Ad astra per aspera
Ministers were bracing themselves for an increasingly bloody conflict in Afghanistan as it became clear that a further eight British soldiers have been killed in 24 hours, the worst combat death toll since the war began.Five troops were killed in a single incident after they were caught in a bomb blast while on foot patrol. Officials confirmed that 15 troops have been killed in the last 10 days. With the government's handling of the conflict under increasing scrutiny, Gordon Brown was forced to defend the Afghan mission as he left the G8 summit in Italy. Before heading directly to a private briefing at the military's operational headquarters at Northwood, Middlesex, he warned of a "very hard summer ... It's not over".
Ministers were bracing themselves for an increasingly bloody conflict in Afghanistan as it became clear that a further eight British soldiers have been killed in 24 hours, the worst combat death toll since the war began.
Five troops were killed in a single incident after they were caught in a bomb blast while on foot patrol. Officials confirmed that 15 troops have been killed in the last 10 days. With the government's handling of the conflict under increasing scrutiny, Gordon Brown was forced to defend the Afghan mission as he left the G8 summit in Italy. Before heading directly to a private briefing at the military's operational headquarters at Northwood, Middlesex, he warned of a "very hard summer ... It's not over".
Foreign Secretary David Miliband has insisted fighting in Afghanistan is key to ensuring UK security, after eight soldiers were killed in 24 hours.Some 184 service personnel have died there since 2001, more than the 179 killed during the war in Iraq. But Mr Miliband dismissed calls for UK forces to withdraw, saying they were stopping Afghanistan becoming "a launch pad for attacks" by terrorists. "This is about the future of Britain," he added. Fifteen soldiers have died in 10 days in southern Afghanistan as UK troops continue Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband has insisted fighting in Afghanistan is key to ensuring UK security, after eight soldiers were killed in 24 hours.
Some 184 service personnel have died there since 2001, more than the 179 killed during the war in Iraq.
But Mr Miliband dismissed calls for UK forces to withdraw, saying they were stopping Afghanistan becoming "a launch pad for attacks" by terrorists.
"This is about the future of Britain," he added.
Fifteen soldiers have died in 10 days in southern Afghanistan as UK troops continue Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw.
This is about the future of Britain
Where did the only serious recent terrorist attack in Britain come from, then, David?
And the number of ministers scrambling to TV screens and writing opeds in the papers suggests they have just noticed they're losing the propaganda war. Who is our Walter Cronkite ? keep to the Fen Causeway
In his first visit to Africa since taking office, Barack Obama said today that the continent of his ancestors must overcome tyranny and corruption if it is to flourish.Speaking in Ghana's parliament, Obama said the key to Africa's future prosperity was democratic and accountable government."Development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock Africa's potential," he said.In an tough speech aimed at politicians across the continent, he gave an unsentimental account of squandered opportunities since the end of colonial rule. "No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers," he said.
In his first visit to Africa since taking office, Barack Obama said today that the continent of his ancestors must overcome tyranny and corruption if it is to flourish.
Speaking in Ghana's parliament, Obama said the key to Africa's future prosperity was democratic and accountable government.
"Development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock Africa's potential," he said.
In an tough speech aimed at politicians across the continent, he gave an unsentimental account of squandered opportunities since the end of colonial rule. "No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers," he said.
US President Barack Obama, on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, has said Africa must take charge of its own destiny in the world.Mr Obama also told parliament during his one-day stay in Ghana that good governance was vital for development. Major challenges awaited Africans in the new century, he said, but vowed that the US would help the continent. The US president's trip comes at the end of a summit of eight of the world's most powerful nations, held in Italy. Ghana was chosen as the destination for the president's visit because of its strong democratic record.
US President Barack Obama, on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, has said Africa must take charge of its own destiny in the world.
Mr Obama also told parliament during his one-day stay in Ghana that good governance was vital for development.
Major challenges awaited Africans in the new century, he said, but vowed that the US would help the continent.
The US president's trip comes at the end of a summit of eight of the world's most powerful nations, held in Italy.
Ghana was chosen as the destination for the president's visit because of its strong democratic record.
ACCRA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told Africans on Saturday that Western aid must be matched by good governance and urged them to take greater responsibility for stamping out war, corruption and disease plaguing the continent. Obama delivered the message on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office in January as the first black U.S. president. He chose stable, democratic Ghana because he believes it can serve as a model for the rest of Africa. Fresh from a G8 summit where leaders agreed to spend $20 billion (12.3 billion pounds) to improve food security in poor countries, Obama spoke of a "new moment of promise" but stressed that Africans must also take a leading role in sorting out their many problems. "Development depends upon good governance," Obama said in a speech to Ghana's parliament. "That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock Africa's potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans."
ACCRA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told Africans on Saturday that Western aid must be matched by good governance and urged them to take greater responsibility for stamping out war, corruption and disease plaguing the continent.
Obama delivered the message on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office in January as the first black U.S. president. He chose stable, democratic Ghana because he believes it can serve as a model for the rest of Africa.
Fresh from a G8 summit where leaders agreed to spend $20 billion (12.3 billion pounds) to improve food security in poor countries, Obama spoke of a "new moment of promise" but stressed that Africans must also take a leading role in sorting out their many problems.
"Development depends upon good governance," Obama said in a speech to Ghana's parliament. "That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That is the change that can unlock Africa's potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans."
Developing nations are prepared to make concessions on climate change targets if the G8 fulfils its side of the bargain in the run-up to the climate change talks in Copenhagen in December, a key negotiator told the Guardian today.The developing countries want the G8 nations to sign up to a 40% cut by 2020, but that figure is off the radar of the EU and, given the unwieldy legislation laboriously passing through the senate, not a possibility for the US.In important forward steps this week, the G8 agreed to cut its emissions by 80% by 2050 and said worldwide emissions should fall 50% by the same date.However, the value of this pledge has been reduced by the lack of an agreed start date from which the emission cuts should be measured, making it a distant promise.
Developing nations are prepared to make concessions on climate change targets if the G8 fulfils its side of the bargain in the run-up to the climate change talks in Copenhagen in December, a key negotiator told the Guardian today.
The developing countries want the G8 nations to sign up to a 40% cut by 2020, but that figure is off the radar of the EU and, given the unwieldy legislation laboriously passing through the senate, not a possibility for the US.
In important forward steps this week, the G8 agreed to cut its emissions by 80% by 2050 and said worldwide emissions should fall 50% by the same date.
However, the value of this pledge has been reduced by the lack of an agreed start date from which the emission cuts should be measured, making it a distant promise.
The world's richest nations will fail to meet their landmark pledge made at the 2005 Gleneagles summit to double aid to the poorest countries. Officials at the G8 summit in Italy said yesterday there was "little chance" the eight countries would keep the promises they made at the meeting four years ago to double their aid to $50bn (£30bn) a year by next year. While Britain is on course to meet its target share, Italy and France are falling short. They resisted pressure at the G8 summit this week from leaders including US President Barack Obama and Gordon Brown to increase their contributions before next year's deadline. "We will keep our promises," one British source said, "but overall it's not going to happen".
The world's richest nations will fail to meet their landmark pledge made at the 2005 Gleneagles summit to double aid to the poorest countries.
Officials at the G8 summit in Italy said yesterday there was "little chance" the eight countries would keep the promises they made at the meeting four years ago to double their aid to $50bn (£30bn) a year by next year.
While Britain is on course to meet its target share, Italy and France are falling short. They resisted pressure at the G8 summit this week from leaders including US President Barack Obama and Gordon Brown to increase their contributions before next year's deadline. "We will keep our promises," one British source said, "but overall it's not going to happen".
South Korea has obtained intelligence that North Korea ordered a military institute of computer hackers known as Lab 110 to "destroy" its neighbour's communications networks last month, news reports said.The National Intelligence Service told parliament of its finding on Friday, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing evidence the north was behind cyber attacks that paralysed major South Korean and US websites in recent days.The newspaper, citing unidentified members of the parliament's intelligence committee, said Lab 110, which is affiliated with the north's defence ministry, received an order to "destroy the South Korean puppet communications networks in an instant".The JoongAng Ilbo said Lab 110 specialised in hacking and spreading malicious programmes.
South Korea has obtained intelligence that North Korea ordered a military institute of computer hackers known as Lab 110 to "destroy" its neighbour's communications networks last month, news reports said.
The National Intelligence Service told parliament of its finding on Friday, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing evidence the north was behind cyber attacks that paralysed major South Korean and US websites in recent days.
The newspaper, citing unidentified members of the parliament's intelligence committee, said Lab 110, which is affiliated with the north's defence ministry, received an order to "destroy the South Korean puppet communications networks in an instant".
The JoongAng Ilbo said Lab 110 specialised in hacking and spreading malicious programmes.
Hundreds of passengers have been evacuated from a British Airways jet after smoke filled the cabin just before take-off.The Boeing 747 had been preparing to depart for Heathrow from Phoenix Airport in Arizona this morning when passengers reported an acrid smell. All on board escaped down the plane's emergency slides.A passenger on flight BA288, Corinne Casazza, said: "There was this really strong smell of fuel and I could hear people panicking behind me. They were upset and finding it hard to breathe because of the smell."People were coughing and choking and those with children were very worried and so they brought them to the front where they could breathe.
Hundreds of passengers have been evacuated from a British Airways jet after smoke filled the cabin just before take-off.
The Boeing 747 had been preparing to depart for Heathrow from Phoenix Airport in Arizona this morning when passengers reported an acrid smell. All on board escaped down the plane's emergency slides.
A passenger on flight BA288, Corinne Casazza, said: "There was this really strong smell of fuel and I could hear people panicking behind me. They were upset and finding it hard to breathe because of the smell.
"People were coughing and choking and those with children were very worried and so they brought them to the front where they could breathe.
The first death from swine flu of an otherwise healthy individual was announced last night by NHS authorities in Essex.At the wishes of the family, no details were given of the patient who died at Basildon and Thurrock University hospital. But the case will cause widespread concern. Until now, every adult and child who has died has had serious underlying health problems that made them particularly vulnerable to infections.But the chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has warned that a few apparently healthy people have succumbed to swine flu and become seriously ill abroad. In one case last month, a healthy 15-year-old teenager called Matthew Davis from Buffalo in New York state, fell ill with swine flu and died, apparently because of co-infection with the superbug MRSA, which he may have contracted in the community rather than in hospital.
The first death from swine flu of an otherwise healthy individual was announced last night by NHS authorities in Essex.
At the wishes of the family, no details were given of the patient who died at Basildon and Thurrock University hospital. But the case will cause widespread concern. Until now, every adult and child who has died has had serious underlying health problems that made them particularly vulnerable to infections.
But the chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has warned that a few apparently healthy people have succumbed to swine flu and become seriously ill abroad. In one case last month, a healthy 15-year-old teenager called Matthew Davis from Buffalo in New York state, fell ill with swine flu and died, apparently because of co-infection with the superbug MRSA, which he may have contracted in the community rather than in hospital.
Doctors tracking the pandemic say they see a pattern in hospital reports from Glasgow to Melbourne and from Santiago to New York. People infected with the bug who have a body mass index greater than 40, deemed morbidly obese, suffer respiratory complications that are harder to treat and can be fatal....Drugmaker Roche Holding AG is combing through studies to determine whether heavier people should get bigger doses of its Tamiflu antiviral.... In Canada's Manitoba province, three out of five people treated for the new flu strain in intensive care units are obese, said Ethan Rubenstein, head of infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.... Scotland, where deep-fried foods such as Mars bars and pizzas contribute to the highest obesity rate in Europe, reported the continent's first two deaths from H1N1 and has experienced a fifth of the region's fatalities..... No deaths or severely ill patients have been recorded from among the 2,146 laboratory-confirmed cases in Japan, said Yasuyuki Abe, a health ministry spokesman in Tokyo. Only 1.6 percent of adults in Japan are obese, according to the WHO.... Some patients are showing up at hospitals with viral pneumonia so severe they are suffocating. The first two people to die from the bug in Peru -- a 38- year-old woman and a 4-year-old girl from impoverished areas on the outskirts of Lima -- were both obese, El Peruano newspaper reported on July 6. ... Of the first 32 people who died from swine flu in New York City, three-quarters had one or more underlying medical conditions, most often diabetes and heart disease, said Isaac B. Weisfuse, deputy commissioner of disease control at the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Of seven with no known medical condition, at least four were reported to be obese, Weisfuse said.
In Canada's Manitoba province, three out of five people treated for the new flu strain in intensive care units are obese, said Ethan Rubenstein, head of infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg....
Scotland, where deep-fried foods such as Mars bars and pizzas contribute to the highest obesity rate in Europe, reported the continent's first two deaths from H1N1 and has experienced a fifth of the region's fatalities.....
No deaths or severely ill patients have been recorded from among the 2,146 laboratory-confirmed cases in Japan, said Yasuyuki Abe, a health ministry spokesman in Tokyo. Only 1.6 percent of adults in Japan are obese, according to the WHO....
Some patients are showing up at hospitals with viral pneumonia so severe they are suffocating. The first two people to die from the bug in Peru -- a 38- year-old woman and a 4-year-old girl from impoverished areas on the outskirts of Lima -- were both obese, El Peruano newspaper reported on July 6. ...
Of the first 32 people who died from swine flu in New York City, three-quarters had one or more underlying medical conditions, most often diabetes and heart disease, said Isaac B. Weisfuse, deputy commissioner of disease control at the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Of seven with no known medical condition, at least four were reported to be obese, Weisfuse said.
"It's the first time that the prominence of obesity has been noticed among severely ill flu sufferers, Fauci said in an interview yesterday. "It's very likely that if we went back retrospectively and looked at people who did poorly during seasonal flu, what would shake out is that obesity would be one of the risks," he said.
fishing expedition Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
The morbidly obese are known to have impaired respiratory function.
Normally the seasonal flu kills the elderly, those with preexisting respiratory conditions, etc. And so, those are the people who get vaccinated in preference.
In this case, if it is true that serious flu cases seem to belong to the 20-45 age bracket you don't have to vaccinate the elderly as you do in seasonal flu: you'd have to vaccinate the 20-45 age group.
Similarly, if it turns out that the mortality rate (given infection) is higher in obese people, you would consider vaccinating the obese in preference to other groups.
And so on.
So, yes, you would have to consider a gamut of risk factors both influencing susceptibility to infection and the severity of the disease. The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
The bug is reported [country distribution page links to WHO map] to have killed 429 people worldwide since its discovery in the U.S. and Mexico in April. The infection, which has now spread as far as New Zealand and Norway, causes little more than a fever and cough in most cases. The majority of those who died were pregnant, had asthma, diabetes or other chronic diseases, according to the WHO.
... and you get in effect (almighty cost-basis) a formula for indiscriminate vaccination in countries where >50% of the total population exhibit one or more of these "risk factors" in addition to age, BMI. The US ($1.85B) and UK, f'r instance where (purportedly it is NOT true "serious flu cases seem to belong to the 20-45 age bracket") chronic flatulence may constitute unacceptable infection risk at some indeterminate point in time.
5-day Vaccine Trial | Times | 12 July 2009
Regulators at the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) said the fast-tracked procedure has involved clinical trials of a "mock-up" vaccine similar [!!] to the one that will be used for the biggest mass vaccination programme in generations. It will be introduced into the general population while regulators continue to carry out simultaneous clinical trials. ... The UK government has ordered enough vaccine to cover the entire population. GPs are being told to prepare for a nationwide vaccination campaign.... He said although swine flu was not causing serious illness in patients, health officials were eager to start a mass vaccination campaign, starting first on priority groups.... The Department of Health said it had still not finalised which groups would be vaccinated first, but children, frontline health workers, people with underlying illnesses and the elderly are likely to take priority.
The UK government has ordered enough vaccine to cover the entire population. GPs are being told to prepare for a nationwide vaccination campaign....
He said although swine flu was not causing serious illness in patients, health officials were eager to start a mass vaccination campaign, starting first on priority groups....
The Department of Health said it had still not finalised which groups would be vaccinated first, but children, frontline health workers, people with underlying illnesses and the elderly are likely to take priority.
Lemme tell you something: We are not discussing reasonable public health policy. We are not evaluating evidence of 'pandemic' morbidity or even therapeutic relief. We're watching a movie in which my child is a captive, unnamed extra. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
(a) obesity is a requisite condition of influenza? (b) influenza is a requisite condition of obesity? (c) obesity is a requisite of influenza-related death? (d) none of the above
Otherwise, to what hypothesis and what dataset do you refer? Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
It was also determined that the strain contained genes from four different flu viruses: North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and two swine influenza viruses typically found in Asia and Europe.... According to the researchers, movement of live pigs between Eurasia and North America* "seems to have facilitated the mixing of diverse swine influenza viruses, leading to the multiple reassortment events associated with the genesis of the (new H1N1) strain."... as of early June 2009, Schuchat reported "encouraging news" regarding any mutations to date, by announcing that samples of the virus from points around the globe are "genetically identical" to the strain found in the United States. "We have tested isolates from a wide geographic area, from the Americas, Europe, from Asia and New Zealand and we are not seeing variations in isolates from the genetic testing we do here."
According to the researchers, movement of live pigs between Eurasia and North America* "seems to have facilitated the mixing of diverse swine influenza viruses, leading to the multiple reassortment events associated with the genesis of the (new H1N1) strain."...
as of early June 2009, Schuchat reported "encouraging news" regarding any mutations to date, by announcing that samples of the virus from points around the globe are "genetically identical" to the strain found in the United States. "We have tested isolates from a wide geographic area, from the Americas, Europe, from Asia and New Zealand and we are not seeing variations in isolates from the genetic testing we do here."
----- *LIVESTOCK import/export
Choices,2005:"Since the implementation of CUSTA, Canadian exports of live hogs to the United States have grown from 1.1 million head in 1989 to 8.5 million head in 2004, accounting for all but a few hundred head of US hog imports (Figure 4). ...Most US hog exports to Mexico have been for slaughter, averaging 86% of the total since the implementation of NAFTA. In 1992, 1997, and 2002, slightly more than one half of US hog exports to Mexico were for breeding. US hog exports to Mexico during 2004 were 138,775 head and accounted for 80% of US exports. Other US hog exports, particularly those to China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea, are mainly breeding stock...."
AgMRC.org,2006:"Canada accounts for the majority of total U.S. pork imports. Live hog imports totaled 8.7 million head in 2006. USDA reports 66 percent of the live imports are typically feeder pigs. The remaining percent are slaughter-ready animals. The Foreign Ag Service claims the United States and Canadian pork markets are increasingly integrated in the movement of live pigs. Denmark comprises 10 percent of U.S. pork imports. ... Live hog exports from the United States have averaged less than 1 percent of total U.S. hog slaughter. In 2006, the United States exported 164,464 live hogs. More than 90 percent of the live exports go to Mexico with the balance being sold to Asian countries as breeding stock."
FinalCall,2007:"The UN Food and Agriculture Organization recently released a study called "The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources," which found that an over-reliance on some breeds of livestock imported from the United States and Europe--including Holstein-Friesian cows, egg-laying White Leghorn chickens, and fast-growing large white pigs--is causing the loss of at least one indigenous livestock breed per month."
etc etc
I'll leave the trail of live poultry to you Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
New flu has been around for years in pigs - study | Reuters
WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - The new H1N1 virus, which has caused the first pandemic of the 21st century, appears to have been circulating undetected among pigs for years, researchers reported on Thursday. Although health officials have been watching for new influenza viruses in humans, animal health regulators have missed the opportunity to check swine, the researchers reported. Britons Andrew Rambaut of the University of Edinburgh and Oliver Pybus of Oxford University, and Yi Guan of the University of Hong Kong examined the genetic sequence of the new H1N1 swine flu virus. Like others who have done the same, they show it is a mixture of other viruses that had been circulating in pigs, one of which was itself a mixture including swine, human and avian-like genetic sequences. "We show that it was derived from several viruses circulating in swine, and that the initial transmission to humans occurred several months before recognition of the outbreak," they wrote. "Movement of live pigs between Eurasia and North America seems to have facilitated the mixing of diverse swine influenza viruses, leading to the multiple reassortment events associated with the genesis of the (new H1N1) strain," they added. "Yet despite widespread influenza surveillance in humans, the lack of systematic swine surveillance allowed for the undetected persistence and evolution of this potentially pandemic strain for many years." They said this new pandemic "provides further evidence of the role of domestic pigs in the ecosystem of influenza A."
Movement of live pigs between Eurasia and North America
My notes should be leading readers to the conclusion that (a) North America (Canada, USA) does not import live pigs (or poultry) from Eurasia; (b) North America exports livestock (cattle, swine, poultry) to all points south (e.g. Mexico) and east (e.g. China); and (c) breed of NA export livestock is limited by design to support mass marketing conditions and yield.
Asian producers are net importers of intermediate and finished meat products from NA.
This information is not controversial, but the 'epidemiologists' consulted imply bilateral trade parity contributes to H1N1 genetic anomaly, although distribution of reported H1N1 infection does not support that conclusion.
In other words, they are reluctant to attribute ideal H1N1 culture to NA livestock. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
Therefore I'm a bit shocked to find th term in a Reuters headline. The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
Or the venerable wiki footnotes: the assumption that H1N1 genome derives from livestock (not intermediate or finished goods) trade between Eurasia and North America is not supported by data in the PR. Why?
I search the interboobz for the phrases "US live hog imports","US livestock imports","US live hog imports from asia" and so forth. Aside from the trades (selected, above), yahoo! returned a butt-load of NM customs and USDA pages.I t's the end of the day though, so I don't download the pdf or zip data tables to mine two lines (hogs, poultry) out of cattle exports seven ways to Sunday in each of the past 20 years.
I've assembled sufficient information to posit a pathogenic origin of H1N1: US feed, breed "crops" and technical stock exports.
As opposed to morbid obesity.
I'm going to read that UN report in its entirety. How 'bout you? Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
Did I posit morbid obesity as an origin for H1N1?
All I said is that I don't find it surprising that the morbidly obese might be more susceptible to the opportunistic infections that actually kill flu patients since their lungs are already under strain from all that extra fat. Therefore I asked whether obesity is a factor in seasonal flu mortality. If it isn't, then the link to obesity is specific to the new flu and therefore interesting.
The fact that current farm practices are conducive to breeding new disease strains should not be controversial. The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
All I said is that I don't find it surprising ... If it isn't, then the link to obesity is specific to the new flu and therefore interesting.
So I gathered and retrieved a quote from the bloomberg article to illustrate a dimension of the experts' indifference to H1N1 pathogenesis. Obesity should be uninteresting to epidemiologists who purport to investigate the origin and propagation of communicable disease precisely because it is a pre-existing condition, characteristic, of morbidity per se.
Try to magine my dismay then as I read this ridiculous article.
The fact that current farm practices are conducive to breeding new disease strains should not be controversial.
Quite. But institutional medical PR avoids industrial analyses and prophylatic recommendations, preferring to promote palliatives case by case.
That is, in my book, a failure of public offices, made all the more disturbing and dismal by persisting communications to characterize H1N1 symptoms as a threat to humanity so far greater than obesity, diabetes, hypertension, HPV, CHF, COPD, prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction, war, and of course life-style
as to warrant mandatory vaccination. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
Drugmaker Roche Holding AG is combing through studies to determine whether heavier people should get bigger doses of its Tamiflu antiviral
hello? Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
A car bomb has killed four people and injured 40 at a market on the outskirts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police sources told the BBC.All of those killed or injured in the blast in Kukchali, a mixed Sunni-Shia area to the east of Mosul, are believed to be civilians. Mosul, with its volatile ethnic and religious mix, has seen numerous attacks by insurgents. The blast comes less than two weeks after US troops left Iraqi cities.
A car bomb has killed four people and injured 40 at a market on the outskirts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police sources told the BBC.
All of those killed or injured in the blast in Kukchali, a mixed Sunni-Shia area to the east of Mosul, are believed to be civilians.
Mosul, with its volatile ethnic and religious mix, has seen numerous attacks by insurgents.
The blast comes less than two weeks after US troops left Iraqi cities.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is preparing a new package of "political, security and international" issues to put to the West, its foreign minister said on Saturday. "The package can be a good basis for talks with the West. The package will contain Iran's stances on political, security and international issues," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that the Group of Eight major powers would give Iran until September to accept negotiations over its nuclear ambitions or face tougher sanctions.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is preparing a new package of "political, security and international" issues to put to the West, its foreign minister said on Saturday.
"The package can be a good basis for talks with the West. The package will contain Iran's stances on political, security and international issues," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that the Group of Eight major powers would give Iran until September to accept negotiations over its nuclear ambitions or face tougher sanctions.
The grim toll of soldiers coming home from Afghanistan in coffins is testimony to the brutal contest being waged in the poppy fields of Helmand. For three years, British troops have been massively undermanned, underequipped and overstretched as they have tried to convince a deeply cynical population that they are safe from the Taliban. Most of the province was beyond the reach of British forces. When the troops did come, they rarely stayed. Far from feeling safe, the people watched as the Taliban grew stronger. But the arrival of 8,000 US Marines in Barack Obama's surge is threatening to change the balance - and the Taliban are fighting back.
The grim toll of soldiers coming home from Afghanistan in coffins is testimony to the brutal contest being waged in the poppy fields of Helmand. For three years, British troops have been massively undermanned, underequipped and overstretched as they have tried to convince a deeply cynical population that they are safe from the Taliban.
Most of the province was beyond the reach of British forces. When the troops did come, they rarely stayed. Far from feeling safe, the people watched as the Taliban grew stronger. But the arrival of 8,000 US Marines in Barack Obama's surge is threatening to change the balance - and the Taliban are fighting back.
10 July 2009: After their closed-door meeting, Obama introduced the pope to his wife, Michelle, their daughters, Malia and Sasha, and Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson. There was private exchange of gifts and moment for photographs. The pope gave each of the girls a silver key chain with a bas-relief image of the pope, and Michelle Obama and Robinson each received a papal medal....
In addition to the encyclical and Vatican bioethics document, Pope Benedict gave Obama a mosaic showing St. Peter's Basilica and Square and a medal marking the fifth year of his pontificate. --AmericanCatholic.org
DailyLife.com, gallery
Is Obama More Catholic Than the Pope? | Townsend | 9 July 2009
Politics requires the ability to listen to different points of view, to step into others' shoes. Obama might call it empathy. While the pope preaches love, listening to the other has been a particular stumbling block for the Catholic hierarchy (as it is for many in power). The hierarchy ignores women's equality and gays' cry for justice because to heed them would require that it admit error and acknowledge that the self-satisfied edifice constructed around sex and gender has been grievously wrong. Before he became John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla had a telling all-or-nothing formulation: "If it should be decided that contraception is not an evil in itself then we should have to concede frankly that the Holy Spirit is on the side of the Protestant Churches."
Is Obama More Catholic Than the Pope? | Reuters | 10 July 2009
In a surprise move, the pontiff gave Obama a booklet explaining Vatican opposition to practices such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research, which Obama supports. "Obama told the pope of his commitment to reduce the number of abortions and of his attention and respect for the positions of the Catholic Church," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters after he was briefed by the pope. Obama supports abortion rights and says his policy is to change economic and social conditions so as to put more women in situations where they do not feel they have to have an abortion.... The pope also gave the president a copy of his latest encyclical, "Charity in Truth," which called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat. Obama, who was going to the airport from the Vatican, joked to the pope when he gave him the two documents: "I'll have something to read on the plane." [emphasis added]
Obama supports abortion rights and says his policy is to change economic and social conditions so as to put more women in situations where they do not feel they have to have an abortion....
The pope also gave the president a copy of his latest encyclical, "Charity in Truth," which called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat. Obama, who was going to the airport from the Vatican, joked to the pope when he gave him the two documents: "I'll have something to read on the plane." [emphasis added]
punk Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
I wonder if Benny will bring back the covered female head for Mass, another wonderful tradition Vatican II did away with? Then we can all have an argument about the Catholic burqa.
It should be noted that French First Lady, (Italian born) Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, didn't don any such Catholic burqa when meeting Benedict in Paris earlier this year. Granted, it was not in the Vatican (Sarkozy visited the Vatican in December 2007 without Carla; they were not married yet).
Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
caption contest worth.
i'm getting: 'nice piece of ass, eh benny?' ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Carla Bruni, the wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, has been criticised by the Italian press for snobbery verging on 'boorishness' for snubbing the summit's official programme. "Someone tell the first lady that snobbery to the nth degree where we come from is called boorishness," the paper Il Giornale said as the G8 was wrapping up in L'Aquila, central Italy.On Thursday, the other G8 first ladies including Michelle Obama toured the city devastated by an April 6 earthquake, while Miss Bruni planned to visit the disaster zone on Friday.Miss Bruni, who arrived in Italy late Thursday, also stayed away from the wives' audience with Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday.
"Someone tell the first lady that snobbery to the nth degree where we come from is called boorishness," the paper Il Giornale said as the G8 was wrapping up in L'Aquila, central Italy.
On Thursday, the other G8 first ladies including Michelle Obama toured the city devastated by an April 6 earthquake, while Miss Bruni planned to visit the disaster zone on Friday.
Miss Bruni, who arrived in Italy late Thursday, also stayed away from the wives' audience with Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday.
ROME (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday said "sorry" for an editorial attack on France's first lady Carla Bruni for staying away from events organised for the Group of Eight summit. Il Giornale newspaper, which is owned by Berlusconi's brother, had accused the Italian wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy of "boorishness" for snubbing the official programme for G8 spouses. "I was very upset and deeply sorry when I was told about the articles published in the Italian dailies, including Il Giornale, containing offensive remarks about Mme Carla Bruni, wife of the president of the French republic," Berlusconi said in a statement. He said the comments were "out of place" and expressed his "esteem and friendship" for Bruni and Sarkozy. Bruni came in for withering criticism from the right-wing daily on Friday.
ROME (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday said "sorry" for an editorial attack on France's first lady Carla Bruni for staying away from events organised for the Group of Eight summit.
Il Giornale newspaper, which is owned by Berlusconi's brother, had accused the Italian wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy of "boorishness" for snubbing the official programme for G8 spouses.
"I was very upset and deeply sorry when I was told about the articles published in the Italian dailies, including Il Giornale, containing offensive remarks about Mme Carla Bruni, wife of the president of the French republic," Berlusconi said in a statement.
He said the comments were "out of place" and expressed his "esteem and friendship" for Bruni and Sarkozy.
Bruni came in for withering criticism from the right-wing daily on Friday.
It's the morning after Independence Day, and Eric Holder Jr. is feeling the weight of history. The night before, he'd stood on the roof of the White House alongside the president of the United States, leaning over a railing to watch fireworks burst over the Mall, the monuments to Lincoln and Washington aglow at either end. "I was so struck by the fact that for the first time in history an African-American was presiding over this celebration of what our nation is all about," he says. Now, sitting at his kitchen table in jeans and a gray polo shirt, as his 11-year-old son, Buddy, dashes in and out of the room, Holder is reflecting on his own role. He doesn't dwell on the fact that he's the country's first black attorney general. He is focused instead on the tension that the best of his predecessors have confronted: how does one faithfully serve both the law and the president? Alone among cabinet officers, attorneys general are partisan appointees expected to rise above partisanship. All struggle to find a happy medium between loyalty and independence. Few succeed. At one extreme looms Alberto Gonzales, who allowed the Justice Department to be run like Tammany Hall. At the other is Janet Reno, whose righteousness and folksy eccentricities marginalized her within the Clinton administration. Lean too far one way and you corrupt the office, too far the other way and you render yourself impotent. Mindful of history, Holder is trying to get the balance right. "You have the responsibility of enforcing the nation's laws, and you have to be seen as neutral, detached, and nonpartisan in that effort," Holder says. "But the reality of being A.G. is that I'm also part of the president's team. I want the president to succeed; I campaigned for him. I share his world view and values." These are not just the philosophical musings of a new attorney general. Holder, 58, may be on the verge of asserting his independence in a profound way. Four knowledgeable sources tell NEWSWEEK that he is now leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices, something the president has been reluctant to do. While no final decision has been made, an announcement could come in a matter of weeks, say these sources, who decline to be identified discussing a sensitive law-enforcement matter. Such a decision would roil the country, would likely plunge Washington into a new round of partisan warfare, and could even imperil Obama's domestic priorities, including health care and energy reform. Holder knows all this, and he has been wrestling with the question for months. "I hope that whatever decision I make would not have a negative impact on the president's agenda," he says. "But that can't be a part of my decision."
Alone among cabinet officers, attorneys general are partisan appointees expected to rise above partisanship. All struggle to find a happy medium between loyalty and independence. Few succeed. At one extreme looms Alberto Gonzales, who allowed the Justice Department to be run like Tammany Hall. At the other is Janet Reno, whose righteousness and folksy eccentricities marginalized her within the Clinton administration. Lean too far one way and you corrupt the office, too far the other way and you render yourself impotent. Mindful of history, Holder is trying to get the balance right. "You have the responsibility of enforcing the nation's laws, and you have to be seen as neutral, detached, and nonpartisan in that effort," Holder says. "But the reality of being A.G. is that I'm also part of the president's team. I want the president to succeed; I campaigned for him. I share his world view and values."
These are not just the philosophical musings of a new attorney general. Holder, 58, may be on the verge of asserting his independence in a profound way. Four knowledgeable sources tell NEWSWEEK that he is now leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices, something the president has been reluctant to do. While no final decision has been made, an announcement could come in a matter of weeks, say these sources, who decline to be identified discussing a sensitive law-enforcement matter. Such a decision would roil the country, would likely plunge Washington into a new round of partisan warfare, and could even imperil Obama's domestic priorities, including health care and energy reform. Holder knows all this, and he has been wrestling with the question for months. "I hope that whatever decision I make would not have a negative impact on the president's agenda," he says. "But that can't be a part of my decision."
Ruh-roh. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
(hehehehehehe) Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Such a decision [to investigate the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices] could even imperil Obama's domestic priorities, including health care and energy reform.
After Dubya Dubya Two, America transformed from a largely agricultural economy to a raging industrial furnace. The stoppage of tank and airplane and bullet manufacturing took a couple of hard years to unwind, but it soon led to a very consciously constructed consumer/manufacturing society. All stops were removed. The movers and shakers of that era purposely set out to hold up the Joneses as the American Dream, and whip everyone along to constantly try to keep up with them -- house in the suburbs, TV, car, kids in college, annual vacations, and all the latest and brightest products America could churn out. And jobs, jobs, jobs making all this stuff. It went on for six decades, and then Dubya Dubya Bush (who cost us multiple times what Dubya Dubya Two ever did) presided over the burnout phase of that manic consumer economy that was actually based on debt-fueled growth. Debt is a virus, you see, and it kills its host. An economy that had originally provided good jobs for every man jack so he could buy all the shiny things America manufactured slowly morphed over the decades into the outsourcing of jobs to coolies overseas who would make the same product for a lot less. That eventually included everyone up the economic scale, including engineers, doctors, and rocket scientists. All that money saved accrued to Wall Street, and moved into international circles. Offshore more and more. Interwoven and interconnected with debt-fueled money-making projects worldwide. If American taxes wanted a taste, well the whole scheme was moved offshore so no taxes needed to be paid. The American economy increasingly became Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIRE) after Reagan, and this increasingly became an international arena, not fundamentally connected to the day to day American economy. During Dubya Dubya Bush's two terms, he presided over the looting of the Treasury and the earnings of the next generation or two as well. He took that treasure and firmly bet America's future -- it's economic survival -- overseas. He wagered everything on America winning at globalizing the world economy under its thumb, and winning some tasty resource wars over yonder, in lands where swarthy people live. Those wars were to be highly lucrative ventures from the get go. After sixty years of chasing the Joneses, manufacturing is long gone, and mad consumption eventually burned itself out, burned right to the core about mid-2007, and it is never coming back. We have entered the post-consumption stage of empire's collapse. People are paying down debts, and saving about 7% on top of that, according to the recent news. They know its over. So does Wall Street. So do the Feds. At this point, the Federal Government has no reason to do much of anything for Americans except keep them in line, and keep them from costing Wall Street any progress on its international agenda, the agenda that America's survival depends on. At this point, America's actual citizens, the point 3 billion of us walking around, are just a labor pool to Wall Street and the Government they own. And they need we, the people like they need a threesome with a pair of porcupines. Having taken our jobs, they now intend to take any equity we built up while we had jobs so they can use that equity on their globalization and war agenda. They simply have to win that thing. The alternative . . . At this point, there's no need for Americans to do any work except serve one another drinks and fast food and refinance one another's mortgages. Manufacturing is an overseas arena. Finance is an overseas arena. Empire is an overseas arena. America's future rides on what America accomplished overseas, not at home. America's government is an overseas government, because that's where America's future has been wagered. The only measure of success for Wall Street and its Washington subsidiary is to push America's FIRE economy to the tippy top of a thoroughly globalized economy. They've got to win at that. Failing at that will be the most indescribable disaster of a financial collapse the human mind is capable of imagining. So America's had its run, a good run, between the Dubya Dubyas. Sixty years of being the biggest, richest, baddest, mofo of an economy this planet has ever witnessed. But it is really most seriously and sincerely over. The very forces set in motion back in the post-WWII decade proceeded to flourish, feed on themselves, and finally burn out, go up in credit-driven flames right down to the last phony mortgage-backed security. Since mid-2007, everyone's just standing around licking the icing bowl, but it's becoming very apparent that we had our cake, and we ate it, too.
After Dubya Dubya Two, America transformed from a largely agricultural economy to a raging industrial furnace. The stoppage of tank and airplane and bullet manufacturing took a couple of hard years to unwind, but it soon led to a very consciously constructed consumer/manufacturing society. All stops were removed.
The movers and shakers of that era purposely set out to hold up the Joneses as the American Dream, and whip everyone along to constantly try to keep up with them -- house in the suburbs, TV, car, kids in college, annual vacations, and all the latest and brightest products America could churn out. And jobs, jobs, jobs making all this stuff.
It went on for six decades, and then Dubya Dubya Bush (who cost us multiple times what Dubya Dubya Two ever did) presided over the burnout phase of that manic consumer economy that was actually based on debt-fueled growth.
Debt is a virus, you see, and it kills its host.
An economy that had originally provided good jobs for every man jack so he could buy all the shiny things America manufactured slowly morphed over the decades into the outsourcing of jobs to coolies overseas who would make the same product for a lot less. That eventually included everyone up the economic scale, including engineers, doctors, and rocket scientists.
All that money saved accrued to Wall Street, and moved into international circles. Offshore more and more. Interwoven and interconnected with debt-fueled money-making projects worldwide. If American taxes wanted a taste, well the whole scheme was moved offshore so no taxes needed to be paid.
The American economy increasingly became Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIRE) after Reagan, and this increasingly became an international arena, not fundamentally connected to the day to day American economy.
During Dubya Dubya Bush's two terms, he presided over the looting of the Treasury and the earnings of the next generation or two as well. He took that treasure and firmly bet America's future -- it's economic survival -- overseas. He wagered everything on America winning at globalizing the world economy under its thumb, and winning some tasty resource wars over yonder, in lands where swarthy people live. Those wars were to be highly lucrative ventures from the get go.
After sixty years of chasing the Joneses, manufacturing is long gone, and mad consumption eventually burned itself out, burned right to the core about mid-2007, and it is never coming back. We have entered the post-consumption stage of empire's collapse. People are paying down debts, and saving about 7% on top of that, according to the recent news. They know its over. So does Wall Street.
So do the Feds.
At this point, the Federal Government has no reason to do much of anything for Americans except keep them in line, and keep them from costing Wall Street any progress on its international agenda, the agenda that America's survival depends on.
At this point, America's actual citizens, the point 3 billion of us walking around, are just a labor pool to Wall Street and the Government they own. And they need we, the people like they need a threesome with a pair of porcupines. Having taken our jobs, they now intend to take any equity we built up while we had jobs so they can use that equity on their globalization and war agenda.
They simply have to win that thing. The alternative . . .
At this point, there's no need for Americans to do any work except serve one another drinks and fast food and refinance one another's mortgages. Manufacturing is an overseas arena. Finance is an overseas arena. Empire is an overseas arena. America's future rides on what America accomplished overseas, not at home.
America's government is an overseas government, because that's where America's future has been wagered. The only measure of success for Wall Street and its Washington subsidiary is to push America's FIRE economy to the tippy top of a thoroughly globalized economy. They've got to win at that. Failing at that will be the most indescribable disaster of a financial collapse the human mind is capable of imagining.
So America's had its run, a good run, between the Dubya Dubyas. Sixty years of being the biggest, richest, baddest, mofo of an economy this planet has ever witnessed.
But it is really most seriously and sincerely over. The very forces set in motion back in the post-WWII decade proceeded to flourish, feed on themselves, and finally burn out, go up in credit-driven flames right down to the last phony mortgage-backed security. Since mid-2007, everyone's just standing around licking the icing bowl, but it's becoming very apparent that we had our cake, and we ate it, too.
At this point, there's no need for Americans to do any work except serve one another drinks and fast food and refinance one another's mortgages. Manufacturing is an overseas arena.
Debt is a crucial part in financing investment. Debt doesn't need to mean consumer credit for plasma TV's and SUV's. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
... Xinjiang has always been a great melting pot, a former hub on the Silk Road that today has 13 sizeable ethnic minority groups and borders eight countries. The concept of homeland is at the heart of the conflict. Uighurs shy away from openly framing the issue as one of independence and national sovereignty, but they ask: Who is the guest here? And whose culture and way of life should take precedence? Though many Uighurs claim to be the indigenous people of the region, foreign historians say the Uighurs did not migrate from the Mongolian steppes to what is now Xinjiang until the 10th century. They eventually built tribal societies here, mostly around oasis towns along the southern edge of the large desert depression called the Tarim Basin. <...> The race of first settlers, the Tocharians, herders who spoke an Indo-European language, died out long ago, Mr. Mair said, and there are no descendants to make historical claims on the land. As for signs of the Chinese empire, the most prominent Chinese gravesites were discovered at a place called Astana, believed to be a former military garrison. The findings there date from the 3rd to the 10th centuries, ending with the Tang Dynasty, when trade along the Silk Road was at its height. But for that period and for centuries afterward, ethnicities, tribes and power centers in the region remained in flux, with no one culture exerting long-term rule. The Chinese empire did not exercise full political control over the territory in its current shape until the Qing Dynasty, ruled by ethnic Manchus, annexed the region in 1760 and later gave it the name Xinjiang, according to the scholars James A. Millward and Peter C. Perdue. "By first establishing military and civil administrations and then promoting immigration and agricultural settlements, it went far toward ensuring the continued presence of China-based power in the region," the two professors wrote in a 2004 volume of essays by 16 scholars, "Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland." ...
Though many Uighurs claim to be the indigenous people of the region, foreign historians say the Uighurs did not migrate from the Mongolian steppes to what is now Xinjiang until the 10th century. They eventually built tribal societies here, mostly around oasis towns along the southern edge of the large desert depression called the Tarim Basin. <...>
The race of first settlers, the Tocharians, herders who spoke an Indo-European language, died out long ago, Mr. Mair said, and there are no descendants to make historical claims on the land.
As for signs of the Chinese empire, the most prominent Chinese gravesites were discovered at a place called Astana, believed to be a former military garrison. The findings there date from the 3rd to the 10th centuries, ending with the Tang Dynasty, when trade along the Silk Road was at its height. But for that period and for centuries afterward, ethnicities, tribes and power centers in the region remained in flux, with no one culture exerting long-term rule.
The Chinese empire did not exercise full political control over the territory in its current shape until the Qing Dynasty, ruled by ethnic Manchus, annexed the region in 1760 and later gave it the name Xinjiang, according to the scholars James A. Millward and Peter C. Perdue.
"By first establishing military and civil administrations and then promoting immigration and agricultural settlements, it went far toward ensuring the continued presence of China-based power in the region," the two professors wrote in a 2004 volume of essays by 16 scholars, "Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland." ...
