Cui bono? Drug groups to reap swine flu billions 20 Jul 2009 Some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies are reaping billions of dollars in extra revenue amid global concern about the spread of swine flu. Analysts expect to see a boost in sales from GlaxoSmithKline, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis... The fresh sales -- on top of strong results from Novartis of Switzerland and Baxter of the US, which both also produce vaccines -- come as the latest tallies show that more than 740 people have died from the H1N1 virus... One beneficiary of the fears about the pandemic has been Roche of Switzerland, which sells Tamiflu, the leading antiviral drug, and has seen a sharp rise in orders from private companies as well as governments.
Key Flu 'Oddities': Killer flu recreated in the lab 07 Oct 2004 Scientists have shown that tiny changes to modern flu viruses could render them as deadly as the 1918 strain which killed millions; US, Japanese Researchers Mix Samples of 1918 Flu Pandemic to Recreate Deadly Code 30 Dec 2008; Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug 12 Mar 2006 Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu; University of Qld unveils swine flu vaccine made with insect eggs 29 Jun 2009; Baxter working on vaccine to stop swine flu, though admitted sending live pandemic flu viruses to subcontractor 26 Jun 2009; Baxter Vaccine 'Oddities' 17 Jul 2009 Baxter files swine flu vaccine patent year ahead of outbreak.]
Swine flu vaccine trials underway 22 Jul 2009 The first trials of a Federal Government-commissioned swine flu vaccine that is likely to be distributed globally will begin in Adelaide today. Rachel David from vaccine makers CSL says the Royal Adelaide Hospital trials will take about seven months, but there will be enough data by September for the Government to start planning distribution in October.
Voluntary vaccine 'likely' But we can't take that chance. The pharma-terrorists are/will be pressuring the US and world governments to make their deadly cocktails *mandatory.* We need to resist NOW, before Barack Opharma -- during his next Friday night 'bad news' dump -- makes them *mandatory.* Obama already (on Friday night, of course) released the pharma-terrorists from legal liability -- and hence any impetus to make a 'safe' vaccine: Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers 17 Jul 2009 Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday. The document signed by Sebelius last month grants immunity to those making a swine flu vaccine, under the provisions of a 2006 law for public health emergencies.
Refuse and Resist Mandatory Flu Vaccines --Sign petition! This petition needs YOUR signature! We are only at 1,000 signatures and we need a lot more. We need to send the signal that we will *NOT ACCEPT* any forced, deadly Baxter vaccines, whose sole purpose is to enhance these pharma-terrorists' coffers. Petition link to copy and paste to forward to your lists: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/refuse-and-resist-mandatory-flu-vaccine
Link to CLG Pandemic Action Alerts page: http://www.legitgov.org/pandemic_action.html
Navy Ships Under Swine Flu Quarantine --Nearly 70 Sailors, Marines Contracted Virus 21 Jul 2009 A group of Navy ships is under quarantine after several dozen sailors and Marines on board tested positive for swine flu. Health officials say at least 69 people had been confirmed with the virus, and all of them have since recovered. Navy officials say they are now quarantining an undetermined number of crew members with flulike symptoms on four ships that are part of the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which arrived in Hawaii on Friday.
World swine flu deaths top 700: WHO 22 Jul 2009 The World Health Organisation (WHO) says swine flu has killed more than 700 people around the world since the outbreak began four months ago. There are now over 125,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide but the WHO acknowledges the number of actual cases far exceeds that. The WHO says the pandemic is developing at such a high speed that it is now pointless to try to document every case.
Deaths of U.S. troops exceed 5,000 in wars 21 Jul 2009 The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reached two solemn milestones Monday: July has become the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the combined death toll surpassed 5,000. Deaths on both fronts pushed the total U.S. fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan to at least 5,002, according to the Pentagon.
Taliban financers based in Persian Gulf: Holbrooke 21 Jul 2009 Richard Holbrooke, the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, says some fundamentalists based in Persian Gulf states are financing the Taliban. Some official sources in Pakistan estimate the budget for Taliban forces -- stationed on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border -- to be between three and four billion dollars, BBC reported. Holbrooke says such a huge amount of money could not be acquired only through illegal drug trafficking. Only in 2008, the US-led coalition forces spent over $16 billion on the war in Afghanistan, which shows that the Taliban must be receiving a huge amount of financial support [from those allegedly 'fighting' the Taliban].
Taliban suicide attacks leave 9 dead in Afghanistan 21 Jul 2009 Taliban suicide bombers have attacked security and government offices in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least nine people, according to officials. The two towns of Gardez and Jalalabad were targeted in the attacks by suicide bombers on Tuesday. The Taliban said 15 suicide bombers launched attacks against government buildings.
Bomb kills UK soldier in Afghanistan 21 Jul 2009 Another British soldier dies in Afghanistan amid growing public criticism of the UK's involvement in the war and the high number of the British casualties there. A roadside bomb blast took the soldier's life while he was on patrol in Helmand Province in the south On Monday.
NATO: Failure in Afghanistan "devastating" 21 Jul 2009 NATO Chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has warned the US and its allies that failure in Afghanistan would have a "devastating" effect in the insurgency-hit region. Speaking in London, the NATO secretary-general said that walking away from the alliance's mission in the war-ravaged country could give free hand to al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] and Taliban linked militants in the war-ravaged country.
Blasts Kill at Least 15 in Baghdad 22 Jul 2009 A series of bombings rocked Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 100, as attackers struck at a bustling sheep market, a crowd of impoverished job seekers and a funeral, Iraqi security officials said. The dead at the sheep market included an eight-year-old girl and her year-old sister, whom she was cradling in her arms, officials said.
Lebanese army on high alert at Israeli border 20 Jul 2009 The Lebanese army has put its forces on high alert in response to the escalation of tensions over the establishment of an Israeli military outpost along the country's border. A Lebanese TV station reported that the high alert came in response to the Israeli military outpost set up near Kafr Shuba, a village just outside the divided border village of Ghajar, earlier this week.
The Senate Votes Down Funds for F-22s 21 Jul 2009 The Senate voted Tuesday to kill the nation's premier fighter jet program, embracing by a 58-40 margin the argument of President Obama and his top military advisers that the F-22 is no longer needed for the nation's defense and a costly drag on the Pentagon's budget in an era of small wars and growing counterinsurgency efforts. The decision was a key policy victory for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has been campaigning against the plane since April.
The APA's Nuremberg Defense By Scott Horton 20 Jul 2009 ...[T]he disclosures surrounding the waterboarding of Abu Zubaida give further proof that beginning in 2002, healthcare professionals, specifically psychologists, played an essential role at every stage in the development and application of torture techniques. The failure of professional organizations, and specifically the American Psychological Association, to acknowledge this and take appropriate countermeasures is disturbing...Professional oversight bodies have engaged in consistent evasion, and now the APA is focused on the relaxation of its ethics standards to provide defenses for psychologists who joined in the Bush Administration’s torture program.
Part 3 of 4: Did Plasmoid Gas and Infrared Beams Cause the WTC Destruction? By Barry Ball, Barbara Ellis, and Russ Hallberg --Portland 9/11 Legislative Alliance 20 Jul 2009 This is the third article in a four-part series stemming from our organization’s crafting and presenting a proposed bill in late 2008 to nine members of the U.S. House. It urges an independent investigation by national and international experts in science/technology to determine which of the 14 major theories about primary causal agents--fire and thermite to directed energy weapons--destroyed the World Trade Center Twin Towers. Since then, four other major theories have surfaced (nuclear reactors, mini-nuclear bombs, plasmoid gas, and flurorine) which will be included in the revised bill presented to key House members in Fall. [Part 1 and 2.]
Democrats irked by Obama signing statement 21 Jul 2009 President Barack Obama has irked close allies in Congress by declaring he has the right to ignore legislation on constitutional grounds after having criticized George W. Bush for doing the same. Four senior House Democrats on Tuesday said they were "surprised" and "chagrined" by Obama's declaration in June that he doesn't have to comply with provisions in a war spending bill that puts conditions on aid provided to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
AP: Palin implicated in ethics probe 21 Jul 2009 An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by accepting private donations to pay her legal debts. The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters. An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund.
Audit: Abstinence program steered money to director's company 21 Jul 2009 The former chief of the Louisiana Governor’s Program on Abstinence steered thousands of dollars in contracts to an organization she created, and some of the money was paid to her son, according to an audit released Monday. The report by Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot’s office also says Gail Dignam, who worked for the abstinence program under former Govs. Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco, improperly took money from an organization that received state contracts from the abstinence program. Both situations seem to violate Louisiana law and run afoul of the state ethics code, according to the audit.
Gates Says He Is Outraged by Arrest at Cambridge Home --Prominent Black Professor Says He Will Use Experience to Further Academic Work 21 Jul 2009 Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's most prominent scholars of African-American history, cast his recent arrest in his home in Cambridge, Mass., as part of a "racial narrative" playing out in a biased criminal justice system. Shortly before the charge against him was dropped this afternoon, the Harvard professor who has spent much of his life studying race in America said he has come to feel like a case study. "There are one million black men in jail in this country and last Thursday I was one of them," he said in an interview with The Washington Post Tuesday morning.
Executives, other highly compensated employees receive more than one-third of all pay in U.S. 21 Jul 2009 The nation's wealth gap is widening amid an uproar about lofty pay packages in the financial world. Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the U.S., according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Social Security Administration data -- without counting billions of dollars more in pay that remains off federal radar screens that measure wages and salaries. Highly paid employees received nearly $2.1 trillion of the $6.4 trillion in total U.S. pay in 2007, the latest figures available. The compensation numbers don't include incentive stock options, unexercised stock options, unvested restricted stock units and certain benefits.
More bodies go unclaimed as families can't afford funeral costs 21 Jul 2009 The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones. At the county coroner's office -- which handles homicides and other suspicious deaths -- 36% more cremations were done at taxpayers' expense in the last fiscal year over the previous year, from 525 to 712.
Lobbyists Spend Millions to Influence Health Care 21 Jul 2009 Drugmakers, hospitals and insurers continued to pour millions of dollars into lobbying during the second quarter of this year, hoping to limit the damage to their bottom line as lawmakers and the Obama administration wrangle over landmark health-care legislation. New disclosure reports that began arriving Monday in Congress showed familiar players at the top of the health-care influence heap, including $6.2 million in lobbying by the dominant Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and $4 million by the American Medical Association.
Previous lead stories: Administration: Some terror suspects could go before military tribunals --Detainees' Trial Plan Is Unveiled 20 Jul 2009 The Obama administration on Monday said it preferred that prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be tried in criminal courts, but that some suspected terrorists in less-prominent cases or in cases with weaker evidence could go before military tribunals. An interim report by a presidential task force reviewing U.S. detention policy laid out for the first time the means by which Justice and Defense department lawyers will determine whether the 229 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo get criminal or military 'trials.' The approach could rile civil liberties groups, which prefer all detainees be tried in criminal courts.
Reports on U.S. Detention Policy Will Be Delayed 21 Jul 2009 The Obama administration is delaying completion of reports examining U.S. detention and interrogation policy, officials said Monday. The work of a Justice Department-led task force, which had been scheduled to send a report on detention policy to President Obama on Tuesday, will be extended for six months, according to senior administration officials. A second task force examining interrogation policy will get a two-month extension to complete its work, which had also been due Tuesday.
