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Forging his way through the predictable UK media censorship: Dr Andrew Wakefield Responds to Measles Outbreak in Swansea
June 6, 2011 
You know, being a hard core Rolling Stones fan I thought nobody would ever beat Keith, Mick, Charlie and Bill at their own game. I was wrong. Albeit different, this version matches the original and it gives me goosebumps.
June 5, 2011 By Eric W. Dolan
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
In an interview with Scott Horton of Antiwar Radio, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh warned that the United States' "aggressive" sanction policy against Iran was aimed at halting a nuclear weapons program that does not exist.
"Clearly the sanction policy is aimed at trying to force Iran to change its foreign policy -- not regime change, that's not going to happen," he said. "Bush might have been interested in regime change, Obama is not."
Classified U.S. intelligence assessments and numerous other sources suggest that Iran’s nuclear program has been greatly exaggerated, according to Hersh. He noted that the two most recent National Intelligence Estimates on Iran's nuclear program have not found any conclusive evidence that the country has pursued nuclear weapons since 2003.
"There is no evidence at all that they've done anything to weaponize," Hersh said. "They are enriching, they are working on missiles, yes, but they have not done anything" to create an atomic bomb.
Hersh has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, five George Polk Awards, two National Magazine Awards, and a number of other prizes for his investigative reporting. In an article to be published by The New Yorker on June 6, he details his investigation into Iran's nuclear program.
June 5, 2011 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/05/982161/-The-Philosophy-of-Mean?via=blog_1
Sun Jun 05, 2011 at 10:00 AM PDT
Are there no poorhouses? And wait,
why the hell are we paying for poorhouses?
Politics can be a complicated business. Every yes-or-no vote may represent something more nuanced, behind the scenes; politicians may plot out long-term strategies or short-term ones; catering to one constituency may require irking another. These things are all true.
But at the end of the day, if you don't want to be perceived as a simple, cold hearted son-of-a-bitch, then you may want to rethink a political philosophy that requires you, at every possible turn, to behave like a son-of-a-bitch.
House Republicans are pushing back against a series of public health measures, including school lunch standards and tobacco regulation, teeing up a confrontation with Senate Democrats and the White House over the reach of government in daily life. [...]
On Tuesday, the GOP majority on the House Appropriations Committee approved a 2012 spending plan that directs the Agriculture Department to ditch the first new nutritional standards in 15 years proposed for school breakfasts and lunches. The lawmakers say meals containing more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy will cost an additional $7 billion over five years — money they say the country can ill afford in difficult economic times.
Can ill afford? Seven billion dollars over a half decade is, from the standpoint of the larger budget, not a lot of money. And seven billion dollars nationwide to feed schoolchildren fruits, vegetables and low-fat milk especially seems like not a lot of money. Farmers would be able to sell more produce, which would help a continually troubled economic segment. Kids would get healthier meals, and not be prodded daily into eating something worse — at least, not directly from their school. And if you are going to have a nutritional standard for school lunches, and God knows what slop and dreck we would be feeding our children, if the school budgeters could choose anything they wanted, it makes sense to make that standard be something that would at least not actively hinder their health. Healthier children turn into healthier adults: healthier adults have lower medical bills; lower medical bills translate into lower government costs later.
June 5, 2011 Posted on 06.3.11
By David Ferguson
In Boston, yesterday, former Alaska Governor and possible 2012 contender Sarah Palin kept mum about her plans to run or not run for President, but she did share some fairly jumbled thoughts on the story of Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride, “…he who warned the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringin’ those bells and, um, makin’ sure as he’s ridin’ his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free. And we were gonna be armed.”
CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin deadpans to the camera, “History lesson from Sarah Palin on the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”. For the record, no shots were fired nor bells rung on the famous ride along the Freedom Trail.
Watch this clip from CNN, embedded via Mediaite, below:
June 5, 2011 by
posted Jun 03, 2011
During my more than three decades as an environmentalist and campaigner for democratic rights, people have often asked me whether spirituality, different religious traditions, and the Bible in particular had inspired me, and influenced my activism and the work of the Green Belt Movement (GBM). Did I conceive conservation of the environment and empowerment of ordinary people as a kind of religious vocation? Were there spiritual lessons to be learned and applied to their own environmental efforts, or in their lives as a whole?
When I began this work in 1977, I wasn't motivated by my faith or by religion in general. Instead, I was thinking literally and practically about solving problems on the ground. I wanted to help rural populations, especially women, with the basic needs they described to me during seminars and workshops. They said that they needed clean drinking water, adequate and nutritious food, income, and energy for cooking and heating. So, when I was asked these questions during the early days, I'd answer that I didn't think digging holes and mobilizing communities to protect or restore the trees, forests, watersheds, soil, or habitats for wildlife that surrounded them was spiritual work.
I didn't think digging holes and mobilizing communities to protect or restore the trees, forests, watersheds, soil, or habitats for wildlife that surrounded them was spiritual work.
June 5, 2011 http://naturalsociety.com/top-7-supermarket-foods-to-avoid/
Food Matters
June 04, 2011
In a recent article, seven experts in the fields of both food and the environment (scientists, doctors and farmers) were asked just one simple question: “What foods do you avoid?” Their responses had nothing to do with calories or nutrient-density, but all to do with their insider knowledge on how certain seemingly “healthy” foods that they closely work with are produced and packaged. The findings are scary.
If the farmer who grows the food won’t eat it himself, then I won’t touch it either.
Here’s a summary of the findings. You can add these seven to your ‘Foods to Avoid‘ list:
An endocrinologist and expert on the topic of the synthetic oestrogen bisphenol-A (BCA), linked to heart disease and infertility, won’t go near canned tomatoes. Tin cans are lined with a resin containing BCA which is especially a problem with canning tomatoes, as the acid in tomato breaks this down in dangerous amounts. This is a serious health concern for everyone who loves a Spag Bol, especially children. My advice: if you still want the convenience of stored, ready-to-cook tomatoes, opt for sauces and passata in glass bottles.
For fat cows (and fat people) feed them grain, corn and soy. This is what farmers do to increase profits. The end product is meat that is nutritionally inferior. Cows were meant to eat grass. Studies show that grass-fed beef (compared to corn-fed) is higher in important vitamins, minerals and the heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory fats. Then there’s also the issue of all the antibiotics used on those inappropriately-fed, sick cows… My advice: Look for “grass-fed” or “pasture-fed” organic beef from strong healthy beasts.
June 5, 2011
The SlutWalk protests may be inspired by commendable principles to prevent sexual violence. But the misreading of the Toronto police’s statements stop us asking harder questions about sexuality and gender relations
My guess is I’ll lose a friend or two over this article, and I’m worried they may be female. In the process, I’ll be exposing a lot of what I think are core vulnerabilities in men, and this could make some guys wince at me.
In any case, here goes. I make no apologies.
I’ve just read about the recent SlutWalk in Melbourne. SlutWalk is a global phenomenon that’s just arrived in Australia. It began in Toronto in protest to a local police officer telling women they should cover up a little to stop being victimised by sexual offenders. In any case, women rallied in the streets of Melbourne in fishnets and short skirts earlier this week as a celebration of their sexuality, bearing signs such as “Don’t tell us how to dress, tell men not to rape!”
On face value this seems fair enough. And clearly, rape is a deplorable, despicable act. But let’s take a step back for a bit.
What do we mean by sexuality? And more importantly, what do women mean by saying they wish to express their sexuality? My answer to this may seem pretty superficial, but I think it’s credible. What women really do when they go out in short skirts and fishnets is vie for male attention. It’s a way for them to feel significant, but their sexuality is also a way for them to gain a sense of power against the physically and historically fiscally stronger male version of gender. Let’s not delude ourselves with postmodern political correctness. Heterosexual women who enjoy going out on a Saturday night who were suddenly faced with a city that had no male inhabitants, wouldn’t bother donning anything revealing or low cut for all their girlfriends to marvel over. There’s a certain process at work here, which I think we all too often deny, particularly since the sixties came and went. Women are the selectors in the reproductive race, and their power stems from their sexuality. This has been the case throughout history, is the case in most species, particularly mammals, and is still the case in contemporary human culture.
June 5, 2011
In Germany, France and Italy, but also in many other places, we find ourselves confronted with a generation of leaders ever more shortsighted and given over to electioneering: among them, none speak to Europe nor for Europe.
Denmark has reintroduced border controls with the populist excuse of controlling crime. By taking the step, the country that was once a model of democracy, tolerance and social justice has placed itself on the frontlines of a Europe that is increasingly surrendering to fear and xenophobia. Greece, meanwhile, has spent more than a year teetering on a cliff edge and few fellow European governments seem disappointed that it may abandon the euro - some of them are even secretly supporting the markets against Athens. Finland has thrown itself into the arms of xenophobic populism and, following in the footsteps of Slovakia, has refused to finance the bailout of Portugal. With elections around the corner, France and Italy have taken advantage of the Tunisian uprising to restrict the free movement of people within the European Union. And Germany, unhappy at managing the euro crisis amid regional elections, has broken ranks with France and the United Kingdom in the United Nations Security Council, ignoring the Libya crisis and undermining 10 years of European security policy.
June 4, 2011 http://www.grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-05-31-you-want-superbugs-with-that1
2 Jun 2011
Stuart Levy once kept a flock of chickens on a farm in the rolling countryside west of Boston. No ordinary farmer, Levy is a professor of molecular biology and microbiology and of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. This was decades ago, and his chickens were taking part in a never-before-conducted study. Half the birds received feed laced with a low dose of antibiotics, which U.S. farmers routinely administer to healthy livestock -- not to cure illness, but merely to increase the animals' rates of growth. The other half of Levy's flock received drug-free food.
Results started showing up almost instantly. Within two days, the treated animals began excreting feces containing E. coli bacteria that were resistant to tetracycline, the antibiotic in their feed. (E. Coli, most of which are harmless, normally live in the guts of chickens and other warm-blooded animals, including humans.) After three months, the chickens were also excreting bacteria resistant to such potent antibiotics as ampicillin, streptomycin, carbenacillin, and sulfonamides. Even though Levy had added only tetracycline to the feed, his chickens had somehow developed what scientists now call "multi-drug resistance" to a host of antibiotics that play important roles in treating infections in people. More frightening, although none of the members of the farm family tending the flock were taking antibiotics, they, too, soon began excreting drug-resistant strains of E. coli.
When Levy's study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1976, it was met with skepticism. "The other side -- industry -- could not believe that this would have happened. The mood at the time was that what happens in animals does not happen in people," said Levy, who serves as president of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, in a telephone interview from his office at Tufts. "But we had the data. It was obvious to us even then that using antibiotics this way was an error and should be stopped."
June 4, 2011
Germany's decision to decommission its nuclear power stations is the outcome of a half century of anxiety about technocratic modernity.
In the wake of an earthquake and following a massive tsunami, a series of major accidents occurred in the Fukushima dai-ichi nuclear plant from 11 March 2011 onwards. Soon after, German papers carried maps of radioactive clouds pushing from eastern Japan across Siberia closer and closer towards Germany. When Germans looked to the suffering in Japan, many also recognised themselves as potential victims. On Monday, 30 May 2011, chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian-Democratic/Liberal coalition government announced that it would pass a law that would mean the decommissioning of all of Germany’s nuclear reactors by 2022. Ironically, this may mean that it will import nuclear energy from other European countries, mainly France, in order to satisfy demand during peak periods.
Merkel’s move was an astonishing U-turn. She had previously agreed to renew the lease of life for Germany’s nuclear industry, effectively overruling her own minister for the environment. Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, however, she decreed an immediate halt to the generation of nuclear power in the oldest German plants until safety tests had been carried out. She also put in place an ‘ethics commission’ consisting of high-ranking experts from politics, the humanities as well as the social and natural sciences in order to explore the moral issues involved. The decision to decommission nuclear power plants by 2022 follows directly in the wake of this commission’s recommendations
