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Monday 22 December 2014

US: Chicago on track to break sunshine shortage record


If the thought of entering another Chicago winter isn't depressing enough, meteorologists say the city is on track to have one of the gloomiest Decembers in its history.

There has been no direct sunshine recorded in Chicago for 15 days this month, according to Frank Wachowski, who mans the official North West Side Midway Airport sunlight observatory.


Since Dec. 12, the city has seen only 33 minutes of sunshine, which peeked through the clouds Thursday.


That puts December 2014 on track to break the record for darkest December since 1975, when the National Weather Service recorded 19 percent sun exposure. As of Monday, Wachowski had recorded 16 percent sun exposure this month.


The record for darkest month ever in Chicago was November 1985, when sunlight hit the city for 16 percent of the month.


Percentages are determined by dividing the total number of hours between sunrise and sunset by the minutes of exposed sunshine recorded with monitoring equipment, Wachowski said.


Wachowski, 77, is a retired meteorologist, but since 1980 he has recorded sunshine data with official transistor sensors mounted atop his home in southwest suburban Burbank. He set up his home operation after the National Weather Service abandoned sunshine monitoring in the early 1980s, allowing him to keep the equipment and monitor data independently.


Wachowski said that in part, the lack of snowfall could be to blame. If a snowstorm blows through Chicago, the tightly packed cloud cover might dissipate. In the meantime, the clouds have been locked between a layer of cold air close to the ground with warmer air above the clouds.


"When you have an inversion, you have low clouds that stick around," Wachowski said. "Lack of wind contributes to giving us this situation," he said, along with unseasonably high temperatures, which this year have been 2 degrees to 2.5 degrees above average for December.


Essentially, "winds blew clouds in early in the month, and they stayed there," said Bill Nelson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service who monitors the Chicago area.


Meteorologist Frank Wachowski and the National Weather Service graphed this month's sunshine exposure data in the Chicago area.


Wachowski said there's an interest in tracking the sunshine shortage in part because of how extended periods of darkness can effect people.


"When it's cloudy like this, it does have an effect on people," he said. "It is kind of gloomy, you feel tired all the time."


Limited exposure to sunlight and Vitamin D common during the winter months can trigger a subtype of depression called seasonal affective disorder, according to a statement from Northwestern Medicine psychiatrist Pedro Dago, who studies the effects of sunlight deprivation at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.


"SAD is not just a case of the winter blues, but a serious problem for many people, and it can be treated," he said.


Dago said treatments include sleeping more, eating healthily and exercising, and increasing exposure to sunlight, which might be tricky this month.


Wachowski also hypothesized that the temperature inversion - warm air below the clouds with cold air above them - could be contributing to the flu outbreak that's sickened Chicagoans and especially CPS students in large numbers this season.


"There seems to be a correlation, because when you have temps in the teens, you kill all the viruses and germs. Here, we have more moisture in the air," making it easier for germs to linger and spread, he said.


Weather patterns suggest that if any sunlight does peek out this month, it would be on Christmas Day, when a storm system might pass through Chicago, breaking up some of the cloud cover.


Still, Wachowski said it's "quite conceivable" that December 2014 will break the record set in 1975. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


Insanely dangerous! Anti-gun public service announcement encourages kids to steal parents' guns and turn them in to teachers

kid_gun

© Youtube



A provocative public service announcement released by a San Francisco-based production company encourages children to put themselves at risk and commit a slew of crimes by stealing their parents' guns from home and turning them in at school.

In the anti-gun ad, published Dec. 13 by Sleeper 13 Productions, a boy who appears to be in his early teens is shown walking up the stairs of his home and wandering into his mother's bedroom.


The boy is shown opening the drawer to his mother's dresser, where a handgun is hidden.


The boy takes the gun from the dresser and leaves the room. The ad then flashes to his school. Sitting in a classroom, the boy ventures up to his teacher's desk after the rest of his classmates have left.


The tension building in the scene breaks, and the boy produces the gun from his backpack, slamming it on his startled teacher's desk.


"Can you take this away? I don't feel safe with a gun in my house," the boy says.


What the ad-makers are encouraging is highly illegal and invites danger.


The boy would be guilty of weapons theft, illegal concealed carry and carrying a weapon on school property.


The ad's director, Rejina Sencic, took to Twitter to taunt those she says are "afraid to share" her ad.




Lot of people are afraid to share my PSA! If you are not a coward please share https://t.co/q2sisRKCN1 ... ... #gunviolence


- Rejina Sincic (@QueenSincic) December 17, 2014




Requests for comment made to Sleeper 13 Productions and to Sincic were not immediately returned.

WATCH:


[embedded content]


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


Insanely dangerous! Anti-Gun public service announcement encourages kids to steal parents' guns and turn them in to teachers

kid_gun

© Youtube



A provocative public service announcement released by a San Francisco-based production company encourages children to put themselves at risk and commit a slew of crimes by stealing their parents' guns from home and turning them in at school.

In the anti-gun ad, published Dec. 13 by Sleeper 13 Productions, a boy who appears to be in his early teens is shown walking up the stairs of his home and wandering into his mother's bedroom.


The boy is shown opening the drawer to his mother's dresser, where a handgun is hidden.


The boy takes the gun from the dresser and leaves the room. The ad then flashes to his school. Sitting in a classroom, the boy ventures up to his teacher's desk after the rest of his classmates have left.


The tension building in the scene breaks, and the boy produces the gun from his backpack, slamming it on his startled teacher's desk.


"Can you take this away? I don't feel safe with a gun in my house," the boy says.


What the ad-makers are encouraging is highly illegal and invites danger.


The boy would be guilty of weapons theft, illegal concealed carry and carrying a weapon on school property.


The ad's director, Rejina Sencic, took to Twitter to taunt those she says are "afraid to share" her ad.




Lot of people are afraid to share my PSA! If you are not a coward please share https://t.co/q2sisRKCN1 ... ... #gunviolence


- Rejina Sincic (@QueenSincic) December 17, 2014




Requests for comment made to Sleeper 13 Productions and to Sincic were not immediately returned.

WATCH:


[embedded content]


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


US families prepare for 'modern day apocalypse'




This old nuclear missile facility has been turned into an apocalypse refuge.



An increasing number of Americans seem to think so, and they're preparing for the end.


They call themselves preppers. Mainstream suburban Americans hoarding supplies and weapons while leading otherwise perfectly normal lives.


Video: Prepping For The End Of The World




It's a national phenomenon and it's supporting a doom boom industry worth many millions.

Braxton Southwick is a typical father-of-six in Salt Lake City, who believes the nice suburban neighbourhood he lives in could soon be swept away by some kind of modern day apocalypse.


Video: What Is Prepping?




Like other preppers, he's afraid of some impending catastrophe but also what that will do to American society.

"I think that is what I'm scared of the most," he told , "Not the actual events. I've already prepared for that. It's the aftermath, when there are no police, there are no military to protect us, we're going to be protecting ourselves."


The trigger could be a terrorist attack, a monetary collapse, cataclysmic failure in power generation, or a natural disaster. Preppers fear what comes next and have no faith in either their government or human nature.


"Once people use up all their resources, they're going to come after the people that prepared and had more resources. So basically we have to take care of ourselves."


Braxton and his wife Kara have a basement that will see them through Armageddon, literally. Enough dried and canned food to last six months. Enough guns and ammunition to turn their family into a small army.


And they have trained each of their six children, including the youngest aged 15, how to defend themselves with guns to see off the mobs of marauding looters they predict could come after them after their world collapses.


At the other end of America, another family are preparing in exactly the same way. In Virginia, Jay and Holly Blevins hoard food and weapons and run a network of like-minded families.


Video: Preppers Teach Kids To Shoot Guns




"We're not talking about folks walking around wearing tin foil on their heads," Jay tells . "We're not talking about conspiracy theorists. I'm talking about professionals: doctors and lawyers and law enforcement and military. Normal, everyday people. They can't necessarily put their finger on it. But there's something about the uncertainty of our times. They know something isn't quite right."

Jay is a celebrity in the strange but increasingly mainstream world of preppers, writing prepper books and touring America, speaking at prepper expos where a bewildering range of survival supplies and techniques are on offer.


Why is it happening? Partly, no doubt, because it allows Americans to indulge in some of their favourite pastimes: consuming, camping and buying lots and lots of guns.


And partly because fear sells, drives up numbers for cable news, and increases sales for everything from dried food to assault rifles.


But it's also arguably a sign of a country coping with economic decline. The end of the American Dream has left people more uncertain about their future, and their country's.


Katy Bryson is in Jay's prepper network. Prepping, she says, puts Americans back in charge of their destiny.


Video: Why Are Americans Prepping?




"They're not in control of whether they lose their job or not but they are in control of whether they are prepared. So I feel like that's why the industry is just booming right now for preparedness," Katy added.

It is also a fundamentally American phenomenon. In a country built on the radical individualism of its founding fathers, people have an inbuilt mistrust in their government's ability to protect them.


Sociologist Barry Glastner wrote The Culture of Fear. He told : "Americans are fairly unique as world citizens in that we tend to believe that we control our own destiny as individuals to a much greater extent than we really do."


Ironically, he points out preppers may actually be reacting to their fears in the least effective way. Dangerous weather, terrorist attacks and economic collapses are all best dealt with by higher authorities, he said.




"Where there are real dangers, to take an individualistic approach is usually exactly the wrong thing to do. So the kinds of things that the preppers are preparing to protect themselves from are much better handled on a community-wide basis than they are in your own home."

Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


The truth slips out: Whooping cough vaccine caused a surge in cases

vaccine fail

© unknown



So, you're trying to grow a plant. You take it inside, in a little pot. You feed it fertilizer, put it under lights, and when it starts to wilt, you prop it up with all sorts of sticks and tape, and when one fails, you add more. Eventually it dies. All it wanted was sun, fresh air, clean water, and the magic of natural soil. I think of this pathetic image when I reflect on the absurdity of our vaccination program. If it were only absurd, and not deadly, my reflections would be just that. Instead, I am here to speak to pregnant women about how to arm themselves with knowledge, to warn them so there are no regrets.


As I have declared, I take pregnancy interventions, epigenetic exposures , and maternal health very, very seriously. After my fellowship-level training in psychiatric treatment of these women, I understand, all too well, how flawed and nearly impossible to achieve, safety data is for pharmaceutical products in pregnancy. Passive reporting systems and industry-maintained registries don't cut it. I'd like to take you on a brief tour of one particular product that your OB may recommend, coerce, or bully you into, and then your child's pediatrician will take the torch and do the same for your tiny baby: the diptheria, tetanus, pertussis vaccine, also known as DTaP.


As of 2012, every woman, regardless of any individual considerations or risk/benefit, is recommended the DTaP vaccine after 20 weeks of gestation.


Here's how we got into this situation


Pertussis incidence was waning on its own until a 1980 mandate to vaccinate in 42 states. Since this time, and since the introduction of the seemingly "less dangerous" acellular pertussis vaccine (the whole cell vaccine was so clearly toxic that seizure activity and fevers drove parents away from vaccination, and it still took almost 50 years to change the product) was introduced in 1996, ten years after pharmaceutical companies were granted immunity through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act ( ten years after there stopped being any incentive to produce safe vaccines).


Because of subsequent increasing incidence, more and more boosters were added to compensate for "waning immunity" and now children get 6 doses by 6 years old. Another stick thrown under that failing plant was the "cocooning" strategy which recommended that women and household members be vaccinated immediately after birth to "protect" the vulnerable newborn. This practice has been abandoned because of inefficacy and concerns for active spread to these infants. Now, the proposed solution is vaccinating before delivery. Seems to make sense, right? Vaccinate the mom so the antibodies pass to the baby before she's born, and then she'll be protected for a little while until we can start her lifelong vaccination program. The problem is that this idea, quaint as it is, has no basis in evidence and discussions in the literature have repeatedly pointed to this quandary:



"There is a lack of evidence that transplacental maternal antibody induced by Tdap administered during pregnancy will protect infants against pertussis."




"Because no correlate of protection is known for pertussis, it is uncertain whether this increase in antibodies can be considered clinically protective."



And, even from the horse's mouth, the CDC claims:

"In addition, a woman vaccinated with Tdap during pregnancy likely will be protected at time of delivery, and therefore less likely to transmit pertussis to her infant."



Unfortunately, all the "unknowns" and "likely"s and "uncertain"s and a frank admission that in prelicensure evaluations, the safety of administering a booster dose of Tdap to pregnant women was not studied do not stop the CDC from their recommendation that: We'd like our herd immunity back

The wisdom of the immune system is such that infection educates the body in ways that we do not completely understand (it's more than just antibody production!), and then passive exposure from infected individuals in the community, serves to continually reeducate and "boost" the potential response that keeps reinfection at bay.


Vaccines don't do this, have never done this, and will never do this. DTaP is a perfect example.


In the case of infants, they would inherit natural antibodies and then pass them onto their newborns for years of protection - by evolutionary design. The assumption that vaccine-induced antibodies that pass through the placenta would pass for protection has never been demonstrated, and, in fact, is just that - an assumption. We have also seen shifts of the burden of disease to more vulnerable populations, and in many cases, this population is the newborn, exactly who we were intending to protect.


This pseudoimmunity, as Dr. Suzanne Humphries calls it, is what now requires that women and baby be continuously vaccinated from in hopes of achieving something approximating natural immunity.


So the vaccine doesn't protect from disease?


Despite egregious efforts on the part of the media, and even medical authors (compare the abstract conclusion to the data, especially the image in this paper!) to blame the unvaccinated population, the truth is finally too obvious to ignore. After known outbreaks in Idaho, Cincinnati, California, and North Carolina where the majority to 100% of the infected population was vaccinated (no room for finger pointing there), we, just this week, have the crowning achievement appearing in the NY Times , of all places, stating:



"But scientists say the problem of surging whooping cough cases has more to do with flaws in the current vaccines than with parents' resistance. The new finding suggests yet another weakness of the vaccine - that even people recently vaccinated may be continuing to spread the infection without getting sick."



Whenever scientists actually bother to study these agents in primates, devastating signals of harm emerge. To explore the hypothesis that the currently mandated vaccine, may in fact, after almost 20 years, be ineffective AND contribute directly to spread of illness, researchers infected infant baboons with the whole cell and "modern" acellular vaccine and found:

"Together these data form the key finding of this study: aP vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission of Bordetella pertussis even 1 mo after completing the primary vaccination series."



And also noted abnormal patterns of immune response including:

"We also found that aP vaccination induces T helper 2 (Th2) and T helper 1 (Th1) immune memory responses, whereas infection and - to a lesser extent - wP vaccination induce Th17 and Th1 memory."



And, similar to this late-to-the-game news on Hep B vaccine, they boldly state that, because vaccine "trials" don't actually test for infection/colonization in recipients:

"Therefore, no experimental data exist on whether vaccination prevents B. pertussis colonization or transmission in humans."



They appear to be advocating for use of the old whole cell vaccine, and attribute declines in whooping cough incidence after the 1940s to this vaccine rather than to the post-vaccine redefinition of whooping cough (as was done with Polio) and underreporting by physicians.

Here's why the pertussis vaccine doesn't work:


It doesn't protect, it spreads disease, and wait, there's more?

I can never seem to get enough of these horror show ingredient lists, so let's start with these: filamentous hemagglutinin (FDA), pertactin, fimbriae, formaldehyde, polysorbate 80 (Tween 80), gluteraldehyde, 2-phenoxoyethanol, aluminum and thimerosal (mercury).


It is an unacceptable notion that any of my pregnant patients would inject metals, carcinogens, and neurotoxins into their muscle when we have spent hours upon hours helping to support their natural immunity, health and wellness through nutrient dense diets, pesticide and GMO elimination, elimination of endocrine modulating environmental chemical exposures, and stress management. Aluminum is an adjuvant implicated in neuroinflammation and autistic spectrum disorders, and may play a significant role in the process of molecular mimicry related to common peptides in B. pertussis and the human body that underlies the more devastating outcomes associated with this vaccines including sudden infant death, transverse myelitis, hemolytic anemia, and others documented on GreenMedInfo.


You can see what a mess of tape and sticks the CDC has made of the health and immunity of our population through even just this one DTaP vaccine mandate. Roping pregnant women into this concoction of half-baked ideas and neglect of harm is where we all need to draw the line, if you haven't already. It's time to take a step back, as citizens, to take a long, hard look at what is happening to our health as a population, and to appreciate that we cannot continue to take recommendations from doctors who trust companies who engage repeatedly in criminal behavior , and who refuse to acknowledge any role for lifestyle, diet, and individual genetics in infectious disease. We cannot wait for them to say "oops" after decades of unacceptable risk in a context of no appreciable benefit. Opt out of the experiment. None of the subjects leave healthy.


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


US Embassy in Havana - The Cuba Caper


© Paul Schutzer/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

The U.S. Embassy in Havana was flooded with visa applicants at the time the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961.



The lame duck, Obama, extending a conciliatory hand to Cuba by opening an embassy in Havana, by reopening, after 54 years of a criminal and crippling embargo, diplomatic relations? - At the same time Obama is making not a single concession in terms of lifting the blockade. This smells like a trap. Cuba beware!

Imagine - a US Embassy in Havana - it would open the floodgates for US NED (National Endowment for Democracy) funded 'NGOs', for Washington's spies and anti-Castro propaganda machine; it would have free hand to destabilize the country. And what would Cuba gain? - Zilch, zero, nothing. Not even a gradual lifting of the embargo had been announced. To the contrary, it would open Cuba's borders to the vultures of Florida Cubans, eventually to theirs and other foreign investments, subjugating the country's huge social gains over the last half a century - universal free education and health services, by far the best social system of the Americas - to the sledgehammer of neoliberal privatization.


Why would Cuba now need a US Embassy? After 54 years of struggling and surviving against Washington's nod? - In fact, nobody needs the empire - the empire's consent to financially and economically survive. Suffice it to look at the 'engineered' decay of the Russian ruble which eventually will leave Russia better off than before the downward slide of its currency and the likewise 'engineered' downward spin of the price of petrol. Everybody knows that the Middle Eastern oil producers, Obama's stooges, will not forever shoot themselves in the foot by flooding the petrol market and foregoing their oil revenues.


What Cuba needs is free access to international markets - outside and independent of the United States. Cuba needs to integrate into an independent financial and monetary system, detached from the corrupt casino dollar. Solidarity by the rest of the world which has already helped Cuba survive the illegal, inhuman US embargo is now more than ever of the order. The support of a unity of nations must now help stem the temptation to bend to Washington's offer of 'diplomacy'.


With the establishment of diplomatic relations, Cuba would be condemned to adopt the dollar as trading currency - no escaping the dollar, if ever Cuba wanted to hope for the good deeds of the empire - the lifting of the blockade.


Look what happened in Bolivia, Venezuela and Ecuador - once a US Embassy is established, all the nefarious destabilizing elements could sneak in, willy-nilly. Plus, economic 'sanctions', would be nearer than ever, if Cuba doesn't behave. Both Bolivia and Venezuela have learned their lessons the hard way. After they closed the US Embassy and sent US organizations and NGOs home, they could breathe again. Though Venezuela is still suffering from Washington's diabolical arm of propaganda and direct interference in domestic affairs, she has no longer the burden of maintaining a 'diplomatic' tie with the northern aggressor.


Most importantly, however - the US is vying for Cuban hydrocarbons, estimated today at 20 billion barrels of offshore oil reserves. Cuba, like Venezuela, is close to US Mexican Gulf shores, where the major refineries are waiting for the crude. During his tour of South America in July 2014, President Putin in a meeting with Cuban President, Raul Castro, signed an agreement whereby the Russian oil company, Rosneft, will assist the Cuban oil producer, Cupet, exploring and exploiting the island's offshore petrol.


Is it coincidence or sheer self-interest, that just now, when Russia is digging for oil in Obama's backyard that he is offering diplomatic ties with the 54 years embargoed Caribbean island? - Your guess.


Venezuela has the world's largest remaining hydrocarbon reserves, about 300 billion barrels. They are close to the US shores and would be the best bet for US mega-oil. But the White House's destabilizing efforts in Venezuela seem to fail. These efforts and other State Department blunders have helped increase US isolation in Latin America.


Why not trying another approach? - A well disguised lie; insinuating with the opening of an embassy in Havana that the deadly embargo might ease in some undefined future between the brutal Goliath of the north and castigated, downtrodden David of the Caribbean. An embassy in Cuba may also earn some much needed kudos with other Latin American neighbors which have been upset for years about the criminal strangulation by the empire of one of their brothers.


In fact, first reactions from Latin America to Obama's diplomatic initiative were positive. But more than caution is in order. - The establishment of a US embassy in Havana might be more than just a floodgate for US secret service agents and anti-Cuba propaganda. A US Embassy in Havana might begin breaking down US isolation in South America, especially in Brazil and Argentina. It might become a backdoor for Washington to gain access to these countries huge natural resources.


Knowing about Washington's agenda of world dominance, it would be difficult to imagine that there is even a shred of goodwill behind Obama's move to 'normalize' relations with Cuba. - Havana beware!


Global Research, ICH, RT, the Voice of Russia, now Ria Novosti, The Vineyard of The Saker Blog "Implosion - An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed"


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


NYT: Investigate and prosecute Cheney, Bush officials for torture



© ABC

Dead inside.



In a blistering editorial published in the Monday edition of the , the editorial page editors are calling upon the Justice Department to open an investigation into the torture practices committed during the administration of President George W. Bush with an eye towards prosecuting those who "committed torture and other serious crimes," along with former Vice President Dick Cheney and other major administration officials.

Under a headline reading, "Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses," the board criticizes the administration of current President Barack Obama for failing "to bring to justice anyone responsible for the torture of terrorism suspects," during the period following the attack on 9/11.


The editorial notes that the American Civil Liberties Union will present a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. on Monday calling for appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate what appears to be "a vast criminal conspiracy, under color of law, to commit torture and other serious crimes."


Saying it is hard to imagine the current administration "having the political courage" to order an investigation, the board calls for a full investigation that will include major figures in the Bush administration, including Cheney, and former CIA director George Tenet.



...any credible investigation should include former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington; the former C.I.A. director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos," the editorial reads. "There are many more names that could be considered, including Jose Rodriguez Jr., the C.I.A. official who ordered the destruction of the videotapes; the psychologists who devised the torture regimen; and the C.I.A. employees who carried out that regimen.



The call for the Justice Department to proceed follows the release of the so-called "Torture Report" released over a week ago.

Noting confirmation of reports of "rectal feeding," waterboarding, detainees hung by their wrists, confined to coffins, beaten, and threatened with death, the board calls the acts criminal offenses.


"These are, simply, crimes. They are prohibited by federal law, which defines torture as the intentional infliction of "severe physical or mental pain or suffering." They are also banned by the Convention Against Torture, the international treaty that the United States ratified in 1994 and that requires prosecution of any acts of torture," they write.


The board concludes, "Starting a criminal investigation is not about payback; it is about ensuring that this never happens again and regaining the moral credibility to rebuke torture by other governments. Because of the Senate's report, we now know the distance officials in the executive branch went to rationalize, and conceal, the crimes they wanted to commit. The question is whether the nation will stand by and allow the perpetrators of torture to have perpetual immunity for their actions."





Comment: Give us a break, . Yeah, what you're saying is absolutely true -- torture is a crime, and these people should be inestigated and prosecuted -- but do you really expect anyone to buy your crocodile tears and pseudo-conscience here? Where were you a decade ago, when we first found out about this? Where was your social conscience then? It's a coward who only speaks out against injustice when it is easy and in fashion, like now. So, no, until you stop prostituting yourselves to the interests of Empire and the State Department, pardon us for not buying your bullshit. How about an investigation and prosecution of collusion with CIA and government to 'catapult' outrageous propaganda, the type that brings the USA into wars on civilian populations? That'll be the day. And good luck getting anyone prosecuted for torture. These people are 'protected': Federal Court gives "Early Christmas present" to war criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others, immunizing them from civil inquiry regarding Iraq war

Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


Russian MP: Watch out, Lukashenko, you could end up like Gaddafi!

Lukashenko Gaddafi

© Reuters/BelTa/ Nikolai Petrov

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko (R) meets Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi



A senior Russian lawmaker has warned Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko against détente with the US, warning him he could end like Libya's Gaddafi.

"Milosevic, Gaddafi and Hussein all tried to be friends with the United States. Their fates are well known. Now the US is offering 'new relations' with Lukashenko. This is a dangerous experiment," the head of the State Duma Foreign Relations Committee Aleksey Pushkov wrote in a Twitter post on Monday.


The comment came soon after US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland talked about a small improvement of US-Belarus relations, adding that the country was always open to more dialogue with Belarus.




On Sunday Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. He described the two countries as "neighbors and relatives" and pledged to do anything Poroshenko asked in just a day.

Lukashenko has said the Belarus people "should stop praying for Russia alone," and ordered the government to find new markets for Belarusian products. It's all part of the response to the short-term restrictions imposed on Belarus foodstuff imports by the Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, and also on the rapid devaluation of Russian ruble that prompted the two countries to introduce additional mechanisms to calculate the price of Belarus imports.


Also on Monday an aide to the Russian President, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters that Vladimir Putin could discuss the urgent problems with Aleksandr Lukashenko on Tuesday, during the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union summits being held in Moscow. "There is no agreement on a separate meeting, but during the Tuesday events the Russian and Belarus presidents will certainly have an opportunity to discuss the most acute and urgent topics," the TASS agency quoted Ushakov as saying.


He added that the two leaders could also agree on a dedicated summit sometime in the near future.


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


Psychology determines our biology? How your personality is linked to your health


Researchers have found new evidence that explains how some aspects of our personality may affect our health and wellbeing, supporting long-observed associations between aspects of human character, physical health and longevity.

A team of health psychologists at The University of Nottingham and the University of California in Los Angeles carried out a study to examine the relationship between certain personality traits and the expression of genes that can affect our health by controlling the activity of our immune systems.


The study did not find any results to support a common theory that tendencies toward negative emotions such as depression or anxiety can lead to poor health (disease-prone personality). What was related to differences in immune cell gene expression were a person's degree of extraversion and conscientiousness.


The study used highly sensitive microarray technology to examine relationships between the five major human personality traits and two groups of genes active in human white blood cells (leukocytes): one involving inflammation, and another involving antiviral responses and antibodies.


A group of 121 ethnically diverse and healthy adults were recruited. These were comprised of 86 females and 35 males with an average age of 24 (range 18-59) and an average body mass index of 23. The participants completed a personality test which measures five major dimensions of personality - extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness - (NEO-FFI McCrae and Costa, 2004). Blood samples were collected from each volunteer for gene expression analysis and their typical smoking, drinking and exercise behaviours were also recorded for control purposes. Gene expression analysis was carried out at the Social Genomics Core Laboratory at UCLA.


Type D personality, first defined in the '90s, is characterized by feelings of negativity, depression, anxiety, stress, anger, and loneliness. The link between Type D personality and poor health outcomes is most likely driven by its hallmark high stress levels.


CONSCIENTIOUSNESS


Conscientious people are hardworking, reliable, dutiful and able to control their impulses. They like things to be planned and like to achieve their goals.


The researchers found that being a conscientious person can protect against the onset of disease.


Researchers found a one unit increase on the 1 - 4 scale for conscientiousness decreases the odds of a stroke diagnosis by 37 percent.


It also decreases the odds of a high blood pressure diagnosis by 27 percent, arthritis by 23 percent and diabetes by 20 percent.


One of the researchers, Professor Joshua Jackson, told MailOnline they did not differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but added: 'Because it was a new diagnosis of diabetes, and everyone is an older adult, I would guess that most were type 2.'


Type 1 diabetes is caused when the body's immune system incorrectly targets and kill the cells in the pancreas that are responsible for producing insulin.


Type 2 diabetes is when the body becomes less able to respond to insulin. It is usually diagnosed in over 30 year-olds and is often associated with excess body weight.


The link between conscientiousness and health could be because people who are conscientious are likely to carry out healthy behaviours like healthy eating and exercise, which are important for preventing diseases like stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes, researchers said.


OPENNESS


Open people are curious, imaginative, like playing with new ideas, and have a broad range of interests.


A one unit increase on the 1 - 4 scale for openness decreased the odds of a stroke diagnosis by 31 percent, heart conditions by 17 percent, high blood pressure by 29 percent, and arthritis by 21 percent.


Being more open might help a person be more creative in relieving stress and may improve their health through better communication with physicians.


EXTROVERSION


Extroverted people are positive, assertive, talkative, social and like to be the life and soul of a party.


Researchers found a one unit increase in extroversion decreased only the odds of a high blood pressure diagnosis by 26 percent.


AGREEABLENESS


Agreeable individuals value getting along with other people. They tend to be considerate, kind, generous, helpful, trusting and trustworthy, and willing to compromise.


A one unit increase in agreeableness decreased the odds of an arthritis diagnosis by 21 percent.


Professor Joshua Jackson, told MailOnline previous studies have not linked the trait of agreeableness to health, so he would want to replicate these findings in future studies to be sure of the link.


One theory, however, is that the social connections well-fostered by agreeable people protect them against disease.


He said: 'Agreeable individuals are warm, caring. They make deeper connections. Social connections are associated with good health, there's lots of research on that. That could be the reason why agreeableness is protective.


NEUROTICISM


Neurotic people are sensitive and nervous, and often experience anger, anxiety, or depression.


Neurotic people who are constantly worrying are more likely to develop a disease to worry about in later life, the study found.


A one unit increase in neuroticism increased the odds of being diagnosed with a heart condition by 24 percent, lung disease by 29 percent, high blood pressure by 37 percent, and arthritis by 25 percent.


According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), when certain organs are weak, deficient or diseased, a certain type of emotion may come to the surface. Here are the five main organs and their associated emotions in TCM theory:



Anger: The liver is associated with anger and symptoms displayed in the eyes (darkness around the eyes) and blood vessel pathologies (ex. varicose veins) are common.


Worry: The spleen is associated with worry. In TCM, the spleen governs digestion along with the stomach. When the spleen is weak, symptoms of indigestion, bloating, diarrhea, undigested food, and irritable bowel syndrome occur.


Sadness/Grief: The lungs are associated with sadness and grief. In TCM, the lungs control the immune system, skin, and of course, breathing. Many chronic diseases stem from unresolved grief. We could even hypothesize, according to TCM theory, that given that cancer is a failure of the body's immune system to detect and eliminate a tumor, perhaps there is a connection to grief.


Fear: The kidneys are associated with fear. In TCM, the kidneys govern bones, the nervous system, the lower back and the genitourinary system (kidney, bladder).


Joy: According to TCM, the heart is associated with joy. Though this is normally a good thing and most of us would like to have more joy in our life, the concept is best described as "excessive joy" or overexcitement. For example, when your heart is overactive in TCM, you may suffer from insomnia.



Leading research, Professor Kavita Vedhara, from The University of Nottingham's School of Medicine, said:

"Our results indicated that 'extraversion' was significantly associated with an increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes and that 'conscientiousness' was linked to a reduced expression of pro-inflammatory genes. In other words, individuals who we would expect to be exposed to more infections as a result of their socially orientated nature (i.e., extraverts) appear to have immune systems that we would expect can deal effectively with infection. While individuals who may be less exposed to infections because of their cautious/conscientious dispositions have immune systems that may respond less well. We can't, however, say which came first. Is this our biology determining our psychology or our psychology determining our biology?"



These two clear associations were independent of the recorded health behaviours of the participants and subsets of white blood cells which are the cells of the body's immune system. They were also independent of the amount of negative emotions people experienced. The study also found that expression of antiviral/antibody-related genes was not significantly associated with any personality dimension.

In the remaining three categories of personality, 'openness' also trended towards a reduced expression of pro-inflammatory genes and 'neuroticism' and 'agreeableness' remained unassociated with gene expression.


The research concludes that although the biological mechanisms of these associations need to be explored in future research, these new data may shed new light on the long-observed epidemiological associations between personality, physical health, and human longevity.


About the author


April McCarthy is a community journalist playing an active role reporting and analyzing world events to advance our health and eco-friendly initiatives.


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


Propaganda? Or is North Korea really that stupid? NK threatens attacks on U.S. 'citadels'

kim jong-un

© KCNA/EPA

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is surrounded by cheering soldiers as he is touring a frontline military detachment.



North Korea is threatening to retaliate against the US over a Hollywood film portraying the assassination of Kim Jong-un, saying it has "clear evidence" that Washington was heavily involved in devising the plot.

The stern but vague warnings come after Sony Pictures decided last week to cancel the release of following cyber-attacks and threats against the company. North Korea also said the US government was wrong to "recklessly" claim Pyongyang was behind the hacking.


In a further response North Korea on Monday said it was refusing to take part in a UN meeting where the country's bleak human rights situation was to be discussed. The UN Security Council is being urged to refer Pyongyang to the International Criminal Court, the boldest effort yet to confront an issue it has openly disdained in the past.


Accusations the US government was involved in the film's plot were issued by the North Korea's powerful Policy National Defence Commission in a 1,600-word statement run on North Korea's state news agency, KCNA . Amid the colourful phrasing typical of official North Korean statements - the US was referred to as "the cesspool of terrorism" while the storyline of The Interview was called "vicious and dastardly" - were warnings of unspecified retaliation over the comedy action film, which centres on a plan to kill the supreme leader.


North Korea had "already launched the toughest counteraction" to the film, the statement said, without specifying what this might involve. "Nothing is [a] more serious miscalculation than guessing that just a single movie production company is the target of this counteraction. Our target[s are] all the citadels of the US imperialists who earned the bitterest grudge of all Koreans," it added.


"The army and people of the DPRK are fully ready to stand in confrontation with the US in all war spaces, including cyber warfare to blow up those citadels," the statement said, using the formal name for North Korea.


, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, charts the exploits of two US TV stars who gain an audience with Kim and are then recruited by the CIA to kill the North Korean leader, whose eventual death is shown in a bloody scene. The film sparked fury in the country governed as a dynastic Stalinist dictatorship based around a personality cult focused on Kim and the supreme leaders who preceded him, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung.


In the latest statement North Korea said it possessed "clear evidence that the US administration was deeply involved in the making of such [a] dishonest reactionary movie", alleging that the Department of State had urged the filmmakers "to keep all scenes insulting the dignity of the DPRK supreme leadership in the movie, saying it is needed to vex the North Korean government".


It added: "It is not [an] exaggeration to say, in the light of the prevailing situation, that the US administration and President Obama, looking after the overall state affairs of the US, have been behind the case."


Sony Pictures suddenly cancelled the film's global release last week - including any DVD or on-demand release - effectively writing off a $44m (£28m) title that was the centrepiece of its Christmas season. The decision was made after Guardians of Peace, the shadowy hacking group who had stolen a huge cache of internal Sony Pictures emails, made unspecified threats about the safety of people who might go to see the film. The move was criticised by a series of Hollywood figures while Barack Obama said on Friday that Sony "made a mistake" in giving in to blackmail.


The FBI has since said the hacking infrastructure used in the attack was similar to other malicious cyber activity previously linked directly to North Korea. However, in its response, North Korea said the claim was "based on obscure sci-tech data and false story", and that North Korea was not involved in any computer hacking.


The country praised the Guardians of Peace, saying it did not know the hackers' identity but "we can surely say that they are supporters and sympathisers [of] the DPRK". The statement added that the National Defence Committee "highly estimates the righteous action taken by the Guardians of Peace, though it is not aware of their residence".


The initial hack saw many thousands of emails stolen from Sony Pictures' servers and placed on the internet. These included a number of very personal emails, including bickering about a stalled biopic of Apple founder Steve Jobs and gossip about Angelina Jolie, among others. The content was reported by media around the world, including the , bringing criticism from the likes of Rogen, Brad Pitt and the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.


China, North Korea's only significant ally, said on Monday it opposed cyber-attacks, but stopped short of directly condemning North Korea over the incident. Wang Yi, the country's foreign minister, had discussed the matter with his US counterpart, John Kerry, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Wang had "reaffirmed China's relevant position, emphasising China opposes all forms of cyber-attacks and cyber terrorism", it said, but made no mention of North Korea.


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


More ridiculous 'Diseases' big pharma is trying to make you believe you suffer from


Direct to-consumer advertising has subverted the doctor-patient relationship.

Have you ever noticed how Big Pharma in the United States has things exactly backward? Instead of developing new pills that people need like non-addictive painkillers and antibiotics for resistant infections, it develops new diseases.


You know those ads that try to scare you into thinking you have restless leg syndrome, non-24-hour sleep/wake disorder or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency - the poop disease? They're not from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or a government public health agency. They're from Big Pharma trying to churn "demand" for a drug and disease you've never heard of.


Whenever a reporter reveals how Pharma sells diseases to sell pills, we get veritable hate mail. "How dare you imply that Can't-Wake-Up-in-the-Morning disease doesn't exist? I have suffered for years!" they scream as they threaten us and our editors and claim we are trying to take their drugs away. "I have adult ADHD and no one can tell me I don't!"


Almost 10 years ago, reporter Howard Wolinsky exposed how drug advertising had made routine "human conditions like unhappiness, bone thinning, stomach aches and boredom" into diseases we "suffer with" and treat with drugs. Even risk factors like high cholesterol and high blood pressure became diseases thanks to Pharma.


Before drug advertising, when you had symptoms, you went to the doctor and he or she demystified them for you. Now, people go to the doctor and tell him or her what disease they have and the drug they need. What's a medical school education compared with what you learned on TV? Direct-to-consumer advertising even tells people what kind of radiation therapy they need - it should be proton therapy for "brain, lung, prostate and left breast" cancers. Patients don't just know as much as their primary care doctor, they know as much their oncologist!


In his excellent book, Greg Critser traces the history of direct-to-consumer advertising and unveils early concerns from major drug companies that it would raise fears of disease, sell unnecessary pills and corrupt the doctor/patient relationship. That's exactly what has happened and Pharma is lamenting it all the way to the bank.


Here are some diseases you may be at risk for - especially if you watch too much TV.


1. Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency


Who knows or wants to know what exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is when it's characterized by frequent diarrhea, gas and bloating and stomach pain? To make exocrine pancreatic insufficiency a more patient-friendly disease, AbbVie has given it the snappy initials EPI. (After all, snappy initials helped launch new diseases like ED, Low T or RLS.) If you have even one of the intestinal symptoms, warns AbbVie, it could mean you have EPI. Ads send the curious and questioning to the website Identify EPI which shows an outsized toilet to pay off the campaign line "Don't Keep a Lid on It." Get it? Don't be embarrassed to tell your doctor about your "poop" problems, the ads say, because treatment is available. AbbVie's drug, Creon, will treat the poop disorder but its warnings say it can also a poop disorder - it may cause "frequent or abnormal bowel movements; bloating" we are told. Maybe you will have poop problems either way - but with the advertised drug, Pharma will make money.


2. Chronic Idiopathic Constipation


People have had constipation since time began. Milk of Magnesia has been around since our grandparents' day and ancient texts instructed people to squat in the river to allow fluids to flow into their intestines for constipation. But now, Pharma says, your constipation may actually be a disease. It may be chronic idiopathic constipation or CIC and require an expensive prescription drug. "'Chronic' means the constipation is long-lasting or keeps coming back," say ads for the CIC drug Linzess. When it comes to poop, Linzess does double duty. It also treats irritable bowel syndrome or - any guesses? - IBS. FierceBiotech predicts Linzess could be a $1billion a year drug thanks to the growing bowel drug "market." To coax the bowel drug market along, a quiz in WedMD magazine asks "Could you have IBS?" and helps people assess their symptoms. WebMD is known for fostering and driving "cyberchondria" with its popular "symptom checker." Is anyone surprised WebMD's original partners were drug companies?


3. Chronic Widespread Muscle Pain


"What's causing your chronic widespread MUSCLE pain," asks a recent ad for the prescription drug Lyrica."The answer may be over-active NERVES." Many people have muscle pain from exercise, aging, posture, a bad bed, overexertion and strain, PMS or a cold or flu. But now these people can ask themselves if they may have a disease Instead of using an over-the-counter pain reliever for their aches and pains, they may need an expensive prescription drug. Lyrica is approved for fibromyalgia, which causes pain but not for all the other and less serious reasons for muscle pain. Treating your "chronic widespread muscle pain" from a bad day at the gym or "overactive nerves" from overexertion with a prescription drug doesn't just raises everyone's healthcare costs, it also poses unneeded risks. Drug raters on Askapatient.com report serious side effects on Lyrica like memory loss, mental confusion, extreme weight gain, hair loss and impaired driving.


4. Frequent Heartburn


One of direct to-consumer drug advertising's biggest successes is gastrointestinal: it has convinced millions their "heartburn" is a serious disease that needs serious treatment, though many medical professionals disagree. Not only do you need expensive and usually prescription medications if you overindulge instead of the Tums and Maalox people used to take, you need to take the meds all the time, just to be on the safe side. Amazingly, Pharma now recommends you take acid blockers before any heartburn happens! "If you get heartburn two or more days a week, treat it by blocking the acid with Prilosec OTC and DON'T GET HEARTBURN IN THE FIRST PLACE," says an ad in WebMD magazine. Clearly, proactive treatment - treating a condition before it even happens - is lucrative to Pharma. Patients don't know if the drug is working, if they need it now, or if they ever needed it. But a terrible thing happens if they don't take their heartburn medicine reliably: Pharma doesn't make any money.


5 . Oppositional-Defiant Disorders


Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Antisocial Personality Disorder. Temper Dysregulation Disorder. Impulse Control Disorder. Many of the newer "diseases" the psychiatric establishment has rolled out would be funny if they weren't being assigned to children at Big Pharma's bidding. Children are increasingly dosed for such behavioral problems because parents, teachers and doctors make children's medication decisions for them. Often the "disorders," which are also sometimes assigned to adults, boil down to someone simply not doing what they are told to do - and authority figures pushing back. It is no secret that many poor and institutionalized kids are on heavy cocktails of drugs for such behavioral issues. Many leading child psychiatrists like Harvard's Joseph Biederman have made a cottage industry out of diagnosing children with psychiatric problems like ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder, mood disorders, mixed manias, pervasive developmental disorder and a host of "spectrum" disorders for behavior that was once called growing up. .


6. Reduced Tear Production/Chronic Dry Eye


Everyone who has worn contact lenses or pulled an all-nighter knows about dry, irritated eyes. Why else are some airline flights called "red eye specials"? But now dry eye conditions have become a lucrative new "disease," especially as the population ages and cell phones make people into text addicts reading minuscule type. "I used artificial tears often, like when at lunch with my friends," says a glossy, high-budget ad for the prescription eye medicine Restasis in the magazine . "So I saw my doctor - after all, these are my eyes. And she said I have a disease." The woman in the ad doesn't just have dry eye, she has chronic dry eye. She has reduced tear production a deficiency disease as real as EPI. The ad boasts that 16 million prescriptions have been written for Restasis in the last years. If that is really true, why isn't the disease called RTP or CDE yet?


About the author


Born With a Junk Food Deficiency: How Flaks, Quacks and Hacks Pimp the Public Health (Random House).


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


CIA torturers sought assurances that detainees would remain incommunicado for the rest of their lives

"
flag of torture

© Unknown



"

The Senate Torture Report notes:



The interrogation team closed the [CIA] cable by stating:



"regardless of which [disposition] option we follow, however, and especially in light of the planned psychological pressure techniques to be implemented, we need to get reasonable assurances that [Abu Zubaydah] will remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life."




CIA torture report

(The report makes clear that the cable was sent well before the torture commenced. They were seeking advanced "assurances" that the torture and "psychological pressures techniques" - more below - would never be revealed to anyone, to help shield them from prosecution.)

Another section of the Senate Torture Report notes:



One interrogator told another detainee that he would never go to court, because "we can never let the world know what I have done to you."



CIA torture report

In other words:

  • The torturers knew that what they were doing was



  • They knew it was


This is particularly disturbing given that everyone knew that Abu Zubaydah (the guy mentioned in the cable) was literally crazy ... and that he had told interrogators everything he knew torture started.

And it is made more sinister by the fact that the specific torture techniques were specifically engineered for obtaining confessions.


Want something else to read? How about 'Grievous Censorship' By The Guardian: Israel, Gaza And The Termination Of Nafeez Ahmed's Blog


The synergistic effects of exercise cannot be 'bought'


Exercise is an essential element of a healthy lifestyle. It's particularly important for controlling your blood sugar and normalizing your insulin levels, which is critical if you want to normalize your weight and maintain optimal health.

Based on the principle of following ancestral practices, it is important to understand that our genetics and biochemistry are optimized for consistent regular movement, and failure to provide that will result in disability and disease.


When done correctly, exercise can often times act as a substitute for some of the most common drugs used for things like diabetes, heart disease, and depression. Unfortunately, a side effect of our modern quick fix culture is that many still wish for a magic pill or elixir, and Nestlé now claims to be able to bottle the benefits of exercise...1


As reported by the Huffington Post:2



"Yes, scientists at Nestlé, the largest food company in the world, published their work in the journal Chemistry and Biology3 on Nov. 24. Kei Sakamoto's research team in Switzerland demonstrated how a compound (C13) could activate a master metabolic control switch, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK).


AMPK activation inhibits fat production in the liver and increases the body's capacity to burn sugar.


This is good news for the elderly and those with disabilities that preclude the possibility of physical activity. Of course the much larger potential market of simply sedentary people represents the sweet spot for such a product."





The Allure of 'Exercise in a Bottle'

Nutritional supplements can serve an important function by helping to correct specific nutritional imbalances or deficiencies, but trust me - they will never be able to replace physical exercise.


Nestlé claims the compound C13 increases metabolism by interacting with an enzyme that controls the metabolic process. This enzyme, AMPK, is naturally activated by exercise. AMPK stimulates the burning of fat by producing mitochondria, the power sources of cells.


The skeletal muscles of athletes have been found to contain a much higher number of mitochondria, which is likely linked to AMPK activity. AMPK declines with age, which is why you tend to lose muscle as you get older - unless you keep challenging them.


But what else might compound C13 interact with? The truth is, weight loss supplements and metabolic boosters in particular are notorious for creating potentially dangerous side effects.


The intellectual arrogance of this approach is only exceeded by Nestle's egregious attempts at profits with disregard to health. It reminds me of their efforts to stop women in third world countries from breastfeeding so they could sell them vastly inferior synthetic formula that they made.


Clearly, a great many people struggle with weight issues. But to think that an "exercise potion" will be able to save you from the hassle of having to break a sweat is nothing short of delusional. There is simply no way a supplement will be able to stimulate your muscle to provide the complex physiology they need to provide you with optimal health.


The Synergistic Effects of Exercise Cannot Be 'Bought'


A product like this might be able to mimic a specific biological effect that exercise produces, such as increasing your metabolic rate, but it will never provide you with all the health effects exercise provides. As someone that has been passionate about exercise for nearly five decades, I can assure that exercise has countless effects on your body -- not only on your muscle fibers but also on your brain, your immune system, your ability to fight cancer, depression, and much more.


There's simply no way a pill or beverage could ever reproduce the synergistic benefits that exercise has on your body and mind. For example, research published in the journal Cell Metabolism4 shows that when healthy but inactive people exercise intensely, even if the exercise is brief, it produces an immediate change in their DNA.


While the underlying genetic code in the muscle remains unchanged, exercise causes important structural and chemical changes to the DNA molecules within the muscles, and this contraction-induced gene activation appears to be early events leading to the genetic reprogramming of muscle for strength, and to the structural and metabolic benefits of exercise.


Several of the genes affected by an acute bout of exercise are genes involved in fat metabolism. Specifically, the study suggests that when you exercise, your body almost immediately experiences genetic activation that increases the production of fat-busting proteins.


Previous studies have identified and measured a wide variety of biochemical changes that occur during exercise. More than 20 different metabolites5 are affected, including compounds that help you burn calories and fat, and compounds that help stabilize your blood sugar. These biochemical changes create a positive feedback loop. Will "exercise in a bottle" be able to affect all those metabolites? It's highly unlikely, and Nestle's own scientists warn that their product should be viewed as a supplement to boost exercise benefits - not an actual replacement for exercise.6


You Don't Need to Invest Hours to Reap Benefits from Exercise


One of the key health benefits of exercise is that it helps normalize your glucose and insulin levels by optimizing insulin receptor sensitivity. This is perhaps the most important factor for optimizing your overall health and preventing chronic disease. But that doesn't mean you need to spend multiple hours in the gym each week. Research shows that short bursts of intense exercise is the most effective, so you can really maximize your exercise benefits in as little as 40-60 minutes per week, provided you're doing it correctly.



HIIT Guidelines

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a core component of my Peak Fitness program. There are many versions of HIIT, but the core premise involves maximum exertion followed by a quick rest period for a set of intervals. My Peak Fitness routine uses a set of eight 30-second sprints, each followed by 90 seconds of recovery, as taught by Phil Campbell who is a pioneer in this field. Also, while I typically recommend using an elliptical machine or recumbent bike, it can be performed with virtually any type of exercise, with or without equipment.


To perform these exercises correctly, you'll want to raise your heart rate to your anaerobic threshold, and to do that, you have to give it your all for those 20 to 30 seconds. Here's a summary of what a typical interval routine might look like using an elliptical (for a demonstration, please see the video below):



  • Warm up for three minutes

  • Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should be gasping for breath and feel like you couldn't possibly go on another few seconds. It is better to use lower resistance and higher repetitions to increase your heart rate

  • Recover for 90 seconds, still moving, but at slower pace and decreased resistance

  • Repeat the high intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times. Depending on your level of fitness, you may only be able to do two or three repetitions to start. As you get fitter, just keep adding repetitions until you're doing eight.


[embedded content]




Ideally, you'll want to perform these exercises two or three times a week for a total of four minutes of intense exertion, especially if you are not doing strength training. Doing it more frequently than two or three times a week can be counterproductive, as your body needs to recover between sessions.

If you want to do more, focus on making sure you're really pushing yourself as hard as you can during those two or three weekly sessions, rather than increasing the frequency. I also recommend incorporating strength training for a well-rounded fitness program. You can turn your resistance exercises into high intensity exercises as well, simply by slowing things down.


Super slow strength training may even be superior to HIIT exercises using a recumbent bike or elliptical machine in some regards. For instance, you only need about 12 to 15 minutes of super-slow strength training once a week to achieve the same human growth hormone (HGH) production as you would from 20 minutes. To learn more, see The Pros and Cons of Free Weights versus Resistance Machines, which also discusses the benefits of a super-super slow technique.


Eating Right for Fitness


Did you know that turning the food pyramid upside-down is the key to normalizing your weight and optimizing your fitness? Indeed, this point was well made in Donal O'Neill's film, Cereal Killers. By eliminating sugars and grains, and dramatically boosting his fat intake, O'Neill was able to dramatically improve his health. A slew of professional athletes have also switched from traditionally-recommended carb-loading to a high-fat diet, and are reaping the benefits in their careers. As noted by Steven Moore in his write-up of the film:7



"The film features a host of elite athletes and team doctors and nutritionists who are now either using the high fat diet or are advocating it for their teams. World Ironman Champion Sami Inkinen ditched his high-carb high-sugar diet for a 70 percent high fat diet with incredible results. He also only trains for half the time of his rivals because he's adapted his body to run on fat...


Donal says many athletes have been using the high fat diet for years but don't want to talk about it publicly because they don't want their competitors to know what's behind their success. 'Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson changed to the high fat diet and his body shape has changed incredibly - he's now built like a tank. The US skier Bode Miller has gone low-carb and he dropped 18lbs.'"





The 'Healthy Processed Food' Myth

The fact is, you've been thoroughly misled when it comes to conventional dietary advice. It's near impossible to maintain optimal health by stocking your fridge and pantry with processed foods and beverages - no matter what health benefits are claimed by the food manufacturers. Think a breakfast cereal can lower your cholesterol and keep your heart healthy? Or that 6-8 servings of whole grain will help you lose weight? Think again!


Many doctors, nutritionists, and government health officials will tell you to keep your saturated fat below 10 percent, while keeping the bulk of your diet, about 60 percent, as carbs. Even diabetic organizations promote carbohydrates as a major component of a healthy diet - even though grains break down to sugar in your body, and sugar promotes insulin resistance, which is the root cause of type 2 diabetes in the first place!


What they don't tell you (probably because they don't know it), is that these grossly flawed dietary guidelines are largely dictated by the processed food industry - not science. Nutritional science actually tells us this kind of diet is a recipe for weight gain and chronic health problems. Refined carbohydrates promote chronic inflammation in your body, elevate low-density LDL cholesterol, and ultimately lead to insulin and leptin resistance. Insulin and leptin resistance, in turn, is at the heart of obesity and most chronic disease, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's - all the top killers in the US!




Yet such evidence has been ignored or marginalized for the benefit of big business, which is focused on producing cheap foods with high profit margins. The federal government subsidizes the growing of grains and sugar (most in the form of corn, which is then turned into high fructose corn syrup), so that's where the majority of profits are.

I challenge you to read the labels of the processed foods and beverages in your kitchen right now and find one that doesn't contain some form of corn syrup, soy, vegetable oil, or grain. These ingredients are everywhere, and all those refined carbohydrates and harmful processed fats are fuel for weight gain and a whole spectrum of associated health problems.


Healthy Fat - It Does Your Body Good


If you want to get back into the driver's seat, so to speak, you need to ignore what you've been told is "healthy," and take a fresh look at what actually works. In his film, O'Neill switches over to a diet where 70 percent of his calories come from healthy fat - most of it in the form of macadamia nuts (my personal favorite) - and the remaining 30 percent of his caloric intake is divvied up between protein and fibrous fruits and vegetables. Over the course of 28 days, O'Neill:



  • Loses weight and body fat

  • Increases his lean muscle mass

  • Feels more energetic and improves his athletic performance

  • Increases his resting metabolic rate

  • Improves his blood pressure, cholesterol, and other measurements to the point that he no longer has any risk factors for heart disease, which he's genetically predisposed for


His results also show the benefits of a high-fat, low-carb diet for athletes, as it results in higher, more sustained energy. This is a hallmark of ketogenesis, where your body is burning fat rather than sugar as its primary fuel. When your body burns fat, you don't experience the energy crashes associated with carbs, and this is of significant benefit for athletes. While the high fat diet worked for O'Neil it will likely only work well for you if you are one of the 80 percent of those with insulin resistance (diabetes, high blood pressure, overweight, taking a statin drug). If you aren't insulin resistant it is fine to increase healthy carbs.

How to Eat for Optimal Health


The answer to run-away weight gain and most chronic disease states hinges on a) avoiding inflammatory spikes in blood sugar, insulin and leptin, and b) reversing insulin and leptin resistance. To do this, you need to:



  • Avoid refined sugar, processed fructose, and grains. This means avoiding processed foods of all kinds

  • Eat whole foods, ideally organic, and replace the grain carbs you cut out with:

    • Moderate amounts of high-quality protein from organic, grass-fed or pastured animals (this is to ensure you're not getting the antibiotics, genetically engineered organisms, and altered nutritional fat profile associated with factory farmed animals). Most Americans eat far too much protein, which can be detrimental. To learn more, please see my previous article: The Very Real Risks of Consuming Too Much Protein .

    • As much high-quality healthy fat as you want (saturated and monounsaturated). Many health experts now believe that if you are insulin or leptin resistant (as 80 percent of the US population is), you likely need anywhere from 50 to 85 percent of your daily calories in the form of healthy fats. Good sources include coconut and coconut oil, avocados, butter, nuts (particularly macadamia), and animal fats. Avoid all trans fats and processed vegetable oils (such as canola and soy oil). Also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.

    • As many vegetables as you can muster. Juicing your vegetables is a good way to boost your vegetable intake.




Another "add-on" suggestion is to start intermittent fasting, which will radically improve your ability to burn fat as your primary fuel. This too will help restore optimal insulin and leptin signaling. There is simply no question or doubt in mind that intermittent fasting is the single most effective strategy to resolve your insulin resistance and junk food cravings.

Bust the Myth of 'Exercise Benefits in a Bottle' Before It Starts


In summary, there's no getting around the fact that if you seek optimal health, you're going to have to make bigger changes than adding another "souped-up" beverage to your shopping list. In fact, removing processed foods and beverages from your list is one of the first steps toward a healthier life. These changes do not need to be traumatically costly or time consuming however. In fact, you may find that eating a diet based on whole foods can save you money.


This is definitely true in the long run, as health care costs can easily devour any savings you might get from buying cheap processed fare. Eating a high-fat, low-carb diet will help you shift from burning sugar to burning fat as primary fuel, and this has far-ranging health benefits, including weight loss and increased energy and stamina.


As for exercise, high-intensity interval training is by far the most efficient and therefore the least time consuming. Super slow strength training is also an excellent choice, as it gives you both the benefits from weight lifting and the benefits from high intensity exercises.


I also recommend avoiding sitting as much as possible, and making it a point to walk more every day. A fitness tracker can be very helpful for this. I suggest aiming for 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day, and this is in addition to your regular fitness regimen, not in lieu of it. There's an explosion of fitness trackers coming and I would encourage you to consider getting one as they can also help you track your sleep and help you reach your eight hours. It is nearly impossible to change something that you aren't carefully monitoring.


Sources & References


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SOTT FOCUS: UK 'Establishment': Unmasking psychopathic faces - Pedophilia and murder in VERY high places

Vishal Mehrotra



8 year old Vishal Mehrotra, who disappeared near the Elm Guest House in West London - alleged haunt of 'pedophiles in power'.



In an article published on RT last month, the father of an eight-year-old boy who died in the UK in the 1980s alleged that his son may have been abducted and murdered by members of a Westminster pedophile ring, and further claims that Scotland Yard were complicit in "covering up" the crime.

Vishambar Mehrotra, a retired magistrate, said he recorded a male prostitute saying in a telephone call that Mehrotra's son Vishal may have been abducted in the notorious Elm Guest House in southwest London in 1981. Mehrotra also said despite playing the recording for police officers, they refused to investigate allegations that high-profile judges and politicians were involved in the kidnapping of his son.



After watching the wedding procession of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in July 1981, Vishal Mehrotra was abducted as he walked home in the Putney area of London. Newspaper reports at the time claim Mehrotra's home was less than a mile from the Elm Guest House, where witnesses said a "kings and queens" party was being hosted. Part of Vishal's skeleton was found in 1982 in woodlands in West Sussex. According to coroners' reports, there was no trace of his legs, spine or clothing.

Elm House was raided in June 1982 and dozens of men with high public profiles were questioned. Although none were implicated, it is believed the raids were connected to the disappearance of Vishal, as well as another boy, 15-year-old Martin Allen.


Mehrotra told theTelegraph:




"I was contacted by a young man who seemed to be in his 20s. He told me he believed Vishal may have been taken by pedophiles in the Elm Guest House near Barnes Common."


"He said there were very highly placed people there. He talked about judges and politicians who were abusing little boys."


"At that time I trusted the police. But when nothing happened, I became confused and concerned. Now it is clear to me that there has been a huge cover-up. There is no doubt in my mind."




Martin Allen's disappearance has also been linked to the notorious Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London, and the alleged VIP pedophile brothel. But when the Sunday People reported that when the boy's older brother pushed for more to be done on the case, saying he believed a top level cover-up was hiding the circumstance of the teenager's disappearance, he was told to "stop talking like that, you might get hurt."

Mr Allen, 51, now believes the files relating to Martin have been destroyed or lost to avoid solving the mystery that has haunted his family for 35 years. As reported in the Daily Mail last month, he said:


Martin Allen

© PA

Martin Allen was abducted thirty years ago in London and his disappearance has also been linked to the notorious Elm Guest House in Barnes, south west London, and the alleged VIP pedophile brothel.




"I've no faith in the police. They failed us.


Within a couple of months of Martin disappearing, my father said: 'There's something not right here.'


Police weren't doing enough. They went through the motions.


So it didn't surprise me when a senior officer warned me I could get hurt."



Mr Allen said he always believed there was 'Establishment involvement' in his brother's disappearance.

Jackie Malton, now retired from Scotland Yard, was a detective sergeant when she worked on the case and said the investigation could have been compromised by the "power of politicians" at the time. Regarding the tape recording Mr Mehrotra played for the police, she said, "the culture of policing at the time meant it was possible the recording was ignored and the murder covered up due to the alleged involvement of senior figures at Westminster." Talking to the Telegraph, Mrs Malton added:




"There was also a strong sense of the power of Parliament and of politicians. It was very much a case of 'do as you are told'," she claimed. "There was certainly a culture of disbelief among the officers, and that often didn't help to get to the truth. But the politicians were very much in power, and the police officers' voices could often not be heard. It's very different now. Back then, people were nowhere near as accountable for their actions."




Really!? If there truly is more 'accountability' nowadays - then where is the justice? Why are these sick, psychopathic perverts in positions of power never held accountable for their depraved, vile crimes? Before we look at their Modus Operandi, we first need to understand the environment (social, political, cultural, religious and business) in which these highly placed and influential individuals generally dwell - namely, the 'Establishment'.



Two members of the British 'establishment' - psychopath meets pedophile! Jimmy Savile receiving more money from former British PM Margaret Thatcher, no doubt to 'help all the little children around the UK'.





The Establishment

'The Establishment' is essentially an elite that wields huge power in the UK and abroad (often with overlapping interests with other dominant British-descended groups). The term is most often used in the United Kingdom, in which context it includes:



leading politicians, senior civil servants, senior barristers and judges, aristocrats, senior clergy in the established Church of England, the most important financiers and industrialists, governors of the BBC, and the Monarchy.



So we can reasonably determine that this list encompasses the higher, influential echelons of a pyramid-shaped, hierarchical, control structure - which we see at local, national and international level. Generally these 'establishment' figures all attend public schools, such as Eton College. A cursory glance at lists of attendees to just this one 'public school' - 'Old Etonians' as they are called - reveals why these people, generally speaking (invariably there are some exceptions), are completely incapable of functioning honorably at higher levels of all institutions serving the public interest: they all susceptible to a syndrome called the 'Old Boys Network'. When faced with conflicts of interests - say, exposing and punishing pedophiles in high places - like Jimmy Savile or former MP Cyril Smith - this 'sad affliction' means their sense of duty is NOT to expose sick, depraved and criminal individuals and groups, but instead to cover it all up and protect other members of the 'Establishment'. But just how do they continue to do this so successfully?

An article in the Daily Mail, (Establishment hid monster midst as MP's demand inquiry covering VIP child abuse ring chilling proof depraved diplomat protected good and the great) concerning Sir Peter Hayman gives some important insights into just how the 'Establishment' protects its own kind, and helps us unravel their Modus Operandi.


Dark Arts - The Modus Operandi:


Whether it is covering up VIP pedophile rings, high level corruption or instigating regime change in other countries, there are various historically proven tools at the disposal of these psychopaths in power. For brevity, I will concentrate on those 'Dark Arts' which are applicable to the the 'cover up' of British pedophiles in very high places, namely Perception Management (the Public Inquiry, the Deflection technique and the 'normalization' of pedophilia ), intimidation / death, and cowardly or 'yellow' journalism.


Perception Management: The Public Inquiry


When appointing 'one of your own' to an influential position (say, head of a Public Inquiry) the Establishment is virtually guaranteed a favorable decision. A recent example illustrating how this 'Old Boys Network' works concerns victims' groups coming to the "unanimous" decision that Fiona Woolf, Lord Mayor of London, should be replaced as head of a Public Inquiry into rampant child sex abuse committed by members of the Establishment. A veritable 'Woolf in sheep's clothing'!



Leon Brittan was Home Secretary in 1984 when ministers were handed a dossier on alleged high-profile pedophiles;and nsisted that the proper procedures were followed. Woolf disclosed that she lived in the same street in London as Lord Brittan and had invited the Conservative Peer and his wife to dinner on three occasions. In total, she had dined with Lord Brittan and his family five times since 2008 and had also had a coffee with Lady Brittan on a "small number of occasions". Woolf further disclosed that she had been involved in the past with bodies with which the Brittans had also had involvement.



The victims' groups, like other normal people, could see that this 'conflict of interests' hardly made Mrs Woolf an 'impartial' candidate for that sensitive and responsible position. Some politicians who have some integrity and who campaigned for the inquiry, like Labour MP Simon Danczuk, said he thought Woolf should resign, which she later did following mounting opposition. Yet Downing Street maintained that Prime Minister David Cameron - an 'old Etonian' himself - "is absolutely clear that he thinks she can do this job with integrity and impartiality" (clearly highlighting the severity of his 'affliction').

Why not allow the victims and their families the choice of appointing qualified persons to such hugely important positions? There are plenty of other competent people in the country who have not been tainted by the 'Old Boys Network', and who could responsibly hold these roles - but the problem with that, of course, is the increased likelihood of them finding the truth! That option clearly cannot be allowed to manifest.





MP Simon Danczuk was about to challenge Lord Brittan (centre) about what he knew about child sex abuse. Flanking Leon Brittan are Tory grandees Edward Heath and Willie Whitelaw



As Simon Danczuk said recently in an article in the Mail Online:

Recent events have led me to the inescapable conclusion that in politics, particularly when the focus is on members of parliament guilty of abusing children, it frequently generates indifference. That's not to say all politicians have a blind spot where this terrible crime is concerned. There are some great campaigners across all parties working hard to protect children - as evidenced by the 130 MPs who have signed up to a call for a public inquiry into historic child abuse. But among the higher echelons of party politics, where the real power resides, my impression is that there is little appetite to confront the abusers in their midst. Quite the opposite. The mood is defensive, the approach is dominated by silence. 'Move along, nothing to see here,' or 'what's the point in raking all that up old boy?' is the attitude I have seen time after time.





Perception Management
: The Deflection Technique

Earlier this year, more than 600 suspected pedophiles, including doctors and teachers, were arrested across Britain after a six-month investigation led by the National Crime Agency. The agency, dubbed Britain's FBI, announced on Wednesday it had arrested 660 suspected child abusers and taken more than 400 children into care in the first nationwide investigation of its kind. Of the 660 arrested, 39 were registered sex offenders but the vast majority of suspected paedophiles were off the police's radar. Those arrested include doctors, teachers, scout leaders, care workers and former police officers.


Chief constable Simon Bailey, the national policing lead for child protection and abuse investigations, said the vast majority of forces in England and Wales were dealing with an unprecedented increase in the number of reports of child sexual abuse. He said:



"Sexual abuse is a complex crime taking many forms. Forces are investigating exploitation of children and young people by groups and gangs, non-recent abuse including large-scale investigations into abuse in institutions over many years and sexual abuse by parents and family members.


"During this operation we've targeted offenders accessing child abuse images. Police must continue to use a range of investigative techniques targeting all forms of abuse if we are going to protect children and bring offenders to justice. Chief officers are committed using all the tools available to them because nothing is more important in policing than protecting vulnerable people."



Of course, EVERY case of abuse, particularly to young and vulnerable people should be thoroughly investigated, leading to prosecution of the guilty offenders. But investigations like this, and the on-going one in Rotherham, target specifically those abusers at the lower end of society - to deflect attention from the on-going 'investigations' (for public consumption) into the abuse at higher levels. They actually DO investigate and prosecute the lowly scumbags, but only TALK about doing likewise with their higher level criminal 'establishment' cohorts.
Cyril Smith



the grotesque former MP Cyril Smith - at the pedophile safe haven of Westminster!



Perception Management: 'Normalization' of Pedophilia

To form a basic understanding as to how the perpetrators and apologists for pedophilia can formulate their narratives to justify their depraved deeds, read the words of Ralph Underwager. An 'expert' witness for the defense in scores of child abuse cases and former vocal member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, he gave an interview in Paidika (a pro-pedophilia publication), conducted in June 1991.



"Paedophiles can boldly and courageously affirm what they choose ... I am also a theologian and as a theologian, I believe it is God's will that there be closeness and intimacy, unity of flesh, between people ... paedophiles can make the assertion that the pursuit of intimacy and love is what they choose. With boldness, they can say, 'I believe this is in fact part of God's will.'"



Here in the so-called 'civilized' (in reality - 'ponerized') United Kingdom, there has been a concerted effort in parts of the academic establishment to push the boundaries on the acceptability of child sex. Even as recently as last July, the following comments were being delivered at a conference held by the University of Cambridge.

"Paedophilic interest is natural and normal for human males,"


"At least a sizeable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children ... Normal males are aroused by children."



Other presentations included "Liberating the paedophile: a discursive analysis," and "Danger and difference: the stakes of hebephilia."(Hebephilia is the sexual preference for children in early puberty, typically 11 to 14-year-olds.)

So, here we have a world-renowned education facility where academics are openly seeking to justify acts which any normal and conscionable person would consider disgusting and reprehensible. It's all part of an insidious attempt to 'normalize' pedophilia. Commenting on the cascade of child sex crime scandals in the UK in the last couple of years, not least the conviction of celebrated children's TV presenter Rolf Harris, the lurid revelations about another BBC children's TV presenter - Jimmy Savile - and solid claims of an establishment cover-up to protect at least one child rapist government minister in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet, journalist Andrew Gilligan recently wrote in the Guardian:



A key factor in what happened all those decades ago in the dressing rooms of the BBC, the wards of the NHS and, allegedly, the corridors of power was not just institutional failings or establishment "conspiracies", but a climate of far greater intellectual tolerance of practices that horrify today.



Again, I have to dispute the all-too-common assumption that 'people were less horrified then about such deeds than they are today'. Sex with children - to say nothing of the violent rape and murder of children - has ALWAYS been wrong, and it horrified people yesterday just as much as it does today. The only difference I can think of between then and now is that it has become very difficult for the British Establishment to prevent its inhuman practices from reaching public awareness.

Another attendee and enthusiastic participant at the University of Cambridge conference this past July was one Tom O'Carroll, a multiple child sex offender, long-time campaigner for the legalisation of sex with children and former head of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE). Police are now investigating PIE as part of Operation Fernbridge, launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal. A senior source on the investigation says there is evidence PIE members were abusing children "on an industrial scale ". The Home Office is also probing shocking claims that the Labour government of the 1970s may have helped finance the pedophile group. Don't hold your breath with this 'investigation' either. A Daily Mail investigation has discovered that during the 1970s and 1980s:





Twisted: The Pedophile Information Exchange received state funding for networking pedophiles and preying on thousands of children





  • Former Minister for Health Patricia Hewitt described PIE in glowing terms as 'a campaigning/counselling group for adults attracted to children';

  • The NCCL lobbied Parliament for the age of sexual consent to be cut to ten - if the child consented and 'understood the nature of the act'.

  • It called for incest to be legalised in what one MP dubbed a 'Lolita's charter';

  • The NCCL claimed research shows young paedophile victims are often 'consenting or even the initiators of the sexual acts involved';

  • It filed a submission to Parliament claiming that 'childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult, result in no identifiable damage'.

  • Labour's former deputy leader Harriet Harman, as NCCL legal officer, tried to water down child pornography laws.

  • NCCL lawyers acted for a PIE member who was quizzed by police over appalling behaviour.



So while David Cameron's government looks to 'make good' with the British public by cracking down on online porn (which apparently blocked up to a fifth of the Internet in the UK - how long before alternative media are 'accidentally' blocked too?), we can see that leading figures those in influential positions of power, in academic and political life are complicit in 'normalizing' pedophila.

Intimidation / death


[embedded content]




Conspiracy of Silence, a documentary listed for viewing in the British TV Guide Magazine, was to be aired on the Discovery Channel, on May 3, 1994. This documentary exposed a network of American religious leaders and politicians who flew children to Washington, D.C. for sex orgies. While the video quality is not top grade, the documentary is a blockbuster in terms of what it revealed.

In an interview with American Commentary, Nick Bryant, author of The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse, and Betrayal, highlights how intimidation and death, used by all countries where pedophiles in power operate with impunity, has worked successfully in protecting pedophile rings.


The interstate pedophile network he exposed in the USA, which "pandered children to the rich and powerful, and was ultimately covered up by a corrupt subgenus of federal law enforcement, and state law enforcement," offers important lessons in these Dark Arts.


Although the epicenter of the network was in Omaha, Nebraska, run by Lawrence E. King, the other main camp was operated by Craig Spence of Washington, D.C., a pedophilic pimp and CIA asset. They were both also Republican powerbrokers. According to Nick Byrant:



A lot of these pedophile parties went down in Craig Spence's home. And his home was wired for audiovisual blackmail. Spence was a blackmail specialist.


Spence's guest lists were a veritable who's who of people in congress, people in the upper echelon of the Reagan administration, the upper echelon of what would become the Bush administration, the upper echelon of the judiciary.


Whatever you wanted you would be provided, and then you would subsequently be blackmailed. And this is why it had to be covered up in Nebraska, because if this unfolded in Nebraska, it would have been a domino effect all the way to Washington DC, and it would have shown Americans just how corrupt their political system is.


So if the cover-up was going to continue, both state and federal law enforcement were forced to call grand juries to cover up the child abuse - and that's what happened



franclin scandal headline



A "carefully crafted hoax"! Yet more abuse for the innocent victims. How utterly contemptible!



What makes these cases even more obscene is the fact that those victims who were brave enough to speak out were horrifically abused a second time - by the very authorities that were supposed to be protecting them - through relentless intimidation, with some even being sentenced for perjury when in fact they were telling the truth. As Nick Bryant noted, "the FBI threatened to kill a perpetrator who wanted to come forward and seek immunity. And the FBI also threatened victims with perjury if they kept on with their abuse story."

It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in those alphabet 'intel' agencies, now does it? Whether it is MI6, FBI, CIA, Mossad, whoever - they are merely instruments serving Puppet Masters, not the ordinary man, woman and child in society. Of course, they can always justify their actions in the name of "national security" to maintain the psychopathic status quo. In Franklin Scandal, some 2 or 3 mysterious deaths are described in every chapter.



There were two kids who refused to recant their abuse and they were both indicted on multiple counts of perjury. And one was subjected to a kangaroo court, her name was Alisha Owen, and she was given between 9 and 15 years for perjury - because she wouldn't recant her abuse. And she spent nearly two years in solitary confinement.


All the victims were told that if they went on with this story they would go down for perjury, so it was essential that an example be made of Alisha Owen.


And Alisha's 17 year old brother died under very mysterious circumstances. And another victim who testified with her, his brother also died under mysterious circumstances. The state investigator and his son also died under mysterious circumstances. And there were other people in Nebraska affiliated with the ring who supposedly committed suicide too. And then Craig Spence also committed suicide.





BBC - Cowardly 'Yellow Journalism' in action


When some media insiders actually do try to uncover and expose pedophile activities, as popular TV presenter Jill Dando did within the BBC in the mid-1990s, "no-one wanted to know." She was gunned down just outside her Fulham home on April 26, 1999, in what remains an unsolved murder.

When we look at 'some' of the sick pedophiles who worked at the BBC (Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall, Dave Lee Travis, Chris Denning), using their fame and positions to act with apparent impunity, is it any wonder that "no-one wanted to know." Looking at the backgrounds of the BBC governors and top editors, we can see they are generally members of the Establishment - which is hardly conducive to 'impartial journalism' as advocated by the BBC Charter. The complicity of such influential individuals in 'cover ups' are clearly illustrated by the Newsnight fiasco, where the BBC's top investigative show pulled its own report into the Jimmy Savile scandal - 'Protecting pedophile networks BBC ordered cover up of its own investigation into serial child rapist Jimmy Savile'


The BBC has a history of protecting pedophiles (and war criminals), and this 'news' organisation - which claims to be 'objective' and a 'beacon of the free press', yet issues decrees that inhibit its 'journalists' (functionally no different from psychopathic enablers and apologists for pedophiles and war criminals) from reporting on certain topics - including, but certainly not limited to, the Scottish Referendum, Israeli atrocities, the demonization of Vladimir Putin and Russia, and, of course, the pedophile rings at the BBC itself and in Westminster - really ought to amend its Charter to more accurately reflect its cowardly, biased stance:



New BBC Charter


that the mission of the Corporation is to "dis-inform, un-educate and entertain". It states that the Corporation exists to serve their psychopathic Puppet Masters public interest and to promote its public purposes: sustaining the illusion of citizenship and civil society, promoting a dumber society education and learning, discouraging stimulating creativity and encourage cultural subservience excellence.





Breaking the 'historic' cycle of abuse?

Worldwide, there are probably still hundreds of thousands of innocent children suffering at the hands of these vile, soulless monsters, with the UK's 'VIP' pedophile ring being connected to a larger international web of interlocking, protected pedophile rings. For more on the scope of this dark underworld inhabited by our overlords, read Dave McGowan's expose on the grisly 'Pedophocracy'.


The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating the suspected murder of three boys in relation to the so-called Westminster "VIP" pedophile ring, which allegedly serially abused boys during the 1970s and 80s. Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, who is leading the investigation, made a public plea for witnesses and deemed one alleged victim, known as Nick, to be a "credible" witness who was telling the truth.


As Nick said in his first public broadcast in November, where he claimed that his abusers would always "do what they wanted":



"Some of them were quite open about who they were. They had no fear at all of being caught, it didn't cross their mind."



Think about that: "no fear at all of being caught". That arrogance, or 'wishful thinking', is very much a characteristic trait of psychopaths in power. Read what Andrew Lobaczewski called the process of 'ponerization' in his book Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes. Psychopaths don't fear being caught because they do not experience fear. They do of course avoid exposure, and will use any and all means to do so.

Will anything change with this latest so-called "investigation" in the UK into pedos-in-power? Based on the historic evidence, briefly highlighted here, the simple, tragic answer is: NO. Nevertheless, all conscionable folk have a duty and responsibility to simply strive to 'do the right thing', to the best of ones ability and circumstances. Are we, though? Time to look in the mirror perhaps, and then into the eyes of our children.


Britain's plague of pederasty and abuse of power will continue unless we attempt to understand our own psychology, and that of those in power, and then make the necessary efforts to drag these terrible, inhumane crimes from the darkness of ignorance into the light of knowing.


Our continued silence and unquestioning acquiescence to 'the authorities' actively assists these 'cover ups' of pedophiles in high places. But if we can individually accept our responsibility - that by our own apathy and ignorance we too are complicit in these heinous crimes - then we can also choose to become more active and knowledgeable and begin to undermine their power structure. Just knowing about it is a great start.


At this 'festive season' particularly, shared with our loved ones, we could spare a thought for those vulnerable children who have been, are, and will continue to be abused, raped and murdered. Perhaps the greatest gift we can bequeath them is to find our own humanity, to make an effort to right a terrible wrong, to get informed and actually care enough to express it, however, wherever and whenever we can.





Our missing children - how many of them end up as victims of the Establishment pedophiles in power?



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