#1
I wonder when they'll discover an analagous 'combination effect' responsible for Gulf War Syndrome? Which reminds me - I haven't heard anything about that sort of thing with Gulf War II - what's changed? Vaccines? Chemical weapons exposure? Or are we just not hearing about the cases this time?
There's an inherent problem with any vaccine - it reduces a risk but is not without risk itself, and balancing those risks is only possible statistically. You maximize the effectiveness and minimize the risk for the group (and these factors change over time, as knowledge improves), BUT there will always be the individuals who are the negative side of the statistical balance. Which ones are actually victims of the vaccine, and which were just coincidentally afflicted? We'll probably never know. Does society provide care for them all? A fraction of care for all according to some statistical estimate of proportion of cause? A jackpot for a few (and their lawyers)? None - 'sucks to be you'? This is the kind of scenario that eventually leads to nationalized health care.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/28/2008 8:43 Comments ||
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#3
Betcha John Edwards will be on this like flies on ... Poppa needs a new 10,000 s.f. extension.
RISKS OF MERCURY AND VACCINES According to FDA analysis in 2005, tuna fish contains 0.64 micrograms of mercury for each gram of tuna. A 60 gram portion (about two ounces) would contain 38.4 micrograms of mercury. By contrast, vaccine manufacturers using thimerosal (a mercury containing compound) as the preservative are adding between 12.5 and 25 micrograms of mercury per dose of vaccine.
Thimerosal and Autism Thimerosal a preservative still used in the influenza vaccine contains a different form of mercury called ethylmercury. Studies comparing ethylmercury and methylmercury suggest that they are processed differently in the human body. Ethylmercury is broken down and excreted much more rapidly than methylmercury. Therefore, ethylmercury (the type of mercury in the influenza vaccine) is much less likely than methylmercury (the type of mercury in the environment) to accumulate in the body and cause harm.
I think scientists will find a much stronger link checking the parents DNA. Finding older parents, esp w/ the older mother's damaged mitochondrial DNA.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2008 9:11 Comments ||
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#4
I watched the medical testimony about this before congress, and no matter what medical people were testifying, they all drew the same conclusion: it's a numbers game.
That is, *any* vaccination is going to mess a small percentage of people up, one way or another. It is unavoidable.
HOWEVER, *not* vaccinating is going to be a hundred times worse, not just in death, but in lifelong impairment and terrible injury.
Every year the medical community has to *fight* to get children vaccinated, against parents who are afraid of needles, against parents who are utterly ignorant of the diseases being vaccinated against, and against the imbeciles who reject vaccination entirely because of religious or bizarre reasons, like the belief that if they are just filthy and septic enough, their immune system will protect them against all illness.
And were these fools just hurting themselves, they could be allowed to suffer and die for their foolishness. However, they put those whose vaccinations didn't take or didn't last at extreme risk as well.
The *only* reason vaccinations are combined is that more than one shot would befuddle even more parents.
And you could see the stressful frustration on the faces of all the medical people testifying.
"Yes, it may cause a few cases of autism. We don't know if it does, or why. But even talking about it is going to convince a lot of people that their children don't need vaccinations at all. And this means that tens or hundreds of thousands of children could face horrible injury or death."
#5
I love this shit...I heard the rumors about this over 2 years ago. So, finally, after another batch of infected children, we can take action.
Keep the gubmint out of my life pullease.
#7
That's a nomination for a Darwin Award, wxjames. Where would we be today without polio vaccinations, etc.? You are either very young or have a short memory.
#8
It's the Huffington Post. Research has been done that disproves the vaccine-autism link. The reason the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders has gone up is that more doctors, psychiatrists and therapists recognize the symptoms of high functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome as an actual disorder rather than mere social awkwardness or nerdiness... or ADHD, the medication for which makes things worse for autistics instead of better. Research in the past decade indicates that there are three times as many people in the high functioning range of the spectrum of autism disorders as there are those with the classic symptoms: non-verbal, non-responsive, repetitious rituals, and temper tantrums when prevented from doing what they want.
So more children and adolescents are getting the help they need, rather than becoming "that brilliant kid who dropped out of high school and never could keep a proper job". Mostly the help is overt training in recognizing social cues and learning the proper responses, because they simply don't recognize facial expressions and voice changes that signal how others are responding.
A decade ago an English girlfriend of mine had to move her family to London to get a proper diagnoses and treatment for her preschool-aged daughter with Asperger's, because that's where the only doctor in the country with expertise on subject has her practice. She had to send her daughter to an expensive public school in Surrey, because the community schools weren't able to work with her child. In contrast, my local high school in an outer suburb in the Midwest is willing to work to accommodate the needs of even mild Aspberger's in their students, and several of the local universities have professors in their psychology departments and medical schools teaching about the condition. Finally, most colleges and universities recognize high functioning autism and Asperger's syndrome as learning disabilities, and are willing to accommodate such students' needs. A big, big difference in just ten years.
#9
From his bio (always read the bio, especially in the Huffy) it sounds like the only subject I would listen to this guy about is his expertise on the inability to hold a steady job...
#10
Speaking of GWI syndrome the malaria drug I have been asked to take has a small line that states "Can bond to and or alter DNA" I found that very interesting. I showed it to my local doctor becuase I asked if there was something else that didn't do this. It may have a direct relation to the GWI syndrome. The vaccines taken in the 60's had roughly 21 componds today they are loaded with about 120. This concerns me greatly there maybe things going on with these that have not been seen yet. A link to autism I don't know. I would be more inclined to look at what is in Infamile and or the combination of vaccines and Infamile for cause and effect. I high dose of B12 and low B6 can lead to irreversable nerve damage and blindness. Looks like MS on a scan. Infamile is packed full of such vitamins.
Posted by: Ho Chi Theresh4727 ||
02/28/2008 11:10 Comments ||
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#11
Don't like the Huff but ask yourselves this. Why in the fuking hell would you put ANY kind of mercury in a child's shot? I know why the companies did it but quite frankly it is idiotic at best.
I can only hope that none of the other Burgers are dealing with an autistic child.
1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth -- the estimated number of cases of autism had increased fifteen fold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 children.
#13
You need the thimerosal because it's a preservative. You don't want to give poorly-preserved vaccines to children. The thimerosal kills bacteria, and does so for a long, long time, so that you can store and transport the vaccine.
From a scientific, technical point of view, the HuffPo article is a crock of shit. Technically speaking.
The incidence and prevalence of autism has increased because we recognize it better, and doctors are more able to make the diagnosis. Trailing wife has it exactly right. It has nothing to do with vaccines, mercury, power lines or the Builderbergers.
Failing to vaccinate children against devestating, common pediatric infections is a crime against society. Vaccination is part of public health 101. Everybody has to do it. My regrets to the very, very few who suffer a terrible side-effect (1 in about 3 million these days), but it has to be done.
You don't drink contaminated water. You don't eat rotten food. You don't poop in the streets.
And you don't go without your vaccinations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2008 16:06 Comments ||
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#14
The incidence and prevalence of autism has increased because we recognize it better, and doctors are more able to make the diagnosis.
I can understand this in terms of ADD/ADHD/ etc. But it is my understanding that the incidence of severe autism has increased dramatically, too. In the last few years we have seen the incidence of severe autism skyrocket. If the people who are now being diagnosed as autistic were pulled from those who were considered mentally retarded before, then we should be seeing the numbers of those who are mentally retarded plummet. But I don't think we are. Personally, I think something is going on, because even going by living memory, when people are able to review their pasts in light of the latest thinking, there seems to be more of a problem than 20 years ago. And the kids I've seen in the special ed classes today, who are far more numberous today than when I was growing up, would in no way fit into the classes I was in while growing up.
And although the HuffPo is usually, err, "questionable", it's hard to argue the fact that the court agreed that there was a link. Unless the guy totally screwed with what the case was all about, which I doubt.
In any case, it seems as though until further research is done, it might be better to skip the stuff that is riskier than developing autism, and to spread out what is necessary to take so the child doesn't get hammered by a too big a dose of whatever might be in those vaccinations.
#15
Iceriger, 1991, when the CDC and the FDA had recommended that three additional vaccines laced with the preservative be given to extremely young infants -- in one case, within hours of birth
In a lot of cases, within hours or days--makes little diff.
And that is the problem. An infant needs at least 4 months to develop internal defences and coping mechanisms, happens earlier when child is breastfed (by a healthy mother, no junkie), later when not. 6 months is the right time for the first batch of vaccines, followed by the second batch at the age of 12 months and the third at 20-24 months. That was was the case with me and look, I am almost normal! ;-)
I insisted on the same vaccination time schedule for both my daughters.
#16
I can't imagine why any healthy person would get a flu shot. Good grief - why not just get a bubble and put yourself inside it?
It certainly makes sense for elderly, sick, at risk, etc. to get their flu shots. But I decided never get a flu shot unless I needed one when they started having "shortages" and whipping up media hysteria over them, complete with pictures of people waiting outside in the cold to be in line for a flu shot.
The whole flu shot thing strikes me the same way that the human pamploma virus did - a big money project where lobbists are hired, television commercials are run and hysteria is manufactured all for the sake of billions of dollars in government contracts.
#17
Crease - I get a flu shot every year. I can't think why one wouldn't, except for an allergy to eggs. Aside from the fact that I don't want to miss work, and I really don't want to be sick as a gut-shot dog, I'm extremely susceptible to flu, bronchitis, etc.
It's your choice, of course, but I think I would be an idiot not to get one, so I plan on getting one when they first come out, and I take as much care as I can not to be exposed in the first place (including using Purell a lot and wearing a mask when picking up patients who even might have the flu or something else equally catching).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/28/2008 19:55 Comments ||
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#18
They put the preservatives in the vaccines so they have a longer shelf life while not refrigerated.
It's simply a cost saving measure that is completely unnecessary in this day and age.
#19
Barb, never got any flu shots and hopefully never will.
I can afford to be sick as a dog for 3 days every few years. It is priming my defenses. Don't have ny allergies except for sugar. And it seems that since I eliminated it from my diet, I can cope with flus/colds much better, it is gone within a day.
I often wondered why some were calling sugar a "white death". I do understnd now.
THE rebel LRA will not disarm and its leader Joseph Kony will not sign the final peace agreement next month unless the International Criminal Court lifts the indictments against him, negotiators said yesterday.
The LRA's chief negotiator, Dr David Nyekorach-Matsanga, told Daily Monitor in Juba that Kony would not come out of his hideout in the DR Congo as long as the indictments stand. "Kony gave me all the authority to negotiate on his behalf but if the ICC indictments are still in place, he said he would never, I repeat, never assemble," Dr Matsanga said yesterday.
The development comes a day after the rebels rejected a government proposal to sign a peace deal on March 6. They asked for more time to consult Kony.
A ceasefire agreed last Saturday remained with demobilisation as the only outstanding issue to finalise an agreement to end one of Africa's longest wars. Mediators had been forecasting a deal within days. About six heads of State are expected to witness the signing of the final peace deal to end northern Uganda's 21-year war between President Museveni and the LRA.
The government and the LRA debated the ICC issue for about 10 hours yesterday. The talks, said to have hit a stalemate, broke off at 5.30 am.
Kony and two other LRA commanders are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. According to the LRA position paper on the International Criminal Court's indictments; "The Government of Uganda shall request the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations to defer (for six months) all investigations and prosecutions of the leaders of the LRA. Its only then that... the LRA shall urgently assemble at Ri-Kwangba," the position paper reads in part.
This new demand has angered the government side, which flatly rejected it. "What we agreed on is the bare minimum. How can the Uganda Government go to the UN claiming to prosecute a man who is still on the run?" asked Capt. Chris Magezi, the delegation spokesman. "Uganda cannot make herself a laughing stock before the world. This is a stalemate," added Capt. Magezi.
Both sides have also accused each other of acting in disregard of Agenda Item three on Accountability and Reconciliation, which proposes the setting up of a special division of the High Court to try the LRA leaders. "The government is already violating the agreement we signed," Dr Matsanga claimed.
Former Mozambique President Joachim Chissano spent the entire Tuesday urging both sides to agree.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Kenya's opposition on Wednesday called off street protests to try and force a power-sharing deal, while President Mwai Kibaki said he would create the prime minister's post that his rivals have been seeking.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga and Kibaki have come under pressure from at home and abroad to compromise over Kibaki's disputed re-election in a December 27 vote, which sparked ethnic violence that killed 1,000 people and displaced 300,000.
Fears of further violence grew when Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) last week said they would take to the streets again, exerting the last real leverage they have over political talks between government and opposition negotiators. "We ... are committed to the talks. We have postponed until further notice any actions planned for tomorrow," Odinga told reporters, after meeting with mediator Kofi Annan who had asked him to call off the demonstrations.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Four hostages held by Colombian left-wing Farc rebels have been released, in a deal brokered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The hostages arrived in Venezuela after being handed over to a delegation sent by Mr Chavez at an undisclosed location in the Colombian jungle. They then flew on to the capital Caracas to be welcome by relatives.
Farc says it will not free more hostages until Colombia creates a demilitarised zone for peace talks. It hopes to swap some 40 remaining high-profile hostages it still holds for rebels in state jails.
The hostages, all former members of Congress, are Luis Eladio Perez, Gloria Polanco, Orlando Beltran and Jorge Gechem. The four were handed over to Venezuelan and Colombian politicians and Red Cross personnel, who had arrived in the jungle on two helicopters to collect them.
Video footage showed the hostages appearing, raising their hands in the air and embracing officials sent to pick them up. Venezuelan government spokesman Jesse Chacon said Mr Chavez had already spoken by phone to the released hostages.
Mr Chacon said he hoped the release "will help us continue advancing on the path to achieving liberations of the remainder and of course to what we all yearn for: peace in Colombia".
The helicopters took the hostages back to Venezuela, where they were transferred onto private planes for the flight on to Caracas.
Ties between Colombia and Venezuela have been strained in recent months. But last month, Mr Chavez helped broker a deal to free two hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez, who were picked up by Venezuelan helicopters from Colombian territory and flown on to Caracas to be reunited with their waiting families.
The release will raise hopes that more hostages might be freed, among them French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three US defence contractors. One of the freed hostages, Luis Eladio Perez, said Ms Betancourt was in "extremely tough straits".
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Wednesday's release was a "powerful encouragement" in the task of freeing the remaining captives.
US state department spokesman Tom Casey welcomed the move, but said it was "reprehensible" that the Farc was continuing to hold hostages.
Farc rebels are also thought to be holding several hundred other hostages, many of whom were taken for ransom to help fund rebel operations.
Prague- The Czech Senate will again propose members of an anti-communist resistance group led by brothers Josef and Ctirad Masin for state decorations this year, for the fifth time in a row, Senate Chairman Premysl Sobotka (senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS) told.
The fact that Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (ODS) will present a prime minister's medal to Josef Masin at the Czech embassy in Washington today changes nothing about this, Sobotka said.
In the past, the awarding of state decorations to the Masin brothers was repeatedly supported by ODS senators, senators from the Open Democracy Club and from the SNK (Independents) group, while left-wing senators were against it.
Senator Martin Mejstrik (for Path of Change) told CTK today that he would certainly vote for the awarding of six members of the group. However, he added that he did not expect President Vaclav Klaus to change his view and endorse the proposal for their decoration.
Josef and Ctirad Masins and Milan Paumer, a member of their resistance group, managed to fight their way from Czechoslovakia to West Germany in the autumn of 1953. On the run they killed two policemen and a cashier in their homeland and later three East German policemen.
Czech society is still divided on the Masins. Their critics often call them killers for this, but their supporters point out that sometimes it is necessary to fight for freedom and democracy using arms.
Both Masin brothers have been living in the United States for a long time. They have not visited their homeland since the fall of the regime in 1989 because they say the Czech society has not yet reconciled itself with its communist past. The Czech communists are going nuts over this, of course.
The Wikipedia article on the Masin brothers is here.
Barack Obama has ratcheted up his attacks on NAFTA, but a senior member of his campaign team told a Canadian official not to take his criticisms seriously, CTV News has learned.
Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have been critical of the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement over the course of the Democratic primaries, saying that the deal has cost U.S. workers' jobs.
Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama's campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA, according to Canadian sources. The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be campaign rhetoric, and should not be taken at face value.
But Tuesday night in Ohio, where NAFTA is blamed for massive job losses, Obama said he would tell Canada and Mexico "that we will opt out unless we renegotiate the core labour and environmental standards." Late Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign said the staff member's warning to Wilson sounded implausible, but did not deny that contact had been made. "Senator Obama does not make promises he doesn't intend to keep," the spokesperson said.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2008 12:00 ||
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The Obama campaign denies this, and the Canadian Embassy in the U.S. denies this. Then again, did anyone expect the Ambassador's office to come out and say, "yes, I will confirm this tremendously damaging report about Senator Obama several days before contests where he could effectively wrap-up the nomination, and thus ensure that I, my embassy, and my country are on the you-know-what list of a man who is potentially the next U.S. President"?
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2008 13:34 Comments ||
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*The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from a network of tower-mounted sensors and surveillance gear, federal officials said yesterday. Technical problems discovered in a 28-mile pilot project south of Tucson prompted the change in plans, Department of Homeland Security officials and congressional auditors told a House subcommittee.
*The virtual fence was to complement a physical fence that the administration now says will include 370 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers to be completed by the end of this year. The GAO said this portion of the project may also be delayed and that its total cost cannot be determined. The president's 2009 budget does not propose funds to add fencing beyond the 700 or so miles meant to be completed this year.
There will never, ever, ever be a fence of any sort, real or "virtual". The drug cartels will continue donating to politician's kids' college funds as long as required to keep that border open for drug smuggling.
#8
Hundreds of millions of dollars and friggin bureaucrats can't even erect a decent Potemkin village these days. They just don't hire semi-competent petty foggers like they used to.
#9
why don't they just build the freak'n fence like we instructed them to? I really don't think that our Senators and congressmen understand that they are our servants, not our masters.
Politicians vote to build a fence but no money is allocated to build it. The threat of the fence is enough to cause the drug cartels to instruct their minions here in the US to begin pouring donations into political campaigns. Congress then leaves the funding out of the appropriation bill.
Next year it will be the same thing. As long as the politicians get paid off by the drug cartels, they will never vote to build the fence. Note that these donations wouldn't be coming direct from the drug cartels, they would come in the form of dozens of maximum individual donations.
. . . Several months earlier, Mrs. Clinton had sponsored legislation to provide billions in new federal incentives for ethanol, and, especially in her home state of New York, she has worked to foster a business climate that favors the sort of ethanol investments pursued by her husbands friends and her political supporters.
One potential beneficiary is the Yucaipa Companies, a private equity firm where Mr. Clinton has been a senior adviser and whose founder, Mr. Burkle, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Mrs. Clintons campaigns. Yucaipa has invested millions in Cilion Inc. a start-up venture also backed by Mr. Branson, the British entrepreneur, and Mr. Khosla, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist that is building seven ethanol plants around the country. Two are in upstate New York.
A Cilion executive said Mrs. Clintons office had been helpful to the company as it pursued its New York projects. More broadly, by steering federal money, organizing investor forums and offering the services of her staff, she has helped turn the upstate region into an incubator for ventures like Cilions, while providing a useful showcase for her energy proposals on the campaign trail.
Certainly Mrs. Clinton is doing what would be expected of a senator trying to stimulate a sagging rural economy in her home state, not to mention a presidential candidate mindful of the importance of ethanol in corn-producing places like Iowa. But her actions take on an added dimension when they intersect with Mr. Clintons philanthropic and profit-making endeavors, which have periodically raised questions as Mrs. Clinton seeks the Democratic nomination for president. . . .
Note, also, the timing of this. The NYT runs it just as the conventional wisdom has Hillary! faltering in Ohio and Texas as Obama! delivers the final killing blow to her presidential aspirations.
Why was no one running stories on Hillary!'s possible conflicts of interest six months ago when she was the "inevitable" nominee? It may be that the NYT didn't have the story back then. It may also be something else. I dunno.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2008 09:13 ||
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Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must keep the captive ignorant educationally, but trained sufficiently well to serve the system. Also, the captors must be able to identify the talented tenth of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captors control.
Those so identified as separated from the rest of the people by:
Killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another.
Placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.
Seducing them into a socioeconomic class system which while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of we and they instead of us.
So, while it is permissible to chase middle-incomeness with all our might, we must avoid the third separation method-the psychological entrapment of Black middleclassness: If we avoid the snare, we will also diminish our voluntary contributions to methods A and B. And more importantly, Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright, the leadership, resourcefulness, and example of their own talented persons.
Breathtakingly racist.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2008 08:06 ||
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#1
The guilt, the agony, the pain.... why couldn't I have just been born.... half black BLACK????
Hit piece #2 from the NYT
WASHINGTON The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up and become president? In the case of Senator John McCain of Arizona, the issue is becoming more than a matter of parental daydreaming.
Mr. McCains likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a natural-born citizen can hold the nations highest office. More at link
Wouldn't it be ironic for a first generation American descendant of Kenya's Nilotic tribe to meet the constitutional requirements for president while the son of a US Naval officer and his American wife posted in the Canal Zone would not qualify.
#2
Reason would seem to dictate; but reason often takes a holiday in Washington. McCain's father was in the service of his country. His father had little to say about where duty to his country would take him.
Someone is just stirring up trouble in raising the question. What if you were born in another country because your father or mother was in the diplomatic corp? Or your parents were simply traveling to another country and you are born in that foreign country. I don't think this issue will pass the smell test if it ever hits the courts.
#3
Plain and simple - its another partisan snipe by the NYT to instill Fear Uncertainty and Doubt about McCain in the mind of the public, and to aid the Democrats.
The NYT has become an organ of the Democratic party - I'll leave it up to you to determine which organ.
And thus they should should now be subject to campaign finance reform laws that limit political speech (the very laws they backed).
#4
Someone NYT is just stirring up trouble in raising the question.
After further reading on the matter(H/T Lucianne), I found this at Sweetness and Light:
As usual, the Constitution provides the framework for the law, but it is the law that fills in the gaps. Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in those gaps. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are citizens of the United States at birth:
Anyone born inside the United States
Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the persons status as a citizen of the tribe Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.
Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.
S&L concluded with four good questions:
Why did the New York Times even bring up the question? Are they really that uninformed? That lazy? Or are they desperately trying to change the subject?
The United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama's spiritual home, is in hot water with the Internal Revenue Service over a speech Obama gave to its national convention last June. The IRS has notified the UCC that it has opened an investigation into Obama's address at the UCC's 2007 General Synod in Hartford, Conn., the UCC said yesterday.
According to a copy of an IRS letter that the church received Monday, the IRS is launching the inquiry "because reasonable belief exists that the United Church of Christ has engaged in political activities that could jeopardize its tax-exempt status."
Under federal law, churches are barred from becoming directly or indirectly involved in campaigns of political candidates.
According to a text of the speech posted on the church's Web site, Obama promised to sign a universal health care bill in his first term as president, and he denounced the Iraq war. "I have a plan that would have already begun redeploying our troops with the goal of bringing all our combat brigades home by March 31st of next year" according to the text. He also said "our conscience cannot rest" until genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan is stopped and 12 million illegal immigrants get a chance to earn their citizenship.
An IRS spokesperson declined to comment. But a UCC spokesman, the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, said the investigation is "disturbing news." "We went to great lengths to make sure no laws were broken," he said.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2008 00:43 ||
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#1
How about also investigating the purchase of Michelle's mansion and the sources of the Chicago prophets campaign donations.
Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and an icon of the U.S. civil rights movement, switched his support on Wednesday from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama for his party's presidential nomination.
Making the announcement just days before the crucial Democratic primaries in Ohio and Texas, Lewis noted that his constituents back Obama, an Illinois senator, and that it was his "duty ... to express the will of the people."
Clinton had hoped that Lewis, a black who was severely beaten during civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s, would help her win the support of black voters. If he wins the White House, Obama would be the first black U.S. president.
Previously, Lewis said he was supporting Clinton, a New York senator, for the Democratic presidential nomination. "Something is happening in America," Lewis said in a statement explaining his shift. "The people are pressing for a new day in American politics and I think they see Sen. Barack Obama as a symbol of that change."
Lewis' announcement added to a series of campaign setbacks for Clinton, who once was considered the likely Democratic nominee for president.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Campaign committees controlled by Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have donated at least $890,000 to the campaigns of superdelegates, according to a report by a group that tracks money in politics. Obama donated the largest amount, about $694,000, to those campaigns in the past three years, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Clinton donated $195,500. Appears she's behind in her giving. Now someone please tell me where he's managed to come up with all of that money over the past three years?
#4
I speak the truth and vow before God
And before this movement,
The movement of Unity,
The Unity which is put to the test
The Unity that is mocked with the name of Mau Mau,
That I shall go forward to fight for the land,
The lands of Kirinyaga that we cultivated,
The lands which were taken by the Europeans.
And if I fail to do this
May this oath kill me...
I speak the truth and vow before our God:
If I am called to go to fight the enemy
Or to kill the enemy I shall go,
Even if the enemy be my father or mother,
My brother or sister
And if I refuse
Damn those Russians are good. They've already pocketed a cool 1.5 billion dollars from the Indians and the ship is still rusting away. Now they get another billion, four more years and ... get this... the Indians have to send their own workers
New Delhi: India has given in to Russia's demand for a staggering price hike for the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
India will now pay almost an additional $1 billion over the agreed price of $1.5 billion. In yet another blow, Russia has also told India that the aircraft carrier will not be delivered before 2012, that's four years behind the schedule as laid out in the contract.
The 45,000-tonne displacement carrier was to be delivered to India by August this year as per a $1.5 billion contract signed in 2004, but Russia stunned India in November last by demanding $1.2 billion more for refitting and other works.
India capitulated to Russia's terms during Defence Secretary Vijay Singh's recent visit to Moscow. Singh denied reports that Russia wanted to cancel the contract, but admitted that Moscow demanded a 'reaffirmation' from New Delhi on this deal.
The Gorshkov was phased out of the Russian Navy over 15 years back. Under the initial deal, the hull of the Soviet-built aircraft carrier Baku, re-christened 'Admiral of the Fleet Gorshkov' after the Soviet collapse, was transferred to the Indian Navy free of cost with a condition that it will be modernised at Russian shipyard and equipped with MiG-29K fighters.
During his recent visit to India last week, Russian Prime Minister Viktor A Zubkov is understood to have discussed the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid reports that New Delhi is willing to cough up up to $600 million extra.
Moscow has last week threatened to walk out of the deal over the ongoing price dispute. Delhi had termed it as a blackmailing tactic by Moscow.
================================
New Delhi, Feb. 27: India has offered to send an army of workers from its shipyards to Russia to help salvage the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier it contracted for its navy four years ago for $1.5 billion.
The unprecedented offer to send the workers was made because the Indian Navy is all at sea with worries that the absence of the carrier will impact on its force levels.
Indias only carrier, the INS Viraat, is due to be decommissioned by the time the Gorshkov is readied. Its indigenous air-defence ship, now being made at Kochi, would also not be available before the middle of the next decade at the earliest.
The Gorshkov is all but grounded at Russias Sevmash shipyard where a shortage of labour has combined with slothful procedures to disrupt the delivery schedule. The earliest the Indian Navy can look forward to having the ship is 2012, four years behind the agreed timeline. To compound the navys problems, Moscow has also demanded an additional $1.2 billion.
The offer to send nearly 500 Indian workers and technicians to Sevmash was made by defence secretary Vijay Singh during a visit to Russia as the head of a delegation last week.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/28/2008 10:47 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"SQUASH IT"
U.S. defense officials, however, denied a report that India wanted the United States to give it the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier in exchange for New Delhi's agreement to purchase American F-18 fighters.
"Squash it," one senior official, speaking en route to New Delhi, said of the report.
"I will fall on my sword, I will hurl myself out of this airplane if there is any truth to this stupid story."
Posted by: john frum ||
02/28/2008 10:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Russia has also told India that the aircraft carrier will not be delivered before 2012, or after 2039....
The Air Force is tightening restrictions on which blogs its troops can read, cutting off access to just about any independent site with the word "blog" in its web address. It's the latest move in a larger struggle within the military over the value -- and hazards -- of the sites. At least one senior Air Force official calls the squeeze so "utterly stupid, it makes me want to scream."
Until recently, each major command of the Air Force had some control over what sites their troops could visit, the Air Force Times reports. Then the Air Force Network Operations Center, under the service's new "Cyber Command," took over...
#1
"Basically ... if it's a place like The New York Times, an established, reputable media outlet, then it's fairly cut and dry that that's a good source, an authorized source," he said ...
#2
Thank goodness. Now airmen can go, without distraction, to the NYT and learn they have already lost the war and are suicidal baby killers.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2008 9:15 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Site You Are Trying To Access Is Blocked
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This network is maintained as a weapon system. Use of this network
constitutes consent to monitoring. (AFI 33-129 Para 2.1 - 2.2.14)
Category of Blocked URL: Newsgroups/Forums;Society/Daily Living
Requested URL: www.rantburg.com
If the site you are trying to access is for OFFICIAL BUSINESS
please fill out a Blue Coat exception request form:
#6
Give me time er, I mean there is a problem with censorship. I find that most institutions are run by mild mannered wimps at the top. This is the result of prolonged censorship. Under most commands, General Patton would be a busted private. The only way to stand above the acceptable, average, and dull is to allow radical expression.
Remember, they nailed Jesus to a cross, and all he was doing was healing people without a PHD.
#7
They should be forced to list who is being censored so that we can see if the monitor is allowing the Dem underground and blocking sites like rantburg.
#8
so that we can see if the monitor is allowing the Dem underground and blocking sites like rantburg.
Nope, DU, Rantburg and pretty much every well known blog are blocked on most DoD nets as well as anything with "blog" in the address. Of course, there are ways......
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2008 18:55 Comments ||
Top||
BAGHDAD, Iraq The Pentagon and Marine Corps authorized the purchase of 84,000 bulletproof vests in 2006 that not only are too heavy but are so impractical that some U.S. Marines are asking for their old vests back so they can remain agile enough to fight.
Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway wants to know who authorized the costly purchase of the nearly 30-pound flak jackets and has ordered the Marine procurement officers at the Quantico base in Virginia to halt the rest of an unfilled order, FOX News has learned. "Im not quite sure how we got to where we are, but what I do know is it is not a winner," Conway told FOX News at the end of his recent trip to Iraq.
Twenty-four thousand more vests were scheduled to be shipped to Iraq in the coming months, but Conway halted that order during his trip.
Continued on Page 49
#2
Now can they start working with the dragonskin armor? I've heard it may have a problem with the heat, but with some concerted effort, if it is a problem, I'll bet they can fix it.
#3
Michael Yon doesn't like the Dragonskin (but RB's very own Old Spook does, IIRC), and as far as the heat and assorted issues go, it is my understanding from Defense review and similar website this was mainly the DOD rigging the test and muddying the water for its own reasons.
Still, even if the Dragonskin itself is not the panacea, I can't help to wonder why the reasoning that went into its conception is not used to steer modern body armor design in other directions, getting inspiration from the very long tradition of ancient armors to get better mobility, better weight distribution, rather than sticking trauma plates in the front and back. Anyway, sooner or later, new materials will allow improved protection and/or weight reduction, so general design should make benefit of this.
#4
That Navy SEAL guy on the Military Channel went out and played with some Dragonskin. He must have shot it 50 times and it didn't penetrate. Some of it was 7.62mm! Then he got the bright idea of using the same shot-up armor and setting it up over a grenade to see if it could absorb a blast if someone had to throw themselves on a grenade. It did. Of course, there's no way on earth it would be good for anything but a souvenier after that, but I defy anything else to even come close to that level of performance. The ceramic stuff would crack after the first round or two and isn't flexible at all. IIRC, he had the head of LA SWAT there and he was absolutely floored by the stuff.
Why didn't Michael Yon like it? I understood he wore Dragonskin over there quite a bit. Am I wrong? Any other problems with the Dragonskin? Any other armor out there that is any kind of contender?
#5
That is the problem with armor, it slows you down. The slower you are, the more you become a target. I wouldn't mind really heavy armor if I was at a stationary guard post and snipers were around, but for all other purposes I would not wear armor.
#6
The Pentagon and Marine Corps authorized the purchase of 84,000 bulletproof vests in 2006 that not only are too heavy but are so impractical that some U.S. Marines are asking for their old vests back so they can remain agile enough to fight.
Someone is skipping over all the hysterics performed by the anti-war Copperhead Donks and their lapdogs in the MSM about body armor back then which was never really about about the grunt but only meant to blister Bush. [Governor William J. Le Petomane: We've gotta protect our phoney baloney jobs, gentlemen! - Blazing Saddles]
#7
Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway wants to know who authorized the costly purchase
A telling, but not surprising admission. Followed the field testing closely did he?>
Conway wasn't Commandant when this purchase was authorized. He was running J3 - ops.
Conway's no desk warrior. He was a combatant commander twice in Iraq - in the initial assault and runup to Baghdad and in Anbar at Fallujah - and before that in Desert Storm and before that off of Lebanon during the Beirut bombing in 83.
#8
The extra weight comes from the side, deltoid and throat armor. I believe the new chest and back SAPI plates actually weight a bit less. Those (and the groin plate) can be removed, but higher ups may not allow it due to possible bad press. You can't defeat Monday Morning quarterbacks.
United States Marine Corps forensic study concluded that the Interceptor OTV body armor system was inadequate, noting that "as many as 42% of the Marine casualties who died from isolated torso injuries could have been prevented with improved protection in the areas surrounding the plated areas of the vest. Nearly 23% might have benefited from protection along the mid-axillary line of the lateral chest. Another 15% died from impacts through the unprotected shoulder and upper arm ...".
By late 2005 Marine Corps Systems Command was fielding both the Enhanced SAPI plate, with a greater degree of ballistic protection, and a new Interceptor system with additional SAPI plates to protect the sides of the torso from small arms fire. Four levels of add-on armor are now available for the Interceptor that offer the same degree of ballistic protection as the OTV for extremities, including the neck, shoulders, arms, groin and legs. The new armor can be configured for specific mission requirements and covers up to 75 percent of the body with four levels of add-on armor with ballistic protection for extremities, including the neck, shoulders, arms, groin and legs.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2008 8:45 Comments ||
Top||
#9
There has never been, and there will probably never be, armor that is good in all times and all places.
Most people think that traditional metal armor's day ended with the advent of the gun, but that is not entirely true. It ended with the advent of the epee. Someone skilled in its use could poke through every joint in armor so fast that it was no contest.
From that point, it was far more desirable to have no armor, but wear tightly woven garments, that while they couldn't stop a poke, could reduce a slash, a potentially far more dangerous wound.
In turn, this was what opened up the development of the hand gun and musket.
As far as the US military is concerned, it needs three different types of armor. Offensive, defensive and casual.
Offensive must be light, and "forward oriented", and should include things like face and rifle mounted shields. Defensive is much heavier, and designed to resist the enemies weapons. Casual is light, and meant for rear areas where there is still risk of indirect enemy fire.
Police and other usage is usually 12 hours or so at the most, then its hung up, cleaned and aired out in a cool armory or air conditioned home.
I've worn it 48 hours at a time, but not in hot conditions (it was autumn and winter).
What I gather is that its really not as durable as it needs to be for military use, and there are some quality issues since they ramped production.
From ops guys in the field, extended wear in rough conditions (72+ hours straight, in and out of water and heat) after a dozen or more cycles tends to wear it out (loose scales, seams loosening, etc). In terms of the field, that means after a couple months of typical combat usage you will start to see problems.
So I can understand where DoD had some issues, aside from the personal animus some pentagon deskbound paper pushing REMF had of being ticky-tack with the testing, and not helping them correct their problems like they do with normal contractors. Usually if there is a no-go, they will tell them why, and usually point out the problem and give them ideas on how to fix it. The testing guys are good like that on a lot of things, because they have seen a lot of stuff and have insight into failures and how to fix them. They did not extend that courtesy to the DS guys from what was told.
Bottom line:
Making a couple thousand pieces of body armor a year for police, SoF and private purchase is one thing, making a hundred thousand of them quickly for military use is something different, and lack of quality processes and experience will get you every time when you try to scale up.
See also how this ebay sell made a bit of a stir (I take this was the same one), but since Yon is an embedded freelance reporter, and not a soldier selling gvt issues, this was most probably much ado about nothing.
#14
Abdominal: I'm so used to tinyurl.com that I catch myself using it as an original source link, which makes the mods blue and sad. However, inline text it's no problem.
Fortunately my photobucket links are not so long as to create a margin problem.
#15
Telling remark from an article on the testing:
"here were reportedly many penetrations on various environmentally conditioned vest units."
And there you have it - just what I was talking about above. Also there are some remarks about bullet angles being designed to specifically hit it at its weakest point, but to get there with DS requires someone to be shooting you from underneath and at a 30-45 degree angle from the straight down vertical. If you are taking shots like that, you are more likely to catch a round in your feet or ass. So I do question the validity/utility of that particular test.
It's more a matter of the adhesive attaching the plates and keeping them in place, and the fabric they used itself.
OS: I think you're looking at the diagram wrong. I could be mistaken, but I think in the diagram on the third link I posted, right is towards the top of the vest, not the bottom.
#22
The first generation of dragonskin was titanium, and it was pretty heavy. They then went to ceramic, which is lighter than titanium for a given level of protection.
The dollar fell to a fresh record low against the euro on Wednesday as Ben Bernanke signalled that the Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rates again next month.
The single European currency breached $1.51 after the Fed chairman made it clear that the US central bank remained firmly focused on the risks to growth, in spite of some increase in inflation risk following a run of bad price reports.
The Fed will act in a timely manner as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks, Mr Bernanke told Congress. The Fed has cut rates five times since last summer, taking rates down from 5.25 per cent at the beginning of August to the current level of 3 per cent.
However, Mr Bernanke said rate cuts to date had only had limited effect in easing overall financial conditions, in particular in the housing market. It has been very difficult to lower long-term mortgage rates through Fed action, he said, adding what we have done has been mostly just to offset the tightening of credit that would otherwise have taken place.
Mr Bernanke said risk spreads had increased and in recent weeks there had been some backing up in longer-term Treasury rates, together muting the impact of Fed easing. He said the US was experiencing an increasingly broad-based slowdown. Consumer spending appears to have slowed significantly while the business sector has also displayed signs of being affected by the difficulties in the housing and credit markets. Moreover, nonresidential construction is likely to decelerate sharply in coming quarters, he said.
Warning that the risks to this outlook remain to the downside, the Fed chairman highlighted a number of threats to growth. The housing market or labour market may deteriorate more than is currently anticipated and credit conditions may tighten substantially further.
In contrast, there were risks in both directions to inflation, although recent increases in commodity prices and the bad inflation numbers suggest slightly greater upside risks to prices than the Fed perceived last month.
While the prospect of more rate cuts put pressure on the dollar, gold and oil set new highs and stocks and Treasury bonds traded in a volatile manner.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[6 views]
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#1
Rate cuts tend to make the stock market go up because it takes more of the devalued dollars to buy the same asset.
#2
Closed their eyes to the inflation the rest of us who actually do shopping and purchasing are witnessing right now, just to make Wall Street happy, till the proverbial s**t hits the fan. Wait till all those mandated 'Cost of Living' increases in Social Security, et al kick in and watch the deficit skyrocket. When they do apply the breaks, its going to be hard, not soft.
#3
That's OK, as a major exporting country we shouldn't cry ourselves to sleep over a weak dollar. I was shopping online the other day for some weightlifting supplements and about crapped my pants when I saw the prices from the UK based stores. Now my little purchase alone probably isn't going to cripple the UK economy, but 300 million other people must have the same reaction of alarm when they see prices in Euro or British Pounds.
#5
Who knows Glenmore, you may hit the lotto or something between now and then. I cant imagine what a hotel room would cost, I can't even afford a bottle of British Creatine capsules.
#6
It is my humble opinion, and I have nothing to back it up, is that the socialist economics that the two democratic presidential hopefuls are pushing, and the constant drum of the economy sucks by the msm is what is causing both the stock market and the dollar to decline.
Muslims constitute 0.6 percent of Americas population of 310.1 million, or 1.86 million, a new survey has shown. Muslim groups all along have claimed their US population to be around 6 million.
Hindus account for 0.4 percent, or 1.24 million, while Jews number 1.7 percent or 5.27 million of the countrys population. The extensive new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life details the religious affiliation of the American public and explores the shifts taking place in Americas religious landscape.
Mormons and Muslims are the groups with the largest families: more than one-in-five Mormon adults and 15 percent of Muslim adults in the US have three or more children living at home. Nearly half of Hindus in the US, one-third of Jews and a quarter of Buddhists have obtained post-graduate education, compared with only about one-in-ten of the adult population overall. Hindus and Jews are also much more likely than other groups to report high-income levels.
Muslims, roughly two-thirds of whom are immigrants, now account for roughly 0.6 percent of the US adult population and Hindus, more than eight-in-ten of whom are foreign born, now account for approximately 0.4 percent of the population Even smaller religions in the US reflect considerable internal diversity. Muslims were found to be divided equally into Sunni and Shia groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#2
Well, we can work on that number and try to get it down. It's rapidly approaching reconquista time folks. They'd be happier in Canada anyway. Wait, I guess I'd be happier if they were in canada anyway. But for some reason I suspect that the Gov. is going to want to throw the doors open and let in a flood of mooks when they see this number, much too low to suit them I'm sure.
#3
The most comprehensive of the US muslim population survey in 2002 listed 1.89 million. In addition 50,000 or so muslims are still allowed to immigrate to the US. Then their are refugees (e.g. Somali) and high birthrates (3/female). This implies either US muslims are leaving islam in droves or refusing to identify themselves as muslim.
Posted by: ed ||
02/28/2008 9:31 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I've heard from some friends that many who came from Persia to the US have left Islam (apparently most persians in the LA area fit in this category).
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
THE rebel LRA will not disarm and its leader Joseph Kony will not sign the final peace agreement next month unless the International Criminal Court lifts the indictments against him, negotiators said yesterday.
.
CTV Canada
*The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from a network of tower-mounted sensors and surveillance gear, federal officials said yesterday. Technical problems discovered in a 28-mile pilot project south of Tucson prompted the change in plans, Department of Homeland Security officials and congressional auditors told a House subcommittee.
BAGHDAD, Iraq The Pentagon and Marine Corps authorized the purchase of 84,000 bulletproof vests in 2006 that not only are too heavy but are so impractical that some U.S. Marines are asking for their old vests back so they can remain agile enough to fight.
The dollar fell to a fresh record low against the euro on Wednesday as Ben Bernanke signalled that the Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rates again next month.
