I often lose track of the date, except if I have to catch a plane. And looking at the calendar, I see that tomorrow is 9/11. I am surprised that so much time has passed since the attack on the World Trade Center, and so many questions remain unanswered. And I’m sure that many questions will remain unanswered, at least publically, for some time to come, since making the answers public will be highly unpleasant for some individuals.

At any rate, I got an email this morning from Moveon (yes, that pinko-Commie bleeding heart liberal fascist group that seeks liberty politics free from special interest groups). It’s very interesting, and I was unaware of this broadcast since I don’t watch any TV (in fact, the last time my TV set was on was 9/11–I even had to run out and get an antenna so we could watch local broadcasts and see the World Trade Center collapse). This is really bad news, and you’ll see what I mean as you read this. It’s bad news because many people–too many–think that everything they see on TV is the word of Lord himself. That docudramas are unbiases documentaries, based in truth rather than the disheleved mind of a producer who may have a bone to pick or a special interest group to promote. Or in this case, try to “document” who was to blame for 9/11, in a totally fictional account.

People who watch this, if they’re dumb enough, may believe it. Afterall FOX news is fair and balanced, so a docudrama must be telling the truth? Right? Just like the nursing shortage is caused from a lack of nursing schools and hospital working conditions have nothing at all to do with it.

Anyway, enough of my preaching. This is the release from Move-on:

In a little over 48 hours, ABC will air a five-hour “docudrama” on the 9/11 attacks. The movie was written and produced by a right-wing activist who fabricated key scenes to blame Democrats and defend Republicans.1 It’s so partisan that even Rush Limbaugh was surprised ABC decided to air it.2 And an FBI agent who was brought in to consult on the docudrama quit because, he said, “they were making things up.”3

Public outrage is mounting across the country, and Variety reports that ABC is now “mulling the idea of yanking the mini altogether.”4 But we only have a little time to act. We’ll start delivering this petition to ABC headquarters tomorrow at noon and continue as more signatures come in. So we’re looking for 200,000 signatures TODAY.

Can you sign? Click here:
http://pol.moveon.org/abcdoc?id=8721-5863734-o.bTeHrjj_.1nxYwi0ZV4Q&t=4

hen please pass on this message to folks you know who can help.

The Path to 9/11 appears to be part of a coordinated push—including speeches by President Bush and millions of dollars in advertising—to exploit the five-year anniversary of 9/11 for political gain. That’s not acceptable from anyone—especially not a news organization like ABC.

It’s not just that ABC’s movie is slanted. Big parts of it are simply untrue. The producer himself even admitted to simply improvising a key scene which depicts the Clinton administration letting bin Laden go when they had him in their sights—a complete fabrication.5 Last night, the movie’s star, Harvey Keitel, said “It turned out not all the facts were correct.”6

Sign the petition to tell ABC not to air partisan propaganda on 9/11. Click here:

http://pol.moveon.org/abcdoc?id=8721-5863734-o.bTeHrjj_.1nxYwi0ZV4Q&t=5

Thank you for all you do.

Nita, Eli, Carrie, Joan, Jennifer and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, September 8th, 2006

P.S. For the most current information on the scandal involving this film, and for more information on the movie itself, please visit our friends at ThinkProgress:

http://www.thinkprogress.org

Sources:
1. “Writer of ABC’s 9/11 ‘Docudrama’ Is Avowed Conservative Activist,” ThinkProgress, September 1, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2047&id=8721-5863734-o.bTeHrjj_.1nxYwi0ZV4Q&t=6

2. “Clintonoids Prepare To Attack 9/11 Movie,” The Rush Limbaugh Show, August 30, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2049&id=8721-5863734-o.bTeHrjj_.1nxYwi0ZV4Q&t=7

3. “FBI Agent Who Consulted On Path to 9/11 Quit,” ThinkProgress, September 7, 2006
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/07/fbi-agent-quit/

4. “Under fire, ABC mulls yanking mini,” Variety, September 7, 2006
http://www.variety.com/VR1117949675.html
5. Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher, MSNBC appearance, September 7, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2077&id=8721-5863734-o.bTeHrjj_.1nxYwi0ZV4Q&t=8

6. “Harvey Keitel speaks out on Path to 9/11: ‘It turned out not all the facts were correct’”, Showbiz Tonight, September 7, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2078&id=8721-5863734-o.bTeHrjj_.1nxYwi0ZV4Q&t=9

Support our member-driven organization: MoveOn.org Political Action is entirely funded by our 3.3 million members. We have no corporate contributors, no foundation grants, no money from unions. Our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. If you’d like to support our work, you can give now at:

http://political.moveon.org/donate/email.html?id=8721-5863734-o.bTeHrjj_.1nxYwi0ZV4Q&t=10

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Guess what? There is a nursing shortage in California! Wow, this is breaking news.

This is hot news from CBS47TV. Isn’t that exciting? And look at the fresh new information they are providing:

Across California, there is a shortage of 10,000 nurses. Unless something is done, by the year 2010 that number will jump to over 47,000.

Whether they’re brought in by ambulance or come here seeking another treatment, valley hospitals are packed with patients.

Nurses say the only thing harder than finding beds for patients in is finding enough staff to treat them.

I lvoe the statement, “unless something is done.” Uh, like what? The rest of the article gives you absolutely no information about what should be done, what could be done, what will be done, what is being done….just bemoaning the high cost of travel nurses.

Finding an intelligent and insightful news story about the nursing shortage is about as difficult as finding something positive to say about Dubya’s rendition of global warming.

And once again, we have all the news which didn’t make the news, because people are too concerned about Brad and Jen, or whether Tom Cruise’s baby is really an alien, or who killed JonBenet (yes, a sad and tragic story, but nevertheless, no worthy of headline news for weeks on end). Oh, and may I add, if JonBenet was a poor little black girl living in Harlem, would anyone care that she had been murdered? Other than her family?

Project Censored is a marvelous project, that fills in the gaps that the mainstream media leaves untouched. Every year they publish their list of news which should have been news, but was somehow censored or otherwise left out of FOX broadcasts and Good Morning America babbling.

Is it health related? Is that why I am putting it up on my website? Well, some of it is, like stories of how hunger is increasing in the US, and genocide in the Congo. But all of it relates to the health of our planet, and the people (you, me, etc) who inhabit it.

Project Censored Announces the Release of the Top 25 Most Censored Stories for 2005-06

For thirty years Project Censored at Sonoma State University has been reporting the real news that corporate media refuses to cover. The 250 student researchers and faculty find cutting-edge news stories that go under-reported in the mainstream corporate media. Real news is not there for the selling of material goods or entertainment. Real news can only be measured through its success in building democracy, stimulating grassroots activism, and motivating resistance to top-down institutions. Democratic activism underlies the purpose, reason, and message of free speech. Here again is Project Censored’s release of the news that didn’t make the news—a compilation of the best examples of journalism that the corporate media marginalized in 2005-06.

Full reviews of the stories are published in Censored 2007: 30th Anniversary Edition from Seven Stories Press, available at: http://www.projectcensored.org/

1. Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media
Throughout 2005 and 2006, a large underground debate raged regarding the future of the Internet. Referred to as “network neutrality,” the issue has become a tug of war with cable companies on the one hand and consumers and Internet service providers on the other.

2. Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran
As recently as January of 2005 and a decade before Halliburton sold key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development company in violations of US sanctions.

3. Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger
Sea temperature and chemistry changes, along with contamination and reckless fishing practices intertwine to imperil the world’s largest communal life source.

4. Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US
The number of hungry and homeless people in US cities continued to grow in 2005.

5. High-Tech Genocide in Congo
The world’s most neglected emergency is the ongoing tragedy of the Congo, where six to seven million have died since 1996 as a consequence of invasions and wars sponsored by western powers trying to gain control of the region’s mineral wealth

6. Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy
Special Counsel Scott Bloch, appointed by President Bush in 2004, is overseeing the virtual elimination of federal whistleblower rights in the US government.

7. US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq

The American Civil Liberties Union released documents of forty-four autopsies held in Afghanistan and Iraq October 25, 2005. Twenty-one of those deaths were listed as homicides. These documents present irrefutable evidence that US operatives tortured detainees to death during interrogation.

8. Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act
In December 2005, Congress passed the 2006 Defense Authorization Act which renders Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) “operational files” fully immune to FOIA requests, the main mechanism by which watchdog groups, journalists and individuals can access federal documents.

9. The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall
Despite the 2004 International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision that called for tearing down the Israel-Palestinian Wall—construction of the Wall has accelerated using World Bank funds.

10. Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians

A key element of Bush’s drawdown plans in Iraq includes increased uses of airpower. Expanded air strikes will likely lead to increased civilian deaths.

11. Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed
Several recent studies confirm fears that genetically modified (GM) foods damage human health.

12. Pentagon Plans to Build New Landmines
The US plans to resume production of antipersonnel landmines.

13. New Evidence Establishes Dangers of Roundup
New studies reveal that Roundup, the most widely used weed killer in the world, poses serious human health threats.

14. Homeland Security Contracts KBR to Build Detention Centers in the US
Halliburton’s subsidiary KBR has been awarded a $385 million contingency contract by the Department of Homeland Security to build detention camps in the United States for immigrations surges and “news programs.”

15. Chemical Industry is EPA’s Primary Research Partner
The American Chemical Council is now EPA’s leading research partner

16. Ecuador and Mexico Defy US on International Criminal Court
Ecuador and Mexico have refused to sign bilateral immunity agreements (BIA) with the US, in ratification of the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty, despite the Bush Administration’s threat to withhold economic aid

17. Iraq Invasion Promotes OPEC Agenda
The US occupation of Iraq has been used by the US to acquire access to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

18. Physicist Challenges Official 9-11 Story
Research by Brigham Young University physics professor, Steven E. Jones, concludes that the official 9/11 explanation for the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings is implausible according to laws of physics

19. Destruction of Rainforests Worst Ever

New developments in satellite imaging technology reveal that the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed twice as quickly as previously estimated

20. Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem

Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief—often mistaken—that it is better for us than what flows from our taps. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.

21. Gold Mining Threatens Ancient Andean Glaciers
Barrick Gold, a powerful multinational gold mining company, planned to melt three Andean glaciers in order to access gold deposits through open pit mining.

22. Billions in Homeland Security Spending Undisclosed

More than $8 billion in Homeland Security funds has been doled out to states since the September 11, 2001 attacks, but the public has little chance of knowing how this money is actually being spent.

23. US Oil Targets Kyoto in Europe

Lobbyists funded by the US oil industry have launched a campaign in Europe aimed at derailing efforts to enforce the Kyoto Protocol against global warming

24. Cheney’s Halliburton Stock Rose Over 3000 Percent Last Year

Vice President Dick Cheney’s stock options in Halliburton rose from $241,498 in 2004 to over $8 million in 2005, an increase of more than 3,000 percent

25. US Military in Paraguay Threatens Region

South American countries are concerned that a massive air base at Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay is designed to be a US military stronghold in the region.

Ignorance is bliss, according to the Bush administration’s ideology when it comes to sex education and common sense. Fear, ignorance, and denial of services equals bliss and chasitity in his mind (and the tiny brains of his supporters). But in reality, anyone with an iota of brain power knows where that leads to.

From a health standpoint, that type of thinking led to hysteria against victims of polio, hysteria in the AIDS epidemic, and hysteria about bird flu. And in the US, the attempt to deny children and teens proper education about sex and reproductive health, and making it difficult for women (and men) to obtain reliable birth control has simply placed at the top of the list for the most abortions (rather than lowering the number), the most STDs, the most HIV, the most teen pregnancies, and the most unplanned pregnancies of any industrialized nation.

Cheerio to those who think that being dumb is the answer.

Now here is a prime example of how ignorance and fear really work. This is a disturbing story, but it has all the makings of what we can become. If the neo con cons have their way. Nothing like taking an enormous step backwards in public health.

From All headline News

Kolkata, India (AHN) – A pregnant HIV-positive woman was forced to abort her own fetus after staff in a hospital in eastern India declined to help her.

The 23-year-old pregnant woman – who recently tested HIV positive, was abandoned last month by doctors and nurses in a state-run Kolkata hospital. She was even declined help to abort her baby.

Reuters quotes Roshni Mulani, a mother of a two-year-old child as saying, “The hospital had no sympathy for me as I had to pull out the fetus with my hands and clean myself as health workers guided me from a distance.”

“They read about my HIV status from medical reports … and threw medicines from a distance,” said Mulani, who is recuperating at the house of anti-AIDS activist Ramen Pandey.

“Many health workers in India still think AIDS can spread by just touching,” Pandey said.

Whereas in a separate incident in Orrisa, an infected man was stoned by people who feared he might spread the AIDS virus. The 35-year-old man with full-blown AIDS died after he was attacked with stones inside a hospital compound.

Many illiterate Indians feel that eating or touching a person with HIV could result in the virus spreading to them. An estimated 5.7 million Indians live with HIV, more people than in any other country, according to the United Nations.

As usual, I am a little behind in my musings on famous dates in medical history. On Sept 1, 1858, Gray’s Anatomy first appeared in print. And no, I am not talking about the TV show, unless some of you think that the ladies and blokes living in Victorian England had television sets–and the electricity to power them.

It is interesting how famous this textbook is, considering that it contains no explosions, wanton sex, infidelity, murder, incest….well, you get the idea. The book was first published under the title Gray’s Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical in Great Britain in 1858, and the following year in the United States. Dr. Henry Gray, a lecturer in anatomy St. George’s Hospital Medical School in London, spent much of his career writing anatomical essays on various parts of the body. I guess he didn’t get out much.

In 1855 he approached his colleague Dr Henry Vandyke Carter with his idea to produce an anatomy text book for medical students, and so, Dr. Gray went to work, never dreaming that his book would soon become better known as a silly medical TV soap. Did I say silly? Sorry, don’t mean to insult viewers, but I find nearly all medical “dramas” to be more of the making of Hollywood than real life.

The final product was a culmination of all his previous works, but unfortunately, Dr. Gray’s time on earth ended in 1861, only three years after the publication of his masterpiece. He contracted smallpox, shortly after he was promoted to the position of assistant surgeon at St. George’s. Poor Dr. Gray was only 34 years old, and smallpox was a dreadful way to die. Interestingly, the smallpox vaccine had been perfected over 60 years earlier, in 1796 by Edward Jenner, so you may wonder why a physician did not avail himself of it. If he had, Dr. Gray may have lived on to see his book become a classic in its own time.

The latest edition of Gray’s Anatomy is the 39th edition, published on November 25, 2004 in the UK and November 24, 2004 in the U.S., which is also available in CD-ROM format. Naturally, knowledge of human anatomy has expanded since Gray’s time, so the big has grown and blossomed.

….have come upon us.

Many of the most important concerns about the proliferation of contaminated, oops, I mean genetically engineered food that have been voiced by people with some degree of intellect have unfortunately come to pass. Like these…

USDA ANNOUNCES U.S. RICE SUPPLY HAS BEEN CONTAMINATED

USDA Secretary Mike Johanns has announced that domestic and export stocks of long grain rice has been contaminated by a genetically engineered variety of rice that is not approved for human consumption. Johanns said that the contamination was admitted to be the fault of Bayer Corporation, but the USDA doesn’t know how widespread the contamination is. According to Johanns the biotech rice poses no health risks, but could damage the U.S. $1 billion rice export market, since many nations refuse to import genetically engineered rice. Japan has already announced a ban on long grain rice imports from the US. Last year, Japan and the EU banned US corn imports as a result of yet another GE contamination scandal.

Read full story

And this one…

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED “FRANKENGRASS” SPREADS INTO THE WILD

An experimental variety of genetically engineered bentgrass has escaped from its test plot in Oregon and has been found growing in the wild as far as three miles away, according to scientists from the U.S. EPA. The biotech plant, designed for golf courses, has not been approved by the USDA, but has already been found dispersing among native grasses in six different locations. Scientists say they don’t know how will behave in the wild but admit it may have a strong advantage over native grasses, and could therefore irreversibly damage the ecosystem as it spreads. According to Tom Stohlgren, an ecologist at the US Geological Survey’s National Institute of Invasive Species Science, the experimental bentgrass “can tend to outcompete other species…It doesn’t need to sexually reproduce – it’s like The Blob. It could potentially hit rare species or national parks.”

Read the full story

What happens when two numskulls clash? You get Repub vs. Repub.

I have seen some completely incoherent ranting from diehard ultra-conservative Republicans who blame everything from the color of their own poop to not being able to read a map, on Democrats. On one blog, authored by someone I consider to be dangerously mentally unbalanced (kind of in the same vein as Ann Coulter), she blamed not being able to follow directions to a location on “liberals.” Somehow, liberals had sabotaged the car’s GPS system, and forced her to get lost.

Anyway, in my view, there are good and bad Repubs, Democrats, liberals, communists, and whatever. Brand names don’t necessarily dictate the scope of the product. In this case, Gov. Terminator has actually done something worthwhile. I know that I’ve ragged about the governator previously, primarily because he was behaving like a first class dork and appeared to be following in the dingy footsteps of the Bushkins. But now he seems to be standing on his own.

Bush science, as everyone with working cerebral knows, is about as dimwitted as it gets. Science is only science if it appeals to the bank accounts of corporate interests, such as the oil industry. Global warming? Sure, if it won’t hurt corporate interests. Oh, um, means we have to cut down on fossil fuels. Well then, it doesn’t exist.

From ABCnews.com:

A president who doesn’t acknowledge the virtually universal consensus among scientists that mankind is dangerously overheating its home planet stands to be upstaged by a governor — a fellow Republican — who does.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reached a deal with state Democrats today on legislation that would make the state the first to impose across-the-board strict greenhouse gas emissions cuts on industry, energy plants and businesses — the same sort of regulations a growing number of national legislators of both parties believe could make their way to Capitol Hill next year.

Assembly Bill 32 still has to be formally approved by the state legislature, which is expected to vote on it later this evening, but with the agreement reached today, it looks like a done deal.

Go for it, Arnold. Bush likes it hot? Great, let’s send him to Mars.

Could it be that Tony Blair has finally decided that he’s nobody’s poodle, and the life of a subservient lapdog is less than anticipated? Has he finally chewed away at the leash that bound him to his owner, George Bush?

Well, this news is about a month old, but it does seem like the laptop has flown the coop, given up his poodle-ism, and is now acting like a man and a responsible prime minister. He has apparently decided that global warming is not a good thing, that Bush science is something out of Dr. Frankenstein, and perhaps—maybe Tony Blair is concerned about the future of the world. The world which his four young children will inhabit one day.

Maybe he is a man who actually wants to do something for the children growing up now, rather than just blabbing about family values and saving pre-embryos.

From the Timesonline

TONY BLAIR broke ranks with President Bush yesterday to announce agreements with the state of California to cut greenhouse gases and promote stem cell research in defiance of White House policy.

The Prime Minister met Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, to lay the groundwork for a new transatlantic carbon trading system intended to encourage companies to reduce emissions.

Frustration with the President’s refusal to cut carbon emissions has driven Britain to risk the wrath of the White House and do business with states on climate change.

The deal with California, which was to be signed after a summit in Los Angeles, came only hours after Mr Blair defied the White House publicly and called for extra investment into stem cell research.