Sections on today's Signs Page:
SOTT Focus
No new articles.
Best of the Web
House Resolution Designates Venezuela a State Sponsor of Terrorism
Stephen Lendman
sjlendman.blogspot.com
2009-11-04 16:14:00
At a time of growing US poverty, hunger, homelessness, and despair, imperial wars without end, and the Obama administration even worse than its predecessor, Venezuela:
-- is a model participatory democracy;
-- holds free, fair and open elections;
-- respects the rule of law, civil liberties, and human rights;
-- doesn't intimidate its neighbors;
-- uses its resources responsibly for the people;
-- provides essential social services for the needy;
-- champions judicial fairness and the rule of law;
-- has a model free and open media;
-- wages no foreign wars;
-- doesn't torture or imprison its adversaries;
-- conducts effective operations to halt illicit drugs trafficking;
-- promotes global peace, solidarity, equality and social justice; and
-- its only threat is its good example that shames its northern neighbor.
In contrast, America:
Comment on this SOTT Focus
U.S. News
Bullets Are Speeding Faster Out of Gun Shops in U.S.
David A. Fahrenthold and Fredrick Kunkle
The Washington Post
2009-11-03 10:00:00
A Shortage of Ammunition, Demand is up despite drop in crime rate.
In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves.
At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them.
Gun owners have bought about 12 billion rounds of ammunition in the past year, industry officials estimate. That's up from 7 billion to 10 billion in a normal year.
It has happened, oddly, at a time when the two concerns that usually make people buy guns and bullets -- crime and increased gun control -- seem less threatening than usual.
The explanation for the run on bullets lies partly in economics: Once rounds were scarce, people hoarded them, which made them scarcer.
But the rush for bullets, like this year's increase in gun sales, also says something about how suspicious the two sides in the gun-control debate are of each other, even at a time when the issue is on Washington's back burner.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Country Joe, Kenny Rogers and Obama
Dave Lindorf
This Can't Be Happening
2009-11-03 23:30:00
Country Joe McDonald said it best in his iconic "Fixin' to Die" Rag: "Oh, it's one, two, three, what are we fightin' for? Don't ask me. I don't give a damn." In fact, we were fighting for nothing in Vietnam. It was a war that started out because the US didn't want the Commies to win a battle in the so-called Cold War, and even though it was on the farthest side of the world, in a poor nation of peasants, even though they had been struggling to throw off colonialism for years and we had simply become the new colonists, no president dared to admit the obvious--we had no business being there, and all the killing and dying had no point.
Afghanistan is the same thing all over again.
Country Joe McDonald at Woodstock Nation: "What are we fightin' for?"
Comment on this SOTT Focus
US scientist could face death sentence for Israel spy plot
The Age
2009-10-30 19:13:00
A leading NASA scientist credited with helping discover water on the Moon has pleaded not guilty to charges he tried to sell US defence secrets to Israel for $US2 million ($2.2 million).
Judge Deborah Robinson rejected a bail request from Stewart David Nozette, who was arrested in an October 18 sting operation, saying he was considered a flight risk and should remain in jail pending trial.
Nozette, 52, is charged with two counts of attempted espionage for allegedly trying to sell secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
UK & Euro-Asian News
Revealed: hidden misery of children trafficked to Britain
Robert Verkaik
The Independent
2009-11-03 23:47:00
Hundreds of children trafficked to Britain each year are being failed by social workers, teachers and doctors, it is claimed today in a report which uncovers the hidden misery of the international trade in young labour.
The findings suggest that when trafficked children try to escape from imprisonment in Britain, their cries for help are ignored or negligently handled by UK agencies. The report, by the Children's Society charity, found that those who managed to escape their captors were often returned to domestic imprisonment, where they were forced to work as prostitutes in brothels or as slaves in British homes. Children who were allowed to leave their guardian's home were usually too frightened to disclose what was happening to them.
One young girl trafficked to Britain was groomed and sexually exploited while in the care of children's services. She did not know that what was happening was illegal, or that it was considered abuse.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Around the World
Europe reluctant to send troops to Afghanistan
Ross Colvin
Reuters
2009-11-03 23:12:00
Washington - European nations are unlikely to contribute more troops to Afghanistan, the head of the European Commission said on Tuesday, as President Barack Obama considers boosting U.S. forces there.
Polls in many European countries show clear majorities in favor of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, but the top U.S. and NATO commander there has recommended boosting the number of foreign forces by up to 40,000 as part of a new strategy to combat a resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda.
There are some 67,000 U.S. troops and 42,000 from allied nations currently in Afghanistan. Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Poland are the largest European contributors, with 21,000 troops combined.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Taliban Declined US Offer Of 6 Provinces for 8 Bases
Aamir Latif
IslamOnline.net
2009-11-02 20:32:00
The emboldened Taliban movement in Afghanistan turned down an American offer of power-sharing in exchange for accepting the presence of foreign troops, Afghan government sources confirmed.
"US negotiators had offered the Taliban leadership through Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakkil (former Taliban foreign minister) that if they accept the presence of NATO troops in Afghanistan, they would be given the governorship of six provinces in the south and northeast," a senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official told IslamOnline.net requesting anonymity for not being authorized to talk about the sensitive issue with the media.
He said the talks, brokered by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, continued for weeks at different locations including the Afghan capital Kabul.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Big Brother
Ohio: Police Use Taser on Man While His Home Burns
Sarah Steimer
Kent News Net
2009-11-03 08:00:00
Police used a Taser gun to restrain a resident outside of his home on Crain Avenue as it burned at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
The resident, Mike Bartlett, said he was returning from downtown for his cell phone when he noticed his sister's room on fire. He ran in to make sure she was not there and continued to find his friends in the basement and alert them of the fire. He said his cousin's girlfriend was sleeping upstairs so he went back in the house to retrieve her.
"As I was running downstairs, I could hear the window glass popping because of the heat," Bartlett said.
When he went got outside, Bartlett said police officers were at the end of the driveway. He said he approached them for help, but they dismissed him. As he walked toward one of his friends, he said the officers tackled and restrained him with the Taser gun, giving them no reason for their force.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Psychic computer shows your thoughts on screen
Chris Gourlay
The Times Online
2009-11-04 11:35:00
Scientists have discovered how to "read" minds by scanning brain activity and reproducing images of what people are seeing - or even remembering.
Researchers have been able to convert into crude video footage the brain activity stimulated by what a person is watching or recalling.
The breakthrough raises the prospect of significant benefits, such as allowing people who are unable to move or speak to communicate via visualisation of their thoughts; recording people's dreams; or allowing police to identify criminals by recalling the memories of a witness.
However, it could also herald a new Big Brother era, similar to that envisaged in the Hollywood film Minority Report, in which an individual's private thoughts can be readily accessed by the authorities.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
UK councils' surveillance powers curbed
Alan Travis
The Guardian
2009-11-04 11:27:00
Government rewrites laws to stop local authorities monitoring people for dog fouling or putting bin out on wrong day
The "surveillance state" powers of local authorities to snoop on the public are to be curbed under reforms announced by the home secretary, Alan Johnson.
Junior council officials are to lose the authority to order surveillance operations including secret filming and eavesdropping for "trivial reasons", such as catching people putting out their rubbish on the wrong day or letting their dogs foul the street.
In future only council chief executives and directors will have the power to order covert surveillance operations and a new code of practice will ban their use for minor matters.
MPs are to be given assurances that their communications with constituents are confidential and any eavesdropping by police will need high-level authorisation.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
NZ: Big Brother Will Be Watching You - The Search And Surveillance Bill
Chris Ford
Voxy
2009-11-04 11:30:00
Recently, the National Government decided to take up the previous Labour administration's Search and Surveillance Bill. This bill would effectively make George Orwell's 'Big Brother' character blush.
Already both the Human Rights Commission and the Privacy Commissioner have condemned the bill. Human Rights chief commissioner Ros Noonan has called the proposed law "chilling" while privacy watchdog Marie Shroff said it could be "invasive" of people's privacy.
So, why the fuss over this bill? Don't we reasonably tolerate some degree of monitoring, particularly of criminal activity, already?
Well, the Search and Surveillance Bill goes much further than any other piece of legislation ordaining surveillance. In fact, it gives more state agencies the power to tap into your personal conversations, hack (legally) into your computer and install hidden cameras to watch your every move.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Out of Afghanistan, into a police state
Henry Porter
The Guardian
2009-11-04 11:25:00
Let's see if we can tease out the logic of the latest New Labour backflip.
The former foreign office minister Kim Howells suggests that the policy in Afghanistan is not working and it is time to consider withdrawing troops and putting the money saved as result into the UK Border Agency and greater surveillance and monitoring in Britain.
Like so many in the Labour party, Howells's only response to the failure of a government policy is to propose a general attack on freedom and privacy, placing the nation which is already regarded as the most closely monitored after China and North Korea under even greater surveillance.
Howells was an ardent supporter of both the Iraq war and the Afghanistan war, which is important because it's now accepted that Britain's participation in the Iraq invasion and the long engagement in Basra has a direct bearing on the position that we now find ourselves in Afghanistan. If British and American efforts had been concentrated in Afghanistan after 2001, and had not been thrown at Iraq, where there was no al-Qaida presence, we wouldn't now face such a well-organised threat in Helmand province.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Breaching your online privacy to fight crime
Ian Macleod
The Ottawa Citizen
2009-10-15 11:17:00
Unlawful access? Canada's proposed Bill would let police, governments search Internet use without a warrant.
The "mosaic effect" is an argument often put forward by governments and police to block access to sensitive information. It suggests even seemingly innocuous pieces of information can be fitted together like a puzzle to form a meaningful picture of something they want kept secret, typically a national security operation.
But when the tables are turned and it's police and government that want to piece together seemingly innocuous bits of your personal and digital information to form a picture of you, the "mosaic effect" is recast as "lawful access" and characterized as benign state intervention into the online lives of Canadians in the name of crime-fighting.
Your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and Internet Protocol (IP) address can reveal your Internet habits, social network, personal interests, political views, secrets and more.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Axis of Evil
Former UK ambassador: CIA sent people to be 'raped with broken bottles'
Daniel Tencer
Raw Story
2009-11-04 16:51:00
The CIA relied on intelligence based on torture in prisons in Uzbekistan, a place where widespread torture practices include raping suspects with broken bottles and boiling them alive, says a former British ambassador to the central Asian country.
Craig Murray, the rector of the University of Dundee in Scotland and until 2004 the UK's ambassador to Uzbekistan, said the CIA not only relied on confessions gleaned through extreme torture, it sent terror war suspects to Uzbekistan as part of its extraordinary rendition program.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Are Burning Copies of the Koran? Are We Really That Stupid?
Abdullah Obaidi
AlterNet
2009-11-04 15:37:00
Wardak, Afghanistan - Protests are sweeping Afghanistan in the wake of allegations that American forces had burned copies of the Koran during a patrol in a province near Kabul - a charge strongly denied by a United States military spokesperson.
Hundreds of students turned out in two separate demonstrations in the capital, Kabul, on October 25, one staged in front of the parliament building and another began at Kabul University and moved towards the center of town. There were no reports of casualties, although police were forced to fire warning shots in an attempt to control the crowds.
The Kabul disturbances were just the latest in a series of protests that followed rumors of a Koran-burning incident in central-eastern Wardak province. Students and residents in Wardak, Jalalabad, Khost, Logar and Kandahar also held demonstrations after reports began to circulate that US troops had burned Korans in Wardak, which borders Kabul.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Today's U.S. Army and Its Ambitions
William Pfaff
TruthDig
2009-11-04 00:44:00
It is possible that the creation of an all-professional U.S. Army has been Congress' most dangerous decision. The nation now confronts a political crisis in which the issue has become an undeclared contest between Pentagon power and that of a newly elected president.
Barack Obama has yet to declare his decision on the war in Afghanistan, and there is every reason to think that he will follow military opinion. Yet he is under immense pressure from his Republican opponents to, in effect, renounce his presidential power and step aside from the fundamental strategic decisions of the nation.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Kipling Haunts Obama's Afghan War
Ray McGovern
Truthout
2009-11-01 20:25:00
The White Man's Burden, a phrase immortalized by English poet Rudyard Kipling as an excuse for European-American imperialism, was front and center Thursday morning (October 29) at a RAND-sponsored discussion of Afghanistan in the Russell Senate Office Building.
The agenda was top-heavy with RAND speakers, and the thinking was decidedly "inside the box" - so much so, that I found myself repeating a verse from Kipling, who recognized the dangers of imperialism, to remind me of the real world:
It is not wise for the Christian white
To hustle the Asian brown;
For the Christian riles
And the Asian smiles
And weareth the Christian down.
At the end of the fight
Lies a tombstone white
With the name of the late deceased;
And the epitaph drear,
A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
US Government Lawyers Seek to Quash Rendition Lawsuit
William Fisher
Inter Press Service
2009-11-03 20:27:00
The long road to the proverbial day in court just got longer for five men who claim they were "disappeared" and tortured by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
The men, who say they were victims of the extraordinary rendition programme conducted during the administration of President George W. Bush, have been trying since 2007 to get their cases heard on the merits.
But it is now far from clear that the merits of these cases will be heard any time soon - if ever. The reason is that the Department of Justice - first through Bush administration lawyers, now through Barack Obama administration lawyers - has invoked the so-called "state secrets" privilege, claiming that a public trial would endanger U.S. national security.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Bush's interrogators used slaps to 'instill fear and despair'
Larisa Alexandrovna
The Raw Story
2009-11-03 20:20:00
Recently declassified documents on the Bush administration interrogation program describe several techniques used on detainees in US custody, some of which may have violated the United Nations Convention Against Torture, to which the United States is a signatory.
Included in the large cache of documents is one which describes (pdf) stress positions to be used as interrogation techniques, as well as the use of an abdominal slap as a punishment tool. The "purpose" of the abdominal slap is defined in the documents as being "to instill fear and despair, to punish selective behavior and to instill humiliation or cause insult."
The documents were requested by the American Civil Liberties Union via a Freedom of Information Act request in 2004 and were made public on Oct. 30, 2009.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Middle East Madness
Report: Palestinians denied water
BBC News
2009-10-30 19:23:00
Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says.
In a report, the human rights group says Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
It says that in Gaza, Israel's blockade has pushed the already ailing water and sewage system to "crisis point".
Israel says the report is flawed and the Palestinians get more water than was agreed under the 1990s peace deal.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Palestinians accuse U.S. of killing peace prospects
Jeffrey Heller
Reuters
2009-11-01 19:04:00
Pointing an accusing finger at the United States, the Palestinians on Sunday said Washington's backing for Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any hope of reviving peace negotiations soon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, buoyed by new-found support from the Obama administration, urged the Palestinians to "get a grip" and drop their settlement freeze precondition for restarting talks suspended since December.
On a one-day Middle East visit on Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Israel's view that settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank should not be a bar to resuming negotiations -- contradicting the Palestinian position.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Grand Theft Economics
Al Gore could become world's first carbon billionaire
Telegraph UK
2009-11-03 16:53:00
Last year Mr Gore's venture capital firm loaned a small California firm $75m to develop energy-saving technology.
The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient.
The deal appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants, the New York Times reports. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with h which Silver Spring has contracts.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Sarkozy's shower costs taxpayers £250,000
Metro.co.uk
2009-10-28 08:08:00
The French president had a £250,000 shower built for him using European taxpayers' money - only for it to be torn down, unused, days after being completed, it was revealed yesterday.
The luxury unit - which had air conditioning and radio 'surround sound' - was built to the exact specifications of 1.6m (5ft 5in) Nicolas Sarkozy for a three-day summit in Paris.
But, instead, he decided to wash in the Élysée Palace ten minutes away.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Gold Climbs to Record as India's Central Bank Buys IMF Bullion
Pham-Duy Nguyen and Claudia Carpenter
Bloomberg News
2009-11-03 23:07:00
Gold jumped to a record after India's central bank bought 200 metric tons of the metal from the International Monetary Fund, heightening speculation that there may be more official purchases.
Gold futures for December delivery rose to a record $1,088.50 an ounce at about 2:22 p.m. in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex unit. Earlier, the most-active contract settled at $1,084.90, up $30.90, or 2.9 percent. It was the biggest gain since March 19.
"This will encourage other countries and other investors, especially Indians, who are big buyers anyway, to jump into the market," said Leonard Kaplan, the president of Prospector Asset Management in Evanston, Illinois.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
The Living Planet
Sea Lion Brain Mapped to Study Toxins' Effects
Cristen Conger
Discovery News
2009-11-04 10:00:00
The first detailed anatomical atlas of a living wildlife species has been constructed by researchers.
Mapping the California sea lion's (Zalophus californianus) brain with a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and volumetric measuring, scientists want to better understand how toxins in the water are causing neurological damage among marine mammal populations.
Eric Montie, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of South Florida, spearheaded the study, which was published in The Anatomical Record in October.
The brain atlas is a first step toward determining whether exposure to manmade chemicals, such as DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), increase California sea lions' susceptibility to life-threatening brain damage from domoic acid, a neurotoxin naturally produced by certain types of algae.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Green is Cool, But United States Land Changes Generally Are Not
ScienceDaily
2009-11-04 07:00:00
Most land-use changes occurring in the continental United States reduce vegetative cover and raise regional surface temperatures, says a new study by scientists at the University of Maryland, Purdue University, and the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The study, which will appear in the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology, found that almost any change that makes land cover less "green" contributes to warming. However, a less intuitive finding is that conversion of any land to agricultural use results in cooling, even land that was previously forested.
Derived using a University of Maryland developed analytical approach known as OMR, the findings build on previous research and add significant weight to a growing recognition among climate scientists for the need to more fully incorporate land use change into computer models that are designed to forecast future changes in climate conditions.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Over 17,000 Species Threatened by Extinction
Frank Jordans
The Associated Press
2009-11-03 08:00:00
A rare Panamanian tree frog, a rodent from Madagascar and two lizards found only in the Philippines are among over 17,000 species threatened with extinction, a leading environmental group said Tuesday.
The Rabb's fringe-limbed tree frog, only discovered four years ago, is one of 1,895 amphibian species that could soon disappear from the wild because of deforestation and infection, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said.
The Switzerland-based group surveyed 47,677 animals and plants for this year's "Red List" of endangered species, determining that 17,291 of them are at risk of extinction.
More than one in five of all known mammals, over a quarter of reptiles and 70 percent of plants are under threat, according to the survey, which featured over 2,800 new species compared with 2008.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Strong 5.9 quake jolts Ionian Sea, Greek Islands
RIA Novosti
2009-11-03 20:33:00
An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale jolted the Ionian Sea on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
There have been no reports of injuries or damage on the Peloponnese Peninsula, a popular tourist destination on the Gulf of Corinth.
According to the Athens Institute of Geodynamics, the magnitude of the quake was 5.5.
The quake's epicenter was located 110 kilometers (65 miles) from the city of Patra at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in the Ionian Sea. Patra is located 265 kilometers west of Athens.
The quake struck at 07:25 am local time (05:25 GMT).
According to Greek television, the earthquake was also felt on the islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia in the Ionian Sea.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Health & Wellness
Family doctors group loses members over Coke deal
Linsey Tanner
Associated Press
2009-11-04 18:29:00
Chicago, Illinois - Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation's largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke.
The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co. The deal will fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy's consumer health and wellness Web site, http://www.FamilyDoctor.org.
Academy CEO Dr. Douglas Henley said Wednesday that the deal won't influence the group's public health messages, and that the company will have no control over editorial content. He said the new online information will include research linking soft drinks with obesity and will focus on sugar-free alternatives.
But critics say the Coke deal will water down the advice.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Hormone that Affects Finger Length Key to Social Behavior
ScienceDaily
2009-11-04 07:00:00
Research at the universities of Liverpool and Oxford into the finger length of primate species has revealed that cooperative behavior is linked to exposure to hormone levels in the womb.
The hormones, called androgens, are important in the development of masculine characteristics such as aggression and strength. It is also thought that prenatal androgens affect finger length during development in the womb. High levels of androgens, such as testosterone, increase the length of the fourth finger in comparison to the second finger. Scientists used finger ratios as an indicator of the levels of exposure to the hormone and compared this data with social behaviour in primate groups.
The team found that Old World monkeys, such as baboons and rhesus macaques, have a longer fourth finger in comparison to the second finger, which suggests that they have been exposed to high levels of prenatal androgens. These species tend to be highly competitive and promiscuous, which suggests that exposure to a lot of androgens before birth could be linked to the expression of this behaviour.
Other species, such as gibbons and many New World species, have digit ratios that suggest low levels of prenatal androgen exposure. These species were monogamous and less competitive than Old World monkeys.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Folic Acid Supplements Linked to Asthma, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily
2009-11-04 07:00:00
A University of Adelaide study may have shed light on the rise in childhood asthma in developed countries like Australia in recent decades.
Researchers from the University's Robinson Institute have identified a link between folic acid supplements taken in late pregnancy and allergic asthma in children aged between 3 and 5 years, suggesting that the timing of supplementation in pregnancy is important.
Associate Professor Michael Davies says that folic acid supplements -- recommended for pregnant women to prevent birth defects -- appear to have "additional and unexpected" consequences in recent studies in mice and infants.
"In our study, supplemental folic acid in late pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of asthma in children, but there was no evidence to suggest any adverse effects if supplements were taken in early pregnancy."
The University of Adelaide findings have been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Dementia: Rare Brain Disorder is Highly Hereditary
ScienceDaily
2009-11-04 06:00:00
New research shows that a rare brain disorder that causes early dementia is highly hereditary. The study is published in the November 3, 2009, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The brain disorder, called frontotemporal dementia, is formerly known as Pick's disease and destroys parts of the brain, leading to dementia, including problems with language or changes in behavior and personality. The disease often affects people under the age of 65.
"Knowing your family's health history may be one way for people to better predict their risk of developing dementia," said study author Jonathan Rohrer, MRCP Clinical Research Fellow at the Dementia Research Center at the University College London in the United Kingdom.
For the study, blood was drawn from 225 people who were diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. The people were asked about family history of dementia and given a score of one through four. A score of one represents a person who had at least three relatives with dementia and an autosomal dominant inheritance, meaning that an affected person has one mutant gene and one normal gene and has a 50-percent chance of passing the mutant gene and therefore the disorder on to their offspring. A score of four represents a person with no family history of dementia.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Brooklyn Girl Winds Up in Hospital After Being Injected with H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Without Parental Permission
Mike Adams
NaturalNews
2009-11-04 03:00:00
A six-year-old Brooklyn girl, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, was hospitalized recently after being injected with the swine flu vaccine. The vaccination was conducted entirely without her parents' permission in an incident school nurses are calling "a mistake."
Mother Naomi Troy told the NY Daily News, "I was outraged." After receiving the swine flu injection, her daughter complained she was itching and her stomach was hurting. That's when school officials called an ambulance that rushed Nikiyah to the hospital.
Nikiyah is epileptic and takes prescription medication to treat the condition. Her mother was concerned about the possible side effects of combining a swine flu vaccine shot with epilepsy drugs and was waiting to hear back from her doctor before giving the school permission to vaccinate her daughter. That permission was apparently irrelevant, as some schools simply vaccinate any and all children without concern for parental permission.
After injecting her daughter without permission, the school nurse then called Naomi Troy and tried to persuade her to sign a consent form after the fact. "I was insulted. I was really angry," said Naomi.
So far, 1,800 NY students have been vaccinated against swine flu. Hundreds of thousands more are in line to be vaccinated when a sufficient supply of vaccines is made available.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Chemicals Found in Canned Foods
Marion Nestle
The Atlantic Monthly Group
2009-11-04 14:05:00
Here's a good reason why food manufacturers don't want to test for harmful chemicals.
If you test, you might find something you don't want to.
Consumer Reports did just that.
It tested a bunch of canned juices, soups, tuna, and green beans and found bisphenol A (BPA) in almost all of them--even the ones labeled organic or bisphenol A-free.
BPA, you may recall, is a chemical in polycarbonate plastics that acts as an endocrine disruptor. How harmful is it? Debate rages. These new data will add to the debate.
CR says it found the highest levels of BPA in some samples of canned green beans and canned soups:
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Science & Technology
Supernova mystery solved?
Geoff Brumfiel
Nature News
2009-11-04 16:42:00
Sooty neutron star could lie at the heart of Cassiopeia A.
Two astrophysicists believe that they have dispelled the mystery surrounding an object at the centre of a distant supernova remnant.
Around 330 years ago, a massive star in the constellation Cassiopeia exploded. The supernova may have been recorded by John Flamsteed, the English Astronomer Royal, who, at the time, observed a 'star' in the constellation that doesn't correspond to any known on today's charts.
The remains of the supernova, known as Cassiopeia A, have been something of a mystery to astronomers. Supernovae usually leave behind an extremely dense object such as a black hole or neutron star. But for decades no such object was seen at the centre of Cassiopeia A.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Murderer with 'aggression genes' gets sentence cut
Ewen Callaway
New Scientist
2009-11-04 14:44:00
A judge's decision to reduce a killer's sentence because he has genetic mutations linked to violence raises a thorny question - can your genes ever absolve you of responsibility for a particular act?
In 2007, Abdelmalek Bayout admitted to stabbing and killing a man and received a sentence of 9 years and 2 months. Last week, Nature reported that Pier Valerio Reinotti, an appeal court judge in Trieste, Italy, cut Bayout's sentence by a year after finding out he has gene variants linked to aggression. Leaving aside the question of whether this link is well enough understood to justify Reinotti's decision, should genes ever be considered a legitimate defence?
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Ancient Human Metropolis Found in Africa
Dan Eden
Viewzone
2009-11-03 11:44:00
They have always been there. People noticed them before. But no one could remember who made them -- or why? Until just recently, no one even knew how many there were. Now they are everywhere -- thousands -- no, hundreds of thousands of them! And the story they tell is the most important story of humanity. But it's one we might not be prepared to hear.
Something amazing has been discovered in an area of South Africa, about 150 miles inland, west of the port of Maputo. It is the remains of a huge metropolis that measures, in conservative estimates, about 1500 square miles. It's part of an even larger community that is about 10,000 square miles and appears to have been constructed -- are you ready -- from 160,000 to 200,000 BCE!
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Ancient DNA Reveals Lack of Continuity between Neolithic Hunter-Gatherers and Contemporary Scandinavians
Current Biology
2009-11-03 20:22:00
The driving force behind the transition from a foraging to a farming lifestyle in prehistoric Europe (Neolithization) has been debated for more than a century. Of particular interest is whether population replacement or cultural exchange was responsible.
Scandinavia holds a unique place in this debate, for it maintained one of the last major hunter-gatherer complexes in Neolithic Europe, the Pitted Ware culture. Intriguingly, these late hunter-gatherers existed in parallel to early farmers for more than a millennium before they vanished some 4,000 years ago.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Hidden Territory On Mercury Revealed
Dr. Tony Phillips
Space Daily / SPX
2009-11-03 19:38:00
The MESSENGER spacecraft's third flyby of the planet Mercury has given scientists, for the first time, an almost complete view of the planet's surface and revealed some dramatic changes in Mercury's comet-like tail.
"The new images remind us that Mercury continues to hold surprises," says Sean Solomon, principal investigator for the mission and director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The probe flew by Mercury on Sept. 29th, executing a critical gravity assist maneuver designed to help MESSENGER enter Mercury-orbit in 2011. Despite shutting down temporarily because of a power system switchover during a solar eclipse, the spacecraft's cameras and instruments revealed 6 percent of the planet's surface never before seen at close range.
The bright region in the upper-right corner of the image surrounds a suspected explosive volcanic vent. The 290-km-diameter double-ring basin near the bottom of the image has a smooth interior that may be the result of effusive volcanism.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Our Haunted Planet
No new articles.
Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Man Appears Alive at Own Funeral in Brazil
Bradley Brooks
The Associated Press
2009-11-04 12:39:00
A Brazilian bricklayer reportedly killed in a car crash shocked his mourning family by showing up alive at his funeral.
Relatives of Ademir Jorge Goncalves, 59, had identified him as the victim of a Sunday night car crash in Parana state in southern Brazil, police said.
As is customary in Brazil, the funeral was held the following day, which happened to be the holiday of Finados, when Brazilians visit cemeteries to honor the dead.
What family members didn't know was that Goncalves had spent the night at a truck stop talking with friends over drinks of a sugarcane liquor known as cachaca, his niece Rosa Sampaio told the O Globo newspaper. He did not get word about his own funeral until it was already happening Monday morning.
A police spokesman in the town of Santo Antonio da Platina said Goncalves rushed to the funeral to let family members know he was not dead.
Comment on this SOTT Focus
Remember, we need your help to collect information on what is going on in your part of the world!
Send your article suggestions to: sott(at)sott.net
Click here to return to the Signs of the Times Archive
Click here for today's Signs Page
