Opposing Digits

It’s supposed to protect you from predators spying on your computer habits, but a bill Microsoft Corp. helped write for Oklahoma will open your personal information to warrantless searches, according to a computer privacy expert and a state representative.

Called the “Computer Spyware Protection Act,” House Bill 2083 would create fines of up to a million dollars for anyone using viruses or surreptitious computer techniques to break on to someone’s computer without that person’s knowledge and acceptance, according to the bill’s state Senate author, Clark Jolley.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:30 AM 0 comments

NASHVILLE -- The Senate voted Thursday to prohibit consumption of a plant with hallucinogenic properties, though it can still be grown and harvested "strictly for aesthetic, landscaping or decorative purposes."

The bill by Sen. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, applies to Salvia Divinorum A, an herb related to sage that is native to parts of Mexico.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:28 AM 0 comments

Feeling flush because you're getting a nice tax refund this year? You're not alone. Some of America's largest corporations—a virtual who's who of the Fortune 100—have been reporting their own hefty tax windfalls, thanks to an absurd provision of a law designed to create jobs.

IBM, for example, is banking a $2.8 billion refund—well, better to call it a "tax savings"—because instead of paying the normal corporate tax rate of 35 percent on $9.5 billion in profits it earned overseas, the company paid only 5.25 percent. That's the magic of the American Jobs Creation Act, a piece of legislation that passed with comfortable margins in both the House and the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush just two weeks before the 2004 elections.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:27 AM 0 comments

A PEACE protester has slammed the government for bodging a law which was created specifically to end his demonstration.

And he has pledged to fight the latest bid by the Government to evict him from protesting outside the House of Commons.

Brain Haw, 56, has held a five-year anti-war protest outside Parliament. Last July he won a legal battle to continue the fight owing to a drafting error in a new law banning unauthorised protests within Westminster.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:23 AM 0 comments

The President played the scoundrel--even the best of his minions went along with the lies--and when a former ambassador dared to tell the truth, the White House initiated what Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald calls "a plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson." That is the important story line.

If not for the whistleblower, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, President Bush's falsehoods about the Iraq nuclear threat likely would never have been exposed.

On Monday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told me that he and his department's top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear threat, but that the President followed the misleading advice of Vice President Dick Cheney and the CIA in making the claim. Now he tells us. Now Powell Tells Us

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:21 AM 0 comments

Of the more than 670,000 troops deployed to the Gulf in 1991, about one-third of them now receive disability compensation.Remember your mother's warning, "If you can't clean up after yourself, don't make the mess"? Didn't we subject our children to that mantra?

But what was and is a continuing motif running through the theater of family life has not apparently carried over into the theater of modern warfare.

Take Iraq, for example. During the 1991 Gulf War our military attacked Iraq and its people with over 350 tons of depleted uranium (DU). During the current war and occupation we've fired 2,200-plus tons on people and cities all over Iraq. A byproduct of uranium enrichment, DU remains radioactive for 4.5 billion years. We have turned the cradle of civilization into a toxic wasteland.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:15 AM 0 comments

In terms of the death toll attributable to this current batch of depraved demonic warlords, there really is no reasonable comparison with the Nazis. The eventual death toll will be so vastly greater for Bush/Blair (this includes Bush 1 and Clinton to a minor degree, but chiefly Bush and his crew) that there will be no basis for comparison. These people, if you can reasonably call them actual people and not some form of reptile, are not content to merely murder their contemporaries like all previous mass murderers. They have their sights set on all future generations as well.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:09 AM 0 comments

CANBERRA, Australia — The government will send all asylum seekers arriving by boat on Australia's mainland to island detention camps, the country's immigration minister announced Thursday.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:07 AM 0 comments

According to the findings of a recent survey by local rights NGOs, women were treated better during the Saddam Hussein era – and their rights were more respected – than they are now.

"We interviewed women in the country and met with local NGOs dealing with gender issues to develop this survey, which asked questions about the quality of women's life and respect for their rights," said Senar Muhammad, president of Baghdad-based NGO Woman Freedom Organisation. "The results show that women are less respected now than they were under the previous regime, while their freedom has been curtailed."

According to the survey, women's basic rights under the Hussein regime were guaranteed in the constitution and – more importantly – respected, with women often occupying important government positions. Now, although their rights are still enshrined in the national constitution, activists complain that, in practice, they have lost almost all of their rights.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:57 AM 0 comments

For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardised not only US security but that of much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:52 AM 0 comments

A light source that could put the traditional light bulb in the shade has been invented by US scientists.

The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) emits a brilliant white light when attached to an electricity supply.

The material, described in the journal Nature, can be printed in wafer thin sheets that could transform walls, ceilings or even furniture into lights.

The OLEDs do not heat up like today's light bulbs and so are far more energy efficient and should last longer.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:42 AM 0 comments

Anticorporate protesters went after Nestlé for its infant formula. Now they're at it again--this time accusing the company of using cocoa harvested by forced labor. With their bright pink wigs, colorful placards and painted smiles, the crowd in front of San Francisco's Metreon movie theater last July looked like extreme fans come to celebrate the opening of the latest Willie Wonka film. But these merrymakers had a downbeat message for Nestlé, maker of Wonka chocolate candy. A typical sign read, "Make my Wonka bar slave-free."

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:35 AM 0 comments

BOSTON -- Federal Magistrate Judge Robert Collings has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to release key documents relating to the regulation of mercury emissions from power plants, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced today. Power plants are the largest producers of mercury, which poses serious neurological risks, especially to children and pregnant women.

Last year AG Reilly joined with several other state AGs in challenging a new EPA mercury emissions trading program for power plants, arguing that it is inadequate and inconsistent with the Clean Air Act. (The case is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit). In March of 2005, AG Reilly filed a separate suit against the EPA in Massachusetts federal district court, seeking the release of information about potentially more effective regulatory alternatives to the agency’s proposal that the agency refused to release.

# posted by madthumbs @ 8:36 AM 0 comments

Internet shoppers accustomed to tax-free purchases from Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store soon may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

State legislatures and tax officials, eager to find new ways to boost government spending and curb budget shortfalls, are eyeing the burgeoning market for digital downloads as a potentially lucrative source of revenue.

# posted by madthumbs @ 2:22 PM 0 comments

China has introduced regulations that make it illegal to run an email server without a licence. The new rules, which came into force two weeks ago, mean that most companies running their own email servers in China are now breaking the law.

# posted by madthumbs @ 2:20 PM 0 comments

Exxon Made Record Profits in 2005

Soaring gas prices are squeezing most Americans at the pump, but at least one man isn't complaining.

Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.

Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:29 PM 0 comments

An RAF doctor who refused to serve in Iraq has been sentenced to eight months in jail and dismissed from the service.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:28 PM 0 comments

The Christian world may be one step away from a big sensation. The U.S. National Geographic Society has posted an English translation of the “Gospel of Judas” on its web site. Up until 1970, the document had been thought irretrievably lost.

The papyrus comprises 62 pages in the Coptic language. The document dates back to the third or fourth century. It is believed to be a copy of an earlier Greek version. Should irrefutable evidence be produced to authenticate the manuscript, the document will be a major scientific discovery because “it tells a far different tale from the four gospels in the New Testament with regard to the concept of God, salvation, human existence, not to mention Judas himself,” says one of the translators and researchers of the text.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:18 PM 0 comments

China has carried off the world's largest reduction in poverty by grasping that market economies cannot be left on autopilot

China is about to adopt its 11th five-year plan, setting the stage for the continuation of probably the most remarkable economic transformation in history, while improving the wellbeing of almost a quarter of the world's population. Never before has the world seen such sustained growth; never before has there been so much poverty reduction.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:11 PM 0 comments

Pressure is growing on US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with more retired generals calling for him to resign over the Iraq war.

The White House has said it is happy with the way Mr Rumsfeld is handling his job and the situation in Iraq.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:09 PM 1 comments

Toledo- There are no little murders. But Gerald Robinson is about to go on trial in Toledo for one that is unusually large, judging by the interest.

He is a Roman Catholic priest. The victim, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, was a nun, and the slaying occurred more than 20 years ago, in the chapel of a hospital where they worked.

The crime is anchored to Easter Sunday - the most sacred, defining day in Christendom. It occurred on Holy Saturday 1980, the day before Easter and what would have been the nun's 72nd birthday.

Robinson's murder trial begins Monday, the day after Easter 2006, when a Lucas County Common Pleas judge begins empaneling a jury under the glare of national - and quite possibly international - media attention.

And why wouldn't the media descend?

There are intimations of a ritual killing, satanic cults, organized sexual abuse and an institutional cover-up.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:02 PM 0 comments

TEQUESTA, FLA -- If you elect a person to office, would you expect that person to support the government?

An appellate lawyer, elected to the Tequesta Village Council, is refusing to take an oath of office because he refuses to say that he supports the government.

In Florida, prior to performing the duties of public office, the public officer must take and file an oath of office which states that “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States and the State of Florida.”

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:55 PM 0 comments

Our nation's continuing controversy surrounding its current immigration "policy" is more than just corporate agribusiness's dirty little secret, but it also shrouds an economic iceberg that unless recognized could well rip the U.S. apart.

Ignored by our national TV and media pundits in their alarm over the influx of foreign workers, principally from Mexico, the immigration issue has both its historical roots and an abject lesson regarding what is wrong about our whole so-called "free enterprise" system.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:48 AM 0 comments

Intelligence experts warn that a proposal to merge two Pentagon intelligence units could create an ominous new agency.

A threatened turf grab by a controversial Pentagon intelligence unit is causing concern among both privacy experts and some of the Defense Department’s own personnel.

An informal panel of senior Pentagon officials has been holding a series of unannounced private meetings during the past several weeks about how to proceed with a possible merger between the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), a post-9/11 Pentagon creation that has been accused of domestic spying, and the Defense Security Service (DSS), a well-established older agency responsible for inspecting the security arrangements of defense contractors. DSS also maintains millions of confidential files containing the results of background investigations on defense contractors’ employees.

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:14 PM 0 comments

The retired commander of key forces in Iraq called Wednesday for Donald Rumsfeld to step down, joining several other former top military commanders who have harshly criticized the secretary of defense's authoritarian style for making the military's job more difficult.

"I think we need a fresh start" at the top of the Pentagon, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-05, said in an interview. "We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And that leadership needs to understand teamwork."

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:56 AM 0 comments

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Internal Revenue Service won approval from a federal court to ask PayPal to turn over information about people who might be evading taxes by hiding income in other countries, officials said Tuesday.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:30 AM 0 comments

Another Duplessis Orphan has come forward with horror stories, including electro shock therapy, straight jacket sessions and mind altering drugs injections after being subjected to illegal government experimentation programs as a young child.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:13 AM 0 comments

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The type of fiber found in whole grains and many vegetables -- called insoluble fiber -- may help prevent diabetes by improving the body's use of the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin, a small study suggests. The findings, published in Diabetes Care, add to evidence linking cereal fiber to a lower diabetes risk.

Since a decline in insulin sensitivity precedes type 2 diabetes, people may help lower their diabetes risk by getting more insoluble fiber, Dr. Martin Weickert, a researcher at the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Nuthetal who led the study told Reuters Health.

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:38 AM 0 comments

Today, in an example of the joke that the Western 'justice' system has become, a Spanish judge passed down sentences on 29 Moroccon patsies for their alleged yet wholly uncorroborated part in the Madrid Train bombings:

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:26 AM 0 comments

AT&T is seeking the return of technical documents presented in a lawsuit that allegedly detail how the telecom giant helped the government set up a massive internet wiretap operation in its San Francisco facilities.

In papers filed late Monday, AT&T argued that confidential technical documents provided by an ex-AT&T technician to the Electronic Frontier Foundation shouldn't be used as evidence in the case and should be returned.

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:17 AM 0 comments

THE following is the full transcript of the cockpit voice recorder aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked on September 11, 2001 and crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers stormed the cockpit.
On its regular leg from Newark International in New Jersey to San Francisco (en route to Japan), Flight 93 was hijacked on September 11, 2001 and crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about 240km northwest of Washington after passengers, who found out they were being hijacked through mobile phone calls, stormed the cockpit.

The audio recording was played overnight at the sentencing trial of confessed al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. The tape itself is not being released, at the request of victims' families.

The voices heard on the tape were not identified on the transcript released by the court, only whether they were speaking in Arabic or English.

# posted by madthumbs @ 7:21 PM 0 comments

BOSTON -- A local dad is suing two big soda companies.

Tim Newell filed a class-action lawsuit in Massachusetts against the Georgia company that makes "Bellywashers" soda.

He's also going after Worcester-based Polar Beverages for their Diet Orange Dry drink.

Newell said both sodas contain high levels of a chemical called benzene, which has been linked to leukemia. Polar said its own tests found no hint of the harmful chemical.

# posted by madthumbs @ 5:24 PM 0 comments

The home secretary has failed in an attempt to strip an Australian terror suspect held at Guantanamo Bay of his right to British citizenship.

A solicitor for David Hicks, 30, said British diplomats would now have to lobby US authorities for his release.

Mr Hicks, a Muslim convert, was captured in Afghanistan in 2001.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:36 PM 1 comments

Administration Pushed Notion of Banned Iraqi Weapons Despite Evidence to Contrary

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:34 PM 0 comments

Two years ago, facing eviction from her home, Sarah Hasty called the state Department of Children and Families in desperation, asking for help from its voluntary service branch to keep her family of 10 from ending up homeless.

After repeated calls, an operator at the DCF hotline finally told the desperate North Haven mother that DCF could look into her situation, but warned her that such an act could trigger a neglect or abuse investigation that might cost her custody of her children.

"That made me hang up pretty quick," Hasty said. "Here I was, trying to keep my children from being neglected, but DCF wouldn't listen until they were neglected. It's too late then. In my book, DCF only seemed interested in breaking my family up, not helping us."

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:20 PM 0 comments

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Study findings support an association between low blood levels of vitamin K and an increased prevalence of hand and knee osteoarthritis -- the most common form of arthritis, occurring mainly at older ages, in which the cartilage cushioning the joints breaks down over time, leading to pain, stiffness and, often, limited mobility.

"We are not yet sure if vitamin K is in fact the cause of osteoarthritis," lead author Tuhina Neogi, from Boston University, told Reuters Health. "But what we did see is that the lower the levels of vitamin K in the blood, the higher the prevalence of osteoarthritis."

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:19 PM 0 comments

It was an unprecedented natural disaster that destroyed a coastal US city. A bungled government response made it worse. Racism plagued survivors. It wasn't Hurricane Katrina, which slammed New Orleans and the Gulf Coast last year. It was the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked San Francisco one hundred years ago on April 18.

# posted by madthumbs @ 1:01 PM 0 comments

April 08th 2006
If we are to believe Sterling Seagrave, “co-author of Gold Warriors and an extremely well-connected financial source in both the US and China as well as Europe,” the White House, that is to say the Straussian neocons in control of the White House, have ordered the Federal Reserve to print a whopping two trillion in funny (or not so funny fiat) money. “The U.S. Treasury is allegedly running printing presses 24/7 to accommodate that order” and this “probably explains why the US Treasury Secretary resigned several months ago and was replaced by a Bush flunkey, and why Greenspan resigned from the Fed several weeks ago, not wanting to go down with the Titanic…. We have been predicting this over the past two or three years, as the inevitable consequence of the Bush administration’s bizarre policies, although we were not certain exactly when it would occur.”

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:59 PM 0 comments

The NYPD wants to take your picture—but beware of turning your lens on the cops

April 10th, 2006 5:30 PM

Talk to the hand: An undercover detective lunges for Jan Lee's camera.
photo: Jan Lee
# See also: Feel a Chill?
NYPD on filming protests: No harm, no foul
by Jarrett Murphy
Since 2003, the NYPD has been filming protesters at political demonstrations, regardless of whether anything illegal's going on. City lawyers were in court last month defending the practice, arguing that what happens in public view is fair game.

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:57 PM 0 comments

There have been repeated claims that this past year's hurricane activity was another sign of human-induced climate change. Everything from the heat wave in Paris to heavy snows in Buffalo has been blamed on people burning gasoline to fuel their cars, and coal and natural gas to heat, cool and electrify their homes. Yet how can a barely discernible, one-degree increase in the recorded global mean temperature since the late 19th century possibly gain public acceptance as the source of recent weather catastrophes? And how can it translate into unlikely claims about future catastrophes?

The answer has much to do with misunderstanding the science of climate, plus a willingness to debase climate science into a triangle of alarmism. Ambiguous scientific statements about climate are hyped by those with a vested interest in alarm, thus raising the political stakes for policy makers who provide funds for more science research to feed more alarm to increase the political stakes. After all, who puts money into science--whether for AIDS, or space, or climate--where there is nothing really alarming? Indeed, the success of climate alarmism can be counted in the increased federal spending on climate research from a few hundred million dollars pre-1990 to $1.7 billion today. It can also be seen in heightened spending on solar, wind, hydrogen, ethanol and clean coal technologies, as well as on other energy-investment decisions.

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:39 PM 0 comments

While American troops are hunkered down in "safe zones" in Iraq trying to stay out of an escalating civil war, our government seems oblivious to a growing threat of civil war right here in the United States. As anyone can see, millions of illegal aliens living here are becoming more vocal, more demonstrative, more belligerent, and more violence-prone by the day. Unless our government takes deliberate and significant action immediately, America could be in for serious civil unrest real soon.

It is absolutely incredible that our government would tolerate people who are not even legal residents of our country to generate the kind of mass demonstrations and protests that we are witnessing on a daily basis! It is more than incredible; it is outrageous!

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:31 PM 0 comments

President Bush unveiled a $7.1 billion plan Tuesday to gird the nation against an outbreak of pandemic influenza, a potential catastrophe that many scientists fear could spring from the bird-killing strain currently spreading from Asia into Europe.

"Our country has been given fair warning of this danger to our homeland -- and it is time to prepare,'' Bush said in a speech before National Institutes of Health employees in Bethesda, Md.

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:26 PM 0 comments

In today's society, our human diet is vastly different from that of our ancestors. In early times hunting, fishing and gathering of foods was an important part of the lifestyle of the day and natural foods were at their best. Consequently, a biological preferable ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids was consumed.

Gradually, over the centuries, for various reasons including convenience, we began preparing and eating less and less fish and other marine mammals. As a result, our diet today is deficient in Omega 3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), a most important "essential" fatty acid for human development and health. An "essential" fatty acid is one that cannot be produced by the body and must be obtained from a food source

# posted by madthumbs @ 7:37 PM 0 comments

04.05.06, 12:00 AM ET

WEDNESDAY, April 5 (HealthDay News) -- Ordinary ginger causes ovarian cancer cells to die, highlighting the spice's potential in fighting the killer disease, a new study found.

Not only did ginger trigger ovarian cancer cell death, it did so in a way that may prevent tumor cells from becoming resistant to treatment, a common problem with chemotherapy.

# posted by madthumbs @ 7:34 PM 0 comments

The aluminum hydroxide used in many vaccines has been linked to symptoms associated with Parkinson's, ALS, and Alzheimer's.

Aluminum hydroxide, which stimulates immune response, has been used for 80 years in vaccines such as those for hepatitis A and B, and the Pentacel cocktail for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, and meningitis.

# posted by madthumbs @ 7:30 PM 0 comments

A friend told me last night that there are 60 million Evangelicals in America who believe in the Rapture, which is why they support Israel's dominion over the Palestinians.

Perhaps "Evangelical" means something other than being Christian. I do not think Christ would support treating anyone the way the Palestinians are being treated, certainly not the Palestinian children.

# posted by madthumbs @ 7:06 PM 0 comments

Sunday, April 09, 2006

LONDON: Iraqis arrested by United States-led forces have been vanishing into a "black hole", British Prime Minister Tony Blair's human rights envoy told a Sunday newspaper.

Had the United States taken this problem seriously from the beginning, it may have helped prevent the abuse of prisoners in Iraq, Ann Clwyd, a Member of Parliament for the governing Labour Party, told The Observer newspaper in a rare interview about her work.

# posted by madthumbs @ 7:04 PM 0 comments

In the course of researching paramilitary drug raids, I’ve found some pretty disturbing stuff. There was a case where a SWAT officer stepped on a baby’s head while looking for drugs in a drop ceiling. There was one where an 11-year-old boy was shot at point-blank range. Police have broken down doors, screamed obscenities, and held innocent people at gunpoint only to discover that what they thought were marijuana plants were really sunflowers, hibiscus, ragweed, tomatoes, or elderberry bushes. (It’s happened with all five.)

Yet among hundreds of botched raids, the ones that get me most worked up are the ones where the SWAT officers shoot and kill the family dog.

# posted by madthumbs @ 6:59 PM 0 comments

APRIL 11, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) - The Social Security numbers, driver's license information and bank account details belonging to potentially millions of current and former residents of Florida are available to anyone on the Internet because sensitive information has not been redacted from public records being posted on county Web sites.

Although questions about the availability of personal data online initially focused on Broward County, an official there stressed today that all counties in Florida are subject to the same state law. A spot check of other county Web sites today confirmed that sensitive data is easily available through public property records.

In fact, according to Sue Baldwin, director of the Broward County Records Division, counties across the nation face the same issue.

# posted by madthumbs @ 6:56 PM 0 comments

11 April 2006

Pharmaceutical firms are inventing diseases to sell more drugs, researchers have warned.

Disease-mongering promotes non-existent diseases and exaggerates mild problems to boost profits, the Public Library of Science Medicine reported.

Researchers at Newcastle University in Australia said firms were putting healthy people at risk by medicalising conditions such as menopause.

# posted by madthumbs @ 6:42 PM 0 comments

Sunday, April 09, 2006

The companies that provide Americans with their homeowners' and auto insurance made a record $44.8 billion profit last year even after accounting for the claims of policyholders wiped out by Hurricane Katrina and the other big storms of 2005, according to the companies' filings with state regulators.

Top executives described the profit -- an 18.7 percent increase over the previous year -- as a fluke, product of gains in other lines of insurance besides homeowners and a very good year for their investments.

# posted by madthumbs @ 6:41 PM 0 comments

911 operator ignored a 5-year-old Detroit boy’s call for help before his mother died in February.

Robert Turner called 911 after his mother, Sherrill Turner, 46, fell unconscious onto the bedroom floor of their apartment. Police Spokesman James Tate said Sherrill Turner suffered from a heart condition.

Family members said Friday that Robert's mother taught him how to use 911 in case of an emergency. Robert turned 6 on March 27 and missed his mother dearly, family members said.

According to 911 transcripts, the operator told Robert: “Let me speak to her before I send police over there.”

# posted by madthumbs @ 6:34 PM 0 comments

Send a letter to your Representative asking them to support the Health Freedom Protection Act (H.R. 4282).


The FDA’s approval process for informational labeling of food-based health claims has been so slow and uncertain that very little meaningful health information is making its way to food and dietary supplement consumers. In two years, only nine products have received approval to be labeled with qualified health claims, and no applications have yet been received by the FDA this year. A bill has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives that would give consumers access to truthful, non-misleading health information. The Health Freedom Protection Act, H.R. 4282, was introduced in the U.S. House on Wednesday, November 9th, 2005.

# posted by madthumbs @ 5:28 PM 0 comments

(Filed: 09/04/2006)

For many years now, human-caused climate change has been viewed as a large and urgent problem. In truth, however, the biggest part of the problem is neither environmental nor scientific, but a self-created political fiasco. Consider the simple fact, drawn from the official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, that for the years 1998-2005 global average temperature did not increase (there was actually a slight decrease, though not at a rate that differs significantly from zero).

Yes, you did read that right. And also, yes, this eight-year period of temperature stasis did coincide with society's continued power station and SUV-inspired pumping of yet more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

In response to these facts, a global warming devotee will chuckle and say "how silly to judge climate change over such a short period". Yet in the next breath, the same person will assure you that the 28-year-long period of warming which occurred between 1970 and 1998 constitutes a dangerous (and man-made) warming. Tosh. Our devotee will also pass by the curious additional facts that a period of similar warming occurred between 1918 and 1940, well prior to the greatest phase of world industrialisation, and that cooling occurred between 1940 and 1965, at precisely the time that human emissions were increasing at their greatest rate.

# posted by madthumbs @ 4:55 PM 0 comments

Bladder infections can be an inconvenient and painful experience, but you have the power to prevent infection just by making a few simple changes to your diet and daily routine. Even if you have suffered with bladder infections in the past, you can help prevent their recurrence by first increasing your intake of fluids. Because bladder infections are caused by a buildup of bacteria, drinking lots of liquids is beneficial, since fluid dilutes the urine and helps flush harmful bacteria out.

In addition to drinking at least eight glasses of water a day, cranberry juice can be especially helpful in warding off bladder infections. "Cranberry juice works because it prevents the bacteria that cause the infection from sticking to the lining of the urinary tract," writes Ray D. Strand in Death by Prescription. Strand goes on to suggest individuals who are prone to infection should drink eight ounces of cranberry juice a day. You can also opt for unsweetened cranberry concentrate available in health food stores.

# posted by madthumbs @ 3:14 PM 0 comments

Brett Kavanaugh, an assistant to President Bush and nominee to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, is one of the main White House lackeys involved in the 1993 murder cover-up of Vince Foster, according to a Sacramento U.S. Attorney and former lead investigator in the Foster case.

Further, high-powered and corrupted journalists like Michael Isikoff, Steve Labaton, Micah Morrison, Matt Drudge and others were aware of the attorney's credible charges, but failed to report them to the American people.

By not reporting the cover-up in the Foster investigation as well as not reporting witness stories, journalists aid the government perpetrators in silencing witnesses, said Miguel Rodriguez, the lead U.S, Attorney in the Foster investigation, who blew the whistle on the cover-up 11 years ago.

# posted by madthumbs @ 2:37 PM 0 comments

The National Security Agency has the means to "vacuum” all e-mails and other data crossing the Internet, a former AT&T employee familiar with the technology reveals.

The disclosures of Mark Klein, who worked for AT&T for more than 22 years, come in connection with a class-action lawsuit filed in January by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It accuses the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the NSA in its program to wiretap Americans' communications.

According to the EFF, the NSA uses powerful computers to "data-mine" the contents of Internet and telephone communications for suspicious names, numbers and words in an attempt to identify suspected terrorists.

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:30 PM 0 comments

In the pursuit of profits, pharmaceutical companies are continuously looking to expand the market for their products. This article examines how Pfizer transformed Viagra from an effective product for erectile dysfunction (ED) due to medical problems, such as diabetes and spinal cord damage, into a drug that “normal” men can use to enhance their ability to achieve an erection and to maintain it (in a “harder” state) for a longer period of time.

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:13 PM 0 comments

High price points to economic troubles

Gold, which yesterday passed $600 an ounce for the first time in 25 years, is the thing to watch if you prefer a big-picture approach to economics. The metal, after all, is almost the only thing that has enjoyed a real value for 3,000 years. It may not generate an income, but the supply is finite and it has always been traded.

In the 1970s US humiliation in Vietnam, the Cold War, an oil crisis and hyperinflation were terrific for gold. From $35 in 1968, the price hit $835 in January 1980, a rise that now seems barely credible.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:57 PM 0 comments

The British Government's drugs safety authority was warned in advance about a drug trial which was to leave six men, including a New Zealander, in intensive care.

The warning of a risk of a catastrophic reaction came from TeGenero, the German manufacturer of TGN1412, in its application to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority.

TeGenero told the MHRA that there had been previous incidence in which similar drugs had provoked serious adverse reaction in human volunteers.

Yet the MHRA allowed the trial to go ahead and six men who received the drug suffered a massive immune response known as a "cytokine storm".

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:14 PM 0 comments

In June 2001, a jury in Wyoming determined that the antidepressant drug Paxil caused a man to kill his wife, daughter and granddaughter before killing himself. The jury awarded the surviving family $8 million in damages, according to American Medical Publishing's Prescription Medicines, Side Effects and Natural Alternatives.

In Portland, Ore., Jay Johnston followed his doctor's orders and took the prescribed antidepressants Zoloft and Prozac. He then attempted suicide with a shotgun, permanently disfiguring himself. In the same month as the Wyoming jury's decision, Johnston sued his doctor for not properly monitoring him. The jury found the doctor guilty of criminal negligence and awarded Johnston $5 million, reports Dr. Ann Blake Tracy in Prozac: Panacea or Pandora. Similarly, who could forget Eric Harris, who -- along with Dylan Klebold -- killed 11 people and then himself in the Columbine school shooting? At the time of the shooting, Harris was being treated with the prescription antidepressant Luvox.

These patients are among the growing statistics of people who committed suicide, or tried to commit suicide, while undergoing treatment with prescription antidepressants.

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:03 PM 0 comments

Stephen P. Dresch, a former American forensic intelligence officer with CIA ties, is on the top of Vice President Dick Cheney's hit list and one man he'd like to silence for good, according to a confidential source in the United Kingdom.

The source, close to the massive arms dealing scandal brewing on both sides of the pond involving the Lewis 'Scooter' Libby trial, said Dresch verified in a confidential report that the loss of W-69 nuclear warheads from a B-52 in 1991 ended up in Iran.

According to the UK source, Cheney wants Dresch silenced because he was U.S. Secretary of Defense in 1991 and, if proved true, he would have been in direct violation of international law for not reporting the lost nuclear weapons involving the B-52 incident.

# posted by madthumbs @ 12:00 PM 0 comments

NEWS BRIEF: "UC Regents lose control of nuclear weapons program: Five admirals, Carlyle Group and Rand takeover", SF Bay View, Part 6, by Leuren Moret, 11/10/2004

"Research on population control, preventing future births, is now being carried out secretly by biotech companies ... During a presentation about his case, Chapela revealed that a spermicidal corn developed by a U.S. company is now being tested in Mexico. Males who unknowingly eat the corn produce non-viable sperm and are unable to reproduce. Depopulation, also known as eugenics ... was proposed under the Nazis during World War II. It is the deliberate killing off of large segments of living populations and was proposed for Third World countries under President Carter’s administration by the National Security Council’s Ad Hoc Group on Population Policy..."

While it is true that depopulation was proposed for Third World countries under Carter's administration, the original concept was proposed several years earlier, by Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State under President Gerald Ford. Let us return to this article, above:

"National Security Memo 200, dated April 24, 1974, and titled “Implications of world wide population growth for U.S. security & overseas interests,” says:

“Dr. Henry Kissinger proposed in his memorandum to the NSC that ‘depopulation should be the highest priority of U.S. foreign policy towards the Third World.’ He quoted reasons of national security, and because '(t)he U.S. economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less-developed countries ... Wherever a lessening of population can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resources, supplies and to the economic interests of U.S.' ..."

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:39 AM 0 comments

TEL AVIV, Israel, April 8 (UPI) -- Israeli intelligence officials say the Bush administration blew their effort to penetrate al-Qaida in Iraq by releasing a letter to its top leader.

The letter was from Ayman al-Zawahiri, said to be Osama bin Laden's top deputy, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Lebanese leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, The Times of London reported. The newspaper said Israel passed the letter to the United States in October, saying it should remain secret.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:02 PM 0 comments

Excerpts:

The U.S. government is continuing to aspire for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear problem, but doubts for chances of success are growing, a Washington Post article published on Sunday said.

According to the paper, Israeli officials who visited Washington recently gave the Americans an urgent message regarding Iran: The Islamic Republic was closer to developing a nuclear bomb than Washington realizes, and the moment of decision is approaching quickly.

The newspaper said that Israel recently leaked its own attack plans, if the United States does not act. The Israeli plan includes aerial attacks, commando raids, a possibility of a missile attack, and even bombs carried on the backs of dogs. The newspaper quotes Israeli newspapers which said that Israel constructed an exact replica of the Natanz nuclear development facility, but the United States does not believe that the operation can succeed without using nuclear weapons.
The newspaper said that the Bush administration is studying the options for a military attack in Iran, and is planning for this possibility in order to pressure Iran by letting it know that such an option is getting closer. Despite that, it does not appear that such an attack would take place in the short term future, and many experts within the administration and outside of it are highly doubtful of the effectiveness of a military operation.

# posted by madthumbs @ 10:47 PM 0 comments

Police are refusing to study CCTV tapes on which criminals are caught in the act because, they say, they are too busy.

As a result, crime victims complain that they are losing faith in officers' ability to protect them.

One trader, who reported a break-in, was told that police did not have time to review footage from a camera in front of his premises.

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:06 PM 0 comments

An SAS soldier who refused to fight in Iraq because he believed that the war was illegal has been threatened with legal action by government lawyers.

Ben Griffin, who left the Special Air Service in June last year after spending three months on operations in Baghdad, has been informed that the Government is considering "civil proceedings" against him after he described the war as "illegal" in a Sunday Telegraph interview.

Mr Griffin, who served in the Parachute Regiment for seven years before joining the SAS in June 2003, became the first member of the elite force to refuse to fight alongside American troops because of his moral convictions.

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:03 PM 0 comments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Republican urged President George W. Bush on Sunday to "tell the American people exactly what happened" in a leak of information aimed at countering criticism of his reasons for taking America to war in Iraq.

The president, whose popularity is slumping, is on the defensive because of a prosecutor's disclosure that Bush authorized a former top official, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to share intelligence data on Iraq in 2003 with a reporter to defend his decision to invade Iraq.

Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Fox News Sunday that "there's been enough of a showing here with what's been filed of record in court that the president of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people.

"The president has the authority to declassify information. So in a technical sense, if he looked at it, he could say this is declassified, and make a disclosure of it," said Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, speaking from Cartagena, Colombia.

# posted by madthumbs @ 9:01 PM 0 comments

IRAN had shot down an unmanned surveillance plane in the south amid reports that the United States is planning military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, a press report said today.
"This plane had taken off from Iraq and was filming border areas," a report in the hardline Jumhuri Eslami newspaper said.

# posted by madthumbs @ 7:57 PM 0 comments

FORTY rapists a year are escaping jail sentences and instead are allowed to walk free with a caution, reprimand or final warning after admitting sex attacks on men and women.

Senior police officers, women’s groups and academics who have investigated the way that rape is dealt with by police and the justice system last night expressed surprise at the figure. Chief police officers said that as far as they were concerned rape was not an offence suitable for a caution.

# posted by madthumbs @ 7:29 PM 0 comments

The Bush administration has sent undercover forces into Iran, and has stepped up secret planning for a possible major air attack on the country, according to the renowned US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

While publicly advocating diplomacy to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, Hersh reports in the next issue of The New Yorker magazine that "there is a growing conviction among members of the United States military, and in the international community, that President Bush's ultimate goal in the nuclear confrontation with Iran is regime change".

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:05 AM 0 comments

Glass-treating spray containing nanoparticles may have medical problems in many consumers

On March 31, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) issued a warning against using a household product containing nanoparticles that has led to what is apparently the first recall of a nanotechnology-based product. In a period of less than two weeks, regional poison control centers in Germany received about 80 reports of people coughing or complaining of fever and headache, and several people were hospitalized with pulmonary edema, after using "Magic Nano" surface-sealing sprays.

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:00 AM 0 comments