First-episode controversy: The vaccine-autism link

By Janet Kornblum, USA TODAY

The premiere episode of Eli Stone, in which a mother wins a $5.2 million lawsuit charging her son got autism from a vaccine, is stirring controversy before it airs.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling on ABC to cancel the show, saying in a statement that it leaves audiences "with the destructive idea that vaccines do cause autism."

ABC Entertainment rejected the request in a statement Monday, reminding viewers that the show is fictional: "The story line plays on topical issues for dramatic effect, but its purpose is to entertain."

Still, the academy, an organization of 60,000 pediatricians, is "alarmed that this program could lead to a tragic decline in immunization rates," said president Renée Jenkins in a letter to Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group.

The letter — and an article criticizing that letter posted Sunday night and circulating Monday on huffingtonpost.com — is rekindling the emotional debate about vaccines and autism.

Some advocacy groups believe the preservative thimerosal, which contains mercury and once was routinely used in childhood vaccinations, is linked to autism or other brain deficits.

But several medical studies have concluded there is no link. A large study reported in September in the New England Journal of Medicine found no link between babies' exposure to the controversial vaccine preservative and the development of problems in language, behavior or intelligence.

Jenkins says even a fictional show might frighten parents away from immunizations, which routinely save lives. In the letter, she said ABC "will bear responsibility for the needless suffering and potential deaths of children from parents' decisions not to immunize based on the content of the episode."

David Kirby, author of the Huffington blog post and of the book Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy, criticizes the letter, saying in his the post that it "borders on near-hysteria over a fictional television entertainment."

"I don't have all the answers," he adds in an interview, "and my job is to keep asking questions. Definitely the jury is very much out" on any autism-vaccine link.

But the jury is not out, counters Paul Offitt, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. There have been more than a dozen epidemiological studies and none proves a link, he says. "I only hope that people see this as the fantasy that it is."

ABC says it will refer viewers to the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the end of the program.

British PM Wants to Build a "New World Order"

Ann Shibler
JBS
Tuesday January 29, 2008

Gordon Brown wants to shake things up in the UN Security Council in order to create a "new world order" and "global society."

Follow this link to the original source: "Brown's secret talks on 'new world order'"

During a two-day trip to India (with another two days in China), British Prime Minister Gordon Brown revealed his agenda for altering the UN’s power structure. Twice he underscored India’s bid for a permanent place on what he proposes to be an expanded UN Security Council, thereby assuring “India’s rightful place” in a new world order.

More must be done, Brown said, "to make our global institutions more representative." And, "I support changes to the IMF, World Bank, and the G8 that reflect the rise of India and Asia," he continued. Citing India’s explosive economic growth — due in large part to bad U.S. foreign trade policies — he said, "dramatic and seismic shifts in economy, culture and communication are coming to revolutionise the global distribution of wealth, status, power and influence and creating the world anew."

According to the New Zealand Herald, "Brown has begun secret talks with other world leaders on far-reaching reform of the United Nations Security Council as part of a drive to create a ‘new world order’ and ‘global society’." He is proposing that the UN Security Council’s original five countries be augmented with the addition of India, Germany, Japan, Brazil and one or two African nations not yet specified. His proposal, reportedly under intense discussion with leaders from both India and China, would not include veto power for the newly added countries — at least initially.

Under the pretext of promoting peace and stability he also unveiled a plan for the UN to spend £100 million ($257 million) a year on setting up a "rapid reaction force" to stop "failed states" sliding back into chaos after a peace deal has been reached. "There is limited value in military action to end fighting if law and order does not follow," he said when justifying his plan. "So we must do more to ensure rapid reconstruction on the ground once conflicts are over and combine traditional humanitarian aid and peace-keeping with stabilisation, recovery and development."

While that sounds good, it is important to have a clear-eyed view of the UN. Since its inception, the world has not been a peaceful place. Yet, the organization’s founders and its subsequent supporters have maintained that the purpose of the world body is to eliminate war and promote peace. At this it has manifestly failed. Yet people like the British prime minister suggest that the solution is to give the organization more power and control. Decades of experience, however, strongly suggest the opposite course of action: A peaceful world would be one without the UN.

Big Brother tapping our phones and emails 1,000 times a day

NICK MCDERMOTT
UK Daily Mail
Tuesday January 29, 2008

Britain is closer to becoming a Big Brother society after it was revealed the security services and other agencies requested permission to carry out almost 1,000 bugging operations a day.

In total, the intelligence services, plus police forces, local authorities and agencies such as the serious fraud office made 253,500 requests for phone taps, the interception of emails or post in the final nine months of 2006.

Those being bugged range from suspected terrorists to potential illegal flytippers who are being monitored by councils using increasingly sophisticated surveillance to catch them breaking the law.

The report, by the Interception of Communications Commissioner Sir Paul Kennedy - a former appeal court judge - found that more than 1,000 bugging operations had been flawed.

In some instances, innocent people had their phones tapped due to administrative errors.

With Britain already possessing the highest density of CCTV cameras per person anywhere in the world, Labour MP David Winnick, a member of the Commons home affairs committee, said greater legal protection is needed to prevent abuse of surveillance powers.

He said: "Most of these operations are needed and done for good reasons, but the numbers do raise concerns about the safeguards we have put in place to protect people from constant intrusion."

Communications data has provided crucial evidence which has led to the arrest and conviction of kidnappers, rapists and paedophiles, helped prevent murders and gather intelligence on terrorism at home and abroad, the report stated.

But Sir Paul said telephone taps and other 'intercept' material should not be used in court cases, with any benefits of a change in the law 'heavily outweighed' by the disadvantages.

The Conservatives and other groups including civil rights group Liberty have argued that permitting intercept evidence in court would help convict more terrorists, as well as other serious criminals.

But the security services oppose the move because they fear it could expose their spying techniques and capabilities.

In the nine months to the end of 2006, 122 councils sought to obtain private communications in more than 1,600 cases.

Full article here.

Bush: US will 'confront' Iran if necessary

Ynet News
Tuesday January 29, 2008

WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush warned Iran Monday that the United States will "confront those who threaten our troops" and defend its allies and interests in the Gulf.

In his last State of the Union before a hostile, Democratic-led Congress eager for the end of his term next January, Bush also urged Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, embrace political reforms, and "cease your support for terror abroad."

"But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf," he said.

Bush's ability to rally international support against Iran has been diminished by a US Intelligence report that Tehran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Turning his attention to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Bush said, "We are also standing against the forces of extremism in the Holy Land, where we have new cause for hope. Palestinians have elected a president (Mahmoud Abbas) who recognizes that confronting terror is essential to achieving a state where his people can live in dignity and at peace with Israel. Israelis have leaders who recognize that a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state will be a source of lasting security.

"This month in Ramallah and Jerusalem, I assured leaders from both sides that America will do, and I will do, everything we can to help them achieve a peace agreement that defines a Palestinian state by the end of this year," he said. "The time has come for a Holy Land where a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine live side-by-side in peace."

On Iraq, Bush was in a better position than a year ago, when he implored skeptical Americans to embrace his plan to send thousands more troops to Iraq.

"Our enemies in Iraq have been hit hard," he said. "They have not been defeated, and we can still expect tough fighting ahead."

He announced no new troop reductions despite continuing calls from Democrats for a withdrawal timetable, something polls show most Americans want as well.

Bush's seventh State of the Union speech was a chance to set the tone for his waning months in the White House and try to salvage his frayed legacy before he leaves in January 2009.

Full article here.

Russia Air, Ground Forces to conduct joint drills in April

RIA Novosti
Tuesday January 29, 2008

Units of Russia's Air Force and Ground Forces will conduct a joint exercise in the country's Caspian region in April 2008, a senior military official said on Tuesday.

"The exercise will focus on rehearsing command and control of an Air Force and Air Defense Forces combined-arms formation" in what the military terms the Central Asian strategic sector, said Lt. Gen. Valery Stytsenkov, head of the Air Force Combat Training Directorate.

He said units will also practice interoperability and teamwork with aviation, missile defense, antiaircraft, and electronic warfare assets of the Air Force, the Air Defense Forces, and the Ground Forces.

The general said preparations were under way, exercise grounds were being tested and reconnoitered, and that relevant paperwork was being processed.

He said the exercise will cover an extensive area, including the Kapustin Yar and Ashuluk training grounds, both in south Russia's Astrakhan region near the Caspian Sea.

Stytsenkov said the first such exercise was conducted in 2007 after a long hiatus.

Buchanan: McCain win would mean war with Iran

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Raw Story
Tuesday January 29, 2008

Says McCain would provoke new wars, 'he's in everybody's face'

"More wars" could prove to be the oddest of all presidential campaign slogans. Especially if it works.

Presidential candidate John McCain shocked observers on Sunday when he told a crowd of supporters, "There's going to be other wars. ... I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars. We will never surrender but there will be other wars."

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough asked old-line conservative Pat Buchanan about McCain's remarks, saying, "He talked about promising that more wars were coming. ... Is he so desperate to get off the economic issue?"

Pat Buchanan replied that McCain never used the word "promise" but simply said there would be more wars, and that from McCain's point of view, "that is straight talk. ... You get John McCain in the White House, and I do believe we will be at war with Iran."

"That's one of the things that makes me very nervous about him," Buchanan went on. "There's no doubt John McCain is going to be a war president. ... His whole career is wrapped up in the military, national security. He's in Putin's face, he's threatening the Iranians, we're going to be in Iraq a hundred years."

"So when he says more war," Scarborough commented, "he is promising you, if he gets in the White House, we'll not only be fighting this war but starting new wars. Is that what conservative Republicans want?

"I don't say he's starting them," Buchanan answered. "He expects more wars. ... I think he's talking straight, because if you take a look at the McCain foreign policy, he is in everybody's face. Did you see Thad Cochran's comment when he endorsed Romney? He said, look, John McCain is a bellicose, red-faced, angry guy, who constantly explodes."

"Not a happy message," commented Scarborough. "Not Reaganesque."

This video is from MSNBC News Live, broadcast January 28, 2008.

Ban music thieves from web, says U2 manager

TELEGRAPH

Music fans who repeatedly download songs illegally should have their internet connections severed, the manager of U2 has said.

Paul McGuinness, who has managed the best-selling group for 30 years, attacked internet service providers for failing to clamp down on illegal file-sharing.

He said the refusal of internet firms to punish those who download music without paying was "the single biggest failure in the digital music market".

He called on them to adopt a "three strikes and you're out" enforcement policy under which illegal downloaders would have to start paying for music or face having their ISP subscriptions terminated.

"We must shame them into wanting to help us. Their snouts have been at our trough feeding free for too long," Mr McGuinness said at the Midem music industry conference in Cannes.

"For ISPs in general, the days of prevaricating over their responsibilities for helping protect music must end. The ISP lobbyists who say they should not have to 'police the internet' are living in the past - relying on outdated excuses from an earlier technological age."

His call follows a report last week which showed that while worldwide sales of digital music grew by 40 per cent last year, they were still not enough to offset a sharp fall in CD sales.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents record companies across the world, warned that the "crisis" in the music industry would deepen unless ISPs took action against the millions of people who illegally download music.

Many ISPs have been reluctant to police the illegal activities of their customers, preferring to rely on record labels to bring cases against them.

But Mr McGuinness said it was time to challenge the belief that ISPs should not be held accountable for their customers' behaviour.

"If you were publishing a magazine that was advertising stolen cars, processing payments for them and arranging delivery of them you'd expect to get a visit from the police wouldn't you?" he said, in a speech titled The Online Bonanza: Who is Making All The Money and Why Aren't They Sharing It?

"What's the difference? With a laptop, a broadband account, an MP3 player and a smartphone you can now steal all the content, music, video and literary in the world without any money going to the content owners.

"On the other hand, if you get caught stealing a laptop in the computer store or don't pay your broadband bill there are obvious consequences. You get nicked or you get your access cut off."

A survey last year by Quantum Markets in Australia found that of the 2.8 billion people who regularly download illegally, 75 per cent said they did not believe they were hurting the music industry.

When asked why, the vast majority said they did not feel at risk of being punished for downloading songs for free.

Mr McGuinness called on the Government to follow the lead of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, and introduce legislation if voluntary talks with ISPs failed to produce a commitment to disconnect file-sharers. A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers' Association said its members preferred self regulation to legislation.

"We do not support abuses of copyright and intellectual property theft. However, ISPs cannot monitor or record the type of information passed over their networks," he said.

"ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope."

Questions unfolding throughout New Hampshire

Bev Harris
Black Box Voting.org
Tuesday January 29, 2008

1. David Scanlan - operations guy for the New Hampshire recount. Questions are always referred to Scanlan when you ask about ballot ordering, ballot reconciliation, ballot chain of custody. David Scanlan knew, or should have known, of the fraudulent labels being referred to as "seals." Why did he permit this?

WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY: "Seal": something that secures (as a wax seal on a document); a closure that must be broken to be opened and that thus reveals tampering ; a tight and perfect closure

Why is Scanlan blaming the town clerks for seals that do not adhere properly, when it was his own division that provided the seals?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHL_YMBolRs - Who's responsible for chain of custody breakdown?

Is it true that Scanlan is the one who attempted to halt the Albert Howard recount, trying to call it off for Tuesday and Wednesday this week?

Why is reconciliation (poll book examination, blank ballot counts, ballot order invoices) not being allowed right now? According to Sally Castleman (EDA), town clerks are saying there were required to send poll books to the secretary of state by Jan. 18. The sec. state's office has the documents in hand. Why not allow proper reconciliation of the ballots?

2. Do problems originate from the town clerks or "Hoppy & Butch"?

- Did Nashua Town Clerk Paul Bergeron fail to secure his ballot boxes, giving Ward 9 absentee votes to Hoppy and Butch with the lid open? Or did the lid get opened while in the custody of Hoppy and Butch? Who will take accountability for the chain of custody failure for Ward 9 absentees?

- Did Nashua Town Clerk Paul Bergeron provide a large Ward 5 ballot box to Hoppy and Butch with the top torn open, containing only 333 ballots in the large box -- with a "seal" on the box that did not match anything on the dispatch sheet? Or did something happen to this box while in the custody of Butch and Hoppy?

- Did the Bedford Town Clerk provide an improperly sealed box, sticking ballots in a medical supply box? If so, why, and if not, how did ballots appear for the recount housed in such a container?

3. Why did Secretary of State Bill Gardner fail to take any steps to mitigate the risks with Diebold 1.94w optical scan system used in New Hampshire? Why did he permit a sole source vendor, LHS Associates, to program all the memory cards, knowing that one of the key people for this vendor is a convicted narcotics trafficker? Why did Gardner agree to let ballots be stored outside the vault on the evening of Jan. 17, 2008?

When Election Defense Alliance's Sally Castleman visited town clerks on January 23, she was told by a town clerk that Sec. State Bill Gardner had issued a directive advising them not to allow citizens to photograph the ballots boxes before pickup. Does this directive exist in writing?

4. Why did Karen Ladd, of the sec. state's office, sign for a shipment of ballots from Manchester Ward 11 by herself, while the rest of the shipment was signed for publicly, in front of the building, by David Scanlan and Brian Burford? Why were one-half of Ward 11 ballots delivered six hours after all the other Manchester ballots? Why weren't they received publicly following the same protocols as the other ballots in the same shipment?

Looking for answers, looking for accountability, and looking for people to pitch in getting and sharing e-mailed or faxed written answers from New Hampshire public officials. Just jump right in. Don't call, write, get the answer committed in writing, help us get to the bottom of this. You can see details for yourself in the videos linked below.

LAST QUESTION:

Aren't we all getting sick of lack of consequences for clear breaches in duty to protect and secure the rights of the citizenry?

Videos posted at YouTube on New Hampshire so far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHL_YMBolRs
Who's responsible for chain of custody breakdown?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKQEQ7qHvgM
No ballot vault tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiaBqwqkXs
Silvestro the cat

Great Moments In Presidential Speeches Compilation

Youtube
Tuesday January 29, 2008

Howard Highlights Ease Of Recount Fraud

State employees using same red ink as counters
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Following on from Bev Harris' shocking expose in which she unveiled disturbing chain of custody issues in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Albert Howard has identified another problem that leaves the recount wide open to fraud.

In a letter to the New Hampshire Secretary of State, Howard, who was behind the move for a recount, points out how easy it would be for state employees to change vote tallies.

"The people who are counting the votes are entering the results on individual ward and town tally sheets. They are all using pens with red ink. They then sign and walk the tally sheets to the front of the room where they are handed to a state employee," he writes.

"The state employee says she checks for discrepancies before manually transposing the figures from the local tally sheets to a County-wide tally sheet, using the same red ink used by the counters."

"The state employee then enters the figures from her County-wide tally sheet into her computerized master recount file (an excel spreadsheet). Only then does the state employee make and hand me a copy of the counter’s tally sheet."

Howard is calling for the recount procedure to be revised whereby he or another observer be handed a copy of the tally sheet for each ward and town, before it is handed to the state employee.

Whether New Hampshire officials will be prepared to change the procedure is doubtful. They initially pushed for the recount to be suspended altogether for the first part of this week before reversing themselves after Howard challenged the decision.

They were also publicly shamed after vote fraud expert Bev Harris posted a You Tube video of her confrontations with officials about ballot tampering, lost Diebold memory cards and the awful chain of custody problems which leave the integrity of the recount wide open to abuse.