccination campaign a “scandal.” “The health authorities have fallen for a campaign from the pharmaceutical companies, who simply want to earn money with an alleged threat,” he told SPIEGEL.
Environmentalist and Geneticist David Suzuki on taking the Swine flu Vaccine: “Yes. I’m just astounded at people. Do they think doctors, scientists, and government are out to poison them or something?”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/h1n1-swine-flu/qa-are-you-getting-the-h1n1-shot/article1346281/
Questions about why Vaccine makers are given blanket legal immunity from government are legitimate. Questions about why hundreds of thousands
of Gulf War Veterans were basically called hysterical and crazy for years by the Pentagon and Sec of Defence Donald Rumsfeld-when in fact a major contributing factor was a vaccine that made them ill, made by Battelle Memorial Institute, in charge of the Joint vaccine Program for the Pentagon. Issues of squalene and aluminum were also involved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_syndrome
In the United States in 2008, the federally mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses released a 452-page report,[5] indicating that roughly 1 in 4 of the 697,000 veterans who served in the first Persian Gulf War are afflicted with the disorder.
The report implicated exposure to toxic chemicals as the cause of the illness. The report states that “scientific evidence leaves no question that Persian Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans.”[5]
About 30 percent of the 700,000 U.S. servicemen and women in the first Persian Gulf War have registered in the Persian Gulf War Illness database set up by the American Legion. Some still suffer a wide range of serious health impairing symptoms.[6]
The tables below apply only to coalition forces involved in combat. Since each nation’s soldiers generally served in different geographic regions, epidemiologists are using these statistics to correlate effects with exposure to the different suspected causes.
U.S. and UK, with the highest rates of excess illness, are distinguished from the other nations by higher rates of pesticide use, use of anthrax vaccine, and somewhat higher rates of exposures to oil fire smoke and reported chemical alerts.
France, with possibly the lowest illness rates, had lower rates of pesticide use, and no use of anthrax vaccine.[7] French troops also served to the North and West of all other combat troops,[8]away and upwind of major combat engagements.
China’s Wen warns of “grim” flu prevention task
Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:06pm IST
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43579720091031
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday warned the country faced an “extremely grim” job to prevent the spread of the H1N1 flu strain, calling on more people to be vaccinated and for vaccine production to be raised.
“At present, the flu prevention situation is extremely grim and there may well be outbreaks or it may spread in certain areas,” Wen told officials during a visit to a Beijing children’s hospital, in comments carried on state television.(At present China has inoculated 3.8 million people.)
Vaccine Researcher: Gardasil ‘is a Great Big Public Health Experiment’
http://chattahbox.com/health/2009/10/28/vaccine-researcher-gardasil-is-a-great-big-public-health-experiment/
Oct.28.2009
Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, questioned the effectiveness of the vaccines to reduce cervical cancer and warned of safety issues administering the vaccine to children under the age of 15. She denounced vaccinating girls, as young as 11, as “a great big public health experiment,” which could cause dangerous side effects.
When Harper was asked why she was condemning a vaccine she helped create she responded: “I want to be able to sleep with myself when I go to bed at night.”
Gardasil Researcher Drops A Bombshell
Harper: Controversal Drug Will Do Little To Reduce Cervical Cancer Rates
BY SUSAN BRINKMANN, FOR THE BULLETIN
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/10/25/top_stories/doc4ae4b76d07e16766677720.txt
Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they’re being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15.
Dr. Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, made these remarks during an address at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia on Oct. 2-4. Although her talk was intended to promote the vaccine, participants said they came away convinced the vaccine should not be received.
“I came away from the talk with the perception that the risk of adverse side effects is so much greater than the risk of cervical cancer, I couldn’t help but question why we need the vaccine at all,” said Joan Robinson, Assistant Editor at the Population Research Institute.
Dr. Harper began her remarks by explaining that 70 percent of all HPV infections resolve themselves without treatment within a year. Within two years, the number climbs to 90 percent. Of the remaining 10 percent of HPV infections, only half will develop into cervical cancer, which leaves little need for the vaccine.
MDs set to endorse HPV vaccinations(Gardasil)
http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=2def7ba5-ac69-4e9f-9231-d90365dbee1f&k=35248
BY CANWEST NEWS SERVICEAPRIL 16, 2007
The group representing Canada’s 2,500 pediatricians and other specialists who care for children is set to endorse having little girls vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.
One in four U.S. teen girls got Gardasil vaccine
http://ctv.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/storyv2/CTVNews/20081010/gardasil_girls_081010?s_name=&no_ads=
Lobbyists boosted vaccine program
Ex-government advisers worked on drug firm’s campaign to push immunization program
By Tanya Talaga Health Reporter
Published On Thu Aug 16 2007
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/246824
The speed with which the HPV vaccine Gardasil got onto both the federal and provincial(Ontario) political agendas was no accident.
Only eight months after Gardasil was approved for sale in Canada, Ottawa agreed in March to fund $300 million over three years for a human papillomavirus vaccination program. And on Aug. 2, Ontario announced that all Grade 8 girls will have free access to Gardasil.
Merck Frosst Canada Ltd., the maker of Gardasil, hired public relations giant Hill & Knowlton to push the immunization strategies using some well-connected lobbyists: Ken Boessenkool, a former senior policy adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Bob Lopinski, formerly with Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office; and Jason Grier, former chief of staff to Health Minister George Smitherman.
According to Ontario consultant registration documents, Lopinski and Grier’s lobbying activities include: “Proposed policy decision to support a childhood immunization program for HPV and funding related thereto.”
Combine that with a catchy TV ad campaign urging young women to “Tell Someone,” as well as backing from medical groups like the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada and a national vaccine program was born.
The medical community has largely lauded Gardasil…
Why Girls Shouldn’t Be Guinea Pigs
Quebec’s dispensation of the HPV vaccine is making a new generation of lab rats out of its young girls.
http://www.themarknews.com/articles/118-why-girls-shouldnt-be-guinea-pigs
Francoise Baylis
Canada Research Chair, bioethics and philosophy, Dalhousie University.
First published May 05, 2009
Grandmother Blames Gardasil In Granddaughter’s Death
http://jacksonville.injuryboard.com/fda-and-prescription-drugs/grandmother-blames-gardasil-in-granddaughters-death-.aspx?googleid=271150
Posted by Eddie Farah
September 20, 2009 11:30 PM
Jessie Ericzon was 17-years-old and about to graduate from high school.
Like many girls her age, she was given the first of the three-shot series of Gardasil, the Merck drug that is supposed to protect young girls from the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that causes two types of cervical cancer and two types of warts.
That was 19 months ago.
Jessie had no health problems, but after the second shot in September 2007 she started to get bad headaches, as well as muscle aches, and joint pain, says her grandmother, Denise Melton. Last February she got the third shot in the series, two days later she was dead.
Her grandmother said after the final shot Jessie said she had a headache and went to bed. That next morning her mother found her on the bathroom floor. “Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that Gardasil is what killed her,” says Melton.
Erin Brockovich preparing to help – Gardasil adverse events
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222×39645
Gardasil
August 6, 2008
We have been spending our days getting all our ducks armed for bear and in a row–all of our anti-Gardasil ducks, that is. From checking my various areas on the internet, to finding moderators to listening to the tragic and painful stories of victims of the Gardasil vaccine, it has been a very busy time for me and my team.
Gardasil, as you should know by now, is an HPV vaccine sold by MERCK, a vaccine with a flawed marketing campaign targeting young girls…
Gardasil: extreme side effects and death(CBS Investigative report sept 13 2009) youtube Katie Kouric
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXXuFKC0k4g
H1N1 Vaccine Questioned – Autism
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
http://www.autisable.com/710097071/h1n1-vaccine-questioned—autism/
NutriMedical Report – Dr. Deagle with Dr. Chris Shaw of UBC – Aluminum in Vaccines Causing Nerve Damage Oct-22-2009
DR CHRIS SHAW PhD – NEUROPLASTICITY EXPERT ON VACCINE ADJUVANT TOXINS ALUMINUM, SQUALENE, ETC. IN SEASONAL, GULF WAR AND H1N1 FLU VACCINES (this is an open source audio interview)
http://www.archive.org/details/NutrimedicalReport-Dr.DeagleWithDr.ChrisShawOfUbc-AluminumIn
DAVOKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 29, 2009
H1N1 Families Face Financial Challenges
Update: Parents of Children Who Were Seriously Sick Tackle Massive Hospital Bills and Possible Insurance Caps By Mark Strassmann
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/29/eveningnews/main5453206.shtml
ID SUZUKI, environment alist: “I will when my turn comes up. I’m just astounded at people. Do they think doctors, scientists and government are out to poison them or something? I just don’t get what the objections are to this. What does that imply they think about the health experts?” oes that imply they think about the health experts?”
We Warn Scientific Models on Global Warming are Grossly Inadequate.
The Role of Bacteria, Viruses and Fungi are not known and represent “Black Swans” of immense proportions. Their rate of frequency will, without a doubt increase dramatically due to Global Warming and the continued Depleting(Use) of Fossil Fuels.
It is they that can be said that are the true masters of this Earth not the human species. They(bacteria) are of course ubiquitous in the human body and in all life. They are the first life and beyond the wisdom of the human species. You can be assured, they will also be the last life on Earth.
The human species in the Biotech-Nano sector are attempting to enslave bacteria for example in the work of nano factories and the Cleantech sector, it is a grave error. Life must not be Patented or Enslaved.
The Ultimate Judas to our beloved Earth, Al Gore is the Keynote Speaker
for the 2010 Annual International BIO summit. Major BIO sponsors and participants always include Big Pharma, Monsanto, Syngenta, Dupont etc They have promised to Save the Earth, their newest motto is Heal, Fuel, Feed the World-they are big pushers of Biofuels and Patents on All Life
http://convention.bio.org/
http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/
Advanced biofuels will stoke global warming -study Thu Oct 22, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN2225048
Nanotech’s “Second Nature” Patents
http://www.voyle.net/Nano%20Debate%202005/Nano%20Debate%202005-0011.htm
Twenty-five years after the biotech industry got the green light to patent life, nanotech goes after the building blocks of life.
On the 25th anniversary of Diamond vs. Chakrabarty,* the US Supreme Court’s landmark decision (June 16, 1980) that opened the floodgates to the patenting of living organisms, ETC Group releases a new report, “Nanotech’s ‘Second Nature’ Patents.”
Since Chakrabarty, the biotech industry has worked hand-in-hand with governments to allow for the patenting of all biological products – the first monopoly grab over life. Chakrabarty set the stage for today’s nanotechnology patents, where the reach of exclusive monopoly is not just on life – but the building blocks of life – nanotech’s ’second nature’ patents,” explains Hope Shand, Research Director of ETC Group…
Lessons learned from Diamond v. Chakrabarty: Despite all the hype about Mr. Chakrabarty’s patented oil-eating microbe and how it would gobble up oil spills, the patented microorganism never worked. Instead of curing environmental ills, the biotech industry has introduced its own contamination problems – unwanted gene flow from genetically modified crops, a particularly serious problem for centres of genetic diversity in the developing world.
Unlike 25 years ago, today’s nanotech-related patents have not required major rule changes. As a result, many governments are unaware of the nanotech patent rush
Microbe thrives in ocean ‘dead zone’
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Microbe+thrives+ocean+dead+zone/2134819/story.html
BY MARGARET MUNRO, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEOCTOBER 23, 2009
There is life in the planet’s expanding dead zones, say researchers, who have uncovered a remarkable microbe thriving in toxic waters off the B.C. coast.
The bacteria take up carbon dioxide like a plant, consume sulphide that is deadly to most other life forms, and exhale nitrous oxide which is a potent greenhouse gas.
The microbe may be small but it appears to be an important global player affecting the chemistry of both the atmosphere and the oceans, says lead researcher Steven Hallam, of the University of British Columbia, who likes to point out that it is microbes that “really rule the world.”
“We don’t see them so we don’t notice the effects,” Hallam says. “Except we can breathe, nutrient cycles work, the oceans stay productive. They’re key to our survival.”
Hallam describes it as a “paradoxical” organism, which appears to have both positive and negative impacts on the ecosystem, at least from a human point of view.
(To look upon microbes is like looking upon the face of God-it is beyond the Wisdom of the human species-we must stop depleting their food source -fossil fuels-or they will
deplete ours-it deepens the meaning of Love thy Neighbour as you love yourself-microbes are of course immune to rhetoric, power , economics, philosophy, religion, and politics-but if humans cause harm, they will and are reacting-we are if you will on a collision course with our Maker. Charles Darwin would be flabbergast, for Evolution begins and ends with microbes.
We must avert this collision, and rise above ourselves, before it is too late. As the human species, we must put away our childish ways, and mature as a species. This does not mean that we can not be childlike-the benign qualities. Greed, Power and Selfishness must pass away. Witness the Global Climate Treaty talks-the treaty is in fact the “easy” part. Greed, Power and Selfishness are it’s true enemy,for it’s success. Nature, Our Beloved Earth will not wait anymore for the human species to resolve it’s issues.
Climate Chaos which was once thought to be happening in the decades to come, is happening now. In fact Time has stopped for the human species. We must live every day now as if it were our last.
What is it that really matters to the human species in Life? Is it Gold? Weapons? Hate?
If one does not care about their life in this world: Perhaps one should care about it in the next
Fatalism, Time, Commerce, Power, Religion and Philosophy are but abstractions. If this were your last day would you kill anything? How would you see the Miracle of Life?
The human species is not living on borrowed finances, it is living on borrowed time.)
http://infao5501.ag5.mpi-sb.mpg.de:8080/topx/archive?link=Wikipedia-Lip6-2/156331.xml&style
Thomas Gold ( May 22 , 1920 â June 22 , 2004 ) was an Austrian astrophysicist , a professor of astronomy at Cornell University , and a member of the USNational Academy of Sciences . Gold was one of three young Cambridge scientists who advanced the scientific understanding of cosmology in the 1950s by proposing the controversial ’steady state’ hypothesis of the universe . Gold had the unusual ability to cross academic and scientific boundaries, into biophysics ,astrophysics , space engineering , or geophysics , to challenge longstanding dogma with his profound insights.
Origins of petroleum
Gold achieved fame for his 1992 paper “The Deep Hot Biosphere” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , which presented a controversial view of the origin of coal , oil , and gas deposits, a theory of an abiogenic petroleum origin . The theory suggests coal and crude oil deposits have their origins innatural gas flows which feed bacteria living at extreme depths under the surface of the Earth; in other words, oil and coal are produced through tectonic forces, rather than from the decomposition of fossils. Gold also published a book of the same title in 1999 , which expanded on the arguments in his 1992 paper and included speculations on the origin of life . He has been accused of stealing the abiogenic theory outright from Soviet geologists who first published it in the 1950s . Although he later credited Soviet research, it is claimed that he first published a paper on the abiogenic theory in 1979 without citing any of the Soviet literature on the subject . Gold’s defenders maintain that these charges are unfounded: they say that, after first formulating his views on petroleum in 1979, he began finding the papers by Soviet geologists and had them translated. He was both disappointed (that his ideas were not original) and delighted (because such independent formulation of these ideas added weight to the hypothesis). They insist that he always credited the Soviet work once he knew about it.
According to Gold and the Soviet geologists who originated the abiogenic theory, bacteria feeding on the oil accounts for the presence of biological debris inhydrocarbon fuels , obviating the need to resort to a biogenic theory for the origin of the latter. The flows of underground hydrocarbons may also explain oddities in the concentration of other mineral deposits.
Most western geologists and petrologists consider petroleum abiogenic theories implausible and believe the biogenic theory of ’fossil fuel’ formation adequately explains all observed fossil fuel deposits. Most geologists do recognize the geologic carbon cycle includes subducted carbon which returns to the surface, with studies showing the carbon does rise in various ways. Gold and geology experts point out the biogenic theories do not explain phenomena such as helium in oil fields and oil fields associated with deep geologic features.
However, recent discoveries have shown that bacteria live at depths far greater than previously believed. Whilst this does not prove Gold’s theory, it certainly lends support to its arguments.
Oil-eating microbes give clue to ancient energy source September 9, 2008
http://www.physorg.com/news140204719.html
“Hydrocarbons like oil and natural gas are made up of carbon and hydrogen, they are among the most abundant substances on Earth,” said Dr Friedrich Widdel from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany. “Even though we use them as fuel sources, they are actually very unreactive at room temperature. This makes them difficult to use as a biological energy source, particularly if there is no oxygen around.”
For over 100 years scientists have known that microbes such as bacteria can use hydrocarbons like oil and gas as nutrients. But this process usually requires supplies of oxygen to work at room temperature. “Scientists were always fascinated by the microbes that do this because hydrocarbons are so unreactive,” said Dr Widdel. “But it is even more surprising to find an increasing number of microbes that can digest hydrocarbons without needing oxygen.”
“The striking diversity of micro-organisms that can break down hydrocarbons may reflect the early appearance of these compounds as nutrients for microbes in Earth’s history; Bacteria and archaea living with hydrocarbons therefore may have appeared early in the evolution of life,” said Dr. Widdel
Orson Welles War of the Worlds (part 7)Ending
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuDdAe17OL0&feature=PlayList&p=823D325CB23FA28D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=10
War Of The Worlds (2005) Tribute(In final scene microbes save the Earth)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urhvjTQlL0k&feature=PlayList&p=EEBE2C1B4287B95D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5
The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art at Tate St Ives
Brian Dillon on the occult influence on modern British art
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/24/dark-monarch-exhibition-tate-review
In 1966, the British Museum acquired a curious object of convoluted provenance and sinister reputation. It is a black disc of highly polished stone, 1.3cm thick and 18.9cm in diameter, with a small handle-like protrusion to one side, pierced with a tiny hole. The thing is plainly a mirror of sorts, small enough to be held in the hand, and carved – so the museum established, after centuries of confusion – from obsidian: the glassy stone from which the Aztecs fashioned their ritual implements. It is usually exhibited alongside a desiccated and much-repaired flat leather case to which are attached two labels. The first, dating from 1842, when the “wondrous speculum” was sold at auction, simply says “Lot 48″. The second inscription is from the late 18th century, and likely quickens the hearts of serious scholars and New Age occultists alike: “The Black Stone into which Dr Dee used to call his spirits.”
The handwriting belongs to its former owner, Horace Walpole. The politician and collector seems to have chanced upon the enigmatic slab (which he thought was made of marble) in the collection of Lord Frederic Campbell, who was at a loss to say just what it was for. But Walpole was well apprised of the life of John Dee, the Elizabethan astronomer and conjurer who fell in and out of favour with the Queen, and was said to have communed regularly with the angels Gabriel and Raphael. Indeed, an excitable legend concerning his ink-black mirror or “scrying stone” states that it was given to him by one of these angelic interlocutors. The more plausible story has it that Dee bought the stone from a member of the Spanish court, and that it is an Aztec artefact of the late middle ages.
Dee’s black mirror does not appear in The Dark Monarch, the current show at Tate St Ives that posits hitherto unheeded links between “magic and modernity” in British art of the past century or so. It has in fact been restored to its historical and cultural context as part of the British Museum’s Moctezuma exhibition. But avatars of the mysterious and depthless stone are everywhere in the St Ives show, which seems, like the magician himself, to be in thrall to the spirited seductions of gleaming black objects and darkly reflective planes…read more
President Obama delivers remarks at signing of National Defense Authorization Act (Pentagon) , October 28, 2009; 3:23 PM Transcript
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102803319.html
Now, this bill isn’t perfect. This bill is an important step forward, but it’s just a first step. There’s still more waste we need to cut. There is still more fights that we need to win. Changing the culture in Washington will take time and sustained effort. And that’s why Secretary Gates and I will continue waging these battles in the months and years ahead.
But I will say that when Secretary Gates and I first proposed going after some of these wasteful projects, there were a lot of people in this town who didn’t think it was possible, who were certain we were going to lose, who were certain that we would get steamrolled, who argued that the special interests were too entrenched and that Washington was simply too set in its ways.
And so I think it’s important to note today we have proven them wrong. Today, we’re putting an end to some wasteful projects that lawmakers have tried to kill for years. We’re doing this because Secretary Gates and I both know that we can’t build the 21st century military we need unless we fundamentally reform the way our defense establishment does business.
The Government Accountability Office, the GAO, has looked into 96 major defense projects from the last year and found cost overruns that totaled $296 billion, an amount of money that would have paid our troops’ salaries and provided benefits for their families for more than a year.
And we all know where this kind of waste comes from: indefensible, no-bid contracts that cost taxpayers billions and make contractors rich, special interests and their exotic projects that are years behind schedule and billions over budget, entrenched lobbyists pushing weapons that even our military says it doesn’t want and doesn’t need, now, the impulse in Washington to win political points back home by building things that we don’t need at costs we can’t afford.
This waste would be unacceptable at any time. But at a time when we’re fighting two wars and facing a serious deficit, it’s inexcusable. It’s unconscionable. It’s an affront to the American people and to our troops, and it has to stop.
Here is an oddly true halloween story
House of War (Hardcover)
~ James Carroll (Author)
Book Reviews
From The New Yorker
Carroll was born the same week in January, 1943, that the Pentagon was dedicated, the Manhattan Project got under way, and Roosevelt declared that the goal of the war was the enemy’s “unconditional surrender.” In this “biography” of the Pentagon, he extends these moments into a fuguelike history of American military power from Hiroshima to Iraq. The dominant theme is personal: growing up, Carroll, whose father, a high ranking general, worked in the Pentagon, saw the building both as his “twin” and as “a kind of dark woods.” On the practical side, he argues that “in the nuclear age, civilian oversight of American military policy had become largely mythical,” that the Pentagon had “Congress in its thrall and presidents at its mercy.” And yet his most fascinating stories involve moments—as in the Berlin crisis and the Vietnam War—when civilians successfully opposed the Pentagon’s monolithic power.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
From The Washington Post
Has America become the new Sparta? Although the Soviet Union collapsed more than a decade and a half ago, the United States will spend roughly $561 billion this year on national defense — in real terms, more than in any year of the Cold War except 1952, the height of the Korean War buildup. In the wake of 9/11, have we become a bomb-first, ask-questions-later superpower — a threat to world peace, as a majority of Europeans polled in 2003 saw us? For James Carroll, the answer is an anguished yes. His weighty House of War aims to explain the mechanics of this spiritual decline and show how what he sees as a consuming paranoia and vengefulness became lodged in the national soul.
For Carroll, who won the National Book Award in 1996 for his memoir An American Requiem, the central dynamic is a familiar one: The wildfire growth of the military-industrial complex, the perpetual refocusing of foreign policy through a military lens and a mindless reliance on nuclear weapons have led to America’s moral fall.
Carroll begins his story with the groundbreaking to construct the Pentagon building at a site called “Hell’s Bottom,” on the Virginia side of the Potomac, on Sept. 11, 1941
The Pentagon Building is an inverted Pentagram on land known as Hell’s Bottom
http://www.ecauldron.net/pentagram.php
The use of the "inverted" pentagram to denote evil is a quite recent
usage, and first appears in the works of Eliphas Levi. He is also the
source of the "goat's head" glyph. Before this, neither orientation
had evil connotations per se.
THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS – TRAILER 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4nzXt4QaYk&feature=channel
GOATS DECLASSIFIED: The True Story Behind The Men Who Stare At Goats (meet the real pentagon people behind Men who Stare at Goats)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbbtiCbPPts&feature=channel
Note: To the Pentagon, it’s time to transfer your budget to peaceful and civilian purposes-what would a few hundred billion mean to the American people? The Days of War making are numbered.
Network(movie 1976) – “There is no democracy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSj1yNZdY8
George Carlin -”Who Really Controls America”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI
Matrix – Wake Up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–Wpz4NAHtY
Eyes Wide Shut- The Black & Red Ritual(Stanley Kubrick)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsKX5RO_OMA&feature=related
Paradigm
Shift Environmental Alliance(a homeless network of transborder
activists, students, academics, Aboriginal etc.) psea does not do media
interviews since july 2007,we thank all media for their inquires.
Please feel free to use anything on this site.
www.floodiceorfire.wordpress.com
Abolition King Coal, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power and Weapons Everywhere!
The Great Struggle Continues….
Please also see:
Abolition of King Coal, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power and Weapons(update Friday Feb 13. 2009)
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/abolition-of-king-coal-fossil-fuels-nuclear-power-and-weaponsupdate-friday-feb-13-2009/
(Original PSEA Document) Abolition of King Coal Everywhere!(Update Friday March 13 2009)
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/original-psea-document-abolition-of-king-coal-everywhere/
Will the Dalai Lama Speak Out against Poverty and Beijing-Vancouver 2010 Olympics?
Will the Dalai Lama Speak Out against the Alberta Tar Sands in Calgary?
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/will-the-dalai-lama-speak-out-against-the-alberta-tar-sands-in-calgarywill-the-dalai-lama-speak-out-against-poverty-and-beijing-vancouver-2010-olympics/
Dalai Lama sounds off on Afghan war, oilsands
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Dalai+Lama+sounds+Afghan+oilsands/2055170/story.html
WAR DECLARED ON WHITEHOUSE BY BANKS, KING COAL, GAS, AND NUCLEAR
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/war-declared-on-whitehouse-by-banks-king-coal-gas-and-nuclear/
Swine flu ’second wave’ begins in Saudi Arabia: minister
(AFP) Oct. 30. 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gOscomcwODGRxDhvnZMfNXbZa1mA
RIYADH — A second wave of swine flu has begun in Saudi Arabia, the health ministry said on Friday, as the death toll from A(H1N1) neared 60 just weeks before the annual hajj brings two million pilgrims to the country.
“The ministry of health said a second wave of the swine flu virus began in early October with the beginning of the fall and cooler weather,” the official SPA news agency reported…
Several schools were closed around the country during the past week and the authorities are girding for the possibility that swine flu cases could rocket with the arrival of more than two million pilgrims in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the hajj over the next three weeks. (Officially Nov. 25-29 2009)
FACTBOX-Countries impose restrictions on Mecca pilgrimage
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSLT239445
Oct 29 (Reuters) – Waves of H1N1 flu spread by some three million pilgrims travelling to and from Mecca for November’s haj threaten to pile pressure on healthcare systems around the world, disease experts said on Thursday.
Several Muslim countries have imposed restrictions on the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia because of worries about a major outbreak of H1N1 flu.
Swine flu fears grow, Obama declares H1N1 a national emergency
OCTOBER 24, 2009 REUTERS
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Swine+fears+grow+Obama+declares+H1N1+national+emergency/2141664/story.html
Officials have also declared that Canada is in its “second wave” of the H1N1 pandemic.
British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories were hit weeks ago, but now there is significant sickness in the rest of the country.
Paradigm Shift Environmental Alliance is calling for the immediate Shut-down of the Vancouver-Whistler (B.C.) Winter Olympics (Feb. 12-28 2010) And the Annual Al Hajj
Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina And Urges a Severe Travel Advisory to these regions.
We do so for the following reasons, based on the best interests of the World’s Security:
* The Province of British Columbia, was Ground Zero in the Second Wave of H1N1(Swine Flu) in Canada.
The Vancouver organizers estimate that the Games will be attended by Global Corporate and Political Leaders, some 5,000 athletes and Olympic officials, 10,000 media representatives, over 6,000 out of province law enforcement officers,14,000 volunteers and up to 2.3 million spectators.
* The Port of Vancouver is the Gateway to China, Asia, Russia, U.S., Europe, the Southern Hemisphere and indeed the world for the Winter Olympics 2010.
It is the perfect timing and breeding ground- Vector for Mutating Disease, the H1N1 Swine flu virus and Triggering the Third Wave of Swine Flu of which the lethality(mortality) has the probability to increase as in the case with the original swine flu, the Spanish Flu.
We demand the World Health Organization(WHO), the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) and other pertinent governments and health bodies to Act now, or be held accountable on a personal and professional basis. It is better to err on the side of the world’s safety is it not?
* The arguments are similar for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, with the added danger that
the Swine flu has the potential to devastate economies of Islamic majorities, as well as mortality and sickness. The House of Saud, King Fahd must act now , or it will be held personally accountable.
Prophet Muhammad’s Patterns of Peaceful Communication
http://www.prophetmuhammadleadership.org/prophet_muhammad%20pattern%20of%20peaceful%20communication.htm
By:Ali Zohery
The Prophet Muhammad was assigned the Mission of peace in the world by Allah. The fundamental purpose was to attain peace with the lord, peace with the universe and peace with the people. The Quran, in very plain words, announces the arrival of the prophet of peace in these words: “ O People of the book! Our Messenger has come to you, Light has come to you from Allah and a book which guides to the truth, whereby Allah leads to ways of peace those who seek His pleasure.” ( 5:17-18) These verse stress that the Prophet was sent to guide the people to the way of peace. The west misunderstood Islam and stereotyping it with violence and terrorism.
What does it mean to be a Muslim? Islam literally means submission, and, in Arabic, the root word for Islam (SLM) is peace. To be Muslim, then, is the struggle to peacefully submit to reality, and this implies a perfectly balanced sense of self. Self that is founded on the knowledge of its place in Creation, and that exists in perfect empathy with the rest of Creation.)from an article in Islam online: The Conquering Force of Islam,By Ramzi Kysia, 11/12/2001)
Peace is the most common word on a Muslim’s tongue. Whenever two people meet, they exchange greetings, wishing each other peace: “Peace be upon you.” But peace cannot prevail except through justice. Since the concept of justice may differ from one man to another, or from one society to another, Muslims believe that real justice is that which is specified by Allah (God).
H1N1 detected 13 days after fever onset
New research suggests that those who have come down with swine flu are still infectious many days later
Carly Weeks Last updated on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 2:51AM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/h1n1-swine-flu/h1n1-detected-13-days-after-fever-onset/article1344256/
Researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that elementary school children who contracted the H1N1 virus during an outbreak earlier this year tested positive for the virus up to 13 days after the onset of fever.
The findings, led by researchers at the CDC and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, are being presented at the Infectious Disease Society of America’s annual meeting in Philadelphia.
They raise questions about H1N1’s contagiousness and whether those infected should take steps to avoid infecting others even after they’ve recovered…
It’s a significant finding that may change conventional thinking about the contagious period associated with H1N1.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says that people with H1N1 may be contagious for up to seven days after the onset of symptoms. But as more research emerges suggesting that period could last even longer, it may require public health officials to modify their communication.
WHO Reporting 31 Strains of the H1N1 Virus Resistant to Tamiflu
Sunday October 11, 2009
http://ent.about.com/b/2009/10/11/who-reporting-31-strains-of-the-h1n1-virus-resistant-to-tamiflu.htm
The World Health Organization (WHO) is reporting 31 strains of the H1N1 virus which have mutated and are now resistant to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir). Since the outbreak of the current H1N1 pandemic Tamiflu has been at the front line of defense. Tamiflu is an antiviral drug which is capable of preventing someone from catching H1N1, (if taken within the first 48 hours after an individual has been exposed), reducing the duration and severity of the illness, and decreasing the risk of passing H1N1 on to others. Many health care workers have been taking Tamiflu to prevent catching H1N1 themselves.
HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY BEWARE TAMIFLU
By Scott Sarvay Story Published: Oct 29, 2009 at 11:39 AM
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/67227197.html
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – The Federal Government has been recommending Tamiflu to combat the symptoms of H1N1.
But is it hurting the overall effort of fighting the virus?
Fort Wayne – Allen County Health officials say it is.
They say there are only two forms of medicine that can fight the H1N1 virus, the vaccine they’ve been distributing in the injectable and nasal mist forms and Tamiflu.
And since viruses can mutate and build up resistance to medications, that leaves few options when those two stop working.
Tamiflu-Resistant Swine Flu Passed Person-to-Person in U.S.
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/flu-/632578.html
THURSDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) — U.S. researchers say they’ve spotted the first case of a Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu virus passing between two people — raising the specter that more widespread resistance will render the antiviral drug less useful in combating the pandemic.
Flu fear
Commentary: Look who’s profiting from this year’s flu season(Donald Rumsfeld)
By Brett Arends, WSJ.com Oct. 19, 2009, 11:19
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/look-whos-profiting-from-the-flu-pandemic-2009-10-19
I put a call into his office, but the former Secretary of Defense doesn’t want to comment. (His staff says Rummy is hard at work on his memoirs. Ominous news for the GOP: The book is penciled in to hit the bookstores next fall — just around the time of the mid-term elections).
Rumsfeld is the highest profile figure associated with Gilead Sciences Inc.(GILD 42.55, -0.40, -0.93%), the California biopharma behind the Tamiflu vaccine. He is the company’s former chairman, and at the last disclosure a few years back still held a stake in the company worth somewhere up to $25 million.
One thing we know for certain: Flu times are good times at Gilead. No stockholders anywhere stand to make as much from flu panic.
“The biggest beneficiary to the world’s dilemma with the H1N1 virus is Gilead Sciences,” says a report from research firm BWS Financial, Inc. Gilead will be in a sweet spot if swine flu turns into mass panic, it says. “We believe (Gilead) remains the true investment on the H1N1 theme.”
Gilead licensed its Tamiflu vaccine to pharmaceutical giant Roche back in 1996, but gets lucrative royalties on sales. Gilead’s revenue from Tamiflu came to about $400 million during the bird flu panic in 2006-2007, BWS estimates.
An analysis by Deutsche Bank predicts Gilead will get about $195 million revenue from Tamiflu just in the fourth quarter of this year, and another $137 million in the first quarter of next year. Deutsche argues that Wall Street has so far underestimated the likely gains. (Deutsche’s analysis is based on results from Roche, which has just reported its third quarter figures. Gilead gets its cut from Roche’s sales one quarter later.)
Tamiflu is only one part of the business. Gilead is a broad biotech company. But Wall Street loves a story, and if the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, causes a stampede this winter Gilead could get a lot of attention.
The irony about flu vaccines is that they may not even work. A very plausible takedown on the flu vaccine business was published recently in The Atlantic. Read here. But don’t expect that to hurt demand. Everyone and their aunt will probably be crowding into emergency rooms at the first sign of a runny nose this winter, demanding treatments, regardless of any effectiveness.
In the so-called home of the brave, the easiest thing to sell is fear.
Gilead stock was only about $16 four years ago. But in 2005 it took off, after the Bush administration responded to the bird flu panic by ordering large quantities of Tamiflu. It has since tripled to about $46.
On the advice of government counsel at the time, Mr. Rumsfeld recused himself from all decisions about Tamiflu and pandemic preparedness. But the rules should really forbid him, or any Secretary of Defense, from owning shares directly at all.
Gilead’s booming stock price has generated a lot of windfalls at the company. According to the most recent public filings, executives and staff are sitting on share and option awards that may be worth about $1.6 billion at current levels. That would be, remarkably, an average of $400,000 per person for the 4,000-employee firm, although of course the benefits are hardly distributed equally. Chairman and Chief Executive John Martin made $11 million a year in each of the last two years, and booked a personal profit of $28.5 million by exercising stock options just in 2008.
The Tamiflu connection is proving good news for left-wing conspiracy theorists. In his last financial disclosure as defense secretary, more than two years ago, Donald Rumsfeld revealed he still owned a stake in Gilead worth somewhere between $5 million and $25 million. Since then Gilead shares have risen by nearly a half. Of course, we don’t know what — if anything — he holds now.
Is it too late to get in on the action? Maybe. Gilead shares, at around $46, look pretty reasonably priced at 17 times next year’s forecast earnings. But call options offer a leveraged bet on further swine flu hysteria: For $3 a share you can buy a $50 call good at any point between now and next May.
From here on this document reads as a factual narrative ultimate Halloween story:
Second-Class Medicine
Germans Unhappy with Alternative Swine Flu Vaccine for Politicians 10/19/2009
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,656028,00.html
SPIEGEL over the weekend reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel, a number of her ministers and other government officials would receive a vaccine manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Baxter — the same vaccine that the German military opted for, as was reported last week.
The mass-circulation tabloid Bild on Monday plastered the story on its front page on Monday, assuring its readers that “experts are accusing the government” of serving up “second class medicine” to ordinary Germans.
Fevers and Headaches
The controversy centers on an additive included in the vaccine manufactured by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The additive includes an inactive strain of the entire flu virus as opposed to virus fragments. Critics say the additive can increase the risk of side effects from the flu vaccine such as fevers and headaches.
Supporters counter that the additive is safe, and its use allows the drug manufacturer to quickly produce more doses of the vaccine. The SPIEGEL story mentioned that the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine, with the additive, has undergone more testing than the Baxter version.
An Interior Ministry spokesman told SPIEGEL that the Baxter vaccine had been ordered for all ministries and other agencies as well as for the employees of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the authority responsible for approving vaccines.
Merkel’s spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm on Monday denied that Merkel was taking a different vaccine than the one available to ordinary Germans. He said that the Baxter vaccine had been ordered four months ago as part of a deal hammered out one year ago and has nothing to do with recent concerns surrounding the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine.
‘Second-Class Medicine’
Still, voices have become raised. The Green Party’s health expert Biggi Bender said that the separate vaccines amount to “big risk for the people, little risk for the government. This type of second-class medicine cannot be allowed to exist in a democracy.”
Leading physicians also complained about the planned vaccination. The head of the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn, Martin Exner, said: “The fact that politicians and top civil servants in ministries will be vaccinated with a vaccine other than the people is a terrible sign. Today politicians must take what they recommend.”
Virologist Alexander Kekulé Hall of the University Hospital said the fact “that the members of the Federal Government and the authorities have any other vaccine is a scandal.”
The Interior Ministry has also rejected the sharp criticism. A spokeswoman for Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble pointed out that at that time the Baxter vaccine was ordered the differences between the two vaccines was not yet an issue. The Paul Ehrlich Institute has repeatedly defended its decision to provide the population with the GlaxoSmithKline version, known as Pandemrix.
The weekend scandal has drowned out a second debate which has been raging in recent weeks in the US and which has also found resonance here in Germany: whether such a massive vaccination program is necessary in the first place.
Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, chairman of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, has called the planned vaccination campaign a “scandal.” “The health authorities have fallen for a campaign from the pharmaceutical companies, who simply want to earn money with an alleged threat,” he told SPIEGEL.
Environmentalist and Geneticist David Suzuki on taking the Swine flu Vaccine: “Yes. I’m just astounded at people. Do they think doctors, scientists, and government are out to poison them or something?”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/h1n1-swine-flu/qa-are-you-getting-the-h1n1-shot/article1346281/
Questions about why Vaccine makers are given blanket legal immunity from government are legitimate. Questions about why hundreds of thousands
of Gulf War Veterans were basically called hysterical and crazy for years by the Pentagon and Sec of Defence Donald Rumsfeld-when in fact a major contributing factor was a vaccine that made them ill, made by Battelle Memorial Institute, in charge of the Joint vaccine Program for the Pentagon. Issues of squalene and aluminum were also involved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_syndrome
In the United States in 2008, the federally mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses released a 452-page report,[5] indicating that roughly 1 in 4 of the 697,000 veterans who served in the first Persian Gulf War are afflicted with the disorder.
The report implicated exposure to toxic chemicals as the cause of the illness. The report states that “scientific evidence leaves no question that Persian Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans.”[5]
About 30 percent of the 700,000 U.S. servicemen and women in the first Persian Gulf War have registered in the Persian Gulf War Illness database set up by the American Legion. Some still suffer a wide range of serious health impairing symptoms.[6]
The tables below apply only to coalition forces involved in combat. Since each nation’s soldiers generally served in different geographic regions, epidemiologists are using these statistics to correlate effects with exposure to the different suspected causes.
U.S. and UK, with the highest rates of excess illness, are distinguished from the other nations by higher rates of pesticide use, use of anthrax vaccine, and somewhat higher rates of exposures to oil fire smoke and reported chemical alerts.
France, with possibly the lowest illness rates, had lower rates of pesticide use, and no use of anthrax vaccine.[7] French troops also served to the North and West of all other combat troops,[8]away and upwind of major combat engagements.
China’s Wen warns of “grim” flu prevention task
Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:06pm IST
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-43579720091031
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday warned the country faced an “extremely grim” job to prevent the spread of the H1N1 flu strain, calling on more people to be vaccinated and for vaccine production to be raised.
“At present, the flu prevention situation is extremely grim and there may well be outbreaks or it may spread in certain areas,” Wen told officials during a visit to a Beijing children’s hospital, in comments carried on state television.(At present China has inoculated 3.8 million people.)
Vaccine Researcher: Gardasil ‘is a Great Big Public Health Experiment’
http://chattahbox.com/health/2009/10/28/vaccine-researcher-gardasil-is-a-great-big-public-health-experiment/
Oct.28.2009
Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, questioned the effectiveness of the vaccines to reduce cervical cancer and warned of safety issues administering the vaccine to children under the age of 15. She denounced vaccinating girls, as young as 11, as “a great big public health experiment,” which could cause dangerous side effects.
When Harper was asked why she was condemning a vaccine she helped create she responded: “I want to be able to sleep with myself when I go to bed at night.”
Gardasil Researcher Drops A Bombshell
Harper: Controversal Drug Will Do Little To Reduce Cervical Cancer Rates
BY SUSAN BRINKMANN, FOR THE BULLETIN
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2009
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/10/25/top_stories/doc4ae4b76d07e16766677720.txt
Dr. Diane Harper, lead researcher in the development of two human papilloma virus vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, said the controversial drugs will do little to reduce cervical cancer rates and, even though they’re being recommended for girls as young as nine, there have been no efficacy trials in children under the age of 15.
Dr. Harper, director of the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at the University of Missouri, made these remarks during an address at the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination which took place in Reston, Virginia on Oct. 2-4. Although her talk was intended to promote the vaccine, participants said they came away convinced the vaccine should not be received.
“I came away from the talk with the perception that the risk of adverse side effects is so much greater than the risk of cervical cancer, I couldn’t help but question why we need the vaccine at all,” said Joan Robinson, Assistant Editor at the Population Research Institute.
Dr. Harper began her remarks by explaining that 70 percent of all HPV infections resolve themselves without treatment within a year. Within two years, the number climbs to 90 percent. Of the remaining 10 percent of HPV infections, only half will develop into cervical cancer, which leaves little need for the vaccine.
MDs set to endorse HPV vaccinations(Gardasil)
http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=2def7ba5-ac69-4e9f-9231-d90365dbee1f&k=35248
BY CANWEST NEWS SERVICEAPRIL 16, 2007
The group representing Canada’s 2,500 pediatricians and other specialists who care for children is set to endorse having little girls vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.
One in four U.S. teen girls got Gardasil vaccine
http://ctv.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/storyv2/CTVNews/20081010/gardasil_girls_081010?s_name=&no_ads=
Lobbyists boosted vaccine program
Ex-government advisers worked on drug firm’s campaign to push immunization program
By Tanya Talaga Health Reporter
Published On Thu Aug 16 2007
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/246824
The speed with which the HPV vaccine Gardasil got onto both the federal and provincial(Ontario) political agendas was no accident.
Only eight months after Gardasil was approved for sale in Canada, Ottawa agreed in March to fund $300 million over three years for a human papillomavirus vaccination program. And on Aug. 2, Ontario announced that all Grade 8 girls will have free access to Gardasil.
Merck Frosst Canada Ltd., the maker of Gardasil, hired public relations giant Hill & Knowlton to push the immunization strategies using some well-connected lobbyists: Ken Boessenkool, a former senior policy adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Bob Lopinski, formerly with Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office; and Jason Grier, former chief of staff to Health Minister George Smitherman.
According to Ontario consultant registration documents, Lopinski and Grier’s lobbying activities include: “Proposed policy decision to support a childhood immunization program for HPV and funding related thereto.”
Combine that with a catchy TV ad campaign urging young women to “Tell Someone,” as well as backing from medical groups like the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada and a national vaccine program was born.
The medical community has largely lauded Gardasil…
Why Girls Shouldn’t Be Guinea Pigs
Quebec’s dispensation of the HPV vaccine is making a new generation of lab rats out of its young girls.
http://www.themarknews.com/articles/118-why-girls-shouldnt-be-guinea-pigs
Francoise Baylis
Canada Research Chair, bioethics and philosophy, Dalhousie University.
First published May 05, 2009
Grandmother Blames Gardasil In Granddaughter’s Death
http://jacksonville.injuryboard.com/fda-and-prescription-drugs/grandmother-blames-gardasil-in-granddaughters-death-.aspx?googleid=271150
Posted by Eddie Farah
September 20, 2009 11:30 PM
Jessie Ericzon was 17-years-old and about to graduate from high school.
Like many girls her age, she was given the first of the three-shot series of Gardasil, the Merck drug that is supposed to protect young girls from the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that causes two types of cervical cancer and two types of warts.
That was 19 months ago.
Jessie had no health problems, but after the second shot in September 2007 she started to get bad headaches, as well as muscle aches, and joint pain, says her grandmother, Denise Melton. Last February she got the third shot in the series, two days later she was dead.
Her grandmother said after the final shot Jessie said she had a headache and went to bed. That next morning her mother found her on the bathroom floor. “Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that Gardasil is what killed her,” says Melton.
Erin Brockovich preparing to help – Gardasil adverse events
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222×39645
Gardasil
August 6, 2008
We have been spending our days getting all our ducks armed for bear and in a row–all of our anti-Gardasil ducks, that is. From checking my various areas on the internet, to finding moderators to listening to the tragic and painful stories of victims of the Gardasil vaccine, it has been a very busy time for me and my team.
Gardasil, as you should know by now, is an HPV vaccine sold by MERCK, a vaccine with a flawed marketing campaign targeting young girls…
Gardasil: extreme side effects and death(CBS Investigative report sept 13 2009) youtube Katie Kouric
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXXuFKC0k4g
H1N1 Vaccine Questioned – Autism
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
http://www.autisable.com/710097071/h1n1-vaccine-questioned—autism/
NutriMedical Report – Dr. Deagle with Dr. Chris Shaw of UBC – Aluminum in Vaccines Causing Nerve Damage Oct-22-2009
DR CHRIS SHAW PhD – NEUROPLASTICITY EXPERT ON VACCINE ADJUVANT TOXINS ALUMINUM, SQUALENE, ETC. IN SEASONAL, GULF WAR AND H1N1 FLU VACCINES (this is an open source audio interview)
http://www.archive.org/details/NutrimedicalReport-Dr.DeagleWithDr.ChrisShawOfUbc-AluminumIn
DAVOKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 29, 2009
H1N1 Families Face Financial Challenges
Update: Parents of Children Who Were Seriously Sick Tackle Massive Hospital Bills and Possible Insurance Caps By Mark Strassmann
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/29/eveningnews/main5453206.shtml
ID SUZUKI, environment alist: “I will when my turn comes up. I’m just astounded at people. Do they think doctors, scientists and government are out to poison them or something? I just don’t get what the objections are to this. What does that imply they think about the health experts?” oes that imply they think about the health experts?”
We Warn Scientific Models on Global Warming are Grossly Inadequate.
The Role of Bacteria, Viruses and Fungi are not known and represent “Black Swans” of immense proportions. Their rate of frequency will, without a doubt increase dramatically due to Global Warming and the continued Depleting(Use) of Fossil Fuels.
It is they that can be said that are the true masters of this Earth not the human species. They(bacteria) are of course ubiquitous in the human body and in all life. They are the first life and beyond the wisdom of the human species. You can be assured, they will also be the last life on Earth.
The human species in the Biotech-Nano sector are attempting to enslave bacteria for example in the work of nano factories and the Cleantech sector, it is a grave error. Life must not be Patented or Enslaved.
The Ultimate Judas to our beloved Earth, Al Gore is the Keynote Speaker
for the 2010 Annual International BIO summit. Major BIO sponsors and participants always include Big Pharma, Monsanto, Syngenta, Dupont etc They have promised to Save the Earth, their newest motto is Heal, Fuel, Feed the World-they are big pushers of Biofuels and Patents on All Life
http://convention.bio.org/
http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/
Advanced biofuels will stoke global warming -study Thu Oct 22, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN2225048
Nanotech’s “Second Nature” Patents
http://www.voyle.net/Nano%20Debate%202005/Nano%20Debate%202005-0011.htm
Twenty-five years after the biotech industry got the green light to patent life, nanotech goes after the building blocks of life.
On the 25th anniversary of Diamond vs. Chakrabarty,* the US Supreme Court’s landmark decision (June 16, 1980) that opened the floodgates to the patenting of living organisms, ETC Group releases a new report, “Nanotech’s ‘Second Nature’ Patents.”
Since Chakrabarty, the biotech industry has worked hand-in-hand with governments to allow for the patenting of all biological products – the first monopoly grab over life. Chakrabarty set the stage for today’s nanotechnology patents, where the reach of exclusive monopoly is not just on life – but the building blocks of life – nanotech’s ’second nature’ patents,” explains Hope Shand, Research Director of ETC Group…
Lessons learned from Diamond v. Chakrabarty: Despite all the hype about Mr. Chakrabarty’s patented oil-eating microbe and how it would gobble up oil spills, the patented microorganism never worked. Instead of curing environmental ills, the biotech industry has introduced its own contamination problems – unwanted gene flow from genetically modified crops, a particularly serious problem for centres of genetic diversity in the developing world.
Unlike 25 years ago, today’s nanotech-related patents have not required major rule changes. As a result, many governments are unaware of the nanotech patent rush
Microbe thrives in ocean ‘dead zone’
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Microbe+thrives+ocean+dead+zone/2134819/story.html
BY MARGARET MUNRO, CANWEST NEWS SERVICEOCTOBER 23, 2009
There is life in the planet’s expanding dead zones, say researchers, who have uncovered a remarkable microbe thriving in toxic waters off the B.C. coast.
The bacteria take up carbon dioxide like a plant, consume sulphide that is deadly to most other life forms, and exhale nitrous oxide which is a potent greenhouse gas.
The microbe may be small but it appears to be an important global player affecting the chemistry of both the atmosphere and the oceans, says lead researcher Steven Hallam, of the University of British Columbia, who likes to point out that it is microbes that “really rule the world.”
“We don’t see them so we don’t notice the effects,” Hallam says. “Except we can breathe, nutrient cycles work, the oceans stay productive. They’re key to our survival.”
Hallam describes it as a “paradoxical” organism, which appears to have both positive and negative impacts on the ecosystem, at least from a human point of view.
(To look upon microbes is like looking upon the face of God-it is beyond the Wisdom of the human species-we must stop depleting their food source -fossil fuels-or they will
deplete ours-it deepens the meaning of Love thy Neighbour as you love yourself-microbes are of course immune to rhetoric, power , economics, philosophy, religion, and politics-but if humans cause harm, they will and are reacting-we are if you will on a collision course with our Maker. Charles Darwin would be flabbergast, for Evolution begins and ends with microbes.
We must avert this collision, and rise above ourselves, before it is too late. As the human species, we must put away our childish ways, and mature as a species. This does not mean that we can not be childlike-the benign qualities. Greed, Power and Selfishness must pass away. Witness the Global Climate Treaty talks-the treaty is in fact the “easy” part. Greed, Power and Selfishness are it’s true enemy,for it’s success. Nature, Our Beloved Earth will not wait anymore for the human species to resolve it’s issues.
Climate Chaos which was once thought to be happening in the decades to come, is happening now. In fact Time has stopped for the human species. We must live every day now as if it were our last.
What is it that really matters to the human species in Life? Is it Gold? Weapons? Hate?
If one does not care about their life in this world: Perhaps one should care about it in the next
Fatalism, Time, Commerce, Power, Religion and Philosophy are but abstractions. If this were your last day would you kill anything? How would you see the Miracle of Life?
The human species is not living on borrowed finances, it is living on borrowed time.)
http://infao5501.ag5.mpi-sb.mpg.de:8080/topx/archive?link=Wikipedia-Lip6-2/156331.xml&style
Thomas Gold ( May 22 , 1920 â June 22 , 2004 ) was an Austrian astrophysicist , a professor of astronomy at Cornell University , and a member of the USNational Academy of Sciences . Gold was one of three young Cambridge scientists who advanced the scientific understanding of cosmology in the 1950s by proposing the controversial ’steady state’ hypothesis of the universe . Gold had the unusual ability to cross academic and scientific boundaries, into biophysics ,astrophysics , space engineering , or geophysics , to challenge longstanding dogma with his profound insights.
Origins of petroleum
Gold achieved fame for his 1992 paper “The Deep Hot Biosphere” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , which presented a controversial view of the origin of coal , oil , and gas deposits, a theory of an abiogenic petroleum origin . The theory suggests coal and crude oil deposits have their origins innatural gas flows which feed bacteria living at extreme depths under the surface of the Earth; in other words, oil and coal are produced through tectonic forces, rather than from the decomposition of fossils. Gold also published a book of the same title in 1999 , which expanded on the arguments in his 1992 paper and included speculations on the origin of life . He has been accused of stealing the abiogenic theory outright from Soviet geologists who first published it in the 1950s . Although he later credited Soviet research, it is claimed that he first published a paper on the abiogenic theory in 1979 without citing any of the Soviet literature on the subject . Gold’s defenders maintain that these charges are unfounded: they say that, after first formulating his views on petroleum in 1979, he began finding the papers by Soviet geologists and had them translated. He was both disappointed (that his ideas were not original) and delighted (because such independent formulation of these ideas added weight to the hypothesis). They insist that he always credited the Soviet work once he knew about it.
According to Gold and the Soviet geologists who originated the abiogenic theory, bacteria feeding on the oil accounts for the presence of biological debris inhydrocarbon fuels , obviating the need to resort to a biogenic theory for the origin of the latter. The flows of underground hydrocarbons may also explain oddities in the concentration of other mineral deposits.
Most western geologists and petrologists consider petroleum abiogenic theories implausible and believe the biogenic theory of ’fossil fuel’ formation adequately explains all observed fossil fuel deposits. Most geologists do recognize the geologic carbon cycle includes subducted carbon which returns to the surface, with studies showing the carbon does rise in various ways. Gold and geology experts point out the biogenic theories do not explain phenomena such as helium in oil fields and oil fields associated with deep geologic features.
However, recent discoveries have shown that bacteria live at depths far greater than previously believed. Whilst this does not prove Gold’s theory, it certainly lends support to its arguments.
Oil-eating microbes give clue to ancient energy source September 9, 2008
http://www.physorg.com/news140204719.html
“Hydrocarbons like oil and natural gas are made up of carbon and hydrogen, they are among the most abundant substances on Earth,” said Dr Friedrich Widdel from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany. “Even though we use them as fuel sources, they are actually very unreactive at room temperature. This makes them difficult to use as a biological energy source, particularly if there is no oxygen around.”
For over 100 years scientists have known that microbes such as bacteria can use hydrocarbons like oil and gas as nutrients. But this process usually requires supplies of oxygen to work at room temperature. “Scientists were always fascinated by the microbes that do this because hydrocarbons are so unreactive,” said Dr Widdel. “But it is even more surprising to find an increasing number of microbes that can digest hydrocarbons without needing oxygen.”
“The striking diversity of micro-organisms that can break down hydrocarbons may reflect the early appearance of these compounds as nutrients for microbes in Earth’s history; Bacteria and archaea living with hydrocarbons therefore may have appeared early in the evolution of life,” said Dr. Widdel
Orson Welles War of the Worlds (part 7)Ending
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuDdAe17OL0&feature=PlayList&p=823D325CB23FA28D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=10
War Of The Worlds (2005) Tribute(In final scene microbes save the Earth)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urhvjTQlL0k&feature=PlayList&p=EEBE2C1B4287B95D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5
The Dark Monarch: Magic and Modernity in British Art at Tate St Ives
Brian Dillon on the occult influence on modern British art
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/24/dark-monarch-exhibition-tate-review
In 1966, the British Museum acquired a curious object of convoluted provenance and sinister reputation. It is a black disc of highly polished stone, 1.3cm thick and 18.9cm in diameter, with a small handle-like protrusion to one side, pierced with a tiny hole. The thing is plainly a mirror of sorts, small enough to be held in the hand, and carved – so the museum established, after centuries of confusion – from obsidian: the glassy stone from which the Aztecs fashioned their ritual implements. It is usually exhibited alongside a desiccated and much-repaired flat leather case to which are attached two labels. The first, dating from 1842, when the “wondrous speculum” was sold at auction, simply says “Lot 48″. The second inscription is from the late 18th century, and likely quickens the hearts of serious scholars and New Age occultists alike: “The Black Stone into which Dr Dee used to call his spirits.”
The handwriting belongs to its former owner, Horace Walpole. The politician and collector seems to have chanced upon the enigmatic slab (which he thought was made of marble) in the collection of Lord Frederic Campbell, who was at a loss to say just what it was for. But Walpole was well apprised of the life of John Dee, the Elizabethan astronomer and conjurer who fell in and out of favour with the Queen, and was said to have communed regularly with the angels Gabriel and Raphael. Indeed, an excitable legend concerning his ink-black mirror or “scrying stone” states that it was given to him by one of these angelic interlocutors. The more plausible story has it that Dee bought the stone from a member of the Spanish court, and that it is an Aztec artefact of the late middle ages.
Dee’s black mirror does not appear in The Dark Monarch, the current show at Tate St Ives that posits hitherto unheeded links between “magic and modernity” in British art of the past century or so. It has in fact been restored to its historical and cultural context as part of the British Museum’s Moctezuma exhibition. But avatars of the mysterious and depthless stone are everywhere in the St Ives show, which seems, like the magician himself, to be in thrall to the spirited seductions of gleaming black objects and darkly reflective planes…read more
President Obama delivers remarks at signing of National Defense Authorization Act (Pentagon) , October 28, 2009; 3:23 PM Transcript
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102803319.html
Now, this bill isn’t perfect. This bill is an important step forward, but it’s just a first step. There’s still more waste we need to cut. There is still more fights that we need to win. Changing the culture in Washington will take time and sustained effort. And that’s why Secretary Gates and I will continue waging these battles in the months and years ahead.
But I will say that when Secretary Gates and I first proposed going after some of these wasteful projects, there were a lot of people in this town who didn’t think it was possible, who were certain we were going to lose, who were certain that we would get steamrolled, who argued that the special interests were too entrenched and that Washington was simply too set in its ways.
And so I think it’s important to note today we have proven them wrong. Today, we’re putting an end to some wasteful projects that lawmakers have tried to kill for years. We’re doing this because Secretary Gates and I both know that we can’t build the 21st century military we need unless we fundamentally reform the way our defense establishment does business.
The Government Accountability Office, the GAO, has looked into 96 major defense projects from the last year and found cost overruns that totaled $296 billion, an amount of money that would have paid our troops’ salaries and provided benefits for their families for more than a year.
And we all know where this kind of waste comes from: indefensible, no-bid contracts that cost taxpayers billions and make contractors rich, special interests and their exotic projects that are years behind schedule and billions over budget, entrenched lobbyists pushing weapons that even our military says it doesn’t want and doesn’t need, now, the impulse in Washington to win political points back home by building things that we don’t need at costs we can’t afford.
This waste would be unacceptable at any time. But at a time when we’re fighting two wars and facing a serious deficit, it’s inexcusable. It’s unconscionable. It’s an affront to the American people and to our troops, and it has to stop.
Here is an oddly true halloween story
House of War (Hardcover)
~ James Carroll (Author)
Book Reviews
From The New Yorker
Carroll was born the same week in January, 1943, that the Pentagon was dedicated, the Manhattan Project got under way, and Roosevelt declared that the goal of the war was the enemy’s “unconditional surrender.” In this “biography” of the Pentagon, he extends these moments into a fuguelike history of American military power from Hiroshima to Iraq. The dominant theme is personal: growing up, Carroll, whose father, a high ranking general, worked in the Pentagon, saw the building both as his “twin” and as “a kind of dark woods.” On the practical side, he argues that “in the nuclear age, civilian oversight of American military policy had become largely mythical,” that the Pentagon had “Congress in its thrall and presidents at its mercy.” And yet his most fascinating stories involve moments—as in the Berlin crisis and the Vietnam War—when civilians successfully opposed the Pentagon’s monolithic power.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
From The Washington Post
Has America become the new Sparta? Although the Soviet Union collapsed more than a decade and a half ago, the United States will spend roughly $561 billion this year on national defense — in real terms, more than in any year of the Cold War except 1952, the height of the Korean War buildup. In the wake of 9/11, have we become a bomb-first, ask-questions-later superpower — a threat to world peace, as a majority of Europeans polled in 2003 saw us? For James Carroll, the answer is an anguished yes. His weighty House of War aims to explain the mechanics of this spiritual decline and show how what he sees as a consuming paranoia and vengefulness became lodged in the national soul.
For Carroll, who won the National Book Award in 1996 for his memoir An American Requiem, the central dynamic is a familiar one: The wildfire growth of the military-industrial complex, the perpetual refocusing of foreign policy through a military lens and a mindless reliance on nuclear weapons have led to America’s moral fall.
Carroll begins his story with the groundbreaking to construct the Pentagon building at a site called “Hell’s Bottom,” on the Virginia side of the Potomac, on Sept. 11, 1941
The Pentagon Building is an inverted Pentagram on land known as Hell’s Bottom
http://www.ecauldron.net/pentagram.php
The use of the "inverted" pentagram to denote evil is a quite recent
usage, and first appears in the works of Eliphas Levi. He is also the
source of the "goat's head" glyph. Before this, neither orientation
had evil connotations per se.
THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS – TRAILER 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4nzXt4QaYk&feature=channel
GOATS DECLASSIFIED: The True Story Behind The Men Who Stare At Goats (meet the real pentagon people behind Men who Stare at Goats)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbbtiCbPPts&feature=channel
Note: To the Pentagon, it’s time to transfer your budget to peaceful and civilian purposes-what would a few hundred billion mean to the American people? The Days of War making are numbered.
Network(movie 1976) – “There is no democracy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSj1yNZdY8
George Carlin -”Who Really Controls America”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI
Matrix – Wake Up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–Wpz4NAHtY
Eyes Wide Shut- The Black & Red Ritual(Stanley Kubrick)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsKX5RO_OMA&feature=related
Paradigm
Shift Environmental Alliance(a homeless network of transborder
activists, students, academics, Aboriginal etc.) psea does not do media
interviews since july 2007,we thank all media for their inquires.
Please feel free to use anything on this site.
www.floodiceorfire.wordpress.com
Abolition King Coal, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power and Weapons Everywhere!
The Great Struggle Continues….
Please also see:
Abolition of King Coal, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power and Weapons(update Friday Feb 13. 2009)
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/abolition-of-king-coal-fossil-fuels-nuclear-power-and-weaponsupdate-friday-feb-13-2009/
(Original PSEA Document) Abolition of King Coal Everywhere!(Update Friday March 13 2009)
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/original-psea-document-abolition-of-king-coal-everywhere/
Will the Dalai Lama Speak Out against Poverty and Beijing-Vancouver 2010 Olympics?
Will the Dalai Lama Speak Out against the Alberta Tar Sands in Calgary?
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/will-the-dalai-lama-speak-out-against-the-alberta-tar-sands-in-calgarywill-the-dalai-lama-speak-out-against-poverty-and-beijing-vancouver-2010-olympics/
Dalai Lama sounds off on Afghan war, oilsands
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Dalai+Lama+sounds+Afghan+oilsands/2055170/story.html
WAR DECLARED ON WHITEHOUSE BY BANKS, KING COAL, GAS, AND NUCLEAR
http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/war-declared-on-whitehouse-by-banks-king-coal-gas-and-nuclear/
Paradigm Shift Environmental Alliance
e-mail:
psea4earth@gmail.com
Homepage:
http://www.floodiceorfire.wordpress.com