Are you comfortable with this?

Once upon a time, the purpose of conducting the U.S. census was to apportion the members of the House of Representatives. Once upon a time, all you had to do was report how many people were living in your household. Why does the government now need to know, among other things, how many times a day you go to the bathroom?

Time to stock up on incandescent bulbs?

Congress has passed a law that says all incandescent light bulbs must be phased out by 2014, replaced by CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs. What we're seldom told is that CFL bulbs pose serious health dangers. The bulbs contain mercury, one of Earth's most toxic elements. Most CFL bulbs contain four to five milligrams of mercury. That's enough to contaminate 6,000 gallons of clean water. 

These so-called "green" bulbs already occupy landfills around the nation, the mercury seeping into ground water. Where garbage is burned, the toxic element is released into the air we breathe. As time goes on and incandescents are eliminated, the problem will only grow more serious.

If a CFL bulb shatters, you can forget the days of sweeping up the shards with a broom and tossing them in the trash. Rather, you should treat the broken glass as you would a shattered thermometer. The EPA advises opening a window, evacuating the building for 15 minutes, then returning with duct tape to pick up the broken glass. After this, one is to put the glass shards and duct tape into a glass jar, screw on a tight lid and take it to a toxic dump. I have a feeling most American households won't be going this route.

This specific disposal information is not widely known, as CFL bulb packages don't list these steps. So, how are Americans supposed to know about the dangers of CFLs and about the proper disposal procedures? The media, maybe? It's a rare occurrence that the media pay this issue any attention. Here is a clip of one such rare occurrence:

Papers, please

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending bill last week that contains provisions to establish a biometric national ID card. The Senate may approve the measure in the next few days. The ID card is supposed to crack down on illegal immigration. The card will contain embedded information, such as fingerprints. It may also contain a tracking chip.

LAURA MECKLER / Wall Street Journal

Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain.

Under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.

Click here for the full story.

Is your neighbor a communist? Oops, I mean, terrorist?

Below is a sound clip of an anti-terrorism advertisement played during a popular UK radio show, TalkSport. 

Here's a transcript:

The following message is brought to you by TalkSport and the Anti-Terrorist Hotline. The man at the end of the street doesn't talk to his neighbors much, because he likes to keep himself to himself. He pays with cash, because he doesn't have a bank card. He keeps his curtains closed, because his house is on a bus route. This may mean nothing. But together, it could all add up to you having suspicions. We all have a role to play in combating terrorism. If you see anything suspicious, call the confidential anti-terrorist hotline on 0-800-789-321. If you suspect it, report it.

So, be a good citizen. Trust no one, and spy on your cash-using, curtain-drawing terrorist neighbor. It's the patriotic thing to do.

As an aside, what would happen if we were to take the word terrorist, swap it with the word communist, rewind about 50 years and play the commercial during the McCarthy era? I'm sure no one would notice.

Think you're healthy? There's a pill for that.

"We won't stop being sick until we stop making ourselves sick...There is a point where even the most universal government health program can't help you. They can't outlaw unhealthy food, or alcohol or cigarettes...Because you see, the government isn't your nanny. They're your dealer. And they subsidize illness in America. They have to. There's too much money in it.  You see, there is no money in healthy people. And there's no money in dead people. The money is in the middle. People who are alive (sort of) but with one or more chronic condition that puts them in need of Celebrex or Nasonex or Valtrex or Lunesta. Fifty years ago, children didn't get type II diabetes, and now it's an emerging epidemic. As are a long list of ailments, which used to be rare, and have now been mainstreamed. Things like asthma, autism, acid reflux, arthritis, allergies, adult acne, ADD. And that's just the A's. Doesn't anybody wonder why we live with all this illness? ...There are ads that love to say 'When diet and exercise fail...' Well, diet and exercise don't fail. A fact brought home last week by a new Duke University study that showed  that exercise, yes, exercise, is just as effective a cure for depression as Paxil and Zoloft. So ask your doctor if getting off your ass is right for you."

-BILL MAHER, comedian 

Coming soon to an airport near you

The Transportation Security Administration is officially launching a plan to install 1,000 full-body scanners at U.S. airports over the next two years. Airports in Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago are among the 11 slated to get the devices in the near future.

No privacy issues here. 

Potential damage to DNA (increasing cancer risk) is a small price to pay for safety, right? And nevermind that British government studies have shown that these scanners can't detect lightweight items like plastics, chemicals or liquids.

Spider goats and Fluorescent cats

Oh the tangled web we weave...

Nexia, a Canadian company, has genetically modified goats to be part spider. Why? So that the goats will make spider silk protein in their milk, which is then purified and spun into fibers reportedly stronger than steel. The fibers are said to have important industrial and military uses, but are difficult to produce in large quantities. Apparently, farming spiders is too difficult because of their territorial and cannibalistic nature. So of course, the natural solution is to create spider goats.

And don't forget glowing cats. In 2007, South Korean scientists cloned cats that glow in the dark. 

                                Mr. Green Genes, the first fluorescent cat in the U.S. 

Up next? Pigs with human genes in them. They will be grown to produce transplant organs for humans. Oh, and there's always a chance these pig-human hybrids may end up in our food supply as well. We'll never know. No big deal, right?

Why are we drinking this?

ANNA / Empowered Citizens Blog

Fluoride is an active ingredient in and rat poison (it's registered with the EPA as such), sarin nerve gas, some pesticides, anesthetics, tranquilizers, toothpaste and mind-altering drugs such as Prozac. It's also in the water supply of almost every community in the U.S. (Click here to find out if the water in your area is fluoridated)

So what is fluoride? For years, fluoride was classified as a toxic waste, its only approved uses being as an insecticide and rat poison. The fluoride used in our water supply is a toxic byproduct of the aluminum industry. This waste is not pure sodium fluoride. It contains additional toxic impurities such as lead and arsenic.

But don't get your tinfoil hats out just yet. The dangers of fluoride are not merely the fantasy of conspiracy theorists. They are, in fact, well documented.

Studies* have been conducted on fluoride, and it has been found to be linked to bone decay, cancer, alzheimer's, thyroid disfunction, weakened immune system.

The American Dental Association is now advising parents (as of 2006) not to give their infants fluoridated tap water because among other things, it can cause--wait for it--brain damage. This is according to a review published in the medical journal The Lancet.**

Fluoride has been pushed as an excellent way to prevent tooth decay, even though five studies*** published since the year 2000 have reported no increase in tooth decay in once fluoridated communities that have since ceased the practice. Tooth decay is caused by our poor diet and malnutrition, not by a lack of fluoride.

Many countries have banned water fluoridation, including China, Sweden, Norway and Japan. Others nations that once fluoridated their water have since stopped the practice. Those countries include Germany, Finland and Hungary. 

Here are some video clips on the matter:

And for good humor:

______________________________________________________

* Some such studies:
- National Research Council. (2006). Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards. National Academies Press, Washington D.C. p. 173-188.
- Varner JA, et al. (1998). Chronic Administration of Aluminum-Fluoride and Sodium-Fluoride to Rats in Drinking Water: Alterations in Neuronal and Cerebrovascular Integrity.Brain Research. 784: 284-298.
- Lin Fa-Fu, et al. (1991). The relationship of a low-iodine and high-fluoride environment to subclinical cretinism in Xinjiang. Iodine Deficiency Disorder Newsletter. Vol. 7. No. 3.
- Xiang Q, et al. (2003a). Effect of fluoride in drinking water on children's intelligence. Fluoride 36: 84-94; 198-199.
- NRC (2006). p. 189-224.
- NRC (2006). p. 107-148.
- National Toxicology Program. (1990). Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of Sodium Fluoride in F344/N Rats and B6C3f1 Mice. Technical report Series No. 393. NIH Publ. No 91-2848. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, N.C.
- Hoover RN, et al. (1991). Time trends for bone and joint cancers and osteosarcomas in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. National Cancer Institute In: Review of Fluoride: Benefits and Risks. US Public Health Service. Appendix E & F.
- Cohn PD. (1992). A Brief Report On The Association Of Drinking Water Fluoridation And The Incidence of Osteosarcoma Among Young Males. New Jersey Department of Health Environ. Health Service: 1- 17.
- Bassin EB, Wypij D, Davis RB, Mittleman MA. (2006). Age-specific Fluoride Exposure in Drinking Water and Osteosarcoma (United States). Cancer Causes and Control 17: 421-8.
- Johnson W, et al. (1979). Fluoridation and bone disease in renal patients. In: E Johansen, DR Taves, TO Olsen, Eds. Continuing Evaluation of the Use of Fluorides. AAAS Selected Symposium. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado. pp. 275-293.
- Ittel TH, et al. (1992). Effect of fluoride on aluminum-induced bone disease in rats with renal failure. Kidney International 41: 1340-1348.
- Ayoob S, Gupta AK. (2006). Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Review on the Status and Stress Effects. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 36:433–487
** The review was called "Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals" and was published Nov. 8, 2006.
*** The five studies are:
- Kunzel W, Fischer T. (2000). Caries prevalence after cessation of water fluoridation in La Salud, Cuba. Caries Research 34: 20-5.
- Kunzel W, Fischer T, Lorenz R, Bruhmann S. (2000). Decline of caries prevalence after the cessation of water fluoridation in the former East Germany. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 28: 382-9.
- Seppa L, Karkkainen S, Hausen H. (2000). Caries Trends 1992-1998 in Two Low-Fluoride Finnish Towns Formerly with and without Fluoridation. Caries Research 34: 462-468.

- Burt BA, et al. (2000). The effects of a break in water fluoridation on the development of dental caries and fluorosis. J Dent Res. 79(2):761-9.

-Maupome G, Clark DC, Levy SM, Berkowitz J. (2001). Patterns of dental caries following the cessation of water fluoridation. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 29: 37-47.

Baking soda cures cancer? Italian oncologist says yes

Chemotherapy. Radiation. Surgery. If you have cancer, at least one of these options is presented to you.  Dr. Tullio Simoncini, an Italian oncologist, believes there is a much more effective, less harmful and invasive--not to mention less expensive--way to combat the disease: baking soda. 

Of course, his claim has drawn much controversy. Sadly but predictably, doctors who propose such simple solutions have been shunned by the medical community. Considering the fact that cancer is a huge money maker in the health and drug industry, doctors like Simoncini pose a major threat. A simple and inexpensive treatment to such a profitable disease would be a huge blow to their wallets.

In the interview above, Simoncini shows before and after footage of colon and bronchial cancer. After only four days of Simoncini's sodium carbonate (baking soda) and water flush treatment, the tumors are nowhere to be found.

Whether all of this is true or not, I think it's worth some consideration. Simoncini proposes a simple, safe and inexpensive alternative treatment. Considering today's skyrocketing health care costs and the harmful side effects of conventional treatment, a patient has little to lose and much to gain by giving it a shot. Worst-case scenario? It won't work. Best-case scenario? Being cancer free.

It castrates frogs, and it's in our water

Tap water contaminant 'castrates' frogs
LIZ SZABO | USA Today

An herbicide that contaminates the tap water consumed by millions of Americans has been found to produce gender-bending effects in male frogs, "chemically castrating" some and turning others into females, a study shows.

Frogs in the experiment were exposed to amounts of the weedkiller atrazine that are comparable to the levels allowed in drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency, says lead researcher Tyrone Hayes of the University of California-Berkeley.

The study was released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In Hayes' earlier studies, atrazine caused male frogs to begin growing eggs in their testes. In this experiment, 10% of the males exposed to atrazine — one of the most commonly used herbicide in the world — actually changed sex; some were able to breed and lay eggs. Nearly all of the other males had low testosterone and sperm levels, which made them unable to reproduce, Hayes says.

Click here for full story.

Don't take their word for it

"Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of  In almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind."

-EDWARD L. BERNAYS, "Father of public relations," 1928 

Propaganda in a Democracy
DENNIS LEWIS | Dennis Lewis Blog

When Edward Bernays, proclaimed by many as the father of public relations, published his book Propaganda in 1928, few people realized the far reaching influence that the new discipline of public relations would have on society. Propaganda, Bernays claims, is not something pernicious that one government or group inflicts on another, but is rather an integral part of democracy itself.

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,” said Bernays, who, perhaps appropriately, is the nephew of Freud. “Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

Living in a so-called free market democracy, we are besieged with choices of all kinds in our daily lives—from the products and services we buy for home and business, to the activities that we undertake for entertainment and relaxation, to the politicians and government amendments we vote for, to the ideas that bring us motivation and meaning. Bernays points out that as citizens we have “voluntarily agreed to let an invisible government sift the data and high‑spot the outstanding issues so that our field of choice shall be narrowed to practical proportions.”

 Click here for full story.

Owning food is the cool thing to do now

This British documentary blows the whistle on Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, exposing the corporation’s disturbing practices. It shows how eastern European, particularly Polish  farmers are in essence being forced out of business by the company. The film, along with films such as Food Inc, shows the disconcerting trend of how agribusiness is taking over the world.


The film has not been released in the United States, mainly because Smithfield has threatened the director with litigation. Despite four legal letters from Smithfield, U.K.'s Channel 4 released the documentary. Unfortunately, no U.S. insurer would support the film's release in America. Lucky for you, the film is on YouTube, albeit in six 10-minute segments. I've linked the segments below:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Do not try this at home

Here's a skit from the Royal Canadian Air Farce, a Canadian comedy series. Funny, yet scary.

GMO research is rigged? No way.

Company research on GM foods is rigged
JOSEPH MERCOLA, D.O. | Mercola.com

In 2004, the peer-reviewed British Food Journal published a study claiming that when shoppers in a Canadian farm store were given an informed, unbiased choice between genetically modified (GM) corn and non-GM corn, most purchased the GM variety. The research, which was funded by the biotech industry and conducted by four staunch proponents of GM foods, other findings around the world that show how people avoid genetically modified organisms (GMOs) when given a choice. The controversial article was nonetheless given the Journal’s prestigious Award for Excellence for the Most Outstanding Paper of 2004. It is often cited by biotech advocates as proof that people are embracing GM foods.

Fortunately Stuart Laidlaw, a reporter from Canada’s Toronto Star, had visited the farm store several times during the study and described the scenario in his book Secret Ingredients. Far from offering unbiased choices, huge signs placed over the non-GM corn bin read, “Would you eat wormy sweet corn?” It further listed the chemicals that were sprayed during the season. By contrast, the sign above the GM corn stated, “Here’s What Went into Producing Quality Sweet Corn.” No wonder 60% of shoppers avoided the “wormy corn.” In fact, it’s a testament to people’s distrust of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that 40% still went for the “wormy” option.

In addition to the signs, the “consumer education fact sheets” in the store were nothing more than pro-GM propaganda. And the lead researcher, Doug Powell, was even seen trying to convince a customer who purchased non-GM corn to switch to the GM variety.

The Science Of Rigging Studies 

Cambridge University’s Dr. Richard Jennings, a leading researcher on scientific ethics, described the study as “flagrant fraud.” But there are plenty more examples of “cooked” research in the much more critical area of GMO safety assessments.

► When dairy farmers inject cows with GM bovine growth hormone (rbGH), there are plenty of changes in the milk—including an increase of that hormone itself. To allay fears, the FDA claimed that pasteurization destroys 90% of the hormone. In reality, the researchers of this drug (then owned by Monsanto) pasteurized the milk 120 times longer than normal. But they only destroyed 19%. So they spiked the milk with a huge amount of extra growth hormone and then repeated the long pasteurization. Only under these artificial conditions were they able to destroy 90%. 

► To demonstrate that rbGH injections didn’t interfere with cows’ fertility, Monsanto appears to have added cows to their study that were pregnant BEFORE injection.

► When Aventis CropScience prepared samples to see if the potential allergen in StarLink GM corn was intact after cooking, instead of using the standard 30-minutes, they heated the corn for 2 hours.

► When independent researchers published a study in July 1999 showing that Monsanto’s GM soy contains 12%-14% less cancer-fighting phytoestrogens, Monsanto responded with its own study, concluding that soy’s phytoestrogen levels vary too much to even carry out a statistical analysis. Researchers failed to disclose, however, that they had instructed the laboratory to use an obsolete method of detection—one that had been prone to highly variable results.

Click here for full story.

Head of IMF is proposing a global currency

HARRY DUNPHY | Associated Press

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, suggested Friday the organization might one day be called on to provide countries with a global reserve currency that would serve as an alternative to the U.S. dollar.
"That day has not yet come, but I think it is intellectually healthy to explore these kinds of ideas now," he said in a speech on the future mandate of the 186-nation Washington-based lending organization.
Strauss-Kahn said such an asset could be similar to but distinctly different from the IMF's special drawing rights, or SDRs, the accounting unit that countries use to hold funds within the IMF. It is based on a basket of major currencies.
He said having other alternatives to the dollar "would limit the extent to which the international monetary system as a whole depends on the policies and conditions of a single, albeit dominant, country."
Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister of France, said that during the recent global financial crisis, the dollar "played its role as a safe haven" asset, and the current international monetary system demonstrated resilience.
"The challenge ahead is to find ways to limit the tension arising from the high demand for precautionary reserves on the one hand and the narrow supply of reserves on the other," he said.
Several countries, including China and Russia, have called for an alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency and have suggested using the IMF's internal accounting unit.

Click here for full story.

Bill Gates wants to lower world population?

Sounds counterintuitive, but the billionaire seems to believe the world's population could be lowered through vaccines, among other things.
"If we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent,” he said.


Here is a clip. See 4:25-4:55 for his population reduction comments:


Bill Gates: Use Vaccines To Lower Population
PAUL JOSEPH WATSON | Prison Planet 

Microsoft founder Bill Gates told a recent TED conference, an organization which is sponsored by one of the largest toxic waste polluters on the planet, that vaccines need to be used to reduce world population figures in order to solve global warming and lower CO2 emissions.

Stating that the global population was heading toward 9 billion, Gates said, “If we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services (abortion), we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.” 

Quite how an improvement in health care and vaccines that supposedly save lives would lead to a lowering in global population is an oxymoron, unless Gates is referring to vaccines that sterilize people, which is precisely the same method advocated in White House science advisor John P. Holdren’s 1977 textbook Ecoscience, which calls for a dictatorial “planetary regime” to enforce draconian measures of population reduction via all manner of oppressive techniques, including sterilization. 
... After presenting an equation that included the number of people on the planet and CO2 emissions, Gates said, “Probably one of these numbers is going to get pretty near to zero.” 

Click here for full story.