Traduca traduzca traduisez übersetzen vertaal http://babelfish.altavista.com The enduring presence of Agent Orange is just one terrible legacy of Vietnam's ill-fated war. The USA used the toxic defoliant to unmask guerrilla fighters by stripping forest cover. But children are still being born with terrible deformities. Families are denied compensation from the USA. The USA denies responsibility. Stop the baby killers ---- http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/agentorange032102.cfm http://www.studentsforbhopal.org http://www.bhopal.net/campaigns.html http://www.usvetdsp.com/agentorange.htm http://vvof.org/vvofaopg.htm http://www.agent-orange-lawsuit.com http://www.njaoc.org Companies supplying Agent Orange to the government: Monsanto Company Dow Chemical Hercules Inc Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Uniroyal Thompson Chemical T-H Agriculture and Nutrition Company Note, some of the above companies (or their subsidiaries) produce drugs, toxic chemical, herbicides, insecticides and fertilizer. First, they poisons you with their Chemicals. Then, they will help you with their drugs for an exorbitant price. How much political campaign contributions (bribes) is your congressman receiving from these companies? http://www.campaignfinance.org/states http://www.publicintegrity.org How much money (bribes) are the Republicans and their friends receiving from these companies? http://www.campaignfinance.org/states http://www.publicintegrity.org DVD: Capitol Crimes by Bill Moyers The fall of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff has exposed what may be one of the biggest political scandals in America's history. What does the dizzying scope of corruption say about how laws are made and who really owns the U.S. government? Bill Moyers and his team of investigative journalists untangle the web of relationships, secret deals, and political manipulation to open a disturbing window on the dark side of American politics. http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=2511327 http://www.shopthirteen.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=47610&storeId=10552&catalogId=10101&langId=-1 MONSANTO MEN in USA Government The Bush administration's could be called the Monsanto Cabinet, per Robert Cohen, author of “Milk, The Deadly Poison” which details the horrid politics behind the contamination of our nation's milk and beef supply with bovine growth hormone. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was president of Searle Pharmaceuticals, a company owned by Monsanto. Rumsfeld was also the Secretary of Defense under President Ford. Rumsfeld is believed to have earned around US$12 million from the sale of Searle to Monsanto. Attorney General John Ashcroft reportedly received $10,000 for his senatorial campaign from Monsanto in the mid 90s. Ashcroft's contribution from Monsanto was five times that of any other congressional hopeful. Ashcroft, and Sr. Bush Supreme Court appointee Clarence Thomas were instrumental in gaining Food and Drug Administation (FDA) approval for Monsanto's controversial artificial sweetener aspartame, which has been linked to over 200 ailments that include Alzheimer's disease, juvenile diabetes, depression, epileptic seizures, blindness, memory loss, excitability, weight gain, multiple sclerosis and lupus (The Idaho Observer, November, 2000). Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman was on the board of directors of Calgene Pharmaceutical, another company currently owned by Monsanto. Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson is the fourth member of the Bush cabinet to have direct ties to Monsanto. The former governor of Wisconsin designated his state as a “biotech zone” for the use of Monsanto's bovine growth hormone even though dairy farmers in his state opposed the designation by a 9-1 ratio. Thompson reportedly received $50,000 from biotech companies during his election campaign. Bovine growth hormone, which does increase the productivity of dairy cows, has also been linked to many health problems in children and adults (The Idaho Observer, November, 2000) and makes cows sick. Bovine growth hormone has been outlawed in most countries, but not the U.S. And as Cohen points out, another player in the Monsanto-studded Cabinet is Rep. Richard Pombo, who will head the Agriculture Subcommittee on Dairy, Livestock and Poultry. Pombo is also a Monsanto boy, having taken campaign money from it while stalling a 1994 bill to make labeling mandatory for milk or milk products containing Bovine Growth Hormones. Pombo helped kill the bill in committee. Monsanto also holds the patent on the “terminator gene” which prevents plants from producing viable seed so that farmers, and therefore people, will be dependent upon the multinational corporation for their food supply. Monsanto has proven to be one of the most greedy, ruthless and environmentally irreverent corporations in world history. One cannot serve the interests of Monsanto and serve the interests of people at the same time. --------------- Racketeering charges have been filed against Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, Monsanto, NutraSweet Co., the American Diabetes Association and Dr Robert Moser for distributing toxic aspartame, in a class action representing many plaintiffs, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California seeking $350 million in damages. The suit charges the defendants with manufacturing and marketing a deadly neurotoxin unfit for human consumption, while they assured the pubic that aspartame (also known as NutraSweet/Equal) contaminated products are safe and healthful, even for children and pregnant women. Present US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, is mentioned throughout the lawsuit. As evidence, an explosive affidavit from a former translator for the GD Searle company - the developer of aspartame - was made recently public and revealed the following. For 16 years, the Food and Drug Administration denied approval of aspartame because of compelling evidence of its contributing to brain tumours and other serious disabilities. Donald Rumsfeld left President Ford's administration as Chief of Staff to become the CEO of aspartame-producer GD Searle Co. in 1981. Shortly after, Rumsfeld became the CEO, and the day after President Reagan took office, aspartame was quickly approved by FDA Commissioner Arthur Hayes over the objections of the FDA's Public Board of Inquiry. Hayes had been recently appointed by the Reagan Administration. Shortly after aspartame's approval by the FDA, Hayes joined NutraSweet's public relations firm under a 10-year contract at $1,000 a day. In January 1977, the FDA wrote a 33-page letter to US Justice Department Attorney Sam Skinner: "We request that your office convene a Grand Jury investigation into apparent violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act." Skinner allowed the Statute of Limitations to run. Three FDA Commissioners and eight other officers and Skinner took jobs in the aspartame industry shortly after it was approved. The FDA once listed 92 adverse reactions from 10,000 consumer complaints and would send the list to all inquirers. In 1996 the FDA stopped taking complaints and now denies the existence of the report. Seizures, blindness, sexual dysfunction, obesity, testicular, mammary and brain tumours and death, plus dozens of other dread diseases named in the suit, arise from the consumption of this neurotoxin. Defendant Moser, past CEO of NutraSweet, is cited for misrepresenting facts to public and commercial users with full knowledge of the deceptions. Aspartame/Nutrasweet is sold to Bayer, Con Agra Foods, Dannon, Smucker, Kellogg, Wrigley, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods (Crystal Light), Conopco (Slim-Fast), Coke, Pfizer, Wal-Mart and Wyeth (to name a few), who use it in some of their products, including children's vitamins. These entities are named in other suits now in Californian courts. Defendant American Diabetes Association is meant to care for diabetics. A 35-year ADA member, diabetic specialist HJ Roberts, MD, FACP, discovered aspartame can precipitate or aggravate diabetes and its complications, or simulate the complications (especially neuropathy and retinopathy). His report, intended for the Annual Scientific Meeting of the ADA, was rejected for presentation - and even publication of the abstract - but was later published in another medical journal. Please email this web page to a friend. Thank you. --------------- POLITICS OF OIL AND MONEY Another sub-title for this article could well be "a study in state monopoly capitalism." A book of the author, Dan Briody, focused on the Carlyle Group, the spectacularly well-heeled firm that includes former President George H.W. Bush, his crony James Baker and a veritable rogues’ gallery of washed-up politicians and businessmen of questionable integrity who blatantly trade upon their inside knowledge of government for private gain in yet another textbook example of state monopoly capitalism. Yet, their money-grubbing pales in comparison – and chutzpah – to Halliburton, a firm formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, a firm that is frequently in the headlines in light of the lucrative contracts they have been awarded by Cheney’s government in the theater of war that is Iraq. The story begins in Texas where a predecessor firm of Halliburton, Brown & Root, was catapulted into prominence – and obscene profitability - because of a tight relationship with former Senator, then Vice President and President, Lyndon B. Johnson. Large scale construction and oil services were the two pillars on which this giant company was built. Routinely the government handed out handsome "cost plus" contracts, e.g. building the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, to this corporation. "Cost plus" means that the contractor could recoup all expenses plus a guaranteed profit based on a pre-negotiated percentage. This eliminates risk for the contractor and erodes the necessity to eliminate wasteful billing which, says the author, is "great for the contractor, not so great for the taxpayer." "Basically, it’s a blank check from the government….when your profit is a percentage of the cost, the more you spend, the more you make." Brown & Root reaped a bonanza of wasteful contracts during the war in Vietnam, which – coincidentally – Johnson prosecuted as vigorously as Cheney has done in Iraq. By 1967 this firm was the largest employer in South Vietnam. Yet even then there was an obvious downside to relying so heavily upon the private sector to perform the clear government function of waging war: motivated by the lust for profit their employees were "manipulating currency and selling goods on the black market," among other transgressions. Johnson was so helpful to this company that the author argues that actually he was "working for Brown & Root, not the people of his district or the state." Something similar used to be said about another leading Democratic Party politician, the late Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington, who was referred to as the "Senator from Boeing." Obviously today we are in dire need of deeper examinations of the ramified ties between various sectors of state monopoly capitalism and leading political figures and parties, along the lines of the work at hand. Brown & Root was also viciously anti-union. At one time, for example, progressive formations e.g. the National Maritime Union, played a pivotal role in Texas politics but after Brown & Root and their confederates pushed through anti-union legislation in the 1940s, the political complexion of what is now the second largest state began to change to the point where it has now become a reliable Republican redoubt and, not coincidentally, the home of both the current President and Vice-President. But as profitable as it had been, when Dick Cheney left the Pentagon in the 1990s to become head of Halliburton, this company was catapulted to a new level of profitability. A staunch conservative, while a member of Congress Cheney avidly opposed imposing sanctions against apartheid South Africa while pushing aggressively for sanctions against socialist Cuba. Before leaving the Pentagon, which he headed during the administration of George H.W. Bush, he accelerated the privatization of core military functions in a way that – coincidentally – aided the company he was about to lead. "They made $109.7 million in Somalia…$6.3 million from Operation Support Hope in Rwanda…..Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti netted the company $150." Halliburton was "becoming another unit in the US Army" and reaping millions from war and misery, providing a perverse incentive for an increase in such pestilences. "From 1995 to 2000, Brown & Root" – now part of Halliburton—"billed the government for more than $2 billion in services. The company did everything from build the [military] camps to deliver the mail, with 24-hour food service and laundering. It provided firefighting services, fuel delivery, sewage construction, hazardous material disposal, and the maintenance and delivery of equipment." War in the Balkans was the "driving force" for Halliburton’s increased profitability and heightened profile. "Halliburton’s government business doubled while Cheney was CEO." Yet Cheney also left this firm with a basket of problems after he was elected Vice-President and this may have given him incentive to steer contracts in Halliburton’s direction in order to lessen the pain inflicted on his firm. He pushed through a merger with Dresser Industries, a profoundly disastrous maneuver, given the backbreaking liability for asbestos related lawsuits that this company carried. Coincidentally – that word again – Dresser was "the company that gave George H.W. Bush his first job." After Cheney left Halliburton a "grand jury investigation into over-billing and a Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] investigation into Halliburton’s accounting practices while Cheney was CEO" ensued. That is not all. The company was accused of bribing a "Nigerian tax authority in exchange for contracts to build a liquefied natural gas plant." A French magistrate "was looking into the possibility of bringing charges against Dick Cheney for complicity in the bribery case and allegations that $243 million in secret commissions were paid from the late 1990s to 2002….the United States Justice Department and the SEC are looking into accusations that Halliburton made $180 million in illegal payments to win other contracts in Nigeria." This points up another festering problem with Halliburton. The French investigation of Cheney’s alleged malfeasance has complicated Washington’s already deteriorating relations with Paris, while Halliburton’s chicanery has contributed mightily to a culture of corruption in West Africa. After Cheney left, Halliburton stock plummeted precipitously and given the millions of stock options that he still holds, this jeopardized his own personal fortune, not to mention the fortunes of his fellow executives with whom he had become quite close. Though the author does not stress this, his study reveals a critical fault line within state monopoly capitalism. For when Halliburton began to feed ravenously at the government trough, other firms in the same business became angrily resentful, which helped to fuel congressional investigations and adverse publicity. For example, during the Reagan years, Bechtel was the government contractor of choice, as suggested by the prominent role in his administration played by two of their former executives – former Secretary of State George Schulz and former Pentagon chief, Caspar Weinberger. "The rapid rise" of Brown & Root, for example, "brought on a fit of jealousy" from their "biggest rival, Bechtel of San Francisco." Reference book: The Halliburton Agenda, The Politics of Oil and Money author: Dan Briody 2ND BOOK: OIL, THE BUSHES, AND THE RISE OF TEXAS Halliburton is of Brown & Root, a company that obtained government contracts via Lyndon B. Johnson during the New Deal. They also took most of the government contracts during the Second World War, Korean War and Vietnam War. It was all done by controlling the chairman of key Senate Committees and having their people holding key posts in the government such as Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Treasury. Not that this is common knowledge. This group of Texans (sometimes known as the Suite 8F Group) bought into Operation Mockingbird (a CIA project to control the US domestic media). However, the web has undermined this project. The key point made by Bryce and Briody is that this is really an economic issue. The politics of all this is about making money out of their ideology. It does not matter who the US is fighting, it is the spending this goes on it that is important. Global military spending is $956bn and rising. US spends 40% of this. Most is spent with companies based in Texas. In 1963 John F. Kennedy tried to deal with the Texas stranglehold over government policy. However, he underestimated the power of the Suite 8F Group. References book: Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas; author: Dan Briody book: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man; author: John Perkins --------------- GLOBAL WARMING DESTROYS WINE INDUSTRY http://hamilton.indymedia.org/newswire/display/753/index.php Per the Sustainable Industries Journal, the Pentagon has blocked the construction of 16 Wind Energy sites in the USA. The military claims the Wind Farms are a threat to national security. Maybe the Wind Farms are a threat to Big Oil and Big Coal? WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar http://www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com ARE AMERICANS IGNORANT? Intelligent Policies http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/38087/index.php http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/18295.php http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/24833.php
Doveva essere il nuovo Manhattan Project, per rilanciare il settore farmaceutico in crisi. Ma il progetto BioShield per ora delude.
Nel 2004, il governo americano ha stanziato 5.6 miliardi di dollari per il progetto BioShield. Con il pretesto della minaccia bioterroristica (vi ricordate la storiella delle lettere all'antrace?), si voleva rilanciare così l'industria farmaceutica. Big Pharma, infatti, da anni soffre di scarsa innovazione, anche perché la maggior parte degli investimenti finiscono in marketing più che in ricerca. Il progetto doveva mettere a disposizione soldi pubblici per realizzare nuovi vaccini e antibiotici, un settore in stagnazione ormai decennale. Guerra e innovazione, negli USA, vanno insieme sin dalla Seconda Guerra Mondiale: la costruzione della bomba atomica fu anche un grande volano di scoperte in un campo strategico della ricerca di base, quello della meccanica quantistica, ma che garantì una supremazia scientifica anche sul piano commerciale agli Stati Uniti. Eppure, secondo quanto scrive Wired, poche aziende stanno sgomitando per avere i soldi del progetto BioShield (che significa "scudo biologico"). Il problema, tanto per cambiare, sono i brevetti: non è chiaro chi potrà godere dei diritti di sfruttamento dei nuovi farmaci sviluppati con i soldi del governo, secondo aziende, tanto che una nuova legge appositamente scritta per aumentare la protezione delle aziende farmaceutiche, giace nei cassetti del Parlamento americano. Ma finora ha ricevuto scarso supporto. Una lezione importante, dunque: il progetto BioShield è un importante investimento pubblico, ma va ad alimentare un settore in cui senza la prospettiva del brevetto nessuno muove più un dito. D'altra parte, perché lo stato dovrebbe finanziare ricerche che sono già in grado di sostenersi commercialmente sul mercato? Un settore dell'innovazione importante come quello che dovrebbe curarci sembra ormai immobilizzato dai vincoli brevettuali, tanto da rinunciare ai soldi pubblici pur di non dover avventurarsi in ricerca di base. E una nazione come gli USA, che ha fatto dell'innovazione tecnologica la sua arma di dominio più efficace, oggi non riesce nemmeno a rilanciare il settore dei farmaci con oltre cinque miliardi di dollari in contanti. La ricerca, anche quella con i soldi dei contribuenti, è ormai una variabile dipendente del mercato, e si fa solo se il brevetto protegge dalla competizione dei rivali. Ma allora non è ricerca. E' una contraddizione sempre più presente nelle politiche scientifiche internazionali. Da un lato, infatti, ovunque nel mondo si spinge verso la privatizzazione della ricerca pubblica. Ma sostituendo le regole del mercato a quelle della comunità scientifica (non certo cristalline ma fondate sulla condivisione dei risultati) si impedisce il funzionamento stesso del sistema della ricerca. Forse è ora che le aziende ricomincino a fare le aziende, e lo stato faccia lo stato.
Houses demolished in Korean resistance to US base expansion
For over four years, the Korean villages of Daechuri and Doduri have defiantly resisted the seizure of their homes and fields for the expansion of an United States Army base. On September 13 at dawn, 22,000 riot police invaded and occupied the villages. Police demolition equipment managed to wipe out 68 empty houses. But the vastly outnumbered villagers and supporters put up a fierce resistance, and managed to stop the cops from destroying many of the houses that the Ministry of Defense had threatened to destroy.
Fifty years ago these communities lost their land as 2 foreign forces (first Japanese, then American) built and expanded the base. Now the US military wants to push them off their land again. The US base expansion is part of an aggressive transformation of US global military strategy. The main mission of the US Forces in Korea will be not just to defend against North Korea, but to contain China and act as a rapid deployment force for the entire Asian-Pacific region. Some villagers, weary of the struggle against the base expansion, have accepted the compensation money and left. Others were intimidated into fleeing. But many farmers and their families have refused to surrender their homes and livelihood to a foreign power's imperial ambitions. They have been joined by supporters from around Korea. Abandoned houses have been transformed into an art museum, homes for new residents, a community-run restaurant, a broadcast center producing a nightly news report and offices for residents' committees and supporting organizations. Artists and residents have covered the walls of empty and squatted houses with murals and anti-base graffiti. Outraged and disillusioned with the corrupt bureaucracy of an indifferent government, in February, farmers marched to city hall and burned their "residency cards", renounced their Korean citizenship and declared Daechuri an autonomous region. They have since been organizing the daily life and the defense of their land and community through general councils, independently of the local government. But in March, police and army launched a series of violent attacks on the villages, ripping up rice fields and destroying their irrigation system. In May a massive police attack managed to cut off villagers' access to their rice fields and demolished their elementary school and community center. In the most recent attack, thousands of riot police and 450 contracted construction workers and thugs invaded and occupied the villages at dawn. The Ministry of Defense had promised to only destroy empty houses. But several squatted and renovated houses, as well as one long-term resident's house, were knocked down. A backhoe also destroyed a farming warehouse with expensive farming equipment inside. Children from Daechuri were unable to go to school the day of the attack, because of the police lockdown of the the roads leading to town. In the village, police controls kept elderly residents from entering their homes and fields, and 10 residents received minor injuries at the hands of the police and their contractors. Some of the contractors threw insults (“bitch”, etc) at elderly residents who were fighting to stop the demolitions or to reach their homes. Many outside supporters were kept from entering the village by tight police checkpoints over the past several days, and 21 were arrested this morning trying to enter to defend the village. Yet despite their overwhelming numerical disadvantage and several arrests in Daechuri, villagers and supporters struggled all day to defend the village. The police's first target in Daechuri was the Human Rights house. Several human rights activists had tied themselves to the lookout tower built by residents on the roof of the building, and residents barricaded the building to keep the cops from coming up. But the police eventually managed to enter, and dragged out and arrested the activists before smashing up the house and all of the beautiful murals that it contained. But around 40 other people who tied themselves onto the roofs of other buildings kept the police from destroying 13 houses in Daechuri. At one house right at the entrance to town, police stood off for hours with two people sitting on the pointed top of the house's sloping roof. Elderly villagers hurried to surround the house, and one villager climbed onto the roof with the activists. After several failed attempts to force the two activists down, police promised to let them go free (and then destroy the house) if they came down on their own. But villagers had already learned during previous attacks what a cop's promise is worth, so they stood their ground and insisted that the police leave. Eventually the police were forced to give up and leave the house standing and activists free. Although the attack was a heavy blow, especially the overwhelming destruction of houses in the village of Doduri, the villagers have taken their successful defense of some of the houses as a victory. Residents played traditional drum music in the streets after the police finally left, and villagers have reaffirmed their resistance to the base at the continuing nightly candlelight vigils. As the Ministry of Defense's October 31 eviction deadline approaches, villagers continue to work in their gardens, organize the defense of their land, and prepare for a major national march in Seoul on September 24. Residents and supporters in Korea are asking for solidarity actions internationally on that day, especially urgent since the threatened deadline is only a month and a half away. more info: SavePTfarmers, Antigizi video of the September 13 attackFifty years ago these communities lost their land as 2 foreign forces (first Japanese, then American) built and expanded the base. Now the US military wants to push them off their land again. The US base expansion is part of an aggressive transformation of US global military strategy. The main mission of the US Forces in Korea will be not just to defend against North Korea, but to contain China and act as a rapid deployment force for the entire Asian-Pacific region. Some villagers, weary of the struggle against the base expansion, have accepted the compensation money and left. Others were intimidated into fleeing. But many farmers and their families have refused to surrender their homes and livelihood to a foreign power's imperial ambitions. They have been joined by supporters from around Korea. Abandoned houses have been transformed into an art museum, homes for new residents, a community-run restaurant, a broadcast center producing a nightly news report and offices for residents' committees and supporting organizations. Artists and residents have covered the walls of empty and squatted houses with murals and anti-base graffiti. Outraged and disillusioned with the corrupt bureaucracy of an indifferent government, in February, farmers marched to city hall and burned their "residency cards", renounced their Korean citizenship and declared Daechuri an autonomous region. They have since been organizing the daily life and the defense of their land and community through general councils, independently of the local government. But in March, police and army launched a series of violent attacks on the villages, ripping up rice fields and destroying their irrigation system. In May a massive police attack managed to cut off villagers' access to their rice fields and demolished their elementary school and community center. In the most recent attack, thousands of riot police and 450 contracted construction workers and thugs invaded and occupied the villages at dawn. The Ministry of Defense had promised to only destroy empty houses. But several squatted and renovated houses, as well as one long-term resident's house, were knocked down. A backhoe also destroyed a farming warehouse with expensive farming equipment inside. Children from Daechuri were unable to go to school the day of the attack, because of the police lockdown of the the roads leading to town. In the village, police controls kept elderly residents from entering their homes and fields, and 10 residents received minor injuries at the hands of the police and their contractors. Some of the contractors threw insults (“bitch”, etc) at elderly residents who were fighting to stop the demolitions or to reach their homes. Many outside supporters were kept from entering the village by tight police checkpoints over the past several days, and 21 were arrested this morning trying to enter to defend the village. Yet despite their overwhelming numerical disadvantage and several arrests in Daechuri, villagers and supporters struggled all day to defend the village. The police's first target in Daechuri was the Human Rights house. Several human rights activists had tied themselves to the lookout tower built by residents on the roof of the building, and residents barricaded the building to keep the cops from coming up. But the police eventually managed to enter, and dragged out and arrested the activists before smashing up the house and all of the beautiful murals that it contained. But around 40 other people who tied themselves onto the roofs of other buildings kept the police from destroying 13 houses in Daechuri. At one house right at the entrance to town, police stood off for hours with two people sitting on the pointed top of the house's sloping roof. Elderly villagers hurried to surround the house, and one villager climbed onto the roof with the activists. After several failed attempts to force the two activists down, police promised to let them go free (and then destroy the house) if they came down on their own. But villagers had already learned during previous attacks what a cop's promise is worth, so they stood their ground and insisted that the police leave. Eventually the police were forced to give up and leave the house standing and activists free. Although the attack was a heavy blow, especially the overwhelming destruction of houses in the village of Doduri, the villagers have taken their successful defense of some of the houses as a victory. Residents played traditional drum music in the streets after the police finally left, and villagers have reaffirmed their resistance to the base at the continuing nightly candlelight vigils. As the Ministry of Defense's October 31 eviction deadline approaches, villagers continue to work in their gardens, organize the defense of their land, and prepare for a major national march in Seoul on September 24. Residents and supporters in Korea are asking for solidarity actions internationally on that day, especially urgent since the threatened deadline is only a month and a half away. more info: SavePTfarmers, Antigizi video of the September 13 attack
Lettera aperta alla European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) [Autorità Europea per la Sicurez
esprimiamo qui la nostra preoccupazione per la richiesta, inoltrata dalla Bayer, di approvazione all'introduzione sul mercato europeo del riso LL62 resistente al glufosinato.
Coalizione contro i pericoli derivanti dalla Bayer 18 settembre 2006 Lettera aperta alla European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) [Autorità Europea per la Sicurezza sul Cibo] a Parma http://www.cbgnetwork.org/1620.html Oggetto: Importazione del riso LL62, resistente al glufosinato, prodotto dalla Bayer CropScience Gentili signore e signori, esprimiamo qui la nostra preoccupazione per la richiesta, inoltrata dalla Bayer, di approvazione all'introduzione sul mercato europeo del riso LL62 resistente al glufosinato. Negli Stati Uniti un tipo di riso geneticamente modificato simile, denominato LL601, è stato ritrovato in campioni di forniture destinate al consumo umano. La Bayer ha condotto esperimenti in pieno campo della varietà LL601 tra il 1998 e il 2001, ma non è chiaro come sia avvenuta l'attuale contaminazione. Come la varietà LL62, questo riso è resistente al diserbante Liberty Link prodotto dalla Bayer. La varietà LL601 non è mai stata sottoposta ad esami per accertarne la sicurezza nei confronti del consumo umano che non è dunque mai stato autorizzato da parte delle autorità preposte. Ciononostante il riso LL601 è ora entrato nel settore degli alimenti venduti al dettaglio nell'Unione Europea ed è apparso sugli scaffali di alcuni supermercati della catena tedesca Aldi. Quindi dopo oltre 10 anni di esperimenti l'industria delle biotecnologie ancora non riesce a garantire la coesistenza degli alimenti geneticamente modificati con quelli non geneticamente modificati. Questo incidente dimostra che il rischio collegato con gli alimenti geneticamente modificati non è controllabile nel lungo periodo. La valutazione di rischio ambientale e i piani di controllo della Bayer per il riso LL62, non danno sufficiente importanza alla possibilità che questi organismi geneticamente modificati vengano accidentalmente sparsi nel Sud dell'Europa dove questo riso potrebbe dunque crescere e contaminare raccolti non geneticamente modificati. Un'eventuale autorizzazione non sarebbe soltanto una minaccia per i consumatori europei, ma anche per gli agricoltori e per l'ambiente dei paesi in via di sviluppo. Il riso è l'alimento base della dieta di più di metà della popolazione mondiale e la decisione presa dall'Unione Europea in relazione a questo riso geneticamente modificato avrà una forte influenza nei paesi dotati di risorse troppo limitate per poter adottare politiche regolatorie proprie. L'approvazione da parte europea del riso geneticamente modificato consentirebbe alla Bayer di promuoverne la coltivazione nei paesi in via di sviluppo, in particolar modo in Asia. Ciò potrebbe portare alla contaminazione delle coltivazioni di riso esistenti nei centri di origine e mettere a rischio la biodiversità e con essa la principale fonte di cibo nei paesi in via di sviluppo. L'impatto negativo ricadrebbe in modo particolarmente pesante proprio sulle fasce di popolazione più vulnerabili: i poveri delle aree rurali. La direttiva numero 2001/18/EC del Parlamento Europeo stabilisce che i paesi membri della Unione Europea devono "assicurarsi che vengano prese tutte le misure necessarie ad evitare effetti dannosi per la salute umana e per l'ambiente, che possano derivare dal rilascio volontario o dall'arrivo sul mercato di Organismi Geneticamente Modificati." Chiediamo perciò l'applicazione rigorosa del principio di precauzione nei confronti del riso geneticamente modificato, chiedendovi di non approvare l'importazione nei paesi dell'Unione Europea del riso LL62 in quanto non ci sono prove sufficienti che tale riso non causi danni alla salute umana o all'ambiente. Cordiali saluti Philipp Mimkes Coalizione contro i pericoli derivanti dalla Bayer http://www.cbgnetwork.org/22.html (Sito in Italiano) Letter to the 25 EU Member States: Reject Bayer's application to import genetically modified rice into the EU http://www.cbgnetwork.com/300.html Coalizione contro i pericoli derivanti dalla Bayer www.CBGnetwork.org (anche in italiano) CBGnetwork@aol.com Fax: (+49) 211-333 940 Tel: (+49) 211-333 911 Mandate un messaggio e-mail se desiderate ricevere la nostra newsletter gratuita in Italiano e/o in Inglese. Abbiamo bisogno del vostro aiuto. Le nostre campagne internazionali sono costose, non riceviamo alcuna sovvenzione pubblica e dipendiamo interamente dalle vostre donazioni. Potete inviare un assegno bancario a CBG, Postfach 15 04 18, 40081 Duesseldorf, Germania o un bonifico bancario al seguente numero di conto corrente: 8016 533 000 presso GLS Bank, Germany sort code: 430 609 67 Codice BIC (Bank Identifier Code) /SWIFT : GENODEM1GLS IBAN (International Bank Account Number): DE88 4306 0967 8016 5330 00 Ricordate che un bonifico bancario all'interno dell'Europa costa normalmente quanto un bonifico all'interno del vostro paese se si forniscono i codici BIC e IBAN della banca destinat
E lultima novità del marketing delle case farmaceutiche. Si chiama farmacogenomica, e promette medicine personalizzate sulla base del profilo genetico individuale. Ad ognuno il suo farmaco, anche se non ti serve. Fa un po schifo? Già, ma la propaganda è già allopera, per mostrare il lato buono della farmacogenomica: lultima trovata si chiama PgENI.
Le farmacie stanno cambiando. Non mi riferisco al DL Bersani, anche se c’entra pure quello. Nelle farmacie del futuro, ci presenteremo con una tesserina magnetica che conterrà la nostra impronta genetica. Il farmacista passerà la tessera in una macchina, che in quattro e quattr’otto sputerà il farmaco ideale per noi. Carino, no? Non sarà un cambiamento da poco. Il Dna, infatti, non parla di malattie. Avere una certa variante genetica vuol dire che, in determinate condizioni ambientali, il rischio di contrarre una certa malattia è maggiore. Ma siccome le condizioni in cui vive ciascuno hanno a che fare con la giustizia sociale, e di questo non se ne vuole occupare più nessuno, si tende ad ingigantire l’influenza del Dna rispetto a quella dell’ambiente. Aggiungeteci che, secondo la lobby biotech dominante (ricercatori, aziende, politici) pure l’angoscia, l’omosessualità o l’alcolismo hanno cause genetiche. Aggiungeteci che per i sistemi sanitari di tutto il mondo sono in via di privatizzazione, e trasformati in società assicurative. E aggiungeteci che le società assicurative già ora propongono test genetici, per decidere i premi delle polizze. Non ci siete ancora arrivati? Andiamo avanti. Per quanto detto sopra, la farmacogenomica non fornirà terapie, ma una specie di “integratori genetici”, da assumere tutta la vita per prevenire le malattie. Per esempio: se un certo gene, in un ambiente inquinato, può causare un certo tumore, non si ripulisce l’ambiente: si prescrive il giusto farmaco per tutta la vita. Se non te lo puoi permettere, peggio per te. Insomma: una persona sana e benestante viene trasformata in un malato cronico. Capito che miniera d’oro? Grazie al Dna, sta per arrivare un formidabile strumento di controllo socio-sanitario, governato da società finanziarie e multinazionali chimico-farmaceutiche. Non pretendo di convincervi, ma se potete ripensateci fra qualche anno, quando sulla tessera sanitaria digitalizzata ci sarà l’esame del Dna. Ormai dovremmo averlo capito a cosa servono i nostri dati personali, d’altronde. Comunque, se non credete a me, vi fiderete delle università. Ecco, ad esempio, cosa si insegna alla facoltà di Farmacia dell’università di Ferrara: Il marketing è considerato attualmente la più importante funzione nell’ambito dell’azienda farmaceutica, in quanto fondamentale creatore di valore per l’impresa. Il marketing farmaceutico, d’altra parte, consiste essenzialmente nella costruzione e sviluppo di relazioni con prescrittori ed influenzatori (…) E’ quindi evidente che alla luce dei cambiamenti strutturali del mercato e della crisi degli attuali modelli di marketing e comunicazione si rende necessario per gli operatori del settore operare un cambiamento culturale. Tale rinnovamento sarà comunque reso obbligatorio dall’uscita, fra qualche anno, di un più ampio numero di prodotti chiamati “Targeted Treatment” (Pharma 2010: “the Threshold of Innovation”, Steve Arlington, IBM-BCS) scaturiti dalla ricerca biotecnologica: molecole che saranno differenziate in funzione non soltanto delle sottocategoria nella stessa patologia (ad esempio i diversi tipi di cancro al polmone, al torace, ecc.), ma anche in funzione del patrimonio genetico dei pazienti stessi (farmacogenomica). L’approccio sia sul medico che sul paziente finale dovrà per forza essere completamente “taylorizzato” e differenziato anche in funzione dell’uso dei diversi canali di comunicazione. Be’, fate voi. Il marketing applicato alla medicina, però, si sta già rivelando una pericolosa arma di distruzione di massa: nei paesi ricchi, le case farmaceutiche cercano di trasformare i pazienti in consumatori; in quelli poveri, le medicine costano troppo e milioni di persone non possono accedere a cure salva-vita. Già adesso, quindi, la medicina non è uguale per tutti. Delle case farmaceutiche ci si fida sempre meno. Perciò, l’avvento della medicina “pay per drug” va preparato con cura, per evitare la crisi di rigetto. La propaganda di Big Pharma è iniziata già da alcuni anni. E oggi arriva PgENI: Pharmacogenomics for Every Nation Initiative, Farmacogenomica in Ogni Nazione. Un progetto appena nato all’università di Washington con la collaborazione dei pià importanti centri di ricerca medica internazionali. E’ il lato “buono” della farmacogenomica: le medicine hanno effetti diversi, secondo le caratteristiche genetiche di ogni ceppo etnico, le cui differenze sono comunque trascurabili da altri punti di vista (le razze non esistono, ricordatevelo). Perciò, inutile prendere certi farmaci se si hanno certi geni, rischiamo di rovinarci il fegato per niente. Meglio prenderne un altro, magari in dosi minori e a costi più bassi. Bello, no? Infatti, viene pubblicizzato come un progetto di aiuto ai paesi in via di sviluppo, troppo assoggettati alla medicina del nord del mondo. Certo, se si volesse davvero aiutare i paesi poveri sarebbe meglio investire in zanzariere (costano qualche dollaro, e salverebbero la vita di un bambino ogni 5 secondi). Però, volete mettere la formidabile promozione pubblicitaria per la farmacogenomica?
UPDATE to RED ALERT 9/11/06 (NASA, Ft. Monroe and Houston)
With time running out on a Bush Administration that is itching for more war in the Middle East and more political control at home, a former Army intelligence and public affairs officer has a vital question for all Americans: Are this week's Al Qaeda news and secretive, suspicious government terror drills a set up for a new 9/11 5th anniversary attack, code-named 9/11-V?
UPDATE to RED ALERT 9/11/06 (NASA, Ft. Monroe and Houston) By Captain Eric H. May Last Sunday the Lone Star Iconoclast -- and other media worldwide -- carried my "RED ALERT 9/11/06 (Chicago, Detroit & Houston)." http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=484&z=59 The article warned of a Bush Administration fifth-anniversary 9/11 attack, code-named 9/11-V, to justify Big Brother government and an attack on Iran. Mr. Leon Smith, the Iconoclast editor in chief, and I have monitored developments since then, and agree that the danger of a 9/11-V attack seems even greater now than a week ago. Bush Media & the Al Qaeda Script Since Labor Day the media has blitzed us with terror, showing the official devil, Osama Bin Laden -- along with the official diabolical team, Al Qaeda. He praises the 19 hijacking terrorists officially blamed for the 9/11/01 attack, and the 19 are shown making pre-martyrdom statements with the flaming Twin Towers and Pentagon in the background. Other masked and menacing minions practice karate kicks and judo grapples as they go through rigorous training. Even normally mum mainstream media joke that it seems Bin Laden works for George W. Bush. In the wake of the Bin Laden propaganda package, Bush has asked Congress to strengthen his powers against the judiciary and Constitution with specific regulation authorizing domestic spying and Gitmo torture -- all to protect the public, of course. Bush and his media know that the more they terrorize us, the more willingly we shall accept a police state and a world war. The only thing that could make us even more willing would be another 9/11 attack. The new Bin Laden tapes reminds us of what the media constantly tells us: It isn't really a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN. A Deadly Duo: Ft. Monroe & NASA A rapidly growing third of the public now believes that the Bush Administration staged the attacks of 9/11, and don't trust the government when it conducts terror practice. They correctly point out that on 9/11/01, US air defenses were running terror drills simulating aircraft crashing into US buildings; and on 7/7/05 London police were running terror drills simulating the bombings of their London trains. In both cases, the terror drills were used to set up the terror events. On Wednesday, 9/6, the Virginia Beach News reported that Ft. Monroe, Virginia, will be conducting highly suspicious terror drills from Monday, 9/11, through Wednesday, 9/13. http://feeds.thevirginiabeachnews.net/?rid=6e2b997658195392&cat=622ebe3a790ef0e4&f=1 In the last year, two Ft. Monroe exercises, each simulating a Hiroshima-style Al Qaeda nuclear attack, have coincided with terror set-ups in the Houston Metro area. To make things worse, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis lifted off on Saturday, 9/9, just ahead of the Ft. Monroe exercises. The launch of the shuttle allows the federal government to exercise national security controls -- especially in Houston, NASA's Space City -- that make it quite easy to set up a terror attack, or cover up the details afterward. NASA has sent the space shuttle into orbit two times since the Columbia catastrophe of three years ago, and both of those shuttle missions have coincided with terror set-ups in the Houston Metro area. Ft. Monroe, NASA & Texas City: 7/28/05 Ft. Monroe was simulating a US Hiroshima and Discovery had been in orbit for two days on Thursday, 7/28/05. That afternoon in Texas City, just south of Houston, British Petroleum blew up. Hours later, after dark, hundreds of thousands of Houstonians looked south and saw a sight that created mass terror: a nuclear attack on Texas City -- or so they thought. My Houston police contacts and I discussed the explosion the next day and agreed that it was a one-hour eruption of energy that was intended to look like a nuke. We wondered whether it was a new kind of weapon on board the space shuttle. We placed the explosion either directly over Texas City or further south over the Gulf of Mexico. We believed it was originally to coincided with the Hiroshima nuke Ft. Monroe was setting up, and instead of being an officially suppressed event (as it is now), it would have been played a million times, the way the Twin Towers demolition has been played, to make the USA want to attack the Middle East. Ft. Monroe, NASA & Texas City: 1/31/06 Ft. Monroe was simulating another US Hiroshima on 1/31/06, and we had been warning the citizens of Texas City that they were in great danger for two weeks previously. What sent us into red alert mode that time was NASA's launch of the New Horizon Pluto Mission -- a 9-year mission to the 9th planet, named after the god of death -- on 1/19. We believed the 1/19 date (a backwards 9/11) and death god theme comprised a "go code" for another attack, and events supported our analysis. As the Ft. Monroe exercises were running, Texas City residents, edgy because of our Internet alert, became terrified when Bush Administration nuclear forces turned up on the beaches south of the city, saying they were part of secret exercises. NASA & Baytown: 7/2/06 This summer NASA originally scheduled its space shuttle Discovery launch for 7/1/06, and once again we were active in our public affairs effort to warn the public, especially in the Houston area. In previous weeks I had published a widely read article in the Iconoclast stating that the oil president and former Texas resident might set up his own home state, in the petro-cities of Southeast Texas. Again events bore out the analysis and prediction: One day after the scheduled Discovery launch, there was another set-up explosion of a refinery, this time in Baytown's Exxon Mobil. Summing Up Serious Trouble None of what I've written above is new to my readers. I wrote an overview of the ongoing danger in my 7/17/06 Lone Star Iconoclast article: "9/11, 3/11, 7/11 Terror Dates -- Is There a Code?" http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=318&z=44 The article contains mainstream and alternative links to validate my assertions of an official set ups of terror attempts, and official cover ups afterward. The most frightening part of my red alert is the way the Pentagon, sworn to defend the American People, has reacted to it. After weeks of correspondence with command echelons of the Army, I sent it the red alert straight to them -- but they have been anything but straight in reply. A one-paragraph, unsigned reply from the Army Inspector General proves that our military leaders are quite aware that the American People are in grave danger, and quite intent on passing the buck and shirking their duty: Captain May, Perhaps you have the wrong agency. The Department of the Army is not responsible for addressing criminal matters. I recommend you revaluate (sic) your concerns and submit them to one of the agencies responsible for handling issues of this magnitude. I am certain you know who they are. I am sorry we could not be more helpful regarding your efforts. [Unsigned] It's hard to read such a reply without remembering that the Pentagon closed its eyes and ears when loyal American officers warned of an imminent Japanese attack against Pearl Harbor 65 years ago. Historians have suggested that the Pentagon did so because it wanted a Pearl Harbor attack to mobilize the nation for World War Two. Do they now want a 9/11-V attack to mobilize us for World War Three? # # # Captain Eric H. May is the founder and commander of Ghost Troop, the 300-strong 911 Truth Movement's cyber-cavalry unit, made up of of military and police veterans, along with citizen researchers and activists. His most recent interview and Iconoclast articles are available via Visibility 9-11. Captain Eric H. May captainmay@prodigy.net www.ghosttroop.net Houston, Texas
3 Settembre 2006 Opa alla genovese La Telecom è scalabile. Il suo valore in Borsa vale circa la metà di quando arrivò Tronchetti. La quota del tronchetto, quella che gli consente attraverso una sequenza di scatole cinesi da trapezista della finanza di controllare la Telecom, vale sempre il doppio del mercato. Anche se vale la metà. Il perchè non si sa. Non lo sanno la Consob, la Borsa, la Banca d’Italia. Lo sa però il tronchetto che, almeno in questo è umano, per cedere il pacchetto di controllo vorrebbe, nostalgicamente, il valore del 2001. Del resto anche tutti gli altri azionisti lo vorrebbero per le loro azioni. Come dargli torto? Se ci fosse un’Opa, un’offerta pubblica di acquisto, sulle azioni Telecom a un prezzo di poco superiore a quello della Borsa, tronchetti andrebbe a casa. E dovrebbe svalutare le azioni di sua proprietà. Io i soldi per fare un’Opa non li ho. Però ho pensato a un’alternativa. Un’alternativa alla genovese. Un’Opa alla genovese. Senza tirare fuori un soldo, un po’ come i finanzieri italiani, ma, rispetto a loro, senza indebitarmi con le banche. Chiederò attraverso il blog e con il supporto di uno studio legale la rappresentanza di tutti coloro che possiedono azioni della Telecom. Se raggiungerò un numero sufficiente di adesioni convocherò un’assemblea e licenzierò il consiglio di amministrazione. Non è uno scherzo. Visto che di ‘class action’ ancora non si sente nulla, passiamo ai fatti, alla ‘share action’. Piccoli azionisti di tutto il mondo unitevi (prima che arrivi Merdock, il cavaliere marrone). Postato da Beppe Grillo alle 17:18 in Economia | Commenti (1418) | Scrivi | Iscriviti | Invia ad un amico | GrilloNews | La Settimana | Trackback (7)
Gli obiettivi della cosiddetta "forza d'interposizione" nel sud del Libano.
un articolo interessante sulla nuova guerra in libano
Gli obiettivi della cosiddetta "forza d'interposizione" nel sud del Libano. Intervista* a Stefano Chiarini di Mila Pernice. http://www.radiocittaperta.it Per comprendere la situazione attuale nel sud del Libano, partiamo da un ragionamento sugli obiettivi della cosiddetta "forza d'interposizione". Servirà a portare avanti gli interessi di Israele nella regione? Credo proprio di si, nel senso che la risoluzione Onu 1701 sulla base della quale è stato deciso di formare questa forza, stabilisce che si crei una fascia di sicurezza all'interno del territorio libanese, quindi neppure a cavallo del confine tra i due paesi, ma all'interno, nella quale non potrà operare la rssistenza. Quindi priva i libanesi del diritto di continuare la loro lotta per la liberazione delle Fattorie di Sheeba occupate da Israele nel '67e per la liberazione dei prigionieri palestinesi e libanesi nelle carceri israeliane. Inoltre, cosa piuttosto grave secondo me, la risoluzione, checché ne dica il governo Prodi, stabilisce che queste forze multinazionali dovranno impedire sostanzialmente l'uso del Libano meridionale alla rsistenza. Quindi è evidente che si configura come il sostegno all'occupazione israeliana delle Fattorie di Sheeba e il tentativo di sottrarre al Libano la sua sovranità. Il modo in cui il Libano decide di difendere il proprio territorio è tra i libanesi stessi, non lo può decidere l'Onu o altri paesi. La risoluzione 1559 chiede il disarmo delle milizie ma, a differenza di quanto sostiene questa risoluzione 1701, la 1559 non può applicarsi agli Hezbollah perché quella resistenza libanese non è una milizia di partito ma sono forze che operano per difendere il paese, quindi hanno un ruolo "nazionale"; e quindi non devono rientrare nella 1559 e hanno il diritto di non disarmare. Questa posizione è sostenuta non solo dal presidente libanese Emile Lahoud ma anche, per esempio, dal piu' importante esponente dell'opposizione cristiano-maronita, che è l'ex generale Michelle Lahoud. Al di là delle buone intenzioni, per cui c'è chi dice che non andiamo in Libano per disarmare Hezbollah, quello sarà il compito che dovranno assolvere. L'Italia sarà complice, insieme all'Unione Europea, di questi obiettivi che vanno a favorire gli interessi di Israele. Senza dimenticare il ruolo della Francia... Soprattutto direi, nel senso che la Francia sta operando, e la risoluzione 1701 apre la strada a questo, per ottenere di nuovo un mandato coloniale sul Libano insieme agli Stati Uniti. Si tratta di una sorta di colpo di stato sunnita filoamericano, attraverso il premier Fouad Siniora, con la cacciata degli Hezbollah, delle altre forze sciite e di quelle forze che non sono d'accordo sul disarmo della resistenza, dal governo. Quindi è un'operazione appoggiata dalle truppe francesi e noi in qualche modo ci troveremo coinvolti non solo nella repressione della resistenza ma anche nel tentativo di creare un governo nel Libano simile a quello che c'è in Iraq, simile a quello che c'è in Afghanistan, cioè un fantoccio degli Stati Uniti e in questo caso anche della Francia. Quindi c'è anche un aspetto assolutamente negativo per quanto riguarda la vita politica interna del Libano perché chiedere il disarmo di Hezbollah significa voler destabilizzare il governo libanese, farlo cadere, significa voler mettere in discussione quegli accordi che posero fine alla guerra civile. Quindi assolutamente ne potrebbe derivare una vera e propria "irachizzazione" della situazione libanese. Un altro aspetto da considerare riguarda la missione dell'esercito libanese nel sud che già ha mandato le prime truppe. Sulle pagine del Manifesto hai avviato un'analisi sugli obiettivi di questa missione strettamente collegati alla composizione dell'esercito stesso. Come si porranno i soldati libanesi nei confronti di Hezbollah, che dal 2000 controlla i confini del sud? Anche qui c'è una contraddizione di fondo, nel senso che l'esercito libanese risponde al governo libanese, quindi dipende dagli equilibri che ci sono nel governo libanese. Se l'esercito libanese vorrà disarmare Hezbollah il governo libanese cadrà, su questo non ci sono dubbi. Sembra che ci sia per il momento una sorta di intesa per cui l'esercito va al sud ma "ignora" gli Hezbollah nella fascia meridionale. Il problema, quando arriveranno le truppe francesi e multinazionali, visto che risoluzione chiede il disarmo di Hezbollah, è che si aprirà una contraddizione perché poi queste forze chiederanno all'esercito libanese di compiere quest'operazione e quindi nuovo si destabilizzerà il paese. Poi c'è un grosso rischio anche per i soldati italiani, perché vanno lì per una funzione che non è d'interposizoone come ripetono molti anche a sinistra. Non sta scritto da nessuna parte che sono truppe d'interposizione, sono truppe che hanno il compito di far sì che il Libano del sud non sia usato per alcuna azione ostile intendendo per "azione ostile" qualsiasi iniziativa militare di resistenza contro l'occupazione israeliana delle Fattorie di Sheba. Il 27 luglio c'è stata una manifestazione a Roma molto partecipata dalle comunità libanesi in Italia. Le richieste dei movimenti di solidarietà alla resistenza dei popoli del Medio Oriente, e dei rappresentanti delle comunità libanesi ma anche palestinesi (ricordiamo che prosegue l'occupazione in Palestina che ogni giorno genera nuove vittime) riguardavano la complicità italiana e la necessità di sanzioni economiche e politiche nei confronti di Israele. Richieste che avranno motivo di essere anche nelle prossime settimane quando, come hai scritto tu, "nel sud del Libano opereranno tre eserciti - Hezbollah, l'esercito libanese e le forze multinazionali - di fonte al sempre presente esercito di Tel Aviv". Si, ognuno con un'agenda diversa da quelle degli altri e spesso anche in contrasto. La zona poi non è grandissima, sonno 800 km quadrati, è un terzo del Libano...e chiaramente questa situazione è anche molto pericolosa perché dipende da cosa faranno, se si passerà o no al disarmo di Hezbollah. Inoltre Israele ha anche un ruolo attivo: non si è ancora ritirato e non ha alcuna intenzione di lasciare le Fattorie di Sheba. C'è da notare poi che c'è anche un contingente francese che è sulle navi e che però la Francia tiene in zona - sono circa 1700 uomini - e che risponde solo al comando francese che non si capisce bene come voglia utilizzarlo. Anche questa è una incognita preoccupante. In tutto ciò la fretta di mandare le truppe italiane lì direi che è un atteggiamento molto velleitario, avventuristico e pericoloso da parte del nostro governo. *Intervista realizzata il 18/08/2006
Il riso ogm della Bayer è già sulle nostre tavole
ROMA. L´allarme lo lancia Simona Capogna, del consiglio nazionale Verdi Ambiente e Società (Vas): "Ormai è una certezza: il riso geneticamente modificato della Bayer (LLRICE 601) ha invaso i mercati europei, senza aver ottenuto l'approvazione nemmeno nel paese più aperto ai prodotti transgenici: gli Stati Uniti.
31/08/2006, GreenReport http://www.cbgnetwork.org/1608.html Il riso ogm della Bayer è già sulle nostre tavole ROMA. L´allarme lo lancia Simona Capogna, del consiglio nazionale Verdi Ambiente e Società (Vas): "Ormai è una certezza: il riso geneticamente modificato della Bayer (LLRICE 601) ha invaso i mercati europei, senza aver ottenuto l'approvazione nemmeno nel paese più aperto ai prodotti transgenici: gli Stati Uniti. Ha passato le frontiere senza presentare una regolare certificazione, ma come "clandestino", nascosto all'interno dei sacchi del riso lungo convenzionale". Il riso ogm resistente agli erbicidi doveva restare nei campi sperimentali dove era stato piantato nel 2001, ma ha invaso i campi vicini e non sono disponibili dati per capire da quanto tempo riso contaminato è in vendita anche in Europa. "L'unica cosa di cui possiamo esser certi al momento - dice Carogna - è che a pagare per una tecnologia che porta vantaggi solo alle multinazionali dell'agrochimica saranno ancora una volta, e come sempre, i cittadini. La contaminazione dell'ambiente e del cibo, la successiva decontaminazione, i controlli e i test saranno plausibilmente tutti a carico di chi si oppone all'introduzione di una tecnologia pericolosa e pervasiva". Infatti la Bayer ha promesso solo il sostegno tecnico-scientifico dove sarà necessario, "un po' poco per un'azienda che fattura miliardi di dollari l'anno vendendo pacchetti di sementi geneticamente modificate e input chimici - dicono i Vas - Ci aspettiamo quindi, anche alla luce di questo ultimo episodio, che le azioni che nei prossimi mesi attendono la Commissione Europea, l'Autorità per la sicurezza alimentare e le istituzioni nazionali, siano guidate effettivamente dalla volontà di tutelare i cittadini e l'ambiente. Nessuna coesistenza, quindi per una tecnologica pericolosa e invasiva come quella biotecnologica e maggiore sostegno ad una ricerca agricola pubblica e indipendente". 31 agosto 2006 Ue scopre in Olanda carico di riso Ogm da Usa non autorizzato BRUXELLES (Reuters) - Un carico di riso Ogm dagli Stati Uniti è giunto sabato nei Paesi Bassi, ha reso noto oggi la Commissione europea. "Abbiamo un presunto caso positivo a Rotterdam", ha detto il portavoce della Commissione Philip Tod nel corso di una conferenza stampa, aggiungendo che il riso non è stato posto sul mercato e che viene sottoposto a test dalle autorità olandesi. "C'è stato detto da (fonti del) settore di un altro presunto caso positivo a New Orleans, che però non ha lasciato gli Stati Uniti". La settimana scorsa, la Ue ha reso più severi i requisiti sulle importazioni di riso a grano lungo dagli Usa, dopo la scoperta da parte delle autorità statunitensi di una variante geneticamente modificata nota come LL Rice 601 commercializzata dalla tedesca Bayer e prodotta negli Usa. RACCOMANDAZIONE ALL'EUROPA DI RIFIUTARE RISO GENETICAMENTE MODIFICATO Coalizione contro i pericoli derivanti dalla Bayer www.CBGnetwork.org (anche in italiano) CBGnetwork@aol.com Fax: (+49) 211-333 940 Tel: (+49) 211-333 911 Mandate un messaggio e-mail se desiderate ricevere la nostra newsletter gratuita in Italiano e/o in Inglese. Abbiamo bisogno del vostro aiuto. Le nostre campagne internazionali sono costose, non riceviamo alcuna sovvenzione pubblica e dipendiamo interamente dalle vostre donazioni. Potete inviare un assegno bancario a CBG, Postfach 15 04 18, 40081 Duesseldorf, Germania o un bonifico bancario al seguente numero di conto corrente: 8016 533 000 presso GLS Bank, Germany sort code: 430 609 67 Codice BIC (Bank Identifier Code) /SWIFT : GENODEM1GLS IBAN (International Bank Account Number): DE88 4306 0967 8016 5330 00 Ricordate che un bonifico bancario all'interno dell'Europa costa normalmente quanto un bonifico all'interno del vostro paese se si forniscono i codici BIC e IBAN della banca destinataria.
(BAYER)Le autorità europee sollecitate a non approvare il riso geneticamente
Dopo lo scandalo della contaminazione di riso negli Stati Uniti: Le autorità europee sollecitate a non approvare il riso geneticamente modificato della Bayer
Comunicato Stampa del 29 Agosto 2006 Coalizione contro i pericoli derivanti dalla Bayer (Germania) Dopo lo scandalo della contaminazione di riso negli Stati Uniti: Le autorità europee sollecitate a non approvare il riso geneticamente modificato della Bayer Negli Stati Uniti un tipo di riso geneticamente modificato e non ancora approvato, è stato ritrovato in campioni di forniture destinate al consumo umano. Il riso, sviluppato da Bayer CropScience, produce una proteina che lo rende resistente all'erbicida glufosinato. Il Giappone ha immediatamente sospeso le importazioni dagli Stati Uniti di riso a grano lungo. Gregory Jaffe, direttore del settore biotecnologie del Center for Science in the Public Interest (Centro per la scienza nell'interesse pubblico), un'associazione di consumatori a Washington, afferma che l'incidente è "un altro esempio di come l'industria delle biotecnologie continui ad operare in modo irresponsabile." In Europa la Bayer ha presentato una domanda per l'importazione di un riso Geneticamente Modificato simile a quello del caso in questione, chiamato LL62, il quale è destinato alla alimentazione umana. La tedesca Coalizione contro i pericoli derivanti dalla Bayer (CBG), che per 25 anni ha controllato la compagnia, sollecita l'EFSA (Autorità europea per la sicurezza alimentare) con base a Parma, a non approvare il riso LL62 in quanto la sua approvazione implicherebbe rischi sconosciuti per la salute umana e per l'ambiente. Philipp Mimkes, portavoce della CBG così si esprime: "In relazione al riso geneticamente modificato, chiediamo una applicazione rigida del principio di precauzione. L'incidente avvenuto negli Stati Uniti, mostra che il rischio collegato ai raccolti geneticamente modificati non è controllabile nel lungo termine." Secondo Mimkes, l'approvazione da parte dell'Europa del riso geneticamente modificato consentirebbe alla Bayer e alle altre compagnie biotecniche di promuoverne la coltivazione nei paesi in via di sviluppo. Questo potrebbe portare alla contaminazione dei tipi di riso coltivati nelle zone di origine, a una diminuzione della diversità e potrebbe mettere a rischio la principale fonte di cibo dei paesi in via di sviluppo. L'impatto negativo ricadrebbe più pesantemente proprio sul settore più vulnerabile, quello dei poveri in aree rurali. RACCOMANDAZIONE ALL'EUROPA DI RIFIUTARE RISO GENETICAMENTE MODIFICATO Coalizione contro i pericoli derivanti dalla Bayer www.CBGnetwork.org (anche in italiano) CBGnetwork@aol.com Fax: (+49) 211-333 940 Tel: (+49) 211-333 911 Mandate un messaggio e-mail se desiderate ricevere la nostra newsletter gratuita in Italiano e/o in Inglese. Abbiamo bisogno del vostro aiuto. Le nostre campagne internazionali sono costose, non riceviamo alcuna sovvenzione pubblica e dipendiamo interamente dalle vostre donazioni. Potete inviare un assegno bancario a CBG, Postfach 15 04 18, 40081 Duesseldorf, Germania o un bonifico bancario al seguente numero di conto corrente: 8016 533 000 presso GLS Bank, Germany sort code: 430 609 67 Codice BIC (Bank Identifier Code) /SWIFT : GENODEM1GLS IBAN (International Bank Account Number): DE88 4306 0967 8016 5330 00 Ricordate che un bonifico bancario all'interno dell'Europa costa normalmente quanto un bonifico all'interno del vostro paese se si forniscono i codici BIC e IBAN della banca destinataria.
occupazione della sede di rifondazionedi modena
ieri sera è stata occupata temporaneamente la sede di rifondazione comunista per denunciare la deriva di Rifondazione e spingere la base e la dirigenza del partito ad assumere una posizione chiara, senza ipocrisie neutraliste, fra l'appoggio a questa politica neo-coloniale o a chi ad esse si oppone resistendo. QUESTA OCCUPAZIONE DIMOSTRATIVA E' STATA A MODENA LA PRIMA FORMA DI AZIONE DIRETTA PER FERMARE LA GUERRA GLOBALE PERMANENTE... SABATO 5 CI SARA' UN PRESIDIO INCONTRO CON MOSTRA FOTOGRAFICA IN PIAZZA DELLA TORRE IN CENTRO A MODENA. C.A.M. COLLETTIVO AUTOGESTITO MODENESE
occupazioen della sedie di rifondazione comunista di modena
DALLA SEDE DE-MILITARIZZATA DI RIFONDAZIONE COMUNISTA DI MODENA QUESTA OCCUPAZIONE DIMOSTRATIVA E' A MODENA LA PRIMA FORMA DI AZIONE DIRETTA PER FERMARE LA GUERRA GLOBALE PERMANENTE... SABATO 5 CI SARA' UN PRESIDIO INCONTRO CON MOSTRA FOTOGRAFICA IN PIAZZA DELLA TORRE IN CENTRO A MODENA. C.A.M. COLLETTIVO AUTOGESTITO MODENESE
Theories On How Wars Are Created, We Are Killing Each Other Per It or Their Delusions
Having watched our kind kill and maim each other my entire life, I, a former bank examiner and criminal hunter, have come up with a breaking theory on how we are made to fight. I have a test for those of us in the flesh to catch those who are not us.
Osso Ramdella Sandel.Kurt Brown..St. Ram Bo
4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR4timeWAR In contemplating the past and those moments where I thought I was different than others to the point that we were different animals, and to the point now that I suspect at times a projecting in of matter or delusion of matter and my and our opponent. I speak of my and our as in the flesh, true humans, not of any particular race, but of the true flesh, of the here and now. This is pure conjecture and theory and other theoreticians physicists and super elementary card players and visionaries of the war weapons used against our kind in the flesh, the here and now may have to explore this idea further. I am speaking of the response time that will allow us to test those or it around us. A time delay exists when projecting a response from space or the phase of phase fields. For instance, imagine a being or a simulation of a being or even a tricking of your mind to have you see something or someone. If there is any delay whatsoever, and you are aware of it, you will be able to test that person or being. Of course, there is always the possibility their response time could be slow due to the synapses of their brain being configured so that they are naturally slower, either due to birth shape or due to brain damage. This is a common sense test and we have seen it on game shows, and even the stupid could simulate a quick pre-calculated response, knowing they would not know the answer. As long as they beat the other to the buzzer or across the start line, their illusion of being in the flesh could be simulated. The test I propose is thus: Have people or persons line up and tell them to push a button as soon as a light turns green and not before. Under no circumstance are they to press the button before the light turns green. If they do, they are disqualified and automatically made suspect, and tell them that on the third try, if they hit the response button before the light turns green they will be executed. That would stop any intelligent life from beyond from faking a response in this test. A long drawn out time could elapse before the light turns green or a short time. It would not matter as long as the true humans stayed alert and cognizant. Their minds are there and the only time difference for them is the time it takes for the visual image or light to move at the speed of light, strike the retina of the human eye, and then most importantly, the time it takes for the visual stimuli to be processed by the occipital lobe of the brain and for the frontal lobe to coordinate a reaction in the other parts of the brain to press the button. If anyone or thing was at a remote distance, either controlling an individual or if that individual was simulated or if that individual was made to be a figment of your imagination, it would take time for those response times to be transmitted between the controller of that individual or apparition at a distance and the time it takes for them to respond, at least twice as long. I noticed this effect when I was playing football as a child. Some of the players were slow to respond to the hiking of the ball, or the moving from the center to the quarterback. The rule was thus: as soon as the ball moved, you could knock the offensive lineman down. I was given several penalty flags and I always played by the rule and the ball was always in the quarterbacks hands or on its way when I pushed the lineman. I actually had to delay my attack until it was in the hands of the quarterback to keep from getting the penalty flag. This is our opponents weakness. We can test a group of individuals and those who are absurdly slow will be suspect. The USA government has likely been taken over. The world may be in that complete state of seizure. If so, we will have the delay effect in time in our favor in identifying those of our flesh and those who are not in ridding ourselves of the enemy to mankind. We should be free from the planet, have space colonies, and living harmoniously, but we are not. We are imprisoned, robbed, and enslaved and degraded by those same government and corporate controlled entities who are supposed to help us. The saying today about them is that they grease us up, which means they allegedly help us, and then they screw us hard, meaning they then turn upon us and subjugate us into the eternal lower caste. India has a caste system or did and their behavior is entrenched to the point that many of them accept their plight. I accept nothing. We accept nothing. We may have to design our defense systems to counteract it or them or we may have to learn to use our own minds to control those things beyond our apparent flesh. Perhaps greater beings or a being is observing, but the question becomes do we help ourselves or wait to see if we deserve or warrant help and assistance in this or these matters. Creator we pray to the outer realm, help us stave off the suffering of our kind, even if it means our complete destruction as can be seen in the collapse and puncture of the planet the humans of Earth now call Saturn, crushed and pulverized with its oceans in the outer rings, frozen solid with other humans who may have fought back against the imprisoning force of things or beings or men with no conscience in intelligent beings abuse and subjugation. Do not fear death. It is better than life in a living Hell as many of us experience in this flesh, in this world. Some say Israel should be boycotted (the Canadian federal union CUPE voted for this, and I wonder about the structure of that union just like the NTEU) for apartheid and stealing land. But, there is likely a mix of human flesh on both sides of the wall, and they have been deceived. That is the nature of this enemy. He or it moves among you, lubricates you good, and then crushes you. I no longer salute the American flag of the United States. The regime that is in power has betrayed me and our kind. I may want it or its controllers head sent to me in the space colonies, and I may not want to see it, only its constituent elements in atomic form, separated, so that it can be analyzed and the extract of certain unique materials known so it can be detected when its progenitor shows up the next time with ashes to claim from us in the war time. Do not fear death as even that is not what you think it is. Stench of dead flesh smells like grapes of harvest to the flies, which is just another part of the greater consciousness or the greater illusion or delusion.
Black Out - Al buio Palermo, Trapani e Caltanissetta
speriamo non comincino a parlare ancora di centrali nucleari..
Il guasto nella zona occidentale dell'isola causato dalle perturbazioni Centinaia di richieste di richieste di aiuto ai vigili del fuoco Sicilia, blackout elettrico per maltempo Al buio Palermo, Trapani e Caltanissetta Disagi in un ospedale. Ma l'emergenza è rientrata velocemente PALERMO - Un blackout nell'erogazione dell'energia elettrica ha interessato numerose zone della Sicilia occidentale, comprese le province di Palermo, Trapani e Caltanissetta. A causa dell'eccezionale maltempo che ha colpito il siracusano - riferiscono dall'Enel - sono rimaste infatti escluse dalla rete di alta tensione di Terna le centrali di Priolo, Isab, Augusta e Porto Empedocle. Il Gestore della Rete di Trasmissione Nazionale (GRTN) ha quindi effettuato la manovra di alleggerimento dei carichi, cioè ha staccato le linee, per evitare più gravi conseguenze. La situazione comunque starebbe tornando alla normalità.
THE WORD IS THAT CANCER STEM CELLS CANNOT DO ANYTHING, THATS A LIE, THEY CAN BE WEAPONISED AND HAVE BEEN WEAPONISED
YOU ARE JUST THE HUMAN GARDEN FOR GHOULS TO GROW THE THINGS THEY NEED TO LIVE LONGER, PERHAPS FOREVER! YOU ARE THE KEY TO THEIR IMMORTALITY, ALL OF AMERICA AND MUCH OF THE WORLD Below is a reply to an article at indymedia arkansas by someone accusing the government of perpetrating a false cancer epidemic because of all the calls for cancer screening: ...they have been spraying cancer causing agents on you for 10 years as you watched television, or your parents did...now we find its conceivable they can harvest stem cells from cancers, so, like the weaponized mycoplasma that was harvested from the body fluids of aids patients, you are now going to supply them with stem cells, via your cancers. You and many others. REMEMBER BLOODROOT AS CURE. Please tell the others. And do get screened immediately. ----------------------------------------------------- Cut from an article from scientific american this month: Today the study of stem cells is shedding light on cancer research. Scientists have filled in considerable detail over the past 50 years about mechanisms regulating the behavior of normal stem cells and the cellular progeny to which they give rise. These fresh insights, in turn, have led to the discovery of similar hierarchies among cancer cells within a tumor, providing strong support for the theory that rogue stemlike cells are at the root of many cancers. ------------------------- the armys mycoplasma patent, referring to a micro-organism easily transmittable and causing aids-like symptoms: http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/2004/11/3619.shtml Excerpt: SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention relates to a novel strain of the mycoplasma M. fermentans which has been isolated from Kaposi's sarcoma of a patient with AIDS. The majority of M. fermentans incognitus cells have a size of about 140 nm to about 280 nm, with an overall range of 100-900 nm. Introduction of M. fermentans incognitus into nude mice and immunocompetent mice (Balb/c) results in a significant morbidity and mortality of the infected animals and the manifestation of many symptoms such as B-cell tumor, spindle cell tumor or immunodeficiency. ----------------------------------------- Stem Cell Debate In Senate This Week Organ harvesting and purposeful abortions as a by-product of the bush economy? The GOP Abortion Industry....even more lucrative than the illegal drug industry! ----------------------------- so do you think they are creating cancer to harvest the stem cells? they are certainly creating cancer thats 4 sure those are very hardy types of cells too, some cannot be gotten anywhere else but in cancers and no coincidence the biotech agents all cause cancer too! the ghouls of germany, the ghouls of britannia, dare we say the ghouls of israel especially? what say? --------------------------------- Stem Cells are many times the product of aborted foetuses. The first few paragraphs below are by bob geiger and his article at alternet is nothing but a rant basically stating that anyone not in possession of a degree is stupid. He and his cloistered and complacent bunch were not even competent to observe ENMOD, and most of them are still not! 7 years + they have been sprayed upon daily and subjected to psychotronic mind control, and have gone merrily about their "Learning". Oh well. I include the paragraph from bobs article because it states the situation in the senate right now, as of today. The article below bobs paragraph, by Michael Cook, is much more objective and informative, from Australia, and it addresses many of the same issues that we are to deal with here in the USA. The thing about all this is: bush and many of his type are invested to the teeth in biotech, enmod, and stem cell research, etc., they are the mad scientists of this generation. I do not envy them their love of lucre because that always makes it difficult to do the right thing, especially when they espouse the right thing, while acting 180 degrees out of phase with it! It will be interesting to see what the GOP does with this hot potato. The other side of the federal reserve foreign powers in our government, the democrats, at least can be honest about THIS, and doncha know they are using it to the max. This is being stepped on HARD by the press, I saw it on Google which was advertising it at wired news, then went to wired it was REMOVED! I went and posted at a place where some guys were giving me hell, I think they are DHS, out of work and now paid to run boards for their boy george....I just got all my posts and my membership banned at a politics board for mentioning it! Oh well. b ------------------------------ Posted by Bob Geiger at 6:41 AM on July 10, 2006. After going zero for three in "Wedge-Issue June," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) must have decided that it would look good on his resume to actually get some meaningful legislation passed in the 109th Congress. This forced Frist before the July 4 recess to agree to a deal with Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that will on Monday (Today-ed.) start a week of debating and voting on stem cell research in the form of three bills now before the Senate. ---------------------------- STEM CELL RESEARCH By Michael Cook July 11, 2006 Two things blaze out with noonday clarity about embryos and their stem cells: scientists appear to know almost everything, and the rest of us fear we know almost nothing. In fact, since stem cell biology is such a fast-moving field, all Australians - even other scientists - depend completely on what we are fed by a few dozen stem cell specialists. Radical changes to laws on reproductive technology, such as whether to authorise therapeutic cloning, could emerge from this week's meeting of the Council of Australian Governments meeting. The proposal by those who want to liberalise the law is that researchers should be allowed to create embryos, grow them for 14 days, and extract stem cells, thus killing the embryo. In view of the tremendous financial potential of stem cell products and the legal and ethical consequences of changing the status quo, any proposed changes have to be scrutinised thoroughly. As Princeton University president Shirley Tilghman has commented, "Some of the public pronouncements in the field of stem cell research come close to over-promising at best and delusional fantasising at worst." The Australian public - which would end up bankrolling this controversial research - must be protected from huckstering. Here are a few of the many questions that scientists should face about their work: - Progress towards therapeutic cloning requires women's eggs, probably in vast numbers, yet donors are not supposed to be compensated. Retrieving the eggs is a long, uncomfortable and potentially dangerous procedure and it is unlikely that many women will volunteer. How, then, will you source the eggs? In particular, do you plan to use rabbit or cow eggs to create beings that are mostly human, but part animal? Why hasn't any other country authorised this radical procedure? - Apart from their use as therapies, cloned embryos are said to be needed for their insight into chronic genetic diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes and muscular dystrophy. But isn't it true that the emergence of these diseases during embryonic development is only a hypothesis, not a certainty? In that case, would you ask permission to grow embryos for longer than 14 days? How much longer? As far as the end of the first trimester? - If you are successful in developing a personal body repair kit using the technique of therapeutic cloning, how much will this cure cost? US scientists estimate it could be at least $A135,000. Would that be true in Australia as well? - The world's most famous cloner, Ian Wilmut, the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep, released a book last week in which he suggests that therapeutic cloning should be used to create healthy designer babies. Is this an outcome you would welcome? - Cloning babies is the single possibility of reproductive technology to which the public is adamantly opposed. Yet the Australian Academy of Science, along with more than 60 of the world's leading science academies, is a signatory to a declaration that a ban on human reproductive cloning "should be reviewed periodically in the light of scientific and social developments". And last month the world's most prominent IVF body, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, was only willing to extend its moratorium on reproductive cloning for a single year. If human reproductive cloning were safe, would it be ethical? Korea's Hwang debacle, in which the world's most successful stem cell scientist has been disgraced as a scientific fraud and put on trial for embezzlement, shows a potential conflict of interest in embryo research regulation. On the one hand, scientists are both the gatekeepers for all of the government's information and the recipients of the government's funding. On the other hand, their work might be a bonanza for the government. In the light of this, is the Lockhart report vigilant enough? It proposes to leave embryo research in the hands of a licensing committee that could approve innovative procedures without consulting anyone. Whenever I am compelled to play croquet, I cheat like blazes. I cannot see why I should abide by the rules of a patently absurd game. Embryonic stem cell researchers must feel a bit like that. For them the human embryo is nothing more than a clump of cells. Why, then, must they kowtow to the public and Parliament for permission? So their storyline changes with every telling. The pole star shifts from helping infertile couples, to curing Alzheimer's, to seeking the origin of chronic diseases, to drug testing, depending on who is listening. The beneficiaries, they say, will be healthy patients, or a booming biotech industry, or blue-sky science. story it takes to get the laws and the funding they need. Fair enough. It's a free country. But to prove their case they have to present, not a jerry-built castle of half-truths and high hopes, but the whole truth and a transparent agenda. Nothing less is good enough to warrant a change in the law. Michael Cook is editor of the bioethics newsletter BioEdge.