Dave Johnson - License to Profit -- Legalized Corruption in the US Congress

Tuesday 6 December 2011

by: Dave Johnson, Truthout | News Analysis

http://www.truth-out.org/license-profit-legalized-corruption-us-congress/1323198914

Are members of Congress corrupt? Perhaps we should define the term. There is the terrible, "legal" corruption of pay-for-play campaign contributions, with wealthy donors and big corporations paying to get tax cuts, subsidies, special laws and "access." This is part of why our government is responsive to the agenda of the 1 percent and their corporations only.

Even worse, there is the new "Citizens United" form of corruption, enabled by conservatives on the Supreme Court who ruled that corporate money is "speech." Now, corporations can threaten elected officials: If they don't get what the corporations want, they can put up so much money to oppose - which in today's campaigns mean smear - that official in the next election; so that the person won't be able to be elected to any office again.

But the blatant, in-front-of-our-faces "legal" corruption of the current campaign finance system is about raising and spending millions of dollars to get a job that pays relatively little, notpersonal profit. It has the appearance of bribery, with corporate interests pouring huge amounts of money into the process. Of course, corporations don't do this for the good of the country; they do it out of profit interest. Why else would a corporation do it? By definition, offering something of value to a government official with the intent to influence what that official does is bribery, but in this case it is legal, because what's offered is considered "speech."

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Noam Chomsky - Marching Off the Cliff

Tuesday 6 December 2011

by: Noam Chomsky, Truthout | Op-Ed

http://www.truth-out.org/marching-cliff/1323195281

A task of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, now under way in Durban, South Africa, is to extend earlier policy decisions that were limited in scope and only partially implemented.

These decisions trace back to the U.N. Convention of 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, which the U.S. refused to join. The Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period ends in 2012. A fairly general pre-conference mood was captured by a New York Times headline: “Urgent Issues but Low Expectations.”

As the delegates meet in Durban, a report on newly updated digests of polls by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Program on International Policy Attitudes reveals that “publics around the world and in the United States say their government should give global warming a higher priority and strongly support multilateral action to address it.”

Most U.S. citizens agree, though PIPA clarifies that the percentage “has been declining over the last few years, so that American concern is significantly lower than the global average – 70 percent as compared to 84 percent.”

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Joel Fuhrman - Fighting breast cancer with flaxseeds

http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/breast-cancer-fighting-breast-cancer-with-flaxseeds.html

Joel Fuhrman, DiseaseProof.com  November 30, 2011

What are lignans?

Plant lignans are one of the four classes of phytoestrogens (isoflavones, lignans, stilbenes, coumestans), phenolic compounds that are structurally similar to the main mammalian estrogen, estradiol.1 Plant lignans are modified by bacteria in the human digestive tract into enteroligans. It is important to recognize the role of healthy bacteria in this process, because antibiotics can destroy beneficial bacteria in the gut resulting in long-term reduction in enteroligans.2 Eating commercial meats exposes us to antibiotics, as does the overuse and inappropriate prescribing by physicians.

Which foods are good sources of plant lignans?

Flaxseeds are the richest source of plant lignans, having about 8 times the lignan content of sesame seeds [note that flaxseed oil does not contain lignans – they bind to the fiber]. The other plant foods on the list have about one-tenth or less the amount of lignans as sesame seeds per serving.2,3 Chia seeds are also a rich source of lignans, however the exact amount is still debatable, so that number will be made available at a later date.

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World Net Daily - $2 trillion sunstorm coming, NASA warns - Recovery time period estimated at 10 years

World Net Daily: December 04, 2011

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=373629

Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted fromJoseph Farah's G2 Bulletin,the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. is becoming increasingly aware and concerned about the possibility within a few years of an electromagnetic pulse attack from an enemy's high-altitude nuclear explosion. The impact would include the loss of critical U.S. electrical infrastructure that could send the nation back into an 18th century agrarian economy, according to a report fromJoseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

But experts have warned that such an attack could produce conditions more difficult than the 18th century due to the considerable increase in population and the total reliance by society on electricity and technology for life-sustaining factors, such as food production and delivery. Also hit would be transportation, medical and emergency services, telecommunications, and the economic and financial system.

Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, in a nationally televised presidential debate, recently declared that the potential for an EMP attack is perhaps the most serious national security threat facing the United States today.

However, there is another threat looming that is not only possible but actually forecast, and it could fryelectronicsand knock out the transformers in the national electric grid system.

It is an expected solar storm – or what's called a solar maximum – that the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Academy of Sciences have confirmed to G2Bulletin could occur sometime between 2012 and 2014.

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worstpolluted.org - New Report is First to Quantify Health Impact from World’s Worst Toxic Pollution Problems

http://www.worstpolluted.org/2011-press-release.html

New York, NY--November 9, 2011--A new report released today by New York-based Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland identifies the top ten toxic pollution problems and sources. The report also calculates, for the first time, the health impacts of toxic sites. The calculations show that people impacted by the polluted sites analyzed in the report could lose an average of 12.7 years to death or disability. This measurement is called Disability-Adjusted Life Year or DALY, and represents the sum of life years lost and years lived with disability. The report also reveals that, contrary to popular belief, most toxic hotspots result from poorly regulated, locally owned small- and medium-scale operations, rather than large multinational corporations. The report offers the most targeted picture of pollution’s toll to date, and is a crucial step in prioritizing life-saving cleanup efforts

The World’s Worst Toxic Pollution Problems 2011 report is the latest in a series of annual reports documenting global pollution issues. Since 2006, Blacksmith's yearly reports have been instrumental in increasing public understanding of the health impacts posed by toxic pollution, and in some cases, have compelled cleanup work at pollution hotspots. Blacksmith reports have been issued jointly with Green Cross Switzerland since 2007. The 2011 report, as well as all previous reports, are available online at www.worstpolluted.org. 

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Ethan A. Huff - GlaxoSmithKline pays US government record $3 billion for illegally marketing drugs (but CEO and executives not held criminally responsible)

Ethan A. Huff, NaturalNews.com  December 6, 2011 

http://www.naturalnews.com/034329_GSK_illegal_marketing_drugs.html

(NaturalNews) The pharmaceutical industry is notorious for getting away with murder, both figuratively and literally, without so much as a slap on the wrist from the justice system. And a recent settlement involving drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) only further exposes the fact that Big Pharma is free to break the law as long as it pays off Big Government, its partner in crime.

The latest dog and pony show involves the US government addressing GSK's illegal activity over the years in peddling its deadly chemical cocktails. After being exposed for illegally marketing drugs, paying off doctors to promote dangerous drugs, and manipulating scientific data to get dangerous drugs approved, GSK has essentially been pardoned by the US government in exchange for $3 billion.

Sure, $3 billion might sound like a lot of money to most people. But GSK raked in roughly $43 billion in revenue just last year. So this settlement is a mere drop in the bucket for GSK, and it really does nothing to satisfy the demands of justice. It does, however, conveniently transfer $3 billion in payoff money to the federal government, which has allowed GSK to get away with its crimes for years.

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ScienceDaily - Young Women May Reduce Heart Disease Risk Eating Fish With Omega 3 Fatty Acids, Study Finds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205165118.htm

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2011) — Young women may reduce their risk of developing cardiovascular disease simply by eating more fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

In the first population-based study in women of childbearing age, those who rarely or never ate fish had 50 percent more cardiovascular problems over eight years than those who ate fish regularly. Compared to women who ate fish high in omega-3 weekly, the risk was 90 percent higher for those who rarely or never ate fish.

Researchers used a Danish nationwide population based pregnancy cohort to examine whether or not eating more fish might reduce cardiovascular disease risk in the young women.

About 49,000 women, 15-49 years old, median age of just under 30 years in early pregnancy -- were interviewed by telephone or answered food frequency questionnaires about how much, what types and how often they ate fish, as well as lifestyle and family history questions.

Researchers recorded 577 cardiovascular events during the eight-year period, including five cardiovascular deaths in women without any prior diagnosis of the disease. In all, 328 events were due to hypertensive disease, 146 from cerebrovascular disease, and 103 from ischemic heart disease.

Inpatient and outpatient admission for cardiovascular disease was much more common among women who reported eating little or no fish. In three different assessments over a 30-week period, women who never ate fish had a three-fold higher disease risk compared to women who ate fish every week.

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory - Carbon dioxide emissions rebound quickly after global financial crisis

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, December 5, 2011

http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20111205-00

OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY, Tenn., Dec. 5, 2011 — The sharp decrease in global carbon dioxide emissions attributed to the worldwide financial crisis in 2009 quickly rebounded in 2010, according to research supported by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In 2010, emissions reached an all-time high of 9.1 billion tons of carbon, compared with 8.6 billion tons in 2009. The downturn was also followed by milestone carbon dioxide emissions from the developing world's emerging economies. In developing countries, consumption-based emissions, or those emissions associated with the consumption of goods and services, increased 6.1 percent over 2009 and 2010.

As a result, 2009 marked the first time that developing countries had higher consumption-based emissions than developed countries.

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Global Carbon Project - Annual emissions summary

Global carbon dioxide emissions increased by a record 5.9 per cent in 2010 following the dampening effect of the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), according to scientists working with the Global Carbon Project.

·         Global Carbon Project, 5 December 2011

·         http://www.csiro.au/en/Portals/Media/Global-Carbon-Project.aspx

The Global Carbon Project (GCP) published its annual analysis today in the journal Nature Climate Change, reporting that the impact of the GFC on emissions has been short-lived owing to strong emissions growth in emerging economies and a return to emissions growth in developed economies.

Contributions to global emissions growth in 2010 were largest from China, USA, India, the Russian Federation, and the European Union, with a continuously growing global share from emerging economies. Coal burning was at the heart of the growth in fossil fuel and cement emissions accounting for 52% of the total growth.

Coal burning was at the heart of the growth in fossil fuel and cement emissions accounting for 52% of the total growth.

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PRNewswire - New Study Finds High Magnesium Intake Helps Reduce Fear and Anxiety

PRNewswire  12-06-11

http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=11979&Section=Nutrition

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A supplemented intake of magnesium is found to enhance the brain's ability to reduce fear and anxiety responses, making way for a possible supplemental treatment for many anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, specific phobias and others. In the October 2011 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, top neuroscientists at Tsinghua University in Beijing, University of Texas, and University of Toronto revealed that by increasing the extracellular magnesium concentration in the brain through a new magnesium compound called Magtein(TM), the cognitive ability - an essential facility that controls fear and anxiety - is enhanced. This development becomes extremely significant considering anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in America, affecting 18% of the population(1).

Anxiety disorders can be triggered by fear and thus, affect cognitive functioning. When in danger, fear is essential for survival. This fear triggers the brain to respond with many split-second changes in the body to prepare to defend against the danger or to avoid it. This response is a healthy reaction meant to protect a person from harm.

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