“Dr. Mercola” - Study Found Toxin from GM Crops is Showing up in Human Blood

Dr. Mercola

May 31, 2011

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/31/study-found-toxin-from-gm-crops-is-showing-up-in-human-blood.aspx

A new study is causing fresh doubts about the safety of genetically modified crops. The research found Bt toxin, which is present in many GM crops, in human blood.

Bt toxin makes crops toxic to pests, but it has been claimed that the toxin poses no danger to the environment and human health; the argument was that the protein breaks down in the human gut. But the presence of the toxin in human blood shows that this does not happen.

India Today reports:

“Scientists ... have detected the insecticidal protein ...  circulating in the blood of pregnant as well as non-pregnant women. They have also detected the toxin in fetal blood, implying it could pass on to the next generation.”

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“Christopher Mims” - Only 15 U.S. states even have a plan to deal with ‘new normal’ extreme weather

Christopher Mims

May 31, 2011

http://www.grist.org/list/2011-05-31-only-15-u.s.-states-even-have-a-plan-to-deal-with-new-normal-ext

Climate change has arrived, says Newsweek science correspondent Sharon Begley, and the good ol' U.S. of A. has more or less been caught with its pants down, preparations-wise.

Only 15 states have completed or even started a plan to cope with climate change, which will bring profound changes over the next 20 to 30 years, including:

• Washing out iconic Pacific Coast Highway 1, unless it’s rerouted (possibly through a mountain for safety)

• Eating up 580 miles a year of beach in the Chesapeake Bay

• Overwhelming city storm sewers with extreme flooding

• Destroying some states’ cash-cow products, like citrus in California and maple syrup in Vermont

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“David Edwards” - Cell phone radiation officially listed a potential cancer risk

David Edwards

May 31st, 2011

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/31/cell-phone-radiation-officially-listed-a-potential-cancer-risk/

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies cell phones as a possible carcinogen in the same category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries in the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, made the determination that cell phone exposure was "possibly carcinogenic to humans." The team, which included scientists from the U.S., reached their conclusion after reviewing dozens of studies.

"The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences," Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, told CNN.

"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain. So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones," he added.

In a study released earlier this year, researchers found a seven percent energy increase in brain tissue closest to the cell phone's antenna when subjects used the phone for more than 50 minutes.

Several cell phone manufacturers warn consumers against putting the device too close to the body.

"When using iPhone near your body for voice calls or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) away from the body," Apple's iPhone 4 manual advises.

The Blackberry Bold manual instructs users to "keep the BlackBerry device at least 0.98 in. (25 mm) from your body when the BlackBerry device is transmitting."

“Agence France-Presse” - U.S. announces charges against five 9/11 terror suspects

Agence France-Presse

May 31st, 2011

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/31/charged-announced-for-five-911-terror-suspects/

WASHINGTON — US military prosecutors at Guantanamo were expected to file fresh charges on Tuesday against the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four alleged co-conspirators.

The recommendations, which must still be approved by a military tribunal official, set the stage for the high-profile Al-Qaeda suspects to finally face justice almost a decade after the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

President Barack Obama's administration last month abandoned plans to try the five in a civilian court just blocks from the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, felled by Al-Qaeda hijackers on September 11, 2001.

A letter sent to families of 9/11 victims said fresh charges against Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, and Mustapha Ahmed al-Hawsawi would be filed at Guantanamo on Tuesday.

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“Steve Connor” - Small earthquake in Blackpool, major shock for UK's energy policy

Controversial shale gas drilling halted pending investigation into possible connection with tremors

Steve Connor

June 1, 2011

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/small-earthquake-in-blackpool-major-shock-for-uks-energy-policy-2291597.html

The controversial new drilling operation for natural shale gas in Lancashire has been suspended following a second earthquake in the area that may have been triggered by the process. The earthquake last Friday near Blackpool occurred at the same time that the energy company Cuadrilla Resources was injecting fluids under high pressure deep underground to deliberately blast apart the gas-bearing rock – a process known as "fracking", brought to Britain from the US, where it has been highly contentious.

Click HERE to view graphic (69k jpg)

Earthquake experts from the British Geological Survey said that the 1.5 magnitude quake last week was similar to a 2.3 earthquake in April in the same area and that both may be linked to the experimental fracking for shale gas at Preese Hall on the Fylde coast.

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“Andrew Leonard” - The emerging liberal doctor majority

It's a good thing the politics of medicine are changing. Better healthcare demands a more collective approach

Andrew Leonard

May 31, 2011

http://www.salon.com/news/healthcare_reform/index.html?story=/tech/htww/2011/05/31/doctors_politics_and_healthcare_reform

Doctors were once overwhelmingly male and usually owned their own practices. They generally favored lower taxes and regularly fought lawyers to restrict patient lawsuits. Ronald Reagan came to national political prominence in part by railing against "socialized medicine" on doctors' behalf.

But doctors are changing. They are abandoning their own practices and taking salaried jobs in hospitals, particularly in the North, but increasingly in the South as well. Half of all younger doctors are women, and that share is likely to grow.

There are no national surveys that track doctors' political leanings, but as more doctors move from business owner to shift worker, their historic alliance with the Republican Party is weakening from Maine as well as South Dakota, Arizona and Oregon, according to doctors' advocates in those and other states.

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"Dr. Stuart Bramshall" - Drug Companies -- Killing Kids for Profit

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Drug-Companies-Killing-Ki-by-Dr-Stuart-Jeanne-B-110513-689.html

May 30, 2011

By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall

The Myth of Childhood Bipolar Disorder

Practicing psychiatry for eight and a half years in New Zealand has given me a unique perspective on childhood bipolar disorder, in my view the most dangerous "made in America" condition. This, too, is a condition virtually unknown outside the US. My membership in the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has led to an acquaintance with Melbourne psychiatrist Dr. Peter Parry and his work exposing a conspiracy by Eli Lilly and other American drug companies to pressure psychiatrists, pediatricians and primary care physicians to prescribe dangerous antipsychotic drugs "off-label" to American children.

Drug Companies Are Deliberately Breaking the Law

Prescribing "off-label" refers to using medication for an indication that hasn't been approved by the FDA. As yet no antipsychotics have been approved for use in children - drugs must meet extremely high safety standards for the FDA to allow their use in children. Moreover it's illegal for drug companies to market medications to doctors or the public for "off-label" uses. However the fines they pay are so miniscule compared to the massive potential profits, that it's considered good business practice to pay the fine and keep on doing it anyway. (see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32694936/ns/business-us_business/, http://www.cheatingculture.com/off-label-marketing/, and http://www.false-claims-act.com/2010/02/09/eli-lilly-settles-for-largest-criminal-fine-in-us-history/

As well as publishing numerous studies on the controversy over childhood or pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD), Dr. Parry has put together a Power Point presentation that he gives at grand rounds and conferences around the world (see http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au

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"Paul Craig Roberts" - Offshoring has Destroyed the US Economy

Nobel Economist Michael Spence Says Globalism Is Costly For Americans

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Global Research, May 31, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25056

These are discouraging times, but once in a blue moon a bit of hope appears. I am pleased to report on the bit of hope delivered in March of 2011 by Michael Spence, a Nobel prize-winning  economist, assisted by Sandile Hlatshwayo, a researcher at New York University. The two economists have taken a careful empirical look at jobs offshoring and concluded that it has ruined the income and employment prospects for most Americans.

To add to the amazement, their research report, “The Evolving Structure of the American Economy and the Employment Challenge,” was published by the very establishment Council on Foreign Relations. http://www.cfr.org/industrial-policy/evolving-structure-american-economy-employment-challenge/p24366

For a decade I have warned that US corporations, pressed by Wall Street and large retailers such as Wal-Mart, to move offshore their production for US consumer markets, were simultaneously moving offshore US GDP, US tax base, US consumer income, and irreplaceable career opportunities for American citizens. 

Among the serious consequences of offshoring are the dismantling of the ladders of upward mobility that made the US an “opportunity society,”  an extraordinary worsening of the income distribution, and large trade and federal budget deficits that cannot be closed by normal means. These deficits now threaten the US dollar’s role as world reserve currency.

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"Yoichi Shimatsu" - Who Will Take the Radioactive Rods from Fukushima?

By Yoichi Shimatsu

Global Research, May 31, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25064

The decommissioning of the Fukushima 1 nuclear plant is delayed by a single problem: Where to dispose of the uranium fuel rods? Many of those rods are extremely radioactive and partially melted, and some contain highly lethal plutonium.

Besides the fissile fuel inside the plant's six reactors, more than 7 tons of spent rods have to be removed to a permanent storage site before workers can bury the  Fukushima facility under concrete. The rods cannot be permanently stored in Japan because the country's new waste  storage centers on the northeast tip of Honshu are built on unsuitable land. The floors of the Rokkasho reprocessing facility and Mutsu storage unit are cracked from uneven sinking into the boggy soil.

Entombment of the rods inside the Fukushima 1 reactors carries enormous risks because the footing of landfill  cannot support the weight of the fuel rods in addition to the reactors and cooling water inside the planned concrete containment walls. The less reactive spent fuel would have to be kept inside air-cooled dry casks. The powerful earthquakes that frequently strike the Tohoku region will eventually undermine the foundations, causing radioactive wastewater to pour unstoppably into the Pacific Ocean. The rods must therefore go to another country.

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"Ken Morris" - Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: An Insider Exposes How Palin Is Focused on Riches, Not Governing

By Ken Morris, Howard Books
Posted on May 30, 2011, Printed on May 31, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151131/blind_allegiance_to_sarah_palin%3A_an_insider_exposes_how_palin_is_focused_on_riches%2C_not_governing

Despite being filled with regret for his own actions while serving for nearly four years under candidate and then half-governor Sarah Palin, Frank Bailey came to fear that his former boss remained a voice in American politics. In Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin, former insider and my coauthor Frank Bailey said of his ideals when we first met, “I am still a Fox News Conservative.” Frank went on to explain that Sarah Palin, despite her carefully managed image and "word salad" lip service to conservative ideals, cared little for the smaller government and social values that attracted him to her candidacy in 2005. She was (and he admits guilt in getting sucked in, and participating wholeheartedly) consumed not with governance, but with image, vindictiveness, and ultimately reaping worldly rewards. A frequently used Palin password from before her run for governor, “Jabez”, provided a subtle clue as to her ultimate goal. From Chronicles 4:10: Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that Thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast [territory], and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!' And God granted him that which he requested."
 
From the very beginning, Sarah had a plan that God would answer her Jabez-like prayers. And while none of us (Frank, me, and third co-author Jeanne Devon) believe God played any part, amazingly her dream for riches came true; the three of us decided that she’d have been wiser to pray for happiness.

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