--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27732.html
Congress is on the verge of giving itself a bump in its annual budget — even as local governments, families and businesses across the country are tightening their belts in the worst recession in decades.
Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion.
The measure includes a hodgepodge of new funding for lawmakers: a $500,000 pilot program for senators to send out postcards about their town hall meetings, $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries and $4 million for consultants — with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) getting up to nine each and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) getting up to three more.
There’s $15.8 million for salaries for the Senate Appropriations Committee — plus an extra $950,000 for the committee’s administrative expenses.
Funding for House office buildings will jump a staggering 128 percent, to $84 million. Some of that money will go to replace a roof at the Rayburn House Office Building, and an additional $50 million is being allocated to renovate the Cannon House Office Building.
The Architect of the Capitol will see a 17.8 percent hike to deal with infrastructure repairs, and the Government Printing Office’s revolving fund will increase a whopping 155 percent, to $12.7 million, to deal with technology upgrades and repairs, according to the conference report.
The bill — which President Barack Obama
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Many swine flu deaths linked with second infection
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE58T52D20090930
The CDC team noted that at first it did not appear that people who were seriously ill with swine flu or who died of it had secondary infections but doctors may have missed them.
"Routine clinical tests used to identify bacterial infections among patients with pneumonia do not detect many of these infections," the CDC team reported.
Five of the patients who died, including a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old, had infections with the so-called superbug methicillin-resistant S. aureus or MRSA. None of the seven children who died had reported medical conditions that should put them at special risk of flu complications, although one was obese and one had Down syndrome.
The CDC team noted that at first it did not appear that people who were seriously ill with swine flu or who died of it had secondary infections but doctors may have missed them.
"Routine clinical tests used to identify bacterial infections among patients with pneumonia do not detect many of these infections," the CDC team reported.
Five of the patients who died, including a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old, had infections with the so-called superbug methicillin-resistant S. aureus or MRSA. None of the seven children who died had reported medical conditions that should put them at special risk of flu complications, although one was obese and one had Down syndrome.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
VeriChip shares jump after H1N1 patent license win
http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE58K4BZ20090921
The patents, held by VeriChip partner Receptors LLC, relate to biosensors that can detect the H1N1 and other viruses, and biological threats such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, VeriChip said in a statement.
The technology will combine with VeriChip's implantable radio frequency identification devices to develop virus triage detection systems.
The triage system will provide multiple levels of identification -- the first will identify the agent as virus or non-virus, the second level will classify the virus and alert the user to the presence of pandemic threat viruses and the third level will identify the precise pathogen, VeriChip said in a white paper published May 7, 2009.
The patents, held by VeriChip partner Receptors LLC, relate to biosensors that can detect the H1N1 and other viruses, and biological threats such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, VeriChip said in a statement.
The technology will combine with VeriChip's implantable radio frequency identification devices to develop virus triage detection systems.
The triage system will provide multiple levels of identification -- the first will identify the agent as virus or non-virus, the second level will classify the virus and alert the user to the presence of pandemic threat viruses and the third level will identify the precise pathogen, VeriChip said in a white paper published May 7, 2009.
Military to get mandatory swine flu shots soon
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g928uDiWtcnBFT28j5UfIeUXXuMQD9B1838G2
U.S. military troops will begin getting required swine flu shots in the next week to 10 days, with active duty forces deploying to war zones and other critical areas going to the front of the vaccine line, a top military commander said Tuesday.
Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart also told The Associated Press that as many as 400 troops are ready to go to five regional headquarters around the country to assist federal health and emergency management officials if needed as the flu season heats up.
The Pentagon has bought 2.7 million vaccines, and 1.4 million of those will go to active duty military. National Guard troops on active duty are also required to receive the vaccine, as are civilian Defense Department employees who are in critical jobs.
As a result, the military is expected to provide health officials with an early assessment of the vaccine.
"Because I can compel people to get the shots, larger numbers will have the vaccine," said Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command. "They will, as a percentage of the population, be vaccinated more rapidly than many of us. So we may see some objective results, good or not, of the vaccinations."
Shots will be doled out on a priority basis, with troops preparing to deploy first, followed by other active duty forces, particularly any who might be needed to quickly respond to a hurricane or other emergency.
U.S. military troops will begin getting required swine flu shots in the next week to 10 days, with active duty forces deploying to war zones and other critical areas going to the front of the vaccine line, a top military commander said Tuesday.
Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart also told The Associated Press that as many as 400 troops are ready to go to five regional headquarters around the country to assist federal health and emergency management officials if needed as the flu season heats up.
The Pentagon has bought 2.7 million vaccines, and 1.4 million of those will go to active duty military. National Guard troops on active duty are also required to receive the vaccine, as are civilian Defense Department employees who are in critical jobs.
As a result, the military is expected to provide health officials with an early assessment of the vaccine.
"Because I can compel people to get the shots, larger numbers will have the vaccine," said Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command. "They will, as a percentage of the population, be vaccinated more rapidly than many of us. So we may see some objective results, good or not, of the vaccinations."
Shots will be doled out on a priority basis, with troops preparing to deploy first, followed by other active duty forces, particularly any who might be needed to quickly respond to a hurricane or other emergency.
Obama says 'no' to pensions for WW II Alaska guards
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/76088.html?storylink=omni_popular
In a National hour of need, these men "gave their all". Most of us were not even born yet. Perhaps had they not been there the circumstances of our births might possibly have been different. But we'll never know because they were there, making sure our borders were safe. They gave their word, and lived by it, to do the right thing for our country and now they need our country to stand by it's word and honor our commitment to them for services rendered.
This is not a bailout or charity, this is a privilege we give to all the men and women that serve this country and it is rightly deserved.
Can this country be in such a dire need of revenue that we must change the rules this late in the ballgame for them, and strip them of their pensions?
In a strongly worded message to Congress outlining its priorities for a military spending bill, the Obama administration today said it disapproved of including money for pensions for 26 elderly members of the World War II-era Alaska Territorial Guard.
The Guardsmen are among those assigned to protect Alaska from the Japanese during World War II.
The Army decided this year to no longer count service in the Guard in calculating the military's 20-year minimum for retirement pay, although it still counts for military benefits. As a result, their pensions were decreased in January.
An estimated 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit formed in 1942 to protect Alaska, then a territory, from attack. The 26 men have enough other military service to reach the 20-year minimum for retirement pay but would lose it if the Territorial Guard service doesn't count.
A Senate military spending bill up for a vote
In a National hour of need, these men "gave their all". Most of us were not even born yet. Perhaps had they not been there the circumstances of our births might possibly have been different. But we'll never know because they were there, making sure our borders were safe. They gave their word, and lived by it, to do the right thing for our country and now they need our country to stand by it's word and honor our commitment to them for services rendered.
This is not a bailout or charity, this is a privilege we give to all the men and women that serve this country and it is rightly deserved.
Can this country be in such a dire need of revenue that we must change the rules this late in the ballgame for them, and strip them of their pensions?
In a strongly worded message to Congress outlining its priorities for a military spending bill, the Obama administration today said it disapproved of including money for pensions for 26 elderly members of the World War II-era Alaska Territorial Guard.
The Guardsmen are among those assigned to protect Alaska from the Japanese during World War II.
The Army decided this year to no longer count service in the Guard in calculating the military's 20-year minimum for retirement pay, although it still counts for military benefits. As a result, their pensions were decreased in January.
An estimated 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit formed in 1942 to protect Alaska, then a territory, from attack. The 26 men have enough other military service to reach the 20-year minimum for retirement pay but would lose it if the Territorial Guard service doesn't count.
A Senate military spending bill up for a vote
35 Million Americans on Food Stamps: 12 Percent of U.S. Population on Food Stamps Highest Since Records Kept in 1969
http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5728-0-13-13--.html
There are a few statistics that you can look at to see actual human pain in the real economy. You can look at the recent stock market rally yet even a 50+ percent rally is unable to create jobs or stem the economic pain of those at the lower end of the economic spectrum. Looking at food stamp participation from the United States Department of Agriculture shows us a very disturbing picture. When we did a report on this in August of 2009 we had 34 million Americans on food stamps. In the span of one month, the number jumped by over a million.
The raw data shows us that a stunning 12 percent of our entire population is receiving some form of food stamp assistance. The program is now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program but the theme is still the same. Let us look at some of the raw data:
There are a few statistics that you can look at to see actual human pain in the real economy. You can look at the recent stock market rally yet even a 50+ percent rally is unable to create jobs or stem the economic pain of those at the lower end of the economic spectrum. Looking at food stamp participation from the United States Department of Agriculture shows us a very disturbing picture. When we did a report on this in August of 2009 we had 34 million Americans on food stamps. In the span of one month, the number jumped by over a million.
The raw data shows us that a stunning 12 percent of our entire population is receiving some form of food stamp assistance. The program is now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program but the theme is still the same. Let us look at some of the raw data:
FDIC says bank failures to cost around $100B
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/FDIC-says-bank-failures-to-apf-1346316964.html?x=0&.v=9
Why does just "Put it on my tab" come to mind? And just how large will that "tab" be allowed to run?
Federal regulators said Tuesday they expect bank failures to cost the deposit insurance fund about $100 billion in the next four years and the fund to begin running at a deficit this month.
That is higher than an earlier estimate of $70 billion in failure costs through 2013.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. made the projections as its board voted to propose requiring banks to prepay an estimated $45 billion in regular insurance premiums for 2010-2012. The proposal could take effect after a 30-day public comment period.
"I do think this is a good balance," FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said. The plan requires the banking industry "to step up" while spreading the financial hit to banks over a number of years, she said.
The insurance fund has been sapped by billions from a rash of bank failures that began in mid-2008. The banking industry prefers that option over a special emergency fee -- which would be the second this year.
It was the first time the FDIC has required prepaid insurance fees.
Bair didn't rule out the possibility of the agency tapping its $500 billion credit line with the Treasury Department, if the economy doesn't stage a full recovery. However, there is a recognition in the banking industry that "everybody's got bailout fatigue," she said
Ninety-five banks have failed so far this year as losses have mounted on commercial real estate and other soured loans amid the most severe financial climate in decades. The insurance fund fell 20 percent to $10.4 billion at the end of June, its lowest point since 1992, at the height of the savings-and-loan crisis. The fund has now slipped to 0.22 percent of insured deposits, below a congressionally mandated minimum of 1.15 percent.
Why does just "Put it on my tab" come to mind? And just how large will that "tab" be allowed to run?
Federal regulators said Tuesday they expect bank failures to cost the deposit insurance fund about $100 billion in the next four years and the fund to begin running at a deficit this month.
That is higher than an earlier estimate of $70 billion in failure costs through 2013.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. made the projections as its board voted to propose requiring banks to prepay an estimated $45 billion in regular insurance premiums for 2010-2012. The proposal could take effect after a 30-day public comment period.
"I do think this is a good balance," FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said. The plan requires the banking industry "to step up" while spreading the financial hit to banks over a number of years, she said.
The insurance fund has been sapped by billions from a rash of bank failures that began in mid-2008. The banking industry prefers that option over a special emergency fee -- which would be the second this year.
It was the first time the FDIC has required prepaid insurance fees.
Bair didn't rule out the possibility of the agency tapping its $500 billion credit line with the Treasury Department, if the economy doesn't stage a full recovery. However, there is a recognition in the banking industry that "everybody's got bailout fatigue," she said
Ninety-five banks have failed so far this year as losses have mounted on commercial real estate and other soured loans amid the most severe financial climate in decades. The insurance fund fell 20 percent to $10.4 billion at the end of June, its lowest point since 1992, at the height of the savings-and-loan crisis. The fund has now slipped to 0.22 percent of insured deposits, below a congressionally mandated minimum of 1.15 percent.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Obama Heading to Copenhagen for Olympic Pitch
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Obama-Heading-to-Copenhagen-62317937.html
The question is: What doesn't this President have his hands in, and are the expenses of trips like this really necessary
The president will leave Thursday night
By ANDREW GREINER
Updated 7:30 AM CDT, Mon, Sep 28, 2009
AP President Obama will travel to Copenhagen to make a pitch for Chicago’s Olympic bid, White House officials have confirmed to NBC News.
Obama will leave for Denmark Thursday night, hours after his wife Michelle departs for the vote. The president made the final decision Saturday night after returning from the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
The announcement ends months of speculation of whether the president would lend his considerable fame to the pitch. The president has dropped hints all monthlong that he may attend the event.
Last week he sent an advance team to Copenhagen just in case he could make it and a letter he wrote to select IOC members seemed to hint that he would be there
The question is: What doesn't this President have his hands in, and are the expenses of trips like this really necessary
The president will leave Thursday night
By ANDREW GREINER
Updated 7:30 AM CDT, Mon, Sep 28, 2009
AP President Obama will travel to Copenhagen to make a pitch for Chicago’s Olympic bid, White House officials have confirmed to NBC News.
Obama will leave for Denmark Thursday night, hours after his wife Michelle departs for the vote. The president made the final decision Saturday night after returning from the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
The announcement ends months of speculation of whether the president would lend his considerable fame to the pitch. The president has dropped hints all monthlong that he may attend the event.
Last week he sent an advance team to Copenhagen just in case he could make it and a letter he wrote to select IOC members seemed to hint that he would be there
Saturday, September 26, 2009
'Immuno-Sterilization' In Humans A 2009 Vaccination Odyssey
http://www.rense.com/general87/immu.htm
thanks to the work of Dr. Richard A. Fayrer Hosken at the University of Georgia, a new and completely effective depopulation tool is now available indeed, a simple little VACCINE SHOT can today cause permanent sterility. (See Addendum 3 attached for the international patent of this "immunosterilization vaccine".)
Fayrer-Hosken's invention has been successfully tested and found to be effective on all mammals, including the African elephant, although the potential long-term side effects are still being compiled. What exactly is the active ingredients of this sterilization vaccine? Primarily the sterilization vaccine contains antigens from PORCINE (pig) glyco-proteins (viruses are a form of glyco-proteins) bonded with a powerful oil-in-water "adjuvant" called squalene. (See addendum 3).
Is it just a coincidence that Novartis' master patent for the "swine flu" vaccine utilizes swine (porcine) glycol-proteins bonded with a powerful oil-in-water "adjuvant" called squalene?
Is it just a coincidence that Novartis' "swine flu" vaccine product information circular, section 8.1, includes this warning paragraph: "Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with this ---[vaccine]. It is also not known whether the vaccine can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman, OR CAN AFFECT REPRODUCTION CAPACITY." (Emphasis added.)
thanks to the work of Dr. Richard A. Fayrer Hosken at the University of Georgia, a new and completely effective depopulation tool is now available indeed, a simple little VACCINE SHOT can today cause permanent sterility. (See Addendum 3 attached for the international patent of this "immunosterilization vaccine".)
Fayrer-Hosken's invention has been successfully tested and found to be effective on all mammals, including the African elephant, although the potential long-term side effects are still being compiled. What exactly is the active ingredients of this sterilization vaccine? Primarily the sterilization vaccine contains antigens from PORCINE (pig) glyco-proteins (viruses are a form of glyco-proteins) bonded with a powerful oil-in-water "adjuvant" called squalene. (See addendum 3).
Is it just a coincidence that Novartis' master patent for the "swine flu" vaccine utilizes swine (porcine) glycol-proteins bonded with a powerful oil-in-water "adjuvant" called squalene?
Is it just a coincidence that Novartis' "swine flu" vaccine product information circular, section 8.1, includes this warning paragraph: "Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with this ---[vaccine]. It is also not known whether the vaccine can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman, OR CAN AFFECT REPRODUCTION CAPACITY." (Emphasis added.)
international drug company made a hit list of doctors
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C25197%2C25272600-2702%2C00.html
.AN international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralised" or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced.
Staff at US company Merck &Co emailed each other about the list of doctors - mainly researchers and academics - who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or Merck and a recommended course of action.
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE: The Vioxx Trial
The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words "neutralise", "neutralised" or "discredit" against some of the doctors' names.
It is also alleged the company used intimidation tactics against critical researchers, including dropping hints it would stop funding to institutions and claims it interfered with academic appointments.
"We may need to
These are Merck's Products on the market, you'll note that Gardasil is one of them.
This poison is being recommended to be given to all children starting at a preteen age.
Was it to, subject to the above mentioned tactics to squelch any negative opinions of it? Can these people now really be trusted to hold our children's health in their hands knowing what they now will stoop to in order to ensure that they make a dollar?
I think not
Antivenin - for the treatment of Black Widow Spider (Latrodectus mactans) bites
Arcoxia (etoricoxib) - for the symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis (not approved in the US, but approved and sold in Europe, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region and Middle East/Northern Africa)
Cancidas (caspofungin) - An echinocandins antifungal drug for treatment of Aspergillus and Candida.
Cosopt (dorzolamide and timolol) - reduces intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
Cozaar/Hyzaar (losartan)- used to treat hypertension, to reduce the risk of strokes and to treat diabetic nephropathy.
Crixivan (indinavir) – a protease inhibitor HIV medication.
Emend (aprepitant) – treats vomiting and nausea brought about by chemotherapy.
Emend Injection (fosaprepitant dimeglumine) - an intravenous drug for nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy
Emflex (Acemetacin) - a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
Fosamax (alendronate) – osteoporosis medication.
Fosamax Plus D (alendronate/vitamin D) – osteoporosis medication.
Gardasil (HPV vaccine) - a vaccine against human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease.
Isentress (raltegravir) - HIV integrase inhibitor.
Janumet (sitagliptin/metformin) - an oral anti-diabetic drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Januvia (sitagliptin) - a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor for the treatment of diabetes
Maxalt (rizatriptan) one of many triptans used to treat migraines.
MMR Vaccine - immunization against measles, mumps and rubella.
Pneumovax 23 (Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine) - a vaccine used to prevent Streptococcus pneumoniae infections such as pneumonia and septicaemia.
Primaxin (imipenem with cilastatin) – a broad spectrum carbapenem antibiotic.
Prinzide (lisinopril/hydrochlorothiazide) – anti-hypertensive combination of an ACE inhibitor and a diuretic.
Propecia/Proscar (finasteride) – used for alopecia (male pattern baldness) and prostatic conditions.
ProQuad (MMRV vaccine) - a vaccine for simultaneous vaccination against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella in children.
Recombivax HB (hepatitis B vaccine) - a vaccine that protects against hepatitis B.
Rotateq - a vaccine to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis, a leading cause of severe diarrhea in infants and young children ages 0 to 12.
Singulair (montelukast) – an asthma medication that blocks leukotrienes.
Timoptic (timolol) - a non-selective beta-adrenergic receptor blocker used to treat high blood pressure and prevent heart attacks.
Tredaptive (laropiprant/ER niacin) - a new lipid-modifying therapy for patients with dyslipidemia and primary hypercholesterolemia (not approved in the US, but approved in the European Union)
Trusopt (dorzolamide) - reduces intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
Vaqta (Hepatitis A vaccine) - a vaccine that protects against hepatitis A.
Varivax (Varicella vaccine) - a vaccine that protects against chickenpox.
Vioxx (rofecoxib)- for the symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis.
Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin) – a combination cholesterol-lowering preparation marketed in collaboration with Schering-Plough.
Zetia (ezetimibe) - cholesterol absorption inhibitor which lowers LDL co marketed by Schering-Plough
Zocor (simvastatin) – a cholesterol-lowering statin.
Zolinza (vorinostat) - a histone deacetylase inhibitor for the treatment of cutaneous T cell lymphoma.
Zostavax - a vaccine for prevention of shingles in adults older than 60 years of age.AN international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralised" or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced.
Staff at US company Merck &Co emailed each other about the list of doctors - mainly researchers and academics - who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or Merck and a recommended course of action.
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE: The Vioxx Trial
The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words "neutralise", "neutralised" or "discredit" against some of the doctors' names.
It is also alleged the company used intimidation tactics against critical researchers, including dropping hints it would stop funding to institutions and claims it interfered with academic appointments.
"We may need to
.AN international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralised" or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced.
Staff at US company Merck &Co emailed each other about the list of doctors - mainly researchers and academics - who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or Merck and a recommended course of action.
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE: The Vioxx Trial
The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words "neutralise", "neutralised" or "discredit" against some of the doctors' names.
It is also alleged the company used intimidation tactics against critical researchers, including dropping hints it would stop funding to institutions and claims it interfered with academic appointments.
"We may need to
These are Merck's Products on the market, you'll note that Gardasil is one of them.
This poison is being recommended to be given to all children starting at a preteen age.
Was it to, subject to the above mentioned tactics to squelch any negative opinions of it? Can these people now really be trusted to hold our children's health in their hands knowing what they now will stoop to in order to ensure that they make a dollar?
I think not
Antivenin - for the treatment of Black Widow Spider (Latrodectus mactans) bites
Arcoxia (etoricoxib) - for the symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis (not approved in the US, but approved and sold in Europe, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region and Middle East/Northern Africa)
Cancidas (caspofungin) - An echinocandins antifungal drug for treatment of Aspergillus and Candida.
Cosopt (dorzolamide and timolol) - reduces intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
Cozaar/Hyzaar (losartan)- used to treat hypertension, to reduce the risk of strokes and to treat diabetic nephropathy.
Crixivan (indinavir) – a protease inhibitor HIV medication.
Emend (aprepitant) – treats vomiting and nausea brought about by chemotherapy.
Emend Injection (fosaprepitant dimeglumine) - an intravenous drug for nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy
Emflex (Acemetacin) - a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
Fosamax (alendronate) – osteoporosis medication.
Fosamax Plus D (alendronate/vitamin D) – osteoporosis medication.
Gardasil (HPV vaccine) - a vaccine against human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease.
Isentress (raltegravir) - HIV integrase inhibitor.
Janumet (sitagliptin/metformin) - an oral anti-diabetic drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Januvia (sitagliptin) - a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor for the treatment of diabetes
Maxalt (rizatriptan) one of many triptans used to treat migraines.
MMR Vaccine - immunization against measles, mumps and rubella.
Pneumovax 23 (Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine) - a vaccine used to prevent Streptococcus pneumoniae infections such as pneumonia and septicaemia.
Primaxin (imipenem with cilastatin) – a broad spectrum carbapenem antibiotic.
Prinzide (lisinopril/hydrochlorothiazide) – anti-hypertensive combination of an ACE inhibitor and a diuretic.
Propecia/Proscar (finasteride) – used for alopecia (male pattern baldness) and prostatic conditions.
ProQuad (MMRV vaccine) - a vaccine for simultaneous vaccination against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella in children.
Recombivax HB (hepatitis B vaccine) - a vaccine that protects against hepatitis B.
Rotateq - a vaccine to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis, a leading cause of severe diarrhea in infants and young children ages 0 to 12.
Singulair (montelukast) – an asthma medication that blocks leukotrienes.
Timoptic (timolol) - a non-selective beta-adrenergic receptor blocker used to treat high blood pressure and prevent heart attacks.
Tredaptive (laropiprant/ER niacin) - a new lipid-modifying therapy for patients with dyslipidemia and primary hypercholesterolemia (not approved in the US, but approved in the European Union)
Trusopt (dorzolamide) - reduces intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
Vaqta (Hepatitis A vaccine) - a vaccine that protects against hepatitis A.
Varivax (Varicella vaccine) - a vaccine that protects against chickenpox.
Vioxx (rofecoxib)- for the symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis.
Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin) – a combination cholesterol-lowering preparation marketed in collaboration with Schering-Plough.
Zetia (ezetimibe) - cholesterol absorption inhibitor which lowers LDL co marketed by Schering-Plough
Zocor (simvastatin) – a cholesterol-lowering statin.
Zolinza (vorinostat) - a histone deacetylase inhibitor for the treatment of cutaneous T cell lymphoma.
Zostavax - a vaccine for prevention of shingles in adults older than 60 years of age.AN international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralised" or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced.
Staff at US company Merck &Co emailed each other about the list of doctors - mainly researchers and academics - who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or Merck and a recommended course of action.
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE: The Vioxx Trial
The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words "neutralise", "neutralised" or "discredit" against some of the doctors' names.
It is also alleged the company used intimidation tactics against critical researchers, including dropping hints it would stop funding to institutions and claims it interfered with academic appointments.
"We may need to
Friday, September 25, 2009
Mideast Quartet demands Israel settlement halt
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=107100§ionid=351020202
The Middle East Quartet has demanded Israel freeze all illegal settlement activities, including what Tel Aviv calls the 'natural growth.'
In a joint statement on Thursday, the quartet, which comprises of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, also called on Israel to refrain from provocative actions in East Jerusalem (al-Qods), where more Palestinians are being evicted.
Despite mounting opposition worldwide, Israel moves ahead with its illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
The statement also asked the Palestinian Authority to "continue to make every effort to improve law and order, to fight violent extremism, and to end incitement," Maan news agency reported.
The quartet gave its full support to the initiative by US President Barack Obama to restart the long-stalled peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
The Middle East Quartet has demanded Israel freeze all illegal settlement activities, including what Tel Aviv calls the 'natural growth.'
In a joint statement on Thursday, the quartet, which comprises of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, also called on Israel to refrain from provocative actions in East Jerusalem (al-Qods), where more Palestinians are being evicted.
Despite mounting opposition worldwide, Israel moves ahead with its illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
The statement also asked the Palestinian Authority to "continue to make every effort to improve law and order, to fight violent extremism, and to end incitement," Maan news agency reported.
The quartet gave its full support to the initiative by US President Barack Obama to restart the long-stalled peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
The Nazi youth of today
http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5691-0-21-21--.html
History repeating itself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdkg5sPf-tk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLW-6OU1EUo&feature=related
History repeating itself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdkg5sPf-tk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLW-6OU1EUo&feature=related
Boy stripped to underwear, locked in seclusion room in school
http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-5707-0-8-8--.html
A mom says her special needs son was was stripped down to his underwear and locked in a tiny dark room at school.
A mom says her special needs son was was stripped down to his underwear and locked in a tiny dark room at school.
Battle Brews Over Unused TARP Cash
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125383359689939119.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories#articleTabs%3Dcomments
The U.S. Treasury Department is discussing ways to keep in reserve some emergency bailout funds even if the Troubled Asset Relief Program isn't extended beyond the end of the year.
The Treasury is considering whether to extend the bailout in order to keep control of a remaining $200 billion. But that decision is complicated by lawmakers who are worried about the increasing national debt, WSJ's Deborah Solomon reports.
.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner may opt to extend the program, which expires on Dec. 31. But even if the program isn't extended, officials want to keep at least some of the money that has yet to be committed to any particular program on hand in case financial conditions worsen and the government is forced to step in.
The U.S. Treasury Department is discussing ways to keep in reserve some emergency bailout funds even if the Troubled Asset Relief Program isn't extended beyond the end of the year.
The Treasury is considering whether to extend the bailout in order to keep control of a remaining $200 billion. But that decision is complicated by lawmakers who are worried about the increasing national debt, WSJ's Deborah Solomon reports.
.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner may opt to extend the program, which expires on Dec. 31. But even if the program isn't extended, officials want to keep at least some of the money that has yet to be committed to any particular program on hand in case financial conditions worsen and the government is forced to step in.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
DoJ blows the lid off the Patriot Act
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/watch-doj-official-blows_n_296209.html
In the debate over the PATRIOT Act, the Bush White House insisted it needed the authority to search people's homes without their permission or knowledge so that terrorists wouldn't be tipped off that they're under investigation.
Now that the authority is law, how has the Department of Justice used the new power? To go after drug dealers.
Only three of the 763 "sneak-and-peek" requests in fiscal year 2008 involved terrorism cases, according to a July 2009 report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Sixty-five percent were drug cases.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) quizzed Assistant Attorney General David Kris about the discrepancy at a hearing on the PATRIOT Act Wednesday. One
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/watch-doj-official-blows_n_296209.html
In the debate over the PATRIOT Act, the Bush White House insisted it needed the authority to search people's homes without their permission or knowledge so that terrorists wouldn't be tipped off that they're under investigation.
Now that the authority is law, how has the Department of Justice used the new power? To go after drug dealers.
Only three of the 763 "sneak-and-peek" requests in fiscal year 2008 involved terrorism cases, according to a July 2009 report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Sixty-five percent were drug cases.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) quizzed Assistant Attorney General David Kris about the discrepancy at a hearing on the PATRIOT Act Wednesday. One
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/watch-doj-official-blows_n_296209.html
Stimulus funds boost number of federal jobs
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-23-stimfed_N.htm
The $787 billion economic recovery package also is stimulating growth in the federal government as agencies hire thousands of workers and spend millions of dollars to oversee and implement the package, according to government records and spokesmen.
Fourteen of the top federal agencies responsible for spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act say they've hired about 3,000 workers with stimulus money. That's helped fuel the continued growth of the federal government, which increased by more than 25,000 employees, or 1.3%, since December 2008, according to the latest quarterly report. During that time, the ranks of the nation's unemployed increased by nearly 4 million, Labor Department statistics show.
Overall, there are about 2 million federal workers, the data show.
Thirteen agencies that report stimulus-related administrative expenses separately on their weekly spending reports say they've spent $186.8 million so far on salaries and other overhead. Those agencies have reported spending $46.1 billion in stimulus funds overall.
The $787 billion economic recovery package also is stimulating growth in the federal government as agencies hire thousands of workers and spend millions of dollars to oversee and implement the package, according to government records and spokesmen.
Fourteen of the top federal agencies responsible for spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act say they've hired about 3,000 workers with stimulus money. That's helped fuel the continued growth of the federal government, which increased by more than 25,000 employees, or 1.3%, since December 2008, according to the latest quarterly report. During that time, the ranks of the nation's unemployed increased by nearly 4 million, Labor Department statistics show.
Overall, there are about 2 million federal workers, the data show.
Thirteen agencies that report stimulus-related administrative expenses separately on their weekly spending reports say they've spent $186.8 million so far on salaries and other overhead. Those agencies have reported spending $46.1 billion in stimulus funds overall.
FDIC weighs extraordinary steps, including loans from banks, to shore up insurance fund
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/FDIC-weighs-extraordinary-apf-3266069115.html?x=0
The FDIC needs saving, so now how secure do you really feel?
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is weighing several costly -- and never-before-used -- options as it struggles to shore up the dwindling fund that insures bank deposits.
The agency is considering borrowing billions from healthy banks. Alternatively, it may impose a special fee on the banking industry.
Each option carries risk: Drawing money from healthy banks would take dollars out of the private sector, making that money unavailable for investment in the weak economy. But charging the whole industry a fee to replenish the fund could push weaker banks toward failure.
A third option -- borrowing from the Treasury -- is politically unpalatable, since it would resemble another taxpayer-financed bailout.
A fourth option would be to have banks pay their regular insurance premiums early. But this idea wouldn't solve the fund's long-term cash needs.
"The bottom line is, there's no good solution," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with the research firm Concept Capital. "This is a fight over which option is least bad."
The FDIC is expected to propose a solution, possibly combining two or more of the options, at a board meeting next week.
Bank failures since the financial crisis struck have drained the fund to its lowest level since 1992, at the peak of the savings-and-loan crisis. The fund insures deposit bank accounts of up to $250,000.
Officials have approached big, healthy banks about making loans to the agency,
The FDIC needs saving, so now how secure do you really feel?
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is weighing several costly -- and never-before-used -- options as it struggles to shore up the dwindling fund that insures bank deposits.
The agency is considering borrowing billions from healthy banks. Alternatively, it may impose a special fee on the banking industry.
Each option carries risk: Drawing money from healthy banks would take dollars out of the private sector, making that money unavailable for investment in the weak economy. But charging the whole industry a fee to replenish the fund could push weaker banks toward failure.
A third option -- borrowing from the Treasury -- is politically unpalatable, since it would resemble another taxpayer-financed bailout.
A fourth option would be to have banks pay their regular insurance premiums early. But this idea wouldn't solve the fund's long-term cash needs.
"The bottom line is, there's no good solution," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with the research firm Concept Capital. "This is a fight over which option is least bad."
The FDIC is expected to propose a solution, possibly combining two or more of the options, at a board meeting next week.
Bank failures since the financial crisis struck have drained the fund to its lowest level since 1992, at the peak of the savings-and-loan crisis. The fund insures deposit bank accounts of up to $250,000.
Officials have approached big, healthy banks about making loans to the agency,
Delayed Foreclosures Stalk Market
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/107799/delayed-foreclosures-stalk-market.html
Delayed Foreclosures Stalk Market
by Ruth Simon and James R. Hagerty
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
provided by
Debra and Arthur Scriven were served notice in June 2008 that their mortgage lender, a unit of Citigroup Inc., was preparing to foreclose on their home. Fifteen months later, the Scrivens are still in their home near Columbia, S.C., and battling to stay there, even though a dispute with the lender over how much they owe prompted them to stop making regular payments last year.
Legal snarls, bureaucracy and well-meaning efforts to keep families in their homes are slowing the flow of properties headed toward foreclosure sales, even when borrowers are in deep distress. While that buys time for families to work out their problems, some analysts believe the delays are prolonging the mortgage crisis and creating a growing "shadow" inventory of pent-up supply that will eventually hit the market.
The size of this shadow inventory is a source of concern and debate among real-estate agents and analysts who worry that when the supply is unleashed, it could interrupt the budding housing recovery and ignite a new wave of stress in the housing market.
"There's going to be a flood [of bank-owned homes] listed for sale at some point," says John Burns, a real-estate consultant based in Irvine, Calif. When that happens, Mr. Burns believes, home prices will fall further, particularly in markets with large numbers of foreclosures. Overall, he expects home prices to decline 6% next year.
Delayed Foreclosures Stalk Market
by Ruth Simon and James R. Hagerty
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
provided by
Debra and Arthur Scriven were served notice in June 2008 that their mortgage lender, a unit of Citigroup Inc., was preparing to foreclose on their home. Fifteen months later, the Scrivens are still in their home near Columbia, S.C., and battling to stay there, even though a dispute with the lender over how much they owe prompted them to stop making regular payments last year.
Legal snarls, bureaucracy and well-meaning efforts to keep families in their homes are slowing the flow of properties headed toward foreclosure sales, even when borrowers are in deep distress. While that buys time for families to work out their problems, some analysts believe the delays are prolonging the mortgage crisis and creating a growing "shadow" inventory of pent-up supply that will eventually hit the market.
The size of this shadow inventory is a source of concern and debate among real-estate agents and analysts who worry that when the supply is unleashed, it could interrupt the budding housing recovery and ignite a new wave of stress in the housing market.
"There's going to be a flood [of bank-owned homes] listed for sale at some point," says John Burns, a real-estate consultant based in Irvine, Calif. When that happens, Mr. Burns believes, home prices will fall further, particularly in markets with large numbers of foreclosures. Overall, he expects home prices to decline 6% next year.
As Banks Retreat, Lawmakers Press Attack
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125373195407234819.html#mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_news
The U.S. banking industry's signs of retreat on certain account fees mightn't satisfy Washington lawmakers, including some who said Wednesday they are pushing ahead with broad restrictions on fee policies at banks.
.In addition to Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the two largest U.S. banks by assets, Wells Fargo & Co. said it will eliminate overdraft fees for customers when they overdraw their accounts by $5 or less and impose no more than four overdraft fees per day. Regional banks Toronto-Dominion Bank, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Fifth Third Bancorp also are planning to change some of the ways they charge fees.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) said in an interview that he supports the moves by Bank of America and J.P. Morgan. Rep. Frank still plans to push forward with legislation requiring changes in overdraft policies at banks. The Federal Reserve also is considering strict curbs on overdraft fees that could be finalized later this year.
The softened stance on overdraft fees at the two giant banks "confirms that it's doable," Rep. Frank said. "No one else will be able to argue that it's too burdensome
The U.S. banking industry's signs of retreat on certain account fees mightn't satisfy Washington lawmakers, including some who said Wednesday they are pushing ahead with broad restrictions on fee policies at banks.
.In addition to Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the two largest U.S. banks by assets, Wells Fargo & Co. said it will eliminate overdraft fees for customers when they overdraw their accounts by $5 or less and impose no more than four overdraft fees per day. Regional banks Toronto-Dominion Bank, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Fifth Third Bancorp also are planning to change some of the ways they charge fees.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) said in an interview that he supports the moves by Bank of America and J.P. Morgan. Rep. Frank still plans to push forward with legislation requiring changes in overdraft policies at banks. The Federal Reserve also is considering strict curbs on overdraft fees that could be finalized later this year.
The softened stance on overdraft fees at the two giant banks "confirms that it's doable," Rep. Frank said. "No one else will be able to argue that it's too burdensome
LANDMARK DECISION PROMISES MASSIVE RELIEF FOR HOMEOWNERS AND TROUBLE FOR BANKS
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/mers.php
A landmark ruling in a recent Kansas Supreme Court case may have given millions of distressed homeowners the legal wedge they need to avoid foreclosure. In Landmark National Bank v. Kesler, 2009 Kan. LEXIS 834, the Kansas Supreme Court held that a nominee company called MERS has no right or standing to bring an action for foreclosure. MERS is an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a private company that registers mortgages electronically and tracks changes in ownership. The significance of the holding is that if MERS has no standing to foreclose, then nobody has standing to foreclose – on 60 million mortgages. That is the number of American mortgages currently reported to be held by MERS. Over half of all new U.S. residential mortgage loans are registered with MERS and recorded in its name. Holdings of the Kansas Supreme Court are not binding on the rest of the country, but they are dicta of which other courts take note; and the reasoning behind the decision is sound.
Eliminating the “Straw Man” Shielding Lenders and Investors from Liability
The development of “electronic” mortgages managed by MERS went hand in hand with the “securitization” of mortgage loans – chopping them into pieces and selling them off to investors. In the heyday of mortgage securitizations, before investors got wise to their risks, lenders would slice up loans, bundle them into “financial products” called “collateralized debt obligations” (CDOs), ostensibly insure them against default by wrapping them in derivatives called “credit default swaps,” and sell them to pension funds, municipal funds, foreign investment funds, and so forth. There were many secured parties, and the pieces kept changing hands; but MERS supposedly kept track of all these changes electronically. MERS would register and record mortgage loans in its name, and it would bring foreclosure actions in its name. MERS not only facilitated the rapid turnover of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, but it has served as a sort of “corporate shield” that protects investors from claims by borrowers concerning predatory lending practices. California attorney Timothy McCandless describes the problem like this:
“[MERS] has reduced transparency
A landmark ruling in a recent Kansas Supreme Court case may have given millions of distressed homeowners the legal wedge they need to avoid foreclosure. In Landmark National Bank v. Kesler, 2009 Kan. LEXIS 834, the Kansas Supreme Court held that a nominee company called MERS has no right or standing to bring an action for foreclosure. MERS is an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a private company that registers mortgages electronically and tracks changes in ownership. The significance of the holding is that if MERS has no standing to foreclose, then nobody has standing to foreclose – on 60 million mortgages. That is the number of American mortgages currently reported to be held by MERS. Over half of all new U.S. residential mortgage loans are registered with MERS and recorded in its name. Holdings of the Kansas Supreme Court are not binding on the rest of the country, but they are dicta of which other courts take note; and the reasoning behind the decision is sound.
Eliminating the “Straw Man” Shielding Lenders and Investors from Liability
The development of “electronic” mortgages managed by MERS went hand in hand with the “securitization” of mortgage loans – chopping them into pieces and selling them off to investors. In the heyday of mortgage securitizations, before investors got wise to their risks, lenders would slice up loans, bundle them into “financial products” called “collateralized debt obligations” (CDOs), ostensibly insure them against default by wrapping them in derivatives called “credit default swaps,” and sell them to pension funds, municipal funds, foreign investment funds, and so forth. There were many secured parties, and the pieces kept changing hands; but MERS supposedly kept track of all these changes electronically. MERS would register and record mortgage loans in its name, and it would bring foreclosure actions in its name. MERS not only facilitated the rapid turnover of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities, but it has served as a sort of “corporate shield” that protects investors from claims by borrowers concerning predatory lending practices. California attorney Timothy McCandless describes the problem like this:
“[MERS] has reduced transparency
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
America has been taken hostage
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-..._b_285225.html
The American people have been taken hostage to a broken system.
It is a system that remains in place to this day.
A system where bank lobbyists have been spending in record numbers to make sure it stays that way.
A system that corrupts the most basic principles of competition and fair play, principles upon which this country was built.
It is a system that so far has forced the taxpayer to provide the banks with the use of $14 trillion from the Federal Reserve, much of the $7 trillion outstanding at the US Treasury and $2.3 trillion at the FDIC.
A system partially built by the very people who currently advise our President, run our Treasury Department and are charged with its reform.
And most stunningly -- it is a system that no one in our government has yet made any effort to fundamentally change.
The American people have been taken hostage to a broken system.
It is a system that remains in place to this day.
A system where bank lobbyists have been spending in record numbers to make sure it stays that way.
A system that corrupts the most basic principles of competition and fair play, principles upon which this country was built.
It is a system that so far has forced the taxpayer to provide the banks with the use of $14 trillion from the Federal Reserve, much of the $7 trillion outstanding at the US Treasury and $2.3 trillion at the FDIC.
A system partially built by the very people who currently advise our President, run our Treasury Department and are charged with its reform.
And most stunningly -- it is a system that no one in our government has yet made any effort to fundamentally change.
Northrop Wins Security Contract
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Northr....html?x=0&.v=1
On Monday, Northrop Grumman Corp.’s (NYSE: NOC - News) cyber security team bagged a follow-on $430 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract from the US Army. In lieu of the deal, the company will continue providing a wide array of information operations (IO) and computer network operations (CNO) to the 1st Information Operations Command (Land), Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and its regional Computer Emergency Response Teams.
The contract had originally been awarded to Northrop by the Army's Intelligence and Security Command, Fort Belvoir in 1997. Through this follow-on contract, valid for five years, Northrop will coordinate multiple battlefield functions such as electronic warfare, military deception, psychological warfare, operations security and computer-network operations to disrupt enemy decision-making while protecting information necessary for the US troops.
The deal will boost Northrop’s dwindling backlog subsequent to termination of the $5.1 billion Kinetic Energy Interceptor program by the US Government. The company’s total backlog fell to $70.4 billion after the second quarter from $76.9 billion year over year.
On Monday, Northrop Grumman Corp.’s (NYSE: NOC - News) cyber security team bagged a follow-on $430 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract from the US Army. In lieu of the deal, the company will continue providing a wide array of information operations (IO) and computer network operations (CNO) to the 1st Information Operations Command (Land), Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and its regional Computer Emergency Response Teams.
The contract had originally been awarded to Northrop by the Army's Intelligence and Security Command, Fort Belvoir in 1997. Through this follow-on contract, valid for five years, Northrop will coordinate multiple battlefield functions such as electronic warfare, military deception, psychological warfare, operations security and computer-network operations to disrupt enemy decision-making while protecting information necessary for the US troops.
The deal will boost Northrop’s dwindling backlog subsequent to termination of the $5.1 billion Kinetic Energy Interceptor program by the US Government. The company’s total backlog fell to $70.4 billion after the second quarter from $76.9 billion year over year.
The corporate world of war
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Gates-...sset=&cco de=
Gates restores Air Force authority in tanker deal
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday restored the Air Force's authority to select the winner of a $35 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp.
Gates last summer stripped the service's ability to award a contract in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report that found the Air Force failed to evaluate both proposals on the same merits.
Northrop, and its partner Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company N.V., beat out rival Boeing for the deal to replace 179 tankers last February. Boeing later successfully protested the award.
The Pentagon "cannot afford the kind of letdowns, parochial squabbles, and corporate food-fights that have bedeviled this effort in the past," Gates said.
Speaking at the Air Force Association trade show in National Harbor, Md., Gates said his office will continue to oversee the troubled competition.
Gates restores Air Force authority in tanker deal
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday restored the Air Force's authority to select the winner of a $35 billion contract for aerial refueling tankers between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp.
Gates last summer stripped the service's ability to award a contract in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report that found the Air Force failed to evaluate both proposals on the same merits.
Northrop, and its partner Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company N.V., beat out rival Boeing for the deal to replace 179 tankers last February. Boeing later successfully protested the award.
The Pentagon "cannot afford the kind of letdowns, parochial squabbles, and corporate food-fights that have bedeviled this effort in the past," Gates said.
Speaking at the Air Force Association trade show in National Harbor, Md., Gates said his office will continue to oversee the troubled competition.
The Obama administration supports extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/15/obama-supports-extending-_n_288054.html
The Obama administration supports extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire at the end of the year, the Justice Department told Congress in a letter made public Tuesday.
Lawmakers and civil rights groups had been pressing the Democratic administration to say whether it wants to preserve the post-Sept. 11 law's authority to access business records, as well as monitor so-called "lone wolf" terrorists and conduct roving wiretaps.
The provision on business records was long criticized by rights groups as giving the government access to citizens' library records, and a coalition of liberal and conservative groups complained that the Patriot Act gives the government too much authority to snoop into Americans' private lives.
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama said he would take a close look at the law, based on his past expertise in constitutional law. Back in May, President Obama said legal institutions must be updated to deal with the threat of terrorism, but in a way that preserves the rule of law and accountability.
In a letter to lawmakers, Justice Department officials said the administration supports extending the three expiring provisions of the law, although they are willing to consider additional privacy protections as long as they don't weaken the effectiveness of the law.
The Obama administration supports extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire at the end of the year, the Justice Department told Congress in a letter made public Tuesday.
Lawmakers and civil rights groups had been pressing the Democratic administration to say whether it wants to preserve the post-Sept. 11 law's authority to access business records, as well as monitor so-called "lone wolf" terrorists and conduct roving wiretaps.
The provision on business records was long criticized by rights groups as giving the government access to citizens' library records, and a coalition of liberal and conservative groups complained that the Patriot Act gives the government too much authority to snoop into Americans' private lives.
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama said he would take a close look at the law, based on his past expertise in constitutional law. Back in May, President Obama said legal institutions must be updated to deal with the threat of terrorism, but in a way that preserves the rule of law and accountability.
In a letter to lawmakers, Justice Department officials said the administration supports extending the three expiring provisions of the law, although they are willing to consider additional privacy protections as long as they don't weaken the effectiveness of the law.
Why are they lying?
http://www.youtube.com/user/kdenninger
It's time to wake up America, before there is no America left
It's time to wake up America, before there is no America left
Monday, September 14, 2009
Two thousand schoolgirls suffer suspected ill-effects from cervical cancer vaccine
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...r-vaccine.html
Perhaps they should forward their findings to the FDA, because they just approved it for males to.
Doctors' reports show that girls of 12 and 13 have experienced convulsions, fever and paralysis after being given the vaccine, which is now administered in schools as part of efforts to prevent women developing cancer.
Others suffered nausea, muscle weakness, dizziness and blurred vision, according to a special report drawn up by drug safety watchdogs.
rA support group says it has received dozens of calls from parents who believe their daughters have been damaged by the vaccine.
The parents of one teenage girl given the jab last autumn believe it was to blame for repeated seizures which have left her with brain damage and psychosis.
The immunisation programme for teenage girls
Perhaps they should forward their findings to the FDA, because they just approved it for males to.
Doctors' reports show that girls of 12 and 13 have experienced convulsions, fever and paralysis after being given the vaccine, which is now administered in schools as part of efforts to prevent women developing cancer.
Others suffered nausea, muscle weakness, dizziness and blurred vision, according to a special report drawn up by drug safety watchdogs.
rA support group says it has received dozens of calls from parents who believe their daughters have been damaged by the vaccine.
The parents of one teenage girl given the jab last autumn believe it was to blame for repeated seizures which have left her with brain damage and psychosis.
The immunisation programme for teenage girls
Treasury Girds for Debt-Ceiling Fight
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125270970074004941.html
The Obama administration, concerned about the possibility of a big political fight over the national debt, is looking at how it can continue funding the government in the event that Congress hinders its ability to borrow money.
Treasury Department officials are examining tools employed by previous administrations, including disinvesting government retirement funds and suspending interest payments to federal accounts, according to people familiar with the matter. They are also looking at what to do in the unlikely event of a government shutdown.
View Full Image
Associated Press
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, shown on Dec. 16, 1995, when a partial federal government shutdown caused the temporary closure of visitor services at the monument.
.At issue is the debt ceiling, a dollar limit controlled by Congress that dictates how much the U.S. can borrow. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the Senate in a letter last month that the $12.1 trillion ceiling could be hit as early as mid-October, and said it needs to be increased so the U.S. can continue funding operations and making debt payments. Mr. Geithner didn't indicate the increase he was seeking.
With the U.S. borrowing about $30 billion a week, some economists say the Treasury will need an increase of as much as $1.5 trillion if it wants to avoid another request before the 2010 midterm elections. The U.S. could default on its debt if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, but it is a remote scenario.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125270970074004941.html
The Obama administration, concerned about the possibility of a big political fight over the national debt, is looking at how it can continue funding the government in the event that Congress hinders its ability to borrow money.
Treasury Department officials are examining tools employed by previous administrations, including disinvesting government retirement funds and suspending interest payments to federal accounts, according to people familiar with the matter. They are also looking at what to do in the unlikely event of a government shutdown.
View Full Image
Associated Press
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, shown on Dec. 16, 1995, when a partial federal government shutdown caused the temporary closure of visitor services at the monument.
.At issue is the debt ceiling, a dollar limit controlled by Congress that dictates how much the U.S. can borrow. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the Senate in a letter last month that the $12.1 trillion ceiling could be hit as early as mid-October, and said it needs to be increased so the U.S. can continue funding operations and making debt payments. Mr. Geithner didn't indicate the increase he was seeking.
With the U.S. borrowing about $30 billion a week, some economists say the Treasury will need an increase of as much as $1.5 trillion if it wants to avoid another request before the 2010 midterm elections. The U.S. could default on its debt if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, but it is a remote scenario.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Stiglitz Says Banking Problems Are Now Bigger Than Pre-Lehman
Stiglitz Says Banking Problems Are Now Bigger Than Pre-Lehman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aYdgQkXu9eBg
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, said the U.S. has failed to fix the underlying problems of its banking system after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
“In the U.S. and many other countries, the too-big-to-fail banks have become even bigger,” Stiglitz said in an interview today in Paris. “The problems are worse than they were in 2007 before the crisis.”
Stiglitz’s views echo those of former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who has advised President Barack Obama’s administration to curtail the size of banks, and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, who suggested last month that governments may want to discourage financial institutions from growing “excessively.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aYdgQkXu9eBg
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, said the U.S. has failed to fix the underlying problems of its banking system after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
“In the U.S. and many other countries, the too-big-to-fail banks have become even bigger,” Stiglitz said in an interview today in Paris. “The problems are worse than they were in 2007 before the crisis.”
Stiglitz’s views echo those of former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who has advised President Barack Obama’s administration to curtail the size of banks, and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, who suggested last month that governments may want to discourage financial institutions from growing “excessively.”
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Do you trust me?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_284125.html
Lance Cpl. Patrick Malone was relaxing on his bunk at an Iraqi combat base when a direct superior interrupted his late-night movie.
It was time for a game Marines sometimes play to build confidence in colleagues: Point a gun at a comrade and ask, "Do you trust me?"
Cpl. Mathew Nelson raised his weapon – and the 9 mm pistol went off, striking Malone in the head. The higher-ranking Marine rushed to the wounded man's side and tried to perform CPR, but Malone was mortally wounded.
The game, which has cropped up in barracks across Iraq and Afghanistan, is supposed to make a serviceman feel comfortable enough with a comrade that he would stare into the other Marine's gun barrel. But it violates the military's basic weapon-safety rules.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_284125.html
Lance Cpl. Patrick Malone was relaxing on his bunk at an Iraqi combat base when a direct superior interrupted his late-night movie.
It was time for a game Marines sometimes play to build confidence in colleagues: Point a gun at a comrade and ask, "Do you trust me?"
Cpl. Mathew Nelson raised his weapon – and the 9 mm pistol went off, striking Malone in the head. The higher-ranking Marine rushed to the wounded man's side and tried to perform CPR, but Malone was mortally wounded.
The game, which has cropped up in barracks across Iraq and Afghanistan, is supposed to make a serviceman feel comfortable enough with a comrade that he would stare into the other Marine's gun barrel. But it violates the military's basic weapon-safety rules.
Tea partiers march on U.S. Capitol
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109628
Taxpayers revolt against out-of-control spending
Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers stormed Washington, D.C., today, taking their fight against excessive spending, bailouts, growth of big government and soaring deficits to the front door of the U.S. Capitol.
All week citizens have been heading to the Hill by the busloads for the showdown today. The Tea Party Patriots' "Tea Party Express" national bus tour has been hosting a series of tea party rallies all across the nation. A caravan of buses, speakers and entertainers arrived in Washington, D.C., just in time for the march. The taxpayers have paid their own way to the event.
The White House said Friday it was unaware of the rally. President Obama has traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., to promote his health care plans at a rally there.
But so many taxpayers showed up on Pennsylvania Avenue that the crowd ran out of room and the march was forced to begin early.
WND was at the scene to get crowd reaction and take photos of the protest.
Taxpayers revolt against out-of-control spending
Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers stormed Washington, D.C., today, taking their fight against excessive spending, bailouts, growth of big government and soaring deficits to the front door of the U.S. Capitol.
All week citizens have been heading to the Hill by the busloads for the showdown today. The Tea Party Patriots' "Tea Party Express" national bus tour has been hosting a series of tea party rallies all across the nation. A caravan of buses, speakers and entertainers arrived in Washington, D.C., just in time for the march. The taxpayers have paid their own way to the event.
The White House said Friday it was unaware of the rally. President Obama has traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., to promote his health care plans at a rally there.
But so many taxpayers showed up on Pennsylvania Avenue that the crowd ran out of room and the march was forced to begin early.
WND was at the scene to get crowd reaction and take photos of the protest.
San Diego sets up acoustic weapon at townhall meeting
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/200...1/18621646.php
LRAD- Long Range Acoustic Device weapons have been deployed at large political conventions and WTO meetings before. These unusual weapons have been tested to emit blasting sounds to force crowds of people to disperse from the area. People in San Diego have recently noticed the local police department moving one of these at smaller city political meetings with a mobile all terrain vehicle.
September 11, 2009 (San Diego) – “Long-range acoustic devices [LRADs] for crowd control can be extremely dangerous. These are used in Iraq to control insurgents. They can cause serious and lasting harm to humans…We want to know WHY our Sheriff Dept has this weapon,” Sal Magallanez of San Diego-based Liberty One Radio said in an e-mail sent to East County Magazine, prompting a joint investigation.
The device was stationed by San Diego County Sheriff deputies at a recent town hall forum hosted by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) in Spring Valley and at a subsequent town hall with Congressman Darrell Issa (R-San Diego). The Davis Rally drew an estimated 1,300-1,500 people, including vocal conservative and liberal protest groups.
A public records search conducted by East County Magazine has confirmed that the device is an LRAD 500-x manufactured by San Diego-based American Technology Corporation (ATC). Capable of use as an effective loudspeaker, the LRAD also has the ability to emit a deafening tone aimed at incapacitating and dispersing a crowd without use of lethal force.
In an interview last week with newly appointed Sheriff Bill Gore, formerly the Undersheriff, East County Magazine posed the following questions about LRADs.
ECM: Crowd control has been in the news with the Francine Busby pepper spray incident. Now some have expressed concern after spotting long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) at Congressional members Susan Davis and Darrell Issa town hall forums on healthcare. We understand these devices can be used as loudspeakers, to avoid need for a helicopter to address large crowds—
GORE: That’s not the primary purpose.
ECM: They’re also called sonic cannons, capable of directing a deterrent sound. They’ve been used in IRAQ on insurgents and to repel pirates.
GORE: That’s a precaution in case you need it.
ECM: LRADs can cause permanent hearing loss and other health problems. What make and model LRAD do you have, what are the guidelines for when these may be used, what training is provided, and how can you assure that your deputies and innocent bystanders won’t be hurt?
GORE: Our deputies have the required training.
He indicated that he did not consider LRAD technology to be a non-lethal weapon, such as tasers and pepper spray, then deferred other questions on this topic pending results of a public records request submitted by ECM.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/200...1/18621646.php
LRAD- Long Range Acoustic Device weapons have been deployed at large political conventions and WTO meetings before. These unusual weapons have been tested to emit blasting sounds to force crowds of people to disperse from the area. People in San Diego have recently noticed the local police department moving one of these at smaller city political meetings with a mobile all terrain vehicle.
September 11, 2009 (San Diego) – “Long-range acoustic devices [LRADs] for crowd control can be extremely dangerous. These are used in Iraq to control insurgents. They can cause serious and lasting harm to humans…We want to know WHY our Sheriff Dept has this weapon,” Sal Magallanez of San Diego-based Liberty One Radio said in an e-mail sent to East County Magazine, prompting a joint investigation.
The device was stationed by San Diego County Sheriff deputies at a recent town hall forum hosted by Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) in Spring Valley and at a subsequent town hall with Congressman Darrell Issa (R-San Diego). The Davis Rally drew an estimated 1,300-1,500 people, including vocal conservative and liberal protest groups.
A public records search conducted by East County Magazine has confirmed that the device is an LRAD 500-x manufactured by San Diego-based American Technology Corporation (ATC). Capable of use as an effective loudspeaker, the LRAD also has the ability to emit a deafening tone aimed at incapacitating and dispersing a crowd without use of lethal force.
In an interview last week with newly appointed Sheriff Bill Gore, formerly the Undersheriff, East County Magazine posed the following questions about LRADs.
ECM: Crowd control has been in the news with the Francine Busby pepper spray incident. Now some have expressed concern after spotting long-range acoustical devices (LRADs) at Congressional members Susan Davis and Darrell Issa town hall forums on healthcare. We understand these devices can be used as loudspeakers, to avoid need for a helicopter to address large crowds—
GORE: That’s not the primary purpose.
ECM: They’re also called sonic cannons, capable of directing a deterrent sound. They’ve been used in IRAQ on insurgents and to repel pirates.
GORE: That’s a precaution in case you need it.
ECM: LRADs can cause permanent hearing loss and other health problems. What make and model LRAD do you have, what are the guidelines for when these may be used, what training is provided, and how can you assure that your deputies and innocent bystanders won’t be hurt?
GORE: Our deputies have the required training.
He indicated that he did not consider LRAD technology to be a non-lethal weapon, such as tasers and pepper spray, then deferred other questions on this topic pending results of a public records request submitted by ECM.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Charlotte Iserbyt - Deliberate Dumbing Down of the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDyDtYy2I0M&feature=related
Charlotte Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would control curriculum in America's classrooms
Charlotte Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would control curriculum in America's classrooms
Texas governor sends Rangers to Mexico border
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32793136..._news-security
No really the government is building a 3.4 billion dollar homeland security office so that they can have a meeting about this Governor Perry.
Just relax they'll get around to addressing your problem when it gets done.
It's a priority thing you know.
Special teams of Texas Rangers will be deployed to the Texas-Mexico border to deal with increasing violence because the federal government has failed to address growing problems there, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday.
"It is an expansive effort with the Rangers playing a more high-profile role than they've ever played before," Perry said of the Department of Public Safety's elite investigative unit.
The forces, dubbed "Ranger recon" teams, are the latest effort "to fill the gap that's been left by the federal government's ongoing failure to adequately secure our international border with Mexico," he said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32793136..._news-security
No really the government is building a 3.4 billion dollar homeland security office so that they can have a meeting about this Governor Perry.
Just relax they'll get around to addressing your problem when it gets done.
It's a priority thing you know.
Special teams of Texas Rangers will be deployed to the Texas-Mexico border to deal with increasing violence because the federal government has failed to address growing problems there, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday.
"It is an expansive effort with the Rangers playing a more high-profile role than they've ever played before," Perry said of the Department of Public Safety's elite investigative unit.
The forces, dubbed "Ranger recon" teams, are the latest effort "to fill the gap that's been left by the federal government's ongoing failure to adequately secure our international border with Mexico," he said.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Prosecutor eyeing war crimes in Afghanistan
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gshUsLwK6VrjP3x2N2Ht_0gIPnnQD9AK355O1
Who would have guessed that Bush would renege on that deal
The International Criminal Court, which began operating in 2002, is the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal. Afghanistan is one of the 110 countries that have ratified the Rome treaty which created the tribunal and are therefore legally bound by its provisions.
Under the treaty, the court can step in only when countries are unwilling or unable to dispense justice themselves for genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.
Ocampo said it has been "very difficult" to collect precise information about some of the alleged crimes, but his office has benefited from reports produced by non-governmental organizations who "arrived before us and provided information to us."
He said he has requested information from human rights groups and groups inside Afghanistan as well as the Afghan government — and would be "very open" to information from foreign governments.
Taliban fighters have been accused of many brutal killings. There have also been some accusations of U.S. forces in Afghanistan using excessive force and torturing prisoners.
He confirmed that allegations involved both the Taliban and NATO forces.
The Clinton administration signed the Rome Treaty establishing the court, but the Bush administration rescinded the U.S. signature, arguing that the court could be used for frivolous or politically motivated prosecution of American troops.
Who would have guessed that Bush would renege on that deal
The International Criminal Court, which began operating in 2002, is the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal. Afghanistan is one of the 110 countries that have ratified the Rome treaty which created the tribunal and are therefore legally bound by its provisions.
Under the treaty, the court can step in only when countries are unwilling or unable to dispense justice themselves for genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.
Ocampo said it has been "very difficult" to collect precise information about some of the alleged crimes, but his office has benefited from reports produced by non-governmental organizations who "arrived before us and provided information to us."
He said he has requested information from human rights groups and groups inside Afghanistan as well as the Afghan government — and would be "very open" to information from foreign governments.
Taliban fighters have been accused of many brutal killings. There have also been some accusations of U.S. forces in Afghanistan using excessive force and torturing prisoners.
He confirmed that allegations involved both the Taliban and NATO forces.
The Clinton administration signed the Rome Treaty establishing the court, but the Bush administration rescinded the U.S. signature, arguing that the court could be used for frivolous or politically motivated prosecution of American troops.
Madoff taped telling colleagues how to deal with regulators
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/10/madoff.tape/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
Nothing like the truth straight from the horses mouth.
So began a phone call in which convicted swindler Bernard Madoff told colleagues how to dance around questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to an audiotape and transcript released Wednesday by the Massachusetts secretary of state's office.
"You know, you don't have to be too brilliant with these guys, because you don't have to be," Madoff said, referring to SEC investigators
Nothing like the truth straight from the horses mouth.
So began a phone call in which convicted swindler Bernard Madoff told colleagues how to dance around questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to an audiotape and transcript released Wednesday by the Massachusetts secretary of state's office.
"You know, you don't have to be too brilliant with these guys, because you don't have to be," Madoff said, referring to SEC investigators
Ground broken on $3.4 billion Homeland Security complex
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/09/homeland.security.headquarters/index.html
3.4 billion justified because it will help them hold meetings.
Now I have heard everything
Washington notables broke ground on the future home of the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, symbolically starting construction on the biggest federal building project in the Washington area since the Pentagon 68 years ago.
Rendering of future Coast Guard headquarters, with green roof designed to capture and reuse water.
The project will bring together more than 15,000 employees now scattered in 35 offices in the region, placing them on a 176-acre campus strewn with historic buildings in a long-neglected corner of Washington, five miles from the Capitol building.
Department leaders hope the $3.4 billion consolidation will help the department fulfill its core mission -- protecting the homeland -- in ways big and small.
"It will help us hold meetings," Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "It will help us build that culture of 'One DHS.'"
3.4 billion justified because it will help them hold meetings.
Now I have heard everything
Washington notables broke ground on the future home of the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, symbolically starting construction on the biggest federal building project in the Washington area since the Pentagon 68 years ago.
Rendering of future Coast Guard headquarters, with green roof designed to capture and reuse water.
The project will bring together more than 15,000 employees now scattered in 35 offices in the region, placing them on a 176-acre campus strewn with historic buildings in a long-neglected corner of Washington, five miles from the Capitol building.
Department leaders hope the $3.4 billion consolidation will help the department fulfill its core mission -- protecting the homeland -- in ways big and small.
"It will help us hold meetings," Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "It will help us build that culture of 'One DHS.'"
FDA Panel OKs HPV Vaccine Gardasil for Boys
http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/hpv-genital-warts/news/20090909/fda-panel-oks-gardasil-for-boys
How many times has your child fainted from an injection? Merck says this is quite a common occurrence in adolescence.
One truly has to wonder how many 9 year olds have had exposure to sexually transmitted diseases for them to be able to make a claim that it's 89% effective, or were they exposed to genital warts purposely to enable Merck to validate their findings?
An FDA advisory committee voted to recommend approval of the vaccine Gardasil for males ages 9 to 26 to prevent genital warts.
Gardasil targets four strains of human papillomavirus, commonly called HPV. Males can carry HPV and transmit it sexually to their partners.
HPV can cause genital warts and penile and anal cancer in men. Each year, about 200 out of 100,000 males are newly diagnosed with genital warts, according to background information cited by the FDA. Penile cancer and anal cancer are much rarer.
Gardasil already has FDA approval for use in females ages 9 to 26. In females, HPV can cause cervical cancer.
The FDA advisory committee ruled 7 to 0, with one abstaining vote, that Gardasil's clinical trial data support the vaccine's effectiveness at preventing genital warts in males ages 9 to 26. And in a 7 to 1 vote, the advisory committee ruled that the data show Gardasil to be safe for males in that age range.
The FDA advisory committeereviewed three studies of Gardasil that together included more than 5,000 males ages 9 to 26 in various countries including the U.S.
Participants got a total of three shots of Gardasil or a placebo spread over six months. They also got checkups and tests to check for HPV infection.
Gardasil was 89% effective in preventing genital warts. The vaccine was less effective in participants who had already been exposed to HPV.
No serious side effects were seen, according to information posted on the FDA's web site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vaers/gardasil.htm
Non-serious adverse event reports
VAERS defines non-serious adverse events as those other than hospitalization, death, permanent disability, and life-threatening illness.
The vast majority (93%) of the adverse events reports following Gardasil have been non-serious. Reports of non-serious adverse events after Gardasil vaccination have included fainting, pain and swelling at the injection site (the arm), headache, nausea and fever. Fainting is common after injections and vaccinations, especially in adolescents. Falls after fainting may sometimes cause serious injuries, such as head injuries, which can be prevented by closely observing the vaccinated person for 15 minutes after vaccination.
Serious adverse event reports
VAERS defines serious adverse events as adverse events that involve hospitalization, permanent disability, life-threatening illness, and death. As with all VAERS reports, serious events may or may not have been caused by the vaccine
How many times has your child fainted from an injection? Merck says this is quite a common occurrence in adolescence.
One truly has to wonder how many 9 year olds have had exposure to sexually transmitted diseases for them to be able to make a claim that it's 89% effective, or were they exposed to genital warts purposely to enable Merck to validate their findings?
An FDA advisory committee voted to recommend approval of the vaccine Gardasil for males ages 9 to 26 to prevent genital warts.
Gardasil targets four strains of human papillomavirus, commonly called HPV. Males can carry HPV and transmit it sexually to their partners.
HPV can cause genital warts and penile and anal cancer in men. Each year, about 200 out of 100,000 males are newly diagnosed with genital warts, according to background information cited by the FDA. Penile cancer and anal cancer are much rarer.
Gardasil already has FDA approval for use in females ages 9 to 26. In females, HPV can cause cervical cancer.
The FDA advisory committee ruled 7 to 0, with one abstaining vote, that Gardasil's clinical trial data support the vaccine's effectiveness at preventing genital warts in males ages 9 to 26. And in a 7 to 1 vote, the advisory committee ruled that the data show Gardasil to be safe for males in that age range.
The FDA advisory committeereviewed three studies of Gardasil that together included more than 5,000 males ages 9 to 26 in various countries including the U.S.
Participants got a total of three shots of Gardasil or a placebo spread over six months. They also got checkups and tests to check for HPV infection.
Gardasil was 89% effective in preventing genital warts. The vaccine was less effective in participants who had already been exposed to HPV.
No serious side effects were seen, according to information posted on the FDA's web site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vaers/gardasil.htm
Non-serious adverse event reports
VAERS defines non-serious adverse events as those other than hospitalization, death, permanent disability, and life-threatening illness.
The vast majority (93%) of the adverse events reports following Gardasil have been non-serious. Reports of non-serious adverse events after Gardasil vaccination have included fainting, pain and swelling at the injection site (the arm), headache, nausea and fever. Fainting is common after injections and vaccinations, especially in adolescents. Falls after fainting may sometimes cause serious injuries, such as head injuries, which can be prevented by closely observing the vaccinated person for 15 minutes after vaccination.
Serious adverse event reports
VAERS defines serious adverse events as adverse events that involve hospitalization, permanent disability, life-threatening illness, and death. As with all VAERS reports, serious events may or may not have been caused by the vaccine
OIL FUTURES: Crude Sheds Gains As Fuel Inventories Grow
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090910-711363.html
People never use what they can't afford to buy
And that would take a job
To understand the reason WHY!
Oil inventories fell by 5.1 million barrels last week, far more than analysts expected, the EIA said. But the oil appeared to have passed through refineries and directly into fuel storage terminals, as both major categories of product inventories surged.
Gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly rose 2.1 million barrels, where analysts had seen a drop of 1.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks, including diesel and heating oil, gained 2 million barrels, more than the expected 600,000 barrels.
Oil prices have held around $70 a barrel for three months with the expectation that both oil and fuel inventories would eventually draw down as demand rebounds from lows hit during the bottom of the global economic downturn.
Instead, refiners have been forced by weak demand to spread the surplus around over the last year, first converting an oil glut into a massive surplus of fuel, then cutting runs to reduce gasoline inventories, which only sent crude stockpiles soaring again. In the latest data, the tide appears to have shifted again, with oil inventories falling sharply, but fuel stocks rising more than expected.
"If product demand is still weak, what are refiners going to do
People never use what they can't afford to buy
And that would take a job
To understand the reason WHY!
Oil inventories fell by 5.1 million barrels last week, far more than analysts expected, the EIA said. But the oil appeared to have passed through refineries and directly into fuel storage terminals, as both major categories of product inventories surged.
Gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly rose 2.1 million barrels, where analysts had seen a drop of 1.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks, including diesel and heating oil, gained 2 million barrels, more than the expected 600,000 barrels.
Oil prices have held around $70 a barrel for three months with the expectation that both oil and fuel inventories would eventually draw down as demand rebounds from lows hit during the bottom of the global economic downturn.
Instead, refiners have been forced by weak demand to spread the surplus around over the last year, first converting an oil glut into a massive surplus of fuel, then cutting runs to reduce gasoline inventories, which only sent crude stockpiles soaring again. In the latest data, the tide appears to have shifted again, with oil inventories falling sharply, but fuel stocks rising more than expected.
"If product demand is still weak, what are refiners going to do
The power of the lobby
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gogMox_dSaDYvRr9NtuG4xBn0lvAD9AKIF400
A career destroyed by corruption, one only has to take a good look at the person in question and the position he held to understand he allowed himself to be compromised
for a paid in full endorsement
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A pro-family values California lawmaker who resigned after being caught on tape boasting about his sexual conquests denied Thursday that he had extramarital affairs, saying that "my offense was engaging in inappropriate storytelling."
Mike Duvall stepped down Wednesday after a videotape surfaced in which was overheard telling a lawmaker about having sex with a lobbyist and another woman, including salacious details about how one mistress wears skimpy underwear and likes to be spanked. The 54-year-old Republican is married with two adult children.
But Duvall said Thursday that his "decision to resign is in no way an admission that I had an affair or affairs
The unseemly remarks also raise questions about the relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists. The Assembly Ethics Committee is investigating Duvall's comments, in part to determine whether the affair might have influenced his votes.
He was vice chairman of the Assembly Utilities Committee.
Several media outlets reported the woman Duvall refers to in his comments works as a lobbyist for Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy services company that operates San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Gas Co.
A career destroyed by corruption, one only has to take a good look at the person in question and the position he held to understand he allowed himself to be compromised
for a paid in full endorsement
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A pro-family values California lawmaker who resigned after being caught on tape boasting about his sexual conquests denied Thursday that he had extramarital affairs, saying that "my offense was engaging in inappropriate storytelling."
Mike Duvall stepped down Wednesday after a videotape surfaced in which was overheard telling a lawmaker about having sex with a lobbyist and another woman, including salacious details about how one mistress wears skimpy underwear and likes to be spanked. The 54-year-old Republican is married with two adult children.
But Duvall said Thursday that his "decision to resign is in no way an admission that I had an affair or affairs
The unseemly remarks also raise questions about the relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists. The Assembly Ethics Committee is investigating Duvall's comments, in part to determine whether the affair might have influenced his votes.
He was vice chairman of the Assembly Utilities Committee.
Several media outlets reported the woman Duvall refers to in his comments works as a lobbyist for Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy services company that operates San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Gas Co.
Did drug-resistant swine flu spread between teens
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jnVhmInZ0cbrwEBAy8vNmZn9tzhAD9AKI5501
The little lies they feed you
To make you think they're way
A mutant strains insistence
When the anti-viral never worked any way
Health officials are reporting what may be the first instance of a Tamiflu-resistant swine flu virus spreading from one person to another.
It happened in July at a camp in western North Carolina, where two teenage girls — cabin mates — were diagnosed with the same drug-resistant strain of swine flu.
Tamiflu is one of two flu medicines that help against swine flu, and health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is aware of nine U.S. cases of Tamiflu-resistance since swine flu first appeared in April, but all the others were single cases. In this instance, there seemed to be a spread.
"That was the concerning thing about these cases
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Statement
CDC Statement on Oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) Resistance and Antiviral Recommendations
For Immediate Release: January 9, 2009
On December 19, 2008, CDC issued interim guidance for health care professionals on the use of influenza antiviral medications this flu season. The guidance was issued in response to early data from a limited number of states indicating that a high proportion of influenza A (H1N1) viruses are resistant to the influenza antiviral medication oseltamivir (Tamiflu®). Worldwide, the proportion of H1N1 viruses that are resistant to oseltamivir has been increasing so this development is not surprising
The little lies they feed you
To make you think they're way
A mutant strains insistence
When the anti-viral never worked any way
Health officials are reporting what may be the first instance of a Tamiflu-resistant swine flu virus spreading from one person to another.
It happened in July at a camp in western North Carolina, where two teenage girls — cabin mates — were diagnosed with the same drug-resistant strain of swine flu.
Tamiflu is one of two flu medicines that help against swine flu, and health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is aware of nine U.S. cases of Tamiflu-resistance since swine flu first appeared in April, but all the others were single cases. In this instance, there seemed to be a spread.
"That was the concerning thing about these cases
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Statement
CDC Statement on Oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) Resistance and Antiviral Recommendations
For Immediate Release: January 9, 2009
On December 19, 2008, CDC issued interim guidance for health care professionals on the use of influenza antiviral medications this flu season. The guidance was issued in response to early data from a limited number of states indicating that a high proportion of influenza A (H1N1) viruses are resistant to the influenza antiviral medication oseltamivir (Tamiflu®). Worldwide, the proportion of H1N1 viruses that are resistant to oseltamivir has been increasing so this development is not surprising
UN report: Male circumcision cost-effective to curb HIV spread
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/10/content_12028497.htm
So just exactly WHO does it protect?
Male circumcision is a cost-effective means to prevent the spread of HIV, a new UN report said on Wednesday.
The study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, found that one HIV infection could be prevented for every 5 to 15 procedures performed on heterosexual men.
The report however pointed out that male circumcision may be of a little use to curb HIV transmission among men who have sex with men.
Despite studies confirming that circumcision could reduce female-to-male HIV transmission by 60 percent, the procedure does not directly protect women from the virus, the report said.
So just exactly WHO does it protect?
Male circumcision is a cost-effective means to prevent the spread of HIV, a new UN report said on Wednesday.
The study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, found that one HIV infection could be prevented for every 5 to 15 procedures performed on heterosexual men.
The report however pointed out that male circumcision may be of a little use to curb HIV transmission among men who have sex with men.
Despite studies confirming that circumcision could reduce female-to-male HIV transmission by 60 percent, the procedure does not directly protect women from the virus, the report said.
Goldman chief admits banks lost control
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ffb670be-9d33-11de-9f4a-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
If there was no value either socially or economically, then WHY were they allowed to be preformed?
The answer: Because THEY could! and did without a worry in the world as to the damage that they knew was coming down the pike.
Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, on Wednesday admitted that banks lost control of the exotic products they sold in the run-up to the financial crisis, and said that some of the instruments lacked social or economic value.
In a speech to the Handelsblatt banking conference in Frankfurt, he also repeated an attack, first made in the spring, on Wall Street compensation practices, calling the furore over bankers’ pay “understandable and appropriate
If there was no value either socially or economically, then WHY were they allowed to be preformed?
The answer: Because THEY could! and did without a worry in the world as to the damage that they knew was coming down the pike.
Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, on Wednesday admitted that banks lost control of the exotic products they sold in the run-up to the financial crisis, and said that some of the instruments lacked social or economic value.
In a speech to the Handelsblatt banking conference in Frankfurt, he also repeated an attack, first made in the spring, on Wall Street compensation practices, calling the furore over bankers’ pay “understandable and appropriate
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
McDonald's fails to curry favour in Asia
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/6158153/McDonalds-fails-to-curry-favour-in-Asia.html
Chalk one up for the little guy.
It might still have the golden arches, but McDonald's has lost an eight-year trademark battle to protect its right to the use of the "Mc" prefix around the world.
By James Quinn
Published: 8:29PM BST 08 Sep 2009
Would you confuse McDonald's (inset) with McCurry? The burger chain has lost its battle with Malaysian restaurant owners Mr A.M.S.P Suppiah and his wife Kanageswary to stop them using the 'Mc' prefix. In what is likely to prove a precedent-setting case, Malaysia's highest court has ruled that McCurry, a curry restaurant on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, can retain its name.
Malaysia's federal court ruled that McDonald's cannot appeal against a lower court's verdict, which found in favour of McCurry – whose name is an abbreviation of Malaysian Chicken Curry
Chalk one up for the little guy.
It might still have the golden arches, but McDonald's has lost an eight-year trademark battle to protect its right to the use of the "Mc" prefix around the world.
By James Quinn
Published: 8:29PM BST 08 Sep 2009
Would you confuse McDonald's (inset) with McCurry? The burger chain has lost its battle with Malaysian restaurant owners Mr A.M.S.P Suppiah and his wife Kanageswary to stop them using the 'Mc' prefix. In what is likely to prove a precedent-setting case, Malaysia's highest court has ruled that McCurry, a curry restaurant on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, can retain its name.
Malaysia's federal court ruled that McDonald's cannot appeal against a lower court's verdict, which found in favour of McCurry – whose name is an abbreviation of Malaysian Chicken Curry
Treasury says millions more foreclosures coming
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Treasury-says-millions-more-rb-1620457917.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=
"Six million more forclosures in the next three years" what are the odds that you, your friends and families won't be touched?
Meanwhile a system that was put into place to help fix it just can't get the job done.
Only 12 percent of U.S. homeowners eligible for loan modifications under the Obama administration's housing rescue plan have had their mortgages reworked, and millions more foreclosures are coming, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.
A Treasury report showed 360,165 people had their monthly payments reduced through August, up from 235,247 through July, but a senior Treasury official conceded much more must be done to soften the impact of a severe and prolonged housing crisis.
"The recent crisis in the housing sector has devastated families and communities across the country and is at the center of our financial crisis and economic downturn," Michael Barr, assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions, told a House Financial Services subcommittee.
Treasury has begun releasing monthly reports on the loan modification program, called
"Six million more forclosures in the next three years" what are the odds that you, your friends and families won't be touched?
Meanwhile a system that was put into place to help fix it just can't get the job done.
Only 12 percent of U.S. homeowners eligible for loan modifications under the Obama administration's housing rescue plan have had their mortgages reworked, and millions more foreclosures are coming, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.
A Treasury report showed 360,165 people had their monthly payments reduced through August, up from 235,247 through July, but a senior Treasury official conceded much more must be done to soften the impact of a severe and prolonged housing crisis.
"The recent crisis in the housing sector has devastated families and communities across the country and is at the center of our financial crisis and economic downturn," Michael Barr, assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions, told a House Financial Services subcommittee.
Treasury has begun releasing monthly reports on the loan modification program, called
Taxpayers face heavy losses on auto bailout
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090909/D9AJOCJ00.html
Taxpayers face losses on a significant portion of the $81 billion in government aid provided to the auto industry, an oversight panel said in a report to be released Wednesday.
The Congressional Oversight Panel did not provide an estimate of the projected loss in its latest monthly report on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But it said most of the $23 billion initially provided to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC late last year is unlikely to be repaid.
"I think they drove a very hard bargain," said Elizabeth Warren, the panel's chairwoman and a law professor at Harvard University, referring to the Obama administration's Treasury Department. "But it may not be enough."
The prospect of recovering the government's assistance to GM and Chrysler is heavily dependent on shares of the two companies rising to unprecedented levels, the report said. The government
,
Taxpayers face losses on a significant portion of the $81 billion in government aid provided to the auto industry, an oversight panel said in a report to be released Wednesday.
The Congressional Oversight Panel did not provide an estimate of the projected loss in its latest monthly report on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But it said most of the $23 billion initially provided to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC late last year is unlikely to be repaid.
"I think they drove a very hard bargain," said Elizabeth Warren, the panel's chairwoman and a law professor at Harvard University, referring to the Obama administration's Treasury Department. "But it may not be enough."
The prospect of recovering the government's assistance to GM and Chrysler is heavily dependent on shares of the two companies rising to unprecedented levels, the report said. The government
,
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Alternate reality
This is the world we're now living in kids. It's one were the privileged are allowed
to do just about anything they want, and to make up for that privileged loss of revenue, YOU will be scrutinized just that much more.
And we let them WHY?
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1743474
US to detail accord with Swiss over UBS accounts
Experts predict the accord will force the bank to hand over up to 5,000 of the 52,000 names sought by the IRS. The conditions of the handover will be such that Switzerland will not break its own banking secrecy laws, the Swiss government has pledged.
UBS has admitted to helping some U.S. clients hide large sums of money in offshore accounts. The bank earlier this year turned over more than 250 client names and paid a $780 million penalty in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRS to Mine Payment Data on Mortgages
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125176078680774177.html
The Internal Revenue Service will expand a program designed to catch tax cheats that searches for inconsistencies between mortgage payments and income.
After prompting from an IRS auditor, the agency will study whether it should make greater use of data on mortgage-interest payments provided to it by banks. The IRS currently uses such data to send notices to non-filers who it believes should have filed a return.
The data could also be used to target for audits individuals who don't file tax returns, or who report less income than they paid in mortgage interest, according to a letter released Monday by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.
The IRS move will expand a regional research project on mortgage interest to a nationwide level by December 2011. Such initiatives, called Compliance Initiative Projects, typically involve examination of a small number of tax returns to evaluate new enforcement strategies.
Howard Levy, a tax attorney with the Cincinnati firm Voorhees Levy, said mortgage-interest data might be the best source of information the IRS has on small-business owners, such as roofers or carpenters, who are paid in cash and don't report all their income to the IRS.
"That [IRS Form] 1098 might be one of the few trails IRS could pursue to find out if there is income coming in," Mr. Levy said.
One Republican lawmaker cautioned Monday that the IRS plan could snare taxpayers who have coped with job losses by borrowing or using savings or retirement accounts to make their house payments.
"We shouldn't presume that
to do just about anything they want, and to make up for that privileged loss of revenue, YOU will be scrutinized just that much more.
And we let them WHY?
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1743474
US to detail accord with Swiss over UBS accounts
Experts predict the accord will force the bank to hand over up to 5,000 of the 52,000 names sought by the IRS. The conditions of the handover will be such that Switzerland will not break its own banking secrecy laws, the Swiss government has pledged.
UBS has admitted to helping some U.S. clients hide large sums of money in offshore accounts. The bank earlier this year turned over more than 250 client names and paid a $780 million penalty in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRS to Mine Payment Data on Mortgages
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125176078680774177.html
The Internal Revenue Service will expand a program designed to catch tax cheats that searches for inconsistencies between mortgage payments and income.
After prompting from an IRS auditor, the agency will study whether it should make greater use of data on mortgage-interest payments provided to it by banks. The IRS currently uses such data to send notices to non-filers who it believes should have filed a return.
The data could also be used to target for audits individuals who don't file tax returns, or who report less income than they paid in mortgage interest, according to a letter released Monday by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.
The IRS move will expand a regional research project on mortgage interest to a nationwide level by December 2011. Such initiatives, called Compliance Initiative Projects, typically involve examination of a small number of tax returns to evaluate new enforcement strategies.
Howard Levy, a tax attorney with the Cincinnati firm Voorhees Levy, said mortgage-interest data might be the best source of information the IRS has on small-business owners, such as roofers or carpenters, who are paid in cash and don't report all their income to the IRS.
"That [IRS Form] 1098 might be one of the few trails IRS could pursue to find out if there is income coming in," Mr. Levy said.
One Republican lawmaker cautioned Monday that the IRS plan could snare taxpayers who have coped with job losses by borrowing or using savings or retirement accounts to make their house payments.
"We shouldn't presume that
Up to $3,800 fine for failure get health insurance
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Up-to-3800-fine-for-failure-apf-3959733296.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=
With the unemployment rate surging, THIS is what your government has eye on.
Penalizinfg you more
Senate proposal calls for steep fines for failure to get health insurance
On Tuesday September 8, 2009, 1:23 pm EDT
Buzz up! 7 Print.WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top senator is calling for fines of up to $3,800 on families who fail to get medical insurance after a health care overhaul goes into effect.
The plan from Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana would make health insurance mandatory, just like auto coverage
With the unemployment rate surging, THIS is what your government has eye on.
Penalizinfg you more
Senate proposal calls for steep fines for failure to get health insurance
On Tuesday September 8, 2009, 1:23 pm EDT
Buzz up! 7 Print.WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top senator is calling for fines of up to $3,800 on families who fail to get medical insurance after a health care overhaul goes into effect.
The plan from Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana would make health insurance mandatory, just like auto coverage
Short people ordered to stand behind President Nicolas Sarkozy during speech
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6148922/Short-people-ordered-to-stand-behind-President-Nicolas-Sarkozy-during-speech.html
What a sad state of affairs to be worried about.
Twenty short people were ordered to stand behind French President Nicolas Sarkozy to make him look taller while delivering a televised speech.
President Nicolas Sarkozy takes to the stage Photo: PHOTOSHOT They were bused in after being "vetted" by aides of the French President who made sure none were more than his own height of 5ft 5ins.
The extraordinary scene unfolded at the Faurecia motor technology plant in Caligny, south of Caen, in Normandy, last Thursday.
Despite Mr Sarkozy's lack of inches, he looked far more statuesque than usual as he posed in front of the group of white-coated technicians on a specially erected stage.
In a broadcast on French television on Monday, a woman researcher admitted on camera that
What a sad state of affairs to be worried about.
Twenty short people were ordered to stand behind French President Nicolas Sarkozy to make him look taller while delivering a televised speech.
President Nicolas Sarkozy takes to the stage Photo: PHOTOSHOT They were bused in after being "vetted" by aides of the French President who made sure none were more than his own height of 5ft 5ins.
The extraordinary scene unfolded at the Faurecia motor technology plant in Caligny, south of Caen, in Normandy, last Thursday.
Despite Mr Sarkozy's lack of inches, he looked far more statuesque than usual as he posed in front of the group of white-coated technicians on a specially erected stage.
In a broadcast on French television on Monday, a woman researcher admitted on camera that
Airline terror trial: The bomb plot to kill 10,000 people
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/6153243/Airline-terror-trial-The-bomb-plot-to-kill-10000-people.html
Is it just me or is this just to damned hard to swallow, we went thought the extreme expense of trying them again, so that the threat to air traffic was seen as genuine
The al-Qaeda cell plotted to cause mass murder by detonating home-made liquid explosives on board at least seven passenger flights bound for the US and Canada. The plot had the potential to be three times as deadly as the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
The convictions followed Britain’s largest counter-terrorism operation and two criminal trials which, in total, cost an estimated £60million.
Related Articles
Airline bomb plot: convictions will heighten US fears of British Islamist threat
Airliner bomb plot: Profiles
Airline bomb plot by numbers
Airline bomb plot: investigation 'one of biggest since WW2'
Prosecutors pursued retrial to justify liquids ban
Airline bomb plot: reaction All three men convicted on Monday had been found guilty at an earlier trial last year of conspiracy to murder, but prosecutors said it was vital to secure a conviction on another charge of conspiring to blow up the aircraft in order to prove that the threat to air traffic was genuine.
Is it just me or is this just to damned hard to swallow, we went thought the extreme expense of trying them again, so that the threat to air traffic was seen as genuine
The al-Qaeda cell plotted to cause mass murder by detonating home-made liquid explosives on board at least seven passenger flights bound for the US and Canada. The plot had the potential to be three times as deadly as the 9/11 attacks of 2001.
The convictions followed Britain’s largest counter-terrorism operation and two criminal trials which, in total, cost an estimated £60million.
Related Articles
Airline bomb plot: convictions will heighten US fears of British Islamist threat
Airliner bomb plot: Profiles
Airline bomb plot by numbers
Airline bomb plot: investigation 'one of biggest since WW2'
Prosecutors pursued retrial to justify liquids ban
Airline bomb plot: reaction All three men convicted on Monday had been found guilty at an earlier trial last year of conspiracy to murder, but prosecutors said it was vital to secure a conviction on another charge of conspiring to blow up the aircraft in order to prove that the threat to air traffic was genuine.
Canada to stage mock Afghan attack in Washington
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/canada-to-stage-mock-afghan-attack-in-washington/article1275341/
Canada, Americans don't care why your in Afghanistan, we're still trying to figure out why we're there.
How special must you think we are to want to impress us in this manner, but what a waste of your own taxpayers money!
The Taliban will attack an Afghan village set up in the heart of Washington courtesy of the Canadian Forces, who will send in a medic in a dramatic effort to save a civilian crippled by the explosion.
At least four times over two days this month, simulated IED blasts will bring the Afghan war – and Canada's combat role in Kandahar – home to Americans if an elaborate scheme based on modern training realism attracts widespread attention, as is hoped.
“If this works the way I want it to, more Americans will know what Canada is doing in Afghanistan,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Martin, a military attaché at the Canadian embassy.
A clutch of top American generals, powerful Capitol Hill players and Afghan experts from both sides of the border are expected at the two-day conference hosted by the embassy.
But the highlight will be the explosive blasts, simulating the powerful improvised explosive devices wreaking havoc in Afghanistan, to be staged twice a day.
Whether they will send jumpy tourists and Washingtonians on Pennsylvania Avenue fleeing in fear remains unknown, but embassy officials say they have a green light from the Secret Service, the State Department and the D.C. fire marshal
Canada, Americans don't care why your in Afghanistan, we're still trying to figure out why we're there.
How special must you think we are to want to impress us in this manner, but what a waste of your own taxpayers money!
The Taliban will attack an Afghan village set up in the heart of Washington courtesy of the Canadian Forces, who will send in a medic in a dramatic effort to save a civilian crippled by the explosion.
At least four times over two days this month, simulated IED blasts will bring the Afghan war – and Canada's combat role in Kandahar – home to Americans if an elaborate scheme based on modern training realism attracts widespread attention, as is hoped.
“If this works the way I want it to, more Americans will know what Canada is doing in Afghanistan,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Martin, a military attaché at the Canadian embassy.
A clutch of top American generals, powerful Capitol Hill players and Afghan experts from both sides of the border are expected at the two-day conference hosted by the embassy.
But the highlight will be the explosive blasts, simulating the powerful improvised explosive devices wreaking havoc in Afghanistan, to be staged twice a day.
Whether they will send jumpy tourists and Washingtonians on Pennsylvania Avenue fleeing in fear remains unknown, but embassy officials say they have a green light from the Secret Service, the State Department and the D.C. fire marshal
Alcohol banned on Afghanistan base after troops party too hard
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6153744/Alcohol-banned-on-Afghanistan-base-after-troops-party-too-hard.html
General Stanley McChrystal tried to contact his subordinates after a Nato strike killed 125 civilians, but too many had been “partying it up” and could not be raised.
General McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan (Isaf), has since put a stop to drinking, admonishing staff for not having “their heads in the right place” on Friday morning a few hours after the attack, the Times reports
General Stanley McChrystal tried to contact his subordinates after a Nato strike killed 125 civilians, but too many had been “partying it up” and could not be raised.
General McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan (Isaf), has since put a stop to drinking, admonishing staff for not having “their heads in the right place” on Friday morning a few hours after the attack, the Times reports
Senate must raise debt ceiling above $12T
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/57493-senate-must-raise-debt-ceiling-above-12t
It's time to rip up the credit card kids, because they have proved they're not responsible enough to own one.
Now Obama is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling, something lawmakers are almost certain to do despite misgivings about the federal debt. The ceiling already has been hiked three times in the past two years, and the House took action earlier this year to raise the ceiling to $13 trillion.
Congress has little choice. Failing to raise the cap could lead the nation to default in mid-October, when the debt is expected to exceed its limit, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said
It's time to rip up the credit card kids, because they have proved they're not responsible enough to own one.
Now Obama is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling, something lawmakers are almost certain to do despite misgivings about the federal debt. The ceiling already has been hiked three times in the past two years, and the House took action earlier this year to raise the ceiling to $13 trillion.
Congress has little choice. Failing to raise the cap could lead the nation to default in mid-October, when the debt is expected to exceed its limit, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said
Monday, September 7, 2009
Does the world have the courage to deal with its debts?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/6146859/Does-the-world-have-the-courage-to-deal-with-its-debts.html
Enough of the world has already fallen so far into pre-deflation conditions that any misjudgment by the big central banks from now risks setting off a chain-reaction that may prove very hard to stop.
CPI inflation has dropped to –2.2pc in Japan (a modern record), -2.1pc in the US, -1.8pc in China, -1.4pc in Spain, -0.7pc in France, and -0.6pc in Germany.
This was not anticipated by the authorities anywhere, so we should be wary of their assurances now that we face nothing more than a brief dip in prices before rising energy costs bring inflation back into familiar and safe territory. No doubt prices will rebound as the "base effect" of oil prices kicks in. But by how much; for how long?
The sum of economists in the world (outside Japan) familiar with the cultural and psychological dynamics of deflation can fit into one London bus, and most are historians of the 1930s.
If PIMCO guru Bill Gross and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones are right in fearing that the US economy will tip back into a "W-shaped" recession as the sugar rush of fiscal stimulus fades, we may wake up to find that we have baked deep deflation into the pie for 2010 and 2011. The G20's talk of "exit strategies" and rate rises will seem surreal.
White House aides are already mulling another blast of spending. It won't fly. We have hit the political limits of such extravagance almost everywhere. The fiscal crutches of recovery are going to be knocked away, with outright tightening in a slew of states nearing the danger point of debt-compound spirals. This will occur in a world where excess capacity is already at post-War highs. It reeks of deflation
Enough of the world has already fallen so far into pre-deflation conditions that any misjudgment by the big central banks from now risks setting off a chain-reaction that may prove very hard to stop.
CPI inflation has dropped to –2.2pc in Japan (a modern record), -2.1pc in the US, -1.8pc in China, -1.4pc in Spain, -0.7pc in France, and -0.6pc in Germany.
This was not anticipated by the authorities anywhere, so we should be wary of their assurances now that we face nothing more than a brief dip in prices before rising energy costs bring inflation back into familiar and safe territory. No doubt prices will rebound as the "base effect" of oil prices kicks in. But by how much; for how long?
The sum of economists in the world (outside Japan) familiar with the cultural and psychological dynamics of deflation can fit into one London bus, and most are historians of the 1930s.
If PIMCO guru Bill Gross and hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones are right in fearing that the US economy will tip back into a "W-shaped" recession as the sugar rush of fiscal stimulus fades, we may wake up to find that we have baked deep deflation into the pie for 2010 and 2011. The G20's talk of "exit strategies" and rate rises will seem surreal.
White House aides are already mulling another blast of spending. It won't fly. We have hit the political limits of such extravagance almost everywhere. The fiscal crutches of recovery are going to be knocked away, with outright tightening in a slew of states nearing the danger point of debt-compound spirals. This will occur in a world where excess capacity is already at post-War highs. It reeks of deflation
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Cash-strapped states revise laws to get inmates out
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-prison-release5-2009sep05,0,5705309.story
Corrections has become the second-fastest-growing item in state budgets, second only to Medicaid. And, unlike Medicaid and many other programs, states pay for prisons with almost no help from Washington.
In Colorado, 9% of the state budget goes to corrections. More taxpayer dollars go to house its 23,000 prisoners than to educate the 220,000 students at Colorado's public universities, noted Evan Dreyer, a spokesman for Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter Jr.
Corrections has become the second-fastest-growing item in state budgets, second only to Medicaid. And, unlike Medicaid and many other programs, states pay for prisons with almost no help from Washington.
In Colorado, 9% of the state budget goes to corrections. More taxpayer dollars go to house its 23,000 prisoners than to educate the 220,000 students at Colorado's public universities, noted Evan Dreyer, a spokesman for Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter Jr.
Ashcroft can be sued over arrests, appeals court rules
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,2169737.story
Chalk one up for the Constitution. Unfortunately the taxpayer is going to take a big hit because of this ruling
Then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft violated the rights of U.S. citizens in the fevered wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by ordering arrests on material witness warrants when the government lacked probable cause, a federal appeals court said in a scathing opinion Friday.
In a ruling that said Ashcroft could be sued for prosecutorial abuses, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the former attorney general immunity from liability for how he used the material witness warrants in national security investigations.
Members of the panel, all appointees of Republican presidents, characterized Ashcroft's detention policy as "repugnant to the Constitution, and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history."
Civil liberties advocates cheered the ruling in the case brought by Kansas-born Muslim convert Abdullah Kidd, saying it spotlighted excesses committed by the Bush administration in the post-9/11 scramble to thwart terrorist plots.
Chalk one up for the Constitution. Unfortunately the taxpayer is going to take a big hit because of this ruling
Then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft violated the rights of U.S. citizens in the fevered wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by ordering arrests on material witness warrants when the government lacked probable cause, a federal appeals court said in a scathing opinion Friday.
In a ruling that said Ashcroft could be sued for prosecutorial abuses, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the former attorney general immunity from liability for how he used the material witness warrants in national security investigations.
Members of the panel, all appointees of Republican presidents, characterized Ashcroft's detention policy as "repugnant to the Constitution, and a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history."
Civil liberties advocates cheered the ruling in the case brought by Kansas-born Muslim convert Abdullah Kidd, saying it spotlighted excesses committed by the Bush administration in the post-9/11 scramble to thwart terrorist plots.
Friday, September 4, 2009
States Shut Down to Save Cash
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125202235182685075.html
California drivers can't line up to renew their licenses Friday. Wisconsin natives can't order copies of their birth certificates. Georgia consumers will have to postpone registering complaints with state watchdogs. And stranded motorists in Maryland may have to wait a little longer for highway-department help.
Across the country, cash-strapped state governments are shutting down business for a day at a time to save money. State offices are shuttered Friday in California, Maine, Maryland and Michigan. Rhode Island had planned to join them until a judge on Thursday blocked its closure plan.
Some state agencies are closed in Georgia and Wisconsin, and most Colorado state offices will be shuttered
California drivers can't line up to renew their licenses Friday. Wisconsin natives can't order copies of their birth certificates. Georgia consumers will have to postpone registering complaints with state watchdogs. And stranded motorists in Maryland may have to wait a little longer for highway-department help.
Across the country, cash-strapped state governments are shutting down business for a day at a time to save money. State offices are shuttered Friday in California, Maine, Maryland and Michigan. Rhode Island had planned to join them until a judge on Thursday blocked its closure plan.
Some state agencies are closed in Georgia and Wisconsin, and most Colorado state offices will be shuttered
The $531 Trillion Dollar Derivatives Time Bomb
http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1096
What are derivatives? Some investors describe them as “dormant economic weapons of mass destruction”. They essentially are large leveraged bets on top of stocks, bonds and commodities. Money can be made within months or seconds by betting if a stock will go up, down or even remain the same. With no credit rating you can place a bet worth double your account balance. Big time investors get greater leverage with these instantaneous loans.
The New York Times, Oct 8th 2008: “The derivatives market is $531 trillion, up from $106 trillion in 2002″. This market is setup with odds similar to a racetrack. Trillions are won and lost (transferred) every second. But unlike a racetrack the big players have ultimate control. Their trillions
What are derivatives? Some investors describe them as “dormant economic weapons of mass destruction”. They essentially are large leveraged bets on top of stocks, bonds and commodities. Money can be made within months or seconds by betting if a stock will go up, down or even remain the same. With no credit rating you can place a bet worth double your account balance. Big time investors get greater leverage with these instantaneous loans.
The New York Times, Oct 8th 2008: “The derivatives market is $531 trillion, up from $106 trillion in 2002″. This market is setup with odds similar to a racetrack. Trillions are won and lost (transferred) every second. But unlike a racetrack the big players have ultimate control. Their trillions
Thursday, September 3, 2009
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Health-care-reform-means-more-power-for-the-IRS-56781377.html
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Health-care-reform-means-more-power-for-the-IRS-56781377.html
There's been a lot of discussion about the new and powerful federal agencies that would be created by the passage of a national health care bill. The Health Choices Administration, the Health Benefits Advisory Committee, the Health Insurance Exchange — there are dozens in all.
But if the plan envisioned by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats is enacted, the primary federal bureaucracy responsible for implementing and enforcing national health care will be an old and familiar one: the Internal Revenue Service. Under the Democrats' health care proposals, the already powerful — and already feared — IRS would wield even more power and extend its reach even farther into the lives of ordinary Americans, and the presidentially-appointed head of the new health care bureaucracy would have access to confidential IRS information about millions of individual taxpayers.
In short, health care reform, as currently envisioned by Democratic leaders, would be built on the foundation of an expanded and more intrusive IRS.
Under the various proposals now on the table, the IRS would become the main agency for determining who has an "acceptable" health insurance plan; for finding and punishing those who don't have such a plan; for subsidizing
There's been a lot of discussion about the new and powerful federal agencies that would be created by the passage of a national health care bill. The Health Choices Administration, the Health Benefits Advisory Committee, the Health Insurance Exchange — there are dozens in all.
But if the plan envisioned by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats is enacted, the primary federal bureaucracy responsible for implementing and enforcing national health care will be an old and familiar one: the Internal Revenue Service. Under the Democrats' health care proposals, the already powerful — and already feared — IRS would wield even more power and extend its reach even farther into the lives of ordinary Americans, and the presidentially-appointed head of the new health care bureaucracy would have access to confidential IRS information about millions of individual taxpayers.
In short, health care reform, as currently envisioned by Democratic leaders, would be built on the foundation of an expanded and more intrusive IRS.
Under the various proposals now on the table, the IRS would become the main agency for determining who has an "acceptable" health insurance plan; for finding and punishing those who don't have such a plan; for subsidizing
Lehman downfall triggered by mix-up between London and Washington
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/03/lehman-collapse-us-uk-blame
The UK tripartite authorities were concerned about the financial system in the spring of 2007 and asked their American counterparts to participate in a "war game" to prepare for the collapse of a major US bank and develop a response to a financial crisis. However, the war game, which was to have included the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the US, never took place because of a lack of willingness to participate by the US regulatory bodies
The UK tripartite authorities were concerned about the financial system in the spring of 2007 and asked their American counterparts to participate in a "war game" to prepare for the collapse of a major US bank and develop a response to a financial crisis. However, the war game, which was to have included the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the US, never took place because of a lack of willingness to participate by the US regulatory bodies
CIA doctors face human experimentation claims
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/02/cia-usa
A small conflict of interest I believe
Quite cold and calculating
Medical ethics group says physicians monitored 'enhanced interrogation techniques' and studied their effectiveness
A small conflict of interest I believe
Quite cold and calculating
Medical ethics group says physicians monitored 'enhanced interrogation techniques' and studied their effectiveness
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Cops jump on swine-flu power: Shots heard 'round the world
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108604
A "pandemic response bill" currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance.
If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.
Massachusetts' pandemic response bill
"Pandemic Response Bill" 2028 was passed by the Massachusetts state Senate on April 28 and is now awaiting approval in the House.
As stated in the bill, upon
A "pandemic response bill" currently making its way through the Massachusetts state legislature would allow authorities to forcefully quarantine citizens in the event of a health emergency, compel health providers to vaccinate citizens, authorize forceful entry into private dwellings and destruction of citizen property and impose fines on citizens for noncompliance.
If citizens refuse to comply with isolation or quarantine orders in the event of a health emergency, they may be imprisoned for up to 30 days and fined $1,000 per day that the violation continues.
Massachusetts' pandemic response bill
"Pandemic Response Bill" 2028 was passed by the Massachusetts state Senate on April 28 and is now awaiting approval in the House.
As stated in the bill, upon
THE MERCURY MISCHIEF:AS OBAMA WARNS OF HAZARDS,THE FDA APPROVES MERCURY DENTAL FILLINGS
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/mercury_mischief.php
One has to wonder if it's really the governments mouth or it's wallet that it speaks from.
The new lightbulbs are all about mercury, one way or another they will make sure your exposed.
The question is why
The government seems to be speaking out of both sides of its mouth, as the President preaches one thing and the FDA does another. If we are going to have “smarter medicine that really works,” we need to get politics, lobbies and cronyism out of science.
President Obama has proposed covering the costs of his new medical plan with “smarter” medicine, meaning the adoption of procedures that eliminate inefficiencies and stress prevention. At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on August 11, 2009, he gave the example of a diabetic needing to have a foot amputated, at a cost of $30,000 to $50,000. It would have been smarter to counsel the patient on diet and weight loss and monitor his medications before amputation was required. The insurance company would have saved money and the patient would have saved a foot.
The 2008 Obama/Biden Plan for a Healthy America also stressed preventive approaches to disease, including the reduction of toxins to which the body is exposed; and chief among these toxins was mercury. The Plan stated as a fundamental goal:
“Reduce Risks of Mercury Pollution. More than five million women of childbearing age have high levels of toxic mercury in their blood, and approximately 630,000 newborns are born at risk every year. The EPA estimates that every year, more than one in six children could be at risk for developmental disorders because of mercury exposure in the mother’s womb.”
As a Senator, Obama was responsible for extensive legislation reducing environmental exposure to mercury, including a ban on the export of elemental mercury, and legislation to phase out the use of mercury in the manufacture of chlorine.
Mercury can get
One has to wonder if it's really the governments mouth or it's wallet that it speaks from.
The new lightbulbs are all about mercury, one way or another they will make sure your exposed.
The question is why
The government seems to be speaking out of both sides of its mouth, as the President preaches one thing and the FDA does another. If we are going to have “smarter medicine that really works,” we need to get politics, lobbies and cronyism out of science.
President Obama has proposed covering the costs of his new medical plan with “smarter” medicine, meaning the adoption of procedures that eliminate inefficiencies and stress prevention. At a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on August 11, 2009, he gave the example of a diabetic needing to have a foot amputated, at a cost of $30,000 to $50,000. It would have been smarter to counsel the patient on diet and weight loss and monitor his medications before amputation was required. The insurance company would have saved money and the patient would have saved a foot.
The 2008 Obama/Biden Plan for a Healthy America also stressed preventive approaches to disease, including the reduction of toxins to which the body is exposed; and chief among these toxins was mercury. The Plan stated as a fundamental goal:
“Reduce Risks of Mercury Pollution. More than five million women of childbearing age have high levels of toxic mercury in their blood, and approximately 630,000 newborns are born at risk every year. The EPA estimates that every year, more than one in six children could be at risk for developmental disorders because of mercury exposure in the mother’s womb.”
As a Senator, Obama was responsible for extensive legislation reducing environmental exposure to mercury, including a ban on the export of elemental mercury, and legislation to phase out the use of mercury in the manufacture of chlorine.
Mercury can get
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
AFL-CIO, Dems push new Wall Street tax
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http://thehill.com/homenews/house/56...all-street-tax
The nation’s largest labor union and some allied Democrats are pushing a new tax that would hit big investment firms such as Goldman Sachs reaping billions of dollars in profits while the rest of the economy sputters.
The AFL-CIO, one of the Democratic Party’s most powerful allies, would like to assess a small tax — about a tenth of a percent — on every stock transaction.
Small and medium-sized investors would hardly notice such a tax, but major trading firms, such as Goldman, which reported $3.44 billion in profits during the second quarter of 2009, may see this as a significant threat to their profits.
“It would have two benefits, raise a lot of revenue and discourage speculative financial activity,” said Thea Lee, policy director at the AFL-CIO.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/56...all-street-tax
The nation’s largest labor union and some allied Democrats are pushing a new tax that would hit big investment firms such as Goldman Sachs reaping billions of dollars in profits while the rest of the economy sputters.
The AFL-CIO, one of the Democratic Party’s most powerful allies, would like to assess a small tax — about a tenth of a percent — on every stock transaction.
Small and medium-sized investors would hardly notice such a tax, but major trading firms, such as Goldman, which reported $3.44 billion in profits during the second quarter of 2009, may see this as a significant threat to their profits.
“It would have two benefits, raise a lot of revenue and discourage speculative financial activity,” said Thea Lee, policy director at the AFL-CIO.
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