Hard Evidence Magazine

Beattie ready for backlash over dam decisions

2006-07-08T10:17:00.000+10:00

As residents on the Logan and Mary rivers absorb the dam announcements of the past two days, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says he is prepared for the political fallout.

Climate change disrupts fisheries

2006-07-08T09:45:00.000+10:00

By ANNE MATHER

July 8th

TASMANIA'S fisheries and agriculture industries are in jeopardy because of climate change, says a report released yesterday.

The report warns warming ocean waters could threaten Tasmania's abalone and rock lobster industries as well as farmed and wild fish stocks.

Temperature rises could also hit the state's dairy farms, vineyards and orchards.

The report by climate change expert Melanie Fitzpatrick, commissioned by the Australian Greens, shows climate change is already affecting Tasmania's environment and economy.

Greens Senator Christine Milne said all sectors of the state needed to focus urgently on how to adapt to the changes and to minimise their impacts.

The report, The Impact of a Changing Climate on Industry Sectors, warns that the $150million abalone industry is in jeopardy because rising water temperatures along the East Coast has introduced the long-spined sea urchin, which is devastating kelp forests needed by abalone.

The report says the East Coast has already seen a 1C rise in surface ocean temperature since 1940, and further rises could hurt the Atlantic salmon farming industry.

Letter From Michael Moore

2006-07-08T09:29:00.000+10:00

Friends,

Just a quick note to let you know how things are going.

Back in February, I asked if people would send me letters describing their experiences with our health care system. I received over 19,000 of them. It was truly overwhelming as we literally took a month and read them all. To read about the misery people are put through on a daily basis by our profit-based system was both moving and revolting. That's all I will say right now.

We've spent the better part of this year shooting our next movie, "Sicko." As we've done with our other films, we don't discuss them while we are making them. If people ask, we tell them "Sicko" is "a comedy about 45 million people with no health care in the richest country on earth."

But like my other movies, what we start with (General Motors, guns, 9/11) is not always what we end with. Along the way, we discover new roads to go down, roads that often surprise us and lead us to new ideas -- and challenge us to reconsider the ones we began with. That, I can say with certainty, is happening now as we shoot "Sicko." I don't think the country needs a movie that tells you that HMOs and the pharmaceutical companies suck. Everybody knows that. I'd like to show you some things you don't know. So stay tuned for where this movie has led me. I think you might enjoy it.

At this point, we've shot about 75% of "Sicko" and will soon begin putting it together. It will be released in theaters sometime in 2007.

And if you don't hear much from me in the meantime, it's only 'cause I'm busy working. I realize that my silence doesn't stop the opposition with their weird obsession for me! It seems like not a week passes without my good name being worked into some nutty news story or commentary. (I have to say, though, I did enjoy Tom Delay blaming me and Ms. Streisand for why he had to resign from Congress!)

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer. If you're near the state of Michigan later this month, I'll be putting on the second annual Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan. I've personally selected 60 or so movies that I love, many of which did not get the notice or distribution they deserved. Others are brand new independent movies and documentaries that I hope will find a large audience when they are released.

The film festival will take place in this beautiful town in northern Michigan, from July 31st to August 6th. Appearing in person with their films will be David O. Russell ("Three Kings"), Lawrence Bender ("An Inconvenient Truth"), Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda"), Larry Charles ("Borat"), plus Jeff Garlin, Jake Kasdan, and other filmmakers. We're also going to show every feature film made by the greatest American director of all time, Stanley Kubrick. Joining us in person will be his executive producer, Jan Harlan, and actors Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork Orange") and Matthew Modine ("Full Metal Jacket"). We'll also be presenting a special salute to films made in Iran (a sort of "Let's get to know them first this time!" effort).

If you'd like to see the entire list of films, click here. Tickets go on sale today (July 7) at noon. To purchase your tickets (all seats $7), click here or call 231-929-1506. Last year we had 50,000 admissions, and we expect most films to sell out early this year.

Well, that's it for now. Bush has quietly closed down the special section of the CIA that was devoted solely to capturing Mr. bin Laden, so we can all rest easy now. I wonder who his next scary evildoer will be. A fearful nation awaits its marching orders, sir!

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com

P.S. Don't forget to visit my website which I update every day with all the news the Bush stenographers (a/k/a "Mainstream Media") fail to put on page one.

Thousands March in Antiwar Rallies in Australia and Asia

2006-03-20T23:06:00.000+10:00

By World Socialist Web Site
20 March 2006

Protesters in Australia and Asia took part in antiwar rallies and marches over last weekend to mark the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq and to demonstrate their continuing opposition to the subjugation of the country.

In Japan, about 2,000 people rallied on Saturday in a Tokyo park, carrying signs saying, “Stop the Occupation” as they listened to a series of antiwar speeches. The crowd later marched about 3.5 km toward Tokyo’s main Ginza shopping district. On Sunday, about 800 people marched on the US embassy chanting “No War, Stop the War”.

In Pakistan, protesters held antiwar rallies in several cities, chanting slogans such as “Down with America!” About 300 people marched through Multan, a main city in the eastern Punjab province, with some burning US flags, and about 200 gathered in the southern city of Karachi. Some 1,000 people took part in a demonstration in Lahore.

On Sunday, around 2,000 protesters took part in a rally in Seoul to demand the withdrawal of South Korean troops from Iraq. South Korea has the third-largest contingent of foreign troops in Iraq after the US and Britain. A demonstration also took place outside the US Embassy in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

In Australia, whose government joined the US and Britain in the 2003 invasion and still has some 1,300 troops in and around Iraq, about 1,000 people in both Sydney and Melbourne demonstrated, with smaller rallies in other cities.

Protesters marched through central Sydney on Saturday, chanting “End the war now” and “Troops out of Iraq”. Many campaigners waved placards branding President Bush the “World’s No. 1 Terrorist” or expressing concerns that Iran could be the next country to face invasion.

Two days earlier, visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was heckled by campaigners in Sydney, who accused her of having “blood on her hands”. During Saturday’s march, Rice was secluded in a high-security location. A tripartite meeting involving Rice and the Japanese and Australian foreign ministers was convened in an inaccessible former naval base.

At Melbourne’s rally on Friday night, the banners included, “Medicare not missiles,” “End Terrorism” and “Troops out now”.

Significantly, the demonstrations in Sydney and Melbourne included many young people, mainly university and secondary students, looking for ways to express their disgust at the war and hoping to find political answers about what lies behind the turn to militarism.

However, the platforms organised by coalitions of radical and trade union groups provided no analysis whatsoever, and their only perspective consisting of keeping up protests in an effort to pressure governments, and opposition politicians, into pulling Australian troops out of Iraq.

The featured speakers in Sydney—Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, Teachers Federation president Maree O’Halloran and a Uniting Church minister, the Reverend Ann Wansbrough—described the war as immoral, inhumane and based on lies, but offered no explanations for why it had been launched. None even mentioned the oil reserves, let alone the drive for US hegemony over the Middle East and Central Asia, and Washington’s underlying economic crisis.

In fact, not one speaker, including various radicals, uttered the word capitalism, or even big business. No one referred to the working class or suggested a socialist alternative.

Nettle underscored the platform’s nationalist outlook, appealing to Prime Minister John Howard to “bring home” the troops so that they had no role in “fuelling sectarian violence” in Iraq. Neither she nor anyone else mentioned the Labor Party’s bipartisan support for the Howard government on the “war on terror” and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The official leaflet advertising the Sydney rally promoted the dangerous illusion that the quagmire in Iraq made it harder for the US to attack Iran and that the Howard government could be pressured to withdraw troops. It also made the claim that Labor leader Kim Beazley’s call for an “exit strategy” reflected the growing anger about the Iraqi disaster. In reality, Labor has criticised the government from the right for not bringing troops back to fight “terrorism” closer to home.

The relatively low turnout in large part reflects the deadend of the politics advanced by the protest leaders. There are many indications of the widespread opposition to the US occupation of Iraq. A speaking tour this month by British journalist Robert Fisk, known for his criticism of the Bush administration’s policies in the Middle East, drew packed audiences in Australia and New Zealand.

The results of a survey published in today’s Sydney Morning Herald showed that a majority believe that Australian troops should be withdrawn from Iraq—28 percent immediately and another 37 percent once the Japanese engineers guarded by Australian soldiers leave. The research conducted by UMR Research for the consultancy Hawker Britton also found that 49 percent of respondents believed that the invasion was “to protect oil interests”. By contrast, only 3 percent thought the war was to promote democracy in the Middle East and 8 percent believed it was to fight terrorism.

In both Sydney and Melbourne, World Socialist Web Site supporters distributed hundreds of WSWS articles and leaflets advertising the upcoming WSWS-Socialist Equality Party public meetings on “Socialism and the struggle against imperialist war”.

Aidan, a Sydney University student, told the WSWS: “I hate everything about the war, and I think that it’s wrong, but it is a product of our government, which is part of the capitalist system and props it up.

“It is a new period of war. The US is trying to gain a toehold in the Middle East, so that it can have some kind of advantage over Europe and also control the oil reserves, given India’s and China’s increasing development and reliance on oil. So I don’t think the wars are going to stop.

“There is no question that the financial side of the US is extremely weak. The entire economy is built on foreign debt. Maybe this is a gamble to keep control of the oil reserves and the two largest emerging energy markets, to keep the US on top.

“At the same time, I don’t know if the overthrow of capitalism is the answer, or at least I don’t think it’s achievable in the medium- or short-term. Socialism has such a bad name; it is widely seen to have failed. Socialism in its purest sense has never been adopted, although the Soviet Union came close, so there’s never been a trial run.”

Melanie, a young engineer in Melbourne, said: “I think this war is totally unnecessary. The major victims are women and children. I think the cause of the war is to protect investments—the US and its allies want to hold onto their oil and also to prevent the oil from falling into hands that the US doesn’t control.

“Howard should leave Iraq alone. It’s greed. They have money on their minds with the oil reserves. Saddam Hussein has been arrested, the regime is down and they haven’t found any weapons of mass destruction. What reason do they have to be there?

“Why does it take an army to rebuild a country? That isn’t supporting the people there. A positive contribution would be to build schools and hospitals, which would actually lift the morale of the country.”

Tony, a 26-year-old student from Sweden, has lived in three countries since the invasion of Iraq and, along with his friends, has attended antiwar demonstrations in each. Whether he had been in Stockholm, Oslo or Melbourne, “everyone I know is opposed to the war,” he said.

“It’s still unbelievable that America would just run over the UN. The UN said it’s illegal. They said you have to confirm that Saddam Hussein’s got weapons of mass destruction. They [the US] didn’t get rid of him when they attacked Iraq the first time [in 1991]. If he’d been a threat, why didn’t they do anything about him for ten years?”

Tony raised the issue of the Danish media’s anti-Muslim campaign, which occurred just before he came to Australia. “The cartoons were a provocation so after the riots they [the Danish Government] would be able to point with their fingers and say, ‘Look at those Muslims, they are crazy.’”

He was disturbed by the anti-Muslim campaign in Australia. “I saw a TV show with all this black and white footage—it was all, ‘Here come the foreigners to take your jobs.’ It’s like it was in the 1930s and 1940s. Back then it was the Jews, just now it seems to be the Muslims.”

Aspartame Is An Excitoneurotoxic Carcinogenic Drug!

2006-03-20T10:14:00.000+10:00

By Russell L. Blaylock, MD
3-17-6

Dangers of Aspartame

In 1965, a researcher at G.D. Searle pharmaceutical company inadvertently discovered the artificial sweetener aspartame while working on an anti-ulcer medication. It was discovered that the sweetener was about 150X sweeter than an equal amount of sugar. Over the next decade, the research staff at the G.D. Searle Company conducted a series of studies in an effort to get the product approved by the FDA.

Over all this consisted of about 11 different studies. In 1974 aspartame was approved for use only in dry foods. Its approval was based on these studies. Yet, even before these studies were being presented to the FDA, the pharmaceutical giant was under investigation for improprieties associated with several of its other drugs.

During this investigation, Dr. Adrian Gross was place in charge of examining these studies and Jerome Bressler was assigned to examine three of the studies. This investigation included a through examination of the pathology laboratory used in the tests, interviews with the scientists and technicians involved and a careful analytic review of the studies themselves.

In a letter to Senator Howard Metzenbaum, Dr. Gross discussed many of their findings in this investigation. He pointed out that at the heart of the regulatory process was the ability of the FDA to "rely upon the integrity of the basic safety data submitted" to the FDA. Further, he says, "Our investigation clearly demonstrates that, in the case of G.D. Searle Company, we have no basis for such reliance now."

He then pinpoints why he had reached this conclusion, when he states:

"Through our efforts, we have uncovered serious deficiencies in Searle's operations and practices which undermine the basis for reliance on Searle's integrity in conducting high quality animal research to accurately determine or characterize the toxic potential of its products."

Dr. Gross expressed his disdain at the way teratology experiments were conducted. These are critical tests with any new drug because it determines possible dangers to unborn children when their mothers are exposed to the product during pregnancy. He found that technicians responsible for the tests had no formal training in teratology or toxicology. In fact, they were given some books by the company and trained themselves for 3 months.
Of most concern was the way the carcinogenicity tests were conducted. These are tests to see if the product could cause cancer. According to the law, any product intended as a food product cannot have demonstrated cancer-causing ability at a dose 100X that commonly consumed.

Even though the tests were poorly conducted they did demonstrate that aspartame was associated with a dramatic, dose-dependent, increase in a variety of brain tumors-mainly astrocytomas-the type commonly seen in humans. This means that the higher the dose of aspartame the more tumors that were found.

The most appalling findings were by Dr. Bressler's investigation group. They found that in several instances malignant tumors were classified as benign and that in others, tumors were removed from rats and tissue slides and reported as normal.

Dr. John Olney, a neuropathologist and neuroscientist, pointed out to FDA investigators that aspartame contained at least two distinct components that could harm the brain-diketopiperizine and aspartic acid. The former is a suspected carcinogen and the latter an excitatory amino acid. As a world expert on excitotoxicity, a process where amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid causes brain cells to be excited to death, he understood the real danger to babies and small children. His laboratory studies had demonstrated that high dose aspartame could cause the very same brain injury as other excitotoxins.

The 1974 approval was withdrawn and after the results of these investigations were reviewed privately, aspartame was given approval once again in 1981. Ironically, it was approved using the very same studies that resulted in it being banned as too dangerous for human consumption in 1975.

In 1981, Arthur Hull Hayes was appointed commissioner of the FDA and in 1983 he approved aspartame for use in beverages. Three months later her left the FDA and accepted a position as the Senior Medical Advisor to Searle's PR firm of Burson-Marstellar.

Despite Dr. Olney's, and other neuroscientists and pathologists', objections, the product was given approval, essentially for all foods and beverages.

In 1992, Dr. Olney published a study that suggested that the significant rise in human brain tumors was related to the widespread use of aspartame, since it began after the approval of aspartame in foods and beverages. In Searle's original study Dr. Olney found that there was a 47X increase in brain tumors in the rats exposed to high dose aspartame. Even Searle's figures showed a 25X increase in brain tumors. Using existing data Dr. Olney and his co-authors found a 65% increase in brain tumors in humans since aspartame approval. Dr. H.J. Roberts also reported a similar rise in a rare form of brain cancer associated with aspartame use.

And a recent study by one of Europe's most prestigious oncology groups (a million dollar study) found a non-statistically significant increase in brain tumors in 1800 rats tested using aspartame. The control animals, which received no aspartame, developed no brain tumors, whereas the aspartame exposed animals developed 10 malignant gliomas, 1 medulloblastoma and 1 malignant meningioma.

I have had contact with a number of young women who have developed brain tumors (astrocytomas) following heavy use of aspartame products. When we combined the experimental studies with the clinical data it is obvious that aspartame is strongly linked to brain tumors and most likely lymphomas and leukemias.

Of great concern is the study by Trocho and his co-workers from the University of Barcelona, which found that aspartame was absorbed and then broken down into its component parts, including methanol and the methanol was further broken down into formic acid and formaldehyde. Using sophisticated radioactive labeling techniques he proved that the formaldehyde from the aspartame attached itself to the DNA, RNA and proteins of cells and that it was very difficult to removed. Further, they showed that the formaldehyde caused breaks in the DNA.

This has major implications in humans, since DNA damage, as was seen in their study, causes a multitude of cancers in humans as well as worsening of autoimmune diseases, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia, Parkinson's and ALS. It also causes concern because DNA breaks in the DNA in sperm and ova can cause increased cancer risk and developmental problems in the offspring of mothers and fathers consuming aspartame products.

In the Bressler examination of the Searle tumor study they found that the female animals exposed to aspartame had a very high incidence of uterine polyps, which were rare in rats not exposed. In fact, at even moderate doses, there was a 15X increase in uterine polyps. In addition, they found several ovarian tumors, breast fibroadenomas, several pituitary adenomas, several lymphomas and pancreatic tumors.

The new million-dollar study by Dr. Morando Soffritti and co-workers found a dramatic increase in malignant lymphomas and leukemias in female rats consuming even low doses of aspartame-doses known to be consumed by millions of children, pregnant women and others. Their carefully done study concluded that most likely it was the formaldehyde breakdown product from the aspartame that was causing the cancers, which confirms what Trocho and co-workers had found earlier. Formaldehyde is known to be a powerful toxin and carcinogen, even in low concentrations.

Of great concern was the finding by Trocho, that formaldehyde tends to accumulate in the DNA and is difficult to remove. This means that drinking even a single diet cola sweetened with aspartame can eventually produce significant DNA damage to raise one's risk of cancer and other diseases. Today, over 5000 products contain aspartame. It is also important to appreciate that we are exposed to a number of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, which can add to aspartame's toxicity.

There are sufficient studies on the effect of aspartame on the developing fetus to draw serious concern about the safety of this product. For example, it has been shown that aspartame in the dose accepted as safe by the FDA (50 mg/kg/day) can produce phenylalanine levels in a large number of women and their babies during pregnancy-large enough to produce abnormal development of the baby's brain. This is because phenylalanine interferes with the normal migration and connections of the developing brain.

In my estimation, pregnant women should never consume foods containing aspartame at any level, for the reasons I have discussed. The aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol are all known to produce abnormal development of a baby's brain.

There is also evidence from the studies done by Dr. Ralph Walton, indicating that depressed people are especially sensitive to the toxic effects of aspartame and that this is especially true of those with suicidal tendencies. In a separate study he has shown that virtually all of the independently conducted studies done on aspartame safety have found problems with the product, yet not a single study funded by the makers of aspartame (now Monsanto) reported even minor problems.

This is especially puzzling when you consider that among all the food-related complained registered by the FDA, 75 to 85% are related to aspartame. This alone should tell us there is a problem.

There are sufficient independent studies to show that aspartame is a dangerous product and that it should have never been given approval. In fact, it was approved using the same shoddy studies alluded to by Dr. Adrian Gross in his letter to Senator Howard Metzenbaum.

References

1. Letter to Senator Howard Metzenbaum from Dr. Adrian Gross, dated October 30, 1987.
2. Jerome Bressler, The Bressler Report, 4/25/77 to 8/4/77
3. Olney JW. Excitotoxins in foods. Neurotoxicology 1994;15:535-544.
4. Olney JW, et al. Brain damage in mice from voluntary ingestion of glutamate and aspartate. Neurobehavoral Toxicolology 1980; 2: 125-129.
5. Reynolds WA. Et al. Hypothalamic morphology following ingestion of aspartame or MSG in the neonatal rodent and primate: a preliminary report. Environmental Health 1976;2: 471-480.
6. Brunner RL, et al. Aspartame: assessment of developmental psychotoxicity of a new artificial sweetener Neurobehavioral Toxicology 1979;1: 79-86.
7. Wurtman RJ. Aspartame: possible effect on seizure susceptibility. Lancet 1985;9
8. Maher TJ, et al. Possible neurologic effects of aspartame, a widely used food additive. Environmental Health Perspectives. 1987;75: 53-57.
9. Walton RG, The possible role of aspartame in seizure induction. In, Wurtman RJ, Ritter-Walker E. (eds); Dietary Phenylalanine and Brain Function. Birkhauser, Boston, 1988, pp 159-162.
10. Changes in physiological concentrations of blood phenylalanine produce changes in sensitive parameters of human brain function. In, Wurtman RJ, Ritter-Walker E. (eds); Dietary Phenylalanine and Brain Function. Birkhauser, Boston, 1988, pp187-195.
11. Christian B, et al. Chronic aspartame affects T-maze performance, brain cholinergic receptors and Na+, K+-ATPase in rats. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 2004;78:121-127.
12. Nakao H, et a. Formaldehyde-induced shrinkage of rat thymocytes. Journal of Pharmacological Science 2003; 91: 83-86.
13. H.J. Roberts. Does aspartame cause human brain cancer? Journal Advancement in Medicine 1991; 4: 231-240.
14. Trocho C, et al. Formaldehyde derived from dietary aspartame binds to tissue components in vivo. Life Sciences 1998;63:337-349.
15. Scoffritti M, et al. Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukemias in rats. European Journal of Oncology 2005; 10: (in press)
16. Sabelli HC and Javaid JI. Phenylaethylamine modulation of affect: therapeudic and diagnostic implications. Journal of Neuropsychiatry 1995; 7: 6-14.
17. Scharma RP, et al. cerebrospinal fluid levels of phenylacetic acid in mental illness: behavioral associations and response to neuroleptic treatment. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1995; 91: 293-298.
18. Robain O, et al. Experimental phenylketonuria: effect of phenylacetate intoxication on number of synapses in cerebellar cortex of rats. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 1983; 61: 313-315.
19. Matalon R, et al. Aspartame consumption in normal individuals and carriers of phenylketonuria. In, Wurtman RJ, Ritter-Walker E. (eds); Dietary Phenylalanine and Brain Function. Birkhauser, Boston, 1988, pp41-52.
20. Monte WC. Aspartame: methanol and public health. Journal of Applied Nutrition 1984; 36: 52.
21. Walton RG, et al. Adverse reactions to aspartame: double-blind challenge in patients from a vulnerable population. Biological Psychiatry 1993; 34: 13-17.
22. Olney JW, Farber NB, Spitznagel E, Robins LN. Increasing brain tumor rates: is there a link to aspartame? J Neuropathology Experimental Neurology. 1996;55:1115-23.

New Mexico Begins Legislative Process To Ban Aspartame

2006-03-16T11:39:00.000+10:00

Fifteen state senators sponsored a bill to rid New Mexico of what some have called "Rumsfeld's Disease."

By Greg Szymanski

A senate bill to rid New Mexico of what has been called "Rumsfeld's Disease" was introduced Thursday by Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, as 15 other senators from both sides of isle also signed on, supporting legislation to ban the deadly artificial sweetener, aspartame.

Linked to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his efforts in the 1970s for putting the sweetener on the market, New Mexico is the first state to consider banning the artificial additive linked to numerous ill-health affects, including cancer.

If passed, no food containing any amount of the sweetener could be manufactured, sold or delivered in Mew Mexico, beginning July 1.

After the bill was introduced Thursday morning, Sen. Ortiz y Pino, appearing on Greg Szymanski's radio show, The Investigative Journal, said he needs support from six more senators for passage if the anti-aspartame legislation makes its way for a vote during the short 30-day legislative session.

The Albuquerque democrat also said the bill needs to be put on the "governor's call list" in order for it to be heard, remaining optimistic since Gov. Bill Richardson has expressed strong concern about the health hazards of aspartame in the past.

"I decided to introduce this bill, despite strong opposition by lobbyists because it is the right thing to do and many of my constituents feel the artificial sweetener is dangerous," said Sen. Ortiz y Pino while appearing on The Investigative Journal.

"I am very optimistic that the banning of aspartame will be passed into law since 15 senators signed on with me to support the bill. I know of one other who has said he join us, leaving only six more votes to get it passed in the senate if it comes to a vote this session."

Besides the senate bill, New Mexico's House of Representatives has also introduced a similar bill, House Bill 202, calling for the same ban on aspartame.

The House version of the bill was introduced by Gallup democrat, Irvin Harrison, who claims the measure, if passed, "means a vital national and international precedent would be set, one which could precipitate a new era of consumer protection in the United States and other nations."

New Mexico resident and Santa Fe art gallery owner Stephen Fox has been one of the main activists pushing to raise public awareness and outlaw the use of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved additive.

Fox and many others trying to ban aspartame have for years been trying to warn unsuspecting users of the dangers, saying aspartame contains "poisonous and deadly toxins."

Before legislation was introduced, Fox tried to get aspartame banned through the state's Environmental Improvement Board (EIB), but after pressure from aspartame lobbyists, postponed any action on Fox's request until July.

The New Mexico Legislature established the EIB in 1978 to handle rules on the state's food and water supply, liquid waste, air quality and radiation control. However, any action by the legislature to ban aspartame would supersede an EIB ruling.

Although the EIB said in October that it had the necessary power to handle Fox's petition, on Nov. 9, the board backtracked, asking in writing for Attorney General Patricia Madrid's opinion on whether state law gives it the authority to regulate aspartame and whether the board could carry out Fox's request to outlaw or put warning labels on products that contain the sweetener. The board has not received an answer from Madrid.

Regarding the adverse health affects from aspartame, a recent report from a highly respected international medical team has now linked the toxins in aspartame to lymphomas and leukemias.

The report by Morando Soffritti "Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukemias in rats" is in the European Journal of Oncology for July, 2005. Dr. Sofritti is a member of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences Cancer Research Centre in Bologna, Italy.

As reported, Dr. Soffritti and his team carefully set the conditions whereby genetically-uniform test rats were treated equally with the exception of being divided into groups given varying levels of the toxic chemical sweetener.

According to health experts, rats are deemed appropriate subjects for testing aspartame on humans because both humans and rats metabolize the methyl ester in aspartame into methyl alcohol, then formaldehyde then formic acid - all deadly poisons.

Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD, one of the world's leading authorities on aspartame neuro toxicity, extensively reviewed the Soffritti report.

"This study confirmed the previous study by Dr. Trocho and co-workers (1998), which also found the formaldehyde breakdown product of aspartame to be damaging to cellular DNA and that this damage was cumulative," said Dr. Blaylock. "The type of damage was a duplicate of that associated with cancers. These two studies strongly indicate that drinking a single diet cola sweetened with aspartame every day could significantly increase one's risk of developing a lymphoma or leukemia.

"This study should terrify mothers and all those consuming aspartame sweetened products. This was a carefully done study which clearly demonstrated a statistically significant increase in several types of lymphomas and leukemias in rats. Both of these malignancies have increased significantly in this country since the widespread use of aspartame.

"They also found an increased incidence of malignant brain tumors, even though it was not statistically significant. This does not mean there is no association to brain tumors, since ONLY the animals exposed to aspartame developed the tumors. With children and pregnant women drinking the largest amount of diet colas, this puts their children at the greatest risk of developing one of these horrible diseases. Their found that even lower doses of aspartame could cause these malignancies, yet, the higher the dose, the more cancers that were seen.

"Since aspartame can increase obesity and may even cause the metabolic syndrome that affects 48 million Americans, there is no reason to ever consume this product. At the least, it should be immediately banned from all schools."

Experts urge new iPod ear studies

2006-03-16T11:31:00.000+10:00

15 March 2006, 10:26 GMT

Apple is facing a possible class action over iPod sound levels US health experts have urged further research into possible links between personal music players and potentially irreversible hearing loss.

The National Institutes of Health said new studies were needed into the effects of in-ear headphones used in music players like the Apple iPod.

The NIH was responding to calls by a US congressman into the possible long-term effects of loud music on hearing.

Apple is facing a lawsuit in California alleging the iPod can damage hearing.

John Kiel Patterson, of Louisiana, says his iPod is capable of generating more than 115 decibels, a dangerous noise level, and is not safe for prolonged use.

Democrat Edward Markey wrote to the NIH in January calling for the body to look at research into the growing use of personal music players.

Kids are often more familiar with these products than parents, but they don't realise how harmful these products can be to hearing Congressman Edward Markey

"Sales of the devices have shattered all expectations. There is a very real need for research," he said.

"Kids are often more familiar with these products than parents, but they don't realise how harmful these products can be to hearing. It can lead to a lifelong ailment."

In a separate development, a poll of US youngsters suggested that as many of half of iPod users report symptoms of hearing loss.

The survey, by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA), found that just 49% of US high school students reported no symptoms of hearing loss, compared to 63% of adults.

Symptoms include a need to turn up the volume on the TV or radio to hear broadcasts; asking someone to repeat part of a conversation; and ringing in the ears.

ASHA polled 301 high school students and 1,000 adults across the US.

The Pentagon's defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects

2006-03-16T11:27:00.000+10:00

The Pentagon's defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions.

The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into their body, so they can be remotely controlled later.

Experts told the BBC some ideas were feasible but others seemed "ludicrous".

A similar scheme aimed at manipulating wasps failed when they flew off to feed and mate.

The new scheme is a brainwave of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which is tasked with maintaining the technological superiority of the US military.

It has asked for "innovative" bids on the insect project from interested parties.

'Assembly-line'

Darpa believes scientists can take advantage of the evolution of insects, such as dragonflies and moths, in the pupa stage.

"Through each metamorphic stage, the insect body goes through a renewal process that can heal wounds and reposition internal organs around foreign objects," its proposal document reads.

The foreign objects it suggests to be implanted are specific micro-systems - Mems - which, when the insect is fully developed, could allow it to be remotely controlled or sense certain chemicals, including those in explosives.

The invasive surgery could "enable assembly-line like fabrication of hybrid insect-Mems interfaces", Darpa says.

A winning bidder would have to deliver "an insect within five metres of a specific target located 100 metres away".

The "insect-cyborg" must also "be able to transmit data from relevant sensors, yielding information about the local environment. These sensors can include gas sensors, microphones, video, etc."

'Fiction'

Scientists who spoke to the BBC news website were unconvinced.

Entomology expert Dr George McGavin of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History said the idea appeared "ludicrous".

"Not all wacky ideas are without value. Some do produce the goods. My feeling is this will probably not produce the goods," he said.

"What adult insects want to do is basically reproduce and lay eggs. You would have to rewire the entire brain patterns."

Dr McGavin said it appeared impossible to connect the technology to the right places during the metamorphic phase, particularly with regard to flight.

Prof Andrew Parker, research leader at the Natural History Museum's zoology department and a specialist in bio-mimetics, said the concept was not too far fetched but had its limits.

Technology could help direct an insect to chemicals such as in roadside bombs, he said, but controlling full flight was "a long way off".

Entomology expert at the museum, Stuart Hine, agreed it was plausible to use insects to detect explosives.

But he added: "I feel that the reality of such cyborg fusion between insect and machine lies squarely in the realms of fiction."

To receive micro-signals from the insects would require a dish "quite close and several feet in diameter, rendering it a less than covert operation".

Darpa's previous experiments to get bees and wasps to detect the smell of explosives foundered when their "instinctive behaviours for feeding and mating... prevented them from performing reliably", it said.

Darpa was founded in 1958 to keep US military technology ahead of Cold War rivals.

Its website says it has around 240 personnel and a $2bn (£1.1bn) budget. Supporters say much of its work has been successful, but it has also drawn criticism for unusable "blue-sky" projects.

A former director said in 1975: "When we fail, we fail big."

Australians kidnapped 'by mistake'

2006-03-16T11:17:00.000+10:00

By Liz Bennett and wires

March 15, 2006

AN Australian teacher kidnapped in Gaza believes he and his colleague were taken by accident during a kidnapping blitz by Palestinian militants who thought they were Americans.

Science and maths teacher Oles Shcharytsya, said today he believed their kidnapping was a mistake.
"Because they thought that people are Americans and they apologised, it's all right," he said on Channel 9.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer confirmed the identity of the other Australian as junior teacher Kaye Bennett.

He told Sky News that Australian diplomats were now assisting the two teachers who were released unharmed.

"We know that they are fine and they were not maltreated in any way," he said.

"Our consular officials have been able to get in touch with them so that's a relief."
Mr Downer said there were two other Australians, believed to be teachers, still in the Gaza Strip, but they told officials they felt safe despite the abductions.

"All the Australians there are OK, as far as we know," he said.

Mr Shcharytsya and Ms Bennett were abducted when 20 armed men forced their way into the American International School in Beit Lahiya, principal Hendrik Taatgen said.

"I think, by the time the naval police had met us to get them back, we couldn't prevent the other two, the Australians, they were being taken by the kidnappers, Mr Taatgen told the ABC.

Mr Taatgen was himself abducted from the same school, along with his Australian deputy principal Brian Ambrosio, in December last year.

The abduction was reported just before 2am (AEDT) today and Ms Bennett and Mr Shcharytsya were released just two hours after they were snatched.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said DFAT travel advisories for the Gaza strip and West Bank contained longstanding recommendations that Australians don't go to the region and that those already there should leave because of the security situation.

Mr Shcharytsya and Ms Bennett had been held by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed offshoot of the Palestinian leadership's mainstream Fatah movement, before being handed over to preventive security, a spokesman for the group told Agence France-Presse.

At least nine foreigners were kidnapped in the spate of abductions, with six released a short time later, after Israeli forces stormed a prison in search of a wanted militant.

The facility had been deserted by British monitors shortly before the raid, sparking claims of collusion between authorities.

Official 'didn't believe kickbacks'

2006-03-16T11:04:00.000+10:00

March 15, 2006

A SENIOR federal government official was certain AWB would not have paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein for fear of damaging its strong reputation, the Cole inquiry was told today.

The former head of the Department of Foreign Affairs' Middle East section, Bob Bowker, told the inquiry that when questions were raised six years ago about AWB possibly paying kickbacks to Iraq, in breach of United Nations sanctions, he did not believe them.
The inquiry into the kickbacks scandal has previously heard how Bronte Moules, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officer with Australia's mission to the UN in New York, sent a cable in January 2000 alerting her bosses in Canberra to concerns about possible irregularities in AWB's contracts with Iraq.

The concerns were raised by the UN after complaints by an unnamed country, now known to be Canada, about how it had a shipment of wheat rejected by the Iraqis because it refused to pay kickbacks.

Within five days of receiving Ms Moules' cable Mr Bowker had replied, saying he had spoken to AWB executives in Melbourne and he believed it was unlikely AWB had made any illicit payments.

Mr Bowker today said that based on his extensive experience in the Middle East, and knowledge of how AWB prided itself on providing superior wheat to the region, he did not believe the wheat exporter would have made any illegal payments to Iraq.

He said "resorting to systematic corruption" would only have damaged AWB's strong reputation.
"It was most unlikely in my view that AWB, which enjoyed an enviable reputation for integrity in the Middle East, would be likely to jeopardise that reputation and that stature," Mr Bowker told the inquiry.

He said he met AWB executives in December 1999 in Melbourne where they reviewed AWB's market strategy for Iraq.

But Mr Bowker said AWB never suggested there was anything different or unusual about the company's dealings, and assured him the company respected the obligations with which the Australian government had to comply under the UN sanctions regime in Iraq.

He said that when he received Ms Moules' cable the following month, he had "no reason to anticipate or believe it likely that this allegation was going to be found to have substance".

The claims raised had been made by an unnamed party and were based on "essentially hearsay", he added.

Mr Bowker said that while he was aware of corruption in many Middle East countries and had heard tales of illicit deals involving sheep, cheese and construction, he did not believe Iraq was involved in shady wheat deals.

He also recounted what he called a "legendary" tale of how an Arab trader in an unnamed country took a rat out of his pocket and threw it into a shipload of wheat, sparking a discussion about how to fix such a contamination problem.

"But in the case of Iraq and Egypt, there has been no evidence ... of systematic corruption, nor has there been any suggestion that AWB was prepared to go down that path," Mr Bowker said.

The inquiry continues.

Disgraced doctor practising in NSW

2006-03-16T10:59:00.000+10:00

March 16, 2006

A DOCTOR who allegedly infected 12 patients with hepatitis C in South Australia is working unrestricted in NSW.

A South Australian parliamentary inquiry committee said it was "horrified" to find Stephen Rabone was still practising, The Australian newspaper reported today.
Dr Rabone, who worked at Barmera District Hospital in the Riverland in the 1990s, settled out of court with the 12 patients in 2004 after being accused of infecting them with hepatitis C using syringes he had also used on himself, the paper reported.

"Amidst suspicions of missing saline, syringes and drugs, it was also alleged by nursing staff that Dr Rabone would order a drug, leave the room momentarily taking the drug with him, self-administer the drug out of sight, then return and inject the patients with the same syringe," the committee's report stated.

Dr Rabone had moved to NSW and had a postal address in the northern Sydney suburb of Lane Cove, the paper said.
The NSW Medical Board confirmed Dr Rabone was registered to practise medicine in the state.

Heavy security for Rice meeting

2006-03-16T10:54:00.000+10:00

March 16, 2006

A HEAVY police presence is in place around the Sydney hotel where the world's most powerful woman, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will shortly meet Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

Dr Rice, who arrived in Sydney from Indonesia overnight, will spend three days in Australia in what is her first visit since becoming America's chief diplomat.
Cement bollards are blocking streets surrounding the Intercontinental Hotel in Sydney's CBD, with US Secret Service personnel supported by state and federal police.

Sniffer dogs have been stationed in hotel lobby and journalists due to attend the press conference at 11.45am (AEDT) are undergoing security checks.

It is the second big security operation in Sydney this week, after the Queen's whirlwind visit on Monday.

Bid to change bugging laws

2006-03-16T10:52:00.000+10:00

By Paul Osborne

March 16, 2006

INVESTIGATIONS into child pornography and organised crime could be put at risk without changes to proposed police bugging laws, an inquiry has been told.

A Bill before federal Parliament will hand police the right to trace innocent third parties they think might be able to lead them to a suspect.
But the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) told a Senate inquiry into the Bill there were flaws which would prevent some crimes being reported to police.

DPP acting senior assistant director Mark de Crespigny said in the agency's submission to the inquiry it was possible a computer manager could be prevented from reporting child porn to police for further investigation despite discovering it on a computer system.

"For example, if a system administrator becomes aware through the operation of a firewall system of the receipt of child pornography, it is not clear that the system administrator would be able to bring that fact to the attention of relevant authorities in order that a warrant might be obtained," Mr de Crespigny said in the submission.

He said the Blunn inquiry into bugging, which reported last year, had recommended anyone who had legitimate access to a computer system could report their suspicion of a crime.

Mr de Crespigny said another problem with the proposed laws was the time limit set on getting further warrants.
The Bill also prevents a further warrant being issued in relation to the same telco within three days after the execution of the previous warrant.

"The strict three-day waiting period for the issue of a further warrant may interfere with an investigation and the collection of important evidence," he said.

South Australian police commissioner Malcolm Hyde told the inquiry in his submission present laws prevented some crimes from being properly investigated.

"Experiences in South Australia have shown that the current interception framework has not been able to assist in cases where the telecommunications service of the suspected criminal cannot be identified," Mr Hyde said.

"A recent example of a case ... was that of a person being threatened and extorted by a member of an organised criminal group.

"In this case the ability of law enforcement to intercept communication services of the intended victim would have assisted to identify the culprit and capture incriminating communications."

Aboriginal legal threat to Queen

2006-03-16T10:46:00.000+10:00

March 16, 2006

ABORIGINAL protesters today threatened the Queen with legal action if she failed to come to the negotiating table over an Aboriginal treaty.

A "final" written warning was issued to the Queen this morning calling on the monarch to implement a treaty and address issues of genocide and sovereignty.
The Queen, who opened the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne last night, has 28 days to respond to the notice or Aboriginal rights group The Black GST – which stands for genocide, sovereignty, treaty – will commence legal action in the International Criminal Court of Justice.

Aboriginal Elder Robbie Thorpe hand delivered the notice to Government House in Melbourne where the Queen stayed last night.

"I have exhausted all other legal avenues in this country to get these fundamental legal issues resolved," Mr Thorpe said.

"Despite victory in the Federal Court of Australia to force the Australian government to pass legislation to make genocide a crime in Australia, these issues are still not being addressed.

"Queen Elizabeth II is the sovereign ruler of this nation and she is ultimately responsible for the running of this country."
Mr Thorpe said the Queen faces the prospect of an International Criminal Court summons if she failed to respond.

The ultimatum comes after more than 500 aboriginal rights activists protested outside the Royal Exhibition Building yesterday as the Queen arrived for a state luncheon.

The protesters called on the Queen to meet Black GST members at a temporary campsite in Melbourne's Kings Domain for talks on a treaty with Aboriginal Australians.

The Queen did not respond.

U.S. Push for Democracy Could Backfire Inside Iran

2006-03-15T15:47:00.000+10:00

March 14th, 2006 9:18 pm

By Karl Vick and David Finkel / Washington Post

TEHRAN -- Prominent activists inside Iran say President Bush's plan to spend tens of millions of dollars to promote democracy here is the kind of help they don't need, warning that mere announcement of the U.S. program endangers human rights advocates by tainting them as American agents.

In a case that advocates fear is directly linked to Bush's announcement, the government has jailed two Iranians who traveled outside the country to attend what was billed as a series of workshops on human rights. Two others who attended were interrogated for three days.

The workshops, conducted by groups based in the United States, were held last April, but Iranian investigators did not summon the participants until last month, about the time the Bush administration announced plans to spend $85 million "to support the cause of freedom in Iran this year."

"We are under pressure here both from hard-liners in the judiciary and that stupid George Bush," human rights activist Emad Baghi said as he waited anxiously for his wife and daughter to emerge from interrogation last week. "When he says he wants to promote democracy in Iran, he gives money to these outside groups and we're in here suffering."

The fallout illustrates the steep challenge facing the Bush administration as it seeks to play a role in a country where American influence is called unwelcome even by many who share the goal of increasing democratic freedoms.

"Unfortunately, I've got to say it has a negative effect, not a positive one," said Abdolfattah Soltani, a human rights lawyer recently released from seven months in prison. After writing in a newspaper that his clients were beaten while in jail, Soltani was charged with offenses that included spying for the United States.

"This is something we all know, that a way of dealing with human rights activists is to claim they have secret relations with foreign powers," said Soltani, who co-founded a human rights defense group with Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi. "This very much limits our actions. It is very dangerous to our society."

Activists here said the Bush initiative demonstrates the chasm that often separates those working inside Iran for greater freedoms -- carefully calibrating their actions to nudge incremental changes in a hostile system -- and the more strident approach of many Iranian exiles who often have the ear of Washington policymakers.

"Our society is very complicated," said Vahid Pourostad, editor of National Trust, a new newspaper aligned with Iran's struggling reform movement. "Generally speaking, it is impossible to impose something from outside. Whatever happens will happen from inside.

"It seems to me the United States is not studying the history of Iran very carefully," Pourostad said. "Whenever they came and supported an idea publicly, the public has done the opposite."

Advocates and ordinary Iranians say the U.S. project also may suffer from poor timing. Just four years ago, the Iranian public's appetite for greater freedom was vibrant here, with a reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, returned to office in a landslide and his allies in control of parliament.

But public disillusionment grew steadily as the reformists failed to wrest crucial powers from the appointed clerics who control much of the power in Iran's theocratic system of government. The clerics cemented their grip by excluding dissenters from subsequent elections.

At the same time, hard-liners in the government maintained relentless pressure against independent institutions, closing more than 100 newspapers and jailing students by the hundreds. Many had ventured into the streets at the encouragement of satellite TV stations run by exile groups that breathlessly announced a new revolution in the offing.

"They said I would be joined by millions," said one student, who endured a beating by paramilitary militiamen unleashed against the demonstrators. "I just got beat up."

Today, Pourostad said, the capacity for civil society is so depleted that homeowners cannot be bothered to protest the cutting of trees in an eastern Tehran park to make way for a freeway extension.

"If such a thing had happened four or five years ago, the newspapers could have mounted a social movement," he said. "Now, we can put it in the paper, but we can't create a social wave. A disaster happens, but we can't do anything about it."

The Bush administration is asking Congress for $75 million in emergency funding to promote democracy in Iran, in addition to $10 million already budgeted. Most of the money, $50 million, would be spent to build a satellite television station. The plan also calls for $5 million each for scholarships and public diplomacy that includes fostering independent media inside Iran.

The final $15 million would go toward nongovernmental organizations and civic education on the lines of what the federally chartered National Endowment for Democracy carries out in a wide variety of countries.

"It's going to be hard for them to spend it here," said a diplomat at a European embassy in Tehran, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The diplomat refused to be identified because the embassy has had some success with a program aimed at fostering reform in one Iranian ministry and publicity could make it a target of hard-liners.

"There is a downside," the diplomat said. "There always is. And they'll have to be clever about how they spend it."

Iran on Monday lodged a formal complaint against the Bush plan through the U.S. Interests Section at the Swiss Embassy here. At the same time, Iran's parliament allocated the equivalent of $15 million to "probe and defuse" U.S. conspiracies and interventions in the country, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

The experience of Baghi's group is cast as a cautionary tale for all concerned, including a prosecutor notorious for using arrests and detention to make examples.

Baghi, 44, has been prominent in Iran's reform movement for a decade. Once a theology student, he worked in sociology and came to prominence as an investigative journalist. After writing articles that exposed the role of Iran's Intelligence Ministry in the murders of dissidents in the 1990s, he served three years in prison.

After his release he started a newspaper, Jumhuriyat. Prosecutors closed it after 13 issues. He then founded the Society for Protecting Prisoners' Rights, a group that provides free attorneys for inmates and lobbies Iran's judiciary for due process and humane treatment.

Baghi said a friend in Europe approached him 16 months ago with a proposal to send members of the group to Dubai for a "human rights workshop." The friend gave the impression the United Nations was involved, Baghi said.

Unable to attend because authorities continue to withhold his passport, Baghi sent three other members of the rights group: his wife, Fatehmeh Kamali; their adult daughter, Maryam Baghi; and Ali Afsahi, a cleric turned film critic. Kamali's nephew, Ehsan, a law student who lived with them, went along for the ride, Baghi said.

By all accounts, the workshops did not go well. "They were very angry about this trip," Baghi wrote his friend in an e-mail. "They felt offended and insulted."

Quoting his wife, who was not available to be interviewed because of her interrogation, Baghi said the workshops offered only rudimentary training in human rights. Other sessions highlighted popular revolts in Serbia, Ukraine and elsewhere. The three Iranians were the only participants and were moved from one hotel to another by the organizers, who conjured an air of cloak and dagger, Baghi said.

"You know what a vulnerable situation we have here in Iran," Baghi wrote. "It was not a good thing to invite us to such a workshop."

Peter Ackerman, who chairs the Washington group that ran a portion of the workshops, took issue with Baghi's description. Ackerman said the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict promotes the potential of nonviolent change by highlighting experiences in formerly oppressive countries, as depicted in the film "A Force More Powerful," which was screened in Dubai.

Baghi's group left Dubai early, saying the workshops were not what they had expected. Back in Iran, their attendance brought no immediate repercussions, even though it apparently was known to government security services. Baghi said the intelligence office of the Higher Education Ministry asked his daughter about the trip while vetting her for a graduate degree four months ago.

Then on Feb. 12, with reports emerging in Washington of the Bush initiative, Afsahi was taken into custody. Ehsan Kamali, the law student, was detained at a filling station four days later. Both remain in solitary confinement in Evin Prison in the north of Tehran, their condition unknown.

Baghi's wife and daughter were summoned to a prosecutor's office last Tuesday, when a Washington Post reporter arriving for a previously scheduled appointment found Baghi cursing Bush. The women were questioned into the night for three days by deputies of the Tehran prosecutor, Said Mortazavi, the government's most widely feared enforcer.

Diplomats said pressure on individuals has increased since the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president and the showdown over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"The people who did this workshop don't realize what kind of world we live in here," Baghi said. "Here, we've got Mortazavi and the system behind him. The other side has got the U.S. and its money. The pressure is on people who are trying to promote human rights inside the country.

"I feel Ahmadinejad and President Bush are like two blades of a scissor."

Ackerman took a different view.

"The question is: Why are they going to jail?" he said. "What kind of people are sending these people to jail? What's going on here is wrong. It's despicable."

Finkel reported from Washington.

Fallujah:The Flame of Atrocity

2006-01-12T14:36:00.000+10:00

This week, the broadcast of a shattering new documentary provided fresh confirmation of a gruesome war crime covered by this column nine months ago: the use of chemical weapons by American forces during the frenzied, Bush-ordered destruction of Fallujah in November 2004.

Using filmed and photographic evidence, eyewitness accounts, and the direct testimony of American soldiers who took part in the attacks, the documentary – "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre" – catalogues the American use of white phosphorous shells and a new, "improved" form of napalm that turned human beings into "caramelized" fossils, with their skin dissolved and turned to leather on their bones.

The film was produced by RAI, the Italian state network run by a government that backed the war.

More information at above link.

News from the San Joaquin Valley

2006-01-12T14:30:00.000+10:00

Associated Press

HILMAR, Calif. - The Hilmar Cheese Company can drill a test well to find out if it can inject waste water deep underground without contaminating a nearby drinking water aquifer, federal officials said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which authorized the drilling on Monday, said they'll wait for test results before they give the company permission to drill other wells.

Company officials hope the move will solve the problem of what to do with up to 2.2 million gallons of waste water produced at the plant each day.

The company is also negotiating with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board to reach a settlement over a $4 million dollar fine imposed last year for years of water quality violations.

Can Saddam Hussein be found innocent?

2006-01-10T15:30:00.000+10:00

by Yamin Zakaria

(Friday January 06 2006)

"The trial also serves to divert the attention away from the real war crimes and war criminals."

Saddam Hussein was overthrown as a consequence of an illegal war waged by: state terrorists, foreign fighters, vulture like mercenaries and some peripheral nations who prostituted their soldiers in exchange for some US dollars. Kofi Anan, the UN General Secretary, eventually confirmed what the rest of the world was saying - the war was a clear violation of the UN Charter. Saddam Hussein was overthrown illegally, imprisoned unlawfully and now being tried illegitimately by a US-led kangaroo court. However, what charges can be brought against Saddam Hussein? To answer the question, all the allegations that are constantly propagated as proven fact by the Western powers are, listed and analysed below.

a). Suppressing Dissidents (Human Rights Violation)

The allegations of human rights violations and the anti-Saddam mantra were only amplified by the West as part of the war propaganda, since the 1991 Gulf War. Prior to 1991, these allegations were rarely heard in the media, being an US ally. Most certainly he is not unique in suppressing dissidents, using torture and even executions. The governments of, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Turkey, mini-countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain etc. are equally as bad and some are definitely a lot worse than Saddam. For example, Uzbekistan regime is known to employ horrific torture methods against political dissidents. However, such nations being US allies, their conduct does not even get noticed. The point here is; - if the US is going to try Saddam Hussein for human rights violations, then it must apply this principle consistently or not at all. Because selective application of a law/principle is a form of injustice, and shows ulterior motives in the one who is making the allegations.

In any case, the West has clearly lost the moral authority to make any accusations, as they are also violating human rights by using torture and unlawful internment. What better example than the infamous Abu-Ghraib prison, it was used by Saddam Hussein, and then the Americans came along used the same prison for ‘softening-up’ (torturing) innocent Iraqis and many were executed; no doubt, the Americans excelled Saddam Hussein. Prisoners are held indefinitely in places like Camp-X-Ray and Belmarsh, without being charged and without any legal representation. The US now sub-contracts torture (renditions) to other nasty regimes, but in any case, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a long reputation for conducting such activities around the world.

If the US is really concerned about human rights, then it should address the rights of the 100,000 dead civilians first, and pay war reparations to Iraq. Where was that concern and commitment to human rights after the massacre in Sabra and Shatila, Rwanda, and in India where the ‘vegetarian’ Hindus cannibalised over 3000 Muslims? Is it a coincidence that none of those places have rich reserves of oil, unlike Iraq!

b) The Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s

The war had the clear blessing of the US, who directly encouraged Saddam Hussein to fight and armed him to the teeth, which included the sale of chemical weapons. If Saddam Hussein is now accused of waging war against Iran, after 25 years, then it is the Iranians and not the US-sponsored Iraqi regime that should be trying him. Most certainly, if he is to be tried, then so should all the culprits that supplied him with the weapons, intelligence and especially those criminals that supplied him with chemical weapons. Such a trial we can only dream of but it would constitute real justice.

c). Using Chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988

After almost 20 years, Saddam Hussein is being accused of using these weapons against the Kurds in Halabja in 1988. Stephen Pelletiere [1] wrote in the New York Times clearly refuting this allegation. The Kurds were caught in crossfire. If anything they were killed by the cyanide based gas used by the Iranian army and not the mustard based gas used by the Iraqis. Stephen Pelletiere was CIA’s senior political analyst on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, and as a professor at the Army War College from 1988 to 2000, he was privy to much of the classified material that flowed through Washington having to do with the Persian Gulf. He also headed a 1991 Army investigation into how the Iraqis would fight a war against the United States. So, no doubt the man has authority on this subject.

What we know for sure, that the US used chemical weapons against the Iraqis (Fallujah, Baghdad and other places) but also against other countries in the past, e.g. Vietnam. With similar effects the US has been also used Depleted Uranium, causing mass deformities, cancer and all sorts of other diseases; this will continue to affect the Iraqis at least for the next 100 years or more. So, in chronological order, it is the US, that should be first in the docks facing charges of using chemical weapons and the like, against humanity.

d). Invasion of Kuwait (former province of Basra - Walayah of Basra)

Kuwait was historically part of Basra, and it was carved up the colonialist powers in line with the policy of divide and rule. The dispute in 1991 was an internal matter between the two Arab countries; no aggression was committed against any Western powers. Iraq could argue it was provoked into attacking Kuwait on a number of issues. However, the Western powers have no arguments in justifying the attack on Iraq apart from the neo-colonial fig leaf of UN resolutions, which only works in one direction; against the weaker nations.

The deaths of Kuwaitis due to the Iraq invasion were inflated. But what is for certain, a lot more Iraqis were killed by the US forces, they committed war crimes against Iraq on a massive scale. When the defenceless women, children and the Iraqi soldiers were retreating on the road to Basra (inside Iraq), they were needlessly murdered. It was a grotesque display of the murderous nature of these state terrorists. The ‘chivalrous’ allied soldiers were even fighting each other to take pot shots at the defenceless Iraqis - Shi’ites, Sunnis and Kurds. This incident let to labelling the road to Basra as the “highway of death”.

Retreating Iraqis were ironically fulfilling the UN resolutions; hence, there was no legitimate reason for the cowardly aggression. Yet, the UN remained a spectator, and took no actions in addressing this heinous crime. This once again confirms the nature of the UN; it is a fig-leaf of the major powers to justify their neo-colonial adventures. If Saddam Hussein is to be tried for invading Kuwait, a former province of Basra, the US and its coalition partners that should certainly stand trial for the unprovoked invasion of distant Iraq and the massive war crimes committed against the Iraqis, since 1991.

e). Killing of the Shi’ites uprising, post 1991 Gulf War

Small numbers of Shi’ites were killed after the 1991 war, for acts of sedition against the state, with open encouragement from the US. Similar treatments were given to anyone else who rebelled against the regime to overthrow it. In any country, such acts of rebellion are punishable with death or long term prison sentences. Saddam Hussein like any other head of state has every right to suppress such a movement. So, where is the crime here?

Legitimacy and Purpose of the Trial

Any trial lacks legitimacy under foreign occupation, according to international laws and common sense. Especially in this case, as the war was illegal, thus subsequent occupation was also illegal; and anything else that followed under occupation, for example elections, must also be illegal, null and void. Behind the scenes, the US is orchestrating the trial using Iraqis largely imported from abroad. The US is still the real authority in Iraq with its armed forces and only the politically naive would contend otherwise. The trial has been given an Iraqi face, for the politically naive, the moderates, traitors and opportunists. In reality, the trial is a smokescreen for the US, which is part of its neo-colonial designs for the region.

Americans claim Saddam Hussein is being tried on behalf of the Iraqi masses but the Iraqis are hardly engaged in a mass euphoric celebration on the streets of Iraq. Because, even those who opposed Saddam Hussein are opposed to the US sponsored trial, they understand that the primary purpose of the trial is to humiliate all the Arabs and Muslims. Accordingly, it is already being used to intimidate nations like Syria, Iran and others. Now if Saddam Hussein was replaced in the docks with the likes of Ariel Sharon, George Bush, Tony Blair there would be a spontaneous ecstatic celebration across the world and not just the Arab/Islamic world.

If Saddam Hussein was the real issue, the coalition forces would have left Iraq after his capture and by that time most of the senior Baath Party officials had also been killed or captured. The credibility of the US claims pertaining to Saddam’s trial is like its earlier claims of Iraq’s WMDs and later claims of its soldiers are benevolent liberators. The stark reality is, no WMDs existed; and the US soldiers are allowed and encouraged as part of the softening-up process, to take the souvenir pictures of Iraqi prisoners from places like Abu-Ghraib. These are the soldiers that are swapping pictures of the genitals of dead Iraqis to gain access to internet porn sites. Numerous reports confirmed that the US soldiers stole from Iraqi homes, offices, museums and palaces. They brag on websites to the wider audience and their friends and families back home, how they murdered and raped, Iraqi boys, girls, men and women in revenge for 9/11 but never for bringing Saddam to ‘justice’!

The trial also serves to divert the attention away from the real war crimes and war criminals. How ironic, that Saddam Hussein is on trial for the alleged killings in 1980s/90s, while the real criminals have just slaughtered 100,000 plus Iraqi civilians, and destroyed the countries entire infrastructure. They are roaming free and preparing for their multinationals to ‘rebuild’ Iraq, using Iraqi oil of course! Thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children are languishing in the brutal US-led prisons, in line with the Camp-X-Ray ethos. Many of the prisoners have simply vanished. It is Bush and Blair that are the real war criminals, who should be on the docks.

Can he be found innocent?

The case against Saddam Hussein is weak from the onset, because the real plaintiff (the US) has more than once proven to be a hypocrite and a liar. Allegations of Iraqi WMDs have been proven to be to be a clear lie, perhaps the lie of the century. Likewise allegations of Saddam’s mass graves, where figures of 100,000 to 500,000 were cited have been proven to be massive pre-war propaganda hype, if anything the US has created many mass graves since the first Gulf War in 1991. In any court, the words of a proven liar have no merit; therefore, the US-based allegations and any supportive evidence provided from them should be rejected instantly.

However, regardless of the strength or weakness of the evidences and the credibility of the real Plaintiff (the US), Saddam Hussein will be found guilty and he has to be found guilty. Because after failing to find WMDs, the justification for the war was changed to removing the tyrant Saddam Hussein on behalf of the Iraqi masses. If Saddam Hussein is now found to be innocent, then there are no more arguments for the war, the last remaining fig leaf falls and then even the history according to the victor will not be kind. In any trial there is a theoretical possibility of 50-50 chance of finding someone one innocent or guilty but certainly that is not going to be the case with the trial of Saddam Hussein and we know why.

Source:http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/24852

by courtesy & © 2006 Yamin Zakaria

Curfew call to end race riots

2005-12-15T03:12:00.000+10:00

Curfew call to end race riots

By Edmund Tadros
December 14, 2005

Arab Christian, Arab Muslim and community organisations have called for a weekend curfew to stop the racial violence.

"In order to prevent further violence, we call on the community to abide by a curfew on Friday from 9pm, on Saturday from 9pm and all day Sunday,'' the statement from Eman Dandan at the Lebanese Muslim Association said.

THIS IS NOT THE AUSTRALIAN WAY "SHAME"

2005-12-15T02:06:00.000+10:00

Driver bashed by group of men

December 14, 2005 - 8:04AM

A motorist was bashed with a baseball bat and five people were arrested as hundreds of police hit Sydney's streets overnight to restore calm.

More than 450 officers were on patrol in flashpoint suburbs in the city's south and west after they were hit by violence sparked by Sunday's race riot at Cronulla beach.

NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin said there were no "smash and bash" raids and no confrontations with police overnight.

It was not known if a fire that destroyed a Uniting Church at Auburn, in Sydney's inner west, early today was linked to recent violence in at least four Sydney suburbs, he said.

But police are treating the blaze at the church, which is near an Islamic centre, as suspicious.

European Investigation of CIA Cites Indications People Abducted

2005-12-14T10:18:00.000+10:00

European Investigation of CIA Cites Indications People Abducted

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- A Council of Europe investigator looking into whether the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency established secret prisons in Europe said there are indications that ``individuals had been abducted.''

The 46-nation council, which advocates human rights and respect for the law, has opened a formal inquiry into the CIA's handling of suspected terrorists.

``Legal proceedings in progress in certain countries seemed to indicate that individuals had been abducted and transferred to other countries without respect for any legal standards,'' council investigator Dick Marty said in a report released today. ``It had to be noted that the allegations had never been formally denied by the United States.''

The council said on Nov. 23 that it was opening the investigation into reports the U.S. secretly held terrorist suspects in Europe and used European countries as transit points for the detainees.

Marty said today that ``the information gathered to date reinforced the credibility of the allegations concerning the transfer and temporary detention of individuals, without any judicial involvement, in European countries.''

The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France, is the continent's oldest political organization, founded in 1949. Its aims include defending human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. It also aims to develop continent-wide agreements to standardize member countries' social and legal practices, according to its Web site.

Fluoride, Teeth And The Atomic Bomb

2005-12-13T17:29:00.000+10:00

Project Censored
12-11-5

Intorduction - The following article was commissioned by the Christian Science Monitor in the spring of 1997. Despite much favorable comment from editors, and full documentation, the story remains unpublished by the Monitor. By any yardstick, this report was an award-winning scoop for any national paper. The report offers a glimpse into the history of fluoride, a bio-accumulative toxic that Americans ingest every day. The authors, Griffiths and Bryson, spent more than a year on research. With the belief that the information should be withheld no longer, the authors gave their report to Waste Not, and others, with a short note: "use as you wish."

This introduction is taken from Waste Not #414 (September 1997) where the article was first published. The article went on to be nominated as the year's 18th most censored story in the 1998 Project Censored Series.

Fluoride, Teeth, and the Atomic Bomb

By Chris Bryson & Joel Griffiths

Some fifty years after the United States began adding fluoride to public water supplies to reduce cavities in children's teeth, declassified government documents are shedding new light on the roots of that still-controversial public health measure, revealing a surprising connection between fluoride and the dawning of the nuclear age.

Today, two thirds of U.S. public drinking water is fluoridated. Many municipalities still resist the practice, disbelieving the government's assurances of safety.

Since the days of World War II, when this nation prevailed by building the world's first atomic bomb, U.S. public health leaders have maintained that low doses of fluoride are safe for people, and good for children's teeth.

That safety verdict should now be re-examined in the light of hundreds of once-secret WWII documents obtained by Griffiths and Bryson --including declassified papers of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. military group that built the atomic bomb.

Fluoride was the key chemical in atomic bomb production, according to the documents. Massive quantities of fluoride-- millions of tons-- were essential for the manufacture of bomb-grade uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War. One of the most toxic chemicals known, fluoride rapidly emerged as the leading chemical health hazard of the U.S atomic bomb program--both for workers and for nearby communities, the documents reveal.

Other revelations include:

* Much of the original proof that fluoride is safe for humans in low doses was generated by A-bomb program scientists, who had been secretly ordered to provide "evidence useful in litigation" against defense contractors for fluoride injury to citizens. The first lawsuits against the U.S. A-bomb program were not over radiation, but over fluoride damage, the documents show.

* Human studies were required. Bomb program researchers played a leading role in the design and implementation of the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoridating public drinking water--conducted in Newburgh, New York from 1945 to 1956. Then, in a classified operation code-named "Program F," they secretly gathered and analyzed blood and tissue samples from Newburgh citizens, with the cooperation of State Health Department personnel.

* The original secret version--obtained by these reporters--of a 1948 study published by Program F scientists in the Journal of the American Dental Association shows that evidence of adverse health effects from fluoride was censored by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) --considered the most powerful of Cold War agencies-- for reasons of national security.

* The bomb program's fluoride safety studies were conducted at the University of Rochester, site of one of the most notorious human radiation experiments of the Cold War, in which unsuspecting hospital patients were injected with toxic doses of radioactive plutonium. The fluoride studies were conducted with the same ethical mind-set, in which "national security" was paramount.

* The U.S. government's conflict of interest--and its motive to prove fluoride "safe" -- has not until now been made clear to the general public in the furious debate over water fluoridation since the 1950's, nor to civilian researchers and health professionals, or journalists.

[cont'd]

http://www.fluoridealert.org/wastenot414.htm

What's Wrong With fluoridation?... Follow the Money

Excerpts from The Secret War and
The Fluoride Conspiracy

By Dr. Geoffrey E. Smith

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has always measured the safety of fluoridation on the basis of one study of crippling skeletal fluorosis, which was first published in 1935.

EPA's regulation for the maximum allowable concentration of fluoride in drinking water was established for one purpose - to prevent this disease. However crippling is the end stage of chronic fluoride poisoning. The earlier stages involve gastrointestinal problems, arthritis, and osteoporosis. None of these earlier symptoms are considered in the regulation ... only the end stage.

In 1985, when EPA raised the maximum contaminant level to 4 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water, they used dosage figures miscalculated in 1953 by Harold C. Hodge, who was chairman of the NAS committee on toxicology. Hodge's original figures (20-80 mg/day for 10-20 years) were corrected by Hodge in 1979, and by NAS in 1993. The corrected figures, based on Roholm's classic study of workers in the cryolite industry, amount to 0.2 to 0.35 milligrams of fluoride per kilogram of body weight per day, for eleven years. When extrapolated over a lifetime of 55 to 96 years, these crippling dosage figures equal 1 milligram of fluoride daily for each 55 pounds of body weight ... 0.04 mg/kg/day.

In the early years of water fluoridation, this dosage was not the norm. At that time, water was virtually the only source of fluoride in the American diet. The total intake for most adults was 0.02 mg/kg/day ... about one to one and a half milligrams of fluoride daily.

Today, the figure is 0.095 mg/kg/day... from food and drinking water alone ... more than 6 milligrams daily.

This increase in ingested fluoride, largely due to the use of artificial fertilizers containing fluoride, pesticide residues, dental products, and modern food processing, has changed a relatively safe dosage into one capable of causing crippling deformities of the spine and major joints, as well as the muscle pain associated with fibromyalgia.

Beer and wine often contain significant quantities of fluoride, as does ordinary tea. Grape juice often contains even larger quantities of fluoride, due to the widespread use of pesticides, which remain on the grape skin. Fluoride in toothpaste can be absorbed through the tissues of the mouth, as well as swallowed accidentally. Many prescription drugs also contain fluoride. None of these items are labeled to indicate the quantity of fluoride added to the daily dietary total. [cont'd]

http://www.fluoridealert.org/wastenot414.htm

Zionist Terrorist Attacks On Rense.com

2005-12-13T13:26:00.000+10:00

It's time to make more of our listeners and site visitors aware of how vile, psychotic terrorist enemies of Freedom, Liberty and the American way of life continue to try to damage our program and news service.

The true nature of most Zionists who pretend to support freedom is actually one of libel, slander, character assassination, terrorism and death threats.

These arch traitors to the Bill of Rights will stop at nothing to take your freedoms away... especially if you dare to question, ever so slightly, their carefully-constructed view of 'history' and propaganda, or present even the most modest alternative viewpoint, facts or evidence contrary to their party line.

They are petrified that an open, honest investigation would be held to carefully examine the facts of history - and their plots and schemes - which would bring to light the enormity of the distance between their manipulative, suspect and terribly conflicted version of 'history' and the FACTS.

More at above link.

Processed Chocolate Contains Dangerous Lead Concentrations, Study Says

2005-11-18T13:15:00.000+10:00

By Connie Bennett
November 17, 2005

This item first appeared in my SUGAR SHOCK! Blog.

As if the sugar content wasn't enough reason to stay away from processed chocolate.
Now, q new study, in Environmental Health Perspectives, reveals that chocolate can be contaminated with very high quantities of lead.

What's interesting is that cocoa beans tested had an average lead concentration of < 0.5 ng/g, "one of the lowest reported values for a natural food," the study points out. But, by contrast, "lead concentrations of manufactured cocoa and chocolate products were as high as 230 and 70 ng/g."

In fact, a team of American and Nigerian researchers found that lead levels in raw cocoa beans were 60 times lower than lead levels observed in processed chocolate products, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Talk about a worrisome statistic.

Researchers suspect that this lead contamination doesn't come from the producer but rather during the shipping and/or manufacturing of the cocoa beans into cocoa and chocolate products.

For example, they speculate that one source of contamination of the processed, finished chocolates might be atmospheric emissions of leaded gasoline.

"Because of the high capacity of cocoa bean shells to adsorb lead, contamination from leaded gasoline emissions may occur during the fermentation and sun-drying of unshelled beans at cocoa farms."

Regardless of the source of contamination, "there is no excuse for a product that is about to be consumed by children to contain lead, period," Dr. John Rosen, a pediatrician and lead program director at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, told the Chicago Tribune.

Lead exposure can be quite dangerous, particularly to children. For example, it can lead to permanent developmental deficits. High lead levels can harm a child's ability to think, plan, organize and memorize, Rosen explained. "And lower levels of lead may produce intellectual deficits that are with a child forever."

Yikes, this is scary.

Tube bombs 'almost simultaneous'

2005-07-10T18:00:00.000+10:00

The moments after the bus explosion. (Reader's photo)

The three bombs on London underground trains "exploded almost simultaneously", say police.

At a press conference, Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick said the attacks took place within 50 seconds of each other.

Technical data from London Underground disproved the earlier wider range of timings between explosions.

The police also warned that the recovery of victims could continue through the night.

There is still no certainty about the number of people whose bodies remain trapped in wrecked train carriages below King's Cross, say the police.

This would be a "slow, methodical, meticulous process" in very difficult circumstances, said Deputy Chief Constable Andy Trotter.

Officials: Bin Laden guiding plots against U.S.

2005-07-07T22:40:00.000+10:00

Terrorists' aim is to influence presidential vote,

A third intelligence official said there is particular concern about possible attacks using backpack explosives -- as were used in Madrid -- or car or truck bombs to destroy bridges, tunnels or other targets.

In April, arrests were made in Canada and Pakistan in connection with an alleged plot to set off a large bomb in London, the official said. The first official said al Qaeda also remains interested in targeting locations it has struck in the past.

"There are strong indications that al Qaeda will continue to try to revisit past targets, those that they were able to attack as well as those they were unable to attack," he said. "In addition, there is intelligence that indicates that they are looking at various transportation systems."

Flash Back London Terror Targets

2005-07-07T22:30:00.001+10:00

Flashback: Two died in the 1996 Docklands bomb.

The MI6 missile attack was the latest in a long line of terrorist attacks on high-profile London landmarks.

Ealing Broadway, July 2000 Police destroyed a bomb left near railway tracks near Ealing Broadway tube station. Dissident republican terrorist group the Real IRA was understood to be behind the attack.

Hammersmith Bridge, June 2000 A high grade bomb exploded underneath the bridge without warning. No one was injured but the blast caused traffic chaos. Dissident republican terrorist group the Real IRA was believed to be behind the attack.

Aldwych bus, February 1996 IRA man Edward O'Brien was blown up and killed by his own bomb when it accidentally detonated and ripped apart the bus on which he was travelling as it passed along Aldwych, central London.

Docklands, February 1996 The IRA signals the end of its first ceasefire with the bombing of South Quay in London's Docklands, killing two people and injuring many more.

Israeli Embassy, July 1994 14 people injured by a 30lb bomb at the embassy near Kensington Palace. A second bombing struck Balfour House in Finchley, north London, home of an Israeli charity, 12 hours later. Four people were slightly hurt. Islamic extremists were blamed.

Heathrow Airport, March 1994 The IRA launched a series of mortar attacks on the airport, partially paralysing the capital's main air route.

Bishopsgate, April 1993 An IRA truck bomb devastated the Bishopsgate area of London's financial centre, killing one and injuring 44, as well as causing damage running into hundreds of millions of pounds.

City of London, April 1992 Three killed when IRA bomb exploded outside the Baltic Exchange.

Downing Street, February 1991 The IRA fired mortar bombs at Downing Street during a Gulf War Cabinet meeting presided over by the then Prime Minister, John Major. No one hurt.

Harrods, December 1983 Six killed, three of them police, and 90 injured in IRA bombing.

Hyde Park, July 1982 Eleven soldiers killed and 50 people injured in attacks on Household Cavalry in Rotten Row and at the band stand in Regent's Park.

Dorchester Hotel, June 1982 A gunman linked to the notorious terrorist Abu Nidal, leader of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, shot and crippled Shlomo Argov, Israel's 53-year-old ambassador to London, in an attack outside the hotel in Park Lane.

House of Commons, March 1979 Airey Neave MP, the then shadow Northern Ireland Secretary and a close friend of Tory leader Margaret Thatcher, was killed by an Irish National Liberation Army car bomb in the Commons' car park.

Europa Hotel, Mayfair, August 1978 An El Al air hostess was killed and six fellow crew members injured in a gun and grenade attack, carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), on a coach outside the hotel in Mayfair. One of the bombers also died.

What's Behind the London Attacks?

2005-07-07T22:30:00.000+10:00

The bombing of the London Underground was a false-flag operation designed to keep the West mired in war. Don't believe otherwise.

Eighth Human Bird Flu Death Confirmed In Indonesia

2005-06-13T12:33:00.000+10:00

Indonesia: 8th Human Avian Influenza Death Confirmed

From ProMed
12-5-5

(Reuters) -- Indonesia has had its 8th human death due to avian influenza confirmed by a Hong Kong laboratory affiliated with the World Health Organization, a senior Health Ministry official said on Sat 3 Dec 2005. Hariadi Wibisono told Reuters that the results [of diagnostic tests] on the 25-year-old woman, who died earlier this week, made her Indonesia's 8th confirmed death from H5N1 avian influenza virus infection. "We got the result this morning. She was positive," said Wibisono, who heads a department charged with eradicating animal-borne diseases.

Officials have previously said the woman had contact with dead chickens before being admitted to a Jakarta hospital. Another 5 people [in addition to the other 7 fatal cases] have been confirmed to have contracted the virus in Indonesia but have survived.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia, where it has killed more than 60 people.

Experts fear H5N1 could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, just like human influenza. If it does, millions could die because they would have no immunity. Most human bird flu cases in Asia have been blamed on direct or indirect contact with infected chickens.

ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org

The total number of human cases of avian influenza virus infection in Indonesia now becomes 13, 8 with fatal outcomes. The total number of cases throughout East Asian since December 2003 now becomes 134, and the death toll is now 69. - Mod.CP

Viet Nam: Nurse Suspected of Contracting Avian Influenza

Evening Echo News 12-5-5

Vietnamese health officials said today [Sat 3 Dec 2005] that they suspect that a nurse who cared for an avian influenza patient has contracted the disease that has killed 46 people across Southeast Asia. [The current death toll in East Asia since December 2003 is 69. - Mod.CP]

Dao Trong Bich, Deputy Director of the Medical Centre in Thai Thuy District in northern Thai Binh province, said that the woman had cared for a 21-year-old man who tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus and that [she] remains in critical condition. The 41-year-old nurse, also from Thai Binh province, was hospitalized on Thursday [1 Dec 2005] in Hanoi with a high fever, coughing and a lung infection, typical avian influenza symptoms. Specimens have been taken from her for testing, and results are expected this week, the doctor said.

She is in stable condition. If tests confirm it, she would be the 2nd Vietnamese health care worker to be sickened by the bird flu virus. Bich said health authorities are closely monitoring the health of 2 doctors and 2 other nurses at the center who had contact with the 21-year-old man. None have shown any symptoms, he added.

The 21-year-old man is at the center of a cluster of bird flu cases that include his 14-year-old sister and 80-year-old grandfather, who has the virus without showing any symptoms.

http://www.eecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=90661921&p=9x66z39x&n=90662420

Sent by Michael J. Buman, RN Western Arizona Regional Medical Center Bullhead City, AZ USA

This report should be interpreted with caution. It has not yet been confirmed that the nurse in question has contracted avian influenza virus infection, nor that 21-year-old patient cared for by the nurse has been confirmed as an avian influenza case by laboratory testing. The cluster of cases comprising the 21-year-old patient, his sister and asymptomatic grandfather could merely indicate independent infections contacted from a common source rather than presumptive person-to-person transmission of infection. Further clarification is awaited. - Mod.CP

Patricia A. Doyle, DVM, PhD Bus Admin, Tropical Agriculture Economics Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message board at:

http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases

Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health

Third World Economy: Is Foreign Aid Destructive?

2005-06-06T00:00:00.000+10:00

By Sepp Haslberger

Foreign Aid comes with a feel-good factor. We can be satisfied that we are - our countries are - contributing to the economic well-being of starving people in the Third World. Even if only a small percentage of our money goes to that aid, at least we did something positive. Or did we?

Zambian writer Evans Munyemesha does not think so. He charges that development aid, "has financed the creation of monstrous projects that, at vast expense, have devastated the environment and ruined lives". Rather than getting down to "the hard task of wealth creation", Munyemesha says, "easy handouts" have been substituted "for the rigors of self-help", leaving the receiving countries economically crippled and their people worse off than before. If we look at results, African 'aid' has been an unmitigated disaster:

"[Africa] has lost self-sufficiency in food production that it enjoyed before development assistance was invented, and during the past few decades, has become instead a continent-sized beggar hopelessly dependent on the largesse of outsiders---per-capita food production has fallen in every year since the 1960s. Seven out of every ten Africans, are now reckoned to be destitute or on the verge of extreme poverty, with the result that the continent has the highest infant mortality rates in the world, the lowest average life-expectancies in the world, the lowest literacy rates, the fewest doctors per head of population, and the fewest children in school."

For more information click on the heading

AUSTRALIA WIDE RALLY FOR FREEDOM "Courage for Corby"

2005-05-17T05:00:00.000+10:00

Source image ( ABC TV)
Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 11:12 pm
25TH May, 2005 - AUSTRALIA WIDE RALLY FOR FREEDOM - 10-11AM

Bring your yellow ribbon!

WHEN: Wednesday 25th May, 2005, 10am to 11am!
WHERE: Your Capital Cities Supreme Court entrance

(from a small country town, why not promote your rally for outside your local council)

THIS IS A PEACEFUL GATHERING TO SHOW OUR GOVERNMENT THAT REGARDLESS OF THEM ABANDONING Schapelle, AUSTRALIANS WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT HER.

Please wear your Schapelle t-shirts or hats, don't want to buy an official one then make your own, anything to show support. Bring placards, yellow ribbons and a hearty voice to show your support.

Tell everyone you know, it's up to them if they come or not!

Headline For Rally

Russell Crowe urges PM to act on Corby

2005-05-16T16:30:00.000+10:00

22apr05

HOLLYWOOD superstar Russell Crowe has appealed to the Australian Government to act to save Schapelle Corby from life in jail over what he says is a questionable charge.

Crowe, who owns a property at Nana Glen on the mid-north New South Wales coast, not far from the hippie capital Nimbin, also said it was time to decriminalise marijuana, as the present system was jeopardising too many lives.

The 41-year-old Oscar-winning actor jumped to the defence of of the Gold Coast woman, who faces life imprisonment if convicted of smuggling more than 4kg of cannabis into Bali's Denpasar airport last October.

Photographs of the distraught 27-year-old filled the front pages of newspapers today after Indonesian prosecutors yesterday announced they would seek life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.

Crowe called on Prime Minister John Howard to act, saying it was ridiculous that Ms Corby could rot away in prison for the rest of her life.

"When there is such doubt, how can we, as a country, stand by and let a young lady, as an Australian, rot away in a foreign prison?" he said on the John Laws Radio Program.

"That is ridiculous.

"We just gave Indonesia how many hundreds of millions of dollars in tsunami relief? We're not disrespecting your (Indonesia's) laws or anything, but in our minds we think there is a massive doubt here."

Crowe said the Government should request Ms Corby be brought back to Australia to face trial under the Australian judicial system.

"The photographs of Schapelle Corby broke my heart," he said.

"The first thing I thought this morning was, like, how can I get Johnny Howard on the phone and say 'look, what are you gonna do, mate, what are you gonna do?' - that's ridiculous, what if it was your daughter?

"You know it as well as I do - all of these things, international diplomacy, can be moved to meet the needs of the individual country in that time.

"The due process of Indonesian law we have to respect from an international relations point of view, but from my individual point of view, looking at it, it's like it's bulls**t, let's deal with it."

But his sympathies appeared to run dry when it came to the nine Australians held in Bali this week over an 8.65kg heroin seizure.

Four of the group allegedly had heroin strapped to their bodies and police have said they could face death by firing squad if found guilty of trafficking.

"That's a completely different thing," Crowe said.

Armenian Genocide Plagues Ankara 90 Years On

2005-05-16T03:20:00.000+10:00

April 25, 2005

TURKEY'S MEMORY LAPSE

By Bernhard Zand

This weekend, Armenians commemorated the 90th anniversary of the genocide of 1915. But Turkey has yet to recognize the crime -- the first genocide of the 20th century. By refusing to use the word "genocide," Turkey could complicate its efforts to join the European Union.

Genocide in Armenia: Many Turks view the perpetrators as their fathers.
Typhoid, the Russians, imperialism and Kaiser Wilhelm II in far away Berlin -- all were responsible for the mass deaths of Anatolian Armenians. At least that's the case if you read the official Turkish history books. According to the Turkish version, the only group that didn't bear any responsibility were the Ottomans, the great-grandfathers of modern-day Turkey, which is now on the cusp of joining the European Union.

On Sunday, Armenians all around the world remembered the 90th anniversary of the start of the genocide. This year brought the last decennial memorial in which survivors of the crime, one of the worst of the past century, will still be alive to attend. Never before has the international pressure on Turkey as stronger as it is now for Turkey to address its own history. And Ankara's political elites have never been more steadfast in their efforts to defend the myths Turkey has used to explain the crime or to stamp critics as traitors.

(for more information click on heading)

PROTESTS ACROSS MUSLIM WORLD

2005-05-15T16:00:00.000+10:00

Protests against the alleged desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay have spread across the Muslim world, with seven Afghans dying in fresh violence and Palestinians, Pakistanis and Indonesians taking to the streets.

The worst anti-US demonstrations since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 entered a fourth day in Afghanistan, spreading to new cities across the nation where American troops maintain a heavy presence.

Afghan troops shot dead three people as protesters tried to storm the governor's house in the southern Ghazni province, bringing the number of people killed since Tuesday to 14, officials said. Another three died when around 1,000 people took to the streets near Faizabad.

Afghan officials have suggested that elements opposed to the US-backed effort to rebuild the war-ravaged country have co-ordinated the violence.

The US has promised an inquiry and action against soldiers at the US detention centre at Guantanamo. According to Newsweek magazine they defiled copies of the Muslim holy book by leaving them in toilet cubicles and stuffing one down a lavatory to rattle Muslim prisoners.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used an appearance before a Senate committee on Thursday to make a special statement to Muslims in America and across the world, and also promised a full investigation.

Muslims believe that the Koran contains the actual words of God.

In neighbouring Pakistan, a key ally in what the US calls its war on terror, hundreds of Islamic hardliners burned US flags and effigies of President George W. Bush, witnesses said.

Demonstrators in several cities, including the capital Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, chanted "Death to America" while speakers at rallies called by an alliance of religious parties demanded the US government punish those involved in the reported desecration of the Muslim holy book.

About 6,000 Afghan refugees also staged a demonstration in a camp near the conservative north-western city of Peshawar, before dispersing peacefully.

Jakarta, capital of the world's most populous Muslim nation Indonesia, saw a rally at a mosque by hundreds of people protesting against the alleged sacrilege.

Students in the Indonesian city of Makassar on Sulawesi Island took to the streets and searched hotels and the airport for any Americans, Detikcom news portal reported. No Americans were found.

At the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, around 2,000 Palestinian demonstrators held aloft copies of the Koran and Hamas flags as they marched through the streets in a protest organised by the radical Islamist group.

American and Israeli flags were burnt during the demonstration following the main weekly Muslim prayers, while 400 mounted a similar protest in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Muslim Arabs from Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Iraq also expressed anger, both with Washington and their own leaders for their impotence in the face of the alleged desecration.

CHILD SLAVERY A DISGUSTING INCREASE

2005-05-14T03:00:00.000+10:00

Fears of trade in children as 300 boys disappear
By Alistair Foster, Evening Standard
13 May 2005

East Indian girl holds sign condemning child
prostitution, in Calcutta rally by school children
and social workers to heighten awareness of
problem of child prostitution, during
International Anti-Child Labor day.

Scotland Yard today revealed it has been unable to trace all but two of 300 black boys aged four to seven reported missing from school in a three-month period.

Child welfare experts say the number highlights the scale of the trade in children brought to Britain as domestic servants and covers for benefit fraud.

The figure emerged through the murder inquiry following the discovery of a child's torso in the Thames in September 2001. The identity of the victim, named "Adam" by police, is not known but his background was traced to Nigeria, it is believed he died in a ritual sacrifice.

WAR PLAN MEMO

2005-05-13T09:15:00.000+10:00

Indignation Grows in US over British Prewar Documents
By John Daniszewski
The Los Angeles Times

Thursday 12 May 2005
Critics of Bush call them proof that he and Blair never saw diplomacy as an option with Hussein.

London - Reports in the British press this month based on documents indicating that President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair had conditionally agreed by July 2002 to invade Iraq appear to have blown over quickly in Britain.

But in the United States, where the reports at first received scant attention, there has been growing indignation among critics of the Bush White House, who say the documents help prove that the leaders made a secret decision to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein nearly a year before launching their attack, shaped intelligence to that aim and never seriously intended to avert the war through diplomacy.

The documents, obtained by Michael Smith, a defense specialist writing for the Sunday Times of London, include a memo of the minutes of a meeting July 23, 2002, between Blair and his intelligence and military chiefs; a briefing paper for that meeting and a Foreign Office legal opinion prepared before an April 2002 summit between Blair and Bush in Texas.

The picture that emerges from the documents is of a British government convinced of the US desire to go to war and Blair's agreement to it, subject to several specific conditions.

Since Smith's report was published May 1, Blair's Downing Street office has not disputed the documents' authenticity. Asked about them Wednesday, a Blair spokesman said the report added nothing significant to the much-investigated record of the lead-up to the war.

"At the end of the day, nobody pushed the diplomatic route harder than the British government.... So the circumstances of this July discussion very quickly became out of date," said the spokesman, who asked not to be identified.

The leaked minutes sum up the July 23 meeting, at which Blair, top security advisors and his attorney general discussed Britain's role in Washington's plan to oust Hussein. The minutes, written by Matthew Rycroft, a foreign policy aide, indicate general thoughts among the participants about how to create a political and legal basis for war. The case for military action at the time was "thin," Foreign Minister Jack Straw was characterized as saying, and Hussein's government posed little threat.

Labeled "secret and strictly personal - UK eyes only," the minutes begin with the head of the British intelligence service, MI6, who is identified as "C," saying he had returned from Washington, where there had been a "perceptible shift in attitude. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and [weapons of mass destruction]. But the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy."

Straw agreed that Bush seemed determined to act militarily, although the timing was not certain.

"But the case was thin," the minutes say. "Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capacity was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran." Straw then proposed to "work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam" to permit United Nations weapons inspectors back into Iraq. "This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force," he said, according to the minutes.

Blair said, according to the memo, "that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN inspectors."

"If the political context were right, people would support regime change," Blair said. "The two key issues were whether the military plan worked and whether we had the political strategy to give the military plan the space to work."

In addition to the minutes, the Sunday Times report referred to a Cabinet briefing paper that was given to participants before the July 23 meeting. It stated that Blair had already promised Bush cooperation earlier, at the April summit in Texas.

"The UK would support military action to bring about regime change," the Sunday Times quoted the briefing as saying.

Excerpts from the paper, which Smith provided to the Los Angeles Times, said Blair had listed conditions for war, including that "efforts had been made to construct a coalition/shape public opinion, the Israel-Palestine crisis was quiescent," and options to "eliminate Iraq's WMD through the UN weapons inspectors" had been exhausted.

The briefing paper said the British government should get the US to put its military plans in a "political framework.""This is particularly important for the UK because it is necessary to create the conditions in which we could legally support military action," it says.
In a letter to Bush last week, 89 House Democrats expressed shock over the documents. They asked if the papers were authentic and, if so, whether they proved that the White House had agreed to invade Iraq months before seeking Congress' OK.

"If the disclosure is accurate, it raises troubling new questions regarding the legal justifications for the war as well as the integrity of our own administration," the letter says.

"While the president of the United States was telling the citizens and the Congress that they had no intention to start a war with Iraq, they were working very close with Tony Blair and the British leadership at making this a foregone conclusion," the letter's chief author, Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, said Wednesday.

If the documents are real, he said, it is "a huge problem" in terms of an abuse of power. He said the White House had not yet responded to the letter.

Both Blair and Bush have denied that a decision on war was made in early 2002. The White House and Downing Street maintain that they were preparing for military operations as an option, but that the option to not attack also remained open until the war began March 20, 2003.

In January 2002, Bush described Iraq as a member of an "axis of evil," but the sustained White House push for Iraqi compliance with UN resolutions did not come until September of that year. That month, Bush addressed the UN General Assembly to outline a case against Hussein's government, and he sought a bipartisan congressional resolution authorizing the possible use of force.

Tom Ridge Confesses Terror Alerts Were Bogus

2005-05-13T09:00:00.000+10:00

Tom Ridge Confesses Terror Alerts Were Bogus
by URI DOWBENKO

(PHOTO: Former Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge flashes the ubiquitous 'devil's hand' signal. And no, it's not 'hook em horns' again)

As most intelligent Americans have already suspected, the so-called "terror alerts" announced by the Department of Homeland Security during the past several years were completely bogus and were used by the Bush-Cheney Regime as a propaganda ploy to promote the equally bogus "War on Terrorism."

Former Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said that Bush Regime officials forced him to elevate the "threat level" on what he calls "flimsy evidence," reports USA Today.

Ridge, who introduced the goofy color-coded "terror alert" system in 2002, attempted to rationalize his behavior during a Washington press conference.

Current US Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff (whose last name means "of the devil" in Russian) is allegedly deciding how quickly to scrap the color code alert system.

The color alert system has not been changed since December 2003 when it was moved from yellow to orange.

(for more click on heading)

Men jailed for not allowing polio vaccinations

2005-05-12T12:00:00.000+10:00

leven men in Mali were jailed after refusing to let their children receive the polio vaccine. The men were charged with "resistance, disobedience and rebellion against public authorities" and sentenced to between six months and three years in prison.

The men, members of a Muslim sect, refused vaccination of their daughters during a public health campaign because they believed it would make their children sterile.

Polio, a viral disease that can cause irreversible total paralysis in several hours, has reappeared in 13 African countries in the last two years. It's thought that polio resurged in nearby Nigeria after a northern state banned vaccines in mid-2003 because Muslim elders said they were part of a plot to spread HIV and infertility. The vaccinations resumed after 10 months.

Polio typically affects children under the age of 5; the vaccine works by infecting the recipient with a benign virus and thereby providing immunity to the harmful strain of the disease. At least five rounds of national campaigns to vaccinate young children against polio are scheduled this year in eight African countries that have been hardest hit by the disease.

CNN May 11, 2005

POLITICALLY MOTIVATED DISEASE CAUSATIONTHE BIGGEST EPIDEMIC OF ALL

2005-05-06T12:00:00.000+10:00

by Marcel Girodian
May 5, 2005

Why do current AIDS researchers not investigate, and not even consider the role of chemicals in AIDS or study other non-HIV AIDS theories to solve the AIDS dilemma?”
— Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Director, Institute of Science in Society, London

Aids is caused by a virus, Hiv. Those who “catch” Hiv and don’t get sick have a genetic factor that protects them. Monkeys get sick because they catch the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (Siv), cats get sick from the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (Fiv), and cows get sick when they catch the Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus (Biv). Polio is caused by a virus. Cancer is caused by viruses and genetic predisposition. “We are closing in on the genetic causes of cancer,” said Bill Clinton in 1998.

Africans are not dying because they are starving and have no clean water to drink, they are victims of deadly viruses — mostly Hiv of course, but also Ebola. Sars is caused by a virus. Leukemia is caused by a virus. Rabies is caused by a virus. Cervical cancer is caused by a virus. Bird Flu, Hoof and Mouth Disease, West Nile Disease are all caused by viruses. Hepatitis is caused by six different viruses, at latest count. “Legionnaire’s Disease” is caused by a bacterium. Mad Cow Disease is caused by an infectious protein, as is Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease. Diabetes and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome are genetically caused diseases. Children also die because of “shaken baby syndrome” — initiated when a parent or babysitter shakes a baby in anger.

Autism is caused by “nerd” genes in the parents. Cerebral Palsy is caused by bad genes and viruses. Meningitis and arthritis are caused by viruses and bacteria. Encephalitis is caused by viruses. Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome (EMS) is caused by tryptophan, a natural amino acid sold in health food stores. And when cancer isn’t caused by viruses and bad genes, it’s caused by Vitamin C!

What do all these well-publicized causations have in common? They all serve as scapegoats to deflect guilt and deter lawsuits that might otherwise be directed at powerful elites in business, the medical establishment and government. Or serve to discredit natural health remedies that are a threat to the pharmaceutical industry because they are used by consumers as alternatives to super-profitable prescription drugs.

Marcel Girodian is a writer on Aids and medical corruption.
He is the pseudonymous alter ego of another writer who writes on less
controversial topics.

For more information click on the heading

Is America Preparing for Martial Law?

2005-04-06T00:00:00.000+10:00

Posse Comitatus, Northcom & Patriot Acts
by MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY

The Department of Homeland Security recently carried out an extensive anti-terrorist exercise entitled TOPOFF 3 (April 4-8, 2005). The "drill" was described by officials as "a multilayered approach to improving North American security".

The stated objective of the TOPOFF 3 "Full Scale Exercise" was to "prepare America" in the case of an actual bioterrorism attack by Al Qaeda:

".. we deliberately built the scenario as a very complex WMD bioterrorism attack in New Jersey, as well as a kind of a dual-header in the state of Connecticut in terms of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, and then a simultaneous chemical attack.

The system in TOPOFF 3 across the board was tested as never before, and this was deliberate. We wanted to test the full range of our incident management processes and protocols that spanned prevention, intelligence and information-sharing, and then the more classic or traditional response and recovery. But really for the first time in a national-level exercise, we really got at a near simultaneous WMD attack which is, of course, very, very stressful for the federal folks, as well as our state, local and international partners.

(For more Click on heading)

Expert warning, Geologist gave repeated alerts, but NO one listened?

2005-01-03T13:15:00.000+10:00

A LEADING geologist repeatedly warned Indonesian officials that an earthquake and tsunami would soon strike their shores, it emerged this weekend.

Kerry Sieh, professor of geology at California Institute of Technology, has been studying the region for nearly a decade.

Last July he became so concerned at the likely massive loss of life that he printed and distributed 5,000 posters and brochures around some of the islands later hit by the earthquake.

He addressed church congregations and schools to tell people what to do in an earthquake. His main advice was for people to live away from shorelines.

Sieh had been due to meet Indonesian officials last month to discuss a wider education programme but the meeting was cancelled at the last minute because the officials said they had no money.

Two weeks ago he expressed his fear that a big earthquake and tsunami were overdue in the region at a conference in San Francisco.

Sieh said this weekend: “No one can predict exactly when an earthquake will happen but it was clear that this area was at relatively high risk and such an event would definitely happen one day.

“We told them it would kill people, wreck infrastructure and destroy livelihoods. But our warnings were falling on deaf ears.

“My team and I decided to bypass the national and local government and start warning people directly. I hope our efforts saved some lives.”

Ten years ago Sieh installed monitors on islands off Sumatra. His research focused on the Mentawai Islands, a chain 100 miles south of the epicentre of the Boxing Day quake. Communication has not been re-established with the islands since the tsunami.

At his speech to the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, he pointed out that, historically, such events have occurred in clusters.

Sieh believes this means another quake could be on the way: “There is some evidence that the stresses on the tectonic plates south of the epicentre may now have increased and raised the chances of another major earthquake.”

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002 "NO TSUNAMI WARNING" for the Indian Ocean Region??

2004-12-26T19:33:00.000+10:00

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 0204Z 26 DEC 2004

THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC
BASIN EXCEPT ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA -
WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

.. TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ..

ATTENTION: NOTE REVISED MAGNITUDE.

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.
THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING OR WATCH IN EFFECT.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY
PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 0059Z 26 DEC 2004
COORDINATES - 3.4 NORTH 95.7 EAST
LOCATION - OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA
MAGNITUDE - 8.5

EVALUATION
REVISED MAGNITUDE BASED ON ANALYSIS OF MANTLE WAVES.
THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC.

NO DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS FOR THE
PACIFIC BASIN BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE
AND TSUNAMI DATA.

†††( THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF A TSUNAMI NEAR THE EPICENTER.)†††††??

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS
EVENT UNLESS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL
ISSUE BULLETINS FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA -
WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

Lloyd Pye comments on Hobbit Find - Hobbits or Agogwes?

2004-10-31T13:15:00.000+10:00

Date: 2004/10/28
Thu AM 11:54:53 EDT
Subject: Hobbits or Agogwes?

Dear Editor - Telegraph UK

I send this to you because I'm confident your audience would appreciate some help interpreting what has happened in the last couple of days in the world of mainstream anthropology, an event famed Oxford Darwinist Richard Dawkins calls the most important development in their field in decades--the discovery of tiny "human" fossils on an island in Indonesia.

As with all such discoveries, this creature is trumpeted as "human" for no other reasons than it walked upright, and it was found to be too recent (18,000 years ago) to qualify as a so-called "pre" human. Like all those other prehumans, it has not a bone in its body that looks human. The bones are all more robust, relatively speaking, than humans, the arms are longer, the fingers are longer, and the skull is about as far from human as can be imagined. Larger nasal opening, larger eye sockets, pronounced brow ridges, no forehead, tiny brain, but teeth clearly more human-like than chimp or gorilla-like.

Thus, it is "human" in name only. What it REALLY is, but what no mainstream anthropologist will dare consider, much less agree with, is an Agogwe, the smallest and most human-like of the four main types of Hominoids. I write about this extensively in Part III of my book, "Everything You Know Is Wrong," but the gist is as follows.

Around the world, on every continent except Antarctica, exist living relics of the Miocene Era (25 million years ago), when about 50 species of tailless apes lived and far outnumbered monkeys in the fossil record. Of those apes, many had "short arms" unsuited for quadrupedal movement. (Quadrupeds need arms longer than their legs to move efficiently and comfortably.) The "shorties" had arms the same length as their legs. (Humans have arms shorter than their legs.)

Because of their anomalous, inconvenient short arms, these Miocene apes are more or less left off the radar of modern anthropology because it is obvious they could only have moved comfortably in an upright posture.

However, since bepedality is considered a trait our primate "ancestors" somehow "learned" as they emerged from trees to make their way on savannas (filled with feral cats they could not have hoped to compete with), anything that looks like it might have walked out of the Miocene has to be obscured from recognition for what it truly was. Why? Because if upright walkers existed millions of years ago, then what are fobbed off as "prehumans" were not prehuman at all, but a continuation of Miocene apes that walked upright. This would leave humans off the archeological flowchart of life on Earth, which at present simply can't be considered because of the ugly can of worms it would open.

If I'm right and mainstream anthropologists are wrong, then what are their precious, indispensible prehumans? Hominoids. Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, Abominable Snowman, Almas, and last but not least, the pygmy of the group, generically called the Agogwes. They are small, 3-4 feet tall, hair covered, and dominate folklore tales all over the jungles of Indonesia, Sumatra, Java, etc. (exactly where the new Hobbit bones were found). These creatures have been known and written about for 40 years. There is nothing new about them except to the mainstreamers who wouldn't be caught dead educating themselves to things they have been trained to believe are "impossible."

It is ironic that, to defend their position, the mainstreamers who discovered the Hobbit bones are now saying, "We think they're humans because people on the island have folklore stories about them that go back hundreds of years." Now, what happens when WE Hominoid researchers say to THEM, "Folklore stories of Hominoids go back hundreds of years on every continent except Antarctica"? They virtually scream at us that we're being "unscientific" and should be dismissed as idiots or worse for even suggesting that the myths and legends of benighted savages should be taken at face value.

To cut to the chase and give you something you can take to the bank, the Hobbits are flatly and definitely not human. They are the bones of Agogwe type (pygmy) Hominoids. No tests will be performed that will show they are remotely related to humans. If mitochondrial DNA can be recovered (which should be possible because it's been recovered from 30,000 year old Neanderthals), it will be in the range of difference from humans that Neanderthals have proved to be. (Neanderthals are representative of the Almas type of Hominoid and not human, either.) Time will show that what I'm saying is right and the mainstreamers are wrong. Book it.

Lloyd Pye

E-mail lloydpye@cox.net

Scientists Find Skeleton Of Dwarf Cavewoman

2004-10-30T13:00:00.000+10:00

Scientists said Wednesday they've discovered the bones of a prehistoric human dwarf species -- a species that lived on a remote Indonesian island even as modern man thrived.

The people appear to have lived on the island of Flores somewhere between 12,000 and 95,000 years ago.

One adult female specimen was about three feet tall.

Researchers said the brains of the so-called Flores Man were about a quarter the size of those of Homo sapiens.

Yet evidence suggests they made stone tools, lit fires and organized hunts.

Whether the species ever interacted with modern man is unknown.

Geologic evidence suggests a volcanic eruption about 12,000 years ago wiped out the species.

Details of the discovery appeared in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Scientists make use of square microbes

2004-10-18T15:35:00.000+10:00

A team of Australian scientists headed by Mike Dyall-Smith (Melbourne) has succeeded in cultivating unique bacteria with rectangular and square shaped cells.

Majority of bacteria cells are spherical or rod-like in appearance. However, microbes that have cells with right angles aren't exactly bacteria. They belong to a very old, recently found form of life. They are the so-called "Walsby's square bacteria", named after Anthony Walsby, a British microbiologist who had first discovered them in a hypersaline pond near the Red Sea in 1980.

These creatures belong to the most general type of cells found in saline lakes. There, they connect with one another thus forming a two-dimensional mosaic. This effect in turn is responsible for the lake"s distinctive pink color.

Dyall-Smith has told that the microbes were very hard to cultivate, since they seem to "dislike" agarous gel which is usually used for bacterial cells' cultivation in labs. Instead, the culture needs to be hypersaline: at least 18% salt, which is roughly the same concentration as in soy sauce.

According to him, successful isolation and cultivation of square bacteria is a very important step in understanding the role they play in saline lakes' ecosystems.

It was also discovered that the microbe is also extremely tolerant to magnesium chloride. This makes it the perfect organism for studying what life might be like in extraterrestrial corners of the solar system, such as the magnesium-rich brines on Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede.

PASSING OF DR JOHN MACK: ANNOUNCEMENT TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES

2004-09-30T12:14:00.000+10:00

This is preliminary information; a statement from the family is forthcoming.

At this time we must with great sorrow confirm that Dr John Mack has passed away in London, England.

Dr Mack was one of several speakers discussing British officer T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") at the T. E. Lawrence Society Symposium, Oxford. Dr Mack's 1977 biography of T.E. Lawrence, A Prince of Our Disorder, received the Pulitzer Prize in biography (see complete bio below). Dr Mack's presentation at an afternoon panel was so warmly received that he was asked to stay and present an additional evening talk, which again met with positive response.

Afterward, he went to dinner with friends.

On his return to the home at which he was staying while in London, traveling on foot on Totteridge Road, he was struck by a vehicle being driven by an intoxicated driver. Dr Mack was in a crosswalk. Dr Mack was pronounced dead on the scene by London police and is believed to have died on impact.

This information will be revised as needed and will be replaced by a statement from Dr Mack's family when available. Information will be posted to the John E Mack Institute website, www.johnemackinstitute.org

Is Fluoride Really As Safe As You Are Told?

2004-09-24T08:00:00.000+10:00

By © Dr. Joseph Mercola

Part 1 - for [ Part 2, Part 3 ] go to the link

Fluoride is added to the water supply of most American cities for the ostensible purpose of dental hygiene. The reader will be amazed to find out that such a thing is not only unlikely, but actually the reverse of the ongoing reality

The U.S. has been fluoridating drinking water for so many decades that we hardly think about it. Very few articles appear about fluoridation in newspapers and magazines any more.

At least chlorine will evaporate from a glass of water if you let it sit for an hour or so. No such luck with fluoride. Even cooking, food processing, filtration, or digestion doesn't remove fluoride. Goes right up the food chain. Accumulates in fat cells.

This Is No Accident.

What would you do if you suddenly found out that fluoride was not safe at all, but was actually a carcinogenic industrial waste?

What would you think if you suddenly found out that fluoride doesn't stop tooth decay at all, but actually causes teeth to rot and crumble, and by the same mechanism also causes osteoporosis?

And after you found out all this, would it surprise you that all federal health agencies have known these facts for years, but have been controlled by the political interests of the nuclear arms, aluminum, and phosphate manufacturers to keep it a secret?

Why would they do that? So that, in the total absence of scientific proofs, a toxic industrial waste could be passed off on the public as a nutrient with necessary health benefits, to the tune of $10 billion per year. Or more.

Is a deception of this magnitude possible for the sophisticated, discerning American public? Perhaps Lance Ito could answer a question like that.

Let's start at the beginning.

What Is Fluoride?

Fluorine is an element. It is a gas, never occurring in its free state. In microscopic amounts complexed with other minerals, it is often listed as a trace mineral, a nutrient for human nutrition.

This has nothing to do with fluoride or fluoridation. The fluoride added to 90% of drinking water is hydrofluoric acid which is a compound of fluorine that is a chemical byproduct of aluminum, steel, cement, phosphate, and nuclear weapons manufacturing.

Such fluoride is manmade. In this form, fluoride has no nutrient value whatsoever. It is one of the most caustic of industrial chemicals. Fluoride is the active toxin in rat poisons and cockroach powder.

Hydrofluoric acid is used to refine high octane gasoline, to make fluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons for freezers and air conditioners, and to manufacture computer screens, fluorescent light bulbs, semiconductors, plastics, herbicides, -- and toothpaste.

It also has the ability to burn flesh to the bone, destroy eyes, and sear lungs so that victims drown in their own body fluid."

Once in the body, fluoride is a destroyer of human enzymes. It does this by changing their shapes. You'll remember from the Enzymes chapter that in human biochemistry, thousands of enzymes are necessary for various essential cell reactions that take place every second we're alive. (Howell) Without enzymes, we'd die instantaneously.

Once in the body, fluoride is a destroyer of human enzymes. It does this by changing their shapes. In human biochemistry, thousands of enzymes are necessary for various essential cell reactions that take place every second we're alive. Without enzymes, we'd die instantaneously.

Enzymes trigger specific reactions in the body. One way they do this is by having the exact shape necessary, like a key in a lock.

Fluoride Changes The Shape Of The Enzymes So That They No Longer Fit.

Since enzymes are proteins, once they've been changed, they're now foreign-looking. The body now treats them as invaders, even though they're part of that body. This is known as an autoimmune situation - the body attacks itself.

Another way to look at it: enzymes are long-chain proteins held in certain shapes. Hydrogen bonds are the velcro strips that hold the enzyme in a certain shape. Fluoride comes along and hydrolyzes the enzyme: cuts the Velcro strips away. The shape collapses. No more enzyme; now just a foreign protein.

Starting Point

The most thorough explanation of the origin, action, diseases, and politics of fluoride was presented in a book called Fluoride the Aging Factor by John Yiamouyiannis, PhD.

This book is the result of 25 years of research and working behind the scenes of the fluoride phenomenon. Big money generally means big monkey business, you may have noticed by now, and fluoride is right up there.

Dr. Yiamouyiannis was the science director of the National Health Federation. He then went on to head the Safe Water Foundation. Dr Y can tell you all about monkey business.

No one can comment intelligently about fluoride in the U.S. without dealing with the issues raised in his pivotal book. It is simply a review of the literature on fluoride up to 1994.

Dr. Y starts by citing hundreds of international studies of fluoridation that have been conducted all over the world since the 1930s. After awhile, there seem to be just two types:

* Studies that were really looking to find out about fluoride
* Studies that were trying to cover up what had already been discovered

Examples Of The Former:

Taylor Study, University of Austin: fluoride concentration of 1PPM (parts per million) increases tumor growth rate by 25%

Fluoride is more poisonous than lead, and just less poisonous than arsenic - Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products -- 1984

"A seven ounce tube of toothpaste, theoretically at least, contains enough fluoride to kill a small child." - Procter&Gamble, quoted in Fluoride the Aging Factor p14

Fluoride supplements should not be given to children under three years old - 1992 Canadian Dental Association Proposed Fluoride Guidelines, Dr. Limeback

Fluoride Accelerates Your Aging Process

Austrian researchers proved in the 1970s that as little as 1 ppm fluoride concentration can disrupt DNA repair enzymes by 50%. When DNA can't repair damaged cells, we get old fast.

Fluoride prematurely ages the body, mainly by distortion of enzyme shape. Again, when enzymes get twisted out of shape, they can't do their jobs. This results in collagen breakdown, eczema, tissue damage, skin wrinkling, genetic damage, and immune suppression. Practically any disease you can name may then be caused.

All systems of the body are dependent upon enzymes. When fluoride changes the enzymes, this can damage:

* immune system
* digestive system
* respiratory system
* blood circulation
* kidney function
* liver function
* brain function
* thyroid function

Things wear out too fast - the young body becomes old.

The distorted enzymes are proteins, but now they have become foreign protein, which we know is the exact cause of autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, arthritis, asthma, and arteriosclerosis.

Collagen Is The Body's Glue and Fluoride Ruins It

That's not just a metaphor; when collagen breaks down, tissues simply lose their substance, their framework. Fluoride dissolves the body's glue simply by preventing new collagen from being formed.

DR Y gives a masterful explanation of fluoride's disruption of collagen. Not only is the collagen incorrectly formed, it is wrongly mineralized.

Some collagen, like bones and teeth, should be mineralized in order to give it hardness. Other collagen structures, like ligaments, tendons and, and muscles, should not be mineralized, in order to keep them flexible and resilient.

Fluoride mineralizes the tendons, and muscles and ligaments, making them crackly and painful and inflexible. At the same time fluoride interferes with mineralization of bones and teeth, causing osteoporosis and mottling or dental fluorosis.

Fluoride Ruins Your Teeth

Wait a second here! I thought that was the whole reason why we fluoridated water in the first place - to prevent cavities and build strong teeth, right?
Wrong again. And this is where politics and dog-wagging have eclipsed science. DR Y gives an exhaustive review of the scientific literature of the past 40 years proving beyond a reasonable doubt that fluoride interferes with tooth formation, causing permanent discoloration and actual crumbling.

The process whereby teeth are discolored and crumble from fluoridation is know as dental fluorosis.

The US Public Health service has known since the research of its own Dr. HT Dean in 1937 that as fluoride levels rose, so did the percentage of children with dental fluorosis, in a study of 15 major American cities.

The same findings were evident in a University of Texas study comparing dental fluorosis in children who lived in fluoridated and unfluoridated areas of Texas.

Dr. Segretto found a 35% higher incidence of fluorosis in children who drank water with fluorine concentration of 1-1.4 PPM, compared with those whose water was in the .3 PPM range. This little study was written up in the Journal of the American Dental Association.

Yiamouyiannis goes on and on, citing one peer-reviewed study after another, all coming to the same inescapable conclusion:

The More Fluoride In The Water, The More Tooth Malformation And Discoloration.

It's beyond controversy, when you view these studies from all over the world - New Zealand, India, Denmark, England, Ireland, Italy, Illinois - same finding. Even with this consistent finding across the board, the standard level of fluoridation recommended for dental health in the US is 1 part per million.

How Is This Possible?

A major gain for antifluoridation happened in the past few years, which most people haven't even noticed. The FDA required all toothpaste manufacturers to print a warning on the label that if more than a pea-sized amount of toothpaste is swallowed, the local Poison Control Center should be notified.

The American Dental Association and other defenders of fluoride have testified and continue to insist that dental fluorosis is a "cosmetic condition" and is not a health issue!

Permanent malformation of the teeth is a little more serious than cosmetic - but even if it weren't, how can a additive whose only alleged purpose is to benefit teeth destroy teeth?? In their current website, the ADA actually challenges this FDA warning on toothpaste labels, saying that it is unnecessarily strict.

Paul Connett, PhD explains that spots on the teeth and dental fluorosis are just an indication of damage to other parts of the body:

"The teeth are windows to what's happening in the bones."

Fluoride And Osteoporosis

Bone is collagen. We already saw how fluoride disrupts the formation of enzymes necessary for collagen production. So it's no wonder then that the thin brittle bones characteristic of osteoporosis are the result of fluoridation.

This is no false claim.

DR Y cites the 1990 study of 541,000 cases of osteoporosis that found a definite connection between hip fractures in women over 65 and fluoride levels. The study was written up in JAMA. Several other major studies are cited, massive amounts of research, again all reaching the same conclusion -

the undeniable correlation of fluoridation with osteoporosis and hip fracture in the elderly.

Bone Is Living Tissue.

It is constantly being replaced with new cells, and having old cells removed. Bone building is a finely balanced, complicated process. Fluoride has been known to disrupt this process since the 1930s. Dr. Alesen, who was the president of the California Medical Association, clearly explains what fluoride does to bone formation.

He cites dozens of international scientific studies proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that fluoride has caused thousands of cases of osteoporosis, skeletal thinning, fractures, "rubber bones," anemia, and rickets.

Fluoride also causes osteoporosis by creating a calcium deficiency situation. Fluoride precipitates calcium out of solution, causing low blood calcium, as well as the buildup of calcium stones and crystals in the joints and organs.

Dozens of other studies, like the Riggs study in the 1990 New England Journal of Medicine, showed that fluoride treatment of osteoporosis in the elderly actually increases skeletal fragility, i.e., more fractures.

It's the same mechanism at work: incorrect mineralization, as we saw above. Thin old bones lose calcium; young bones age too rapidly by over-mineralization.

Using fluoride as a treatment for diseases like osteoporosis has always been a particularly dumb idea, because of side effects known beforehand:

* general arthritis
* stomach pain
* nausea
* vomiting
* bone spurs
* bone inflammation
* kidney fibrosis
* dental fluorosis

Other mineral contaminants like lead and strontium-90 are damaging to human bone just by means of their occupying space where they don't belong. They are inert. The difference with fluoride is that it is biochemically active. With all the diseases caused by fluoride, the common thread is

" ... virtually all these ill effects can be traced to the effect of fluoride on enzymes or proteins, as well as a possible direct effect on the DNA molecule itself."

Above we saw how fluoride changes the all-important shape of enzymes, thereby rendering them not only useless, but actually foreign antigens.

Cancer And Fluoride

By now we all know how cancer begins with one cell whose inner blueprint - its DNA - has been screwed with.

Remember those Velcro hydrogen bonds? Guess what other shape they hold together. The double helix - DNA. This turns out to be the exact mechanism of fluoride as a carcinogen.

Austrian and Japanese researchers both found that a concentration of 1 PPM fluoride causes disruption of the body's ability to repair its own DNA. Without this most basic cell function, cancer is promoted, and tumor growth is accelerated.

That's standard fluoride level in US city water: one part per million.

On p. 65 of his book, Dr. Yiamouyiannis provides an amazing chart of some 19 major scientific studies conducted in universities all over the world, together proving beyond a doubt that fluoride causes genetic damage.

End of story.

Except that on p 68, there is another list of world studies proving the same thing with plants and insects - genetic alteration from fluoride.

Chief chemist of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Dean Burk when confronted with mountains of data, stated before Congress:

"In point of fact, fluoride causes more human cancer death, and causes it faster than any other chemical."

- Congressional Record 21 July 1976

Can That Be Misconstrued?

Burk and Yiamouyiannis completed a monumental research project in 1977 in which they compared cancer death rates in 10 fluoridated and 10 non-fluoridated US cities between 1940 and 1970. The results are on p75 of Fluoride the Aging Factor.

The unmistakable fact is that the graph shows that for the first ten years (1940-1950), when none of the 20 cities fluoridated, the average cancer deaths were virtually identical. But after 1950, there is a major increase in cancer deaths in every single one of the fluoridated cities, while the nonfluoridated cities remain clustered together at a much lower level of death.

They actually put a number on it:

" ... 30,000 to 50,000 deaths each year from various causes may now be attributable to fluoridation. This total includes 10,000 to 20,000 deaths attributable to fluoride-induced cancer every year."

These findings were first confirmed, then denied by the National Cancer Institute (what a surprise). Finally the research was upheld as valid in two separate state courts, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Ask yourself, why are findings of a scientific study being disputed in court? The usual pattern whenever valid research threatens big money.

Another study by the New Jersey Health Dept., cited by Dr. Y, found a 50% increase in bone cancer among young men in fluoridated areas. (Cohn)

Dr. William Hirzy, an officer in the EPA explains:

"Fluoride is a broad-spectrum mutagen. It can cause genetic damage in both plant and animal cells."

Once again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of scientific studies conducted and reported in the most credible universities and agencies throughout the world for the past 25 years have found an unmistakable correlation between fluoridation and cancer deaths. Even the professional opinion makers can't just make all this data vanish.

All they can do is what they're trained to do: change the subject. And keep repeating how safe and effective fluoride is.

Brain Damage = Low IQ

Penetrating observation. The earliest reference to brain disruption from fluoride exposure is found in a recently declassified secret Manhattan Project memo (1944):

"Clinical evidence suggests that C616 [uranium hydrofluoride] may have a rather marked central nervous system effect with mental confusion, drowsiness and lassitude ... "

How can all these studies be dismissed and ignored? Many of them are from the most prestigious of scientific journals. And the message has been consistent for the past 40 years - fluoride is a poison.. What kind of power can contradict such a cogent, overwhelming body of work?

Only one thing -very good -- $$$$$$$$!

Got it on your first guess!

So Then Why Are We Fluoridating, For The Last 60 Years?

Unrestricted research into almost any area involving health care is really a tiresome business - it's the same boring story over and over:

A Toxin in Search of A Market.

First a chemical is created, then an angle is figured out on how to mass market it. Then a disinformation program is put into place to create a permanent smokescreen for the actual scientific data.

As we saw with ADD, antibiotics, the history of pharmaceuticals, HRT, heart drugs, chlorination, and now fluoridation - the pattern is consistent.

With billions of dollars in play, the chemical industry can afford to choreograph its two most willing marionettes: the media and the medical profession.

I didn't make this up; I wish it were otherwise. It's embarrassing to be a human when you find out what's been going on.

But we digress.

Fluoridation. A certified poison, by all the government agencies and scientific agencies cited above. Where does the money come in? Toxic disposal. The rise of the EPA since the 1970s. The increase in environmental consciousness as a political tool for creating the illusion of safety in recent decades.

Here's the short version: fluoride is a toxic byproduct in the manufacture of nuclear arms, aluminum, cement, steel, and phosphates.

Millions of tons of this poison are produced every year. Imagine the cost of containing and disposing of those mountains of waste every year. It's in the billions.

But what if lobbyists from these industries could present "scientific studies" paid for by the industries, and provide for a continual stream of media presentations about the health benefits of fluoride, and create unimaginably lucrative positions for "research" and "education" within the American Dental Association and the AMA, and do all these things in a consistent and unending way, year after year?

What are the economic advantages of that? Simple: instead of paying money to dispose of toxic waste, money could now be made by selling fluoride to the water companies of the nation.

They'll use the public water supply as a sewer for industrial wastes. And now with these new billions added instead of subtracted, there's plenty to go around, for everyone involved. Out of the Red, into the Black.

Somewhere Machiavelli smiles.

Dark Alliance

Up until 1931, the American Dental Association and the US Public Health Service recognized that fluoride caused dental problems, and that every effort should be made to remove such contamination from drinking water. (Fluoride the Aging Factor, p 140)

By 1980, the ADA's tune had changed a little:

" ... there is no evidence implicating naturally occurring fluorides as a health hazard even at eight parts per million."- ADA News 24 Mar 1980

Following this? In the face of all the decades of our best research, this arrogant and groundless pronouncement, by the profession to whom we have entrusted our teeth, is saying that our water could have 8 times as much fluoride as it has now, and still be perfectly safe!

The Players: ALCOA Aluminum, mega-giant producer of aluminum, was founded by Andrew Mellon, who was also appointed Secretary of Treasury, since he seemed to know something about money.

ALCOA funded a top research facility known as the Mellon Institute. In 1931, a Mellon Institute report by Gerald Cox suggested that 1 PPM fluoride added to drinking water would be good for the teeth. That was it. No studies, no comparisons, no data. All previous research studies had shown that fluoride was toxic.

Stay with me now. The US Public Health Service (USPHS) at that time was under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Treasury - Andrew Mellon, who also owned ALCOA.

The USPHS sponsored some research put out by their own Dr. HT Dean, manipulating data so that it "proved" that this same figure of 1 PPM resulted in reduction of tooth decay. So now there were two studies, one by Cox and one by Dean, both funded by agencies controlled by ALCOA, both supporting this arbitrary figure of 1 PPM fluoride that should be added to the water to lower tooth decay.

Next problem: sell it to the American Medical Association and the American Dental Association.

This took years. Even in 1943, an article in JAMA described fluoride as a poison that damaged enzyme systems even at a concentration of 1 PPM. The article showed concern about 25,000 tons of fluorine released into the atmosphere every year from the phosphate fertilizer industry. (JAMA, Sept 18, 1943).

The following year Journal of the American Dental Association ran another article warning that fluoridated water caused osteoporosis, goiter, and spinal disease. They stated that "the potentialities for harm far outweigh those for good." (JADA, 1 Oct 1944)

So how did fluoridation get started then, with all this information - thousands of negative scientific papers and only two favorable studies? ALCOA money, that's how.

In 1944, ALCOA hired an attorney named Oscar Ewing at a salary of $750,000 per year. That same year Ewing was appointed to the Federal Security Administration. The USPHS was a division of the Federal Security Association. So now ALCOA's boy was in a position to control the policies of the Public Health Service.

Ewing chose his PR man for fluoridation: Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud.

Brisbane Lecture this September 7 - 10 - 04, EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG ? - LLOYD PYE

2004-09-17T08:24:00.000+10:00

"Do not miss this fantastic lecture"
An Australian Tour 2004

"Have You Ever Wondered..?"
why we humans use only about 10% of our massively supercharged brains?
why idiot-savants can somehow access parts of the remaining 90%
why we humans have a gene pool with over 4000 genetic defects?
why our closest genetic relatives, chimps and gorillas, have very few?
why we humans have genes that are only 200,000 to 250,000 years old?
why anthropologists say we descend from creatures 4,000,000 years old?
why we humans in no way resemble those ancient so-called "pre-humans"?
why we humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes for a grand total of 46?
why our closest genetic relatives (sharing 98% - 99% of our DNA) total 48?
how we humans could lose 2 whole chromosomes in only 250,000 years?
why our skin is so poorly adapted to the amount of sunlight striking Earth?
why we are so physically weak compared to our closest genetic relatives?
why Earth is minus a huge part of its crust, the part where the oceans are?
why Earth is the only planet or moon with moveable tectonic plates?
why Earth’s moon is so extraordinarily outsized relative to other moons?
why megalithic structures like the Pyramids cannot be duplicated today?
why stones in those structures would buckle today’s largest moveable cranes?
how the ancient Sumerians knew all about Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto?
why we found Uranus only in 1781, Neptune in 1846, and Pluto in 1930?
how and why the Sumerians kept cosmic time in units of almost 26,000 years?

Introduction
Lloyd Pye is an author, researcher, and lecturer in the field of alternative knowledge. He calls on over 30 years of experience as he writes and speaks about the origins of life, human origins, hominoids (bigfoot, sasquatch and others), and the work of Zecharia Sitchin. This broad base of knowledge has made him one of the world's leading proponents of the "Interventionist" theory of origins, which stands in contrast to Darwinsim, Creationism, and Intelligent Design.

In the past few years Lloyd has been featured on The Learning Channel ("Mystery of the Skulls"); Animal Planet ("Animal X"); Extra (best UFO segment of the past decade); four times on Channel 13 Fox in Tampa, Florida; Naturally N'Awlins with Frank Davis, and CBS TV local affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi. He has given over 200 lectures in the U.S. and around the world.

WHY IS THE AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE NOT AN ELECTION ISSUE?

2004-09-16T07:52:00.000+10:00

By © Jeremy Lee

The series of blunders and scandals besetting the ATO are now so blatant and anti-business that the whole realm of taxation and the department itself should be in the minds of every candidate of every party.

The latest is a damning report from the National Audit Office which implicitly labels "INCOMPETENCE" all over the blundering colossus which has become the bane of small businesses and taxpayers throughout the nation. Over 90,000 applications are now made annually for ëprivate rulingsí. Such a phenomenon is only possible where tax laws are so obscure that department officials themselves are uncertain what they mean.

It is difficult to say whether obtaining a private ruling is a benefit or not, or whether it would be better to be left in limbo. The Tax Department can reverse its own rulings, deeming them ìillegalî for up to six years after. There is no such thing as certainty for the taxpayer who conscientiously tries to meet his obligations.

The National Audit Office found that, even when private rulings were made, one tax officer had great difficulty in discovering what rulings fellow officers had made. Different rulings on identical situations were a natural outcome.

The lack of integration of systems and inadequate systems controls undermine certainty, fairness and consistency of treatment for taxpayers, the office said, (The Australian, 18/7/01)

Commenting on the tax mess, and the current rumour that an international firm of accountants was about to be employed at a further cost of $300 million to sort it out, Adrian Tame (The Sunday Herald Sun, 22/7/01) commented:

How have we come to this? A year and several million of our taxpayer dollars ago, when some idiot on the box was burbling about unchaining our hearts, many of us truly believed we were going to be delivered from the worldís most needlessly complex tax system.

Because thatís what the Howard Governmentís promise was ñ a simpler, less costly and more effective tax system, which would reward the honest and penalize the rorters.

Twelve months after the introduction of the GST, four out of five businesses believe it is more complex and costly than the system it replaced ñ according to a Price Waterhouse Coopers survey this month.

More than 70 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses surveyed had spent up to $250,000 on transferring to the new system. More than 40 per cent said they would go on spending between $10,000 and $50,000 a year on GST compliance.

The company's expert, Kevin O Rourke, pointed out there had been 1800 fine tuning amendments in the GST's first year, with another 1,000 in the wings; the Taxation Act had increased from 3,000 pages to 8,500; this year's TaxPack is 350 pages, up from its already cumbersome 200 pages before John Howard came to power.

My standard Bible has 1,250 pages. The Taxation Act, according to ORourke's figures, is well over six times the length of the Bible! And this is what the Howard Government is pleased to call simplifying taxation in Australia!

THE ASTON BY-ELECTION: The poll-pundit witchdoctors are having a field day interpreting the results of the Aston by-election. Has Beazley done his dash? Has Howard turned the corner? Etc. etc. we've heard it all before.

The most significant result is hardly mentioned: The Australian Financial Review (18/7/01) put it this way:

Recent elections show gathering public disaffection from the major parties. In Aston, the first preference vote for independents and minor parties equaled 23 per cent. In Ryan, this vote was 18 per cent. In the West Australian State election this number was 28 per cent. In the 1998 Senate election, 24 per cent

The preferential system of voting masks, for a time, the bleeding away of votes from the main parties. But there comes a point where it bursts into the public consciousness. Will it be in the coming federal election? If it does, it will be in rural Australia that it is most apparent.

THE GANG-OF-FOUR DOES IT AGAIN: The banks bless their gold-braid cotton socks - have earned about $6.3 billion from fees alone last year a 14 per cent increase over the year before. The figures are from the Reserve Bankís annual survey of Bank Fees ñ no less. Monthly account-servicing fees have risen from $2 to $5 since 1995. Over-the-counter withdrawals have jumped from $1 to $2.75.

It must be all that competition from foreign banks, which then-Treasurer Paul Keating told us would produce more competitive services.

We notice that in the latest controversy over his piggery, Paul Keating received favoured treatment from the Commonwealth Bank before the Labor Party flogged it off, of course.

ILLEGALS VANISH INTO THE COMMUNITY: How do 46 escapees from the Villawood detention centre simply disappear and remain undetected? The answer is that a well-prepared ethnic organization is in place and operating to frustrate the lawful authorities. The Australian, (24/7/01) told us:

The 46 escapees from Villawood are already being provided with money, food and medical attention through the city's various ethnic communities, refugee activists said yesterday.

The networks are so well organized the fugitives can not only keep off the streets, they can also send messages back to any relatives left behind in Villawood

The whole refugee saga has become a farce that is making a mockery of any valid attempt to police Australia's borders. If this is allowed to continue it will set the scenario for an ethnic-versus-government confrontation with dangerous consequences that could well match Brixton, Bradford and Oldham in the U.K.

G.M. CROPS IN AUSTRALIA: Despite surveys showing widespread community concern over the use of Genetically Modified Organisms, the number of hidden G.M. trials is increasing day by day across Australia. The Federal Governmentís Office of the Gene Technology Registrar has released details of 629 crops in Australia experimenting with controversial genetic material.

Queensland's Sunday Mail, (22/7/01) gave details of what is happening in the State:

Camouflage, decoys and deliberately misleading directions are being used to hide 41 genetically modified crops growing in Queensland.

Many of the GM crops are surrounded by ordinary crops; the GM crops are disguised with shadecloth and guarded night and day.

Crops being tested include apples, cotton, lettuce, pineapples, pawpaw, sugarcane and canola. Among those responsible for the trials are the University of Queensland and the multinationals Monsanto and Aventis. The Gene Ethics Network and other lobby groups have warned that the crops pose a potential threat to other cropping, particularly through cross-pollination.

THE BENEFITS (?) OF GLOBALISM: Australia's Treasurer Peter Costello is about to launch a campaign selling the benefits of globalisation. This will follow the allocation of $60 million to be used in Australiaís schools, plugging globalism.

It never seems to occur to politicians that, if a particular programme is producing benefits, they are self-evident. Launching a campaign of persuasion is really an admission of failure. Ordinary Australians know whether things are better or worse. They donít need their tax money to be spent on campaigns telling them that black is white.

We have now had a quarter-century of changes heading towards de-regulation, free-trade, the level playing field, national competition, the lowering and elimination of protection for local industries, and so on. The politicians in the major parties are convinced or dare not say otherwise that we are all better off. The poverty, stress and suicide figures, as well as unemployment, downsizing, foreign and household debt, say otherwise.

All of which is reminiscent of Squealer in George Orwellís ìAnimal Farmî who, as things got worse, always had the latest set of figures ìprovingî things were really better.

Kay OConnell, the Manager of the Good Shepherd Youth and Family Service at St Albans, Victoria, had a straightforward, truthful and hard-hitting letter in The Weekend Australian, (14,15/7/01), replying to Mr Abbott's suggestion that those in poverty must largely blame themselves. Her letter included these points:

Good Shepherd Youth and Family Service is a community based organization providing a range of services to people who are disadvantaged and living in poverty. We work daily with people who are facing extreme hardship due to circumstances beyond their control. Every day we see people who are worn down by the poverty they experience in their lives. It is a constant struggler to make ends meet. Poverty is not a function of their individual behaviour. They have not made mistakes that have caused them to be less well off than they might otherwise be. They are simply not receiving an adequate income.

Taxing the better off to provide a welfare net for the increasing number of destitute is not, and never has been the answer. Social Credit offers the alternative.

They can watch, They can listen "WHO ARE THEY"? CRIMINALS? ! (Corrupt "Businessmen" / Oppressive Government Agencies / Media "Invaders")

2004-09-16T07:30:00.001+10:00

By © Paul Baird

NB: The satellites are not available to law enforcement agencies. Instead they protect illegal operators (like drug traders and corporate criminals) who in fact spy on law enforcers, lobbyists etc. They also facilitate remote, non-consensual human experimentation by the US military, the CIA and so on. In fact when asked who was centrally responsible - the military, defence contractors, the agencies, the media, or the mafia - one senior AFP executive replied: "Well, they all have access don't they".

To read more follow the link

BRAINWASHING AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

2004-09-16T07:30:00.000+10:00

By © Paul Baird

INTRODUCTION:
As most of us realise there are numerous ways to manipulate people’s thoughts and beliefs. Propaganda and lies can be delivered through education, literature, the media and so on. In particular, the status of public figures of all sorts allows them to be used in the brainwashing process, especially if they’ve been criminally compromised. Those who haven’t been compromised can be monitored by agency operatives and their organized crime counterparts but most of the agency victims are usually non public figures who’ve expressed just, peaceful, honest views which conflict with those of the powerful and the wealthy. The resultant silencing and discreditation of these targets allows information to be suppressed; kept from the general public. To understand fully what follows you must first concede that we have all been mushroomed and brainwashed on certain matters.

PSYCHOPOLITICS:

This is the false labeling of targets as "crazy", to stop them questioning or commenting on the criminal activities of the ruling class. "Mental healing", indoctrinating these people until they accept the narrow, elitist wisdom of their "masters", is a covert enslavement procedure covered by excuses and lies. Sadly, as with many things channeled through the corrupt mainstream media, the public don’t realise this goes on let alone that public figures can help to support, hide and foster it. The use of corrupt or ignorant psychiatrists and officials is a classic example of deception on a grand scale… Yet the problems they create are no less than those caused by ignorant/corrupt police etc.

Article Published in Hard Evidence Magazine Volume 4 number 5 Sept- Oct

The Doors Of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything

2004-09-16T06:43:00.000+10:00

by Dr. Tim O'Shea

We are the most conditioned, programmed beings the world has ever known. Not only are our thoughts and attitudes continually being shaped and molded; our very awareness of the whole design seems like it is being subtly and inexorably erased.

The doors of our perception are carefully and precisely regulated. Who cares, right?

It is an exhausting and endless task to keep explaining to people how most issues of conventional wisdom are scientifically implanted in the public consciousness by a thousand media clips per day. In an effort to save time, I would like to provide just a little background on the handling of information in this country.

Once the basic principles are illustrated about how our current system of media control arose historically, the reader might be more apt to question any given story in today's news.

If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong. We call that Conventional Wisdom.

In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually contrived: somebody paid for it. Examples:

* Pharmaceuticals restore health
* Vaccination brings immunity
* The cure for cancer is just around the corner
* When a child is sick, he needs immediate antibiotics
* When a child has a fever he needs Tylenol
* Hospitals are safe and clean.
* America has the best health care in the world.
* And many many more

This is a list of illusions, that have cost billions and billions to conjure up. Did you ever wonder why you never see the President speaking publicly unless he is reading? Or why most people in this country think generally the same about most of the above issues?

Read More at

"With knowledge comes the freedom to choose"

$300 million Lawsuit against NutraSweet Corporation, Monsanto Corporation, American Diabetes Association

2004-09-16T05:25:00.000+10:00

A DL DEWEY Exclusive - BREAKING NEWS

This morning, Wednesday, September 15th, in San Francisco, a $350 million dollar plus class action racketeering lawsuit was filed in United States Federal District Court, court case # C 04 3872, against the NutraSweet Corporation, Monsanto Corporation, American Diabetes Association, Dr. Robert H. Moser and some fifty other defendants to be named later. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is mentioned throughout in the lawsuit. Copy of Rico Lawsuit Filed:

Read more at the above link:

Hostage team on standby Confusion over claims Australians kidnapped

2004-09-16T04:45:00.000+10:00

Hostage team on standby Confusion over claims Australians kidnapped

By David McLennan and AAP
Wednesday, 15 September 2004

Hostage negotiators were on standby as more than 50 Australians remained unaccounted for in Iraq late last night amid confusion over claims two Australians had been kidnapped by a group known as the Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army.

The organisation said it had seized two Australians and two Asians near the Iraqi town of Samarra, and would execute the hostages unless Australia withdrew forces from Iraq within 24 hours.

But as the deadline passed, Australian officials had been unable to find any evidence that two Australians had been taken hostage.

The group has not issued any video or photographs of the kidnap victims, or issued any names, raising hopes the hostage claim could be a hoax.

But the Australian Federal Police said yesterday it had hostage negotiators on standby in Jordan who could rush to Iraq to deal with the crisis if it proved genuine.

At the same time, Prime Minister John Howard and Labor Leader Mark Latham vowed not to bow to terrorist threats.

Late last night, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his department was still trying to contact 55 Australians in Iraq.

The number of Australians registered in Iraq was 202 and 147 had been contacted.

He said his department had contacted security firms, but received no reports of anyone taken hostage.

"None of the security companies who the embassy's been in touch with have reported people being taken - employees being taken hostage," Mr Downer said.

He said it could be two more days before all Australians in Iraq had been contacted.

However, terror expert Clive Williams, of the Australian National University, warned there were likely many more Australians in the war-torn country.

Security consultants, who are often former special services or police officers, can be paid more than $2000 a day to work in Iraq, and Mr Williams said they might not want the Australian Taxation Office to know that. Perth security firm Australian Professional Bodyguards said four of its staff remained unaccounted for last night.

Operations director Frank Halliwell said the four men were well trained and well armed, and were part of a team of six working near Samarra.
"Two of the guys have actually just contacted home and advised their families that they are safe," Mr Halliwell said.

"We're just waiting for confirmation that the rest of them are OK."
However, he said based on information from the region, he had no concerns for the safety of those unaccounted for. "If these guys were to get into a situation, then I'd say they'd know what to do."

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said the department had been in contact with APB in Perth.

The two men who telephoned their families yesterday made no mention of their colleagues, Mr Halliwell said, adding that the calls had lasted about 10 seconds because of communication problems in the area.
"The phone call was brief, just saying that the operatives were safe. We're still waiting for that confirmation phone call to see who they were actually talking about," he said.

"But if they caught anyone it would be all six, not just two of them, so the families are pretty assured they're going to get a phone call."
It was not unusual for communication problems to interrupt his daily contact with men, he said.

The six men, all aged between 28 and 38, were highly trained former members of the military who had been performing executive protection in Iraq.

"What they're providing is some of the highest security you can do, so they know what they're doing," Mr Halliwell said.

Captive Aussies face death in Iraq

2004-09-16T04:24:00.000+10:00

Captive Aussies face death in Iraq

Tuesday, 14 September 2004

The Federal Government is investigating claims two Australians have been kidnapped in Iraq and will be killed if Australia doesn't pull out of the war zone in 24 hours.

The two Australians were seized along with two East Asians, according to a statement believed to have been issued by the Islamic Secret Army and quoted by the Agence France-Presse news agency.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said late last night the claims were being investigated. "We are waiting for advice from Baghdad."

The spokesman was unable to say if those believed to have been kidnapped were soldiers or civilians.

The statement was handed out in the Sunni Muslim insurgent bastion of Samarra yesterday, according to AFP. But the news agency said there was no immediate confirmation of the statement's authenticity.

"One of our brave brigades ambushed civilian cars belonging to the American army on the motorway from Baghdad to [the main northern city of Mosul," the statement said.

"It took four prisoners, two Australians and two East Asian nationals who were working as security contractors for important people.

"We tell the infidels of Australia that they have 24 hours to leave Iraq or the two Australians will be killed without a second chance."

Meanwhile, Italy launched a fresh diplomatic drive yesterday to save the lives of two female hostages threatened with execution in Iraq, with Foreign Minister Franco Frattini in Kuwait on the first leg of a Middle East tour.

Criticised for not doing enough to save the life of an Italian journalist kidnapped and executed last month, Italy has sent Mr Frattini to the region to help win the release of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, snatched at gunpoint from their Baghdad offices last Tuesday.

Last month, Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was executed by the Islamic Army in Iraq after he was held captive for a week. That group is holding two French journalists hostage. Their fate remains unknown.

Business rake in profits through fraud while people die!

2004-09-15T18:06:00.000+10:00

Do Food Makers Want to Kill You?

by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

[ This article was posted last year it is well worth another read
Posted July 24, 2003 ] "Have your say"

Freedom can stand or fall on issues large (wars, depressions, natural disasters) or small (a hundred thousand regulations that manage our daily life). Regulations on food labeling count among the small issues. It is a tricky issue for market advocates because bad labeling might actually count as breach of contract and thereby require legal intervention of some sort.

As Murray Rothbard writes, "if A sells B breakfast food, and it turns out to be straw, A has committed an illegal act of fraud by telling B he is selling him food, while actually selling straw. This is punishable… [by] the legal code of the free society that would prohibit all invasions of persons and property."

More at the link: