Apollo-Soyuz and Apollo 20!?!

Many may recall the Apollo-Soyuz test project which took place back in July of 1975 and involved a joint docking exercise with one of our Apollo spacecraft and one of the Russian Soyuz craft. The mission was highly successful.

One thing I remember thinking at the time though was there sure was a lot of training and crew prep for what was basically a brief docking mission. It would have been a fairly simple matter to adapt the Apollo and Soyuz ship's hatches with a connection module. The answer for the super intensive training is now out of the bag thanks to some video and commentary which has been posted on the internet.

Apollo 17 was the last moon landing and the Apollo-Soyuz mission was done with Apollo 18, but there were two other missions to the moon flown by a combined U.S and Russian crew to study the remains of a crashed alien spacecraft that was discovered by one of the lunar flyover satellites.

The discovery of the photo of the crashed ship caused quite a stir for a brief time in the 70's, but NASA debunking efforts were successful until decades later when the videos surfaced of the Apollo 20 mission.

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The first video is a montage of the original NASA pics of the crashed ship along with 16mm frames of the craft as it appeared in the Apollo 20 flyover. Apollo 19 was aborted when some debris struck the ship and it had to return to earth.

The Apollo 20 crew consisted of Astronaut William Rutledge, who provided the Apollo 20 videos, a female Astronaut named Leona Marietta Snyder--from Bell labs and Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who is visible in the second video. Apollo 20 lift off was on August 16, 1976 from Vandenberg AFB.

When I first saw the Apollo 20 video with the alien female in the LEM, I thought it was fake until I realized it was an actual LEM. Also the videographer points the camera out a window to reveal that the ship IS in fact on the moon. Additionally, you can see a Soviet Lunokhod probe and when the camera pans the LEM interior you get a clear shot of Leonov.

Thus you have positive proof of an American spacecraft on the moon, beside a Soviet remote controlled probe, with a Soviet astronaut in an American spacecraft. So, the logical conclusion at this point is that the alien female in the LEM is real. The alien ship was determined to have been on the moon for many years due to an analysis of the crater impacts on the ship. You will note that the female alien has oriental features. This could explain a lot in terms of the development of the three races on earth. One may recall that at the conclusion of the human genome mapping project some anamolous DNA was discovered. I think it's possible there may have been survivors from the crash who made it to earth and assimilated with the human population already present on the planet at the time.

"Dead Hand" System Still Operational

SS-18 "Satan" Russian ICBM launch.

On December 8th, 1991 the Belovezh Agreement was signed, thus dissolving the Soviet union and establishing a Commonwealth of Independent States.

Known to only a few Americans at the time was the fact that the Soviet Union had developed what was, essentially, a doomsday machine which became operational in 1985. The system was developed in response to the Russian perception that Ronald Reagan would initiate a massive pre-emptive strike on the Soviet Union.

Details of the system, known by the Soviets as "Perimeter" and by the West as the "Dead Hand" system, are as follows:

"Perimeter ensures the ability to strike back, but it's no hair-trigger device. It was designed to lie semi-dormant until switched on by a high official in a crisis. Then it would begin monitoring a network of seismic, radiation, and air pressure sensors for signs of nuclear explosions. Before launching any retaliatory strike, the system had to check off four if/then propositions: If it was turned on, then it would try to determine that a nuclear weapon had hit Soviet soil. If it seemed that one had, the system would check to see if any communication links to the war room of the Soviet General Staff remained. If they did, and if some amount of time—likely ranging from 15 minutes to an hour—passed without further indications of attack, the machine would assume officials were still living who could order the counterattack and shut down. But if the line to the General Staff went dead, then Perimeter would infer that apocalypse had arrived. It would immediately transfer launch authority to whoever was manning the system at that moment deep inside a protected bunker—bypassing layers and layers of normal command authority. At that point, the ability to destroy the world would fall to whoever was on duty: maybe a high minister sent in during the crisis, maybe a 25-year-old junior officer fresh out of military academy. And if that person decided to press the button ... If/then. If/then. If/then. If/then.

Once initiated, the counterattack would be controlled by so-called command missiles. Hidden in hardened silos designed to withstand the massive blast and electromagnetic pulses of a nuclear explosion, these missiles would launch first and then radio down coded orders to whatever Soviet weapons had survived the first strike. At that point, the machines will have taken over the war. Soaring over the smoldering, radioactive ruins of the motherland, and with all ground communications destroyed, the command missiles would lead the destruction of the US."

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The problem is that this system is STILL OPERATIONAL. The other issue is that while the Russians have been saying that they have detargeted their missiles, the fact that Perimeter is still operational means that the missiles must have targeting data since it will not be possible to add the data once the system is activated. Thus if China launches a massive surprise nuclear strike on Russia and their missiles are targeted at the U.S., then Perimeter will launch the missiles at the U.S.

Now that we know Perimeter is still active, it places our relationship with the Russians in a bit of a different light than was previously the case. It also gives Putin a huge ace in the hole. (Don Rich has done some excellent research on Putin and Russia, his earlier posts are worth checking out)

The Russians know they can pretty much do what they want with impunity since we would not risk complete destruction by ever launching a first strike at Russia------certainly Obama would never consider this as an option.

Sleep well tonight everyone.

The Beast of Kandahar..........the RQ-170

The United States Air Force has confirmed the existence of the RQ-170 Sentinel Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. It has been seen in Afghanistan since 2007, but the USAF did not confirm it actually existed until December 4th, 2009. Due to its stealthy nature and menacing appearance, it has been nicknamed the "Beast of Kandahar."

Now, I would rather have Uncle Sugar spending our tax dollars on the homefront, but I suppose it is keeping some defense contractors employed, at least.

Since the Taliban lack radar, some have been speculating as to why this aircraft would be deployed to Afghanistan. A relatively good possibility could be that the Beast is being used to keep tabs on the Pakistani weapons research facility at Kahuta. It is also well known that the Chinese have been helping Pakistan with their nuclear and conventional weapons programs.

The stubby, but sturdy, landing gear could indicate that it can be launched and recovered by an aircraft carrier. It could be used to gather electronic radar and weapons signatures from Iran in preparation for a strike on that country as well.

It should also be a very quiet aircraft and able to get close to an enemy. It does not carry any weapons, but has extensive sensor arrays. This neat piece of tech was developed at the famous Lockheed "Skunk Works" facility and the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron, based in Tonopah, operates the RQ-170.

As an aside, the Predator UAV is manufactured by General Atomics subsidiary General Atomics Aeronautical Systems. General Atomics does some interesting things:

GA’s Energy Operating Group (Energy Group) plays an important role in nuclear research and development, and is well-regarded for contributions in nuclear power, magnetic fusion, and inertial fusion applications. The Energy Group converts fundamental theoretical research into authentic solutions, producing advanced technologies for use today.

GA’s Electromagnetic Systems (EMS) Division focuses on the military and commercial applications of advanced electromagnetic technologies, including power generation and distribution, magnetic levitation, and systems design and engineering. The EMS Division supports government customers, which include the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation. (My note: Notice the reference to magnetic levitation.)

General Atomics may be developing some type of advanced electro magnetic or atomic engine technology which could give a UAV essentially unlimited range and an ability to stay aloft for weeks a time.

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At any rate, this is interesting stuff.

Obama throws Secret Service under the bus. (Update)

The below photo (via Polo Contacts Worldwide) was taken at a Rock The Vote event on June 9, 2005. With the Salahi's are Barack Obama and Randy Jackson, among others.

When I first heard about the Obama party crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi, my initial thought was that some Secret Service agents are going to be unemployed soon. My other thought was that this could be some type of deliberate lax security. That some folks high up may want something bad to happen to Obama so the SS is ordered to be less diligent.

It turns out that it is actually business as usual with Obama. He is actually friends with Tareq and Michaele Salahi, but since it has been discovered that Tareq is a board member of the American Task Force on Palestine. (Well he was until Nov. 25, 2009) This group has ties to Hamas and to certain Saudi Wahabist sects.

According to the americalovesobama.com website, the Salahis had communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official now denies she helped the couple.(Yeah, right)

So the real story is that Obama has ties to yet another scumbag and he (Obama) did not want the scrutiny, so, he tossed the Secret Service under the bus. The Salahis were invited to the event, but were deliberately left off the official guest list. (I'm sure it was to avoid scrutiny of the couple, but that backfired and the cat is now out of the bag)

Update: MSNBC has an article where Pentagon official Michele Jones denies getting the Salahis an invitation, but later in the article it states: "That night the Salahis showed up at the White House, where they said they stood in line at multiple security checkpoints. They said they showed their passports to three Secret Service agents, who compared the Salahis’ IDs against their own paperwork. After the security checks, the Salahis were allowed to enter the party and mingle and have photo ops with the president and vice president." This sounds like what actually transpired. Again, Obama is just trying to cover his tracks.

American Education

Letter to the University of Minnesota from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. (Looks like U of M is trying hard to be part of the Obamanation):

 

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
202 Morrill Hall
100 Church Street S.E.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Sent via U.S. Mail and Facsimile (612-625-3875)

Dear President Bruininks:

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE; www.thefire.org) unites leaders in the fields of civil rights and civil liberties, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of liberty, legal equality, academic freedom, due process, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and religion, and freedom of association on America's college campuses.

FIRE is deeply concerned about new policies at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities proposed by the College of Education and Human Development. According to documents published by the college (see http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cehd/teri), it intends to mandate certain beliefs and values-"dispositions"-for future teachers. The college also intends to redesign its admissions process so that it screens out people with the "wrong" beliefs and values-those who either do not have sufficient "cultural competence" or those who the college judges will not be able to be converted to the "correct" beliefs and values even after remedial re-education. These intentions violate the freedom of conscience of the university's students. As a public university bound by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the university is both legally and morally obligated to uphold this fundamental right.

The following is our understanding of the facts. Please correct us if you believe we are in error.

In early 2009, the College began to reassess its teacher education program through a Teacher Education Redesign Initiative (TERI). TERI's seven task groups included a "Race, Culture, Class, and Gender Task Group." This group defined very specific ideas about "cultural competence," as described in its

final report (later slightly amended) of July 16, 2009. Although the task group report admits "that cultural competence remains hard to define and that current definitions lack consensus," the group emphasizes:

Nonetheless, let there be no doubt that we consider cultural competence to be an indispensable characteristic of all beginning teachers and, hence, an obligatory goal of teacher education. In fact, we believe that the following outcomes that we present should serve as an overarching framework from which beginning teachers frame the rest of teacher education courses and practice. [Emphasis added.]

The task group's full explanation of "cultural competence" includes specific definitions of required beliefs and values. Under the heading "What Successful Beginning Teachers Need to Know & How to Assess and How to Teach Them," the task group identifies four categories of attributes that teachers "need." Each category is described as an "outcome" and includes various means of "assessment." The following excerpts from each section demonstrate many of the unacceptable impositions planned by the college to mandate that teachers' thoughts, attitudes, values, and beliefs conform to the task group's ideas of "cultural competence."

On the level of "Self," the task group seeks to require that:

Our future teachers will be able to discuss their own histories and current thinking drawing on notions of white privilege, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and internalized oppression.

Future teachers will understand that they are privileged & marginalized depending on context ... It is about the development of cultural empathy, if you will. Teachers first have to discover their own privilege, oppression, or marginalization and also are able to describe their cultural identity.

Future teachers will recognize & demonstrate understanding of white privilege[.]

Future teachers will understand the importance of cultural identity and develop a positive sense of racial/cultural identity[.]

On the level of "Self & Others," future teachers must take the Intercultural Development Inventory, "which measures five of the six major stages of the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity." Their "Cultural Intelligence" also will be assessed. They must reveal a "pervasive stereotype" they personally held about an identity group, and evidently must argue in a personal essay that this view has now been "challenged" on the basis of their experiences with that identity group. They also will be assessed regarding "the extent to which they find intrinsic satisfaction" in being in "culturally diverse situations."

In the area of "Self & Schools":

Future teachers will recognize that schools are socially constructed systems that are susceptible to racism. That schools and classrooms are often structured in ways that advantage and disadvantage some groups but are also critical sites for social and cultural transformation.

In this area, the task group further elaborates that a student's

Autoethnography should reflect appreciation for how dominant pedagogical styles, school curricula, behavioral expectations, personal prejudices of school personnel (among other things) often convey overt and covert messages that devalue the culture, heritage, and identity of minority students.(nutjob add: There is no value in a loser culture.) Writings must show awareness that, when minority individuals actively resist and reject the implicit and explicit messages attacking their ethnic identity, educational achievement is negatively impacted....

In addition, this area demands that "Future teachers create & fight for social justice."

Finally, in the area of "Self & Society":

Future teachers will understand that despite an ideal about what is considered common culture in the United States [what the college identifies as "the American Dream"], that many groups are typically not included within this celebrated cultural identity and more often than not, many students with multi-generational histories in the United States are routinely perceived to be new immigrants or foreign. That such exclusion is frequently a result of dissimilarities in power and influence.

One of the sources for this critique is the concept of the "myth of meritocracy in the United States."

In the following section of the task force's report on "Questions, Barriers & Possible Ways to Overcome," the task force presents several ominous ideas for overcoming barriers to implementing this curriculum:

That all beginning teachers be required to sign up for a certain number of diversity dialogues/seminars/workshops as a requirement for graduation?

Have students take course(s) that meet these outcomes as a condition for admission?

Develop clear steps and procedures for working with non-performing students, including a remediation plan.

In the final section, "What Makes the University of Minnesota's Programs Distinctive from Other Programs in the State?" the task force even presumes to demand commitments from the college's faculty, in violation of their academic freedom:

Every faculty member at our university that trains our teachers must comprehend and commit to the centrality of race, class, culture, and gender issues in teaching and learning, and consequently, frame their teaching and course foci accordingly.

The task force's definition of teachers' "cultural competence"-elaborated in the final version of the task force report, excerpted above and published online-appears to be the college's official definition. In addition, it appears that the college fully intends to implement these recommendations. In an October 28, 2009, proposal to The Bush Foundation, the college promises that it will revise its curriculum toward the "development of cultural competence." Although further details are not provided in the proposal, the college has offered no more recent or more specific articulation of the term than what appears in the Race, Culture, Class, and Gender Task Group's final report.

Making matters yet worse, however, the college in its proposal promises to start screening its applicants to make sure they have the proper "commitments" and "dispositions":

Develop admission procedures to assess professional commitments. We recognize that both academic preparation and particular dispositions or professional commitments are needed for effective teaching. [Emphasis added.]

Moreover, in its proposal the college promises to begin using "predictive criteria" to make sure that future teachers will be able to develop an acceptable level of "cultural competence." (nutjob add:WTF?) Apparently, those who do not pass the political litmus tests set by the college and who seem too set in their beliefs will be refused admission.

This redesign of the college's policies is far in excess of what the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has ever mandated regarding "dispositions." FIRE notes that even NCATE removed from its accreditation standards the vague and politically loaded recommendation that education students demonstrate a belief in "social justice" in order to graduate.

FIRE urges you to consider the Supreme Court's ruling in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), which invalidated mandated allegiances to political ideologies at public schools. Writing for the Court, Justice Robert H. Jackson declared:

Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order. If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.

The Court ultimately concluded that the Constitution intended to protect precisely "the sphere of intellect and spirit" from "all official control."

Moreover, as the Supreme Court declared-and as I am sure you will agree-"[t]he college classroom with its surrounding environs is peculiarly the ‘marketplace of ideas.'" Healy v. James, 408 U.S. 169, 180 (1972) (internal citation omitted). That marketplace cannot function when a college mandates the beliefs, dispositions, and values of its students and suggests that students who do not conform lack "competence" and need remediation.

The University of Minnesota also should remember the Supreme Court's timeless expression of the important role of our universities in Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234, 250 (1957):

The essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident. No one should underestimate the vital role in a democracy that is played by those who guide and train our youth. To impose any strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our Nation. No field of education is so thoroughly comprehended by man that new discoveries cannot yet be made.... Scholarship cannot flourish in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die. [Emphasis added.]

FIRE understands that the college intends to consult with the university's general counsel regarding its "dispositions assessment" in the summer of 2010. Let us urge you today not to wait until the college wastes valuable resources in taking several more months to plan such an unconstitutional and morally unconscionable set of demands on future teachers.

Indeed, the university's general counsel should be asked to comment as soon as possible. If the Race, Culture, Class, and Gender Task Group achieves its stated goals, the result will be political and ideological screening of applicants, remedial re-education for those with the "wrong" views and values, and withholding of degrees from those upon whom the university's political reeducation efforts proved ineffective. While the task group appears to have attempted to take matters of "social justice" to heart, it seems to have persuaded the College of Education and Human Development to adopt requirements that, by any non-totalitarian standard, are severely unjust and impermissibly intrude into matters of individual conscience. As these demands for "cultural competence" stand today, they are a severe affront to liberty and a disservice to the very ideal of a liberating education that appears to be behind the task group's ideas. It is a shame that the College of Education and Human Development has embraced such an illiberal view of education.

There is still time for the college to change course. A new set of "Phase II" task groups was established in October 2009 for the purpose of "moving forward on structural dimensions" of the plan. This year's applicants are already being warned about the possible changes, but the new "[d]ispositions assessment" is not scheduled to occur until next summer.

Please recognize your legal and moral obligation to respect the freedom of conscience of the future teachers of Minnesota. The College of Education and Human Development has a chance to demonstrate that it shares an understanding of the basic premises of a liberal education and truly embraces human diversity on its most profound and essential level. Great teachers come in all shapes and sizes, from all backgrounds and all beliefs. Let the college's policies reflect this reality.

FIRE requests a response by Thursday, December 17, 2009.

Sincerely,

 

Adam Kissel

Director, Individual Rights Defense Program

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It always seems to be those with the least knowledge thet think they are the most knowledgable; hence the trouble with academia. This is just one more step closer to the spark that will ignite the powderkeg.

Forgotten History: Civil War Coffee

Although it is not something most people stop and think about, have you ever wondered how coffee ended up as our national drink instead of tea?

You can thank the Union Army for that. Most historians are aware that the Nazis pumped their troops full of amphetamines during WWII to keep them going. (Ya know, Blitzkrieg) Far fewer know that the Union Army was pumping their men full of coffee for the same purpose.

While it is generally accepted that the superior industrial base was ultimately responsible for the Union victory, of equal importance, in my opinion, was the fact that the Union kept their troops pumped full of caffeine.

The top photo is of a reproduction Union coffee wagon as supplied by the United States Christian Commission. Although the USCC helped mostly Union soldiers, they also supplied some Confederate soldiers as well. From their website:

"There is a group of heroes that served upon the battlefields of the Civil War without rifles or cannons. They came with bibles, bandages and the love of Christ. These were the heroes of the U.S. Christian Commission.

Where was God during this terrible suffering and bloodshed? The answer lies most notably in the stories of heroism exhibited by the United States Christian Commission and the delegates that so fearlessly and faithfully served the soldiers with the gospel. Formed in the fall of 1861 by the Young Men’s Christian Association to “take active measure to promote the spiritual and temporal welfare of the soldiers in the army, and the sailors and marines in the navy, in co-operation with chaplains and others.

During the war, five thousand delegates volunteered and distributed over $6,000,000 worth of goods and supplies (in 1860's valuation) to the soldiers and sailors of the Union army on the battlefields, camps, hospitals and prisons. They also served the soldiers in grey when the opportunity arose. It is estimated that the service rendered by the delegates of the Christian Commission equal the continuous work of one man for 658 years!"

As an aside, nicotine, via the tobacco leaf, helped keep the Southern soldier on his toes, though to a much less extent than his Union counterpart. Nevertheless, now and again Union and Confederate soldiers would meet up and swap coffee for tobacco. Another factor in Northern performance was the fact that the North had better rations.

From the U.S Army Quartermaster Foundation website: "Who shall have this?" Sergeant John W. Fuller asked in a voice loud enough for all the assembled troops to hear. He stood beside two ordinary army blankets laden with precious contents. One contained forty-five carefully divided mounds of ground coffee, the other an equal number of piles of sugar. Together, they represented a four-day ration of coffee and sugar for Company C of the 100th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

Sergeant Fuller was pointing to one of the heaps of coffee. No matter how carefully they tried, it was impossible to divide the coffee equally; the company had no scales. As a result, each mound was always a bit larger or smaller than the others. In order to distribute the ration, First Sergeant Sanford W, Meyers, facing away from the coffee and the company, read from the muster roll and called out a name at random. Private Theodore F. Upson stepped forward to claim this most important part of a soldier's ration, then, its sweetener.

Salt pork and hardtack, the rest of the marching ration were to be weighed and issued later by the regimental commissary but that wasn't important now. The company focused its attention on the blankets. The weather in this third week of June, 1864 was wet and unseasonably cool, as it had been for the four previous weeks of the campaign to Atlanta. The source of that next, all sustaining cup of hot coffee, now ranked in importance with the Confederate enemy entrenched less than a mile away - Private Upson returned to the ranks with his fair, if not quite equal share of coffee, and the issue continued, by random name, till each pile of coffee and sugar had been claimed."

Union coffee was typically issued green and had to be roasted and ground, not always an easy task in a combat environment, but eventually the troops got to guzzle their java.

After the war ended, returning Union troops kept up their desire for coffee and eventually the South would come to demand it as well.

More on the Ukraine Black Lung H1N1 mutation.

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Here is the latest from recombinomics:  

 

Ukraine Dead Increase to 344 - Sequences Released
Recombinomics Commentary 22:45
November 18, 2009

1,502,345 Influenza/ARI

85,904 Hospitalized

344 Dead

The above tally is from the latest update from the Ukraine Ministry of Health.  The 344 dead represents an increase of 16 from yesterday's total, which is similar to recent daily increases (see map).  The steady climb in fatal cases highlights the importance of the release of sequences by Mill Hill a WHO regional center in London.

Included in the sequences from 10 isolates were four HA sequences with the receptor binding domain change, D225G, which was found in the one throat and three lung samples.  The change was not found in isolates from nasopharyngeal washes, suggesting D225G may lead to high concentrations of H1N1 in patient's lungs.  The high concentration of virus leads to a cytokine storm that destroys the lungs in a few days.

The finding of D225G in lung tissues raises concerns rergarding sequencing of isolates from nasopharyngeal swabs.  The monitoring of this important genetic change in the receptor binding domain may require sampling of lung tissues or fluids.

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In other related news, it was discovered that President Obama owns a nice chunk of stock in Baxter, a large vaccine manufacturer. Also, U.S. congress is pressing for legal immunity for vaccine makers.

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==================================================== ==================================================== From the Baxter International website: "DEERFIELD, Ill., October 15, 2009 – Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) today reported solid financial results for the third quarter of 2009, and provided its fourth quarter and updated full-year 2009 financial outlook.

 

 

 Net income grew 12 percent to $530 million from $472 million reported in the third quarter of 2008. Marketing authorization from the European Commission for CELVAPAN H1N1 pandemic vaccine using Baxter’s Vero cell technology. CELVAPAN H1N1 is the first cell culture-based and non-adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine to receive marketing authorization in the European Union." =============================================

 

 

Is that a sweet deal or what? Invest in high profit pharmaceutical companies and then have congress give them legal imminuty if they screw up a vaccine so the investors don't take a hit. How can I get in on that action?

We aren't a third world country yet, however...

Record numbers go hungry in the U.S.. Too bad I have to go to news sources outside the U.S. to find out what is going on in our country. Here's the latest from guardian.co.uk.: (My bold)

 More than a million children regularly go to bed hungry in the US, according to a government report that shows a startling increase in the number of families struggling to put food on the table.

President Barack Obama, who pledged to eradicate childhood hunger, has described as "unsettling" the agriculture department survey, which says 50 million people in the US – one in six of the population – were unable to afford to buy sufficient food to stay healthy at some point last year, in large part because of escalating unemployment or poorly paid jobs. That is a rise of more than one-third on the year before and the highest number since the survey began in 1995.

The agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, said: "These numbers are a wake-up call … for us to get very serious about food security and hunger, about nutrition and food safety in this country."

Vilsack said he expected the numbers to worsen when the survey for this year is released in 2010.

The report said 6.7 million people were defined as having "very low food security" because they regularly lacked sufficient to eat. Among them, 96% reported that the food they bought did not last until they had money to buy more. Nearly all said they could not afford to eat balanced meals. Although few reported that this was a permanent situation throughout the year, 88% said it had occurred in three or more months.

Nearly half reported losing weight because they did not have enough money to buy food.

The number of children living in households where there were shortages of food at times rose by nearly one-third to 17 million. The report says that most parents who did not get enough to eat ensured their offspring received sufficient food but that more than 1 million children still suffered outright hunger.

The worst affected states are in the south with Mississippi having the largest proportion of its population enduring shortages of food followed by Texas and Arkansas. More than half of those affected are minorities, principally black people and Hispanics.

Millions more Americans do not go hungry only because they are so poor they receive government food stamps or rely on handouts from food banks such as Feeding America. In some states, such as West Virginia, one in six of the population is on food stamps. (I will add that nationally one in ten people are on food stamps)

Vicki Escarra, head of Feeding America which runs 200 food banks across the country feeding 25 million people, described the report as "alarming" and noted that the situation is continuing to deteriorate.

"Although these new numbers are staggering, it should be noted that these numbers reflect the state of the nation one year ago, in 2008. Since then the economy has significantly weakened, and there are likely many more people struggling with hunger than this report states," she said.

Feeding America said there had been a "dramatic increase" in requests for emergency food assistance from food banks across the US. It said that food banks in some parts of the country were requesting more than a 50% increase in assistance than over a year ago.

"Our network food banks are calling us every day, telling us that demand for emergency food is higher than it has ever been in our history," said Escarra.

The principal cause is unemployment, which has risen past 10%, as well as increasing numbers of people who have had their hours cut back or been forced in to minimum wage jobs. Even before the recent economic collapse many working people were struggling to meet rising living costs, such as those who drive long distances to their jobs in rural states who were hit by the rising cost of fuel.

Feeding America said 40% of the people it helps live in families with at least one working adult.

Charities say that many of those who fall into financial difficulties take years to get back on their feet and so the problem is likely to persist for years.

========================

 The above numbers actually make some sense as do the latest figures that show that over 6% of homeowners are 60 days or more behind on their mortgage. (No duh!! No job, no make the mortgage payment.)

Here is the latest from Nouriel Roubini:

"Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening. While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2% and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5%.

While losing 200,000 jobs per month is better than the 700,000 jobs lost in January, current job losses still average more than the per month rate of 150,000 during the last recession. (My edit to add that 52% of college and HS grads cannot find work) 

Also, remember: The last recession ended in November 2001, but job losses continued for more than a year and half until June of 2003; ditto for the 1990-91 recession.

So we can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. In other words, if you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down. All the economic numbers suggest this will take a while. The jobs just are not coming back."

==========================

Retail may not do too bad as I think many folks will spend out of desperation. If that happens, the retail numbers will be down after the first of next year. Conversely, people could see the handwriting on the wall and not spend much this holiday season. We will see what the stats show.

An additional unknown is what will happen on the international front. The Chinese are openly chiding Obama on America's reckless spending and when a major incident happens, such as Israel attacking Iran, which is looking more and more likely, then who knows what the domestic economy will do.

 

 

Is Humanity Worth Saving?

As I mentioned in a previous post, our son's school lets us visit for lunch. I usually really enjoy these visits. Today, both the wife and I were able to go and it was a treat for our son to see both of us. Usually, only one of us is able to go for one reason or another.

 

Our son (2nd grader) can pick up to two friends to join him for lunch. One of the kids he picked today had been an abused child. The birth father lost custody after throwing scalding water on his son. The kid was 2 or 3 at the time. I had a chance to observe this kid as he was eating. He wore a shirt that came down to his forearms. I counted at least eight different significant scars on his forearms and one on his nose. His little arms shook slightly but constantly and his speech indicated he had some neurological issues.

 

 Matthew 7:1 advises "Judge not lest ye be not judged." Sometimes that is much easier said than done. What kind of evil does it take to harm an innocent child? Should not the evil doer be punished?

 

Evil has always been with us and there has been murder and many other horrible crimes committed throughout history.  In recent times though, we seem to be putting the pedal to the metal in terms of the ever increasing evil we do to each other.

 

From AP Nov. 4, 2009: MEXICO CITY — "Three doctors and a nurse have been arrested for allegedly selling newborns after telling mothers their babies had died at a private hospital in Mexico City, authorities said Wednesday." 

 

From Reuters (Moscow): Russian police have arrested three homeless people suspected of eating a 25-year-old man they had butchered and selling other bits of the corpse to a local kebab house.

 

From AC:  Suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell appeared in a Cleveland courtroom Wednesday. His lawyer asked for bond, stating that Anthony Sowell was a Cleveland resident, had a medical condition, a pacemaker. Prosecutors argued that the man was an imminent threat to the community and anywhere he might be. Judge Ronald Adrine denied bond and called the allegations against Anthony Sowell some of the most serious he had ever seen. And although he was only being charged with five counts of aggravated murder, the judge also knew that five more bodies had been found at Anthony Sowell's east Cleveland residence, bringing the total number of bodies recovered in the house and on the grounds to 11.

 

From WJZ13: Police in North Carolina say more charges are coming in the case of a missing 5-year-old girl whose body was found dumped along a wooded road. .....Particularly disturbing were the accusations against Shaniya's mother, 25-year-old Antoinette Davis. Police charged Davis with human trafficking and felony child abuse, saying Shaniya was offered for sex.

 

From FOX News: BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. —  A man angered after a dispute with his wife confessed to tossing his four young children off a bridge, authorities said Wednesday as they searched murky waters for the bodies.

 

And the list goes on and on. Not everyone is bad, of course, but I do have to wonder, considering the worldwide scope of death and destruction we are seeing, if it isn't time for God to just go ahead and drop the hammer on us.

 

What kind of future do our children have?

 

Another Ukraine H1N1 Update.

Well, it looks like Drudge is finally reporting on the Ukraine H1N1 outbreak. (This should have been picked up by all of the major media by now. )

 

Here is the latest from recombinomics:

 

Ukraine Dead Increase to 239 - Still No Sequences
Recombinomics Commentary 20:26
November 12, 2009

1,253,558 Influenza/ARI

65.615 Hospitalizations

239 Deaths

The above numbers are from the latest update from the Ukraine Ministry of Health.  The number of deaths increased 26 to 239, so 50 new deaths have been reported in the past 2 days.  Although the virus continues to spread (only 5 of the 27 reporting areas have not topped the epidemic threshold) many of the deaths are still being reported from the hard hit areas in western Ukraine(see map).  However, the biggest jump in cases was 6.096 in Kiev to 89,339.

The steady increase in the high level of deaths continues to raise concerns about genetic changes in the H1N1.  In this morning's press conference the WHO discussed the need for prompt treatment with Tamiflu, but did not address genetic changes in Ukraine. Only general statements on the stability of the H1N1 were made in response to questions on genetic changes in Ukraine. Today's conference is a week after the last comments on the Ukraine H1N1 sequences which indicated that there were no large changes, but an update would be forthcoming in a "few days".  It has now been over a week and no updates on genetic changes have been forthcoming.

===============================

 

In other news, the FDA is still authorizing minimally tested H1N1 vaccine for use on infants and children:

FDA NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS

For Immediate Release: Nov. 12, 2009

Media Inquiries: Pat El-Hinnawy, (301) 796-4763, patricia.el-hinnawy@fda.hhs.gov
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

FDA Expands Approved Use of H1N1 Vaccines to Include Infants and Children

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of the CSL Limited’s 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine to include children ages 6 months and older. This vaccine was previously approved only for use in adults, ages 18 years and older.

“Because children are among those most vulnerable to the 2009 H1N1 virus, having a broader range of children’s vaccines available is an important step in responding to the H1N1 outbreak,” said Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., commissioner of food and drugs.

The company’s 2009 H1N1 vaccine is manufactured and tested using the same well-established licensing processes that have been in place for many years for the company’s seasonal flu vaccine. The expanded approval also covers the company’s seasonal flu vaccine.

The approval was based on a study of the company’s seasonal flu vaccine in children showing the vaccine's safety and efficacy in inducing antibodies to protect against influenza. These efficacy findings supported approval under FDA's accelerated approval regulation, which helps safe and effective medical products for serious or life-threatening diseases to become available sooner to the public.

Common adverse events experienced by children after administration of seasonal and H1N1 vaccines typically include pain, redness and swelling at the injection site as well as, in some cases, irritability, loss of appetite and drowsiness.

As with any medical product, unexpected or rare serious adverse events may occur. FDA is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other government agencies to enhance the capacity for adverse event safety monitoring during and after the 2009 H1N1 vaccination program.

Because CSL’s seasonal and H1N1 monovalent vaccines contain a small amount of egg protein, they should not be administered to anyone allergic to eggs or egg products.

The vaccines will be available in single-dose, preservative-free, pre-filled syringes and in multi-dose vials that contain thimerosal, a mercury derivative, as a preservative.

Both vaccines are manufactured by CSL Ltd. of Australia.

============================

 

Feel free to read between the lines on that latest FDA announcement. I.E. "We'll approve the vaccine because the previous products appear safe and we'll do adverse event monitoring after the fact to see how many kids the minimally tested vaccine screwed up."

 

Your tax dollars at work.

 

Latest on Ukraine H1N1

 

The latest:

 

189 Deaths Reported in Ukraine - Belarus to 223K Cases
Recombinomics Commentary 21:32
November 10, 2009

1,122,188 Influenza/ARI

57,286 Hospitalized

189 Deaths             

The above numbers are from the latest report from Ukraine.  Numbers in all categories continue to rise,  The two locations with the biggest increases were Kiev (8062 to 76,285) and Kiev Oblast (6,522 to 56,688).  These increases indicate the H1N1 is spreading east and the high numbers in the Kiev region may be associated with the jump of cases in the Gomel region in Belarus, with 48,754 cases in influenza/ARI (see map). Belarus also reported 8 fatal pneumonia cases fro the region, and larger numbers of fatalities had been reported earlier for Minsk.  For the entire country, Belarus reported 223,349 cases, further supporting the H1N1 spread in the region.

Although the number of fatalities in Belarus is increasing, and may rival Ukraine, samples were sent to Mill Hill from Ukraine at the beginning of the month, and an announcement of sequencing data has been delayed.

The steady increases of H1N1 cases and hemorrhagic pneumonia deaths in Ukraine, as well as similar numbers reported for Belarus, increase concerns about the sequencing delays.

The sequences should be made public immediately. 

=====================

 

(See my previous post. )

Continuing on,

Our church has a mission family in the Ukraine. They live in Kherson. Here is an excerpt from their latest blog:

 

"When we came back from Kiev, we hit the ground running and haven't slowed down since. Jamie went back to his responsibilities at church, the kids started new school year, and Agatha keeps me busy. The break came last weekend with the Ukraine shutting down for 3 weeks because of the swine flu. Schools are closed, universities are closed, daycare centers were open (so parents can go to work), but now some have closed since there was no heat (we had freezing temperatures at night for a few days last week). Our kids don't have gymnastics, dance, art class for the three weeks. We keep doing school at home, of course."

Imagine if we shut down the U.S. for three weeks! This is a really nasty strain of H1N1. It is spreading like wildfire and I hope it does not make it to the U.S.  Stay tuned..............

 

Who really is Barack Obama?

Just who is Barack Obama? What do we really know about him? The following is an article from the Western Center for journalism:

The Mystery of Barack Obama Continues

By Steve Baldwin, Exclusive to Western Center for Journalism

Most Americans don’t realize we have elected a president whom we know very little about.

Pictured: Barack Obama’s Autobiography, Dreams from My Father.

Researchers have discovered that Obama’s autobiographical books are little more than PR stunts, as they have little to do with the actual events of his life. The fact is we know less about President Obama than perhaps any other president in American history and much of this is due to actual efforts to hide his record. This should concern all Americans.

A nation-wide network of researchers has sprung up to attempt to fill in the blanks, but at every opportunity Obama’s high-priced lawyers have built walls around various records or simply made them disappear. It is estimated that Obama’s legal team has now spent well over $1.4 million dollars blocking access to documents every American should have access to. The question is why would he spend so much money to do this?

The president who campaigned for a more “open government” and “full disclosure” will not unseal his medical records, his school records, his birth records or his passport records. He will not release his Harvard records, his Columbia College records, or his Occidental College records—he will not even release his Columbia College thesis. All his legislative records from the Illinois State Senate are missing and he claims his scheduling records during those State Senate years are lost as well. In addition, no one can find his school records for the elite K-12 college prep school, Punahou School, he attended in Hawaii.

What is he hiding? Well, for starters, some of these records will shed light on his citizenship and birth.

Pictured: “Scott & Barry, 3rd grade 1969” Punahou School in Hawaii.

For example, Obama’s application to Punahou School – now mysteriously missing – would likely contain a birth certificate. And, according to attorney Gary Kreep, “his Occidental College records are important as they may show he attended there as a foreign exchange student.” Indeed, Obama used his Indonesian name “Barry Soetoro” while attending Occidental. Kreep has filed lawsuits challenging Obama’s eligibility to be president and as part of his lawsuit he requested Obama’s records from Occidental. However, Obama’s lawyers quickly moved to stop Occidental from honoring this request.
Furthermore, now that at least three document authentication experts have declared the scanned “Certificate of Live Birth” Obama’s campaign team gave to a pro-Obama website to be an obvious phony; we know that he is hiding something here as well.

Over 49 separate law suits have been filed on the eligibility/birth certificate issue alone, with several of the suits making it all the way the United States Supreme Court, only to be denied a full hearing.

Pictured: Saudi Prince Al-Walid bin Talah

What’s more, there are questions about how he paid for his Harvard Law School education since, despite a claim by Michele Obama, no one has produced any evidence that he received student loans. The Obamas will not release any student loan details despite repeated requests from the Chicago Tribune. However, it appears that his Harvard education may have been paid for by a foreign source. Khalid Al-Mansour, an advisor to Saudi prince Al-Walid bin Talah, told Manhattan Borough president, Percy Sutton, that he was raising money for Obama’s Harvard tuition. Incidentally, Prince Tala is the largest donor to CAIR, a Muslim group declared by the U.S. Government in 2007 as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorist financing trial. At least three of CAIR’s leaders have been indicted for terrorist activities. Al-Mansour’s admission opens up speculation as to whether Muslim interests have assisted Obama’s career in the hope he would eventually be in a position someday to promote their interests.

More recently, it was discovered that Obama’s Selective Service card may have been doctored. Federal law requires all American males to register for the Selective Service (the draft) in case a major war broke out.  Blogger Debbie Schlussel has discovered solid evidence that Obama’s Selective Service registration form was submitted not when he was younger as required, but rather in 2008 and then altered to look older. Indeed, the forgers forgot to alter the “Document Location Number” which shows that it is clearly a 2008 form. This is fraud and it’s a felony and Schlussel allegations are backed up by Stephen Coffman, a former high-ranking Federal agent. Moreover, the document shows a September 4th, 1980 date and the location of the transaction as Hawaii, but at that time Obama was thousands of miles away attending Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Pictured: Barack Obama’s 2008 Selective Service Card. “Blogger Debbie Schlussel has discovered solid evidence that Obama’s Selective Service registration form was submitted not when he was younger as required, but rather in 2008 and then altered to look older.”

The real reason why Obama probably did not submit this form as a teenager is that he assumed his Kenyan or Indonesian citizenship exempted him from this requirement. But clearly, as he grew older and entered politics, he saw that any documents revealing a foreign birth – Selective Service registration, birth certificate, school applications, etc – would be problematic if he ran for the presidency. Thus, it is not a coincidence that every document which contains information about his birth or citizenship is either missing, sealed, or has been altered.

Indeed, everywhere one looks into Obama’s background, we find sealed records, scrubbed websites, altered documents, deception and unanswered questions. Can anyone imagine for a second if John McCain or George Bush had blocked access to his school, medical, and birth records?  It would have been headlines but as with everything else concerning Obama, the media has given him a pass on this.

Of all these marvels, the latest mystery and probably most perplexing is that of Obama’s social security number. It appears that Obama has multiple identities in term of possessing numerous social security numbers. Orly Taitz, an attorney who has filed numerous suits against Obama regarding his eligibility to serve as president, appears to be the first to discover this. In her suit, representing a number of military officers who are refusing to serve under an ineligible commander in chief, she hired private investigator Neil Sankey to conduct research on Obama’s prior addresses and Social Society numbers. Using Intelius, Lexis Nexis, Choice Point and other public records, Sankey found around 25 Social Security numbers connected with Obama’s name.

However, it may not be as many as 25, since Sankey also searched using closely related names such as:  “Barak Obama,” “Batock Obama,” “Barok Obama,” and “Barrack Obama.” There may very well be some Kenyans living in America with the same last name and a similar first name. In any case, I will exclude these records for the purpose of this research and focus only on names spelled exactly like his name. Moreover, we can verify many of the Social Security numbers as valid since they’re connected to addresses at which we know Obama resided. Needless to say, there are also a slew of address and social security numbers connected to addresses in states that Obama has no known connection to.

In Obama’s home state, Illinois, Sankey tracked down 16 different addresses for a Barack Obama or a Barack H. Obama, of which all are addresses he was known to have lived at. Two Social Security numbers appear for these addresses, one beginning with 042 and one starting 364.

In California, where Obama attended Occidental College, there are six addresses listed for him, all within easy driving distance of the college. However, there are three Social Security numbers connected to these addresses, 537 and two others, each beginning with 999.

There are no addresses listed in New York where he attended Columbia University, but there is one listed for him in nearby Jackson, NJ, with a Social Security number beginning with 485.

Pictured: 713 Hart Senate Office Building.

In Massachusetts – where Obama attended Harvard Law School – we find three addresses, all using the 042 Social Security number. After Obama was elected to the United States Senate in 2005, he moved into an apartment at 300 Massachusetts Ave NW; the Social Security number attached to that address is the 042 one. Yet, three years later, Obama used a different Social Security number for an address listed as: 713 Hart Senate Office Building. This was the address of his United States Senate office.  This Social Security number began with 282 and was verified by the government in 2008.

This mystery grows even stranger as other addresses and Social Security numbers for Barack Obama appear in a dozen other states not known to be connected to him. Again, I am excluding those records names not spelled exactly like his name.

Tennessee, one address with a Social Security number beginning with 427

Colorado, one address, with a Social Security number beginning with 456.

Utah, two addresses, with two Social Security numbers beginning with 901 and 799.

Missouri has one address and one Social Security number beginning with 999.

Florida has two addresses listed for his him, three if you count one listed as “Barry Obama.” One is connected to a Social Security number beginning with 762.

In Georgia there are three addresses listed for him, all with different Social Security numbers:   579, 420, and 423.

In Texas there are four different addresses listed for him, one is connected to Social Security number 675.

There are two addresses listed for Barack Obama in Oregon and one address listed for him in
the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

All told, there are 49 addresses and 16 different Social Security numbers listed for a person whose name is spelled “Barack Obama.” In some cases, the middle initial “H” is listed. If you were to expand the search to include closely related names such as: “Barac,” “Barak,” and “Barrack” Obama, you would find more than a dozen additional addresses and Social Security numbers.

Finally, the one Social Security number Obama most frequently used, the one beginning with 042, is a number issued in Connecticut sometime during 1976-1977, yet there is no record of Obama ever living or working in Connecticut. Indeed, during this time period Obama would have been 15-16 years old and living in Hawaii at the time.

Pictured: Ann, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham

Nevertheless, all this mystery surrounding Obama appears to be a generational thing.  Researchers have discovered nearly a dozen aliases, at least two different Social Security numbers, and upwards of over 99 separate addresses for Ann Dunham, his mother. We do know she worked for the ultra liberal Ford Foundation but we also know she may have earned some income from pornographic poses, as evidenced by photos recently discovered by some researchers—how embarrassing. The only thing researchers are able to find out about Obama’s mother is the fact she made porn. I’m sure that’s a first for presidential mothers.

But we also know that Obama’s mother and grandparents associated with Communist Party  leaders such as Frank Marshall Davis, a man who, according to Obama’s book, Dreams from my Father, was his main mentor during much of his Hawaiian boyhood (although Obama tried to disguise his identity in his book). During the Cold War, Davis was named by congressional investigators as a key member of a secretive pro-Soviet networked that existed in Hawaii at that time.

Pictured: Communist Party leader, Frank Marshall Davis.

The lack of documents regarding Obama also extends to his mother and to his grandparents. Indeed, researchers have been unable to find marriage licenses for his mother’s two marriages, assuming she was ever legally married. Ditto goes for the marriage license for Ann’s parents. They cannot find birth certificates for her, her parents, or for even for her grandparents. Even more so, despite Obama’s boast of his grandfather’s military service, there’s no record of that either. For reasons no one knows, much of Obama’s life, his mother’s life and his grandparent’s life has been erased from the records as if they never existed.

But why would someone obtain so many Social Security numbers? According to investigators, those who create additional Social Society numbers are typically engaged in criminal activities such as Social Security fraud, tax fraud, real estate fraud, campaign contributions fraud, voter fraud and so on. While the private investigator who compiled this list says multiple social security numbers does not automatically prove there’s criminal activity involved, he states that “having said that, I have personally experienced many, many cases where such information has led to subsequent exposure of fraud, deception, money laundering and other crimes.“What is interesting to note is that Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, was a volunteer at the Oahu Circuit Court probate department and had access to the Social Security numbers of deceased people.

Pictured: Barrack Obama and his Grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. “Madeline Dunham was a volunteer at the Oahu Circuit Court probate department and had access to the Social Security numbers of deceased people.”

It is clear that more research needs to be done on this issue.  The Western Center for Journalism
( http://www.westernjournalism.com) is inviting our readers to join the search for the truth. If you have any information about any of the addresses listed, we would love to hear from you. To find a complete list of all the addresses and Social Security numbers listed in the public record for Obama and family, please go to the Western Center for Journalism.

 

Link: http://www.westernjournalism.com/?page_id=3255

Ukraine Virus Update (Update) (Update)

This is an update to part of my November  2, 2009 post that dealt with the virus outbreak in the Ukraine. Excerpt from: http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11040902/Ukraine_Double.html

 

 The number of infected patients has almost doubled to just under ½ million, compared to the report two days ago (see map).  Hospitalized patients also have spiked higher, to 24K from 15K.  ICU cases are not listed, but 60 on ventilators are.  However, most (37) of those on ventilators are Chernivisti Oblast, but Lviv, which has the most fatalities and cases, has none, suggesting the data is incomplete or there are significant shortages of ventilators.  The number of dead has risen to 81, but media reports describe additional fatalities, include those in the Kiev Oblast.

The explosion of cases again raises concerns that the number of fatalities is significantly higher than the 81 listed.  Media reports have described an equal number of pneumonia fatalities which were not considered flu related.  The basis of these exclusions remains unclear.  Similarly, anecdotal reports suggest the number of fatalities is markedly higher than the 81 in the table.

The rapid rise in reported infections, hospitalizations, and deaths in the past few days raise concerns that the virus is transmitting very efficiently.  Spikes in cases have been reported throughout the northern hemisphere, but the spike in fatalities and the frequency in hemorrhagic cases in Ukraine have raised concerns.

======================

 

This is a nasty virus. I will try to keep tracking its progress.

 ===================

Update from Recombinomics :  "Recombinomics Commentary 22:54
November 6, 2009
871,037 Influenza/ARI Cases

39,603 Hospitalized

135 Deaths

The above numbers from the latest update from Ukraine (see map) continue to alarm. More than half of the Oblasts and cities listed exceed the epidemic threshold, including Kiev and Kiev Oblast, raising concerns that the increase in case numbers will accelerate.  Moreover, hospitalization of 39,603 raises concerns that the number of deaths will also accelerate, since 11% of hospitalized cases in California died.

Although WHO has suggested that these alarming number may reflect sub-standard medical and housing conditions, the numbers remain alarming.  Mill Hill indicated that at least 15 samples were H1N1 positive, indicating they now have a small database of Ukraine sequences.  Although initial reports indicated there were no "major" changes, which presumably referred to reassortment, and no Tamiflu/Peramivir resistance, further analysis was required to rule out significant changes which were presumably linked to SNPs.

However, because the virus already has demonstrated an ability to cause fatal infections in a disproportionate number of children and previously healthy adults, small changes in the virus could lead to increases in viral load leading to an increase in cytokine storm frequency and hemorrhagic pneumonia, as reported for earlier cases."

It just keeps getting worse.

 

Latest Update: http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11090902/Ukraine_1918.html

 

:

1918 RBD Polymorphsm in Ukraine H1N1?
Recombinomics Commentary 04:22
November 9, 2009

The recent explosion of H1N1 cases in Ukraine (see map) has focused attention on sequences linked to the outbreak, especially those in the lungs of patients who developed a cytokine storm.  This hemorrhagic pneumonia has been described previously in other fatal swine flu infections, but that rapid increase in reported deaths in Ukraine has raised concerns that the virus is transmitting more efficiently, or is replicating at higher levels in lung tissue.

These changes are frequently linked to changes in the receptor binding domain (RBD) in the HA protein.  Changes in this domain can affect affinity for receptors and also modify tissue tropism.  The recent expansion of seasonal H3N2 with M2 S31N was linked to two changes in or near the receptor binding domain, S193F and D225N.

Recent isolates from Sao Paulo, Brazil, collected from necropsy tissue from fatal cases had two changes at position 225.  Two of the isolates, A/Sao Paulo/53845/2009 and A/Sao Paulo/53838/2009) had D225N (see list), the same change seen in seasonal H3N2. Interestingly, the swine H1N1 is a triple reassortant with flu genes from swine, humans, and birds.  The human gene is PB1 and it was acquired in swine infected with a human H3N2.  The initial isolates had three human genes, the H3 and N2 as well as the PB1.  Thus, the prior association of the human PB1 in isolates with human H3,may increase the advantage offered by D225N.

However, two other isolates from Sau Paulo, A/Sau Paulo/53225/2009 and A/Sau Paulo/53206/2009, collected from the lungs of fatal cases, had another change at position 225, D225G.  This polymorphism is more widespread and recent isolates have been found in Japan, Italy, and China (see list ).  Moreover this polymorphism has been found in two isolates from the 1918/1919 pandemic, A/New York/1/1918 and A/London/1/1919.  Thus, in 1918 the H1N1 virus usually had a D at position 225, but some of the later isolates had D225G, which parallels the data from the 2009 swine H1N1 isolates.

These RBD changes in recent isolates from Sao Paulo, as well as the presence of D225G in sequences from 1918/1919 raise concerns that the swine H1N1 is adapting to its human host by acquisition of RBD polymorphisms.

The explosion of cases in Ukraine, and delays in the release of sequences from fatal cases in Ukraine is a cause for increasing concern.  Recent accelerations of deaths have been widespread across the northern hemisphere, raising concerns that receptor binding domain changes described above, as well as a third polymorphism at position 225, D225E, (see list) are gaining traction as the swine H1N1 adapts to human hosts.

An update on the Mill Hill sequences and deposit of such sequences at a public database such as GISAID, where Mill Hill recently deposited sequences from Europe, would be useful.

In the news: SAS seize U.S. torture plane & virus in Ukraine.

From the DailyMail online: Excerpt:

 

"A U.S. plane that featured in a European Parliament report into the 'extraordinary rendition' of terror suspects was met by two SAS helicopters in a secret operation at one of Britain's biggest airports.

The Gulfstream jet landed at Birmingham International Airport on Friday, October 2, having flown in from an undisclosed location, and was seen by a member of staff being met minutes later by the Special Forces regiment aircraft.

Records show that the jet is owned by a subsidiary of L-3 Communications, a multi-billion-dollar defence corporation based in New York, whose clients include several American government departments, among them the Department of Homeland Security.

  OCTOBER 1 AND 3... COMCO BOEING 757, REG N226G

Landed: The Boeing 757, passing the terminal building at Birmingham, was the first of the two planes to arrive

 

The jet was cited in a 2007 European Parliament report into CIA rendition - the process of smuggling terrorist suspects to interrogation centres abroad.

While not claiming that the plane had been used in a rendition, it stated that the plane was involved in an accident at Bucharest airport, having arrived from Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, and that a passenger on board was found carrying a pistol with ammunition.

The Birmingham airport employee who saw it land said helicopters that he recognised as belonging to the SAS's support flight, 8 Flight Army Air Corps, based at Credenhill, near Hereford, arrived shortly afterwards.

The witness, who did not want to be named, added that he saw another  plane, a Boeing 757 operated by  COMCO, land at the airport on October 1, and that this was also met by two SAS helicopters. He said: 'People were seen transferring between all the aircraft.'

The aircraft's presence at Birmingham airport was also confirmed by Ron Kosys, a member of the Birmingham Aviation Enthusiasts Group, who has posted pictures on the group's website.

The planes were parked in an area mostly used by private aircraft and situated away from the main runways.

 

  OCTOBER 2 AND 3... GULFSTREAM 4, REG N478GS

 

On the tarmac: The Gulfstream jet, named in a report into the alleged transport of terror suspects, at Birmingham airport

The disclosure will reignite controversy over the use of British airspace and facilities by US-owned planes linked to rendition flights.

Last year, Foreign Secretary David Miliband was forced to admit that two American extraordinary rendition flights had landed on UK territory in 2002.

Mr Miliband revealed that both flights had refuelled on the British dependent territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

He apologised for the renditions, which contradicted successive statements made by Tony Blair in 2005, 2006 and 2007 saying there was no evidence that rendition flights had stopped on British territory.

The Gulfstream, registration number N478GS, is owned by a company called L-3 Integrated Systems.

The European Parliament report details how, on December 6, 2004, the Gulfstream jet was involved in an accident while flying from Bagram airbase in Afghanistan into Bucharest airport in Romania.

Although seven passengers were believed to have been on board, nobody involved in the Romanian investigation into the crash ever established what happened to them, as they had left the scene before accident investigators arrived.

  OCTOBER 1 AND 2... SAS 8 FLIGHT ARMY AIR CORPS

Waiting: Army helicopters from an SAS air corps base near Hereford met both of the planes at Birmingham airport

A Ministry of Defence source confirmed that SAS helicopters did meet the two aircraft at Birmingham airport but said their presence could be explained by an organised meeting to discuss 'routine business between two allies'. He denied it had anything to do with rendition.

One aviation expert told The Mail on Sunday how he had tried to use the online tracking service www.flightaware.co.uk to monitor the flight plans of both planes to find out where they had flown from before landing in Birmingham on October 1, and where they flew to when they left on October 3. He was 'very surprised' to find that he was unable to. He added that this level of secrecy was highly unusual.

Spokesmen for Birmingham airport and National Air Traffic Services said the planes' flight plans were confidential.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We unreservedly condemn any practice of extraordinary rendition to torture. The UK's clear policy is not to participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment for any purpose. We will not co-operate in any transfer of an individual where we believe there is a real risk of torture to the individual concerned.'"

================================

So, the Brits are intercepting our torture flights. Hmmmmmmmmmm. I thought Obama was going to be so much different than Bush 43.  Obama was going to end the torture, lies and an unjust war. Uh, right.

And in other news, From David Rothscum via Rense.com:

Has Baxter Released A
BioWeapon In Ukraine?
By David Rothscum
11-2-9Evidence appears to suggest that Baxter International may be responsible for a new deadly outbreak of viral pneumonia in Ukraine. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTo3LbhcA75I)

 

In February of 2009, Bloomberg reported that Baxter "accidentally" sent vaccine material containing both live Avian bird flu and seasonal influenza to multiple laboratories worldwide. A laboratory decided to test the vaccine on its ferrets and the ferrets all unexpectedly died. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTo3LbhcA75I) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTo3LbhcA75I

 

It must be noted that Baxter has made a "mistake" like this before. (http://www.aegis.com/news/re/1996/RE960283.html) Blood products produced by Baxter once containd HIV. Thousands of haemophiliacs died due to this, and many went on to infect their spouses.

 

 http://www.aegis.com/news/re/1996/RE960283.html

 

Later in the year, a bizarre story emerged on the internet. The news was full of reports on (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/man-suspected-of-making-t_n_259330.html) a man named Joseph Moshe who was arrested after a hours long standoff with the police because he had supposedly made threats against the White House. The man was able to withstand multiple rounds of tear gas...which left L.A. police officers amazed.

 

 However, the internet community was very skeptical of the true reasons behind the man's arrest. Comments on the Huffington Post website immediately began pouring in about an unreported side to this story, namely that Joseph Moshe was a Mossad Agent who specialized in biological warfare and who called into a radio show to warn people about a biological weapn that was being made by Baxter international that would be spread through vaccine and would cause a plague upon its release.

 

 Although anyone can make a doomsday claim and we should never believe anyone (and it must be said that the Truth movement handled this well, the message was spread without being proclaimed as gospel) the amazing part about Moshe's claim was the location where Moshe said the biological weapon was being produced.

 

 Moshe claimed that Baxter's laboratory in the Ukraine out of all places was creating this biological weapon. All of this came out in the beginning of August, which is more than 2 months before the situation that is currently unfolding. For Moshe to correctly name the country where a new epidemic would be unleashed, requires either inside information, or an incredible coincidence as anyone with a basic knowledge of statistics can confirm for himself. Let us assume for a moment that every person on our planet has an equal chance of giving rise to a new lethal epidemic due to a virus that mutates as it spreads through his body. 

 

(http://www.ukrstat.gov.ua/operativ/operativ2009/ds/kn/kn_e/kn0609_e.html) (http://www.ukrstat.gov.ua/operativ/operativ2009/ds/kn/kn_e/kn0609_e.html)

 

Ukraine has 46 million inhabitants. (http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html) The current estimated global population is about 6.7 billion. 

 

This means that if a new epidemic were to arise, the chance of this epidemic starting in the Ukraine wouldbe0.69%. 

 

 However, it appears that this virus is a form of flu. This makes the odds of being right when guessing that a deadly flu is going to break out in the Ukraine even smaller. The reason for this is that back in early August the vast majority of influenza infections were found in different countries than the Ukraine. (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292540, ukraine-confirms-first-swine-flu-death-quarantine-ordered.html)

 

In fact, on 30 Oktober, Earthtimes reported that Ukraine had officially reported only two cases of swine flu, and no deaths, until last Friday. This deadly epidemic appears to have arrived out of nowhere in the Ukraine.

 

 (http://www.biomedexperts.com/Profile.bme/78637/Moshe_Bar-Joseph)

 (http://www.biomedexperts.com/Profile.bme/78637/Moshe_Bar-Joseph)

 

Moshe's biomed profile appears to confirm his position as a microbiologist. Furthermore, this page with Baxter's contact information for its Ukraine office confirms that Baxter has a presence in the Ukraine. http://www.biomedexperts.com/Profile.bme/78637/Moshe_Bar-Joseph (http://www.stevequayle.com/dead_scientists/UpdatedDeadScientists.html)

 

It must also be noted that massive numbers of microbiologists have been dying bizarre deaths. This case of what appears to be a brave man who sacrificed it all to bring us this message may explain why so many microbiologists have been murdered. The fact that this man managed to predict an outbreak of highly lethal influenza in a place where we would least expect it, 2 months before it a actually occured, lends credence to his claim that Baxter International is responsible for the outbreak and shows that top microbiologists can pose a problem to the people responsible for this ongoing disaster.

 

This is a developing story, expect to see possible updates on David Rothscum Reports as more information on what is happening in Ukraine becomes available. Update 1: For the purpose of keeping information from disappearing, I am going to mirror most information I can find on here. Comments on the Huffington post website on an article about Moshe's arrest documenting his claim that the Influenza virus in a vaccine manufactured by Baxter in Ukraine replicates RNA from the 1918 flu and is meant as a bioweapon: (http://www.infowars.com/images/josephmosheukraine.JPG) Update 2: (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jlasqqSlUIt56rnsbgDSaDdjU9kw)

 

The Ukrainian government wants to impose travel restrictions on people across the nation to stop the virus from spreading. Update 3: According to the Huffington post comments I cited above, Dr. Moshe claimed that the virus used replicated RNA of the 1918 Spanish flu. 

 

(http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/influenza% 20phil%201918.htm) Symptoms of the 1919 Flu include victims being drenched in blood: American were familiar with the flu; it sent you to bed, made you miserable for 3 or 4 days with fever, muscle aches, and congestion, then left you shaky for about a week. It made millions sick, yet killed only the oldest, youngest, and most feeble. The 1918 influenza was not the flu Americans were familiar with. It was a horror that turned victims bluish-black then drowned them with their own body fluids. the death toll was highest in the ages 15 to 40, those in the peak of health. The victims would be fine one minute and the next incapacitated, fever-racked, and delirious. Temperatures rose to 104-106 degrees, skin turned blue, purple, or deep brown from lack of oxygen. Massive pneumonia attacked the lungs, filling them with fluid; blood gushed from the nose. Death was quick, savage, and terrifying.

 

(http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2009/10/29/202374) Compare this to reports that are coming out from Ukraine: Five persons have died from the flue in Lviv, four men and one woman, says emergency hospital chief doctor Myron Borysevych. Two of the dead patients were in the 22-35 age group, with 2 others over 60. He diagnosed the disease as viral pneumonia. Viral tests can last from one to two weeks. They are complicated and not done in Lviv.

 

The course of the disease was very quick. The symptoms included very high temperature and short-wind cough. All the six dead young people had symptoms of severe hemmorhagic pneumonia. The disease starts slowly, with temperature rising to 37.2 ­ 37.3 degrees, slight cough and pain in joints. Nasal catarrh developed at the end of the second or third day. Autopsy revealed that the lungs were soaked with blood, the oblast chief specialist said.

============================

Of course our H1N1 vaccines are safe!!  I see where Drudge has a story running about NY school nurses giving kids vaccines without parental OK.....and one of the kids got sick. No surprise as many vaccines contain the compound Thimerosal, which is an organomercury compound that is 49% mercury by weight.

 

Also, many vaccines contain the immunologic adjuvant  Squalene. At least one study has linked Squalene oil to Gulf War Syndrome, but the study is of limited credibility.

 

However,  "The US DoD concluded that there are still many doubts to whether or not squalene containing vaccines are safe at all. "Some animal research to study arthritis used injections of tuberculosis-like bacteria (mycobacteria) dissolved in squalene (e.g., arthritis-prone rats, mice). Other studies assessed 100% squalene injected into rat tails or injected directly into joints. The relevance of findings in susceptible animal species to humans is unclear.  Based on other research, it is clear that whether squalene causes harm or not is related to selected conditions of concentration, dose, route of application, and other factors."