A Day in the Life: 6/4/10
Prez
Amerika's Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free Via
<pr...@usa-exile.org<mailto:pr...@usa-exile.org>> June 4, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/gaza-flotilla-mv-rachel-corrie
Gaza flotilla: MV Rachel Corrie heads for Israel coast
Six British and Irish citizens on board ship which is still bound
for Gaza, despite Israel insisting it will not be allowed to dock
* Adam Gabbatt<http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/adam-gabbatt> *
guardian.co.uk<http://www.guardian.co.uk/>, Friday 4 June 2010 10.17
BST
[cid:10AB26C7-D8BE-41F3-9DB7-ADDCD0C7EACE@local]
MV Rachel Corrie, which was named after a 23-year-old American
killed in Gaza in 2003, is still bound for Israel. Photograph: Niall
Carson/PA
A ship carrying aid to Gaza<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gaza>
is still heading for the blockaded settlement, despite
Israel<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israel> insisting it will
not be allowed to dock.
The MV Rachel Corrie<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/rachel-corrie>,
which was part of the original Freedom Flotilla intercepted by the
Israeli
military<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/may/31/israel-troops-gaza-ships>,
leaving nine activists dead, is due to arrive in Gaza at 8am on
Saturday, organisers said today.
The ship fell behind the original fleet after suffering mechanical
problems, but has been sailing towards the Israeli coast since
yesterday.
There were earlier reports that the Rachel Corrie had turned
back<http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=177474>, but a
spokesman for the ship confirmed this morning that it was still
bound for Israel.
Martin O'Quigley, from the Ireland<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ireland>
Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which is working with the Free Gaza
Movement, which organised the ship, said he spoke to two people on
board at 7.30am this morning.
"They're 150 miles from Gaza, and they should be approaching the
exclusion zone at 8am tomorrow morning," O'Quiqley said.
"They're about 80 miles from the previous interception point."
O'Quigley said he had spoken to both MC!iread Maguire, the Nobel
peace prize laureate, and Jenny Graham, from the Free Gaza Movement,
two of a total of 11 passengers on the ship.
The Corrie is attempting to defy the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin
Netanyahu<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/binyamin-netanyahu>, who
said yesterday that the ship would not be allowed to reach the
blockaded area.
"We shall not allow the ships to reach Gaza. Not now and not later
on," the Israeli news website ynet reporting him as
saying<http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3898901,00.html>.
"We intend to direct the Rachel Corrie ship to the Ashdod port and
transfer its civilian goods to Gaza following a security check."
The Rachel Corrie, which is funded by the Free Gaza
Movement<http://www.freegaza.org/>, is carrying 11 passengers,
including the Scottish Captain Eric Harcis. In addition to the six
British and Irish citizens there are also five Malaysians travelling
on the ship, including an MP and three journalists, organisers said.
The ship is attempting to reach Gaza four days after the Freedom
Flotilla was intercepted, leaving eight Turkish nationals and one
Turk with a US passport
dead<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/gaza-flotilla-attack-turkey-funeral>.
The Rachel Corrie is carrying school supplies, printing paper,
children's shoes, wheelchairs, sports equipment and fire extinguishers,
organisers said. Israel bars cement and other building materials
from entering Gaza, saying that they are often used for building
tunnels to smuggle in weapons and explosives.
================================================================================================
The Lone Ship of the Freedom Flotilla: The Rachel Corrie MV Continues
to Sail Towards Gaza in Defiance of Israeli Threats
by Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research<http://www.globalresearch.ca/>, June 1, 2010
Following Israel's criminal raid in international waters on May
31st, the Rachel Corrie MV continues to sail towards the Gaza
coastline in defiance of Israeli threats.
In an act of tremendous courage, the Rachel Corrie MV is determined
to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
At noon today, I received the following message from Christopher
Chang and Ram Kardigasu, on behalf of the Malaysian and Irish peace
activists, who are on board the Rachel Corrie:
RACHEL CORRIE: MV Rachel Corrie is now the sole ship on the
international freedom flotilla moving towards Gaza.
The Malaysian and Irish peace and humanitarian activists aboard
share their deepest grief and sense of lost with the loved ones of
those killed and injured in the illegal action undertaken by Israel
on Monday 31st May 2010 in the international waters of the
Mediterranean.
In the names of our friends, we are more determined than ever to
continue into Gaza with our humanitarian cargo and our support for
the blockaded and suffering people of Gaza.
We expect Israel to respond to the international condemnation of
its violence by not impeding by any means the safe passage of the
Rachel Corrie.
We appeal to the international community and United Nations to
continue to demand Israel our safe passage into Gaza.
Jointly issued by Malaysians and Irish on board the Rachel Corrie.
Sent on behalf of the humanitarian activists on aboard the Rachel
Corrie - by PGPO land team (Ram Karthigasu and Christopher Chang)
In recent developments, the Netanyahu government is in crisis:
"Senior ministers [of the Netanyahu cabinet] have been sharply
critical of the fact that the decision to seize control of the
flotilla to Gaza was made after two meetings of the forum of seven
senior ministers but without official deliberation by the inner
cabinet, the body that has the authority to approve military actions
of this scale." (Haaretz.com headlines
RSS<http://haaretz.com/cmlink/haaretz-com-headlines-rss-1.263335?localLinksEnabled=false>
What this suggests is that the actual decision to conduct the raids
in international waters bypassed the Cabinet.
The question remains: if the Israeli cabinet did not ratify the
operation, who ordered the raids and through what procedure?
What were the respective roles of Israeli intelligence and the IDF
in planning these raids?
What role was played by Rahm Emmanuel, Obama's White House Chief
of Staff, who had meetings with both Netanyahu and president Shimon
Peres, respectively on May 26 and 27?
Did Rahm Emmanuel meet officials of Israel's military and intelligence
establishment?
Did the Obama administration give the Green Light?
It is important that this news gets out, with a view to ensuring
that the Rachel Corrie MV safely reaches the coast of Gaza without
encroachment, with a view to breaking Israel's criminal embargo.
In this endeavor we shall prevail. Our hearts and minds are with
those who continue to sail on board the Rachel Corrie MV.
It should be noted that Israel has not in any way modified its
policy with regard to the Rachel Corrie MV: There are two more ships
heading for Gaza including the Rachel Corrie MV. Israel has promised
"to respond even more harshly":
bIsrael will use more aggressive force in the future to prevent
ships from breaking the sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, a top Navy
commander told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
bWe boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war,b the
officer said. bThat will mean that we will have to come prepared
in the future as if it was a war.b
(www.ynetnews.com<http://www.ynetnews.com/>)
The Rachel Corrie MV is in part supported by the Perdana Global
Peace Organization under the helm of Malaysia's former Prime
Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
Global Research Director Michel Chossudovsky is a member of the
Perdana Global Peace Organisation and of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes
Commission.
================================================================================================
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=503425
June 03, 2010 23:57 PM
Malaysia Calls On Israel Not to Harm Activists on Board Rachel
Corrie
KUALA LUMPUR, June 3(Bernama) -- Malaysia has called on Israel not
to take drastic action that will harm humanitarian activists on
board cargo vessel MV Rachel Corrie.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Israeli authorities
should ensure safe passage for the vessel to Gaza to deliver the
humanitarian cargo.
"Any Israeli military action on an unarmed vessel transporting
civilians and humanitarian assistance will deepen the international
community's negative perception of Israel. It will demonstrate
Israel's total indifference to its international obligations in
defiance of world opinion," Anifah said in a statement here on
Thursday night.
He added there was no reason for Israel to suspect that Rachel
Corrie would pose any security threat as those on board, comprise
members of non governmental bodies, members of parliament, noble
laureate and also journalists.
"Every single item on board the vessel such as educational materials,
toys and construction materials have been inspected in Ireland,"
said Anifah.
Six Malaysians on board are Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO)
representatives Shamsul Akmar Musa Kamal and Ahmad Faizal Azumu,
Parit Member of Parliament Mohd Nizar Zakaria, lawyer Matthias
Chang, Abdul Halim Mohamed and Mohd Jufri Judin from TV3 television
station.
Anifah also called on the international community not to allow such
violence and impunity to happen without any appropriate response.
"Israel should engage in peaceful dialogue under the ambit of the
Middle East peace process in efforts to promote lasting peace and
security in the region," he said.
The attack by Israeli troops on Turkish ship "Mavi Marmara" which
was ferrying humanitarian aid to Gaza on Monday had been severely
denounced by the international community.
Twelve Malaysian nationals who were on board the ship were safe but
several volunteers from the other countries were killed.
-- BERNAMA
================================================================================================
http://forargyll.com/2010/06/sarah-colbourne-reports-on-israeli-flotilla-raid-as-mv-rachel-corrie-approaches-gaza/
Sarah Colbourne reports on Israeli flotilla raid as MV Rachel Corrie
approaches
Gaza<http://forargyll.com/2010/06/sarah-colbourne-reports-on-israeli-flotilla-raid-as-mv-rachel-corrie-approaches-gaza/>
newsroom<http://forargyll.com/author/newsroom> published this on
4:38 pm, Friday, 4th June, 2010
Sarah Colbourne is the British campaigner for justice for Palestine
and the first British national reported to have been on the Mavi
Marmara. This was the Freedom Flotilla ship attacked by the Israeli
military as it attempted to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Following the Israeli arrest of those on board the flotilla, she
has just returned to the UK and has been speaking of her experiences:
bThe last 72 hours have been the most harrowing in my life.
bEven for an experienced campaigner like myself, nothing prepared
me for the barbaric onslaught by the Israeli Army on a boat of
unarmed peace activists with a cargo of humanitarian aid.
bThere are images from Mondaybs bloody attack that will haunt me
for the rest of my life.
bYet for all the horrors of the last few days, for all the deaths
and injuries, there is one thing that helped me through b knowing
that back here in London Palestine Solidarity Campaign would be
vociferously campaigning on behalf of all the hostages illegally
held by the Israelibs.
bI will be writing tomorrow at greater length about my experiences,
but I wanted every Palestine Solidarity Campaign member and supporter
to know that your outstanding campaign over the last week is
appreciatedb.
Here is the video of the press conference at which Sarah Colbourne
spoke on her return.<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swg-nFZS6so>
MV Rachel Corrie
Another flotilla is on its way to Gaza, carrying essential medical,
education and building equipment denied Gazans by the Israeli
blockade. Another confrontation may be looming..
The Irish-flagged MV Rachel Corrie and two other ships are expected
to arrive in Gaza tonight (4th June) or tomorrow morning.
The Irish government has called on Israel to allow the boats through,
but Israel has said it will divert the boats to its own Ashdod Port.
The Israeli Government has instructed the military who will be
involved in the interception of these ships to behave bwith
politenessb.
The greatest security that can be offered to the people on these
ships is to ensure that the world is watching the coming encounter.
The hope must be that with international attention focused on the
progress of the MV Rachel Corrie, her fellow ships and their aid
cargo, more unnecessary deaths may be prevented and Israel may be
required to observe international law and allow this humanitarian
aid through to Gaza.
Yesterday the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza announced
that it already has funding for the first three ships of a new
fleet.
The campaigners who were on the Freedom Flotilla feel that the
bringing to an end of the siege of Gaza is the only way to make
sure that those murdered on Monday did not die in vain.
================================================================================================
From: David Sladky <tan...@hotmail.com<mailto:tan...@hotmail.com>>
Date: June 4, 2010 7:14:46 AM GMT-05:00
Subject: Israel Rejects International Probe of Aid Ship Killings
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 08:04:53 -0400 From:
tan...@aol.com<mailto:tan...@aol.com> Israel Rejects International
Probe of Aid Ship Killings US Citizen Reportedly Among the Slain
by Jason Ditz, June 03, 2010
The Israeli government has rejected a UN Security Council resolution
calling for an international investigation of their attack on a
civilian aid ship earlier this week, saying that they would conduct
their own internal probe and that this was good enough.
BIt is our standard practice after military operations, especially
operations in which there have been fatalities, to conduct a prompt,
professional, transparent and objective investigation in accordance
with the highest international standards,B Mark Regev insisted.
Israeli commandos boarded the ship late Sunday night, opening fire
and killing as many as 19 aid workers, including a US citizen of
Turkish origin. Israel has released only a heavily edited video of
the attack, including footage of a broken slingshot they claimed
to have been defending themselves from.
Since the initial claim of self-defense Israel has gone even farther,
claiming the ship was secretly in league with al-Qaeda. Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called it a Bhate boatB in comments
yesterday.
Though the Obama Administration is said to have blocked any specific
criticism by the UN Security Council of the massacre, international
outcry was such that they allowed the call for the international
probe. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said it was
possible that international observers might be allowed to watch the
Israeli probe, but for now it seems that, as with so many other
incidents, Israel will be openly blocking any independent probes.
================================================================================================
From: Stephanie Sutton
<ssu...@phisciences.com<mailto:ssu...@phisciences.com>> Date:
June 4, 2010 8:33:25 AM GMT-05:00 Subject: HAIR BOOMS IN THE PRESS
& ANSWERS
I joined this group a few weeks ago called Matter of Trust. They
are gathering hair and fur and natural fibers to create booms.
Here's their report today.
Steph
Date: June 4, 2010 12:11:35 AM MDT To:
ssu...@phisciences.com<mailto:ssu...@phisciences.com> Subject:
HAIR BOOMS IN THE PRESS & ANSWERS
Hi All -
Yes, we are still collecting hair, fur & fleece. Especially as oil
is coming in to the beaches.
We are sending out addresses every day as fast as we can clear
space. Thanks for your emails and your patience. Since April 30th,
thousands of individuals and over 40,000 businesses have signed up,
some with hundreds of salons and groomers under their corporate
offices, so the volume of fiber is impressive. Everybody will get
addresses and there is always more hair & fur! And this is a big
spill.
We have thousands of booms in warehouses right on the water for
donation to the Coast Guard. Only BP, Coast Guard, Harbor & Public
Works and Emergency Management teams can safely deploy booms and
properly remove oily booms to haz waste disposal sites.
We have posted YouTubes on our homepage showing hair boom in
comparison with conventional boom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W68L53WkIAw and flotation ideas
http://www.matteroftrust.org
Please note the speed of the hair and how the alpaca, llama & fur
floats as high as the synthetic boom. A combination of these donated
natural fibers is ideal.
19 donated warehouses on the Gulf full of boom Hundreds of volunteers
stuffing booms Thousands more of pounds of hair, fur, fleece coming
in every day because it's renewable 200,000 pairs of nylons (including
50,000 from Hanes, 100,000 from Hooters)
We all want to see these donated booms put to good use. Please
help us to urge BP as that way cash strapped Gulf Coast communities
don't pick up the tab for haz waste disposal.
Thanks for all the emails of support and ideas! We are reading
each one and responding as fast as we can to as many as our small
staff can handle each day! You are all so generous in spirit and
we have seen so many brilliant suggestions. Thank you and please,
keep them coming!
Best wishes,
Lisa Gautier www.matteroftrust.org<http://www.matteroftrust.org>
Check out our new groomer's poster - it's pretty cute
http://excessaccess.com/pages/main_store.html
---------------------------------------
From: k s <next...@sbcglobal.net<mailto:next...@sbcglobal.net>>
Date: Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 9:51 PM Subject: CLEAN UP the OIL: alert
officials/oil eating microbe. take five minutes
keith, PLEASE READ and SEND to your huge mailing list!!!!!!
SEE this video of the technology that will ENTIRELY clean up the
oil in our oceans, quickly and with NO SIDE EFFECTS
IF YOU HAVE A RADIO SHOW, AN EMAIL LIST, CAN WRITE TO NEWSPAPERS,
YOU ACTIONS CAN CAUSE THE OIL TO BE COMPLETELY CLEANED UP!!!!!!!.
Real activiism is absolutely necessary to get the word OUT to any
local and national media and to get this INFORMATION PUBLISHED in
the media to the peoples OF THE WORLD, so that a DEMAND to release
these oil eating microbes is heard around the world. Our entire
planet is threatened by the recent oil geyser with as yet, no end
in sight.
Addtionally, there is a SECOND oil leak that is LARGER and the info
is being suppressed in the press. SEE BELOW FOR EXCERPT ON THE
SECOND LEAK THAT IS WORSE THAN THE FIRST ONE. See except below this
letter.
PLEASE SEND THIS INFO TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW PLEASE CONTACT LOCAL
MEDIA AND REQUEST THAT THEY PUBLISH THE INFO PLEASE CONTACT ANYONE
IN THE SOUTHERN STATES OR MEXICO WHO YOU KNOW TO ALERT THEM OF THE
OIL EATING MICROBES
THESE ACTIONS WILL NOT TAKE YOU MUCH TIME, BUT YOUR ACTIONS MAY BE
THE ONES THAT END UP MAKING THE DIFFERENCE THAT MUST OCCUR
WHICH IS THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MICROBES REACH SUCH A WIDE SECTOR
OF THE POPULATION OF THE PLANET THAT A DEMAND TO RELEASE THE MICBROBES
CANNOT BE REFUSED.
A SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME ON YOUR PART MAY BE THE ACTION THAT RESULTS
IN EVENTUAL MEDIA SPILLOVER OF THIS INFORMATION
A SMALL AMOUNG OF TIME ON YOUR PART MAY END UP SNOWBALLING TO ENOUGHT
PEOPLE THAT THE DEMAND UPON OUR POLITIICIANS TO RELEASE THE MICROBES
CANNOT BE IGNORED.
THIS IS A VERY SHORT VIDEO SHOWING HOW THE MICROBES WORK AND NAMING
THE COMPANY THAT COULD CLEAN UP THE OIL IMMEDIATELY.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VfypUzx1tI&feature=player_embedded
================================================================================================
From: Dick Eastman <oldick...@q.com<mailto:oldick...@q.com>>
Date: Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 1:30 AM Subject: Fw: Oil to reach Berrents
Sea in 100 days, Bering Straits 145 days, join Kuro Siwo current
163 days, Canada 190 days, San Francisco 289 days
A prediction (and another recommendation).
Dick Eastman
Once the oil enters the Gulf Stream it will be carried up the coast,
but it will not touch New York because of the Labrador Current which
flows south hugging the coast will provide a barrier. The oil
will be carried northeast becoming part of the North Atlantic Drift
where it will eastward through the Barents Sea, which it will reach
in approximately 100 days, westward until it exists the Arctic Ocean
through the Bering Straits in about 150 days as part of the Oyashio
Current where west winds with join it to the Kuro Siwo current in
perhaps 175 days where it will reach the Pacific Northwest after
200 days and become part of the California Current traveling down
the California coast, reaching San Francisco after 225 days. Here
the oil will cause havoc as the it pollutes fisheries, mixing with
the cold upwelling waters that have made these regions so rich in
sea protein for mankind.
There is a way to stop further pollution before shutting down the
venting well pipes. Send down large empty compacted blimp size
bags which can be filled with oil and allowed to drift in the sea
until disposal can be arranged. The bags would simply encase the
effluent crude, preventing it from mixing with the water around it.
Blimp size bags could drift anywhere and be harvested when convenient
without doing serious damage to surrounding sea life "up current."
The pressure from the well would be sufficient to fill the bags
against the very great but still less great pressure of the surrounding
water. The bags could be manufacured quickly -- factories around
the world could be put to work building them to specifications. To
inflate they would not need a tight fit at the broken well head.
They would float like clouds of oil encased in a skin of non-porous
material.
The idea is free. If you know anyone powerful in Eliteworld, show
this to them. You never know, he may actually be one of those who
really wants to stop the disaster. Anything is possible.
Fill up bags with the gas and oil. Let them float freely. If the
right materials can be found perhaps two or three could open to
contain the quantity of a sub-super tanker -- but even if it took
10 or 20 it would still be worth it.
Yakima, Washington Every man is responsible to every other man.
-----------------------------------------
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/03-12# Published on
Thursday, June 3, 2010 by Environmental News
Service<http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2010/2010-06-03-02.html>
Gulf Oil Spill Likely to Hit U.S. Atlantic Coast This Summer
BOULDER, Colorado - Oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico
is likely to extend along thousands of miles of the Atlantic coast
and into the open ocean as early as this summer, according to a
detailed computer modeling study released today by the National
Center for Atmospheric Research.
[cid:C3ACA183-9AB7-4CA1-9B24-FCC7B6CD26BC@local]
An image from the NCAR computer model of the flow of Deepwater
Horizon oil. (Image courtesy NCAR)
The research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation,
NCAR's sponsor. The results were reviewed by scientists at NCAR and
elsewhere, although not yet submitted for peer-review publication.
"I've had a lot of people ask me, 'Will the oil reach Florida?'"
says NCAR scientist Synte Peacock, who worked on the study. "Actually,
our best knowledge says the scope of this environmental disaster
is likely to reach far beyond Florida, with impacts that have yet
to be understood."
The computer simulations indicate that, once the oil in the uppermost
ocean has become entrained in the Gulf of Mexico's fast-moving Loop
Current, it is likely to reach Florida's Atlantic coast within
weeks.
It can then move north as far as about Cape Hatteras, North Carolina,
with the Gulf Stream, before turning east to the open ocean.
Whether the oil will be a thin film on the surface or mostly
subsurface due to mixing in the upper ocean is not known. The flow
in the model represents the best estimate of how ocean currents are
likely to respond under typical wind conditions.
More model studies are underway that will indicate what might happen
to the oil in the Atlantic Ocean.
"We have been asked if and when remnants of the spill could reach
the European coastlines," says Martin Visbeck, a member of the
research team from the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at the
University of Kiel, Germany.
"Our assumption is that the enormous lateral mixing in the ocean
together with the biological disintegration of the oil should reduce
the pollution to levels below harmful concentrations," said Visbeck.
"But we would like to have this backed up by numbers from some of
the best ocean models."
To model the flow of oil, NCAR scientists are using the Parallel
Ocean Program, the ocean component of the Community Climate System
Model, a powerful software tool developed by scientists at NCAR in
collaboration with the Department of Energy. They are conducting
the simulations at supercomputers based at the New Mexico Computer
Applications Center and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The NCAR scientists simulated how a liquid released at the spill
site would disperse and circulate, producing results that are not
dependent on the total amount released.
The scientists tracked the rate of dispersal in the top 65 feet of
the water and at four additional depths, with the lowest just above
the sea bed.
"The modeling study is analogous to taking a dye and releasing it
into water, then watching its pathway," Peacock says.
The dye tracer used in the model has no actual physical resemblance
to true oil. Unlike oil, the dye has the same density as the
surrounding water, does not coagulate or form slicks, and is not
subject to chemical breakdown by bacteria or other forces.
Peacock and her colleagues stress that the simulations are not a
forecast because it is impossible to accurately predict the precise
location of the oil weeks or months from now.
Instead, the simulations provide possible scenarios for the oil
dispersal. The timing and course of the oil slick will be affected
by regional weather conditions and the ever-changing state of the
Gulf's Loop Current, neither of which can be predicted more than a
few days in advance.
The dilution of the oil relative to the source also will be impacted
by bacterial degradation and other conditions, which are not included
in the simulations.
What is possible, is to estimate a range of possible trajectories,
based on the best understanding of how ocean currents transport
material. The oil trajectory that actually occurs will depend on
both on the short-term evolution of the Loop Current, which feeds
into the Gulf Stream, and on the state of the overlying atmosphere.
Oil has been spilling into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20 when
the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and caught fire. Oil giant
BP, which leased the rig to drill a test well 18,000 feet below the
seafloor has not been able to stem the flow of oil from the broken
wellhead.
Now, 45 days after the spill began, an estimated 540,000 to 1.25
million barrels of oil have entered the waters of the Gulf of Mexico,
according to statements by the National Incident Command's Flow
Rate Technical Group and an addition estimate given by Incident
Commandert U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen in a news briefing
this week. Some of this oil has evaporated or been collected by
skimmer boats or burned on the surface of the water.
The spill is located in a relatively stagnant area of the Gulf, and
the oil so far has remained relatively confined near the Louisiana
and Alabama coastlines, although there have been reports of small
amounts in the Loop Current. Oil has come ashore in Louisiana,
Alabama and Mississippi.
The model simulations show that a liquid released in the surface
ocean at the spill site is likely to slowly spread as it is mixed
by the ocean currents until it is entrained in the Loop Current.
At that point, speeds pick up to about 40 miles per day, and when
the liquid enters the Atlantic's Gulf Stream it can travel at speeds
up to about 100 miles per day, or 3,000 miles per month.
The six model simulations released today all have different Loop
Current characteristics, and all provide slightly different scenarios
of how the oil might be dispersed. The simulations all bring the
oil to south Florida and then up the East Coast. However, the timing
of the oil's movement differs depending on the configuration of the
Loop Current.
B) 2010 Environmental News Service
================================================================================================
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/04 Published on Friday,
June 4, 2010 by USA
Today<http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/06/oils-gruesome-toll-on-wildlife-slowly-emerging/1>
Oil's Gruesome Toll on Wildlife Slowly Emerging
GULF OF MEXICO -
Images<http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html> and
reports of oil-drenched wildlife that's dead or slowly dying are
starting to emerge. At least one cleanup worker alleges that BP is
trying to keep such disturbing pictures out of the public eye.A
bird covered in oil flailing in the surf at East Grand Terre Island
along the Louisiana coast today The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
<http://www.fws.gov/> reports that 522 dead birds have been found
along the Gulf Coast. At least 38 were oiled, 365 do not show any
visible oil and the remaining 119 are unclassified.
[cid:31BFD0A9-E62D-4462-821F-8A79797A9D98@local]
A bird covered in oil flailing in the surf at East Grand Terre
Island along the Louisiana coast today. (Charlie Riedel, AP
So far 82 oiled birds have been rescued - 63 in Louisiana, 10 in
Alabama, eight in Florida and one in Mississippi.
CBS News has gut-wrenching
video<http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6544966n> of oil-covered
birds in distress, including the brown pelican, Louisiana's state
bird<http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/brown_pelicans_under_assault_f.html>,
which for many years was on the Endangered Species List.
An unidentified cleanup worker took a New York Daily News reporter
on a clandestine tour of the hidden wildlife
carnage<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/02/2010-06-02_the_hidden_death_in_the_gulf.html>
in Louisiana, accusing the BP of keeping the media at bay.
"There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us
that they don't want these pictures of the dead animals. They know
the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It's important to
me that people know the truth about what's going on here," the
contractor said. "The things I've seen: They just aren't right. All
the life out here is just full of oil. I'm going to show you what
BP never showed the president."
After checking that he was unobserved, he motored out to Queen Bess
barrier island, known to the locals as Bird Island.
The grasses by the shore were littered with tarred marine life,
some dead and others struggling under a thick coating of crude.
"When you see some of the things I've seen, it would make you sick,"
the contractor said. "No living creature should endure that kind
of suffering."
Queen Bess Island was the first place where fledglings were born
when the beloved, endangered Louisiana brown pelicans were reintroduced
in the 1970s. Their population rebounded and was finally declared
stabilized in 2002.
Now their future is once again in doubt. In what had been such an
important hatchery, hundreds of pelicans - their white heads stained
black - stood sentinel. They seemed slow and lethargic.
More oil-soaked birds arrived at cleaning stations today, as Louisiana
officials
<http://cbs4.com/wireapnewsfl/LDWF.biologists.rescued.2.1728897.html>
continued to
patrol<http://www.sulphurdailynews.com/news/x775079453/Oiled-impacted-bird-collection-continues-along-Louisiana-coast>
the marshes and beaches.
Meanwhile, federal wildlife experts released two rescued and cleaned
birds back into the
wild<http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/two_birds_rescued_from_gulf_oi.html>,
raising the total to 24. There are, however, no guarantees they
won't again become mired in the spreading oil as they go about their
natural lives.
See which creatures - and how many - are at
risk<http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/06/oils-gruesome-toll-on-wildlife-slowly-emerging/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/537703/%22%3E>.
---------------------------------
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/tight-security-at-oil-spill-hearing-in-new-orleans.html
OIL SPILL
<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/mt4/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=29&tag=OIL%20SPILL&limit=20>
-- May 11, 2010
Tight Security at Oil Spill Hearing in New Orleans
BY: TOM BEARDEN
The U.S. Coast Guard and the federal Minerals Management Service
staged the first of two public hearings at the Radisson airport
hotel in New Orleans Tuesday, as part of a joint investigation into
the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig last month.
It may have been public, but it certainly wasn't very open.
The first barrier was a cluster of armed security guards wearing
black shirts emblazoned with "Black Hawk Protective Services." They
were intensely "protective" when it came to reporters and cameramen,
declaring loudly that it was forbidden to take pictures, video, or
interview anyone in the immediate vicinity of the hearing room --
or even in the hotel itself. When asked who had employed their firm,
one replied with a perfectly straight face that he was "not authorized
to disclose that information."
While the hearing was going on, one guard occupied himself by
marching up and down the lobby. He called it "walking his post."
The Coast Guard had required members of the media to register
yesterday if they wished to attend the hearing. The Black Hawk
guards carefully examined credentials and compared them to their
list of "authorized" news media representatives. But when about 200
more people showed up for the hearing, they were allowed inside
without further ado. That included a man and woman who staged a
brief protest at the start of the meeting, unfurling banners. One
wonders why the press alone needed such careful screening.
That was later echoed by two U.S. Coast Guard officers who further
declared that the members of the panel, witnesses, and any survivors
or family members were also off limits. One officer seemed dismayed
when this reporter questioned the U.S. Coast Guard's authority to
issue such restrictions in a supposedly free country.
-----------------------
Posted by Alex
Seitz-Wald<http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/author/alexseitzwald/> at
11:59 am June 3, 2010 BP And Halliburton Try To Buy Off Government
Officials Investigating Spill
This post originally appeared on Think Progress.<http://thinkprogress.org/>
Facing possible jail
time<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0602/Oil-spill-jail-time-for-BP-officials-It-could-happen>
for their roles in the largest oil spill in American history, BP
and Halliburton are building high-powered legal
teams<http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/06/02/02greenwire-bp-halliburton-transocean-build-legal-teams-77304.html>
with bdeep Department of Justice and White House ties.b But the
companies are pursuing other means to defend themselves as well.
Halliburtonbs campaign donations have spiked as it tries to curry
favor with key members of Congress investigating the disaster. The
company donated $17,000 in May, making it bthe busiest donation
month<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38047.html> for
Halliburtonbs PAC since September 2008,b Politico reports. Thirteen
of the 14 contributions from May went to Republicans, while seven
went to members of Congress who are bon committees withoversight
of the oil spill<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38047.html>
and its aftermathb:
About one week before executive Timothy Probert appeared before the
House Energy and Commercebs investigative subcommittee, Halliburton
donated $1,500 to Ranking Republican Joe Bartonbs reelection effort.
It was Halliburtonbs second-largest donation of the month b topped
only by $2,500 to former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is running
for the Senate.
In the Senate, Idaho Republican Mike Crapo, who serves on the
Environment and Public Works Committee, Georgia Republican Johnny
Isakson, who serves on the Commerce Committee and North Carolina
Republican Richard Burr (N.C.), who serves on the Energy and Natural
Resources Committee, all got $1,000. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
also got $1,000.
Meanwhile, a Hill analysis found that primarily during the Bush
administration, BP and other oil companies bpaid for dozens of trips
and meals for
officials<http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/101161-bp-paid-for-agency-officials-trips-meals>b
from the Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), and the Department of Homeland Security b agencies deeply
involved in the regulation of oil exploration and spill cleanup.
BP had the bhighest tab for
gifts<http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/101161-bp-paid-for-agency-officials-trips-meals>
to government officialsb of all oil and gas companies:
BP and its affiliates b BP America and BP Exploration b show up in
the gift reports at least 16 different times, paying for meals as
well as for oil and gas industry seminars and tours of oil facilities.
The cost of the gifts totaled more than $7,200.
Only two industry-funded trips took place during the first nine
months of President Obamabs administration. In 2004, BP paid for a
group of Interior officials to visit an offshore
rig<http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/101161-bp-paid-for-agency-officials-trips-meals>
in the Gulf of Mexico. The group included then-deputy secretary J.
Steven Griles, wholater went to
prison<http://thinkprogress.org/interior-scandals-under-bush/> for
his role in Jack Abramoff scandal. In 2005, BP paid for travel and
meals for then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton and then-Minerals
Management Service (MMS) Director Johnnie Burton to attended the
dedication
ceremony<http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/101161-bp-paid-for-agency-officials-trips-meals>
of another offshore rig in the Gulf. BP also paid for officials
from the EPA and the Fish and Wildlife Service to visit Prudhoe
Bay, Alaska over a period of several years. A recent Interior
Inspector General report covering 2005 to 2007 found a bculture of
lax
oversight<http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/25/25greenwire-interior-probe-finds-fraternizing-porn-and-dru-45260.html>
and cozy ties to industry.b Since January of 2008, BP lobbyists
have spent $30 million to influence legislation, according to the
Center for Responsive Politics<http://www.opensecrets.org/>.
Some coastal governors have benefited from BP as well. BP and other
oil companies gave Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) $1.8 million
dollars<http://thinkprogress.org/2010/06/02/barbour-oil-milkjug/>
for his campaign, and since the spill, hebs been aggressively
downplaying<http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/14/barbour-enjoy-beaches-spill/>
the disaster and encouraging people to visit his statebs oily
beaches. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) traveled to a BP-funded
conference<http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/04/mcdonnell-drilling-bp/> in
Houston last month bto lobby aggressively to drill for oil and
natural gas without delay.b Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R)
dismissed potential BP negligence by calling the spill an bact of
God<http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/03/bp-perry-god/>b at a trade
association funded by BP in May.
================================================================================================
http://rense.com/general91/compl.htm
America's Complicity in Evil By Paul Craig Roberts 6-3-10
As I write at 5pm on Monday, May 31, all day has passed since the
early morning reports of the Israeli commando attack on the unarmed
ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, and there has been no
response from President Obama except to say that he needed to learn
"all the facts about this morning's tragic events" and that Israeli
prime minister Netanyahu had canceled his plans to meet with him
at the White House.
Thus has Obama made America complicit once again in Israel's barbaric
war crimes.
Just as the US Congress voted to deep-six Judge Goldstone's report
on Israel's war crimes committed in Israel's January 2009 invasion
of Gaza, Obama has deep-sixed Israel's latest act of barbarism by
pretending that he doesn't know what has happened.
No one in the world will believe that Israel attacked ships in
international waters carrying Israeli citizens, a Nobel Laureate,
elected politicians, and noted humanitarians bringing medicines and
building materials to Palestinians in Gaza, who have been living
in the rubble of their homes without repairs or medicines since
January 2009, without first clearing the crime with its American
protector. Without America's protection, Israel, a totally artificial
state, could not exist.
No one in the world will believe that America's spy apparatus did
not detect the movement of the Israeli attack force toward the aid
ships in international waters in an act of piracy, killing 20,
wounding 50, and kidnapping the rest.
Obama's pretense at ignorance confirms his complicity.
Once again, the US government has permitted the Israeli state to
murder good people known for their moral conscience. The Israeli
state has declared that anyone with a moral conscience is an enemy
of Israel, and every American president except Eisenhower and Carter
has agreed.
Obama's 12-hour silence in the face of extreme barbarity is his
signal to the controlled corporate media to remain on the sidelines
until Israeli propaganda sets the story.
The Israeli story, preposterous as always, is that the humanitarians
on one of the ships took two pistols from Israeli commandos, highly
trained troops armed with automatic weapons, and fired on the attack
force. The Israeli government claims that the commandos' response
(70 casualties at last reporting) was justified self-defense. Israel
was innocent. Israel did not do anything except drop commandos
aboard from helicopters in order to intercept an arms shipment to
Gazans being brought in by ships manned by terrorists.
Many Christian evangelicals, brainwashed by their pastors that it
is God's will for Americans to protect Israel, will believe the
Israeli story, especially when it is unlikely they will ever hear
any other. Conservative Americans, especially on Memorial Day when
they are celebrating feats of American arms, will admire Israel for
its toughness.
Here in north Georgia, where I am at the moment, I have heard several
say, admiringly, "Them Israelis, they don't put up with nuthin'."
Conservative Americans want the US to be like Israel. They do not
understand why the US doesn't stop pissing around after nine years
and just go ahead and defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. They don't
understand why the US didn't defeat whoever was opposing American
forces in Iraq. Conservatives are incensed that America had to "win"
the war by buying off the Iraqis and putting them on the US payroll.
Israel murders people and then blames its victims. This appeals to
American conservatives, who want the US to do the same.
It is likely that Americans will accept Israeli propagandist Mark
Regev's story that Israelis were met by deadly fire when they tried
to intercept an arms shipment to Palestinian terrorists from IHH,
a radical Turkish Islamist organization hiding under the cover of
humanitarian aid. This explanation is crafted to allow Americans
to sink back into their stupor.
Americans will never hear from the US media that Turkey's prime
minister Erdogan declared that the aid ships were carefully inspected
before departure from Turkey and that there were no terrorists or
arms aboard:
"I want to say to the world, to the heads of state and the governments,
that these boats that left from Turkey and other countries were
checked in a strict way under the framework of the rules of
international navigation and were only loaded with humanitarian
aid."
Turkey is a US ally, a member of NATO. Turkey's cooperation is
important to American's plan for world hegemony. Turkey now realizes
that the Israeli state is comprised of total evil. Erdogan must
wonder about the morality of Israel's American protector. According
to a report in Antiwar.com, the Turkish government declared that
"future aid ships will be dispatched with a military escort so as
to prevent future Israeli attacks."
Will the CIA assassinate Erdogan or pay the Turkish military to
overthrow him?
Murat Mercan, head of Turkey's foreign relations committee, said
that Israel's claim that there were terrorists aboard the aid ships
was Israel's way of covering up its crime. Mercan declared:
"Any allegation that the members of this ship is attached to al-Qaeda
is a big lie because there are Israeli civilians, Israeli authorities,
Israeli parliamentarians on board the ship."
The criminal Israeli state does not deny its act of piracy. Israeli
military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich confirmed that the attack
took place in international waters: "This happened in waters outside
of Israeli territory, but we have the right to defend ourselves."
Americans, and their Western European puppet states and the puppet
state in Canada, will be persuaded by the servile media to buy the
story fabricated by Israeli propaganda that the humanitarian aid
ships were manned by terrorists bringing weapons to the Palestinians
in Gaza, and that the terrorists posing as humanitarians attacked
the force of Israeli commandos with two pistols, clubs, and knives.
The ignorant Americans will swallow this story without a hiccup.
================================================================================================
Plunged in Chaos: Europe on the Eve of the Bilderberg Conference
by Olga Chetverikova
Global Research<http://www.globalresearch.ca/>, June 3, 2010 Strategic
Culture Foundation<http://en.fondsk.ru/>
The Bilderberg group will convene in Sitges, Spain, a resort community
30 km from Barcelona, on June 4-7. As usual, the information is
supplied by James Tucker and Daniel Estulin who revealed that this
year the issues topping the agenda of the club's meeting will be
the global recession and the approaches to provoking such economic
breakdowns that can help justify the establishment of a full-scale
world economic governance.
Intending to prolong the global economic downturn for at least
another year, the Bilderberg group hopes to take advantage of the
situation to set up a bglobal ministry of financeb as a part of the
UN. Though the decision was actually made at the group's meeting
in Greece last year, according to Tucker the plan was torpedoed by
US and European bnationalistsb (for the Bilderberg group, bnationalistsb
is a generic term for all nationally-oriented forces espousing
national sovereignty and statehood).
All year since the last meeting, representatives of the global
executive management have been convincing the public across the
world to embrace a bnew financial orderb. The idea recurred in the
statements made by N. Sarkozy, G. Brown, and the freshly elected
European Council President H. Van Rompuy, but b against the backdrop
of a relatively harmless phase of the crisis - the activity remained
limited to psychological conditioning and no practical steps have
been taken. As Jacques Attali wrote quite reasonably in his After
the Crisis, Europe has no right to demand a reform of the global
financial architecture as long as it can't organize the institutions
that would meet its own needs.
The debt crisis in Greece that currently puts in jeopardy the entire
European financial system provides a pretext for drastic measures,
and both the crisis and the measures are vivid illustrations of the
strategy that employs chaos to reorder the existing arrangements.
The deliberately generated chaos is tightly controlled by financial
institutions, major banks, and hedge funds and serves as an efficient
mechanism of governance and social restructuring.
The financial attack against Greece promptly evolved into onslaught
on Euro and b as it became clear b the developments correlated
marginally with the structural shortcomings of the Greek economy.
The intensity of the crisis that momentarily posed a threat to the
economic and even political integrity of the EU cannot be explained
solely by the appetites of faceless financial players. There had
to be more serious reasons behind the situation, and to an extent
the objectives pursued by those who shaped it can be understood
from the statements made by G. Soros. He maintains that the EU owes
its current difficulties to the European (especially German)
politicians' reluctance to move on, that huge problems await Europe
unless it starts developing, and that a kind of a European Monetary
Fund helping fight budget deficit must be created. In other words,
Europeans are forced to choose between the collapse of the Eurozone
and governance centralization.
Jacques Attali laid out a specific centralization plan. It is
suggested that the EU countries create their own institutions to
monitor the activities of financial operators. It is also proposed
that they should set up a European creditor of a new formation that
b while not being linked to Europe's central and investment banks
or governments - would guarantee assistance to viable local financial
institutions, buy into their assets, and extend loans under specific
terms. Attali further advocates the formation of a European ministry
of finance that would immediately be empowered to hand out loans
from the name of the EU, and the creation of a European Budget Fund
with a mandate to oversee the budgets of the countries whose
cumulative dept totals over 85% of the GDP. He warns that an even
severer crisis should be expected otherwise.
Under the US pressure, A. Merkel finally consented to tough measures
(purportedly, Sarkozy even threatened that France would revert to
national currency in case she held her own), and early last May EU
finance and economy ministers signed an agreement on the mechanisms
of budgetary stabilization in the Euro zone, which envisaged the
establishment of a Euro 60b safety pillow fund to urgently rescue
countries battling with their public finances and the allocation
of Euro 440b in guaranteed loans. The IMF also pledged Euro 250b
in the case of need. The money is meant for sovereign debt bailouts
in the Eurozone, a mission which b for the first time in its entire
history b the European central bank will also undertake. Steps
facilitating financial transactions were announced by central banks
across the world including the US Federal Reserve which will urgently
inject US dollars into the European Central Bank as well as into
British and Swiss banks.
The above can be regarded as the first phase of progress towards
centralized European monetary administration. It is unclear so far
how exactly the bgrand architectsb see the world financial governance
and what role they plan to give to existing financial institutions
like the IMF. The options on the table range from building totally
new institutions to b as, for example, suggested by Attali b using
the IMF as an authorized supranational regulation center run by a
G-24 board.
Importantly, once again we are witnessing the creation of mechanisms
of centralized supranational control over national economies, and
the crisis acts as a catalyst for a guided fast transition to tighter
integration within the EU, which is necessary to build a close-knit
Western bloc.
The plan imposed on Europe by elite financial circles implies
countering the indebtedness problem with the help of new borrowings,
which will exacerbate rather than remedy the budget problem. According
to Eurostat data, in 2010 the Eurozone sovereign debt will grow
from 77.7% to 83.6% of the GDP. Moreover, it is widely held in the
expert community that the indebtedness figures for Greece, Portugal,
and a number of other EU countries are unrealistically low and do
not reflect the actual proportions of the problem.
Experts from Lombard Odier, a Swiss bank, estimate the bulk of Greek
bad debt at 875% of its GDP, which means that to meet its obligations
the country would have to invest b without any foreseeable returns
b an amount exceeding its GDP by a factor of 8.75. The situations
in Poland and Slovenia are even more alarming b in their cases the
debt to GDP ratio is 15 and 11 respectively. The corresponding
average over the Eurozone is 4.34, and in the US b 5.
Leaving structural problems untouched, the mitigation measures are
paving the way for the supranational institutions advocated by
mondialist Attali. On May 21, the EU finance ministers adopted at
a meeting chaired by European Central Bank president Jean-Claude
Trichet and European Council President H. Van Rompuy the German
plan of much greater budgetary coordination including penalties for
states that break the EU budgetary rules. The sanctions will include
suspending the voting rights of repeat offenders, withholding the
funding for infrastructural development, etc. It was also proposed
to subject national budgets to EU screening prior to their being
debated in national legislatures. A report will be prepared by June
17 b notably, the date of the EU summit b outlining a common Eurozone
policy. Other, yet more ambitious projects like full control over
Eurozone national budgets by a triumvirate comprising the European
Commission, the European central bank, and the Euro Group are also
discussed.
The downsides of the rescue packages are the worst part of the
problem. Invoking the threat of financial collapse, the EU countries
serially introduced extremely unpopular austerity regimes with
salary and pension freezes for state employees, welfare cuts,
increased retirement ages, etc. Greece was the first but not the
only country affected.
The German government plans to cut spending by Euro 10b annually
in 2011-2016. France abolished the annual pension for low-income
families. Under the IMF pressure, Spain is launching a comprehensive
reform including pension indexing freeze, pay reductions and
employment cuts in the state sector, the abolition of payments to
support families with recently born children, etc. Great Britain,
Italy, and others are following the lead.
The consequences of the measures are hard to gauge considering that
Europe is already facing serious poverty and unemployment problems
(the unemployment has reached 10% of the economically active
population and continues to grow, and at least 80 mln people are
currently below the poverty line).
Most likely, the shadow world government - the Bilderberg group b
will administer to the public the doze of social problems carefully
calculated to enable the elites bto offload troubled assetsb, retain
control over the situation, and divert protests from the actual
sources of problems that trigger them.
From Russia's perspective, the conclusion is obvious: any deepening
of its integration into the bfreeb Europe strengthens the financial
and informational control over Russia exercised by the global elites
seeking to strip it of the status of an independent geopolitical
player.
Olga Chetverikova, Ph.D. in History, is Assistant Professor at
Moscow State Institute of Intentional Relations of the Foreign
Ministry of the Russian Federation.
================================================================================================
On Jun 4, 2010, at 6:46 AM, C. Spangler wrote:
dear pine,
remember the pig flu ???
luv, ~@~
http://www.flyingsnail.com/index.html
PROFITS NOT PEOPLE WATCH Report condemns swine flu experts' ties
to big pharma Trio of scientists who urged stockpiling had previously
been paid, says report Randeep
Ramesh<http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/randeepramesh>, social
affairs editor, The Guardian<http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian>,
Friday 4 June 2010, Article
history<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/04/swine-flu-experts-big-pharmaceutical#history-link-box>
Scientists who drew up the key World Health
Organisation<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/world-health-organisation>
guidelines advising governments to stockpile
drugs<http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/drugs> in the event of a
flu pandemic had previously been paid by drug companies which stood
to profit, according to a report out today.
An investigation by the British Medical Journal and the Bureau of
Investigative Journalism, the not-for-profit reporting unit, shows
that WHO guidance issued in 2004 was authored by three scientists
who had previously received payment for other work from Roche, which
makes Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), manufacturer of Relenza.
We Interrupt This Article to Point Out Torture & Murder R-US War
Criminal, Republican, Donald Rumsfeld Made Big PROFITS Off Tamiflu
The Flu Torture<http://www.flyingsnail.com/index3.html#rumspig> by
Albert Bates, 26 April 2009, Culture
Change<http://www.culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=407&Itemid=1>
via Keith Lampe<http://www.flyingsnail.com/Scrapbook/Keith_Lampe.html>
[snip] Lies, Lies, Lies - Flash [snip] Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m
killing on bird flu drug By Geoffrey Lean and Jonathan Owen, The
Independent<http://www.independent.co.uk/>, Sunday, 12 March 2006,
Article
Source<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-rumsfeld-makes-5m-killing-on-bird-flu-drug-469599.html>
Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence
Secretary has made more than $5m (B#2.9m) in capital gains from
selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed
Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by Governments
to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease.
[snip] City analysts say that pharmaceutical companies banked more
than $7bn (B#4.8bn) as governments stockpiled drugs. The issue of
transparency has risen to the forefront of public health debate
after dramatic predictions last year about a swine
flu<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/swine-flu> pandemic did not
come true.
Some countries, notably Poland, declined to join the panic-buying
of vaccines and antivirals triggered when the WHO declared the swine
flu outbreak a pandemic a year ago this week. The UK, which warned
that 65,000 could die as a result of the virus, spent an estimated
B#1bn stockpiling drugs and vaccines; officials are now attempting
to unpick expensive drug contracts.
The cabinet office has launched an inquiry into the cost to the
taxpayer of the panic-buying of drugs.
Today, the Council of Europe, produces a damning report into how a
lack of openness around "decision making" has bedevilled planning
for pandemics.
"The tentacles of drug company influence are in all levels in the
decision-making process," said Paul Flynn, the Labour MP who sits
on the council's health committee. "It must be right that the WHO
is transparent because there has been distortion of priorities of
public health services all over Europe, waste of huge sums of public
money and provocation of unjustified fear."
Although the experts consulted made no secret of industry ties in
other settings, declaring them in research papers and at universities,
the WHO itself did not publicly disclose any of these in its seminal
2004 guidance. In its note, the WHO advised: "Countries that are
considering the use of antivirals as part of their pandemic response
will need to stockpile in advance."
Many nations would adopt this guidance, including Britain. In 2005,
the government said it had begun bulk-buying the drug Tamiflu,
initially ordering 14.6m doses after bird flu killed 40 in Asia.
The specific guidance on antivirals was written by Professor Fred
Hayden. He has confirmed in an email that he was being paid by Roche
for lectures and consultancy work at the time the guidance was
produced and published. He received payments from GSK for consultancy
and lecturing until 2002. He said "[declaration of interest] forms
were filled out for the 2002 consultation".
The previous year Hayden was also one of the main authors of a
Roche-sponsored study that asserted what was to become a main Tamiflu
selling point b its claim of a 60% reduction in flu hospitalisations.
Dr Arnold Monto was the author of the WHO annex dealing with vaccine
usage in pandemics. Between 2000 and 2004, and at the time of writing
the annex, Monto had openly declared consultancy fees and research
support from Roche and GSK. No conflict of interest statement was
included in the annex published by the WHO.
When asked if he had signed a declaration of interest form for WHO,
Dr Monto said "conflict of interest forms are requested before
participation in any WHO meeting".
The third scientist, Professor Karl Nicholson, is credited with the
WHO's influential work Pandemic Influenza. According to declarations
he made in the BMJ and Lancet in 2003, he had received sponsorship
from GSK and Roche.
Even though the previous year these declarations had been openly
made, no conflict of interest statement was included in the annex.
Nicholson said he last had "financial relations" with Roche in 2001.
When asked if he had signed a declaration of interest form for WHO,
he replied: "The WHO does require attendees of meetings, such as
those held in 2002 and 2004, to complete declarations of interest."
A WHO official told the BMJ it had to balance an individual's privacy
with the robustness of guidelines, which were subject to a wide
external review process.
================================================================================================
From: Rick Davis <rda...@yin.or.jp<mailto:rda...@yin.or.jp>> Date:
June 3, 2010 6:49:37 PM GMT-05:00 Subject: News Links, June 4, 2010
-- Global economic meltdown -- The Euro Is Washed Up b But the
Dollar Is No
Better<http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/the-euro-is-washed-up-%E2%80%94-but-the-dollar-is-no-better-39275>
*US implicit debt-to-GDP ratio: 570%!
UK economy cannot survive on insurance and
ringtones<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/7798512/Brendan-Barber-UK-economy-cannot-survive-on-insurance-and-ringtones.html>
Debt Crisis May Cause Run on Europe Banks:
Strategist<http://www.cnbc.com//id/37483274> Eurozone banks park
record
cash<http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/eurozone-banks-park-record-cash-20100603-x5jw.html>
Cut derivatives volumes down to size, says European Parliament
report<http://www.risk.net/risk-magazine/news/1652301/cut-derivatives-volumes-size-european-parliament-report>
Covered Bond Sales Surge; Transocean Tumbles: Credit
Markets<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=azhNPZjPVID4>
Greek Transport, Media in 24-Hour Strike Against Austerity
Plan<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a5QSSHpbY01M>
Fed's Central Bank Swaps Increase By $5.4 Billion To $6.6
Billion<http://www.zerohedge.com/article/feds-central-bank-swaps-increase-54-billion-66-billion>
In victory for unions, Australia raises minimum
wage<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704025304575283933964515188.html>
-- War/military -- North Korean envoy warns war could erupt
soon<http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100603/ts_nm/us_korea_north_war> U.S.
Carrier To Join S. Korea Anti-Submarine
Drill<http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4653516&c=AME&s=SEA>
Tension in Korea: A sunken ship, and talk of
war<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-06-01-korea-tension_N.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+usatoday-NewsTopStories+(News+-+Top+Stories)>
UN urges end to CIA drone
attacks<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/06/20106325050780296.html>
Bundeswehr Might Be Cut By 100,000
Troops<http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4653386&c=EUR&s=TOP> UK
Armed Forces numbers 'could shrink by one quarter', think tank
claims<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/7797754/Armed-Forces-numbers-could-shrink-by-one-quarter-think-tank-claims.html>
Security Firm: 2009 Cyber Attack Stretched Over
Months<http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4653942&c=ASI&s=TOP> "By
[the time the attack was discovered], companies from Google to Intel
to Adobe to Yahoo had been robbed of source code, industrial secrets
and other valuable intellectual property."
Apartheid-era minister carried 'nuclear trigger' in hand luggage
from Israel to South
Africa<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/south-africa-nuclear-trigger-israel>
Pakistan rules out offensive against Punjab
militants<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10228268.stm> "Any
suggestion that the war is now spreading to the rest of Pakistan
would raise concerns about the country's stability - both at home
and abroad."
Top 10 military spending nations; oil countries post biggest jumps
this
decade<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0603/Top-10-military-spending-nations-oil-countries-post-biggest-jumps-this-decade?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+feeds/csm+(Christian+Science+Monitor+%7C+All+Stories)>
S. American arms spending up, says
SIPRI<http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2010/06/03/S-American-arms-spending-up-says-SIPRI/UPI-30551275581769/>
Malaysia To Join Cobra Gold Military
Exercises<http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4654551&c=ASI&s=SEA>
Japan: JAL puts on hold training for 151 future
pilots<http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/japan-airlines-puts-on-hold-training-for-151-future-pilots>
Strike at Honda car plant in China ending, but could this just be
the
beginning?<http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20100603p2a00m0na023000c.html>
India has massive police shortage:
minister<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iRZmmBwOvwar4fqwt3DPLyjR6wdw>
'Prepare for war': tensions rising over Brazil's controversial Belo
Monte dam<http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0525-hance_belo.html>
After the Israeli flotilla incident, Turkey is the new Palestinian
champion<http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Global-Viewpoint/2010/0603/After-the-Israeli-flotilla-incident-Turkey-is-the-new-Palestinian-champion?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+feeds/csm+(Christian+Science+Monitor+%7C+All+Stories)>
Gaza flotilla: Turkey accused of behaving like Iran by
Israel<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/7801641/Gaza-flotilla-Turkey-accused-of-behaving-like-Iran-by-Israel.html>
Turkey will "never forgive"
Israel<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/06/20106312530449379.html>
-- Oil -- Insurers Raise Oil Rig Prices 50% After BP Spill, Moodybs
Says<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a8cHmNK430AM>
Oil industry labour shortage
forecast<http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/06/02/oil-industry-labour-shortage-forecast.html>
BP May Sell Prudhoe Bay Stake as Spill Costs
Mount<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=akXEqg6_doxQ>
Study: Oil may spread thousands of
miles<http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/06/03/Study-Oil-may-spread-thousands-of-miles/UPI-47241275602099/>
Iraq plans dozens of new oil
wells<http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/06/03/Iraq-plans-dozens-of-new-oil-wells/UPI-42881275595349/>
Shell back in business with Iran, resumes gasoline
shipments<http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2010/06/03/inside-shells-iran-game/>
Nuclear giants stockpile fuel while price is
cheap<http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7141390.ece>
Thai troops step up watch on Red Shirts in
north<http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100528/D9FVL1H00.html>
Secretive Bilderberg Club ready for
protests<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7142478.ece>
Electric Vehicle Air Pollution: Can Report Force Some Soul-Searching
Before It's Too
Late?<http://seekingalpha.com/article/208199-electric-vehicle-air-pollution-can-report-force-some-soul-searching-before-it-s-too-late>
Severe drought causes hunger for 10 million in west
Africa<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/03/drought-hunger-west-africa>
US: Crews in Okla. working to repair sinkhole that has forced closure
of Interstate 44 in
Tulsa<http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/02/crews-okla-working-repair-sinkhole-forced-closure-interstate-tulsa/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+foxnews/national+(Text+-+National)>
US Embassy in Iraq Missing Property Worth
Millions<http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/02/embassy-iraq-missing-property-worth-millions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+foxnews/world+(Text+-+World)>
Adieu, Mercury. Which brandbs
next?<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37470856/ns/business-autos/> Feds
halt new drilling in Gulf of
Mexico<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37494561/ns/disaster_in_the_gulf/> Still
Deep In The Hole, States Are Likely To Raise Taxes
Further<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/06/state_budgets_deficits_finance.html?ft=1&f=1001>
Washington Post Exposes BP ties to Eco-Groups, Other Media Ignore
Controversy<http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2010/20100602161253.aspx>
Key Indicators Of A New
Depression<http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/4178971>
Oregon's small-scale farms worry about sweeping food safety
bill<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/oregons_small-scale_farms_worr.html>
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