Monday, August 20th, 2012
MO COSTANDI, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: This sounds like something from a horror movie but it is, in fact, yet another opening chapter in how our minds work, and what influences them.
The thought of parasites preying on your body or brain very likely sends shivers down your spine. Perhaps you imagine insectoid creatures bursting from stomachs or a malevolent force controlling your actions. These visions are not just the night terrors of science-fiction writers-the natural world is replete with such examples.
‘Take Toxoplasma gondii, the single-celled parasite. When mice are infected by it, they suffer the grave misfortune of becoming attracted to cats. Once a cat inevitably consumes the doomed creature, the parasite can complete its life cycle inside its new host. Or consider Cordyceps, the parasitic fungus that can grow into the brain of an insect. The fungus can force an ant to climb a plant before consuming its brain entirely. After the insect dies, a mushroom sprouts from its head, allowing the fungus to disperse its spores as widely as possible.
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Monday, August 20th, 2012
JEFFREY M. SMITH, - Vitality
Stephan: This is not a scientific report, but a recitation of anecdotes. However, If you check the SR archive you will find reports about proper studies, that say much the same thing only in more carefully couched language. There is something about GMOs that is being concealed. Do what you can to see that the California proposition requiring labelling passes. If it does people will not buy GMO food and this whole structure of greed will collapse.
Jeffrey M. Smith is Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology (http://www.ResponsibleTechnology.org). His book Seeds of Deception is the world's bestseller on GMOs. Evidence of their health dangers, which is found in his second book, Genetic Roulette, will be included in a documentary by the same name, to be released this summer. To contact the IRT, write: PO Box 469, Fairfield, Iowa, USA 52556, Tel: 641-209-1765, or email: info@responsibletechnology.org
Are genetically modified (GM) foods making you sick – I mean really sick? Up until recently, all that we could say was thank goodness you’re not a lab rat; GM feed messes them up big time. GMOs (genetically modified organisms) appear to trigger the immune systems of both mice and rats as if they were under attack. In addition, the gastrointestinal system is adversely affected, animals age more quickly, and vital organs are damaged. When fed GM foods, lab animals can also become infertile, have smaller or sterile offspring, increased infant mortality, and even hair growing in their mouths. Have I got your attention?
Biotechnology corporations such as Monsanto try to distort or deny the evidence, sometimes pointing to their own studies that supposedly show no reactions. But when scientists such as French toxicologist G.E. Seralini re-Âanalyzed Monsanto’s raw data, it actually showed that the rats fed GM corn suffered from clear signs of toxicity – evidence that industry scientists skillfully overlooked.
Doctors Prescribe Non-GMO Diets; Remarkable Recoveries Result
Although there have been no human clinical trials, experts conclude that there is sufficient evidence from animal feeding studies to remove GMOs altogether. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called for a moratorium […]
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Monday, August 20th, 2012
Stephan: Here is a video of the changes wrought by climate change over the past 131 years. It takes 26 seconds to show you what has happened.
http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/131-years-of-global-warming-in-26-seconds/
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Monday, August 20th, 2012
PAUL BUCHHEIT, - AlterNet (U.S.)
Stephan: This is what lies in our future if the Theocratic Rightists and their Randian philosophy wins in the November election.
Paul Buchheit teaches economic inequality at DePaul University. He is the founder and developer of the Web sites UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org and RappingHistory.org, and the editor and main author of 'American Wars: Illusions and Realities' (Clarity Press).
A grand delusion has been planted in the minds of Americans, that privately run systems are more efficient and less costly than those in the public sector. Most of the evidence points the other way. Private initiatives generally produce mediocre or substandard results while experiencing the usual travails of unregulated capitalism — higher prices, limited services, and lower wages for all but a few ‘entrepreneurs.’
With perverse irony, the corruption and incompetence of private industry has actually furthered the cause of privatization, as the collapse of the financial markets has deprived state and local governments of necessary public funding, leading to an even greater call for private development.
As aptly expressed by a finance company chairman in 2008, ‘Desperate government is our best customer.’
The following are a few consequences of this pro-privatization desperation:
1. We spend lifetimes developing community assets, then give them away to a corporation for lifetimes to come.
The infrastructure in our cities has been built up over many years with the sweat and planning of farsighted citizens. Yet the dropoff in tax revenues has prompted careless decisions to balance budgets with big giveaways of public assets that should belong to our children and grandchildren.
In Chicago, the Skyway tollroad was leased […]
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Sunday, August 19th, 2012
JIM MORRIS, Center for Public Integrity - Mother Jones
Stephan: The Virtual Corporate States are corrupting all regulatory agencies. I run story after story of agencies being compromised in this way. Always in favor of profit and at cost to the greater society.
Around midnight on June 1, 2007, Tina Hall was finishing her shift in a place she loathed: the mixing room at the Toyo Automotive Parts factory in Franklin, Kentucky, where flammable chemicals were kept in open containers.
A spark ignited vapors given off by toluene, a solvent Hall was transferring from a 55-gallon drum to a hard plastic bin. A flash fire engulfed the 39-year-old team leader, causing third-degree burns over 90 percent of her body. She died 11 days later.
After investigating the accident, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Department of Workplace Standards cited Toyo for 16 ‘serious’ Around midnight on June 1, 2007, Tina Hall was finishing her shift in a place she loathed: the mixing room at the Toyo Automotive Parts factory in Franklin, Kentucky, where flammable chemicals were kept in open containers.
A spark ignited vapors given off by toluene, a solvent Hall was transferring from a 55-gallon drum to a hard plastic bin. A flash fire engulfed the 39-year-old team leader, causing third-degree burns over 90 percent of her body. She died 11 days later.
After investigating the accident, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Department of Workplace Standards cited Toyo for 16 ‘serious’ violations and proposed a $105,500 fine in November […]
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