Does Corruption Create Poverty?

The issue of corruption resonates in developing countries. In the Philippines, for instance, the slogan of the coalition that is likely to win the 2010 presidential elections is "Without corrupt officials, there are no poor people." Not surprisingly, the international financial institutions have weighed in. The World Bank has made "good governance" a major thrust of its work, asserting [1] that the "World Bank Group focus on governance and anticorruption (GAC) follows from its mandate to reduce poverty — a capable and accountable state creates opportunities for poor people, provides better services, and improves development outcomes." Because it erodes trust in government, corruption must certainly be condemned and corrupt officials resolutely prosecuted. Corruption also weakens the moral bonds of civil society on which democratic practices and processes rest. But although research suggests it has some bearing on the spread of poverty, corruption is not the principal cause of poverty and economic stagnation, popular opinion notwithstanding.

Click to read more ...

Gulf War Syndrome: Killing Our Own Part 1

By Gary Null Ph.D. Introduction Whether you support or challenge the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War, most agree that we should support the brave men and women who have given their time and even their lives in service of their patriotic commitments. However, what we are seeing today is a crisis, and it is a crisis that is not being captured by the American media or by the imbedded journalists. In fact, it is such an important story that I have performed hundreds of interviews over thousands of hours during the last four years investigating the issue of their unexplained and often untreated illnesses. I have traveled throughout the world to get these vets' stories. This issue is not dissimilar from the Vietnam War where 2.7 million Americans served. [i] When they came back with very disturbing illnesses, the American government for 20 years refused to acknowledge that these soldiers had been exposed to any serious problem. They said that our vets were suffering from a form of post traumatic stress syndrome. Similar to the Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, we are now seeing the types of illnesses that were not caused by the enemy combatants: rare and exotic cancers, debilitating fatigue, unremitting depressions, loss of cognition and memory, bleeding body rashes, and muscle and joint pain similar to arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Click to read more ...

The Gulf War's Troubling Legacy

Updated on April 22, 2010 by Gary Null

By Gary Null Ph.D.
Introduction
With only 148 Americans officially killed in action and only 467 wounded, ours seemed to be a shining victory in the Gulf. But this victory has lost its glow somewhat, now that we know that tens of thousands of our Gulf service people have become sick from a debilitating and sometimes deadly syndrome. The Department of Veterans Affairs has reported that approximately 6000 soldiers have died since the war's conclusion, including1300 18- to 24-year-olds who were in perfect health prior to the war, but who mysteriously contracted various forms of cancer after their involvement with the military. According to H. Lindsey Arison, III, aide to the undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force, there are now over 50,000 veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome, including about 11,000 still on active duty.

Click to read more ...

Gulf War Syndrome: Killing Our Own - Part 3

By Gary Null Ph.D.
Depleted Uranium (continued)
The official count of the American dead since the second Gulf War began is approximately 2,350. The number of injured and seriously injured is over 20,000. Many of these people have been injured permanently. The piece of the puzzle that's missing, however, is that hundreds of thousands of vets from the first and second Gulf conflicts have come back home and are suffering from very unusual illnesses. These are illnesses that young healthy people simply never contract. When you look in their blood you're able to find types of microorganisms that were clearly weaponized. Finding weaponized microorganisms in the blood of our soldiers is a first in American history. The combined bacteria and viruses together to create mycoplasma that debilitates the immune system. How did the soldiers become infected? Why has our government lost 70,000 of their records, specifically those who had this special type of microorganism put into their bodies? Who authorized the use of these weapons? Why has the mainstream media been virtually silent on this? How many have died as a result of infection? Estimates are that as many as 15,000 to 20,000 have died. What would the American public think if on top of the 2,350 current dead in Iraq that there were another 20,000 dead from the first Gulf conflict? What if there were another 100,000 to 150,000 so debilitated and with their lives so diminished that they would be looked upon as victims of this war as well? The new figures would change our perspective. Whether we agree or disagree with the current presence of American soldiers in Iraq, we all agree that anyone who goes over deserves the best attention they can get. No one should come back after serving in the Gulf suffering from illnesses that our government denies they contracted, whether they're caused by depleted uranium, anthrax, or botulism vaccines. Our government is denying there is any such thing. As a result, these soldiers are going broke. They are dying in ways that you could not imagine.

Click to read more ...

Gulf War Syndrome: Killing Our Own - Part 4

By Gary Null Ph.D. Are Gulf Vets Really Sicker? (continued) Nearly 200,000 Gulf War veterans are suffering from Gulf War Syndrome. Some estimates are that 20,000 American service personnel have died due to the Gulf War Syndrome. What are we doing about this? How are we helping these vets? Please join me now as we continue our in-depth original investigative reporting series Gulf War Syndrome Killing Our Own. We have discussed up to this point about why the Pentagon, the Defense Department, the State Department, the CIA, the White House, and the Veterans' Affairs have refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the complaints of these hundreds of thousands of Gulf War vets, and the thousands who have died from their illnesses. These soldiers' complaints have to be taken seriously. There has been no major effort by the government to understand what is going on. We understand. We believe these vets have real diseases and real physical ailments, and we believe they have real causes. The soldiers would like to hear a public acknowledgement of what caused their illnesses and would like a government official to say," here's your treatment and compensation." This has not been done. It is my hope that when more of this information filters out into the larger population people will begin to examine it and hold the appropriate agencies accountable.

Click to read more ...

By Gary Null Ph.D.
Strong Insecticides Used

Hom and Haley's studies, mentioned earlier in this paper as well as others done recently with Duke University scientists, are finally demonstrating that chemical synergy, rather than combat stress, is the underlying factor in Gulf War syndrome. All of the the toxins to which troops were exposed show the potential for synergistic damage is extensive and hard to fully comprehend: ipesticides, insect repellent, sometimes used in the form of flea collars worn by soldiers, DEET, nerve gas, anti-nerve-gas medication, experimental vaccines, burning-oil-well fumes, and depleted uranium.

Click to read more ...

Bolivian President Blames Capitalism for Global Warming

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia - Bolivian President Evo Morales said capitalism is to blame for global warming and the accelerated deterioration of the planetary ecosystem in a speech today opening an international conference on climate change and the "rights of Mother Earth." Bolivian President Evo Morales addresses indigenous, environmental and civil society delegates. 'We all have the ethics and the moral right to say here that the central enemy of Mother Earth is capitalism,' he said.

Click to read more ...

Nuclear Follies

by John Feffer
If the Russian army makes the bold decision to invade Germany, we can just nuke those damn communist soldiers into oblivion with the 200 tactical nuclear weapons we deploy in Europe. Oh, they're not communists any longer? Oh, Germany and Russia have excellent relations at the moment? Oh, the Cold War has been over for two decades?

Click to read more ...

The Inflicted Wounds of America's War Machine: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Infertility

PTSD and its effects on U.S. soldiers and their families is a ghastly story with no end. PTSD is, in large part, though, an entirely Pentagon, or American war machine, inflicted wound.

Click to read more ...

The Populism of the Privileged: Tea Partiers don't represent "Real America" after all

The tea party is nothing new, it represents a relatively small minority of Americans on the right end of politics, and it will not determine the outcome of the 2010 elections

Click to read more ...