02/25/15 ~ The Raw Story

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

State Department seeks billions to beef up propaganda programs amid declining US influence

Citing RT's influence, Secretary of State John Kerry asked US lawmakers for more money for propaganda and "democracy promotion" programs around the world.

"Russia Today (sic) can be heard in English, do we have an equivalent that can be heard in Russian? It's a pretty expensive proposition. They are spending huge amounts of money," Kerry told the House Appropriations Subcommittee,

He had also raised the topic earlier in the day, before the House Foreign Affairs committee, where Representative Ed Royce (R-CA), opened the hearing with the allegation that "Russia's military aggression is matched only by its propaganda." To Kerry's approval, Royce went on to claim that "Russia is spending more than $500 million annually to mislead audiences, sow divisions, and push conspiracy out over RT television."

Royce's remarks echo the claim made by Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) chief Andrew Lack last month, when he listed "Russia Today" (sic) in the same breath as ISIS and Boko Haram as one of the challenges facing his agency.

, according to the current exchange rate, or 13.85 billion rubles. By contrast, the US government media receives $721 million. The BBC World Service, which complained about RT "winning the information war" in January, is funded to the tune of $375 million a year.

In the budget proposal submitted by Kerry, the Department of State is asking for "$639 million to help our friends in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova as they seek to strengthen their democracies, withstand pressure from Russia, and to integrate more closely into Europe." [PDF] The Department of State is also requesting over $2 billion - described as "a significant increase" - for "democracy, human rights, and governance programs."

Washington, D.C. - The National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice, Reform and Accountability (NCLEO) is a contingent of current and retired law enforcement officers and whistleblowers. NCLEO will be meeting with a congressional delegation that includes civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to discuss policing reform.

These former officers seek to assist in helping to reform a system that is severely broken and many times entirely devoid of justice. Problems that range from racial profiling and police brutality to the lack transparency in relation to allegations and complaints of misconduct by officers will be addressed.

"Modern policing is in a crisis that could lead to a revolution. We need a paradigm shift to get rid of antiquated policing. The insular culture of law enforcement and mental health issues in cops need to be addressed, as well as ingrained racism," said NCLEO member Alex Salazar, a former LAPD cop turned whistleblower, in an interview with The Free Thought Project.

All too often we see the police, as well as prosecutors, ignore officer misconduct and in effect passively support the status quo of a broken justice system. To the public at large the "us vs. them" mentality held by law enforcement emboldens an anti-police response from the public and only serves to create a greater divide.

This group of former, retired, and current officers heading to D.C. represents departments from across the U.S.. LEOs from St. Louis, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC Metro, Albuquerque, East Orange, New Jersey, Brockton, MA and the US Marshal Service will be in attendance.

In far too many instances the "thin blue line" or "blue wall of silence" are invoked whenever there are allegations of misconduct on the part of an officer. The proverbial wagons are circled and law enforcement no longer seeks just, as they so often claim, but rather only to defend a "brother" at all costs.

This culture is so prevalent in policing that when an officer does attempt to step forward to do the moral thing, they are often abused by other officers and eventually pushed out of the force.

Officers are well aware that they only need to say that someone was reaching for their waistband, attempted to grab for the officer's gun or refused to comply, to justify initiating violence upon a citizen.

Police often claim that citizens and activists don't understand the nature of policing, and that they would see things differently if they were in the officer's position.

This is exactly what makes NCLEO so important. Being former officers allows an inside view of the system, which makes their perspective on policing reform and justice all that more credible.

"They can't take away our collective police experience. We know what it's like to be shot at. We know what it's like to be in confrontational situations, so we can refute excuses about using force," said Salazar.

"This is the job we chose. We need to be brave not fearful, if we can't handle it then we need to find another job."

There is no easy or quick fix, as the problems faced are systemic in nature and will take a wholesale reform of policing to accomplish the necessary results. A new era in policing must be undertaken and substantive changes in the way departments' deal with the "blue wall of silence" must be made.

For the brave officer that chooses to "stand up " and become a real reformer of policing, there is a new resource that can help them to organize and establish a strong support network, it's called honestpolice.org .

The time is now to create a new paradigm in policing and a more just society for all Americans.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US National Security Adviser

The world seems more volatile, dangerous, and chaotic than it was even a year ago. The smoldering embers of a potential holocaust are nearly everywhere. With the America-EU-Russia divide, potential EU-Russia integration has been rethought by the West.

In this report I will show one major reason for this course reversal. I will also illustrate in so doing, that the policy forgers in America, are nothing like the rest of us.

I watched the other day, some Russians burning an American flag. Then a few hours later, I saw students in America burning an effigy of Vladimir Putin. The events worried me greatly. I realized that our patience is wearing thin, that our feelings are now raw. Americans, Europeans, and Russians alike, grow weary of insult and injury perpetrated by leaders who seem to know nothing of us at all. Instead of citizens blaming one another, perhaps Americans and Russians can hold accountable the real perpetrators of today's East-West crisis.

To begin let me quote from the great American historian, author, and anti-war activist Howard Zinn who said:

"There has always been, and there is now, a profound conflict of interest between the people and the government of the United States."

In 1979 Zbigniew Brzezinski was then President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser. He and other great thinkers in Washington devised strategies that created for the Soviets, a world strategic emergency just like the one we see today in Ukraine. The Soviet Union, baited into invading Afghanistan, got mired in 10 years of useless conflict. As for Zbigniew Brzezinski now, he is pointedly unapologetic that his theories have been deployed in bringing down regimes, and forging American strategic aims, for better or for worse. Brzezinski, along with other key figures like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Robert Gates, and myriad disciples, they sit seemingly everlasting, like stone statues in some Pantheon of American exclusivist control. It is their thinking that has set us all at odds.

Washington's stinking thinking

There's a term that Brzezinski and other think tank brains adhere to, it's a term the Council on Foreign Relations defines, a central strategic idea known as the "Arc of Crisis." The concept is essentially an American strategy aimed at surrounding Russia, an ongoing and devastatingly negative fight against a convenient and well known foe. Brzezinski is used in this piece as a sort of "poster boy" for all Washington elitist movers and shakers. His books, such as; The Grand Chessboard, published in 1997, have become templates for events like the Arab Spring, the resurgent Iraq fiasco, and pointedly the Ukraine crisis. To understand today's crisis, one has to investigate the players behind the White House.

Back in 1979 Brzezinski and his contemporaries like former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, concocted a plan to bait the Soviets into invading Afghanistan by giving aid to the Mujahedeen. The end result was tens of thousands of Russians and Afghanis dead, millions displaced, and for Brzezinski, he'd created a foreign policy "how to" for dealing with Russia. Back then, as now, Moscow did its best to show the reasons for the invasion, but to no avail. The mainstream media, and PR strategists, they ensured the American people would never believe the Russians.

Brzezinski's documented intentions in the 1979 affair were to ensure that the Afghanistan intervention; "led to the demoralization and the breakup of the Soviet empire." And this, he admitted later, was prioritized in his mind as, "at any cost." However, an unforeseen result of funding the Mujahedeen back then, was the conflict America would have with more familiar modern forms of extremism (see Osama bin Laden), this was "a justified means" to the task of ending the Soviet empire. This is another story though.

Today, Brzezinski's former pupils, and protégés, his influential think tank comrades, their business interests, they range from his son Ian Brzezinski, to ambassadors, industry titans, CIA and NSA directors, hedge fund capitalists, and yes, US and foreign presidents. Within the ranks of these think tanks we find Barack Obama advisers like Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman (former Utah Governor). Interestingly, Huntsman was caught on amateur video in Beijing allegedly lending support for the so-called Jasmine Revolution. As for the administrations they've advised, this group of peers has counseled everyone since Richard Nixon.

What are they thinking?

If policy by the elite were not a bad enough issue for America, the revelation of the New York Times exposing cases where Washington think tanks received massive funding from outside the United States should be. Norway to Qatar and beyond, organizations like the Atlantic Council received funds at an alarming rate before and after Barack Obama's inauguration. This graphic from the NYT piece paints a vivid picture of a Washington disconnect from the American people, and intensifying ties to foreign interests implicated in current crises. Outside interests essentially lobbying for US strategy to serve their purposes!

Moving forward past the tens of millions funding Washington think tanks, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and organizations like the Brookings Institution are the playgrounds for the Brzezinskis of the world. For your scrutiny, here's a short list of his contemporaries, and some interesting affiliations:

Sam Nunn - Former US Senator and head of the Senate Armed Services Committee - is a co-chairman & CEO at CSIS now. Nunn was on the board of directors of Hess oil company, Chevron Corporation, and Texaco up until just recently. Interestingly, Hess sold off its Russia operations in April 2013 to Lukoil for $2.05 billion days after Nunn retired, and just five months prior to the Euromaidan events in Kiev.

Richard Armitage - A CSIS trustee and the 13th United States Deputy Secretary of State, Armitage was part of the so-called Plame affair, admittedly having divulged classified knowledge that Valerie Plame Wilson was a CIA operative. Colleagues claim when he was in Vietnam, Armitage was part of the CIA's notorious Phoenix Program. He's been a close advisor, and has had roles from Tehran before the Shah was deposed, to Afghanistan. Armitage is currently on the board of directors of ConocoPhillips Oil Company. Conoco sold its interests in Russian oil in 2010.

Lois Dickson Rice - The mother of Barack Obama's National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, is Director of the Think Tank Consortium at Brookings. Both have been distinguished fellows of Brookings, and Rice the junior also served as a Clinton adviser and Ambassador to the UN. Susan Rice's long time mentor former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, was a student of Zbigniew Brzezinski, and later served under him at the National Security Council.

Henry Alfred Kissinger - This CSIS counselor and trustee literally needs no introduction. The 56th U.S. Secretary of State has been credited on the one side with recreating foreign relations intellectually and strategically. Conversely, from the Vietnam era to Senator John McCain's defense of the dignitary at the now notorious "Get out of here you low-life scum" hearings where Kissinger was called a murderer, the aging think tank brain is part of the problem for many.

Rex W. Tillerson - The Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil is also a CSIS trustee. Tillerson came to prominence around the time the company's holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea grew in prominence. In 2011 he signed an agreement with the Russians for drilling in the Arctic estimated to be worth $300 billion. Exxon reportedly lost out in Siberia and in the Black Sea because of the Ukraine crisis. However, factoring in vast natural gas deals in Australia and North America, this puts Tillerson at the head of think tank curiosities, and especially given Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbot's vehement anti-Russia temperament.

Brent Scowcroft - An advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford, Lieutenant General Scowcroft had or does hold key positions within the Washington "thinking elite's" ranks. Bush administration, Scowcroft was Vice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, founder of The Forum for International Policy think tank, co-chair of Aspen Strategy Group, a member of the Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, and board member of The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), as well as The Atlantic Council of the United States. His discussions of foreign policy with Zbigniew Brzezinski led by journalist David Ignatius were published in the 2008 America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy.

David M. Rubenstein - Rubenstein is on the Board of Trustees of think tank the Brookings Institution, and Co-Founder and Co-CEO the Carlyle Group. The Jewish billionaire was the domestic policy adviser to Jimmy Carter before forming the equity firm that has offices in 33 countries, with 1,500 limited partners in 75 countries worldwide. The largest private equity firm in the world according to Private Equity International (PEI), the group has on its lists of acquisitions the media conglomerate Nielsen Holdings N.V. Nielsen operates across over 100 countries and employs some 40,000 people worldwide. This fact leads nicely into where policy meets information and the public.

I could go on, and on, and on, and on...

Thinking: Not of Us

Whether you're an Atlanta or Moscow resident, it's clear the current crisis is not of our own making. In a very real way we are all victims of a strange Orwellian plutocracy. Canadian Parliamentarian and author Chrystia Freeland puts these modern plutocrats in perspective in her book; Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. Speaking of the elite mindset, Freeland states:

"You don't do this in a kind of chortling, smoking your cigar, conspiratorial thinking way. You do it by persuading yourself that what is in your own personal self-interest is in the interests of everybody else."

The CSPAN segment below is at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with several of today's key policy evangelists. Former National Security Advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft (both at CSIS) testified using such deep intellectual language, an apparently exclusive terminology and theory, as to forever cement their separateness form the rest of us.

[embedded content]

Listening to Scowcroft's "undermining of the Westphalia Structure," I wonder how many who've never studied European history even know of the events of 1648? Listening and watching, it's apparent these people look at everything in an adversarial way. Take a look at one part of General Scowcroft's testimony about governing people:

"For most of history, most of the people of the world did not participate in the politics of their system. They were just like their parents; they expected their children to be just like them, and so on. Now, they are surrounded by information and they are responding, they are reacting to it."

So a globalized and informed public is problematic? Perhaps this is why we have been subjected to a cohesive mainstream media onslaught? The massive PR efforts, billionaire media moguls and their part, these all make more sense when media and advertising are considered. Scowcroft's "cyber weapons," they're not just for Russia and China to use, America certainly has her countermeasures! Right now Ukraine is in flames just because Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovich said"no" to the EU in favor of Vladimir Putin's Eurasian Economic Union? Or is it because Russia is still Soviet to these ruling Washington thinkers? A partial answer lies in examining Russia's policies toward the EU before the current crisis. Vladimir Putin's endeavors to integrate with greater Europe, and toward a greater EU-Russia economic integration even before 2010, I believe these policies scared some people to death in Washington. Putin's view was summed up in policies he made when Prime Minister.The so-called Lisbon to Vladivostok initiative laid out a mutually beneficial integration with the EU which would have spelled peace and prosperity for hundreds of millions. I quote from the English version via Spiegel International:

"We propose the creation of a harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok...In the future; we could even consider a free trade zone or even more advanced forms of economic integration. The result would be a unified continental market with a capacity worth trillions of euro."

Now that we have at least a partial answer, the think tanks possessed of old Cold War ideas saw Putin's initiatives as a threat. Regardless of the prosperity and peace Europe and Russia might enjoy, the prime directive for Washington has been to prevent Lisbon to Vladivostok.

Like some of you, I imagine an alternative reality. I can see a million or more safe at home in Ukraine, instead of in refugee camps in Russia. I can also envision parents playing with their children there, instead of looking down tearfully into their tiny caskets in the Donbass. Maybe all our problems are so simple after all? Maybe if the thinkers out there would really think, instead of extending their own legend or bank accounts, then America and Russia together might help change the whole world for the better! I wonder now, as an American; "What if Vladimir Putin's Lisbon to Vladivostok plan were successful?"

Instead we are left to the devices of brilliant rich people and their meetings we're not invited to.

Phil Butler is journalist and editor, and a partner at the digital marketing firm, Pamil Visions PR. Phil contributes to the Huffington Post, The Epoch Times, Japan Today, and many others. He's also a policy and public relations analyst for Russia Today, as well as other international media. You can find Phil's blog at http://bit.ly/1800n5e.

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Is this the most important chart for the future of the World's reserve currency?

When it comes to the future of the dollar status as the world's reserve currency, the most important chart may be the fact that the US is now so woefully buried in debt that another global military conflict appears inevitable...

... or that it now takes virtually unlimited monetization of the debt shown above to preserve the illusion that the US is not bankrupt, pushing the S&P to record highs in the process...

... or that the marginal impact of every additional dollar in new debt generates increasingly less economic growth?

Indeed, the "most important chart" may very well be any of the above, but in our view the one chart which, both literally and metaphorically, will determine how much longer the USD will reign as the world's is the following.

Comment: Interesting thought since the military is often used to enforce the use of the USD (petrodollar) as the reserve currency. But fomenting instability in other regions to do the "dirty fighting" leaves the military free to roam around in a threatening manner with their 19 aircraft carriers. Another aspect, the US spends 3 times more on the military budget than 2nd place China. China has over 2.2 million soldiers and the same amount in reserves and are not spread all over the world like the US is. So the US doesn't seem too concerned about defending itself but more in being able to project itself around the world even if it goes broke.

During the recent measles outbreak, the mainstream media blamed the epidemic solely on non vaccinated children, even though people who were vaccinated caught the disease and some vaccines have proven to be inefficient in the past. Without the slightest nuance, the mainstream media constantly portrays people reluctant to accept just any vaccine as "anti-vaxers", irresponsible and misinformed people, relying on irrational fears and the one and only "fraudulent" Andrew Wakefield study linking autism to vaccines. (Watch Lina B. Moreco's documentary Shots in the Dark , which features Dr. Wakefield and thankful parents of his young patients with autism.)

In reality, many so-called "anti-vaxers" are not ALL totally against vaccines. While some people may be totally against any kind of vaccination, many, including doctors and health specialists, question certain vaccines, ingredients in the vaccines and/or the vaccination schedule. This is not based on a survey but on my own perception resulting from the fair amount of articles on vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry that I've read over the last five years as a journalist. There are a large number of doctors and health specialists who have done truly independent research and who criticize vaccination based on scientific studies and solid evidence.

Why is the media so keen on portraying Big Pharma critics as crazy, uneducated, unscientific and irresponsible people?

Dr Marcia Angell worked for over two decades as editor of The New England Journal of Medicine . She was fired after criticizing the pharmaceutical industry, which had exerted an overriding and negative influence on the scientific literature. She said :

"It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published."

Numerous journalists say the same goes for the mainstream media.

We bring to the attention of our readers 25 facts which constitute only part of a larger body of independent scientific research and articles on vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry. Some mainstream articles have been included as well to show how the media overlooks stories it has published in the past because they don't fit with their "anti-vaxer" portrait.

The objective of this list is to provide independent research and sources of information on vaccination and Big Pharma, which is what the mainstream media fails to do and instead blindly promotes the narrative and agenda of Big Pharma.

(All emphasis added. Most titles are quotes from the articles they are linked to.)

25 Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry, Vaccines and "Anti-Vaxers"

1- China has measles outbreaks but 99% are vaccinated

A recent study published in PLoS titled, "Difficulties in eliminating measles and controlling rubella and mumps: a cross-sectional study of a first measles and rubella vaccination and a second measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination," has brought to light the glaring ineffectiveness of two measles vaccines (measles - rubella (MR) or measles - mumps - rubella(MMR) ) in fulfilling their widely claimed promise of preventing outbreaks in highly vaccine compliant populations. (Sayer Ji, Why Is China Having Measles Outbreaks When 99% Are Vaccinated?, GreenMedInfo 20 September 2014)

2- Mandatory Chickenpox Vaccination Increases Disease Rates, Study Shows

Varicella, or the chicken pox vaccination, has been mandated in South Korea since 2005. Infants from 12 to 15 months are required by law to receive a vaccination. By 2011, the country reached a near universal compliance rate, however, varicella patients did not decrease; they have increased since reaching this mandated level of vaccination.

The number of chicken pox patients reported to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has increased from 22.6 cases per 100,000 in 2006 to 71.6 cases per 100,000 in 2011. That's a huge difference and ample proof that thevaccination program isn't working to control the spread of the disease. (Christina Sarich, With 97% Compliance Chicken Pox Vaccine Still Causes Outbreaks, Natural Society, January 08, 2015)

3- In a 2012 measles outbreak in Quebec (Canada) over half of the cases were in vaccinated teenagers

An investigation into an outbreak in a high school in a town that was heavily hit by the virus found that about half of the cases were in teens who had received the recommended two doses of vaccine in childhood — in other words, teens whom authorities would have expected to have been protected from the measles virus.

It's generally assumed that the measles vaccine, when given in a two-dose schedule in early childhood, should protect against measles infection about 99 per cent of the time. So the discovery that 52 of the 98 teens who caught measles were fully vaccinated came as a shock to the researchers who conducted the investigation. (The Canadian Press, Measles among vaccinated Quebec kids questioned, CBC, October 20, 2011)

4- In 1987 a measles outbreak was documented among a fully immunized group of children

In 1987, for example, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) documented a measles outbreak that occurred in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the spring of 1985. Fourteen adolescent-age students, all of whom had been vaccinated for measles, contracted the disease despite having been injected with the MMR vaccine. Researchers noted that more than 99 percent of students at the school — basically all of them — had also been vaccinated, with more than 95 percent of them showing detectable antibodies to measles. (Ethan A. Huff, Measles Outbreak Documented Among Fully Immunized Group of Children, Natural News 15 February 2015)

5- Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Own Data Shows Links Between Vaccines and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

What happens when the actual evidence from the scientific and clinical literature produced by these very agencies contradicts their own vaccine policies?

This is exactly what has happened with the publication of a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics titled ,"Adverse Events following Haemophilus influenzae Type b Vaccines in the Vaccine Adverse Event ReportingSystem, 1990-2013," wherein CDC and FDA researchers identify 749 deaths linked to the administration of the Hib vaccine, 51% of which were sudden infant death linked to the administration of Hib vaccine. (Sayer Ji, Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Own Data Shows Links Between Vaccines and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), GreenMedInfo 23 January 2015)

6- Japan banned the MMR vaccine in 1993 "after 1.8 million children had been given two types of MMR and a record number developed non-viral meningitis and other adverse reactions."

The Japanese government realised there was a problem with MMR soon after its introduction in April 1989 when vaccination was compulsory. Parents who refused had to pay a small fine.

An analysis of vaccinations over a three-month period showed one in every 900 children was experiencing problems. This was over 2,000 times higher than the expected rate of one child in every 100,000 to 200,000. (Jenny Hope, Why Japan banned MMR vaccine, Daily Mail)

7- A study concluded nations that require more vaccine doses tend to have higher infant mortality rates.

The US childhood immunization schedule requires 26 vaccine doses for infants aged less than 1 year, the most in the world, yet 33 nations have better IMRs [Infant Mortality Rates]

Some countries have IMRs that are less than half the US rate: Singapore, Sweden, and Japan are below 2.80. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "The relative position of the United States in comparison to countries with the lowest infant mortality rates appears to be worsening."

These findings demonstrate a counter-intuitive relationship: nations that require more vaccine doses tend to have higher infant mortality rates. (Neil Z Miller and Gary S Goldman, Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?, U.S. National Library of Medicine, September 2011)

8- The U.S. has a vaccine court apparently designed to "Shield Manufacturers from Liability"

For years, the corporate media was reluctant to admit that it even existed. But thespecial court system designed to handle vaccine injury cases — and ultimately sweep them under the rug as quickly as possible — has hit the mainstream news for itsfailure to adequately and propitiously compensate families of vaccine-injured children. (Ethan A. Huff, Secretive Vaccine Court Exposed: Designed to Shield Manufacturers from Liability, Natural News, November 19, 2014)

9- Beyond admitting to fraud in a 2004 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study that exonerated the MMR vaccine, Dr. William Thompson, a CDC scientist, asserts there is a connection between mercury (thimerosal) in vaccines and autism. (Jon Rappoport, U.S. Centers for Disease Control Whistleblower: Mercury (Thimerosal) in Vaccines Causes Autism, No More Fake News, September 05, 2014)

10- Back in 2002, William Thompson was already aware of study results linking the MMR vaccine to a very large increase in autism risk among African-American children. See Brian Hooker's published paper here, with a full analysis of the CDC's own data revealing a 340% increased risk of autism in African-American children following the MMR vaccine. (Mike Adams,Autism Links to Vaccines: Whistleblower Reveals Evidence of Criminal Coverup by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Natural News August 26, 2014

11- According to a CDC epidemiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who had analyzed the agency's massive database containing the medical records of 100,000 children, a mercury-based preservative in the vaccines — thimerosal — appeared to be responsible for a dramatic increase in autism and a host of other neurological disorders among children. (Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Vaccinations: Deadly Immunity. Government Cover-up of a Mercury / Autism Scandal Rollingstone.com, 20 July 2005)

12- Instead of taking immediate steps to alert the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, the officials and executives [discussed] how to cover up the damaging data. (Ibid.)

The CDC paid the Institute of Medicine to conduct a new study to whitewash the risks of thimerosal, ordering researchers to "rule out" the chemical's link to autism.

It withheld Verstraeten's findings, even though they had been slated for immediate publication, and told other scientists that his original data had been "lost" and could not be replicated. And to thwart the Freedom of Information Act, it handed its giant database of vaccine records over to a private company, declaring it off-limits to researchers. By the time Verstraeten finally published his study in 2003, he had gone to work for GlaxoSmithKline and reworked his data to bury the link between thimerosal and autism.

11- Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants [...] the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteenfold [in 2005], from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.(Ibid.)

Here is the CDC chart available today on its website:

An MIT researcher has linked autism to glyphosate, the chemical herbicide used in Monsanto Roundup.

12- Vaccine manufacturers [...] continued to sell off their mercury-based supplies of vaccines until last year [2004].

The CDC and FDA [bought] up the tainted vaccines for export to developing countries and allowed drug companies to continue using the preservative in some American vaccines — including several pediatric flu shots as well as tetanus boosters routinely given to eleven-year-olds. (Ibid.)

13- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has received $873,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, has been working to immunize vaccine makers from liability in 4,200 lawsuits that have been filed by the parents of injured children. (Ibid.)

14- Seasonal Flu Shots still contain thimerosal.

Look at the monographs. For example the one from Vaccigrip from Sanofi Pasteur states on page 4 the mercury-based preservative is in its multidose vial:

"Clinically Relevant Non-medicinal Ingredients: thimerosal* , formaldehyde, Triton® X-100†, neomycin"

15- Dr. Scott Reuben former member of Pfizer's speakers' bureau published dozens of fake study in medical journals

Dr. Reuben accepted a $75,000 grant from Pfizer to study Celebrex in 2005... His research, which was published in a medical journal, has since been quoted by hundreds of other doctors and researchers as "proof" that Celebrex helped reduce pain during post-surgical recovery. .. No patients were ever enrolled in the study!

He also faked study data on Bextra and Vioxx drugs... [T]he peer-reviewed medical journal Anesthesia & Analgesia was forced to retract 10 "scientific" papersauthored by Reuben... 21 articles written by Dr. Reuben that appear in medical journals have apparently been fabricated, too, and must be retracted. (Big Pharma researcher admits to faking dozens of research studies for Pfizer, Merck (opinion), Mike Adams, NaturalNews.com, February 18, 2010)

16- To this day thimerosal is still used in flu vaccines

For example, in the Vaccigrip monograph says: "The multidose vial of this vaccine contains thimerosal as a preservative. Thimerosal has been associated with allergic reactions."

17- There are at least 97 studies showing links between vaccines and autism.

18- The CDC claims "there is no convincing evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines", but that health authorities "agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure."

On thimerosal, the CDC website states:

"Since 2001, with the exception of some influenza (flu) vaccines, thimerosal is not used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines. Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines and other products since the 1930′s. except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site. However, in July 1999, the Public Health Service agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure. "

19- Industry-sponsored trials published in medical journals consistently favor sponsors

In view of this control and the conflicts of interest that permeate the enterprise, it is not surprising that industry-sponsored trials published in medical journals consistently favor sponsors —largely because negative results are not published, positive results are repeatedly published in slightly different forms, and a positive spin is put on even negative results. A review of seventy-four clinical trials of antidepressants, for example, found that thirty-seven of thirty-eight positive studies were published. But of thethirty-six negative studies, thirty-three were either not published or published in a form that conveyed a positive outcome." - Marcia Angell, MD (Dr. Gary G. Kohls, Beware the Drug Companies, How they Deceive Us: "Criticizing Big Pharma" Global Research, February 16, 2015)

20- Nearly half of published articles in scientific journals contain findings that are false. (Dr. Gary G. Kohls, Beware the Drug Companies, How they Deceive Us: "Criticizing Big Pharma"Global Research, February 16, 2015)

"Six years ago, John Ioannidis, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece, found that nearly half of published articles in scientific journals contained findings that were false, in the sense that independent researchers couldn't replicate them. The problem is particularly widespread in medical research, where peer-reviewed articles in medical journals can be crucial in influencing multimillion- and sometimes multibillion-dollar spending decisions. It would be surprising if conflicts of interest did not sometimes compromise editorial neutrality, and in the case of medical research, the sources of bias are obvious.

21- Most medical journals receive half or more of their income from pharmaceutical company advertising and reprint orders, and dozens of others [journals] are owned by companies like Wolters Kluwer, a medical publisher that also provides marketing services to the pharmaceutical industry." — Helen Epstein, author of "Flu Warning: Beware the Drug Companies" (http://bit.ly/1800mye) (Dr. Gary G. Kohls, Beware the Drug Companies, How they Deceive Us: "Criticizing Big Pharma" Global Research, February 16, 2015)

22- The FDA's own web page admits that the drugs it certifies as safe contribute to over 100,000 deaths per year. (Constitutional Attorney on US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Corruption, Disinformation and Cover Up of Health Dangers, Activist Post, 8 February 2015)

23- The FDA routinely approves drugs over objections from its own medical reviewers. (Ibid.)

24- The FDA does zero independent medical testing of its own.

It is a system built upon conflicts of interest that leaves consumers completely in the dark about the true consequences of taking Big Pharma products. (Ibid.)

25- In 2012 GlaxoSmithKline Pleaded Guilty and Paid "$3 Billion to Resolve Fraud Allegations and Failure to Report Safety Data"

According to the US Justice Department:

The resolution is the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history and the largest payment ever by a drug company. ..

GSK agreed to plead guilty to a three-count criminal information, including two counts of introducing misbranded drugs, Paxil and Wellbutrin, into interstate commerce and one count of failing to report safety data about the drug Avandia to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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Kalimantan is among the regions in the archipelago known to be free of earthquakes, but a recent series of light to strong quakes recorded in North Kalimantan have shaken that belief.

The latest quake was one recorded measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale that hit Tarakan on Tarakan Island in North Kalimantan at 9.31 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) Balikpapan station head Mudjianto said the earthquake's epicenter was located in the Sulu Sea, which was closer to cities in the Malaysian state of Sabah, such as Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu, Lahat Datu, Tawau and Beaufort.

Cities in Indonesia that were close to the quake's epicenter were Tarakan on Tarakan Island and Tideng Pale in the Tana Tidung regency, located 432 kilometers away, and Nunukan in the Nunukan regency, located at the border with Sabah and across from Tawau, located 416 km from the epicenter.

"We did not calculate the quake's duration given the distance," said Mudjianto. He added that the duration could only have been recorded had the tremor reached human settlements or human structures. The magnitude of this quake was recorded by sensors owned by BMKG and was not felt on the sea, or on land in Kalimantan, or on the surrounding islands.

"So, it's not correct to say Tarakan city was jolted by the quake because it was not too pronounced," said Mudjianto.

The tremor was most likely caused by movement of the southwest-northeast lying fault line traversing the Sulu Sea between Borneo Island and the Philippine archipelago.

The BMKG Balikpapan station recorded a number of quakes in the same region. Earlier, a quake took place on Jan. 20 with its epicenter also in the Sulu Sea at a depth of 10,000 meters, 287 km northeast of Tarakan. However, the 5.6-magnitude quake was not felt in Tarakan.

An earthquake also took place on Nov. 9, 2014. Seven aftershocks with magnitudes of between 4.1 and 6.5 on the Richter scale were recorded.

Separately, the head of the Earthquake and Soil Movement Mitigation Division at the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center, Gede Swantika, said Borneo's northern region was more prone to quakes than other regions on the world's third largest island.

"The region is included in the area where the Eurasian and Pacific faults meet. There is also a micro fault that we call the Carolina fault," Swantika said in Bandung, West Java, on Wednesday.

He added the movement of the earth's crust, which triggered the quake, was the result of the active Eurasian and Pacific fault movement, so the northern part of Borneo was more prone to quakes than other regions.

He said the increase in the height of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia, was part of the active fault movements. The mountain, located north of Kalimantan, has increased in height by around 64 millimeters annually.

"This is attributed to active fault movements," said Swastika, adding it does not preclude the chances of landslides occurring, especially in sloped areas.

He added Borneo was a region with rock formations considered ancient compared to other islands in Indonesia. Rock formations in Kalimantan may be of the same age as those on Papua Island.

Kalimantan has been said to be among the three regions, the others being Belitung and Riau, that are quake free and has been considered suitable for the development of nuclear energy as it is relatively safe from the threat of natural disasters.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

Because of their proximity to the ring of fire, regions like Sumatra, Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Banda and Maluku are considered tsunami, volcano and earthquake prone zones.

© Wikimedia Commons/Alvesgaspar

A European eagle owl in Portugal is shown in captivity. One of its breed has been wreaking havoc in the Dutch town of Purmerend.

The northern Dutch town of Purmerend has advised residents to arm themselves with an umbrella when going out at night after a mysterious spate of bloody rogue owl attacks.

Over the last three weeks, the European eagle owl has silently swooped on dozens of residents of the usually peaceful town, with many victims requiring hospital treatment.

The latest aerial assault on Tuesday evening saw two members of a local athletics club attacked, with one runner requiring stitches for six head wounds caused by the nocturnal bird of prey's talons.

The club has cancelled all training until further notice.

Residents and workers at Prinsenstichting home for the handicapped have been left terrified following at least 15 attacks, spokeswoman Liselotte de Bruijn told AFP.

"During the day there's no problem, but at night we now only venture outside armed with umbrellas, helmets and hats, anything really, to protect ourselves," said De Bruijn.

"The problem is that you don't hear the owl before it strikes. Its claws are razor-sharp," she said.

"We hope the city will soon catch this rogue bird."

Purmerend city council said it was trying to find a solution.

"We want to catch the owl as our city's residents are in danger," it said on its website, noting however that the European eagle owl is a protected species that requires special permission to be trapped.

"These procedures can still take some time. Meanwhile, we are advising people to stay away from the owl," the city said, telling night strollers in the area to shield themselves with umbrellas.

Gejo Wassink of the Netherlands' OWN owl foundation said the bird's behaviour was unusual.

"Either the owl was reared in captivity and released into the wild and now associates humans with food -- meaning it's not really 'attacking' people."

"Or it may have heightened hormone levels as the breeding season starts, which influences its behaviour and makes it defend its territory," Wassink told AFP, saying the bird "appears to be a female".

He pointed to the wider problem of people hand-rearing owls and then releasing them into the wild when they become too big to handle, potentially leading to an increase in attacks.

The European eagle owl is one of the largest owl species, with a wing-span of up to 1.80 metres (almost six feet) and weighing up to three kilos (seven pounds).

Pharaoh Senebkay, one of the earliest kings of a forgotten Abydos Dynasty, was brutally killed in battle more than 3,600 years ago, says a study that has reconstructed, blow by blow, the king's last moments.

The research identified 18 wounds on the pharaoh's bones. It also established that Senebkay is the earliest Egyptian pharaoh to have died in battle.

Woseribre Senebkay was unknown to history until last year, when a University of Pennsylvania expedition led by archaeologist Josef Wegner, working with Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, found his remains in a four-chambered tomb at South Abydos in Sohag province, about 300 miles south of Cairo.

Texts in the burial, which dates to about 1650 B.C., during Egypt's Second Intermediate Period, identified the pharaoh as the "king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Woseribre, the son of Re, Senebkay."

Although ancient robbers had ripped apart the pharaoh's mummy, researchers led by Wegner, associate director of Egyptian archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania, were able to recover and reassemble his skeleton.

The team has now completed a full forensic analysis of the remains.

"The work confirms the earlier estimates of the king's height at 1.72 to 1.82 m (5'9″ to 6 feet), but indicates that he died at an earlier age, 35-40 years, than initially thought," Wegner said in a statement.

Most importantly, it emerged that Senebkay suffered a shocking number of wounds before he died in a vicious assault from multiple assailants.

"The king's skeleton has 18 wounds that penetrated to the bone. The trauma includes major cuts to his feet, ankles, and lower back. Multiple blows to Senebkay's skull show the distinctive size and curvature of battle axes used during Egypt's Second Intermediate Period," Wegner said.

According to the researchers, the angle and direction of Senebkay's wounds indicate he was in an elevated position — possibly on horseback or on a chariot — when he was attacked and killed.

"His assailants first cut his lower back, ankles and feet to bring him to the ground and then finished him with axe blows to the skull," Wegner said.

He noted that, although use of horseback riding in warfare was not common until after the Bronze Age, the Egyptians appear to have been mastering the use of horses during the Second Intermediate Period.

"Horseback riding may have played a growing role in military movements during this era even before the full advent of chariot technology in Egypt," he said.

Indeed, analysis of Senebkay's pelvis and leg bones indicate he spent much of his life as a horse rider.

Senebkay, whose name means "my spirit is healthy," appears to belong to a short-lived kingdom, the Abydos Dynasty dating ca. 1650-1600 BC. At that time central authority collapsed, giving rise to several small kingdoms.

The kings of this dynasty were contemporaries of the Hyksos rulers of the Nile Delta and the Theban 16th Dynasty.

According to the researchers, Senebkay was probably killed a considerable distance from his home as the pharaoh's body was mummified a long time after his death.

"It remains unclear whether he died in battle against the Hyksos kings who then ruled northern Egypt, or possibly enemies in the south," Wegner said.

Ruminating about something bad that happened to you can make it feel like the event happened 'just yesterday', say researchers.

Their new study gives insight into a concept known as 'psychological distance', and could help in the treatment of conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

"If you're constantly having intrusive unwanted thoughts about an emotional event it really makes it feel like it's just happened yesterday, or last week," says research team member, Dr Tom Denson of the University of New South Wales' School of Psychology.

Previous research has found that when we remember events or places that are associated with particular feelings we experience them as having a certain psychological distance.

"Depending on our emotional state we tend to see things as either closer or further away," says Denson.

For example a country which is home to enemies we fear may seem closer than it actually is.

But how do emotions affect our psychological sense of

Yesterday, not so far away

When people think about a negative emotional event from their life they often say it feels like it happened "just yesterday", while at other times they may feel as if it happened "in a previous life."

Denson and colleagues wanted to explore the role of rumination -- persistent and intrusive thinking -- in determining how close a negative event felt in time.

In three studies, involving 800 people, the researchers asked participants to recall an interaction with someone, that occurred on a known date, and made them feel angry, sad, guilty or neutral.

The participants were then asked to say how much they thought about the event and how close in time it felt to them.

The results, published today in , show rumination is inversely related to the perceived distance of an event.

"Independently of when the event actually occurred, the people that ruminated about these events more felt like it had happened more recently -- literally it could have happened just yesterday," says Denson

Denson says rumination appears to have this effect because it makes events seem more vivid.

"You really re-live, for example, the anger-provoking event. You can see the person yelling in front of you," says Denson.

"The things that happen to be vivid to people are things that tend to happen to them more recently."

This idea was supported by findings with people who recalled an angry event. The more people wanted to confront the person who made them angry, the more they ruminated, and the closer the event seemed.

"It was like they had unfinished business with that person and they were carrying it around with them," says Denson.

Applications

The new findings on how people experience psychological time can help explain why people with post-traumatic stress disorder are often very confused about when negative events happened.

Denson says if the findings are correct, then trying to "snuff out" rumination could help put some psychological and emotional distance between a person and a traumatising negative event.

He says using tools such as "mindfulness", which involves letting go negative thoughts, could be useful here.

Re-living negative experiences is undesirable because it has a lot of negative impacts on mental and physical health, says Denson.

"For example, if you ruminate about a time when you were angry you maintain high levels of cortisol stress hormone and maintain a very high level of cardiovascular arousal," he says.

"All of that can have a lot of wear and tear on your body, which can actually result in things like cardiovascular disease.

With all the uproar over a recent outbreak of measles in the U.S. it is important to know that there is effective treatment for this illness. What was once considered a routine childhood condition not that long ago has morphed into a deadly microbial specter in the minds of the general public. Regardless of the hype, there is treatment available to those willing to keep an open mind.

This overblown reaction to the threat of measles has been made possible by the convergence of three primary factors:

The Age of Terror that we now live in.

2. A morally bankrupt attention seeking media that fails to investigate and report the true facts.

3. Medical Big Brother, which has no compunction about taking advantage of factors 1 and 2 to further its corporate agenda.

The real facts are as follows ⁽¹⁾: According to CDC records, there has not been a single death attributable to measles in the past ten years. However, according to records kept by the government created and funded Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), over the past ten years there have been one-hundred and eight (108) deaths related to measles vaccines. So when you hear the mantra that vaccines are safe, repeated by all forms of media, you are being lied to. And the proof is to be found in the government's own records.

The real reason we hear so much about the measles vaccine controversy is because conventional medicine has no actual treatment for measles other than symptomatic relief and supportive measures like rest and fluid intake. It focuses on prevention because it has nothing else to offer. Hence the irrational emphasis on a vaccine that the medical establishment admits is not living up to expectations. In typical fashion, the solution being debated—more doses of measles vaccine—is the same strategy that has led to our current impasse.

We only hear one side of the story because all dissenting voices—including those of some well-known politicians—are harassed into silence by ludicrous accusations that anyone who thinks otherwise is a "science denier." In similar fashion, if anyone dares to suggest that there is a viable alternative treatment, it is automatically rejected as "pseudoscience." Pseudoscience is nothing more than medical profanity aimed at those who disagree with mainstream medical beliefs.

I'd like to know how it came to be that we are no longer allowed to question the assertions of science. Even liberal leaning media outlets, which are usually the first to question abuses of power, tend to give medical science a pass, as if it is synonymous with truth, and immune to corporate influence and institutional corruption. I have a medical degree and I believe in most things that science teaches, but I am not willing to suspend my critical judgment just because the prevailing groupthink demands it. Never mind that there actually is an effective alternative measles therapy that has been around for more than a hundred years; medicine is too arrogant and dismissive to even entertain the possibility.

Medicine also has the temerity to orchestrate a witch-hunt against the unvaccinated, which it blames for the current outbreak. A recent study revealed numerous measles outbreaks in China where a full 99% of the population has been vaccinated for measles. Are we to believe that the unvaccinated have something to do with this? Or is it the more likely scenario, which is that measles vaccine does not confer the immunity that is supposed to provide?

It is common knowledge that those who have chosen not to vaccinate are often some of the most highly educated members of society. To blame those who have, within the guidelines of state law, legally opted not to receive the measles vaccine is both unscientific and unconscionable. Am I encouraging parents not to vaccinate their children against measles? No. I have always believed that it should come down to a matter of personal choice.

Let me see if I can follow the logic here. The supposed reason fully vaccinated individuals are getting measles is due to exposure to unvaccinated persons, and the solution is to vaccinate them with the same vaccine that has failed to provide protection to those who have already received the vaccine . And to top it all off, those who question this logic are dismissed as selfish people who don't really understand science. Is it me, or is this just a lot of crazy talk? Well, enough about what I really think. Let's talk about measles.

The Homeopathic Option

For those who may not already know, homeopathic medicine has a long track record of successful measles treatment. A survey of 19 Boards of Health across the U.S. during the measles epidemic of the late 1800's revealed that those treated by conventional medical doctors had a mortality rate of 4.0% while those given homeopathic treatment had a 0.8% rate. ⁽²⁾ That's a five-fold difference.

Homeopathic medicines are inexpensive, readily available over-the-counter, FDA approved, and commonly found in most natural health stores. There is a great deal of research that supports the effectiveness of homeopathy ⁽³⁾, although hardcore skeptics are known for their refusal to acknowledge this basic truth.

Briefly, homeopathy employs small doses of naturally occurring substances, which are prescribed in accordance with the principle of similars. A treatment is chosen on the basis of a homeopathic medicine's ability to closely mimic the symptom pattern of the sick individual. As per the principle of similars, the symptoms that a substance can cause is an indication of the symptoms that it can be used to treat. In this manner, the overall effect is to assist the self-healing capacity of the body. The names of homeopathic medicines look strange because they are the Latin words for the genus and/or species of the medicinal plant, mineral, and animal substances that they are made from.

Common symptoms of measles include fever, irritated eyes, runny nose, white spots inside the mouth, and dry cough, followed several days later by a red rash that starts at the head or neck and moves down the body. A homeopathic prescription is based upon the unique way in which these symptoms manifest in each individual case. If you suspect that you or your loved one has a case of the measles, it is best to consult an experienced homeopathic professional.

Let's review the symptom profiles of some of the most commonly indicated homeopathic medicines for measles.

: This medicine is indicated in the early stages of measles, before the rash emerges. There is sudden onset of high fever, with red eyes, runny nose, sore throat, and dry cough. There is often a thirst for cold drinks, and an anxious, frightened state of mind that makes the person appear physically and mentally restless.

: This medicine may be indicated when the measles rash is slow to erupt and there is puffiness and swelling, especially on the face around the eyes and lips. There is also irritability and itchiness, both of which are aggravated from warmth in general.

: The hallmark of this medicine is the sudden onset of high fever, often around 3pm, that results in a pounding headache and a bright red face. There may be delirium, with a cloudy, confused, or drowsy state of mind.

: This is a commonly indicated medicine in all types of viral illnesses. The telltale indication is that the person feels worse from any kind of motion, and is inclined to sit or lie quietly so as not to provoke symptoms. Headache and dry cough intensify with motion and lessen with stillness. There is often irritability and thirst for cold drinks.

: Useful when the symptoms look like conjunctivitis and center on the eyes, which are very runny, red, inflamed, and sensitive to light. Particularly indicated when the tears are burning and irritating but the nasal discharge is conversely mild and bland. Cough occurs during the daytime but is better at night in bed.

: Clues that indicate this medicine include chills, fatigue, great drowsiness, an overall lack of thirst, and headache in the back of the head. The person who needs this medicine will sleep long hours through night and day.

: For cases of measles where the fever is not high and the symptoms are not too intense. The person is often warm, avoids too much clothing or heavy blankets, and is reluctant to drink fluids for lack of thirst. The state of mind is needy, sad, and desirous of company and comforting.

: The keynote indication here is the itchy skin that feels better from warm applications. There is also a restless state of mind and body that causes the person to toss and turn while trying to lie at rest, or sleep at night.

: Here, we see high fever, red face, fear, and restlessness. The child is afraid of the dark and does not want to be left alone. There can be nightmares and neurologic symptoms such as twitching of muscles and grinding of the teeth.

: The emphasis with this medicine is on itching, which is aggravated from the warmth of clothing and bedcovers. The skin can appear purplish, and the itching can be a function of a failure of the rash to fully emerge.

A few doses of the correct homeopathic medicine can reduce symptoms, encourage the measles rash to erupt without delay (like it should), prevent complications, and speed recovery.

Notes

⁽¹⁾Zero U.S. Measles Deaths in 10 Years, but Over 100 Measles Vaccine Deaths Reported. vaccineimpact.com

⁽²⁾ David A. Strickler, MD. Comparative vital statistics. Transactions of the American Institute of Homeopathy 1898: 527-542.

⁽³⁾National Center for Homeopathy, Research Library.

About the author

Larry Malerba, DO, DHt is a classical homeopath, osteopathic physician, and educator whose mission is to build bridges between holistic healing, conventional medicine, and spirituality. He is the author of and Dr. Malerba is board certified in Homeotherapeutics, is Clinical Assistant Professor at New York Medical College, and past president of the Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York.

Ramped up surveillance in Britain against a backdrop of dwindling legal protection has contributed to the most rattling assault on human rights in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall, human rights experts warn.

In its annual 'State of the World's Human Rights' report, Amnesty International heavily criticized the British government's record at home.

The NGO condemned the coalition government for rushing counter-terror and surveillance legislation through parliament without reasonable time for debate.

It also criticized the coalition for passing laws that erode fundamental civil liberties, and stressed continued cuts to legal aid in Britain is a recipe for injustice.

'A recipe for injustice'

In 2014, David Cameron pledged a re-elected Tory government would scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a home-grown British Bill of Rights. He also vowed to limit the power of the European Court of Human Rights if the Conservatives win May's general election.

Amnesty's report, published on Wednesday, said the Tory's proposals are an attack on the European Convention on Human Rights. The group accused Prime Minister Cameron of leading this assault.

Amnesty also noted the rise of discriminatory, nationalistic policies in Britain. It warned "nationalist, thinly veiled xenophobic attitudes" were instrumental in an increasingly restrictive migration policy and anti-EU rhetoric, which targets human rights.

The group also expressed deep concern over Britain's Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act. The legislation, which came into force in 2014, increases UK authorities' powers of interception - reaffirming Britain's status as a leading surveillance state.

With respect to the Act, Amnesty argued the British government failed to set up adequate safeguards to ensure surveillance is authorized and carried out in accordance with citizens' rights to privacy and freedom of expression.

Amnesty's annual report concluded the international human rights framework in Europe is the most fragile it has been for 25 years.

"At no time since the fall of the Berlin Wall has the integrity of, and support for, the international human rights framework in the Europe and Central Asia region appeared quite so brittle," the report said.

A call for reform

Director of Amnesty International UK, Kate Allen, said Britain "is going in the wrong direction on rights, protections and fairness."

She acknowledged public safety is paramount, but stressed it should not be achieved at the cost of fundamental civil liberties.

"The UK talks the talk on the global stage on human rights but this year's summary shows they need to tend to their own garden," she said.

"Twice this year GCHQ spies have been rumbled breaking the law. We should be concerned about waking up in a surveillance state, without having a proper public debate about it first."

Amnesty's damning report also condemned global leaders for failing to adequately intervene in recent conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Syria.

It described 2014 as a "catastrophic year" for millions trapped in violent and dangerous surroundings.

The human rights group also urged the UN Security Council to discard an influential veto power wielded by permanent member states: Britain, China, France, Russia and the US.

Such a move would make it easier to send peacekeeping troops into conflict zones and prevent genocide, it said.

The UN is yet to respond to Amnesty's call for reform.

Television news and mind control through cognitive dissonance

(The Underground, Jon Rappoport)

From the viewpoint of elite television news, controlling the minds of its audience depends on what's politely called "cognitive dissonance":

As the anchor recites a news story, the viewer sees an obvious hole through which he could drive a truck.

The story makes no sense, yet it's being presented as bland fact. The trusted anchor clearly has no problem with it.

What's the viewer to do? He experiences a contradiction, a "dissonance."

For example, this year's flu vaccine. The US government has admitted the vaccine is geared to a flu virus that isn't circulating in the population. Therefore, even by conventional standards, the vaccine is useless. But the kicker is, the CDC says people should take the vaccine anyway.

The anchor relays all this information—and never seriously questions the situation, never torpedoes the government for recommending the vaccine.

The average viewer feels a tug, a pulse of discomfort, a push-pull. The vaccine story is idiocy (side one), but the trusted anchor accepts it (side two).

Dissonance.

The top chiefs of news—and top propaganda operatives—anticipate cognitive dissonance. In a real sense, they want it to happen. They make it happen. Over and over.

Why?

Because it throws the viewer into a tailspin. And in that mental state, in his effort to resolve the contradiction, he will normally choose to...give in. Surrender. Believe in the anchor. It's the easier path.

The viewer will even doubt his own perception. "I see no good reason for Building 7 to collapse, but the news doesn't bring that up, so...it must be me."

This is the power of the news. It presents absurdities and then moves right along, as if nothing has happened.

For the viewer, it's the equivalent of: "Don't you see that pile-up of smashed cars on the freeway, and the smoke? No? Oh well, it must be me. I guess I was wrong. There isn't any pile-up."

The introduction of contradiction, dissonance, and absurdity parading as ordinary reality is an intentional feature of brainwashing.

On the nightly news, the anchor reports that US government debt has risen by another three trillion dollars. He then cuts to a statement from a Federal Reserve spokesman: the new debt level isn't a problem; in fact, it's sound monetary policy; it strengthens the economy.

The viewer, caught up in this absurdity, tries to make sense of it, then gives up and passively accepts it. Brainwashing.

Smoothly transitioning from this story, the anchor relays information from the CDC: vaccination rates must achieve 90% in the population, in order to protect people from dangerous viruses. The viewer thinks, "Well, my daughter is already vaccinated, so if she comes into contact with a child who isn't vaccinated, why would that be a problem for her? Why does 90% of the population have to be vaccinated to keep her safe? She's already vaccinated."

The viewer wrestles with this absurdity for a moment, then gives in and accepts what the CDC and the anchor are saying. More passivity. More brainwashing.

The anchor moves right along to the next story: "The US is experiencing one of the coldest winters in history, further evidence of the effects of global warming, according to scientists at the United Nations."

The viewer shakes his head, tries to deal with this dissonance, surrenders, and accepts what he is hearing. Deeper passivity is the result. Deeper brainwashing.

On and on it goes, day after day, month after month, year after year, on the news.

Contradiction, absurdity, dissonance; acceptance, surrender, passivity.

The same general formula is used in interrogations and formal mind control. It adds up to disorientation of the target.

Most disoriented people opt for the lowest- common-denominator solution: give in; accept the power of the person of authority.

When it comes to the news, that person is the anchor , the narrator, the presenter of reality.

He sows the ground with seeds of dissonance. That is how he gains compliance from the viewer.

If the news anchor experiences moments of conscience and self-doubt, he can tell himself he is doing the work of a journalist: he's presenting information obtained from reliable sources. If these sources are spouting contradictions and absurdities, so be it. "Nothing better is available."

Among the many supporters of conventional news is the education system. Most teachers never learn logic, and they don't teach it. The result? Their students never gain the ability or the courage to reject the news and its dissonances.

What little these students gain from 12 or 16 years of schooling they eventually sacrifice on the altar of consensus reality—as broadcast every night on the screen before them.

In the face of absurdities that never add up or make sense, they surrender their minds.

If you gain enough distance from the news and watch it every night and pick it apart and see every dissonance, you realize the news is utterly Surreal. However, it is sold as utterly Normal. That is its trump card—the ability to sell itself as the ultimate in Normalcy.

That is its greatest achievement: overcoming its deepest contradiction.

Comment: Cognitive dissonance can be applied to every single action that is taken by so-called powers that be, as well as in our own personal lives. The list of situations are endless. Being aware of what they are can prevent us from falling into the cognitive dissonance trap of believing our own lies.

Whatever the degree of deception, the realization that one has been believing in a lie is a painful experience, not only psychologically but physically as well. Like a punch to the stomach, it can feel like one's breath has been taken away. And because our beliefs about the world are interconnected with other beliefs fixed in our brains, the destruction of one belief can often lead to a cascade of collapse of many others.

When a person is confronted with facts that contradict currently held belief systems, they have one of two choices. The first choice is to go into denial mode by rejecting the facts as being untrue in order to prop up their chosen belief system and continue living as before. The second choice is to accept the new data and try and reconstruct a new internal paradigm or map of reality that accommodates the new information, which may mean putting into question all other beliefs associated with the old model.

The second choice is difficult and takes a great deal of strength in order to let go of one's preconceived ideas and accept the new and factual data. The first choice is easy because it requires no effort, pain, sadness, or reordering of one's life or values. It is also more comfortable, and because humans generally prefer comfort over pain, the first choice is often the default option.

The exact moment when a person becomes aware of facts that go against what is believed to be true, they experience what psychologists call cognitive dissonance; it is that tense, uncomfortable sensation that what one sees is so out of sync with what one already believes to be true, that the mind instantly rejects it, even when the facts are plain and indisputable.

It is in this moment of experiencing cognitive dissonance (you can recognize it by the tension and discomfort that triggers a "knee-jerk" reaction) that the crucial battle for truth over fiction takes place. If a person can muster the awareness and strength of will to not give in and take the comfortable route by immediately dismissing the facts outright, and hold the conflicting information in their minds while consciously experiencing the negative feelings associated with cognitive dissonance, the resulting liberation can be transformational. It has to be experienced to be believed!

The interesting thing about our tendency to stick with old belief systems, even when faced with hard evidence to the contrary, is the neuro-chemical reward factor. Scientific studies have shown that when experiencing cognitive dissonance (the tension and stress produced when presented with facts that undermine one's normal perception of reality), the decision (knee-jerk reaction) to ignore the factual data and sweep any contradictory evidence under the rug causes the brain to release certain chemicals, making us feel happy and safe again.

So, if believing in an illusion makes us feel safe, happy and comfortable, and any contradictory evidence causes us pain, disorientation and sadness, what possible motivation is there to consciously choose to go through the process of disillusionment?

The love and desire for Truth.

The Necessity of Disillusionment

New research is revealing that many cases of depression are caused by an allergic reaction to inflammation. Tim de Chant of NOVA writes: "Inflammation is our immune system's natural response to injuries, infections, or foreign compounds. When triggered, the body pumps various cells and proteins to the site through the blood stream, including cytokines, a class of proteins that facilitate intercellular communication. It also happens that people suffering from depression are loaded with cytokines." Inflammation is caused by obesity, high sugar diets, high quantities of trans fats, unhealthy diets in general, and other causes.

By treating the inflammatory symptoms of depression — rather than the neurological ones — researchers and doctors are opening up an exciting new dimension in the fight against what has become a global epidemic. Caroline Williams of writes: "The good news is that the few clinical trials done so far have found that adding anti-inflammatory medicines to antidepressants not only improves symptoms, it also increases the proportion of people who respond to treatment, although more trials will be needed to confirm this. There is also some evidence that omega 3 and curcumin, an extract of the spice turmeric, might have similar effects. Both are available over the counter and might be worth a try, although as an add-on to any prescribed treatment - there's definitely not enough evidence to use them as a replacement."

Eleanor Morgan of adds: "Cytokines skyrocket during depressive episodes and, in those with bipolar disorder, halt in remission. The fact that 'normal,' healthy people can become temporarily anxious or depressed after receiving an inflammatory vaccine — like typhoid — lends further credence to the theory. There are even those who think we should re-brand depression altogether as an infectious disease ... Carmine Pariante, a Kings College psychiatrist who is quoted in report, says that we're between five and ten years away from a blood test that can measure levels of inflammation in depressed people. If both Pariante's estimate and the inflammation-depression theory are correct, we could potentially be just five years from an adequate 'cure' for depression."

You can read much more by visiting The Guardian, VICE, and NOVA. And to learn much more about how food and mood are powerfully connected, be sure to read this fascinating article on Kripalu.org.

Buried in a news article Tuesday is a nugget of a story that could send privacy advocates reeling: the CIA is planning to increase spying on Facebook pages and tweets.

What's more, the plan to increase cyber espionage has set of an intradepartmental feud. According to the Washington Post, the head of the agency's clandestine service recently resigned, in part over objections to the plan. CIA director John Brennan "quickly replaced him with a longtime officer who had led an internal review panel that broadly endorsed [his] reform agenda."

The CIA has long spied on Facebook and Twitter in its research on foreign governments and potential terrorists. The agency's cyber espionage arm employs staff with master's degrees in library science and languages who try to detect trends of public opinion; reportedly they caught whiff of the recent Egyptian uprising before it occurred. It also oversees the "Open Source Center," which is charged with scouring publicly available data.

Yet, while the CIA (like its brother, the National Security Agency) isn't supposed to spy on Americans, it certainly does, according to its own data. A report provided to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) in 2013 remarked:

In calendar year 2013, CIA conducted fewer than 1900 queries of Section 702-acquired communications using specific U.S. person identifiers as query terms or other more general query terms if they are intended to return information about a particular U.S. person. Of that total number approximately 40% were conducted as a result of requests for counterterrorism-related information from other U.S. intelligence agencies. Approximately 27% of the total number are duplicative or recurring queries conducted at different times using the same identifiers but that CIA nonetheless counts as separate queries. CIA also uses U.S. person identifiers to conduct metadata-only queries against metadata derived from the FISA Section 702 collection. However, the CIA does not track the number of metadata-only queries using U.S. person identifiers.

Is this CIA's focus potential terrorists? Yes. But if their past practices are any example — that of the Nixon era, for example, or more recently their "work" with alleged terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and other foreign jails — their increased focus on Twitter and Facebook shouldn't be written off.

Donny Mott photographed the glowing debris from Spirit Lake, Idaho. The green glow in the treetops is an aurora.

Monday night (February 23-24, 2015), observers across the western half of North America witnessed a cluster of bright lights slowly moving south to north across the dark night sky. Some mistook it for a meteor, but it was the re-entry and disintegration of a Chinese rocket body, specifically stage 3 of the CZ-4B rocket that launched the Yaogan Weixing 26 satellite in December, 2014. Coincidentally, a geomagnetic storm was in progress at the time, and lucky photographers caught the rocket's debris cutting across curtains of northern lights.

The American Meteor Society reported:

... over 145 reports from western states last night (February, 23th 2015) about a slow moving grouping of fireballs traveling from the south east to the north west. Witness reports indicate, the object travelled over a 1,000 mile distance and was seen from as far south as Arizona and as far north as Alberta CA. The phenomenon was seen from Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Alberta and British Columbia on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 around 11:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

Citizen satellite-tracking expert Ted Molczan told spaceweather.com:

The most southerly observation I have noted so far was from Scottsdale, Arizona; the most northerly from Didsbury, Alberta. That spans nearly 3,000 km of the descent.

Now check out the videos below. The greatest thing about them may be the comments people are making while watching this amazing sight in the night sky.

[embedded content]

Bottom line: On the night of February 23-24, 2015, lucky observers across the western half of North America saw a cluster of bright lights slowly moving south to north across the night sky. It was the re-entry and disintegration of a Chinese rocket body, specifically stage 3 of the CZ-4B rocket that launched the Yaogan Weixing 26 satellite in December, 2014.

The Raw Story

A non-profit news blog, focused on providing independent journalism.

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