Archive for November, 2009
White House Continues To Ignore ClimateGate
Author: Diamond Tiger
Just days ahead of the pResident’s trip to Hopenhagen to help hammer out some kind of deal that usurps American sovereignty and moola, Robert Gibbs takes a question from Major Garrett about the hacked ClimateGate emails, and totally sidesteps answering it by stating that “…Carol Browner addressed that last week; on the order of several thousand scientists have come to the conclusion that climate change is happening. I don’t think that’s anything that is, quite frankly among most people, in dispute anymore.” Don’t hold your breath waiting for Gibbs or Obama to volunteer that those scientists based their opinions on faked data.
Robert Gibbs reaction to the 30,000 scientists, of which 6000 are PHDs, who are suing Al Gore over the global warming fraud: “…no real scientific basis for the dispute of this.”
Authority to Spy on Americans Unclear as Patriot Act Expires
Source: ABC News
Rushed into law by Congress just weeks after Sept. 11, 2001 three controversial provisions of the Patriot Act granting officials far-reaching surveillance and seizure powers in the name of national security, are due to expire this New Year’s Eve.
Two differing bills passed by the House and Senate judiciary committees in recent weeks will have to be reconciled in Congress, but only when the Senate isn’t backlogged by health care, Democratic aides told ABC News.
“This critical legislation protects our national security, as well as our civil liberties, and the clock is ticking,” said Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., an author of President Bush’s 2001 Patriot Act and former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee under the Bush administration.
Sensenbrenner urged the House and Senate to act quickly in reauthorizing the provisions before they expire at the end of this year.
That timing is unclear. With so few weeks left in the year and the health care debate just beginning in the Senate, it’s possible that Congress will first vote for a temporary extension to prevent certain Patriot Act authorities from sunsetting, according to an aide.
With full support from the Obama administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill last month reauthorizing the law that has in recent years sparked muchcontroversy over rights to privacy protected under the Constitution, with some minor tweaks. Full Story
Building Blocks Towards New World Order with an Asia-Pacific Union
Obama and Asian leaders pose for a group photo ollowing an official dinner for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, on November 14.
Source: Black Listed News
Although some may have viewed President Barack Obama’s recent Asian trip as uneventful and perhaps unsuccessful, he appears to have recommitted to the principles of globalization as the answer to the world’s economic woes. Obama declared his intentions for the U.S. to be fully engaged in Asia economically, politically, and in areas of security. He announced that America would join negotiations for a Trans-Pacific deal. This could be used as an opportunity for the U.S. to reassert its leadership in regards to trade initiatives and might also serve as a stepping stone for a larger free trade agreement.
The recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit was held in Singapore and marked its 20th anniversary. It brought together world leaders, foreign, finance and trade ministers, along with other delegates from its 21 member nations. APEC was founded to promote greater trade and integration in the region, but its scope has expanded to include environmental, climate change, energy, as well as other issues. Full Story
Climate Change Data Shredded To Cover Tracks
SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.
Source: Times Online
SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.
It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.
The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.
The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.
The admission follows the leaking of a thousand private emails sent and received by Professor Phil Jones, the CRU’s director. In them he discusses thwarting climate sceptics seeking access to such data.
In a statement on its website, the CRU said: “We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data.”
The CRU is the world’s leading centre for reconstructing past climate and temperatures. Climate change sceptics have long been keen to examine exactly how its data were compiled. That is now impossible.
Roger Pielke, professor of environmental studies at Colorado University, discovered data had been lost when he asked for original records. “The CRU is basically saying, ‘Trust us’. So much for settling questions and resolving debates with science,” he said.
Jones was not in charge of the CRU when the data were thrown away in the 1980s, a time when climate change was seen as a less pressing issue. The lost material was used to build the databases that have been his life’s work, showing how the world has warmed by 0.8C over the past 157 years.
He and his colleagues say this temperature rise is “unequivocally” linked to greenhouse gas emissions generated by humans. Their findings are one of the main pieces of evidence used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which says global warming is a threat to humanity.
Obama Treason Charges Advance In Tennessee Grand Jury
Source: MichNews.com
Formal treason charges filed against Barrack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro, reach Monroe Country Tennessee Grand Jury – Tuesday December 1, 2009
On June 10, 2009 I wrote about formal treason charges filed against Barack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro, in – Is Obama Guilty of Treason? I followed that column up with – Why Commander Fitzpatrick Is NOT Guilty of Mutiny! on June 13. Since then, numerous others have filed similar treason charges against Obama/Soetoro with little or no fanfare…
If Obama is indeed guilty of treason – then we have a growing list of folks who are also committing treason. Namely, every member of law enforcement and the justice system who have taken an oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic – along with every individual in Washington DC and beyond who has chosen to look the other way while denying American citizens their day in court – claiming that no citizen has the “legal standing” to ask who in the hell Barack Hussein Obama really is… Full Story
High Court to Hear PATRIOT Act Challenge
Source: antiwar.com
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging a law that critics say treats human rights advocates as criminal terrorists, and threatens them with 15 years in prison for advocating nonviolent means to resolve disputes.
The case is known as Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, and is the first case to challenge a portion of the PATRIOT Act before the Supreme Court. Originally brought in 1998, the suit challenges the constitutionality of the law that makes it a crime to provide “material support” to groups the administration has designated as “terrorist.”
The plaintiffs, led by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), charge that the law goes too far in making speech advocating lawful, nonviolent activity a crime. The lower courts have unanimously declared several provisions of the law – including one added by the PATRIOT Act – unconstitutionally vague because they encompass speech and force citizens to guess as to their meaning. Full Story
Douglas County WI. joins others in police state with isolation and quarantine policy
Wisconsin counties have a little-known policy that allows forced isolation or quarantine of people using armed law enforcement and deputized civilians.
Source: 91.3 KUWS
Wisconsin counties have a little-known policy that allows forced isolation or quarantine of people using armed law enforcement and deputized civilians. Mike Simonson reports from Superior. This is to help health officials in a worst-case scenario to contain outbreaks. Wisconsin statute requires each county to have an isolation and quarantine procedure.
The order originated with the Centers for Disease Control from anthrax threats in 2001. But the policy is broader. It includes isolating people infected or even suspected of being infected with a contagious disease such as tuberculosis or in a flu pandemic. Douglas County Health Officer Deb Clasen says every county health officer in the state can now order that guards be put on infectious people.
“So you put law enforcement by the door to assist with containing and preventing people from exposing other individuals.” Clasen is quick to say this is only used if voluntary approaches don’t work or are ineffective. Washburn County Sheriff Terry Dryden says this is a tool that may be needed at flu vaccination clinics as well. Full Story
Big Brother Obama Wants Computer Privacy Ruling Overturned
Source: Wired
The Obama administration is seeking to reverse a federal appeals court decision that dramatically narrows the government’s search-and-seizure powers in the digital age.
Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Justice Department officials are asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its August ruling that federal prosecutors went too far when seizing 104 professional baseball players’ drug results when they had a warrant for just 10.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 9-2 decision offered Miranda-style guidelines to prosecutors and judges on how to protect Fourth Amendment privacy rights while conducting computer searches.
Kagan, appointed solicitor general by President Barack Obama, joined several U.S. attorneys in telling the San Francisco-based court Monday that the guidelines are complicating federal prosecutions in the West. The circuit, the nation’s largest, covers nine states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
“In some districts, computer searches have ground to a complete halt,” the authorities wrote. “Many United States Attorney’s Offices have been chilled from seeking any new warrants to search computers.” (.pdf)
The government is asking the court to review the case with all of its 27 judges, which it has never done. If the court agrees to a rehearing, a new decision is not expected for years, and the August decision would be set aside pending a new ruling. Either way, the U.S. Supreme Court has the final say. Full Story
Bleeding Lungs and Tamiflu-resistance -Do H1N1 mutations make the swine flu vaccine less effective?
H1N1 mutations are being found all over the world, including in the United States. From the strain found in Norway and the Ukraine that is said to totally destroy the lungs, to a Tamiflu-resistant strain found in various locations, including a cluster in North Carolina, it is clear that the H1N1 virus is changing. The vaccines created to prevent an influenza infection are only effective for the particular strain of virus used in their creation. Does this mean that the swine flu vaccine will not be effective against the H1N1 mutations?
Tamiflu-resistance The H1N1 virus has begun to develop a resistance to Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir phosphate, a commonly used antiviral drug. The swine flu is still sensitive to another antiviral medication, and responds to treatment with Relenza, the prescription form of zanamivir.
D225G receptor binding change The D225G H1N1 mutation affects the way the H1N1 virus attaches to host cells. This pattern is similar to the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, which killed as many as 40 million people. Both types of influenza were highly contagious, fast-acting, and attack the deep tissues of the lungs. This causes a total destruction of the lungs, according to Dr. Victor Bachinsky, the head of the Chernivtsi regional forensic bureau.
Testing of MedImmune intranasal vaccine Flu vaccines currently produced for use in the United States are made by injecting a flu virus into chicken eggs, where the virus replicates for use in the vaccine. During production, it was discovered that the swine flu virus that was reverse engineered for the vaccine did not replicate well in the eggs. In order to improve replication, and increase the amount of vaccine to be produced, genetic material from different viruses was mixed. During the testing process, changes in the receptor binding that resulted from the genetic manipulation did not affect the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Effects of H1N1 mutation on vaccine effectiveness In an interview with Dr. Henry Niman, President and Founder of Recombinomics, Inc., a company devoted to research in the area of virus evolution, I asked about the potential for H1N1 mutations reducing the effectiveness of the swine flu vaccine. Dr. Niman explained that the D225G mutation was less likely to interfere with vaccine effectiveness. He had this to add:
“Theoretically, one change could significantly impact the vaccine. New isolates are routinely tested with reference antisera for “low reactors”. So far one such low reactor was identified in the US, but the virus is beginning to change more rapidly, so more could appear over a short time frame.”
*Antisera is the singular form of antiserum. A reference antisera is a sample of blood containing antibodies. Testing is done to see if the antibodies present in the blood react to the new virus.
U.S. Allies Begin Issuing High-Tech Passports for Travelers
Data page of new e-Passport, complete with digital photograph and holder's biographical information.
Source: Fox News
NEW YORK — Countries that have historically friendly relations with the United States on Thursday will begin issuing passports to residents traveling abroad complete with facial-recognition software and digital chips.
The U.S. State Department is already issuing so-called e-Passports to some American travelers as part of the U.S. government’s effort to make travel documents more secure in a post-Sept. 11 world.
“The department is committed to shutting down the ability of terrorists and criminals to use false travel documents to move freely through our borders. The upgrade to e-Passports is a significant advance in preventing terrorists from using lost or stolen passports to obtain entry into the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.
“It is going to make for a quicker inspection. It also allows the inspectors to focus their resources on people who don’t have electronic documents who have, perhaps, come from countries of greater concern,” added Frank Moss, deputy assistant secretary for consular affairs at the State Department. “I’ve never tried to tell people the e-Passport is a silver bullet … it is another tool to improve border security … and to make the inspection process more efficient for the vast majority of legitimate travelers.”
