tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16472714448455030242024-02-18T18:33:19.496-08:00To Serve ManThe Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-17172079152873755972017-08-14T02:48:00.000-07:002017-08-14T02:48:03.237-07:00Water in the UK - public versus private<h2 class="entry-title" style="color: #0061bf; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 460px;">
Water in the UK - public versus private</h2>
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<span class="authors pf-author" style="margin: 5px 0px;"><a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/author/rachel-graham" style="color: #5c6c7b; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;">RACHEL GRAHAM</a></span> <span class="timestamp" style="color: #5c6c7b;">19 December 2014</span></div>
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Like the East Coast mainline, the differing setups within the UK offer a useful insight into claims by Britain's governing parties that privatised water is in any way superior to publicly owned. But it does offer some enormous profits.</div>
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<span class="wysiwyg_imageupload image imgupl_floating_none 0" style="background: rgb(243, 243, 243); border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); display: table; float: none; margin: 0px auto; padding: 4px 4px 0px;"><a class="lightbox-processed" href="https://cdn.opendemocracy.net/files/imagecache/wysiwyg_imageupload_lightbox_preset/wysiwyg_imageupload/535628/waterz.jpg" rel="lightbox[wysiwyg_imageupload_inline]" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;" title=""><img alt="" class="imagecache wysiwyg_imageupload 0 imagecache imagecache-article_xlarge" height="307" src="https://cdn.opendemocracy.net/files/imagecache/article_xlarge/wysiwyg_imageupload/535628/waterz.jpg" style="background: none 0px 0px repeat scroll transparent !important; border: medium none !important; height: auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px !important;" title="" width="460" /></a><span class="image_meta" style="display: block; font-style: italic; line-height: 1em; margin-bottom: 10px;"><span class="image_title" style="font-size: 0.857em;">Flickr/Patrick Brosset. Some rights reserved.</span></span></span></div>
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Of all the privatisations of the Thatcher government, perhaps the most controversial was the privatisation of water. Most countries in the developed world run their water on a <a href="http://weownit.org.uk/evidence/water" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">municipal</a> basis. In some countries, citizens don’t receive water bills but simply pay for it as part of their rates. In the UK, however, we now have a patchwork of different ways of delivering our water.</div>
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In <a href="http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">Scotland</a> and <a href="http://www.niwater.com/home/" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">Northern Ireland</a>, water is delivered by the public sector. Northern Ireland Water is a government owned corporation, accountable to the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator. Scotland has a truly public water supply. Scottish Water is a statutory organization, accountable to Scottish Parliament. In Wales a <a href="http://www.dwrcymru.com/" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">non-profit</a> organization, set up after the failure of a private concern, supplies the water. In England <a href="http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/consumerissues/watercompanies/map/" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">ten</a> wholly private companies provide water and waste management in ten regions. Once again, this puts England at the forefront of the privatisation drive within the UK.</div>
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Water is the very stuff of life, so it is understandable that its privatisation during the Thatcher years was controversial. So why do it? The big argument for privatisation used to be that it was cheaper. However as this turned out not to be the case—or somewhat disingenuous, depending on how you want to look at it—the new argument is that it’s more ‘effective’. We are told that, whilst private utilities may be more expensive, they are also more efficient. It turns out this might be a bit questionable.</div>
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In 2014, the Public Services Research Unit conducted a review looking at the difference in efficiency between the public and private <a href="http://www.psiru.org/reports/troubled-waters-misleading-industry-pr-and-case-public-water" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">sectors</a>. They concluded: “The results are remarkably consistent across all sectors and all forms of privatisation: there is no empirical evidence that the private sector is intrinsically more efficient.” This finding is echoed by a whole host of studies into privatisation in both developing and developed nations, which show that the idea of greater efficiency in the private sector is a <a href="http://gala.gre.ac.uk/1704/1/PSIRU_Report_%289820%29_-_2008-04-W-over.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">myth</a>. This applies to water, but also equally to other utilities. A review of the experience in privatizing electricity in Norway, Canada (Alberta) and the USA (California), as well as the UK, concluded that markets did not deliver lower prices and higher efficiency because small groups of producers abuse market power. (<a href="http://econ.tu.ac.th/archan/chalotorn/on%20mkt%20failure/woo%20et%20al.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">Woo et al, 2003</a>).</div>
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The UK’s water supply would seem particularly informative to study, due to the diversity of supply methods within one nation. At the same time this very complexity—and the information available—means the industry is very opaque and difficult to scrutinize. In a report for the New Policy Institute, the authors refer to the way the industry, particularly within England, is organised as <a href="http://npi.org.uk/files/8213/7545/1688/Water_industry_a_case_to_answer_unison_version.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">'very odd'</a>.</div>
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Despite the complexities of the English water industry and its ownership model, certain trends are evident. Firstly, as recent media headlines suggest, household bills in England are increasing. Secondly, there is the clearly changing ownership profile of the privatised water companies, and the increasing presence of private equity in the mix. Thirdly, high profits and dividends for shareholders have also generated headlines. Fourthly, an increasing amount of debt is being carried by the English water companies. And finally, a run of problems and issues have faced the English water companies, including leaks and unsafe water, along with waste water incidents. Taken together these issues seem to challenge the claim by Thatcher’s government that a privatised water industry would be more efficient and less costly to run.</div>
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In England annual water bills had risen from £120 per year in 89, to £204 by 2006. If you take into account inflation, you’ve still got a rise of 39% over and above inflation.</div>
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And bills continue to rise, despite stagnating wages and a sluggish economy.</div>
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To counter the anger at climbing bills, privatisation supporters argue that the English water companies have invested more than state run entities would have. A study by Greenwich University shows that this isn’t true. Their<a href="http://gala.gre.ac.uk/2946/1/PSIRU_Report_9757_2008-02-W-UK.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">research</a> concluded that at least half the investment made by the water companies since privatisation was due to EU directives and regulations. That is, the companies made the investment because they <em>had to</em>. They didn’t do so happily either. In fact, the UK government tried to <a href="http://gala.gre.ac.uk/2946/1/PSIRU_Report_9757_2008-02-W-UK.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">exempt</a> the private water companies from having to make the improvements but the European Commission denied the bid.</div>
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During the early noughties Scottish Water and Northern Ireland water also had higher bills. But during this time Scottish Water invested £1.8 billion into the system, the biggest investment into the water infrastructure in Scotland ever made. Once this period of investment into a decaying water network was finished, Scottish Water began to reduce bills. Whilst Northern Ireland doesn’t currently charge domestic customers for water, it has had higher<a href="http://npi.org.uk/files/8213/7545/1688/Water_industry_a_case_to_answer_unison_version.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">notional</a> bills than some of the English regions. However it has, in the last few years, had the least increase to bills of all the water suppliers.</div>
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These days the difference in bills between the English water companies and Scottish Water are stark. Last year Scottish Water customers paid less than customers of <em>all</em> the private English and Welsh water <a href="http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/you-and-your-home/your-charges/2014-2015-charges" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">companies</a>. Prices across the ten English water companies vary greatly. Offwat’s<a href="http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressnotices2008/prs_pn0313bills" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">estimated average</a> bills for 2013/2014 are as follows:</div>
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South West £499</div>
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Wessex £478</div>
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Southern £449</div>
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Anglian £434</div>
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Dwr Cymru £434</div>
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United Utilities £406</div>
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Yorkshire £368</div>
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Northumbrian £359</div>
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Thames £354</div>
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Severn Trent £335</div>
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In contrast the cost for Scottish Water customers was £334. In England, the least expensive is Severn Trent, and the most costly for households is South West water, whose average bill for 2013/2014 was an <a href="http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressnotices2008/prs_pn0313bills" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">astronomical</a>£499. So high are South West’s bills that the government pays for a £50 reduction for each household! This raises the question, if the private industry needs to rely on government help for its customers – shouldn’t the government simply take over and run the concern directly?</div>
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This isn’t the only instance of the industry asking the government to help. Thames Water has long argued that they need to build a new sewer in London to update the Victorian system – a so called ‘super sewer’. The only problem is that, as Thames Water is owned by a private equity consortia and has a high ratio of debt, it can’t finance this itself. The ownership group of Thames Water includes Macquarie Infrastructure Fund (Australia). The China Investment Corporation, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The result of the situation is that the British state has to come to the rescue once again as Thames Water has asked the <a href="http://npi.org.uk/files/8213/7545/1688/Water_industry_a_case_to_answer_unison_version.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">government</a> to guarantee the risk. This is because Thames water has run up debt since privatisation and now owes around £8 <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/Blogs/2464816/soaking_the_customer_thames_waters_4_billion_sewage_money_grab.html" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">billion</a>. All this despite being able to pay out approximately £1.4bn in dividends between 2006 and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jun/10/thames-water-no-corporation-tax" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">2012.</a> This example brings us to two of the most pressing issues facing the English water companies, the increasing amount of private equity ownership, and increasing debt profiles.</div>
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The ownership profile matters for a variety of reasons. Stock exchange listed parent companies would be subject to UK tax. Private equity companies are not open to the same scrutiny, or the same tax regime if based outside the UK. Furthermore, they do not have to comply with any of the disciplines of the UK equity market.</div>
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The water companies that are private equity owned seem to be the ones with higher debt ratios. In fact, the privatised industry as a whole now has high debt levels. You can measure a company’s debt levels by looking at what is called the gearing ratio. This is a way of looking at how highly leveraged a company is. It is measured in percentages, and it is traditionally argued that a business that has a gearing ratio of higher than 50% is highly geared, or, highly leveraged, which could be unsustainable. The average level for the water companies has risen dramatically since privatisation and stood at <a href="http://npi.org.uk/files/8213/7545/1688/Water_industry_a_case_to_answer_unison_version.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">70%</a> by 2010.</div>
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Whilst higher ratios aren’t always a cause for alarm—financing through debt can be cheap—the figures for some of the water companies are worryingly high. It also matters what the money is being used for. If the money is being borrowed purely for capital investment it is different than borrowing to keep paying high dividends, which some believe utilities in general are doing. It is argued by some analysts that organisations which have to borrow to pay dividends are basically self-<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/10036290/Experts-warn-of-threat-to-income-dividend-from-utility-shares.html" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">cannibalising</a>.</div>
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Thames water in particular has been accused of using borrowed money to fund too high dividends for over a <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/Blogs/2464816/soaking_the_customer_thames_waters_4_billion_sewage_money_grab.html" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">decade.</a></div>
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This need for high dividends can cause companies to experience trouble with their credit ratings. Indeed, Sir Ian Byatt, formerly of Offwat, himself makes the link between high dividends, high debt, and trouble getting finance. He <a href="http://www.centreforum.org/assets/pubs/money-down-the-drain.pdf" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">states</a>: <em>“In practice, many companies, especially the private equity infrastructure funds, have paid out excessive dividends to their owners. In the case of Thames Water, this has damaged its credit rating, leading to requests to Government for guarantees.”</em></div>
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Some analysts believe the most highly leveraged water companies could be in danger of going bust if asked to pay back a significant proportion of that debt. In this sense, English households are now, often unknowingly, part of the somewhat risky financialisation of water.</div>
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Another reason for the high debt structure of these companies may be more dubious than simply wanting to finance investment cheaply. There are increasing allegations that the water companies are using debt to lower their tax obligations. Tory MP, Charlie Elphicke, claims that the water companies have used debt interest to avoid tax adding up to over a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2350686/Water-power-firms-avoid-1billion-tax-Tory-MP-demands-rebate-hard-pressed-customers.html" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">billion pounds</a> lost to the Exchequer in just three years. He terms the avoidance “staggering”. He singled out Yorkshire Water as a particularly bad example.</div>
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Simon Hughes MP gave figures showing just how much tax Yorkshire Water has managed to avoid by using debt to offset payments. He wrote to the Public Accounts Committee back in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/nov/10/water-companies-tax?guni=Article:in%20body%20link" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">2012 stating</a>: “<em>Yorkshire Water…has seen its tax liability decline from £70m in 2009 to a tax credit of £18.9m this year after it took out £1bn from a group of finance companies it owns in the Cayman Islands.</em>"</div>
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The ownership profile of Water Yorkshire includes Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, GIC an investment fund backed by the Singaporean government, along with Citi Infrastructure <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/776b1196-b351-11e2-b5a5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3LzbVStFj" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">Investors (US based).</a> So yet again we have a complex group of international finance organisations, owning a UK utility that is highly leveraged and pays little UK tax.</div>
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In sharp contrast to the complex over indebted structure of much of the English water companies. Welsh water is a non-profit organisation, <a href="http://www.dwrcymru.com/en/Company-Information.aspx" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">under which</a> “assets and capital investment are financed by bonds and retained financial surpluses. Financing efficiency savings to date have largely been used to build up reserves to insulate Welsh Water and its customers from any unexpected costs and also to improve credit quality so that Welsh Water’s cost of finance can be kept as low as possible in the years ahead.”</div>
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Scottish Water is a publicly owned utility, directly answerable to the Scottish Parliament. It can borrow more cheaply than the English water companies, as government debt is considered safer than private debt. It has invested record amounts of money in recent years into the infrastructure, and once the investment is finished it quickly reduced bills to levels lower than all the English companies.</div>
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Whilst analysing UK water provision is an extremely complex task, it is clear that the privatised English water companies are operating in a highly financialised environment in many instances. They stand accused of running up high debts to maintain dividends, and in some cases, such as Thames Water, this has arguably helped damaged their credit rating. They appear to be run in the interests of shareholders and not customers. Not only are English customers paying the highest bills, they also are most at risk from utility companies whose business practices may mean that when it comes to future investment the state has to step in. Indeed, it is this highly leveraged structure, and the increasing amounts of foreign ownership that are most troublesome when examining the water providers.</div>
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Water should not be a vehicle for huge, international consortia to get rich. We have two alternative examples of healthier ways to run water companies within the UK. The non-profit organisation set up in Wales, or better yet, a return to full public ownership. The case of Scottish Water shows that this would be the best outcome for English customers.</div>
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<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/collections/modernise-deprivatise" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="LocalismWatch icon" src="https://cdn.opendemocracy.net/files/moderniseDeprivatise-icon.png" style="border: 0px; float: right; height: auto; margin: -20px 0px 10px; max-width: 100%;" /></a>This article is part of the <em><strong>Modernise: de-privatise</strong></em> <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/collections/modernise-deprivatise" style="color: #0061bf; text-decoration: none;">series</a>.</div>
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About the author</div>
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Rachel Graham worked in finance before moving into teaching, covering law, finance, marketing and organisational development. She currently studies journalism.</div>
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The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-18046801014347523662014-02-10T03:13:00.001-08:002014-02-10T03:13:30.809-08:00Seed Industry Giants: Who Owns Whom?
A shrinking number of colossal companies -- nicknamed the "Gene
Giants" -- dominate global sales of seeds and agrochemicals, according
to a new report released by the Rural Advancement Foundation
International (RAFI).
The top five Gene Giants (AstaZeneca, DuPont, Monsanto, Novartis,
Aventis) account for nearly two-thirds of the global pesticide market
(60%), almost one-quarter (23%) of the commercial seed market, and
virtually 100% of the transgenic (genetically engineered) seed market.
"The Gene Giants' portfolio extends far beyond plant breeding,"
explains Pat Mooney, Executive Director of RAFI. "From plants, to
animals, to human genetic material, they are fast becoming monopoly
monarchs over all the life kingdoms."
Five years ago, none of top five Gene Giants appeared on the list of
leading seed corporations. In fact, three of the top five companies didn't
even exist. Zeneca and Astra merged to form AstraZeneca; Rhone
Poulenc and Hoechst became Aventis; Ciba Geigy and Sandoz became
Novartis; and DuPont swallowed Pioneer Hi-Bred earlier this year.
Seed Industry Top 10
Company 1998 Seed Sales (US) Millions
======= =============================
DuPont (USA) $1,835+
Monsanto (USA) $1,800 (estimate)
Novartis(Switzerland) $1,000
Groupe Limagrain (France) $733
Savia S.A. de C.V. (Mexico) $428
AstraZeneca (UK and Neth.) $412
KWS AG (Germany) $370
AgriBiotech, Inc. (USA) $370
Sakata (Japan) $349*
Takii (Japan) $300* (estimate)
Top 10 Agrochemical Companies
Company 1998 Pesticide Sales (U.S.) Millions
======= ====================================
Aventis (Germany) $4,676
Novartis (Switzerland) $4,152
Monsanto (USA) $4,032
DuPont (USA) $3,156
AstraZeneca (UK and Neth.) $2,897
Bayer (Germany) $2,273
American Home Products $2,194
Dow (USA) $2,132
BASF (Germany) $1,945
Makhteshim-Agan (Israel) $801
*Note: 1998 sales figures were not available for some seed companies
Consolidation: Vital Statistics
% The top 10 seed companies control approximately 33% of the US$23
billion seed trade worldwide.
% The top three seed companies (DuPont, Monsanto, Novartis) account
for 20% of the global seed trade.
% The top 10 agrochemical companies control 91% of the $31 billion
agrochemical market.
% The top five Gene Giants (AstraZeneca, DuPont, Monsanto, Novartis
and Aventis) account for nearly two-thirds of the global pesticide
market (60%), almost one-quarter (23%) of the global seed market, and
virtually 100% of the transgenic seed market.
RAFI, the Rural Advancement Foundation International, is an
international civil society organization headquartered in Canada. RAFI
is dedicated to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and
to the socially responsible development of technologies useful to rural
societies. RAFI is concerned about the loss of agricultural biodiversity,
and the impact of intellectual property on farmers and food security.
RAFI's newly updated chart, Seed Industry Consolidation: Who Owns
Whom? will be available on RAFI's Web site, http://www.rafi.org
Source: Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) News
Release, September 3, 1999.
Contact: RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation Int'l.) 110 Osborne St.,
Suite 202, Winnipeg MB R3L 1Y5, Canada; phone (204) 453-5259;
fax (204) 925-8034; email rafi@rafi.org; Web site http://www.rafi.org.The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-43396149708241254112013-07-16T01:35:00.002-07:002013-07-16T01:57:24.489-07:00Consumer Tax Vs Income Tax <br />
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Why Do We Have VAT (Value Added Tax)?</h1>
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<i>"To understand <em>why</em> we have VAT, we need to know <em>what</em> it is.</i></div>
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What is VAT?</h2>
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<acronym style="border: 0px;" title="Value Added Tax">V.A.T.</acronym> is an acronym that stands for <strong>V</strong>alue <strong>A</strong>dded <strong>T</strong>ax. In essence, it is a tax on the things that we buy. It's a tax on<em>supplies</em>.</div>
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In the UK, a government tax agency (currently called <em>Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs</em> or <acronym style="border: 0px;" title="Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs">HMRC</acronym> for short) holds and manages the registry of sellers who can charge and claim VAT. When a registered seller makes a sale, they add tax onto the price of that transaction - thats the Value Added Tax. The exact amount to be added is calculated using 'the rate of VAT' which is a percentage of the 'price before tax'. I.e the price that would have been charged if there was no tax on it. <a href="http://www.startinbusiness.co.uk/flowchart/8flowchart_vat_add.htm" style="color: #666666;">See an example calculation showing VAT being added to a price</a>.</div>
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There is more than one rate of VAT, but the most common one is the <em>Standard Rate</em> which is applied to most types of goods and services. Another rate, the <em>Reduced Rate</em>, applies to things like the installation of energy saving materials or women's sanitary products. There are also other supplies that are <em>zero-rated</em> and also others that are <em>exempt from VAT</em>. You can learn about all the nuances of the VAT system on the <a href="http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&propertyType=document&columns=1&id=HMCE_CL_001596" style="color: #666666;" target="_blank">HMRC web site</a>.</div>
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The VAT rates are set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Important changes to the VAT system are commonly announced during the government's Budget Report. For a long time, the UK Standard Rate of VAT stayed at 17.5%, but we recently saw this drop to 15% during 2009. This was an attempt to boost the economy by reducing the 'cost of buying things'.</div>
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So, why do we have it?</h2>
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Like any tax, it's a source of revenue for public spending. It simply generates a lot of money for the government. In fact, VAT is quite a big proportion of the UK government's income.</div>
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<img alt="Pie chart UK HMRC Annual Receipts 2008-09 " height="441" src="http://www.startinbusiness.co.uk/image_items/info_advice/regulations/vat/hmrc_annualreceipts2008-09_piechart.gif" style="border: 0px none;" width="600" /></div>
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In the year 2008-2009, VAT provided about 17.9% (GBP £78,439 million) of the HMRC's total annual receipts (GBP £439,107 million). The only other types of taxes that brought in more than VAT were the 34% that came from Income Tax (GBP £147,856 million) and the 22% that came from National Insurance Contributions (GBP £96,882 million).<sup>1</sup></div>
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Furthemore it is quite a fair system. Because the rate is tied to the sale of goods and services, those who have more disposable income tend to buy more things and hence <em>pay</em> more VAT."</div>
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<i><sup>1</sup> Source: Raw Data From <a href="http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax_receipts/table1-2.pdf" style="color: #666666;" target="_blank">HMRC Statistical Library</a></i></div>
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Pie Chart generated using <a href="http://www.onlinecharttool.com/" style="color: #666666;" target="_blank">OnlineChartTool.com</a></div>
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Taken from an article found: <a href="http://www.startinbusiness.co.uk/info_advice/regulations/uk/vat/why-do-we-have-vat.htm">here</a></div>
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Following quote taken from <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn09.pdf" style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">Institute for Fiscal Studies 2012</a>:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>"Of a UK adult population of around 51.4 million, it is estimated that there </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">will be 29.7 million taxpayers in 2012–13. Around 3.8 million of these will </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">pay tax at the higher rate, providing 36.5% of total income tax revenue, </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">and 307,000 taxpayers will pay tax at the additional rate, providing 24.6% </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">of total income tax revenue. "</span></span></div>
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The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-11708451494128695222013-06-16T03:37:00.001-07:002013-06-16T03:37:56.002-07:00What about barcodes and 666: The Mark of the Beast?<table bgcolor="009900" border="0" bordercolor="000000" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="width: 80%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="CENTER"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>What about barcodes and 666: The Mark of the Beast?</b></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td align="LEFT"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, helvetica; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="mailto:terry@av1611.org">by Terry Watkins</a></span></td><td align="RIGHT"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, helvetica; font-size: xx-small;"><i>Copyright © 1999 Dial-the-Truth Ministries</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><b>Is the barcode the Mark of the Beast?Do barcodes really contain the number 666?</b><b>Is the barcode paving the road to 666: the Mark of the Beast?</b><br />
Before we answer these questions, we need to briefly examine the barcode technology. . .<br />
<b><span>What are barcodes?</span></b><br />
Barcodes, of course, are those ever-familiar "bars" and "numbers" on virtually everything. In 1973, "Mr. Barcode" (or is it Mrs. Barcode?) quietly strolled into our world. In just over 25 years, Mr. Barcode has literally taken over the world. Now there's a barcode for virtually everything. There's short barcodes, and tall barcodes. There's skinny barcodes and fat barcodes. There's postal barcodes and international barcodes. There's 2-D barcodes. And there's even barcodes for the humble "bumble-bee". From letters, to cokes, from fishes to smokes - it's "clothed" with friendly "Mr. Barcode".<br />
As someone truthfully said, "If it exists, bar code it".<br />
The primary barcode used in the United States is the UPC (Universal Product Code) barcode. The UPC is also the "original" barcode. The UPC was designed for the grocery industry. Because of the large number of items normally "checked-out" at the grocery store, a method was needed to speed up and eliminate "human" cashier errors. In 1973, the UPC barcode was born.<br />
To the average person, the barcode looks confusing and complex, but to a "bar-coded" friendly computer, it's actually very simple.<br />
<b>How does a computer-scanner reads a barcode?</b><br />
A single barcode number is actually seven units. A unit is either black or white. A unit that is black would display as a "bar". A unit that is white would display as a "space". Another way of writing a barcode unit is "1" for a single unit "black bar" and "0" for a single unit "white space". For instance, the number "1" is composed of the seven units, "0011001" or "space-space-bar-bar-space-space-bar". Remember, a single barcode number requires seven units.<br />
Also, on a UPC barcode the same numbers on the left-hand side (the Manufacturer Code) is coded different than the numbers on the right-hand side (Product Code). The left side numbers are actually the "inverted" or "mirrored" codes of the right side numbers, for instance what is a "bar" on the right-side, is a "space" on the left-side. The right-side codes are called "even parity" codes because there is an even number of "black bar" units. For instance the right-side "6" is "101000" - 2 even-numbered "black bar" units. The left-side is called "odd-parity" because there is an odd number of "black bar" units. For instance, the left-side "6" is "0101111" - 5 odd-numbered "black bar" units. Having different coded numbers for each side allows the barcode to be scanned in either direction.<br />
The following tables are the left and right side codes matching the corresponding numbers, separated into the seven single units.<br />
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<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="cccccc" colspan="79"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: small;"><b>LEFT SIDE (ODD PARITY) CODES</b></span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td></tr>
<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">0</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">1</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">2</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">3</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">4</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">5</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">6</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">7</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">8</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">9</span></b></td></tr>
<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0001101</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0011001</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0010011</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0111101</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0100011</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0110001</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0101111</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0111011</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0110111</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">0001011</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="cccccc" colspan="79"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: small;"><b>RIGHT SIDE (EVEN PARITY) CODES</b></span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="cccccc" width="5"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="000000" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="ffffff" height="40" width="8"> </td></tr>
<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">0</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">1</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">2</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">3</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">4</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">5</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">6</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">7</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">8</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: medium;">9</span></b></td></tr>
<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1110011</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1100110</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1101100</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1000010</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1011100</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1001110</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1010000</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1000100</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1001000</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1110100</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table></center><b>Notice, a few things about the codes:</b><br />
<br />
<ol><li>As previously mentioned, the left and right numbers are "inverted" or "mirrored".</li>
<li>Every barcode number is equal to "four" different marks. A "mark" can be either "black" (bar) or "white" (space). The "marks" vary in width, but there is always four different marks, 2 "bar marks" and 2 "space marks". For instance, the left code number "one" is "3 spaces (mark 1), 2 bars (mark 2), 1 space (mark 3), 1 bar (mark 4)".</li>
<li>The left side codes always begins with a "space" or "0" and ends with a "bar" or "1". The right is just the opposite, it begins with a "bar" or "1" and ends with a "space" or "0".</li>
</ol><br />
<center><table border="1" bordercolor="000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td align="CENTER"><img height="450" src="http://www.av1611.org/666/images/barcode2a.gif" width="548" /></td></tr>
</tbody></table></center><b>Note: The computer does not read the numbers underneath the barcode. These Human Readable (HR) numbers are printed so a "human" can easily read the barcode, if necessary.</b><br />
<b>Number System Character: </b>This number is a UPC system number that characterizes specific types of barcodes. In a UPC barcode it is normally on the left of the barcode. The actual "barcode" (the "bars" and "spaces") is the first "barcode" after the first "guard bar". The Number System Character is the blue box on the "Anatomy of a Barcode".<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Codes of the Number System Character:<ul><li>0 - Standard UPC number.</li>
<li>1 - Reserved.</li>
<li>2 - Random weight items like fruits, vegetables, and meats, etc.</li>
<li>3 - Pharmaceuticals</li>
<li>4 - In-store code for retailers.</li>
<li>5 - Coupons</li>
<li>6 - Standard UPC number.</li>
<li>7 - Standard UPC number.</li>
<li>8 - Reserved.</li>
<li>9 - Reserved.</li>
</ul></blockquote><b>3 Guard Bars:</b> There are "3 guard bars". They are located at the beginning, middle and end. The beginning and ending guard bars are encoded as a "bar-space-bar" or 101. The middle guard bar is encoded as "space-bar-space-bar-space" or 01010. The guard bars "tell" the computer-scanner when the manufacturer and product code begin and end. For example, when the computer-scanner reads the first "101" or guard bar, the computer knows the next series of numbers is either the manufacturer or product code. And when the computer reads the "01010" or middle guard bar, the computer knows another number is coming. The 3 guard bars are also the supposedly "666" hidden in the barcode (we'll look at this in detail later). The 3 guard bars are highlighted with a green box on the "Anatomy of a Barcode".<br />
Also, the first guard bar scanned is used by the computer to calculate the "width" of one unit.<br />
<b>Manufacturer Code:</b> This is a five digit number specifically assigned to the manufacturer of the product. The manufacturer codes are maintained and assigned by the <a href="http://www.uc-council.org/" target="_blank">Uniform Code Council (UCC)</a>. Every product the manufacturer makes, carries the same manufacturer code. For example, the manufacturer code for Kellogg's is 38000. Every product Kellogg makes carries 38000 as the manufacturer code in the bar code. The manufacturer code is yellow on the "Anatomy of a Barcode".<br />
<b>Product Code:</b> The product code is a five digit number that the manufacturer assigns for a particular product. Every different product and every different packaging or size, gets a unique product code. For instance, a 16oz bottle of coke gets a different product code than a 24 oz bottle of coke. For example: Kellogg's 13.5 oz Rice Krispies barcode is 38000 90530 — the 38000 is the manufacturer code for Kellogg and the 90530 is the product code for 13.5oz Rice Krispies. Kellogg's 16oz Mini-Wheats is 38000 02720 — the 38000 is the manufacturer code for Kellogg (the manufacturer never changes for Kellogg products) and the 02720 is the product code for 16oz Mini-Wheats. A manufacturer can have 99,999 unique product codes. The product code is orange on the "Anatomy of a Barcode".<br />
<b>Check digit:</b> Also called the "self-check" digit. The check digit is on the outside right of the bar code. The check digit is an "old-programmer's trick" to validate the other digits (number system character, manufacturer code, and product code) were read correctly. The check digit is red on the "Anatomy of a Barcode".<br />
How the computer calulates the check digit:<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Add all the <b>odd</b> digits. In our "Anatomy of a Barcode" we would add 0 (yes, you include the number system character digit) + 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 0 = 20</li>
<li>Multiply the sum of step 1 by 3. Our example would be 20 x 3 = 60.</li>
<li>Add all the <b>even</b> numbers. In our "Anatomy of a Barcode" we would add 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 25. You do not include the 5 or the check digit because that's what you are calculating.</li>
<li>Now add the result from step 2 and step 3. 60 + 25 = 85.</li>
<li>The check digit is the number needed to add to step 4 to equal a multiple of 10. 85 + 5 = 90. 5 is the check digit in our example. Another way to calculate the check digit would be simply to divide the number from step 4 by 10. The remainder is the check digit. Example 85/10 = 8.5</li>
</ol><b>You'll notice the price was NOT included in the barcode.</b><br />
<b><span>Where is the price?</span></b><br />
The price is kept in the store's centralized computer database. The store's "item database" contains a record for every item the store sells. The item record is "keyed" by manufacturer code and product code (same numbers as on the barcode). The price is kept for each item in this database. When the item is scanned by the employee, a computer program reads the barcode. It then converts the "bars and spaces" into the manufacturer and product "digital number". Using the manufacturer and product "digital number", the program reads the store's "item database". It then retrieves the price from the "item database" for that item. When a price changes, all the store has to do is update it once in the stores centralized database.<br />
<b><span>Is the number 666 "hidden" in the UPC barcode?</span></b><br />
One of the most popular and shocking accusations concerning the number "666" is that the number "666" is quietly "hidden" in every UPC barcode. Mary Stewart Relfe's book, "The New Money System 666", published in 1982, is the "pioneer" of the "666 in the UPC barcode" teaching. Relfe's book contains over 50 pages of excellant doumentation on the UPC barcodes. Relfe's discovery is repeated in many publications touching the mark of the beast, within the last fifteen years. Including tracts published by this author.<br />
Here's a few samples:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><b>Terry Cook, The Mark of the New World Order, 1996:</b>". . . the entire system [UPC barcode] is very deceptively designed around the infamous numerical configuration, Biblically known as 666, the mark of the Antichrist or devil (Revelation 13:16-18). . ." (Terry Cook, The Mark of the New World Order, 1996, p. 376)<br />
<b>Bob Fraley, The Last Days in America, 1984</b>:<br />
"The interpretation of the Universal Product Code marks is most revealing in that the three numbers '666' are the key working numbers for every designed Universal Product Code. Every group of Universal Product Code marks has in it three unidentified numbers. All three of these numbers are 6, making the use of the numbers '666' the key to using this identifying marking system. . .<br />
There is no deviation. Every Universal Product Code has three unidentified marks whose number equivalent '6' encoding it with the code number '666'. " (Bob Fraley, The Last Days in America, 1984, p. 225, 228)</blockquote><center><b><span>Here's how to "discover" the "hidden 666 in the UPC barcode".</span></b></center><br />
<center><table border="1" bordercolor="000000" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="CCCCCC"><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><b>The "hidden" 666 in the Barcode</b></span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="CENTER"><img height="157" src="http://www.av1611.org/666/images/barc666.gif" width="312" /></td></tr>
</tbody></table></center>Notice the three "guard bars" (colored RED) at the beginning, middle and end. Now, notice <b>the same bar pattern</b> ("bar-space-bar" or "101") for the number 6 (colored BLUE).<br />
<b>By "looking" at the above barcode, the number "666" clearly, appears to be there. . .</b><br />
But is it?<br />
<b>Is the number 666 TRUTHFULLY "hidden" in the UPC barcode?</b><br />
<b>Technically, no it is not.</b><br />
Here's the "technical" truth. . .<br />
The number 6 and the three guard bars are NOT the same. They do "appear" to be identical, but they are different.<br />
<br />
<center><b><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">GUARD BARS AND THE NUMBER 6</span></b><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="cccccc" colspan="3"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: x-small;"><b>B</b></span></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="cccccc" colspan="5"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: x-small;"><b>M<b></b></b></span></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="cccccc" colspan="7"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: x-small;"><b>6</b></span></td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">2</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">3</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">4</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">5</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">6</span></td><td align="center" bgcolor="ffffff" width="8"><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">7</span></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="black" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td><td bgcolor="white" height="40" width="8"> </td></tr>
<tr><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="3"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">101</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="5"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">01010</span></b></td><td bgcolor="cccccc" width="8"> </td><td align="CENTER" bgcolor="white" colspan="7"><b><span style="font-family: ARIAL, HELVETICA; font-size: xx-small;">1010000</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table></center>Notice. The beginning and ending guard bars are "bar-space-bar" or "101" (the B in the above table). The middle guard bar is "space-bar-space-bar-space" or "01010" (the M in the above table). The number six is "1010000" (the 6 in the above table). Remember, technically a barcode number consists of <b>seven</b>units. The beginning and ending guard bars are only <b>three</b> units, and middle guard bar is only <b>five</b> units.<br />
So, technically, from a computer's perspective the number "666" is NOT in the UPC barcode.<br />
<span><b>But. . .</b></span><br />
<b>Look again. . . </b>All three guard bars contain the pattern "bar-space-bar" or "101". <b>There is only ONE number, in TWENTY numbers (remember right and left numbers have different patterns) that contains the "101" pattern and that number is the right code SIX. </b>Not the number one, or two, or three, etc. — but ONLY the right code SIX. I do seem to remember something about a mark on the RIGHT hand (Rev. 13:16).<br />
Technically, from a computer's perspective the number "666" is NOT in the UPC barcode. . . <b>but from a human's perspective — YES, the "appearance" of 666 is there!</b><br />
<b>What does the inventor of the UPC barcode say about the number "666" in the UPC barcode?</b><br />
The inventor of the UPC barcode is George J. Laurer. In 1971, while Mr. Laurer was an employee with IBM, he was assigned the task "to design the best code and symbol suitable for the grocery industry". In 1973, Mr. Laurer's UPC barcode entered the world, and the rest is history.<br />
<a href="http://members.aol.com/productupc/" target="_blank">On Mr. Laurer's web site</a>, he has a "Questions" page, where he answers various questions about the UPC barcode. On the "Questions" page, Mr. Laurer answers the "666" question, as follows:<br />
<blockquote>Question #8 - Rumor has it that the lines (left, middle, and right) that protrude below the U.P.C. code are the numbers 6,6,6... and that this is the international money code. I typed a code with all sixes and this seems to be true. At least they all resemble sixes. What's up with that?Answer- Yes, they do RESEMBLE the code for a six. An even parity 6 is:<br />
1 module wide black bar 1 module wide white space 1 module wide black bar 4 module wide white space<br />
There is nothing sinister about this nor does it have anything to do with the Bible's "mark of the beast" (The New Testament, The Revelation, Chapter 13, paragraph 18). It is simply a coincidence like the fact that my first, middle, and last name all have 6 letters. There is no connection with an international money code either. (From website)</blockquote><b>Even, Mr. Laurer, the inventor of the UPC barcode admits, "Yes, they do RESEMBLE the code for a six."</b><br />
<b>In fact, as we've documented — SIX is the ONLY number they could RESEMBLE.</b><br />
You would certainly think because of the "antichrist connections" to "666" they would have picked another number besides '6' to pattern the three 'guard bars' after? Why not 1 or 3, or 5, etc. <b>— any number but '666'</b>. Surely they knew Christians would, sooner or later, "discover" the clear "appearance" of 666 in the UPC bar code.<br />
<b>Maybe they had no choice?</b><br />
<b><span>Is the barcode the mark of the beast?</span></b><br />
In the 1993 British movie, <i>Naked</i>, directed by Mike Leigh and starring David Thewlis, the following conversation takes place:<br />
<blockquote>"What is the mark? <b>Well the mark Brian, is the barcode.</b> The ubitiqous barcode that you'll find on every bog roll, and every packet of johnny's and every poxie-pot pie. <b>And every [expletive-removed] barcode is divided into two parts by three markers and those three markers are always represented by the number six. Six-six-six.</b> Now what does it say? No one shall be able to buy or sell without that mark. And now what they're planning to do in order to eradicate all credit card fraud and in order to precipitate a totally cashless society.<b>What they're planning to do; what they've already tested on the American troops; they're going to subcutaneously laser tattoo that mark onto your right hand or onto your forehead."</b> (<i>Naked</i>, British movie, 1993, directed by Mike Leigh and starring David Thewlis)</blockquote>There's no question Mary Stewart Relfe, author of <i>When Your Money Fails, The "666" System" is Here</i>, and <i>The New Money System 666</i>, believes the barcode is the Mark of the Beast.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><b>Mary Stewart Relfe, When Your Money Fails…The "666" System" is Here, 1981</b><br />
<br />
<blockquote>"And he causeth all . . . to receive a mark . . . "<br />
In Greek this word mark is charagma, which literally denotes a stamp, an impress, and is translated mark. Notice that John did not say that he causeth all to receive a number in the right hand or forehead. This astute prophet could have certainly delineated between a series of numbers, and an unexplained stamp or mark. . .<b>The same Electronic Eye which scans the UPC marks [barcodes] will in the near future scan the marks that will be required to be inserted on the body. . .</b><br />
While some specifics remain vague, of this we are certain: All commerce will be conducted in the near future with a number, a name, or an identifying mark in the hand or forehead. <b>It is my sincere deduction that the 'mark of the beast' will not be the insertion of numbers per se on the body, but of vertical lines which will represent encoded messages and digits. "</b>(Mary Stewart Relfe, When Your Money Fails The "666" System" is Here, 1981, pp. 56,57,58)</blockquote><b>Mary Stewart Relfe, The New Money System 666, 1982</b><br />
<br />
<blockquote>"The Prophet John identified this Cashless System of Commerce 1900 years ago as one in which business would be transacted with a 'Mark' and a Number; <b>the Mark will obviously be a Bar Code</b>; the Number will be '666;' the combination of the two, about which you will read in this book, will be an integral part of the '666 System'. . .RECEIVING OF ONE'S OWN VOLITION THE MARK (BRAND) IN THE RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD; <b>which I believe will be a Bar Code</b> facsimile incorporating a concealed use of '666,' unintelligible to the eye,. . ." Mary Stewart Relfe, The New Money System 666, 1982, pp. xii, 206)</blockquote></blockquote>A bizarre coincident? concerning the barcode is the Greek word <i>charagma</i> translated 'mark' in Revelation. Here's how Robert Van Kampen, in <i>The Sign</i>describes this coincident:<blockquote>"It is interesting to note that the Greek word translated 'mark' is <i>charagma</i> which comes from the Greek word <i>charax</i>, which means 'a palisade, like a picket fence.' When one realizes that this specific word was used back in the first century, and <b>we see today the use of the computer-related bar code</b>, we find the possibilities becoming more than a reality in our day and age." (Robert Van Kampen, <i>The Sign</i>, 1992, p. 231)</blockquote>Here's the explanation: The Greek "root" word for <i>charagma</i> (translated "mark") is <i>charax</i>. One of the meanings of <i>charax</i> is "a palisade" which is like a "picket fence, or vertical lines". The "idea" is, the reason John used the Greek word <i>charagma</i>, rather than <b>stigma</b>, etc., is <b>because he was describing a 'mark' with vertical lines — a "bar code".</b><br />
<b>But is all this true?</b><br />
Well, sort of. . .<br />
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, defines the word <i>charagma</i> as:<br />
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<blockquote><i>5480</i> <b>charagma</b>, <i>khar'-ag-mah</i>; <b>from the same as <i>5482</i> (charax)</b> <i>a scratch or etching</i>, i.e. <i>stamp</i> (as a <i>badge</i> of servitude), or <i>sculptured</i>figure (<i>statue</i>): — graven, mark.</blockquote>Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, defines the "root" word <i>charax</i> as:<br />
<blockquote><i>5482</i> <b>charax</b>, <i>khar'-az</i> from <b>charasso</b> (to <i>sharpen</i> to a point; akin to <i>1125</i> through the idea of <i>scratching</i>); a <i>stake</i>, i.e. (by impl.) a <i><b>palisade</b></i>or <i>rampant</i> (military <i>mound</i> for circumvallation in a siege):—trench.</blockquote>Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language (a must have for any serious Bible student!) defines <b>palisade</b> as:<br />
<blockquote><b>PALISADE,</b> A fence or fortification consisting of a row of stakes or posts sharpened and set firmly in the ground. In fortification, the posts are set two or three inches apart, parallel to the parapet in the covered way, to prevent a surprize.</blockquote><b>Does all this "prove" John is describing a "barcode"?</b><br />
<b>No. Of course not. It's a long and rocky road to travel from "charagma" to a "barcode".</b><br />
<b><span>Is the barcode the mark of the beast?</span></b><br />
<b>Probably not.</b><br />
A bar code would make a poor candidate for the mark of the beast for the following reasons:<br />
<ol><li>The mark is described specifically in Rev. 14:11 as "the mark of his name". Even the wildest imagination would have a very hard time turning a "barcode" into "the mark of his name".</li>
<li>In the world of "high-level" security and identification, a barcode is not reliable enough. The reason for the "self-check" digit on the barcode is the probability of the scanner misreading the barcode. The next time you go through the grocery line count how many "beeps" or misreads the cashier gets.</li>
<li>Because the human skin stretches, it would be virtually impossible to get the precision needed for a "reliable" barcode. The skin continually stretches with age, weight, wetness, sun exposure, etc.</li>
<li>There is much more reliable and easier to implement technology than barcodes, such as biometric IDs or even biochips.</li>
<li>A barcode does not match the Bible's description of the Mark of the Beast. See <a href="http://www.av1611.org/666/whatis.html" target="_blank">What is 666: The Mark of the Beast?</a> for more info.</li>
</ol>Porter Lee Corporation has invented a barcode system for the identifying and recording evidence for law enforcement officers. The title of the system is interesting — BEAST — Bar coded Evidence Analysis Statistics and Tracking.<br />
A fascinating development took place recently. On March 2, 1999, patent 5,878,155 was issued to Houston inventor Thomas W. Heeter described as a "Method for verifying human identity during electronic sale transactions".<br />
<blockquote>Heeter's patent "abstract" reads:"A method is presented for facilitating sales transactions by electronic media. A <b>bar code</b> or a design is tattooed on an individual. Before the sales transaction can be consummated, the tattoo is scanned with a scanner. Characteristics about the scanned tattoo are compared to characteristics about other tattoos stored on a computer database in order to verify the identity of the buyer. Once verified, the seller may be authorized to debit the buyer's electronic bank account in order to consummate the transaction. The seller's electronic bank account may be similarly updated."<br />
Heeter's invention is aimed toward the booming world of Internet E-commerce. In the very near future, many products will be purchased E-commerce via the Internet. WorldNet Daily writes, ". . . Internet e-commerce figures spiraling upward, and the European market expected to surpass the U.S. online community in a couple of years, potential sales online have been projected to reach nearly $1 trillion by 2003." (WorldNet Daily, September 30, 1999)</blockquote><b><span>Is the barcode paving the road to 666: the Mark of the Beast?</span></b><br />
<b>Yes. The barcode undoubtedly is paving the road for 666: the Mark of the Beast.</b><br />
<b>The barcode did something very important to help bring in 666: The mark of the Beast. . .</b><br />
The barcode opened the door (in fact, it not only opened it, it kicked the door down) to the "digital world". Everything is now a number. Everything gets a barcode. As someone truly said, "If it exists, bar code it". I remember when barcodes first started appearing. I began telling people back then, the barcode was preparing the world for 666: the Mark of the Beast. Was I ever laughed at. . . even by the Christians. I can still remember their laughing and ridicule, "You mean to tell me, everything is getting one of those "marks". You mean, I'll go even to the local "7-Eleven" and they'll have laser scanners and they'll scan these "marks". No way. It would be too obvious what was happening. Everybody would know the mark of the beast is coming".<br />
<b>But isn't it amazing 25 years later. . . and nobody gives the "mysterious" barcodes even a "second thought".</b><br />
Satan very carefully and subtlety (see Genesis 3:1 and 2 Cor. 11:3) indoctrinated us to our wonderful, convenient, new "digital world".<br />
<br />
<center><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica;"><b>And the road to 666 is just ahead. . .</b></span></center></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-25540475218084101212013-05-03T11:19:00.001-07:002013-05-03T11:20:40.223-07:00Henry Thoreau and 'Civil Disobedience'<i><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Garamond;"><span style="color: #000066;">Henry Thoreau and 'Civil Disobedience'</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;">by Wendy McElroy</span><br />
<b>Thoreau Reader: </b> <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/default.html" style="color: #1155cc;">Home</a> - <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html" style="color: #1155cc;">Civil Disobedience Intro</a> - <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil1.html" style="color: #1155cc;">Civil Disobedience Text: Part 1</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php" style="color: #1155cc;">Wendy McElroy</a> is the editor of <a href="http://www.ifeminists.net/e107_plugins/enews/enews.php" style="color: #1155cc;">ifeminists.com</a> and a research fellow for <a href="http://www.independent.org/" style="color: #1155cc;">The Independent Institute</a> in Oakland, California. She is the author and editor of many books and articles, including <a href="http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=43" style="color: #1155cc;">Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the 21st Century</a> (Ivan R. Dee / Independent Institute, 2002).</blockquote>
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HENRY DAVID THOREAU was an introspective man, who wandered the woods surrounding the small village of Concord, Massachusetts, recording the daily growth of plants and the migration of birds in his ever-present journal. How, then, did he profoundly influence such political giants as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.? The answer lies in a brief essay that has been variously titled but which is most often referred to simply as "<a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html" style="color: #1155cc;">Civil Disobedience</a>". Americans know Thoreau primarily as the author of <i><a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden00.html" style="color: #1155cc;">Walden</a></i>, but it is "Civil Disobedience" that established his reputation in the wider political world. It is one of the most influential political tracts ever written by an American.</blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666;">[2]</span> "Civil Disobedience" is an analysis of the individual’s relationship to the state that focuses on why men obey governmental law even when they believe it to be unjust. But "Civil Disobedience" is not an essay of abstract theory. It is Thoreau’s extremely personal response to being imprisoned for breaking the law. Because he detested slavery and because tax revenues contributed to the support of it, Thoreau decided to become a tax rebel. There were no income taxes and Thoreau did not own enough land to worry about property taxes; but there was the hated poll tax – a capital tax levied equally on all adults within a community.<span style="color: #666666;">[3]</span> Thoreau declined to pay the tax and so, in July 1846, he was arrested and jailed. He was supposed to remain in jail until a fine was paid which he also declined to pay. Without his knowledge or consent, however, relatives settled the “debt” and a disgruntled Thoreau was released after only one night. The incarceration may have been brief but it has had enduring effects through "Civil Disobedience." To understand why the essay has exerted such powerful force over time, it is necessary to examine both Thoreau the man and the circumstances of his arrest.<br />
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<span style="color: #330000;">Thoreau the man</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[4]</span> Henry David Thoreau was born into a modest New England family. With a childhood surrounded by rivers, woods, and meadows, he became an avid student of nature. His friend and mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, offered the following psychological portrait:<br />
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He was bred to no profession; he never married; he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay a tax to the State; he ate no flesh; he drank no wine; he never knew the use of tobacco; and though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose, wisely no doubt for himself, to be the bachelor of thought and Nature.... No truer American existed than Thoreau.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[5]</span> If it is possible for one word to summarize a man, then that word would be the advice he offered in <i>Walden</i>: “Simplify, simplify.” Thoreau was a self-consciously simple man who organized his life around basic truths. He listened to the inner voice of his conscience, a voice all men possess but few men follow. As he explained in <i>Walden</i>,<br />
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To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[6]</span> Thoreau’s attempt to apply principles to his daily life is what led to his imprisonment and to "Civil Disobedience." Oddly enough, his contemporaries did not see him as a theorist or as a radical, viewing him instead as a naturalist. They either dismissed or ignored his political essays, including "Civil Disobedience." The only two books published in his lifetime, <i>Walden</i> (1845) and <i>A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers</i> (1849); both dealt with nature, in which he loved to wander.<span style="color: #666666;">[7]</span> He did not have to wander far to find intellectual stimulation as well. During the early 19th century, New England was the center of an intellectual movement called Transcendentalism. In 1834, while Thoreau was a student at Harvard, the leading Transcendentalist moved into a substantial house at the outskirts of Concord, thus converting the village into the heart of this influential movement. That man was Ralph Waldo Emerson.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[8]</span> There has never been rigorous agreement on the definition of Transcendentalism, partly because Emerson refused to be systematic; but there are broad areas of agreement among Transcendentalists. As a philosophy, it emphasizes idealism rather than materialism; that is, it views the world as an expression of spirit and every individual as an expression of a common humanity. To be human is to be born with moral imperatives that are not learned from experience but which are discovered through introspection. Therefore, everyone must be free to act according to his conscience in order to find the truth buried within.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[9]</span> Although Emerson’s focus on the individual must have appealed to Thoreau, there was an inherent tension between Thoreau’s practical, earthy ways and the abstract quality of Transcendentalism. Thoreau wanted to incorporate principles into daily life; he wanted to taste and feel principles in the air around him. He wrote in <i>Walden</i>,<br />
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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and to be able to give a true account of it.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[10]</span> Despite their differences, Thoreau was deeply influenced by Emerson, whom he met in 1837 through a mutual friend. Four years later, Thoreau moved into the Emerson home and assumed responsibility for many of the practical details of Emerson’s life.<span style="color: #666666;">[11]</span> Transcendentalism became Thoreau’s intellectual training ground. His first appearance in print was a poem entitled “Sympathy” published in the first issue of <i>The Dial</i>, a Transcendentalist paper. As Transcendentalists migrated to Concord, one by one, Thoreau was exposed to all facets of the movement and took his place in its inner circle. At Emerson’s suggestion, he kept a daily journal, from which most of <i>Walden</i> was eventually culled.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[12]</span> But Thoreau still longed for a life both concrete and spiritual. He wanted to translate his thoughts into action. While Transcendentalists praised nature, Thoreau walked through it. Especially in his later years, Emerson seemed distant from Thoreau’s lusty approach to life, which he described as “the doctrine of activity.” Given this difference of approach, it is no wonder that Emerson did not embrace the ideas within "Civil Disobedience." Nor did he approve of Thoreau’s refusal to pay taxes.<br />
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<span style="color: #330000;">Imprisoned for a night</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[13]</span> "Civil Disobedience" was Thoreau’s response to his 1846 imprisonment for refusing to pay a poll tax that violated his conscience. He exclaimed in "Civil Disobedience,"<br />
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Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[14]</span> Imprisonment was Thoreau’s first direct experience with state power and, in typical fashion, he analyzed it:<br />
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The State never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[15]</span> Prior to his arrest, Thoreau had lived a quiet, solitary life at Walden, an isolated pond in the woods about a mile and a half from Concord. He now returned to Walden to mull over two questions: (1) Why do some men obey laws without asking if the laws are just or unjust; and, (2) why do others obey laws they think are wrong?<span style="color: #666666;">[16]</span> In attempting to answer these questions, Thoreau’s view of the state did not alter. It was that view, after all, which led him to prison in the first place. Judging by the rather dry, journalistic account of being in jail, his emotional reaction did not seem to alter significantly; he was not embittered by the experience. The main criticism he expressed was aimed at those who presumed to pay his fine, an act that the jailer said “made him mad as the devil.”<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[17]</span> Toward the men who were his jailers, Thoreau seems to have felt more disdain than anger, stating,<br />
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They plainly did not know how to treat me, but behaved like persons who are under-bred. In every threat and in every compliment there was a blunder; for they thought that my chief desire was to stand the other side of that stone wall.... I saw that the State was half-witted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[18]</span> It was the reaction of the townspeople of Concord, his neighbors, that distressed Thoreau and made him dissect the experience so as to understand their behavior. He ended his short, matter-of-fact account of his night in prison with a commentary on the townsfolk, which expressed how his eyes had been opened:<br />
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I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[19]</span> There is no cynicism in Thoreau’s description of his neighbors, whom he admits he may be judging “harshly,” since “many of them are not aware that they have such an institution as the jail in their village.” Instead he was unsettled by the realization that there was a wall between him and the townsfolk, a wall to which Gandhi referred in an account of his second imprisonment in South Africa. Gandhi wrote,<br />
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Placed in a similar position for refusing his poll tax, the American citizen Thoreau expressed similar thought in 1849. Seeing the wall of the cell in which he was confined, made of solid stone 2 or 3 feet thick, and the door of wood and iron a foot thick, he said to himself, “If there were a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was still a more difficult one to climb or break through before they could get to be as free as I was.”</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[20]</span> Thoreau may have also brooded over the reaction of Emerson, who criticized the imprisonment as pointless. According to some accounts, Emerson visited Thoreau in jail and asked, “Henry, what are you doing in there?” Thoreau replied, “Waldo, the question is what are you doing out there?” Emerson was “out there” because he believed it was shortsighted to protest an isolated evil; society required an entire rebirth of spirituality.<span style="color: #666666;">[21]</span> Emerson missed the point of Thoreau’s protest, which was not intended to reform society but was simply an act of conscience. If we do not distinguish right from wrong, Thoreau argued that we will eventually lose the capacity to make the distinction and become, instead, morally numb.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[22]</span> Near the end of his life, Thoreau was asked, “Have you made your peace with God?” He replied, “I did not know we had ever quarrelled.” For Thoreau, that would have been the real cost of paying his poll tax; it would have meant quarreling with his own conscience, which was too close to quarreling with God.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[23] </span> <i>Civil Disobedience</i> ends on a happy note. After Thoreau’s release and unpleasant experience with his neighbors, the children of Concord had brightened his mood by urging him to join a huckleberry hunt. Huckleberrying was one of Thoreau’s valued pastimes and his skill at locating fruit-laden bushes made him a favorite with children. And, should a child stumble, spilling berries, he would kneel by the weeping child and explain that if children did not stumble, then berries would never scatter and grow into new bushes.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[24]</span> He ended his chronicle of prison,<br />
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[I] joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient to put themselves under my conduct; and in half an hour ... was in the midst of a huckleberry field, on one of our highest hills, two miles off, and then the State was nowhere to be seen.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[25]</span> Thus, Thoreau shed the experience of prison, but he could not shed the insight he had gained into his neighbors nor the questions that accompanied his new perspective. The text of "Civil Disobedience" constitutes the answer he discovered by listening to the “quiet voice within.”<span style="color: #666666;">[26]</span> Although many Quaker writers had argued from conscience for civil disobedience against war and slavery, Henry David Thoreau’s "Civil Disobedience" essay is not tied to a particular religion or to a specific issue. It is a secular call for the inviolability of conscience on all issues, and this aspect may account for some of the essay’s enduring legacy. The personal quality of "Civil Disobedience" also contributes to its impact, as the essay exudes sincerity more commonly found in diaries and correspondence than in political tracts.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[27]</span> The opening sentence of "Civil Disobedience" sets the tone by paraphrasing the motto of<i>The United States Magazine and Democratic Review</i> – “That government is best which governs least.” Then Thoreau carries this logic one step further:<br />
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Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, – “That government is best which governs not at all;” and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient....</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[28]</span> After what appears to be a call for anarchism, Thoreau pulls back and dissociates himself from “no-government men.” Speaking in practical terms and “as a citizen,” he states, “I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.”<span style="color: #666666;">[29]</span> Whatever his position on government, one point is clear: Thoreau denies the right of any government to automatic and unthinking obedience. Obedience should be earned and it should be withheld from an unjust government. To drive this point home, "Civil Disobedience" dwells on how the Founding Fathers rebelled against an unjust government, which raises the question of when rebellion is justified.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[30]</span> To answer, Thoreau compares government to a machine and the problems of government to “friction.” Friction is normal to a machine so that its mere presence cannot justify revolution. But open rebellion does become justified in two cases: first, when the friction comes to have its own machine, that is, when the injustice is no longer occasional but a major characteristic; and, second, when the machine demands that people cooperate with injustice. Thoreau declared that, if the government<br />
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requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.<br />
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<span style="color: #330000;">Conscience vs. the collective</span><span style="color: #666666;">[31]</span> This is the key to Thoreau’s political philosophy. The individual is the final judge of right and wrong. More than this, since only individuals act, only individuals can act unjustly. When the government knocks on the door, it is an individual in the form of a postman or tax collector whose hand hits the wood. Before Thoreau’s imprisonment, when a confused taxman had wondered aloud about how to handle his refusal to pay, Thoreau had advised, “Resign.” If a man chose to be an agent of injustice, then Thoreau insisted on confronting him with the fact that he was making a choice. As Thoreau explained,<br />
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[It] is, after all, with men and not with parchment that I quarrel, – and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[32]</span> But if government is “the voice of the people,” as it is often called, shouldn’t that voice be heeded? Thoreau admits that government may express the will of the majority but it may also express nothing more than the will of elite politicians. Even a good form of government is “liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it.” Moreover, even if a government did express the voice of the people, this fact would not compel the obedience of individuals who disagree with what is being said. The majority may be powerful but it is not necessarily right. What, then, is the proper relationship between the individual and the government?<span style="color: #666666;">[33]</span> Perhaps the best description of Thoreau’s ideal relationship occurs in his description of “a really free and enlightened State” that recognizes “the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived.” It is a state that “can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor,” allowing those who did not embrace it to live “aloof.”<br />
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<span style="color: #330000;">War and slavery</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[34]</span> According to Thoreau, the government of his day did not come close to this ideal for two basic reasons: slavery and the Mexican-American war. It is important to remember that, although Thoreau’s imprisonment was a protest against slavery, "Civil Disobedience" was written after the outbreak of the Mexican-American war and protests both slavery and war. In fact, the opening paragraph of the essay mentions the war while saying nothing of slavery.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[35]</span> "Civil Disobedience" portrays the Mexican-American war as an evil comparable to slavery. The 1840s expressed a spirit of expansion called “Manifest Destiny” – the idea that it was the destiny of Americans to expand across the continent, civilizing the wilderness and the natives as they went. Part of the expansion was an annexation of Texas, which sparked a war with Mexico, which also claimed the area. The annexation was doubly offensive to Thoreau because it permitted slavery in the new territory.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[36]</span> Moreover, the domestic consequences of the conflict deeply disturbed him. Taxes soared; the country assumed a military air. Thoreau was horrified to learn that some of his neighbors actively supported the war. He was perplexed by those who did not support the war but who financed it through the taxes they paid. After all, he considered the war to be “the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool.” Without cooperation from the people, “a few individuals” would not succeed in wielding that tool.<br />
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<span style="color: #330000;">Blind obedience to the state</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[37]</span> In fact, the cooperation of the tool itself – the standing army – is required. Thoreau wonders about the psychology of men who would fight a war and, perhaps, kill others out of obedience. He concludes that soldiers, by virtue of their absolute obedience to the state, become somewhat less than human. He writes, “Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power? Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts – a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity.” This is how “the mass of men” employed by the state render service to it, “not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies.” In doing so, the men relinquish the free exercise of their moral sense and, so “put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones.”<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[38]</span> Thoreau asks, How does it become a man to behave toward the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. But his “well-meaning” neighbors – even those who were opposed to slavery and the Mexican-American war – did associate with and obey the American government. Thoreau ascribes their behavior to ignorance and concludes, “They would do better if they knew how.”<br />
The problem remains, however, why do people like Emerson – who cannot be called ignorant – render any obedience to laws with which they disagree?<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[39]</span> One reason is obvious: the people who believe they need a government are willing to accept an imperfect one. Such people, Thoreau explains, accept government as a “necessary evil.” Other people support government out of self-interest; Thoreau specifically mentions merchants and farmers in Massachusetts who profit from the war and from slavery.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[40]</span> Still others obey because they fear the consequences of disobedience. This is the neighbor who says, “If I deny the authority of the State when it presents its tax-bill, it will soon take and waste all my property, and so harass me and my children without end.” Thoreau knows that his neighbor is correct in his assessment of what may happen. “When I converse with the freest of my neighbors,” he writes,<br />
<blockquote>
I perceive that ... they dread the consequences to their property and families of disobedience.... This is hard. This makes it impossible for a man to live honestly, and at the same time comfortably, in outward respects.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[41] </span> By his own lights, Thoreau was fortunate in this respect. He had neither property to be seized nor children to go hungry. Accordingly, he did not criticize men who reluctantly obeyed an unjust law out of fear for their families.<br />
Thoreau’s criticism is aimed at the form of obedience that springs from a genuine respect for the authority of the state. This obedience says, “The law is the law and should be respected regardless of content.” Through such attitudes, otherwise good men become agents of injustice.<span style="color: #666666;">[42]</span> Thoreau dissects the notion that “the law is the law and should be respected.” For one thing, not all laws are equal. Some laws exist for no other reason than to protect the government – for example, laws against tax evasion or contempt of court. Such laws often have more severe penalties than those that protect individuals against violence.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[43]</span> Moreover, the proscribed penalties for denying government’s authority are often so vague and sweeping as to invite arbitrary sentences from the court. Lawyers and the courts are part of the state’s defensive machinery.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[44]</span> Thoreau concludes,<br />
<blockquote>
The lawyer’s truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency…. He well deserves to be called ... the Defender of the Constitution.... Still thinking of the sanction which the Constitution gives to slavery, he says, “Because it was part of the original compact, – let it stand.” [He] is unable to take a fact out of its merely political relations....</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[45]</span> Such courts offer no protection to Thoreau, who refuses to respect their authority. But he takes his refusal one step further. He not only rejects unjust laws but also the men who enact them. He withdraws his support from politicians who “rarely make any moral distinctions [and] are as likely to serve the Devil, without intending it, as God.”<span style="color: #666666;">[46]</span> Thoreau’s use of the word “intending” is significant. Even well-intentioned politicians stand so completely within the institution of government that they never distinctly and nakedly behold it. Whatever they intend, they serve the government’s ends.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[47]</span> Thoreau’s disdain for politicians may seem a logical extension of his disrespect for “the law” but many reformers disrespected the law without holding lawmakers personally responsible. The viewpoint of such people overlooked the role of “choice,” Thoreau argues. Every politician who enacts a law chooses to do so; every agent who enforces a law chooses to do so. If officials create or enforce a law with which they disagree, then they have surrendered their conscience to the state and should be held personally responsible for that decision.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[48]</span> Holding politicians personally responsible is not the last step in Thoreau’s withdrawal of support. He denies the authority of government itself. Again, rejecting politicians may logically seem to imply the rejection of government; but, again, many reformers rejected politicians without rejecting politics.<br />
Thoreau holds such reformers personally responsible as well.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[49]</span> Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.<br />
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<span style="color: #330000;">The problem with reformers</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[50]</span> Thoreau specifically addresses fellow abolitionists who called for the immediate cessation of slavery. Instead of petitioning the government to dissolve the Union with slaveholders, Thoreau believed those reformers should dissolve “the union between themselves and the State – and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury.” Petitions only strengthened the authority of the government by recognizing its authority and honoring the will of the majority. “[Any] man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already,” he observes.<br />
The reformers who petition government for permission “love better to talk” about justice than to act on it. Thus, Thoreau concludes, “Reform keeps many scores of newspapers in its service, but not one man.” To men who prefer a safe strategy, voting becomes a substitute for action and politics becomes a sort of game, like checkers or backgammon, only with a slight moral tinge.<br />
To Thoreau, anyone willing to leave moral decisions to the will of the majority is not really concerned that right should prevail. When resisting the poll tax, he did not consult the majority; he acted. If he had allowed the majority to decide whether or not he should pay, by his own standards he would have shown no regard for what is right.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[51]</span> Moreover, Thoreau considers voting to be a poor vehicle for reform because voting follows real change; it does not precede or cause it. “When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery,” he writes, “it will be because they are indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote.” As for the other means that the state provides for changes to itself, they are extraordinarily slow. Thoreau notes, “They take too much time, and a man’s life will be gone.”<br />
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<span style="color: #330000;">A duty to resist?</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[52]</span> Does this mean men have a duty to pitch their life against an unjust state?<br />
"Civil Disobedience" speaks to the individual’s right to resist the state but Thoreau does not consider disobedience to be an overriding duty. He understands that men are involved in the business of living and he thinks this is proper even for a dogged reformer like himself. He writes, “I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad.” First and foremost, he clearly stated, people should live their lives.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[53]</span> This is a crucial distinction. If a man is fortunate enough to be in circumstances that resemble Thoreau’s huckleberry field, “where the state was nowhere to be seen,” then he has no duty to seek it out but should, instead, go about the business of living. Thoreau defied the state only when it knocked on his door and demanded his money in support of an institution he considered to be unjust – slavery. Thereafter, when the state ignored him, Thoreau ignored it, even though his neighbors were taxed around him.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[54]</span> Thus, although "Civil Disobedience" is sometimes entitled “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” the latter is somewhat misleading. Indeed, the word “duty” may have derived from the essay’s critique and rejection of a chapter from William Paley’s book Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. That chapter is entitled “Duty of Submission to Civil Government.”<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[55]</span> According to Thoreau’s interpretation of the 18th-century philosopher, Paley argues that all civil obligations derive from expediency. Since Thoreau attempts to show the opposite – that civil obedience is morally grounded – the title “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” may have played on Paley’s title.<br />
Nevertheless, Civil Disobedience does not espouse a duty to seek out the state for confrontation, to protest a wrong done to your neighbor, or even to resist the state in matters that do not violate conscience, such as buying a postage stamp.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[56]</span> The only political duty of a man is to correct any injustice he directly causes and to deny his cooperation to other injustice. This is the conclusion at which Civil Disobedience arrives.<br />
If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself....<br />
<blockquote>
... If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man’s shoulders. I must get off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too.<br />
In short, Thoreau believed the state should never rank above the individual conscience or the business of living. But if the state demands a person’s first allegiance by asking him to violate his conscience and participate in an injustice, the person should disobey – not through violence but by removing his cooperation.<br />
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<span style="color: #330000;">Thoreau’s legacy</span><span style="color: #666666;">[57]</span> Thoreau’s political theories were not well known during his own time. They were usually presented as lectures to small audiences or as articles buried in small-circulation periodicals. Civil Disobedience, for example, was first rendered as a lecture at the Concord Meeting Hall. In 1849, it was published under the title “Resistance to Civil Government” in the first and only issue of Boston Aesthetic Papers.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[58]</span> After Thoreau’s death, his sister Sophia prepared his uncollected works for posthumous publication in multiple volumes by Ticknor and Fields. The political essays were held until last and, even then, they appeared to be added on to the volume entitled A Yankee in Canada with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers (1866). It included “Civil Disobedience,” which had been retitled “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.”<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[59]</span> Why were these essays published last? Possibly because they were not considered representative of Thoreau. Perhaps because many of them were written in response to specific events and, so, seemed dated. Or perhaps because their political slant was so unpopular that some reviewers of the volume wished they had died with the man.<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">[60]</span> In 1890, Henry Salt published a collection of Thoreau’s political essays, including “Civil Disobedience.” The book profoundly influenced a young lawyer in South Africa who was protesting that government’s treatment of immigrant workers from India. The lawyer was Mohandas K. Gandhi. Gandhi found in Thoreau the techniques he would use in the subsequent struggle for Indian independence. Years later, he thanked the American people for Thoreau, saying,<br />
<blockquote>
You have given me a teacher in Thoreau, who furnished me through his essay on the “Duty of Civil Disobedience” scientific confirmation of what I was doing in South Africa.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[61]</span> By embracing Thoreau’s message and by expanding the strategy of civil disobedience, Gandhi focused world attention on the shy Yankee philosopher who lived without real fame in his own nation, in his own time.<br />
Thoreau’s death went relatively unnoticed. In November 1860, he caught a severe cold that slowly deepened into consumption from which he never recovered. On May 6, 1862, at the age of 44, Henry David Thoreau died.<span style="color: #666666;">[62]</span> Months later, Emerson published a eulogy that concluded,<br />
<blockquote>
The country knows not yet, or in the least part, how great a son it has lost. His soul was made for the noblest society; he had in a short life exhausted the capabilities of this world; wherever there is knowledge, wherever there is virtue, wherever there is beauty, he will find a home.</blockquote>
<span style="color: #666666;">[63]</span> As always, Thoreau said it more simply: “For joy I could embrace the earth. I shall delight to be buried in it.”<br />
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Copyright © 2005, Future of Freedom Foundation, <i>and reprinted here with permission</i><br />
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<b>Thoreau Reader: </b> <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/default.html" style="color: #1155cc;">Home</a> - <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html" style="color: #1155cc;">Civil Disobedience Intro</a> - <a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil1.html" style="color: #1155cc;">Civil Disobedience Text: Part 1</a></blockquote>
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The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-77433211252898745112013-04-06T12:41:00.002-07:002013-04-06T12:41:45.375-07:00Conspiracy to suppress the truth over links between MMR and autism<br /><i>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong><span style="font-size: medium;">Industry studies used to show vaccines 'don't cause autism'</span></strong><small><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines/mmr.html">MMR vaccines</a> <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines/ploy2.html">Junk Science</a> <a href="http://www.whale.to/w/journals1.html">Peer review</a></small></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">[You can see from the <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines/vax_autism_q.html">Quotes</a> that there is ample scientific evidence vaccines cause autism, yet the government and industry keep coming up with studies showing "there is no evidence". This is a conspiracy to suppress the truth. If this MMR goes down it will be the second in a row (see <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/mmr15.html">MMR Pluserix & Immravax)</a> That could mean the end of MMR, followed by the vaccine programme, and seeing as Allopathy sits upon vaccination (<a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/why_vaccination_continues.html">see</a>), you may glean why they have nailed their colours to the wall on this one, not that a psychopathic industry needs any encouragement in that regard---if you think children come first then you have failed to study the nature of the beast (<a href="http://www.whale.to/a/medical_mafia.html">The Medical Cartel</a>), and medical history (also see <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines/profits.html">1</a>, 2). A trillion dollar industry rests on this, 98% of which is a <a href="http://www.whale.to/a/hoaxmed.html">hoax</a>.<br /> Here are shredded all the greatly touted studies that show vaccines don't cause autism, the only ones you will ever see in the media. This quote sums up these vaccine 'experts': "<i><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/pichichero_h.html">Pichichero</a> ......his research has held considerable weight in the WHO decision to continue using <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines/thimerosal.htm">thimerosal</a> in vaccines administered in nations outside the United States</i>.<span lang="en-gb">"</span> ]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb">"</span>The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices."---<a href="http://www.whale.to/a/lewis_h.html">C. S. Lewis</a></span><br />
Statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics. ----<span lang="en-gb"><span lang="JA" style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.whale.to/drugs/how_statin_drugs.html">James B. and Hannah Yoseph</a></span></span></span><br />
<hr />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">See</span></b>: <span lang="en-gb"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/medical_study_ploys.html">Medical study ploys</a></span> <span lang="en-gb"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/vaccine_autism_proven.html">Vaccine autism proven</a></span> </span><span lang="en-gb"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/cancer_c.html">The Cancer Conspiracy</a> <a href="http://www.whale.to/a/vit_c_cons.html">The Vitamin C Conspiracy</a><b><br />See</b>:</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/experts.html">Experts</a> </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines/fombonne_h.html">Eric Fombonne</a><span lang="en-gb"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><strong style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/v/taylor4.html">Prof Brent Taylor</a> </strong></span><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/pichichero_h.html">Pichichero</a> <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/verstraeten_h.html">Verstraeten</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/tozzi.html">[2009 Feb] Alberto Eugenio Tozzi, MD<span lang="en-gb"> et al. </span><i>Neuropsychological Performance 10 Years After Immunization in Infancy With Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines</i><span lang="en-gb"><i>.</i> </span>PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 2 February 2009, pp. 475-482</a></span><span style="background-color: white;"></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/cochrane_collaboration_h.html">The Cochrane Collaboration</a> <a href="http://www.whale.to/v/ion6.html">Institute of Medicine (IOM)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/study111.html"><b><span lang="en-gb">[2008] </span>Mady Hornig</b><span lang="en-gb"><b> et al.</b> </span>Lack of association between measles virus vaccine and autism with enteropathy: a<span lang="en-gb"> </span>case-control study<span lang="en-gb"></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Key studies used by Big Pharma</span></b><span lang="en-gb">1. <a href="http://www.whale.to/a/danish.html">Danish studies</a> 2002 & 2003</span><br />2. <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/verstraeten_h.html">Verstraeten</a> VSD study<br />3. <a href="http://www.whale.to/v/ion6.html">Institute of Medicine</a> review<span lang="en-gb"><br />4. </span><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/fombonne1.html">Eric Fombonne Pediatrics<span lang="en-gb">. </span>"Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Montreal, Quebec: Prevalence and Links With Immunizations"<span lang="en-gb">---</span> Dr. Fombonne</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/honda_et_al.html">Honda et al</a><br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/v/taylor1.html">Taylor study</a><br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/v/mmr37.html">Finnish study</a><br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/m/kaye.html">Kaye study</a></span><br />
<span lang="en-gb"><b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">Articles</span></b><span lang="JA"><a href="http://www.whale.to/v/exposed.html" style="color: #2200cc;">[2011 Nov] Exposed: CDC deliberately manipulated, covered up scientific data showing link between vaccines containing mercury and autism</a></span></span><br />
<span lang="JA"></span><span style="background-color: white;"></span><span lang="en-gb"><span lang="JA"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.whale.to/v/indicted.html">[2011 April] Indicted Researcher Poul Thorsen: Autism Speaks' Original Trailblazer</a> In May 2000, one week before the infamous Simpsonwood meeting, Poul Thorsen suggested blazing a new trail to the CDC - disguising the role of vaccines in the autism epidemic by using data from Denmark. He made this suggestion to CDC staffer, NAAR/Autism Speaks scientific adviser and (Bernie) Marcus Institute board member Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp.. The CDC funded the project; NAAR supplemented.<br /> Poul Thorsen crafted the plan to use Denmark vaccination data despite the fact that CDC, Thorsen and the NAAR board all knew that Denmark's vaccine schedule then, and now, is not remotely similar to the US vaccine schedule. The results of the Denmark studies helped the CDC out of a tough spot and over the past decade, Thorsen's studies were utilized by the CDC repeatedly to falsely reassure the American public about the safety of vaccines. CDC certainly owed Thorsen.<br /> In 2002, NAAR, who later merged with Autism Speaks, provided $105,300 to supplement the CDC project. NAAR walk money helped Thorsen blaze his trail of using data from Denmark to disguise the potential role of vaccines in the autism epidemic.</span></span></span><br />
<span lang="JA"></span><span style="background-color: white;"></span><span lang="en-gb"><span lang="JA"><a href="http://dr-king.com/docs/20110330_VaccinesAndAutism__TheWrongArgument_corr1a.pdf" style="color: #2200cc;" target="_blank">"Vaccines and Autism - The Wrong Argument - rev. 1 (24 February 2011; 9 pages)"</a> </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/safeminds55.html">[2010 Sept] SafeMinds Comments on Pediatrics Study on Thimerosal and Vaccines</a> Prenatal and Infant Exposure to Thimerosal From Vaccines and Immunoglobulins and Risk of Autism. Price, CS. et. al. Pediatrics 2010;126:656-664.</span></span><br />
<span lang="en-gb"><span lang="JA"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/fallacy.html" style="color: #2200cc;">[2010 March] The Fallacy of Thimerosal Removal & Autism Increase: A Failure of Science, A Bigger Failure to Children Worldwide By Jake Crosby</a> What is truly sad is that this big hungry lie continues to be repeated in order to justify the population-wide poisoning of countless infants and fetuses.</span></span></span><br />
<span lang="JA"></span><span style="background-color: white;"></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/first_fraud.html" style="color: #2200cc;">[2010 March] First Fraud: Dr. Poul Thorsen and the original “Danish Study” By J.B. Handley</a> It’s hard to put into words how dishonest and outrageous a study this is, and I knew after reading it that we were in for a long fight: if scientists will lie this explicitly and call it a study and if Pediatrics will publish something this dishonest, they are playing to win at all costs. .....Danish children receive 75% less Thimerosal than American children, they receive immunizations when they are older, and the U.S. autism rate is TEN TIMES the rate of Denmark (Denmark is 1 in 1,600, U.S. is 1 in 166). .....Of the seven co-authors of the study, three had received direct funding from the CDC on vaccine-safety related projects. Two of the authors were employees of Statens Serum Institute, a Danish vaccine manufacturer.<br />..The public health establishment seems to have a simple strategy: get anything published, and then spin the hell out of it and confuse the public, and they perhaps never did it better than with this original “Danish study” which is still cited as proof by many that “vaccines don’t cause autism.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/gale11.html">[2009 Nov] Federal Health Agencies Continue to Deceive Americans: Congressional Report on a Vaccine Mercury-Autism Link Ignored for Six Years by Richard Gale and Gary Null, Ph.D</a> </span>“study after study of spurious and flawed research that would likely never pass a graduate school examination, scientist after scientist affiliated or with financial ties to the vaccine industry now dominating our academies and health agencies, have determined that there really is no safety risk with thimerosal.”<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb">[2009 Feb] <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/handley12.html">Feeding the Hungry Lie, Italian Style By J.B. Handley</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/handley1.html">[2009 Jan] Tayloe, Offit, Minshew, Katz, Snyderman, et. al.: Feeding a Hungry Lie By J.B. Handley</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/january_06.html">[2009 Jan] The Vaccine Hard Sell at Pediatrics By Michael Wagnitz, B.S.</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.safeminds.org/pressroom/pres_releases/Review_Miles_Takashashi_6-20-07.pdf">www.safeminds.org/pressroom/pres_releases/Review_Miles_Takashashi_6-20-07.pdf</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/yazbak201.html"><span lang="en-gb">[Sept 2008] </span>The Unconvincing Thimerosal Epidemiological Studies:<span lang="en-gb"> </span>How and Why They Were Produced, Published and Protected<span lang="en-gb"> by </span>F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/cdc_kirby.html">[June 20 2008] CDC: Vaccine Study Design "Uninformative and Potentially Misleading" by David Kirby</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/kirby.html">[June 2008] CDC Has Lost Control of the Autism Argument by David Kirby</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/pichichero12.html"><span lang="en-gb">[Jan 2008] </span>Pichichero<span lang="en-gb">. Pediatrics. </span>Babies excrete vaccine-mercury quicker than originally thought</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/baird_et_al.html">[5th February 2008].Baird G. et al. Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorders. Archives of Disease in Childhood. Published</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb">[Jan 2008] </span><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/schecter.html">Dr. Robert Schechter.<span lang="en-gb"> Jan 2008. Continuing Increases in Autism Reported to California's Developmental Services System. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65(1):19-24.</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/wagnitz.html"><span lang="en-gb">[May 2007] </span>The mercury, autism debacle: How stupid do they think we are?<span lang="en-gb"> by </span>Michael Wagnitz</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/thrower04.html"><span lang="en-gb">[July 2004] </span>MMR and Acquired Autism (Autistic Enterocolitis) - A Briefing Note<span lang="en-gb"> by</span> David Thrower</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb">[may 2006 </span>Dr. M. A. Afzal<span lang="en-gb">] </span><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines/measlesmmr.html">No Evidence of Measles Virus in MMR-Vaccinated Autistic Children</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb">[Sept 2004] </span><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/wak344.html">Dr. Wakefield Responds To British Study Clearing MMR Vaccines</a><br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/mmr40.html">[Media UK, Feb 2001, MMR & autism] MMR and autism: another report lands on the flaw</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/ep.html">Epidemiologic Evidence Is Insufficient To Prove There Is No Link Between The MMR Vaccine And Autism<span lang="en-gb"> </span>By Clifford G. Miller</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/hooker.html">False information in DeStefano/Rhodes response to M. Geier 24 March 2004</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/trelka.html">How Mercury Was Absolved: Creativity, Collusion and Censorship<span lang="en-gb"> </span>by Jeffrey Allen Trelka, M.Ed.</a></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/epidemiological.html">Epidemiological studies cannot be relied upon</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/geier5.html"><span lang="en-gb">[Feb 2004] </span>Study <span lang="en-gb">(</span>Verstraeteten et al.<span lang="en-gb">) </span>Misses Link Between Thimerosal and Neurodevelopmental Disorders 23<span lang="en-gb">--</span>Mark & David Geier</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Pichichero, M. et. al. 2002. "Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: a descriptive study." The Lancet 360: 1737 - 1741.<br /><span lang="en-us"><a href="http://www.freedom2think.com/vaccinescience/review02.html">Review by Helen Tucker</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span lang="en-gb">[Feb 2003] </span><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/gillberg.html">Professor Christoper Gillberg</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">[re Madsen study] <a href="http://www.whale.to/a/wddty4.html">MMR AND AUTISM: The link really has been established<span lang="en-gb"> (WDDTY Sept 2004)</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/pdf/thrower.html"><span lang="en-gb">[Feb 2003] </span>MMR and Acquired Autism (Autistic Enterocolitis) - A Briefing Note<span lang="en-gb"> by</span> David Thrower</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/yazbak.html"><span lang="en-gb">[Nov 2002] </span>Autism and Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Finland: A Recent Increase.---- F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/nejm.html"><span lang="en-gb">[Nov 2002] </span>New England Journal of Medicine Study on Autism-MMR Vaccine in Denmark NOT<span lang="en-gb"> </span>Definitive</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/a2.html">[June 2002] The Davis et al Paper ( Arch Ped Adolesc Med 2001; 155: 354-359) by Walter O. Spitzer, M.D.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/m/mmr99.html">[Media july 2001] Conflict of interest fear over study of autism</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/m/binstock.html">[July 2001] Evidence of a Science Bending Rogue Group Within CDC? Centers for Disease Control and Obfuscation -----Teresa Binstock</a><br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/m/mercury9.html">[Media July 22, 2001] New autism doubt on mercury in vaccines</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/m/autism6.html">Letter from Professor Walter 0. Spitzer (MMR autism, May 2001)</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/thrower5.html">Inconclusive "Evidence" Against There Being An MMR/Autism Link--David Thrower</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/v/iom9.html">IOM Report on Childhood Vaccinations and AutoimmuneDysfunction</a> (feb 2002)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">IOM Immunization Safety Review: Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine and Autism (April 23, 2001)<br /><a href="http://www.iom.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/Pages/MMR+Autism+Summary">http://www.iom.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/Pages/MMR+Autism+Summary</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/mmr70.html">MMR Shots Under Fire at Autism Hearing (April 2001)</a><br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/m/shafer.html">Asking the Wrong Question By Lenny Schafer </a><br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/m/autism67.html">The MMR/Autism Controversy: Should We Believe the IOM? Commentary by Bernard Rimland Ph.D.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><br />Loring Dales, MD; Sandra Jo Hammer, RN, PHN; Natalie J. Smith, MD, MPH<br />Time Trends in Autism and in MMR Immunization Coverage in California<br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/aut.html">Study Claims No Link Between Vaccine And Autism: Agitprop Research</a><br /><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/aut1.html">Time Trends in Autism and in MMR Immunization Coverage in California</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/v/mmr702.html">Government comments re MMR & autism--a collection</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Quotes</span></b>“Any competent epidemiologist can employ particular tricks of the trade when certain results are desired.” <span lang="en-gb"><a href="http://www.whale.to/b/whitewashing_toxic_chemicals.html">Review: Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health by David Michaels</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">"A number of clinical laboratory studies demonstrate that vaccines may cause chronic damage to the G.I. tract, immune system, brain, and other organs. Several such studies have been reported in past issues of the ARRI. Wakefield, Sabra, Singh, O'Leary and Kawashima are among the authors whose work documents lingering vaccine effect on children on the autistic spectrum, compared to normal controls. The IOM report pays little heed to this evidence, instead focusing attention on several deeply flawed epidemiological studies."---<a href="http://www.whale.to/m/autism67.html">Dr Rimland MD</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> Those determined to deny an association between vaccine induced<span lang="en-gb"> </span>inflammatory conditions in the body usually like to use retrospective, case<span lang="en-gb"> </span>controlled "studies" that look at old medical records. Using pencils and<span lang="en-gb"> </span>calculators to dismiss causal associations between vaccines and chronic<span lang="en-gb"> </span>diseases is easier than having to look at real live patients or study what<span lang="en-gb"> </span>happens to their blood, urine, eyes, brain, colons, etc. after vaccination.<span lang="en-gb"> </span> The pathetic attempts by the pencil pushers to write off onset of brain<span lang="en-gb"> </span>and immune system dysfunction after vaccination in previously healthy people<span lang="en-gb"> </span>as just a "coincidence" will not wash. The people, whose lives have been<span lang="en-gb"> </span>ruined by doctors too proud to admit the harm being done, will not let them<span lang="en-gb"> </span>get away with it.<a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines/optic.html">[NVIC<span lang="en-gb"> June 14, 2006</span>] Pencil Pushers Deny Vaccine/Optic Neuritis Link</a></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Pichichero has acknowledged financial links with Eli Lilly & Company, the developers of thiomersal and the main target (to date) of US autism litigation. In an article back in April 2000 in the American Academy of Family Physicians newsletter, Dr. Pichichero made the following disclosures of interest: he had received research grants from Abbott Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Sqibb Company, Eli Lilly (note), Merck, Pasteur Merieux Connaught, Pfizer Laboratories, Roche Laboratories, Roussel-Uclaf, Schering Corporation, SmithKline Beecham, Upjohn, and Wyeth-Lederle. <a href="http://www.whale.to/a/thrower04.html"><span lang="en-gb">[July 2004] </span>MMR and Acquired Autism (Autistic Enterocolitis) - A Briefing Note<span lang="en-gb"> by</span> David Thrower</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">"Professor <a href="http://www.whale.to/m/all/elliman.html">David Elliman</a>, whose study said fears of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism were unfounded, admitted that he and <a href="http://www.whale.to/m/bedford1.html">Dr Helen Bedford</a> had been given money by drugs giants SmithKline Beecham and Pasteur Merieux Merck Sharp & Dohme. Their report, MMR Vaccine - Worries Are Not Justified, is published in the current issue of the medical journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, and was used by the government to reiterate its view that the vaccine is safe."--<a href="http://www.whale.to/v/mmr698.html">Media </a> Makers of MMR II---Aventis Pasteur MSD</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">"Despite the fact that the CDC's Davis et al methodology was fatally flawed in regard to autism and thimerosal, the CDC's rogue team and their U of Washington allies seem quite willing to continue diverting attention away from the substantial likelihood that physician-injected ethylmercury has been an etiologic factor in many cases of autism and related disorders."---<a href="http://www.whale.to/m/binstock.html">Teresa Binstock</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">We have tolerated the junk science that has covered up the true cause of this epidemic at a considerable cost to science, the public, and our very way of life in this country. Is it stretch to realize that by putting our collective heads in the sand about the autism epidemic we have made it possible for the destruction of our very civilization?<span lang="en-gb"> </span><a href="http://www.whale.to/a/stoller.html">LES INCOMPETANTS: OPEN LETTER TO THE AAP<span lang="en-gb"> </span>By K. Paul Stoller, M.D.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Attempts by independent researchers to obtain the underlying<span lang="en-gb"> </span>data sets from the original authors in the epidemiological<span lang="en-gb"> </span>studies touted by the CDC and other vaccine apologists (except the 2004 Ip et al. study) as supporting the claims of “no<span lang="en-gb"> </span>link” have been repeatedly rebuffed. Interestingly, a November<span lang="en-gb"> </span>2007 paper by Desoto and Hitlan, entitled Blood Levels of Mercury<span lang="en-gb"> </span>Are Related to a Diagnosis of Autism: A Reanalysis of an<span lang="en-gb"> </span>Important Data Set, independently reviewed the basis data from<span lang="en-gb"> </span>the previously published Ip et al. epidemiology study reporting<span lang="en-gb"> </span>no evidence of a link between the blood levels of mercury and<span lang="en-gb"> </span>autism. The reanalysis, with which the authors of the original<span lang="en-gb"> </span>epidemiological article agreed, found that the original article’s<span lang="en-gb"> </span>inaccurate conclusions were based on a significant calculation<span lang="en-gb"> </span>error and a less-than-appropriate choice of t-tail statistical test.<br /><span lang="en-gb"> </span>Thus, no independent analysis has been able to confirm the<span lang="en-gb"> </span>validity, or lack thereof, of the findings reported in the studies<span lang="en-gb"> </span>upon which the 2004 IOM committee relied.<span lang="en-gb"> </span>In the case of the key U.S. study by Verstraeten et al., CDC<span lang="en-gb"> </span>officials have claimed that the original data sets have been<span lang="en-gb"> </span>“lost.”<span lang="en-gb"> </span><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/king.html">Key realities about autism, vaccines, vaccine-injury compensation, Thimerosal, and autism-related research<span lang="en-gb">----</span>Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D<span lang="en-gb"> & </span>P.G. King PhD</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">In response to the overwhelming science, CDC and the pharmaceutical industry ginned up four European studies designed to disguise the link between autism and Thimerosal. Their purpose was to provide plausible deniability for the consequences of their awful decision to allow brain-killing mercury to be injected into our youngest children. Those deliberately deceptive and fatally flawed studies were authored by vaccine industry consultants and paid for by Thimerosal producers and published largely in compromised journals that neglected to disclose the myriad conflicts of their authors in violation of standard peer-review ethics. <a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/kennedy1.html">Attack on Mothers by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">"At this point, it is believed that about 10% of cases of autism can be accounted for genetically."--<a href="http://www.whale.to/m/autism78.html">B.J. Freeman, Ph.D.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">[<a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccines.html">Vaccination</a>]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="http://www.whale.to/vaccine/mmr54.html">Here</a></span>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-28986290177770556532013-04-05T12:01:00.000-07:002013-04-05T12:08:37.701-07:00358 billionaires who own half the world<br />
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<span class="storyTop " style="line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none;">The world's rich are getting richer by the day, while the poor are getting poorer. Moreover, according to a new United Nations report, the wealth gap is widening not just between different nations of north and south but within many of them, including Britain.</span><br />
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Among the more startling conclusions of the 1996 Human Development Report, prepared by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), is that the world's 358 billionaires, including the Sultan of Brunei and Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, have more assets than the combined incomes of countries representing nearly half - 45 per cent - of the planet's population.</div>
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"The world has become more economically polarised," said James Speth, the UNDP administrator. "If present trends continue, economic disparities between industrial and developing nations will move from inequitable to inhuman." The report, compiled by Richard Jolly, a Briton who is special advisor to Mr Speth, will be published by the Oxford University Press tomorrow.</div>
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In analysing trends within developed countries, the report singles out Britain and Australia for displaying growing economic injustice between the haves and have-nots. In both countries, the richest 20 per cent of their populations earn 10 times more money than thepoorest 20 per cent. The differential is almost as sharp in the United States and Switzerland.</div>
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Published annually since 1990, the report also offers what it calls a human development index (HDI), which ranks countries according to criteria that include quality of life factors such as access to health care, educational standards and basic purchasing power. This year Canada takes first position followed by the US, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway. Britain is ranked 16th, below many of its EU partners including France and Spain.</div>
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The focus of the report, however, is on the worsening position of many of the developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Eighty- nine countries are reporting lower per-capita incomes than they were 10 years ago. Worst off are 19 countries where incomes are less than they were in 1960 or before. They include Liberia, Rwanda, Sudan, Ghana, Venezuela and Haiti.</div>
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Among countries in the developing world, Hong Kong takes first place on the HDI followed by Cyprus, Barbados, Bahamas, South Korea and Argentina. Bottom place is taken by Niger.</div>
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This year the report adds a "capability poverty measure" designed to take account of hidden factors that may be impeding the poor from progressing up the economic ladder. Those include the number of children under five who are underweight, the proportion of unattended births, the number of children in school and the rate of female illiteracy.</div>
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Using this index, for instance, suggests that whereas in some south Asian countries like India, 29 per cent of the population may be living in poverty when income alone is measured, a much more significant 62 per cent is suffering conditions that make escaping poverty much more difficult.</div>
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The report also seeks to emphasise that economic growthalone will not automatically translate into improved lives for the population of any country unless other policy measures to encourage economic equity are taken simultaneously. It compares the contrasting fates of Pakistan and South Korea. Both countries had similar incomes in 1960, but whereas Pakistan managed a primary school enrolment rate of just 30 per cent, Korea ensured that 94 per cent of its young attended primary education. "That is one reason that the per-capita gross domestic product of Korea grew to three times that of Pakistan over the next 25 years," the report argues.</div>
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Mr Jolly said: "Policy makers are often mesmerised by the quantity of growth. They need to be more concerned with its quality and to take timely action to prevent growth that is lopsided or flawed." He added: "It is increasingly clear that new international measures are needed to encourage national strategies for increasing employment and human development."<br />
<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/358-billionaires-who-own-half-the-world-1328963.html">Here</a></div>
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The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-80473944987083296372013-03-23T05:18:00.000-07:002013-03-23T05:18:07.063-07:00The Somali Famine and Seed Business<br /><i>
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August 17, 2011</div>
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My involvement with seed began with a desire to do something in response to the Ethiopian Famine of 1973. Though this seems to be an unlikely beginning, it led me to interests in plant improvement and the seed business. </div>
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The connection between the current famine in Somalia and the seed business is not a strong one. But famine is an example of how limiting the ability of people to trade and move freely can contribute to a disaster. Somalia certainly has one of the world’s worst regulatory and security climates for business and simple trade. That poor business climate shows in the suffering of its people. A bad business environment in this case is just a bad environment for human beings in general.</div>
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Nearly everyone would like to do something to improve the immediate situation, but in similar situations some organizations have taken actions which secured the control of misguided governments and perpetuated poverty.</div>
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One of the fundamental rules of management is that it is not only important to perform efficiently; you must also be able to select the right thing to do. </div>
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<h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.286; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 12px;">
<strong>Government, Warfare and Famine</strong></h3>
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<img alt="Description: Map of Somalia" height="538" src="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine_clip_image002.jpg" width="428" /><strong></strong></div>
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Image from http://countries.bridgat.com/images/Somalia_Map.jpg</div>
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The first thing that one needs to know about famine in Africa is that usually it is related to political failure and warfare. This is hardly peculiar to Africa. The constellation of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse is frequently given as: conquest, war, famine and death. Political failure as represented by warfare and famine are an old association, but how does this work in Somalia? <br /><br />My relevant experience in this was in Ethiopia during the Famine of 1973. I was a Peace Corp volunteer at the center of the draught which led to a famine, and I helped the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture do a survey of the situation after the drought and before the famine. The current famine in Somalia has many similarities. </div>
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To understand the situation, you have to understand traditional small-scale farming and animal agriculture in this part of the world. Understanding the role animals as wealth is key understanding. In this part of the world, if you are a small scale farmer, you plow with oxen. The average farm family is going to have a pair of oxen. But the oxen are not only a source of traction power; they are also wealth and insurance against this sort of disaster. If crops fail, you can sell your oxen, buy food and then you borrow oxen when you need to plow after the drought passes. This is not the finance at level of credit default swaps, but it is market economics in action.</div>
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If you are a pastoralist, the role of animals as wealth is even clearer. The whole of pastoralist society is centered on using animals to convert vegetation into meat, milk, and fiber. The herding family are then able to sell some animals or animal products to buy grain. Traditional pastoralist may be inclined against selling their cattle in normal situations, but when disaster hits, sales provide insurance. Travel is very important to pastoralists, because they have to move to where the vegetation is best, and that tends to preclude tending grain fields. They will probably follow an annual pattern, but it is also important for them to capitalize on scattered rainfall and go where the grass is greenest. </div>
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Some of what I know about the pastoral life came out of my experience with the 1973 Ethiopian famine. The survey in which I was involved was survey of the drought and situation in Wollo in northeast Ethiopia. To reach one of the areas to be surveyed required going into the Afar area. As it so happened when I was going in, an expert on East African pastoralism was coming out. His name is Brian Hartley. We had a fine evening together. He had been contracted by the Ministry of Agriculture to do a survey to improve the productivity of the Afar pasturage. I was to meet with him because he had employed a translator and I was to use his translator on this leg of my survey<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">1</a>. It was an education speaking with Hartley. Most people in their 60’s would have come back from several weeks in the desert complaining. He was the complete opposite. He returned much impressed by the people and places he had seen: their skills with their cattle and the sparse beauty of the land<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">2</a>. There is a most interesting biography of Mr. Hartley by his son, Aidan in: <em>The Zanzibar Chest</em><a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title=""> 3</a><em>.</em></div>
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Even though these agricultural systems are described as subsistence agriculture, markets are central to their response to drought. Markets allow residents to react to drought by selling animals and buying grain. “Subsistence agriculture” is a much used and frequently misleading term. People in most times and places carry out a certain amount of trading, buying and selling. In more traditional African societies, the trade was more frequently local. The proportion of market transactions in the whole economic system will be different for some societies than others, but market transactions are always around and frequently important. In Somalia now, warfare creates famine by limiting the ability of residents to sell animals and buy grain. If they are forced to eat their animals, the amount of calories which is available to the owners is greatly reduced. For example 100,000 calories worth of beef might buy a million calories worth of corn. </div>
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Political limitations on movement are also very important to pastoralists. If they cannot take their cattle to where the grass is growing, or take them to market, the cattle can die and the accumulated family wealth is destroyed. It is this point where the limitations on movement put in place by the leaders of the al Shabab militia become important. They are sometimes put in place in the name of religious purity, but in the spirit of management of the militia’s own political and military power.</div>
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Those of you who remember the 1984-5 famine in Ethiopia, will remember pictures of the Bati Market. Batiis also in Wollo. As the famine developed the market was filmed and photographed repeatedly with starving people in the thousands, but before the moment of fame, or infamy, when its reputation was as a relief location, the Bati market was a place in where the low-land pastoralists and the farmers and traders of the middle elevations met. It was neutral ground in a culture clash between Christian farmers and Muslim herdsmen. Change the word “herdsmen” to “cowboys” if you want to put the difference in the context of the American West. The role of the place was as a market where people could sell cattle and butter, and buy grain, only when the people of the drought area ran out of cattle to sell did the nature of the location change to that of a refugee camp. The people of Southern Somalia have now run out of cattle to sell. </div>
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<strong>East African Famines are Predictable</strong></h3>
<img alt="Description: Map shows unimodal and bimodal rainfall regions in East Africa." height="833" src="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine_clip_image004.jpg" width="624" />East African rainfall is seasonal. <a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">4</a><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
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The next thing that one needs to know about the Somali famine is that it was predictable, well in advance. When the rains fail in one main rainy season, people are vulnerable in the next. Rain fall in this area is bimodal. In more northern areas in East Africa “(Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea), the main rainy season occurs sometime between March and September, and the minor rainy season occurs sometime between October and February” (<a href="http://vf-tropi.com/vf-defs.html" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;">http://vf-tropi.com/vf-defs.html</a>). But bimodality is not so important to the story of famine. It is weak main rainy seasons which are important. At the end of the main rains in September of last year the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) was fully able to predict that many people could be in trouble in Somalia 6-9 months later. That is how long it takes the food and wealth reserves to run out. The difference between “could be in trouble” and “would be in trouble” in the situation of the Somali famine depends on the willingness of governments and institutions with means to do something to replace the missing food.</div>
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Because of the survey which I did for the Ministry of Agriculture in 1972, in October I had information an impending famine in Ethiopia. I knew that it was going to be difficult to get the Government of Ethiopia to act adequately. The traditionalist Government of Haile Selassie was still in place. Being traditionalists, the Government had a fatalistic view of famine as God’s will, and at the time the government was not very kindly disposed to the people area in which the famine was occurring, due to some of its history, and ethnic and religious background<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">5</a>. I decided to get in touch with OXFAM. I made an appointment to see Toby Gooch, who was an OXFAM coordinator for East Africa. He lived in Nairobi, but was visiting Addis Ababa. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
One Saturday morning, I made my way to the little house on one of the city’s hills, in which Mr. Gooch stayed and worked when he was in Addis. I made my presentation about the drought, and my estimates of the number of people who were going to starve if something was not done (those estimates proved correct within 10 or 15 percent of reasonable estimates). I described the methodology which I had used to make the survey and tried to give him confidence in the estimates. After a half hour or so, I paused to get Mr. Gooch’s reaction. He told me that, although OXFAM had once been the Oxford Committee for <em>Famine Relief</em>, OXFAM was not involved in famine relief any longer. They were involved in development. He wished me well in my efforts to do something about the famine, but emphasized that it really wasn’t OXFAM’s current area of activity.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
I was deeply troubled and frustrated by this response, and quite frankly, I remain so. OXFAM did become involved in the Ethiopian famine of 1973-4, and I suspect that they were quite proud of their role in response to it. They started just as late as any of the other groups who were involved. Subsequently, following the next Ethiopian famine, OXFAM has partnered with Bob Geldof of Band Aid fame to make famine relief into an industry of sorts.</div>
<br /><h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.286; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 12px;">
<strong>Good Intentions of Charitable Organizations</strong></h3>
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<img alt="Description: OXFAM logo" border="0" height="64" src="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/OXFAMlogo.jpg" width="220" /></div>
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This brings me to point number three, which I will put in the form of a question. If these famines are predictable, and organizations such as FEWS Net do a good job of predicting them, why don’t organizations like OXFAM succeed in preventing death by starvation? The superficial answer would be that bad governments block them from doing so, but I suspect that there is something deeper happening here. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
I am not going to propose that I have a complete answer. I have not done sufficient research on the subject to make that presumption, but I will offer a hypothesis which could be studied. My hypothesis is this: relief organizations like OXFAM have enough ideological sympathy with some of the governments in question that they will not oppose those governments.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
I had always assumed that the rejection of OXFAM’s need for action in Ethiopia at the end of 1972 was due to the combination of short sightedness and the need for charities to have pictures of pitiful people before they were (or are) able to collect money. I let this go for 4 decades with some resentment of humanitarian professionals like Mr. Gooch who were willing to be paid out of donations when there were images on film to be sold to the public. Please forgive my bitterness. It turns out that there is more to this situation than short sightedness or the willingness to make money off charity. OXFAM was led Fabian Socialists and it was inclined to advancing socialist society internationally. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
In the case of Toby Gooch’s refusal to get involved in preparing for the Ethiopian Famine of 1973, I support my position by interpolation from a recent book. That book is <em>Surrogates of the State: NGOs, development, and Ujamaa in Tanzania</em> by Michael Jennings<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">6</a>. The development which interested OXFAM in 1972, for which they had in theory abandoned Ethiopian famine relief, was the radical socialist ruralism of Julius Nyerere in Tanzania. The resettlement program in Tanzania was not as brutal or deadly as the ones in China, Cambodia or Ukraine (in the 1920’s), but it was bad enough, and it was supported whole heartedly by OXFAM. In October of 1972, Tanzanian socialism was supported by OXFAM to the extent that they were willing to let people starve in Ethiopia in order to keep their part in the Tanzanian resettlement program going.</div>
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Of course, the case of the Ethiopian Famine in 1984-5 is much more famous than the one of 1973. The 1984-5 famine was far larger, and it had a larger government component. Band Aid has been accused of letting famine relief money be used by the rebels and the government for military purposes. This charge has been rejected by Geldof. There is a good review of Band Aid’s action in an article in the Guardian by David Rieff <a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">7</a>. In short, the article asserts that Geldof is right that the majority of funds were not diverted, but wrong to fail to recognize that a significant amount of diversion is inevitable.</div>
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The socialist Derg came to power in Ethiopia in 1974. It is frequently claimed that the 1973-4 famine was one of the reasons for which Haile Selassie was removed by the Derg. In reality, Haile Selassie was getting feeble, was no longer capable of maintaining the balancing act which he had maintained all his life, and had not made preparations for transfer of power. For famine, the radical Marxist action of the Derg proved worse than the traditionalist inaction of Haile Selassie’s government. Action provoked a larger famine than inaction<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">8</a>. </div>
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<img alt="Description: Oxfam Logop by Rudi Gunawan. Photo: Jim Holmes/Oxfam" border="0" height="226" src="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine_clip_image006.jpg" width="460" /><strong></strong></div>
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Image from http://www.oxfam.org/en/node/1998, Photo: Jim Holmes/Oxfam</div>
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The second part of Rieff’s article is about the use of OXFAM and Band Aid’s funds in the Derg’s resettlement program. Band Aid was clear that they were support the resettlement program at the time, and according to Reiff, Geldof has not renounced the use of these resourcesin the Derg's forced resettlement program. As in the case of the aid to Tanzania in the early 1970’s, OXFAM agreed with the objectives of the resettlement programs. In Ethiopia the resettlement programs were more brutal than those in Tanzania and people died. Millions of people were displaced and between 50,000 and 100,000 killed<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn9" name="_ednref9" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">9</a>. But in the eyes of OXFAM and Geldof, this was alright because the intentions were good, they were advancing the creation of the new African with a heightened sense of social justice.</div>
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Sympathies of today have changed. The left is now multiculturalist. Somalia is excused in some quarters because it is successfully rejecting the cultural domination of neoliberalism. If not, the U.S. and others might have had enough support to go in and fix Somalia at the time of the battle of Mogadishu in 1993 after the last major famine, rather than waiting for the current one. The problem with multiculturalism is that it allows the development of factions to promote mutually assured social destruction, when respect for individuals would require a solution which overrode faction. Excusing the inability of factions to put something above their factional interests, leads to situations like Somalia today. Multiculturalists fail to recognize that tribalism is the great bane of Africans, be it ever so natural to humankind and traditional to Africa. They propose that tolerance of other cultures can prevent conflict, but this does not seem to correspond to human nature. In practice within cultures, leaders perpetually thrive by pointing to the frictions between cultures as the reason for which their leadership is needed. Identity politics leads to polarization; leads to warfare. Somalia is just a recent example of how the failure to put something above faction turns out badly. </div>
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At a very basic level, people like Geldof refuse to accept that good intentions are not enough, regardless of how they are framed or made narrative. For his time in the mid 1700’s, Adam Smith made the radical assertion that the self-interest of buyers could result in overall benefits to society. He asserted that we do not depend on the good intentions of the butcher or the grocer for our food<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn10" name="_ednref10" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">10</a>. The Geldof’s position is the rejection of the contrapositive of Smith’s: any valid good intention cannot do harm to society. So if resettlement is assumed to be a step on the way to a more perfect world communitarian society, then we don’t have to question the means that might be used to achieve those ends.</div>
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I don’t know much about Somalia itself. What little I know comes mainly from Aiden Hartley’s book. In addition to the story of his father, the book includes the story of the doomed love of a British colonialist in Aden for a local girl, and the story of Hartley’s own life as a Reuters correspondent reporting on the Rwandan Genocide and Somalia in the 1990’s. Aiden Hartley has written on the current famine in Somalia with far more experience than anything I can manage: <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7141183/drought-didnt-cause-somalias-famine.thtml" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;">Drought didn’t cause Somalia's famine</a><a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn11" name="_ednref11" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">11</a>. Be forewarned. Although the Spectator is generally a conservative magazine<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn12" name="_ednref12" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">12</a> and pro U.S., Mr. Hartley is quite pessimistic about the U.K. and U.S. role in supporting the nominal Somali government against al Shabab, and very pessimistic about famine relief in this situation. </div>
<h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.286; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 12px;">
<strong>The Seed Business has Little Connection to Somali Famine, but Basic Business Conditions are Important</strong></h3>
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I am including this post in a blog about seed because, in a very general way, I am defending the notion that, in pluralistic societies, seed business and other business is not evil and needs to be defended. People, including draught victims, can use markets to manage and mitigate the impact of drought on their lives. In this real world of ours, this is an example of some self- interest and self-management promoting the greater good. We have to ask how a government for Somalia government will assure basic human rights; including the right to protection of property (in this case the ownership of animals); and how a government for Somalia can provide basic security. Perhaps there is no contribution which we can make, but we need to think about the impact of actions to this end. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em;">
If it is true that self-interest can do good, then it is not surprising that good intentions can also, from time to time, do harm. Relief efforts in East Africa have frequently gotten in the way of developing long-term organizations and institutions which will support the greater good. Relief organizations frequently support giving away free seed in ways that inhibit the development of local seed businesses, or radically distort the market for commercial seed<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_edn13" name="_ednref13" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">13</a>. This seem market impact will probably not occure in Somalia. I would be surprised if there were any local seed businesses to be impacted. The negative impact of seed distribution on seed market development is not a serious problem like the negative impact of misguided resettlement programs, but when we make our gifts to famine relief organizations, it is good to ask ourselves if those organizations are conducting themselves in ways which are really in the long-term interests of the people who they purport to help. Proclamations about good intentions should not be accepted. </div>
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Paul Christensen<br />Christensen Consulting <br /><br /><br />Notes:</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">1</a> The life of the translator was a story in itself. He was an Afar. He had been in the French Foreign Legion in Djibouti, had killed a man in a fight, and then returned to the desert life in Ethiopia. Hartley employed him because he spoke Arabic. I employed him because he spoke Amharic. He spoke French also, and a couple other language.</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">2</a> Like T.E. Lawrence commenting about liking the desert because it is “clean,” if we can believe the movie. </div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">3</a> Aidan Hartley, The Zanzibar Chest. Riverhead Trade (2004)</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">4</a> http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad/highlights/2004/12/Kenya/images/unimodal_bimodal.htm</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">5</a> There had been a minor rebellion in 1972 in the Raya Kobo area of Wollo. The military had been sent in to assure that the situation did not get out of hand. This again points to the use of famine as a tool of political control.</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">6</a> Michael Jennings, Surrogates of the state: NGOs, development, and Ujamaa in Tanzania, Kumarian Press, 2008. ISBN 1565492439, 9781565492431. There are excerpts from the book available at Google Books. </div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">7</a> David Rieff, The Humanitarian Aid Industry's Most Absurd Apologist, The Guardian, November 29, 2010. <a href="http://www.tnr.com/blog/foreign-policy/79491/humanitarian-aid-industrys-most-absurd-apologist-geldof?page=0,1" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;">http://www.tnr.com/blog/foreign-policy/79491/humanitarian-aid-industrys-most-absurd-apologist-geldof?page=0,1</a>. The Guardian is generally a social democratic newspaper.</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">8</a> Inaction might be too strong a word. The Government of Haile Selassie was a feudal government. There is a response to famine in feudal systems, but the response is local. The local Lord is responsible to do what he can with his resources. When his resources are exhausted through charity, the traditional obligations are largely fulfilled.</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">9</a> Cruel to be kind? by David Rieff. The Guardian, June 24, 2005.</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">10</a> To be fair to Adam Smith, he also thought that sympathy was a basic part of human nature and that sympathy may well be fully compatible with donations for famine relief: The Theory of Moral Sentiments. </div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">11</a> Aidan Hartley, <em>Drought didn’t cause Somalia's famine:</em> <em>War did. And food aid may well make it worse</em>. The Spectator (UK), August 6, 2011<a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7141183/drought-didnt-cause-somalias-famine.thtml" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="Drought did not cause Somalia's Famine">http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7141183/drought-didnt-cause-somalias-famine.thtml</a></div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref12" name="_edn12" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">12</a> Conservative in the modern British sense of “conservative.”</div>
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<a href="http://intlcorn.com/seed%20site/Locations/SomaliaFamine.html#_ednref13" name="_edn13" style="color: #990000; text-decoration: none;" title="">13</a> For example, limiting seed purchases by governments and charities to certain favored sellers. The general solution to this challenge is the use of vouchers which allow local seed producers to participate and charity recipients to choose the best seed for their needs.</div>
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Keywords: Seed, Somalia, business environment, OXFAM, Toby Gooch, seed business, Ethiopia, East Africa, Africa, famine relief, resettlement, Adam Smith, intention, drought, Paul Christensen, Hartley, Aidan Hartley, Tanzania, management. </div>
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The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-76853629756884612442013-03-15T08:16:00.002-07:002013-03-15T08:16:28.533-07:00<i><br />
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Crossrail workers are shocked to discover 13 skeletons buried under a square in the City of London - and archaeologists say there could be a mass grave containing the bones of 50,000 people nearby.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Video: Archaeologists Dan Walker from the Museum of London Archaeology, and Jay Carver from Crossrail, discuss the find.</em></div>
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The 13 bodies met their unfortunate demise almost seven centuries ago, when the plague swept through Europe and killed over a quarter of the British population in 1348.</div>
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But it was a piece of pottery found in the graves which dates back to around 1350, as well as the neat layout of the bodies in two rows, that gave archaeologists the clues as to when - and why - they died.</div>
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The skeletons were found lying in neat rows under Charterhouse Square in Farringdon, 2.4 metres below the road, during excavation work for London's £14.8bn Crossrail project. And according to archaeologists, there could up to 50,000 more skeletons buried nearby.</div>
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"The short answer is we don't know just how many skeletons are out there," said Nick Elsden from <a href="http://www.museumoflondonarchaeology.org.uk/" style="border: 0px; color: #005987; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Museum of London Archaeology</a> (MOLA) adding that more discoveries are likely.</div>
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Tests will be carried out on the bones after their excavation but experts are linking the discovery with the Black Death as records show that a burial ground for plague victims was opened in the Farringdon area. Scientists are also hoping the skeletons will contain traces of DNA that may help to find out more about the virus which caused the Black Death.</div>
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'Emergency burial ground'</h2>
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Crossrail lead archaeologist Jay Carver said this was a "highly significant discovery".</div>
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"We will be undertaking scientific tests on the skeletons over the coming months to establish their cause of death, whether they were plague victims from the 14th century or later residents, how old they were and perhaps evidence of who they were.</div>
<blockquote style="border-left-color: rgb(212, 192, 223); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 6px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 25px 0px 35px; quotes: ''; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<strong style="border: 0px; color: #52057f; display: block; font-family: 'Channel 4 Heavy', Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The short answer is we don't know just how many skeletons are out there.</strong><em style="border: 0px; color: #7f8c98; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.875em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nick Elsden, Museum of London Archaeology</em></div>
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"However, at this early stage... all points towards this being part of the 14th century emergency burial ground."</div>
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In nearby east Smithfield, a similar skeleton formation was found in a Black Death burial site in the 1980s.</div>
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And these are not the first skeletons to be discovered as part of the Crossrail project, which aims to build a high-speed rail network across London, with 37 stations, by 2018. Archaeologists uncovered 300 skeletons at a known burial ground at Liverpool Street, which dates from the 1500s to 1700s, near the Bedlam Hospital.</div>
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And for anyone worried about coming into contact with the Black Death skeleton pit, Mr Elsden was quick to reassure the public that there was no longer any health risk from the plague.</div>
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"It's not something that stays in the soil," he said. "You have to actually meet someone who has it in order to catch it."</div>
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</div></i>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-56940252052743975782013-03-08T12:46:00.000-08:002013-03-08T12:46:10.714-08:00<i><br />
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Bill Gates, Monsanto, and eugenics: How one of the world's wealthiest men is actively promoting a corporate takeover of global agriculture</i></h1>
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer<br />
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(NaturalNews) After it was exposed that the <i>Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation</i>, the philanthropic brainchild of <i>Microsoft</i> founder Bill Gates, purchased 500,000 shares in <i>Monsanto</i> back in 2010 valued at more than $23 million, it became abundantly clear that this so-called benevolent charity is up to something other than eradicating disease and feeding the world's poor (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/sep/29/gates-foundation-gm-monsanto" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk</a>). It turns out that the Gates family legacy has long been one of trying to dominate and control the world's systems, including in the areas of technology, medicine, and now agriculture.<br />
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The <i>Gates Foundation</i>, aka the tax-exempt Gates Family Trust, is currently in the process of spending billions of dollars in the name of humanitarianism to establish a global food monopoly dominated by genetically-modified (GM) crops and seeds. And based on the Gates family's history of involvement in world affairs, it appears that one of its main goals besides simply establishing corporate control of the world's food supply is to reduce the world's population by a significant amount in the process.<br />
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William H. Gates Sr., former head of eugenics group Planned Parenthood</h1>
Bill Gates' father, William H. Gates Sr., has long been involved with the eugenics group <i>Planned Parenthood</i>, a rebranded organization birthed out of the <i>American Eugenics Society</i>. In a 2003 interview with <i>PBS</i>' Bill Moyers, <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/Bill_Gates.html" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;">Bill Gates</a> admitted that his father used to be the head of <i>Planned Parenthood</i>, which was founded on the concept that most human beings are just "reckless breeders" and "human weeds" in need of culling (<a href="http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_gates.html" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_gates.html</a>).<br />
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Gates also admitted during the interview that his family's involvement in reproductive issues throughout the years has been extensive, referencing his own prior adherence to the beliefs of eugenicist Thomas Robert Malthus, who believed that populations of the <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/world.html" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;">world</a> need to be controlled through reproductive restrictions. Though Gates claims he now holds a different view, it appears as though his foundation's initiatives are just a modified Malthusian approach that much more discreetly reduces populations through vaccines and GMOs (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus</a>).<br />
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Gates Foundation has invested heavily in converting Asian, African agricultural systems to GMOs</h1>
William Gates Sr.'s association with <i>Planned Parenthood</i> and continued influence in the realm of "population and reproductive health" is significant because Gates Sr. is co-chair of the <i>Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation</i> (<a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/leadership/Pages/william-gates-sr.aspx" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.gatesfoundation.org/leadership/Pages/william-gates-sr.aspx</a>). This long-time eugenicist "guides the vision and strategic direction" of the <i>Gates Foundation</i>, which is currently heavily focused on forcing GMOs on Africa via its financing of the <i>Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa</i> (AGRA).<br />
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The <i>Gates Foundation</i> has admittedly given at least $264.5 million in grant commitments to AGRA (<a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/Documents/BMGFFactSheet.pdf" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.gatesfoundation.org/about/Documents/BMGFFactSheet.pdf</a>), and also reportedly hired Dr. Robert Horsch, a former <i>Monsanto</i> executive for 25 years who developed Roundup, to head up AGRA back in 2006. According to a report published in <i>La Via Campesina</i> back in 2010, 70 percent of AGRA's grantees in Kenya work directly with <i>Monsanto</i>, and nearly 80 percent of the <i>Gates Foundation</i>funding is devoted to biotechnology (<a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21606.cfm" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21606.cfm</a>).<br />
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The same report explains that the <i>Gates Foundation</i> pledged $880 million in April 2010 to create the<i>Global Agriculture and Food Security Program</i> (GAFSP), which is a heavy promoter of GMOs. GAFSP, of course, was responsible for providing $35 million in "aid" to earthquake-shattered Haiti to be used for implementing GMO agricultural systems and technologies.<br />
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Back in 2003, the <i>Gates Foundation</i> invested $25 million in "GM (genetically modified) research to develop vitamin and protein-enriched seeds for the world's poor," a move that many international charities and farmers groups vehemently opposed (<a href="http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/10/03/who-put-bill-gates-in-charge-of-the-world/" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://healthfreedoms.org</a>). And in 2008, the <i>Gates Foundation</i> awarded $26.8 million to <i>Cornell University</i> to research GM wheat, which is the next major food crop in the crosshairs of <i>Monsanto</i>'s GM food crop pipeline (<a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21606.cfm" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21606.cfm</a>).<br />
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If you control agriculture, you control the populations of the world</h1>
The <i>Gates Foundation</i>'s ties with <i>Monsanto</i> and corporate agriculture in general speak volumes about its real agenda, which is to create a monopolistic system of world control in every area of human life. Vaccines, pharmaceuticals, GMOs, reproductive control, weather manipulation, global warming -- these and many other points of entry are the means by which the <i>Gates Foundation</i> is making great strides to control the world by pretending to help improve and save it.<br />
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Rather than promote real food sovereignty and address the underlying political and economic issues that breed poverty, Gates and Co. has instead embraced the promotion of corporately-owned and controlled agriculture and medicine paradigms that will only further enslave the world's most impoverished. It is abundantly evident that GMOs have ravished already-impoverished people groups by destroying their native agricultural systems, as has been seen in India (<a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/030913_Monsanto_suicides.html" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.naturalnews.com/030913_Monsanto_suicides.html</a>).<br />
<br />
Some may say Gates' endeavors are all about the money, while others may say they are about power and control. Perhaps it is a combination of both, where Gates is still in the business of promoting his own commercial investments, which includes buying shares in <i><a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/Monsanto.html" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;">Monsanto</a></i> while simultaneously investing in programs to promote <i>Monsanto</i>.<br />
<br />
Whatever the case may be, there is simply no denying that Gates now has a direct interest in seeing<i>Monsanto</i> succeed in spreading GMOs around the world. And since Gates is openly facilitating<i>Monsanto</i>'s growth into new markets through his "humanitarian" efforts, it is clear that the Gates family is in bed with <i>Monsanto</i>.<br />
<br />
"Although Bill Gates might try to say that the Foundation is not linked to his business, all it proves is the opposite: most of their donations end up favoring the commercial investments of the tycoon, not really "donating" anything, but instead of paying taxes to state coffers, he invests his profits in where it is favorable to him economically, including propaganda from their supposed good intentions," wrote Silvia Ribeiro in the Mexican news source <i>La Jornada</i> back in 2010.<br />
<br />
"On the contrary, their 'donations' finance projects as destructive as geoengineering or replacement of natural community medicines for high-tech patented medicines in the poorest areas of the world ... Gates is also engaged in trying to destroy rural farming worldwide, mainly through the 'Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa' (AGRA). It works as a Trojan horse to deprive poor African farmers of their traditional seeds, replacing them with the seeds of their companies first, finally by genetically modified (GM)."<br />
<br />
<b>Sources for this article include:</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/sep/29/gates-foundation-gm-monsanto" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.seattleglobaljustice.org/2010/08/for-immediate-release-gates-foundation-invests-in-monsanto/" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.seattleglobaljustice.org</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://english.pravda.ru/business/companies/14-10-2010/115363-machines_of_war_blackwater_monsanto_billgates-0/" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://english.pravda.ru</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21606.cfm" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21606.cfm</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Eugenics_Society" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Eugenics_Society</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/033148_seed_companies_Monsanto.html" style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.naturalnews.com/033148_seed_companies_Monsanto.html</a></div>
</td></tr>
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<br /><br />Learn more: <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/035105_Bill_Gates_Monsanto_eugenics.html#ixzz2Mz101UfC" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">http://www.naturalnews.com/035105_Bill_Gates_Monsanto_eugenics.html#ixzz2Mz101UfC</a></i>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-12502561633169983592013-03-08T12:05:00.000-08:002013-03-08T12:05:20.946-08:00<i><br />
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<span class="large" style="font-size: medium;">Final Warning: A History of the New World Order</span><br /><span class="indent" style="padding-left: 2%;">Illuminism and the master plan for world domination</span><br /><span class="indent" style="padding-left: 2%;">-- by: David Allen Rivera, 1994, <i>source:</i> <a class="offsite" href="http://www.comingjudgement.250x.com/index_files/FW_files/fwcontents.htm" style="color: #000088; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Offsite">Coming Judgement</a></span><br /><br /><span class="info" style="color: #888888;">MHP hypertext version for <i>non-profit educational use only</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The Club of Rome and Population Reduction</span><br /><span class="small indent" style="padding-left: 2%;">The Club of Rome, the Limits to Growth, and the AIDS epidemic</span><ul>
<li><a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=FinalWarning&C=8.5#Origin" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;">The Origin of the Club of Rome</a></li>
<li><a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=FinalWarning&C=8.5#Limits" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;">"The Limits to Growth"</a></li>
<li><a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=FinalWarning&C=8.5#AIDS" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;">Origins of the HIV/AIDS Virus</a></li>
<li><a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=FinalWarning&C=8.5#Epidemic" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;">The Beginning of the AIDS Epidemic</a></li>
<li><a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=FinalWarning&C=8.5#Progress" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;">Progress of the AIDS Epidemic</a></li>
</ul>
<span class="info" style="color: #888888;">>> Follow links for <b>timelines</b> and <b>related articles</b></span></div>
<a href="" name="Origin" style="background-color: #fffffa; color: #440088; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></a><div class="text" style="background-color: #f8fce4; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 15.953125px 7.96875px; padding: 15.953125px 23.9375px;">
<span class="large" style="font-size: medium;">The Origin of the Club of Rome</span><span class="info" style="color: #888888; font-size: x-small;">[Editor's note: This chapter has been condensed. The original text is available at the Author's website.]</span><br />
The Conference on Conditions of World Order was held from June 12-19, 1965 at the Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Italy, sponsored by the <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=CongCultFree" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Congress for Cultural Freedom</a>, with a grant from the <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=FordFound" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Ford Foundation</a> and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A group of 21 scholars, writers and scientists from all over the world met to define the concepts of world order. A segment of their report by Helio Jaguaribe said:<br />
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"The establishment of world order depends not only on its intrinsic desirability and viability, but also on the support of men and groups who decide to dedicate themselves to the completion of such a goal. As increasing sectors of developed and underdeveloped societies begin to realize the urgent necessity of world order, the viability of its establishment, and the fact that it can be achieved by adopting measures which are reasonable in themselves, none of the governments will be able to escape public pressure for establishing world order ...<br />
It is incumbent upon the intellectuals to play the decisive role in the formation of pressure groups in favor of world order ... the establishment of world order demands the mobilization of groups dedicated to international pressure for the gradual implantation of that world order ... the negotiated establishment of world order is theoretically possible and practically feasible since, in the last analysis, the probable effects of nuclear conflagration have made way an impractical alternative to the peaceful solution of contemporary problems."</blockquote>
Three years later, in April, 1968 a think-tank of financiers, scientists, economists, politicians, heads of state, and industrialists from ten different countries, again met at <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=RockefellerD" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Rockefeller</a>'s private estate in Bellagio, Italy, at the request of Aurelio Peccei, the Italian industrialist who had close ties to Fiat and the Olivetti Corporation. He claimed to have solutions for world peace and prosperity, which could be accomplished through world government. The <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=ClubRome" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Club of Rome (COR)</a> was established with a membership of 75 prominent scientists, industrialists, and economists from 25 countries, which along with the <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=Bilderberg" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Bilderberg</a>, have become one of the most important foreign policy arms of the <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=RoundTableSoc" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Round Table</a> group.<br />
Many of the COR executives were drawn from <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=NATO" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">NATO</a> and they have been able to formulate a lot of what NATO claims are its policies. Through Lord Carrington, they were able to split NATO into two factions: a left-wing political group whose doctrine was formed on the basis of Peccei's book <i>Human Quality</i>, and its former military alliance.<br />
The first <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=ClubRome" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Club of Rome</a> conference in the U.S. was in 1969, where the American branch was organized as the "American Association of the Club of Rome." Among its members were:<br />
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<ul>
<li style="margin-top: 2px;"><a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=CousinsN" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Norman Cousins</a> (honorary Chairman of Planetary Citizens)</li>
<li style="margin-top: 2px;">John Naisbitt (author of <i>Megatrends</i>)</li>
<li style="margin-top: 2px;">Amory Lovins (a speaker at Windstar, John Denver's New Age center in Snowmass, Colorado)</li>
<li style="margin-top: 2px;">Betty Friedan (founding President of NOW, the National Organization of Women)</li>
<li style="margin-top: 2px;">Jean Houston and Hazel Henderson (New Age authors and speakers)</li>
<li style="margin-top: 2px;">Robert O. Anderson and Harlan B. Cleveland (CFR members and part of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies)</li>
<li style="margin-top: 2px;">Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI)</li>
<li style="margin-top: 2px;">Rep. Frank M. Potter (staff director of the House Subcommittee on Energy).</li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=FinalWarning&C=8.5#PageTop" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;">(page top)</a></div>
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<a href="" name="Limits" style="background-color: #fffffa; color: #440088; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></a><div class="text" style="background-color: #f8fce4; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 15.953125px 7.96875px; padding: 15.953125px 23.9375px;">
<span class="large" style="font-size: medium;">"The Limits to Growth"</span>Their first book titled <i>The Limits to Growth</i> was published in 1972 and dealt with the problem of worldwide overpopulation. It stated that "if the world's consumption patterns and population growth continued at the same high rates of the time, the earth would strike its limits within a century." The book, which sold 12 million copies in 27 languages, described their vision for the world:<br />
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"We believe in fact that the need will quickly become evident for social innovation to match technical change, for radical reform of the institutions and political processes at all levels, including the highest, that of world polity. And since intellectual enlightenment is without effect if it is not also political, The Club of Rome also will encourage the creation of a world forum where statesmen, policy-makers, and scientists can discuss the dangers and hopes for the future global system without the constraints of formal intergovernmental negotiation."</blockquote>
For the most part, the <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=ClubRome" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Club of Rome</a> (main office at 193 Rissener Landstr. In Hamburg, Germany) functions as a research institute on economic, political, and social problems, and claims that "there is no other viable alternative to the future survival of civilization than a new global community under a common leadership." Their website claims:<br />
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"The Club of Rome's mission is to act as a global catalyst of change that is free of any political, ideological or business interest. The Club of Rome contributes to the solution of what it calls the world problematique, the complex set of the most crucial problems- political, social, economic, technological, environmental, psychological and cultural- facing humanity. It does so taking a global, long term and interdisciplinary prospective aware of the increasing interdependence of nations and the globalization of problems that pose predicaments beyond the capacity of individual countries."</blockquote>
On September 17, 1973, they released a Report called the "Regionalized and Adaptive Model of the Global World System" which was prepared by Directors Mihajlo Mesarovic and Eduard Pestel as part of the "Strategy for Survival Project". This revealed the Club's goal of dividing the world into ten political/economic regions... which would unite the entire world under a single form of government. These regions are: North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Rest of Developed World, Latin America, Middle East, Rest of Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and China. The same plan was published in a Club of Rome book called <i>Mankind at the Turning Point</i>, which said:<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: small; margin: 7.390625px 14px 7.390625px 14.796875px; padding: 7.390625px 22.203125px;">
"The solution of these crises can be developed only in a global context with full and explicit recognition of the emerging world system and on a long-term basis. This would necessitate, among other changes, a new world economic order and a global resources allocation system..."</blockquote>
In 1976, they published <i>RIO: Reshaping the International Order</i> which called for a new international order, including an economic redistribution of wealth.<br />
During the Carter Administration, a task force was appointed to expand upon this report, and on July 24, 1980, a two-volume document called "Global 2000 Report," which had been written by former Secretary of State <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=VanceCR" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Cyrus R. Vance</a>, was presented to President <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=CarterJE" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Carter</a>, and then Secretary of State Edward S. Muskie. It attempted to project global economic trends for the next twenty years, and indicated that the resources of the planet were not sufficient enough to support the expect dramatic increase in the world population. The report called for the population of the U.S. to be reduced by 100 million people by the year 2050.<br />
Howard T. Odum, a marine biologist at the University of Florida, who is a member of the Club of Rome, was quoted in the August, 1980 edition of <i>Fusion</i> magazine, as saying: "It is necessary that the United States cut its population by two-thirds within the next 50 years." He didn't say how this would be accomplished.<br />
About six months later, the Council on Environmental Quality made recommendations based on the Report, called "Global Future: A Time to Act." They suggested an aggressive program of population control which included sterilization, contraception and abortion. In August, 1982, the <i>Executive Intelligence Review</i>published a report called "Global 2000: Blueprint for Genocide" which said that the two aforementioned Presidential reports:<br />
<br />
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"...are correctly understood as political statements of intent- the intent on the part of such policy centers as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the International Monetary Fund, to pursue policies that will result not only in the death of the 120 million cited in the reports, but in the death of upwards of two billion people by the year 2000."</blockquote>
<br />
Peccei wrote (based on a report by COR member <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=ClevelandH" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Harland Cleveland</a>, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, who believed that Third World countries should decide for themselves who should be eliminated):<br />
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"Damaged by conflicting policies of three major countries and blocs, roughly patched up here and there, the existing international economic order is visibly coming apart at the seams ... The prospect of the necessity of the recourse to triage deciding who must be saved is a very grim one indeed. But, if lamentably, events should come to such a pass, the right to make such decisions cannot be left to just a few nations because it would lend themselves to ominous power over life of the world's hungry."</blockquote>
Throughout the world, the <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=ClubRome" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Club of Rome</a> has indicated that genocide should be used to eliminate people who they refer to as "useless eaters." This would be accomplished by using limited wars in advanced countries, and even a limited nuclear strike at a strategic location; as well as starvation through created famines and diseases in Third World countries.<br />
In the 1976 novel <i>Ceremony of the Innocent</i> by Taylor Caldwell, she effectively explains the rationale behind their actions:<br />
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"...there will be no peace in the tormented world, only a programmed and systematic series of wars and calamities- until the plotters have gained their objective: an exhausted world willing to submit to a planned Marxist economy and total and meek enslavement- in the name of peace."</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="center small" style="font-size: small; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=FinalWarning&C=8.5#PageTop" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;">(page top)</a></div>
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<a href="" name="AIDS" style="background-color: #fffffa; color: #440088; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></a><div class="text" style="background-color: #f8fce4; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 15.953125px 7.96875px; padding: 15.953125px 23.9375px;">
<span class="large" style="font-size: medium;">Origins of the HIV/AIDS Virus</span>Have their plans for genocide already started? [Since the 1970's], the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has become a global plague, spreading to 91 nations [and resulting in millions of deaths].<br />
In 1961, at the Litton Bionetics laboratory (who was working with the Navy's Biomedical Research Laboratory, in association with the Univeristy of California), retroviral experiments with African green monkeys and human T-cell leukemia were being conducted under the auspices of the National Institute of Health (contract # SVCP PR#8 NIH #71-2025).<br />
[The experiments] consisted of taking monkey viruses that were harmless to humans, recombining them with DNA, RNA and enzymes from other animal viruses that were known to cause leukemias, lymphomas, and sarcomas; then causing them to jump species. The new mutant viruses were cultured into human white blood cells in some studies, and in other studies human fetal tissues, which [reportedly] produced "immune-system destroying, cancer-causing viruses". The scientist who was directing the tests was Dr. Robert Gallo.<br />
In 1969 at a House Appropriations hearing, the Defense Department's Biological Warfare unit requested funds to develop, through gene-splicing, a new disease that would be resistant to treatment and break down a victim's immune system. They received $10 million (H.B. 15090), to produce "a synthetic biological agent, an agent that does not naturally exist and for which no natural immunity could have been acquired."<br />
In the 1972 Bulletin of the U.N.'s <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=UNWHO" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">World Health Organization (WHO)</a>, volume 47, it says:<br />
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[Recommendation (3):]<br />
"An attempt should be made to see if viruses can in fact exert selective effects on immune function. The possibility should be looked into that the immune response to the virus itself may be impaired if the inflicting virus damages, more or less selectively, the cell responding to the virus."<br />
-- <a href="http://whqlibdoc.who.int/bulletin/1972/Vol47/Vol47-No2/bulletin_1972_47(2)_memo1.pdf" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;">"Virus Associated Immunopathology: Animal models and implications for human disease"</a>, WHO Bulletin, 1972, vol 47, no 2, pg 259</blockquote>
Derivatives from sheep and cattle have been commonly used to manufacture vaccines; however, certain viruses common to these animals can interact forming a new strain of deadly viruses called retro-viruses. In 1974, the National Academy of Sciences recommended that "Scientists throughout the world join with members of this committee in voluntarily deferring experiments (linking) animal viruses."<br />
In 1975, Dr. Robert Gallo and eight other scientists (working at the Bethesda Cancer Research Center in Maryland) had been working to modify the genetic structure of the virus so that it could be more easily transmitted. That same year, after Fort Detrick had become demilitarized, the newly established Frederick Cancer Research Facility was placed under the direction of the Bethesda Cancer Research Center where Gallo was the Director.<br />
One investigation revealed that in March, 1976, a special federal government virus development program began producing the AIDS virus, and it was headed by Dr. Gallo and Dr. Novakhatskiy of the Ivanosku Institute in Russia. Gallo would later be investigated and found guilty of scientific misconduct, but President<a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=ClintonWJ" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">Clinton</a> pardoned him.<br />
In response to the charges that AIDS was developed as a military biological warfare weapon, in February, 1987, Army Col. David Huxsoll said: "Studies at army laboratories have shown that the AIDS virus would be an extremely poor biological warfare agent." He later denied saying it.<br />
Dr. Robert Strecker, a practicing gastroenterologist with a Ph.D. in pharmacology, who was hired as a consultant to work on a health-care proposal for Security Pacific Bank, said:<br />
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"I don't think there is any doubt that AIDS is a man-made problem. The question is whether it was created either accidentally or intentionally. I believe the AIDS virus was requested, predicted, produced, and deployed."</blockquote>
Strecker's research indicated that the AIDS virus was developed by the Frederick Cancer Research Facility of the National Cancer Institute, in cooperation with the <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=UNWHO" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">WHO</a>, in their laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland (which until 1969 was part of the U.S. Army's germ warfare unit, known as the Army Infectious Disease Unit, or Special Operations Division) by combining bovine (cattle) leukemia virus and visna (sheep) virus, and injecting them into human tissue cultures.<br />
The bovine leukemia virus is lethal to cattle, but not to humans; and the visna virus is deadly to sheep, but not to man. However, when combined, they produce a retro-virus that can change the genetic composition of the cells that they enter. He said:<br />
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"If one analyzes the genes of the human AIDS virus and the genes of the bovine leukemia virus of cattle and the visna virus of sheep, and compares them, the genes appear related. How is it possible that the bovine visna virus -- which looks like AIDS and produces an AIDS-like disease, and which produced pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in chimpanzees in 1972 -- has not been analyzed and compared with AIDS ... until 1987 when 'Characterization and Molecular Cloning of Bovine Lente (Latin for 'slow') Virus Related to Human Immunodeficiency Virus' was published in <i>Nature</i> magazine. Matthew Gonda, the author, described a virus that looks like AIDS, named bovine visna virus, and suggested that it was most closely related to AIDS and may well be its precursor."</blockquote>
On August 11, 1988, Ted Strecker, Dr. Strecker's brother was found shot to death in his home in Springfield, Missouri. His death was ruled a suicide. A month later on September 22, 1988, Illinois State Representative Douglas Huff of Chicago was found dead in his home. The autopsy revealed that he died of a stroke as a result of an overdose of cocaine and heroin. Rep. Huff just happened to be a very vocal supporter of Dr. Strecker's work to publicize the AIDS cover-up.<br />
<br />
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<span class="large" style="font-size: medium;">The Beginning of the AIDS Epidemic</span>The most common theory about the origin of AIDS was that it came from green monkeys in Africa. Yet several virologists have said that the AIDS virus does not occur naturally in any animal. Besides, it would have been statistically impossible to reach the point we are at now, just from a single episode. If the AIDS virus had originated with the monkeys, then the disease would have surfaced with the Pygmies, who are closer to them, and use them as a food source, yet, it appeared first in the cities. Further damaging evidence comes from the fact that AIDS occurred almost simultaneously in the United States, Haiti, Brazil, and Central Africa.<br />
In 1972, there was a vaccination program for smallpox in Africa by the <a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Entity=UNWHO" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Database">WHO</a>, and some researchers believe that the smallpox vaccination program was used to introduce the [HIV/AIDS] virus into the population. On May 11, 1987, the <i>London Times</i> ran an article called "Smallpox Vaccine 'Triggered AIDS Virus'" written by Science Editor Pearce Wright, who linked the mass vaccination program of the World Health Organization in the 1970's to the outbreak of AIDS, because Central Africa was the focus of the program and has become the most affected area in the world.<br />
While in Africa AIDS is generally regarded as a heterosexual disease, in the United States it has the stigma of being a 'gay' disease. Prior to 1978, there was no sign of the AIDS virus here; yet in 1978, the killer disease struck with a vengeance within the homosexual community. The evidence points to the introduction [via] an experimental Hepatitis B vaccine. In 1969, Dr. W. Schmugner, a Polish physician, who was educated in Russia, came to the United States where he became head of the New York City Blood Bank. He set up guidelines for a Hepatitis vaccine study, and only promiscuous males between the ages of 20 and 40 were included in the study, which has led some to believe that this was how the virus was introduced into the gay population.<br />
In 1978, more than 1,000 [promiscuous homosexual] adult males received an experimental vaccination against Hepatitis B, which was sponsored by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). With the Hepatitis vaccine, which is not produced from a human tissue culture, it is impossible to have an accidental contamination, which seems to indicate that the AIDS virus was intentionally put in the vaccine. In 1981, the Center for Disease Control reported that 6% of those receiving the Hepatitis vaccine were infected with AIDS, but in 1984, they admitted that it was actually 64%. These Hepatitis vaccine studies are now in the possession of the Justice Department in Washington, DC.<br />
To allow the disease to become entrenched within the population, various facts were covered-up and glossed-over. A great deal of emphasis had been put on the prime cause of AIDS infection being the exchange of body fluid through sexual activity and intravenous drug use, which led to a campaign for the importance of using clean, unused needles, and condoms. The use of a condom does not guarantee protection against the transmission of the AIDS virus. All it takes is one AIDS virion (a complete virus particle with its outer coat intact) and the smallest sperm is 500 times larger that one such virion. In addition, the quality of condoms have become highly suspect, since failure rates of 30-50% have been reported.<br />
The risk of casual contact has been played down, when in fact AIDS is a highly contagious disease which demands that a quarantine be placed on those who suffer from the disease [and that partners of infected persons be notified]. Rather than treat the disease as the epidemic that it is, the government has concerned itself with giving AIDS carriers more rights and more exposure to the general population. There is concrete medical evidence that indicates that the virus can survive up to 7 days on a dry petri dish, and up to 15 days in an aqueous (wet) environment. It can incubate [in the host] 10-15 years before causing any noticeable signs of illness, which means that [a carrier can unknowingly transmit the disease] in that period of time.<br />
A February, 1985 report in the British medical journal <i>Lancet</i>, said: "There is little evidence for homosexual activity among African AIDS patients (and it) appears to be transmitted through heterosexual contact or exposure to blood through insect bites..." On September 9, 1985, a research team of researchers from the National Cancer Institute, the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology and the Institute of Tropical Medicine, said that "human retroviruses could be transmitted by mosquitoes or within the parasite itself." In a report published in the October, 1981, issue of <i>Science</i>, Boston hematologist Dr. Jerome Groopman, and researchers with the National Institute of Health said that recovery of the AIDS virus "from saliva suggests that direct contact with this body fluid should be avoided..."<br />
On January 11, 1985, the Center for Disease Control reported: "There is a risk of infecting others by ... exposure of others through oral-genital contact or intimate kissing." Dr. Richard Restak, a Washington neurologist, made this statement:<br />
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"At this point live AIDS virus has been isolated from blood, semen, serum, saliva, urine and now tears. If the virus exists in these fluids, the better part of wisdom dictates that we assume the possibility that it can also be transmitted by these routes. It seems reasonable, therefore, that AIDS victims should not donate blood or blood products, should not contribute to semen banks, should not donate tissues or organs to organ banks, should not work as dental or medical technicians, and should probably not be employed as food handlers."</blockquote>
Professor William Haseltine of the Harvard Medical School, in a presentation to a University audience, said that:<br />
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"anyone who tells you categorically that AIDS is not contracted by saliva is not telling you the truth. AIDS <b>may</b> in fact be transmissible by tears, saliva, bodily fluids, and mosquito bites."</blockquote>
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[Note: At the time this was written, much was still unknown about HIV transmission. Later <a class="offsite" href="http://www-rci.rutgers.edu/~insects/aids.htm" style="color: #000088; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Offsite">research studies have shown</a> that HIV/AIDS cannot be easily transmitted by mosquitoes or other biting insects. --ed]</div>
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<span class="large" style="font-size: medium;">Progress of the AIDS Epidemic</span>In the early 1990's the <i>U.S. News and World Report</i> stated: "If there is not a cure for AIDS within the next thirteen years, tens of millions will die." Even though there has been a lot of talk about AIDS awareness and prevention, the full danger of it has been covered-up by the Center for Disease Control, and the media which has increasingly shown its pro-homosexual bias.<br />
AIDS is an epidemic that will not be stopped. The scientists that created this deadly virus have created an organism that multiplies 100 times faster than influenza. There are more than 180 different AIDS viruses and 300 strains, which makes blood testing meaningless. The virus is constantly mutating, which makes it impossible to develop a general vaccine that would be effective with everyone.<br />
Quite simply, AIDS is a world-wide, modern-day plague, and every year the number of those affected increases drastically. In the March, 1987 issue of <i>Vanity Fair</i>, Dr. William Grace, chief of Oncology at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York, is quoted as saying: "I think AIDS is going to devastate the American medical system. Besides not being able to combat it medically, the disease will progress to being an economic drain, especially if national health care is instituted."<br />
Whether AIDS is [actually an instrument for the population reduction] that the Club of Rome has referred to... is undoubtedly open to speculation, even in light of all the questions raised. If its purpose is to thin out the population, it certainly has been successful.<br />
<span class="small" style="font-size: x-small;">[For more, see "<a href="http://modernhistoryproject.org/mhp?Article=CullTheHerd" style="color: #440088; text-decoration: none;" title="MHP Article">Culling the Herd</a>" -- ed]</span><br />
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</div>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-87729859400037638652013-03-07T09:51:00.001-08:002013-03-07T10:01:31.826-08:00Is it possible that cancer is a fungus?<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">CANCER IS A <em>FUNGUS</em> ...</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">... AND IT IS <em>CURABLE</em></span></div>
<span id="role_document" style="background-color: #ededed; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">By David Icke</span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;"></span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">The figures are fantastic. Some eight million people die every year from cancer worldwide, more than half a million in the United States alone. The global number is predicted to rise to twelve million by 2030.<br />
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Cancer is the biggest cause of death for people under 85 and in the US one in four people die from cancer - <em>one in four</em>.<br />
<br />
We have our freedoms removed by the day to 'protect the public from terrorism' when all these people are suffering and dying every year from a disease that the bloodline families and their pharmaceutical cartel systematically refuse to cure. </span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">Together we can, yes, but not if the drug companies are involved. Immense amounts of money are raised through charities every year to fund the search for a 'cure' that the establishment has no intention of finding. </span></em></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">I highlighted in a newsletter on August 9th how a man called Dr Richard Day, the head of the Rockefeller-controlled eugenics organisation, Planned Parenthood, had addressed a meeting of doctors in Pittsburgh in 1969 about the coming transformation of global society.<br />
<br />
He asked the doctors to turn off recording equipment and not to take notes before he detailed a long list of changes that were planned. One doctor did take notes, however, and later talked publicly about what was said.<br />
<br />
Now, 40 years later, we can see how extraordinarily accurate Day was and you can read that August newsletter in the archive on the website. The reason I mention him again here is that he told those doctors in 1969:<br />
<br />
<em>'We can cure almost every cancer right now. Information is on file in the Rockefeller Institute, if it's ever decided that it should be released.'</em><br />
<br />
Day said that letting people die of cancer would slow down population growth - 'You may as well die of cancer as something else'. These people no soul and that's why they do what they do.<br />
<br />
Big Pharma has no desire to cure cancer when it is making vast fortunes from treating the symptoms with devastating drugs and cell-killing, people-killing poisons like chemotherapy. But it is not primarily even about money. The bloodline families want people to suffer and die earlier than necessary as a way of culling the population.<br />
<br />
This is why when anyone outside the Big Pharma cabal discovers an effective way of treating cancer they are immediately targeted by the medical establishment and government agencies. </span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">One such case is the Italian doctor, Tullio Simoncini, a brilliant and courageous man who has refused to bow to the enormous pressure he has faced, and continues to face, after he realised what cancer is and how it can be dealt with.<br />
<br />
Simoncini's 'crime' has been to discover that cancer is a fungus caused by Candida, a yeast-like organism that lives in the body in small amounts even in healthy people. The immune system keeps it under control normally, but when the Candida morphs into a powerful fungus some serious health problems can follow - including cancer.<br />
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My friend, Mike Lambert, at the Shen Clinic near my home on the Isle of Wight, says of Candida:<br />
<br />
<em>'Fungus, and Candida in particular, thrive by eating the body of its host (yours) by dissolving it. It also needs your body to breed, as it can't do this on its own. No wonder in Chronic Fatigue conditions, which can in many cases be attributed to Candida colonisation, the sufferer feels so bad both physically and psychologically.'</em><br />
<br />
Tullio Simoncini says that cancer <em>is</em> this Candida fungal infection and that the conventional medical explanation of cancer as a cellular malfunction is plain wrong. </span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">Candida</span></em></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">Simoncini is a specialist in oncology (treatment of tumors), diabetes and metabolic disorders, but he is more than that. He is a <em>real</em> doctor who seeks to uncover the truth for the benefit of his patients and refuses to parrot the official version of what doctors should do and think.<br />
<br />
He challenges the dogma of 'intellectual conformity' with all its unproven assumptions, lies, manipulation and falsehoods and he has been extremely critical of the medical establishment as it continues to pursue 'treatments' that are useless in curing the global epidemic of cancer.<br />
<br />
From the time he entered medicine he realised that something was seriously wrong with the way cancer was treated:<br />
<br />
<em>'I see terrible sufferings. I was in a paediatric oncological ward - all the children died. I was suffering when I was looking at the poor, poor children dying with chemo, with radiation.'</em><br />
<br />
His frustration and sorrow at what he was seeing led him to go in search of new ways to understand, and therefore treat, this devastating disease. He began his journey with an open mind and a blank sheet of paper unsullied by any rigid assumptions pedalled and indoctrinated by mainstream 'medicine' and 'science'. </span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<img alt="" height="338" src="http://www.davidicke.com/oi/extras/09/november/cancer05.jpg" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" title="" width="450" /></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">How many more have to suffer before people stop seeing doctors as all-knowing 'gods' and realise the stupendous scale of ignorance involved? </span></em></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">Simoncini realised that all cancers acted the same way no matter where they were in the body or what form they took. There had to be a common denominator. He also observed that the cancer 'lumps' were always white.<br />
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What else is white? <em>Candida</em>.<br />
<br />
Simoncini realised that what mainstream medicine believed to be cell growth going wild - 'cancerous growth' - is actually the immune system producing cells to defend the body from Candida attack. He says the sequence goes like this:</span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<ul style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; width: 600px;">
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; clear: both; float: none; list-style-type: inherit; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 10px; width: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">Candida is normally kept under control by the immune system, but when that becomes undermined and weakened the Candida can expand and build a 'colony'.</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; clear: both; float: none; list-style-type: inherit; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 10px; width: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">The Candida eventually penetrates an organ and the immune system has to respond to the threat in another way.</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; clear: both; float: none; list-style-type: inherit; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 10px; width: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">This 'way' is to build a defensive barrier with its own cells and this growth is what we call cancer.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">It is said that the spreading of cancer to other parts of the body is caused by 'malignant' cells escaping from their origin. Simoncini, however, says this is not the case at all. The spread of cancer is triggered by the real <em>cause</em> of cancer, the Candia fungus, escaping from the original source.<br />
<br />
What allows cancer to manifest, as I have been saying in my books for years, is a weakened immune system. When that is working efficiently it deals with the problem before it gets out of hand. In this case, it keeps the Candida under control.</span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><br />
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<img alt="" height="457" src="http://www.davidicke.com/oi/extras/09/november/cancer06.jpg" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" title="" width="600" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">But look at what has been happening as cancer numbers worldwide have soared and soared. There has been a calculated war on the human immune system that has got more vociferous with every decade.<br />
<br />
The immune system is weakened and attacked by food and drink additives, chemical farming, vaccinations, electromagnetic and microwave technology and frequencies, pharmaceutical drugs, the stress of modern 'life', and so much more.<br />
<br />
What defences are today's children going to have when they are given 25 vaccinations and combinations of them, before the age of two - while their immune system is still forming for goodness sake?<br />
<br />
This is how the Illuminati families are seeking to instigate a mass cull of the population. By dismantling the body's natural defence to disease.<br />
<br />
Now, here's the real shocker. What destroys the immune system quicker than anything else?<br />
<br />
<strong><em>CHEMOTHERAPY</em></strong><br />
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You can add radiation to that as well. Chemotherapy is a poison designed to kill cells. Er, that's it. </span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<img alt="" height="374" src="http://www.davidicke.com/oi/extras/09/november/cancer07.jpg" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" title="" width="550" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">The 'cutting-edge' of mainstream cancer 'treatment' is to poison the victim and hope that you kill the cancer cells before you have killed enough healthy cells to kill the patient.<br />
<br />
But wait. This chemotherapy poison also kills the cells of the immune system and leaves it shot to pieces. And the Candida is still there.<br />
<br />
This devastated immune system cannot respond effectively to the Candida and it takes over other parts of the body to start the process again, so causing the cancer to spread. Even those who appear to have recovered after surgery and chemotherapy and been given 'the all-clear' are just a ticking clock.<br />
<br />
Their immune system is now shattered and it is only a matter of time before the Candida triggers a relapse. In other words:<br />
<br />
<em>Chemotherapy is killing the people it is supposed to be curing. </em><br />
<br />
Of course, it can never 'cure' anyone of anything, except life. It is a poison destroying the very system that we need to be healthy and strong if we are to be cured.<br />
<br />
When Simoncini realised that cancer is a fungal infection, or infestation, he went in search of something that would kill the fungus and so remove the cancer. He realised that anti-fungal drugs don't work because the fungus quickly mutates to defend itself and then even starts to <em>feed off</em> the drugs that are prescribed to kill it.</span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">Instead, Simoncini found something much, much simpler - sodium bicarbonate. Yes, the main ingredient in good old <em>baking soda</em> (but I stress not the same as baking soda, which has other ingredients).<br />
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He used this because it is a powerful destroyer of fungus and, unlike the drugs, the Candida cannot 'adapt' to it. The patient is given sodium bicarbonate orally and through internal means like an endoscope, a long thin tube that doctors use to see inside the body without surgery. This allows the sodium bicarbonate to be placed directly on the cancer - the fungus.<br />
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The ancient Egyptians knew about the healing properties of anti-fungal substances and Indian books going back a thousand years actually recommend 'alkaline of strong potency' for treating cancer.<br />
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In 1983, Simoncini treated an Italian man, Gennaro Sangermano, who had been given months to live with lung cancer. A few months later he wasn't dead, he was back to health and the cancer was gone.<br />
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More success followed and Simoncini presented his findings to the Italian Department of Health in the hope that they would begin scientifically-approved trials to show that it worked. But he was to learn the true scale of medical manipulation and deceit. </span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">The authorities not only ignored his documentation, he was disbarred from the Italian Medical Order for prescribing cures that had not been approved. Yep, I really said that - for <em>prescribing cures that had not been approved</em>.<br />
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He was subjected to a vicious campaign of ridicule and condemnation by the pathetic media and then jailed for three years for causing 'wrongful death' to patients he had treated. From all angles the word was out - get Simoncini.<br />
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The medical establishment said that his claims about sodium bicarbonate were 'crazy' and 'dangerous'. One 'leading doctor' even ludicrously referred to sodium bicarbonate as a 'drug'.<br />
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All the time millions of people were dying from cancers that could have been treated effectively. These people don't give a shit.</span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><br />
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<img alt="" height="300" src="http://www.davidicke.com/oi/extras/09/november/cancer10.jpg" style="border: none; margin: 5px 0px 0px;" title="" width="235" /></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">Tullio Simoncini is, thankfully, no quitter and he has continued to circulate his work on the Internet and in public talks. I heard of him through Mike Lambert at the Shen Clinic and Simoncini spoke there while I was away in the United States.<br />
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I know that he is having remarkable success in dramatically reducing and removing altogether even some real late stage cancers using sodium bicarbonate. This can take months in some cases, but in others, like breast cancer where the tumour is easily accessible, it can be days before it is no more.<br />
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People are also curing themselves under Simoncini's guidance and at the end of this article I have linked to some videos in which you can hear people talk about their experiences and cures.<br />
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I wrote a newsletter last April about the fact that cancer is a fungus in an article about the findings of two British scientists and researchers, Professor Gerry Potter of the Cancer Drug Discovery Group and Professor Dan Burke. Their combined findings reveal the following ...</span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">Cancer cells have a unique 'biomarker' that normal cells do not, an enzyme called CYP1B1 (pronounced sip-one-bee-one). Enzymes are proteins that 'catalyse' (increase the rate of) chemical reactions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">The CYP1B1 alters the chemical structure of something called salvestrols that are found naturally in many fruit and vegetables. This chemical change turns the salvestrols into an agent that kills cancer cells, but does no harm to healthy cells.</span></div>
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<img alt="" height="395" src="http://www.davidicke.com/oi/extras/09/november/cancer11.jpg" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" title="" width="550" /> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">The synchronicity is perfect. The CYP1B1 enzyme appears only in cancer cells and it reacts with salvestrols in fruit and vegetables to create a chemical substance that kills only cancer cells.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">But here's the point with regard to cancer being a fungus. Salvestrols are the natural defence system in fruit and vegetables against <em>fungal attacks</em> and that's why you only find them in those species subject to fungus damage, like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, blackcurrants, redcurrants, blackberries, cranberries, apples, pears, green vegetables (especially broccoli and the cabbage family), artichokes, red and yellow peppers, avocados, watercress, asparagus and aubergines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">What's more, the Big Pharma/Big Biotech cartels know all this and they have done two major things to undermine this natural defence from the fungal attack that is cancer. </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">The chemical fungicide sprays used in modern farming kill fungus artificially and this means the plants and crops do not have to trigger their own defence - salvestrols. You only find them in any amount today in organically grown food.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">The most widely-used fungicides are very powerful blockers of CYP1B1 and so if you eat enough chemically-produced food it wouldn't matter how many salvestrols you consumed they would not be activated into the cancer-destroying agent they are designed to be.</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">This is not by accident, but by calculated design, as were, and are, the attempts by the establishment to destroy Tullio Simoncini. The families <em>want</em>people to die of cancer, not be cured of it. They are mentally and emotionally as sick as you can imagine and see humans as sheep and cattle.</span><span style="background-color: #ededed; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">They don't care how much distress, suffering and death their manipulation and suppression will cause - the more the better from their insane perspective. And that is what these people are ... <em>insane</em>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">But Simoncini refuses to buckle and continues to campaign for what has seen is an effective treatment for cancer, while, in the 'real' world, the number of cancer deaths goes on rising incessantly because of treatments that don't work based on assumptions that aren't true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">It is indeed a crazy, crazy society, but then, from the perspective of the bloodline families, it's meant to be. Thank goodness for courageous and committed people like Tullio Simoncini. We need more like him - and quick.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">What a stark contrast he is to those who serve the medical establishment. When Simoncini spoke at the Shen Clinic a few weeks ago some local doctors dismissed him before he arrived and ridiculed his views.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">They were invited along to his talk, which would have been of enormous potential benefit to their patients. Chairs were reserved for them to hear what Simoncini was saying first hand and give them the chance to ask any questions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">What happened?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">They never came.</span></div>
The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-10137390966124916492013-03-03T16:03:00.001-08:002013-03-03T16:38:06.738-08:00Climate change: is it Mankind's greatest scam ever?<i><br />
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The <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Climatic Research Unit email controversy</b> (also known as <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Climategate”</b>)<sup id="cite_ref-2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-2" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[2]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-3" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-3" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[3]</a></sup>began in November 2009 with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_(computer_security)" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Hack (computer security)">hacking</a> of a server at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Climatic Research Unit">Climatic Research Unit</a> (CRU) at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_East_Anglia" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="University of East Anglia">University of East Anglia</a> (UEA) by an external attacker.<sup id="cite_ref-4" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-4" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[4]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Norfolk_Police_5-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-Norfolk_Police-5" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[5]</a></sup> Several weeks before the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference">Copenhagen Summit</a> on climate change, an unknown individual or group breached CRU’s server and copied thousands of emails and computer files to various locations on the Internet.</div>
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The story was first broken by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_controversy" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Global warming controversy">climate change critics</a> on their blogs,<sup id="cite_ref-Leiserowitz_6-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-Leiserowitz-6" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[6]</a></sup> with columnist<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Delingpole" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="James Delingpole">James Delingpole</a> popularising the term “Climategate” to describe the controversy.<sup id="cite_ref-Delingpole1_7-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-Delingpole1-7" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[7]</a></sup>Climate change critics and others <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_denial" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Climate change denial">denying the significance of human caused climate change</a> argued that the emails showed that global warming was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_conspiracy_theory" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Global warming conspiracy theory">a scientific conspiracy</a>, in which they alleged that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics.<sup id="cite_ref-HickmanRanderson2009-11-20_8-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-HickmanRanderson2009-11-20-8" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[8]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-9" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-9" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[9]</a></sup> The accusations were rejected by the CRU, who said that the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas.<sup id="cite_ref-10" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-10" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[10]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-11" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-11" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[11]</a></sup></div>
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The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_mitigation" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Climate change mitigation">climate change mitigation</a> began in Copenhagen on 7 December.<sup id="cite_ref-Fox1_12-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-Fox1-12" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[12]</a></sup> Because of the timing, scientists, policy makers, and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smear_campaign" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Smear campaign">smear campaign</a> intended to undermine the climate conference.<sup id="cite_ref-13" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-13" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[13]</a></sup> In response to the controversy, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Science" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="American Association for the Advancement of Science">American Association for the Advancement of Science</a> (AAAS), the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Meteorological_Society" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="American Meteorological Society">American Meteorological Society</a> (AMS) and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Concerned_Scientists" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Union of Concerned Scientists">Union of Concerned Scientists</a> (UCS) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Earth">Earth</a>‘s mean surface temperature had been rising for decades, with the AAAS concluding “based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway…it is a growing threat to society.”<sup id="cite_ref-14" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-14" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[14]</a></sup></div>
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Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports, finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct.<sup id="cite_ref-6committees_15-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-6committees-15" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[15]</a></sup> However, the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work, for example by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Open access">opening up access</a> to their supporting data, processing methods and software, and by promptly honouring <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_2000" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Freedom of Information Act 2000">freedom of information</a> requests.<sup id="cite_ref-IWR_16-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-IWR-16" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[16]</a></sup> The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Scientific opinion on climate change">scientific consensus</a> that global warming is occurring as a result of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_impact_on_the_environment" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Human impact on the environment">human activity</a> remained unchanged throughout the investigations.<sup id="cite_ref-scientificamerican_17-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy#cite_note-scientificamerican-17" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[17]</a></sup></div>
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Extract taken from: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wikipedia</a></div>
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<a href="http://info.criteo.com/psu/privacy/informations?infonorm=2&partner=5136&campaignid=12168&zoneid=49832&bannerid=467378&displayid=8f305e2a22" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="15" src="http://static.eu.criteo.net/flash/icon/nai_small.png" style="border: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 2px;" width="19" /></a>In the controversy over climate, a new consensus is emerging among scientists.<a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/global-warming" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Global warming</a> alarmists won’t like it.</div>
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A peer reviewed survey of over a thousand scientists revealed that 64% do not believe that human activity is causing the planet to heat up. A mere 36% march to the mantra of cataclysmic warming, according to <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2013/02/13/peer-reviewed-survey-finds-majority-of-scientists-skeptical-of-global-warming-crisis/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Forbes</a>. It appears that a new consensus is forming that does not support the claims of the alarmists’ so-called consensus that the science is settled.</div>
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Skepticism on catastrophic <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/climate-change" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">climate change</a>caused by humans is on the rise. Disbelief in the trumped-up rhetoric is growing. No more does the favorite fear of global warming advocates prevail among the cognoscenti of science. That changes in climate are caused by humans and is a serious concern are views simply not held by the majority of the scientists surveyed.</div>
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The <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/forbes" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Forbes</a> report noted that the surveyors themselves showed an alarmist bias in terms of the questions posed and terms used. They called those who question climate change “deniers,” likening them to the people who deny that the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/holocaust" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Holocaust</a> happened. Not only is this savagely unfair, it is simply not right.</div>
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When scientists themselves are polled for their beliefs, we get to know what scientists think rather than what bureaucrats think.</div>
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We now have meteorologists, geoscientists and engineers all reporting that they are skeptics of an asserted global warming crisis, yet the bureaucrats of these organizations frequently suck up to the media and suck up to government grant providers by trying to tell us the opposite of what their scientist members actually believe.</div>
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The science remains unsettled among scientists, despite the catastrophic claims of the media and the bureaucrats who make money from the hoax. The rest of us can believe a lie when it’s repeated often enough, but real scientists just don’t do that.</div>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> Article found <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/global-warming-skepticism-grows-among-scientists" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">here</a></li>
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CANADA COVERS CLIMATEGATE – Rex Murphy Exposes New World Order Climate Change Scam</h1>
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Here is a written transcript from his comments on CTV dec.4/09<br />
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Transcript of Climate Change: Science or Politics?</div>
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“When Jon Stewart, the bantum rooster of conventional wisdom, makes jokes about it you know Climategate has reached critical mass. Said Stewart: ‘Poor Al Gore, Global Warming completely debunked via the very internet he invented’.</div>
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“Stewart was half joking, but Climategate is no joke at all. The mass of emails from the Climate Research Unit of East Anglia University let loose by a hacker or a whistle-blower pulls back the curtain on a scene of pettiness, turf protection, manipulation, defiance of freedom of information, lost or destroyed data, and attempts to black list critics and skeptics of the Global Warming Cause.</div>
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“Now the CRU is not the only climate science advisory body but it’s one of the most influential and feeds directly into the UN Climate Panel on Climate Change. So let’s hear no more talk of the science is settled when it turns out some of the scientists behave as if they own the very question of global warming, when they seek to bar opposing research from peer review journals, to embargo journals they can’t control, when they urge each other to delete damaging emails before freedom of information takes hold, when they talk of ‘hiding the decline’, when they actually speak of destroying the primary data, and when now we do learn that the primary data has been lost or destroyed. They’ve lost the raw data on which all the models, all the computer generated forecasts, graphs and projections are based. You wouldn’t accept that at a grade nine science fair!</div>
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“Now CRU is not the universe of climate research but it is the star. These emails demonstrate one thing beyond all else, that climate science and global warming advocacy have become so entwined, so meshed into a mutant creature, that separating alarmism from investigation, ideology from science, agenda from empirical study is well neigh impossible.</div>
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“Climategate is evidence that the science has gone to bed with advocacy and both had a very good time. That the neutrality, openness and absolute disinterest that is the hallmark of all honest scientific endeavor has been abandoned to an atmosphere and a dynamic not superior to the partisan caterwauls of a sub average Question Period.</div>
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“Climate Science has been shown to be, in part, a sub branch of Climate Politics. It is a situation intolerable even to serious minds who are on side with Global Warming such as Clive Crook who wrote in Atlantic Magazine about this scandal as follows, ‘The stink of intellectual corruption is overpowering’.</div>
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“Climate Science needs it’s own reset button, and Climategate should be seen not primarily as a setback, but as an opportunity to cleanse scientific method. To take science away from politics, good causes, and alarmists, and vest climate science in bodies of guaranteed neutrality, openness, real and vigorous debate, and way from the lobbyists, the NGO’s, the advocates, the Gores, and professional environmentalists of all kind.</div>
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“Too many of the current leadership on Global Warming are more players than observers, gatekeepers not investigators, angry partisans of some global re-engineering rather than humble servants of the facts of the case.</div>
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“Read the Climategate emails, you’ll never think<br />
of climate “science” quite the same way again.</div>
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“For the National, I’m Rex Murphy.”</div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiEvFedo4e8" style="color: #004276; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">youTube</a></div>
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<br /></div></i>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-4694993060939810442013-02-28T17:13:00.000-08:002013-02-28T17:13:17.115-08:00"Oxford University - The Illuminati Breeding Ground" by David Icke<i><br />
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<b style="color: maroon; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">The following is an article written by David Icke for the Oxford University students newspaper</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Oxford University</b></i> is the centre of a nexus that dictates and manipulates what is taught to students at all levels of "<i>education</i>."<br /><br />It is controlled through a network of organizations, including <b><i>the </i></b><i><b><a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_sociopol_roundtable.htm" style="color: #ffaa00;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000dd;">Round Table</span></a><span style="color: #0000dd;"> </span></b></i><b><i>secret society</i></b> created by followers of the Oxford University professor, <b>John Ruskin</b>. The most prominent of these Ruskin groupies was <b>Cecil Rhodes</b>, the first head of the Round Table, and <b>banker Alfred Milner</b>, who replaced him. Both of these men grotesquely abused the black people of <i><b>Southern Africa</b></i> and paved the way for apartheid.<br /><br /><i><b>The Round Table</b></i> is at the centre of a network that includes the <i><b>Royal Institute of International Affairs</b></i> (<b><i>RIIA</i></b>), the <b><i><a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_sociopol_cfr.htm" style="color: #ffaa00;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000dd;">Council on Foreign Relations</span></a></i></b> in the United States (<b><i>CFR</i></b>), the US-based <b><i>Trilateral Commission</i></b> (<b><i>TC</i></b>), and the <b><i><a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_sociopol_bilderberg.htm" style="color: #ffaa00;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000dd;">Bilderberg Group</span></a></i></b> (<i><b>Bil</b></i>). I have been exposing the <i><b>Bilberberg Group</b></i> while being called "mad" for many years and now even the mainstream media is having to acknowledge its existence. These groups have among their membership the top people in global politics, business, banking, the media, military, education, etc., and they co-ordinate a common policy and agenda between apparently unconnected people, countries, and organizations. <i><b>The Round Table</b></i> was hatched at <i><b>Oxford University</b></i> and when <b>Rhodes</b> died in 1902 he left money in his will to fund "<b><i>Rhodes Scholarships</i></b>" that take overseas students to Oxford. These <b><i>Rhodes Scholars</i></b> return to their own countries and again and again end up in positions of power. <b>Bill Clinton</b> and the former Australian Prime Minister, <b>Bob Hawke</b>, are but two examples.<br /><br /><i><b>The <a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_sociopol_roundtable.htm" style="color: #ffaa00;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000dd;">Round Table</span></a><span style="color: #0000dd;"> </span></b></i>is itself part of a much bigger web and its agenda is for a global centralized fascist state with a world government, central bank, currency, army, and a micro-chipped population connected to a global computer. When I first began to expose this in books like <i>..And The Truth Shall Set You Free</i> and<i>The Biggest Secret</i> I was, as usual, dubbed a "<i>nutter</i>". Now look around you with open eyes and open minds and you can see that this structure is unfolding so fast. The <i><b>European Union</b></i> was vital to this plan and this is why so many operatives for the groups outlined above have been involved in its creation - many of them <i><b>Oxford</b></i> students together going back to the Second World War. The reason for the obsession with centralization is obvious. If you are a few who wish to control the lives of billions, the last thing you want is diversity of decision-making. There are simply too many people and locations to control. Instead you need to centralize the key decisions and the more you centralize, the more power you have to increase the pace of centralization. This is why centralization in all areas of life, politics, business, banking, media, military, has quickened with every year.<br /><br />The <i><b>control of</b></i> "<b><i>education</i></b>" is vital to this agenda. In fact, the aim of this network is not "<b><i>education</i></b>", but <b><i>indoctrination</i></b>. The idea is turn out adults who see life and history in a way that maintains the population in subservience and ignorance. This allows the network or "<i><b><a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_sociopol_illuminati.htm" style="color: #ffaa00;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000dd;">Illuminati</span></a></b></i>" to advance its agenda without challenge from the mass of the population. The technique to achieve this is very straightforward and has proved to be stunningly effective over thousands of years. You "<i>teach</i>" and emphasize "<i>information</i>" that will <u>encourage people to believe what you want them to believe</u> and see the world as you wish them to see it. At the same time you ignore and suppress alternative information that may prompt people to see another reality. The media do this every day and so the public are constantly misled about world events, people in the news, and so on. "<i>Education</i>" is precisely the same and just think about this for a second. If you wanted to create a structure in which you could indoctrinate young people into your way of thinking, what would be the idea way of achieving this? To have<u>control of what those young minds</u> see and hear day after day for the first 18 years+ of their lives. And that is precisely what we have with today’s "<i>education</i>" system.<br /><br />Now that would be OK if the children and students were given all information available and <u>encouraged to think for themselves</u>. But so often, to pass exams and progress within the system, you have to tell the system what it wants to hear - the system’s version of reality. What was it the Nazis said? <b><i>The bigger the lie the more people will believe it</i></b>. The "<i><b>education</b></i>" system, with <i><b>Oxford</b></i> at its centre, is little more than a propaganda ministry designed to turn out adults who think "<i>correctly</i>". As with all mind manipulation, they offer carrots and sticks to "<i>encourage</i>" compliance. Students are <b><i>rewarded for submitting to the system’s version of events</i></b>, while those who challenge and question are marginalized, not least by low grades.<br /><br />The other prime role of <i><b>Oxford</b></i> is to take selected students (often selected by bloodline for reasons explained in my books) and prepare them for life as an operative for <i><b>the network</b></i>, or "<b><i>Illuminati</i></b>", within politics, business, finance, the media, etc. The <i><b>Rhodes Scholars</b></i> are an example of this. Such selected students "get lucky" and enter positions of power because doors open for them that are denied to the, literally, unitiated. I will give you an example.<br /><br />In my book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0952614715/103-6107893-5087866?v=glance" style="color: #ffaa00;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000dd;">And The Truth Shall Set You Free</span></a></i>, I feature the research of <b>Dr Kitty Little</b>. She is a long time researcher into the corruption and infiltration within the British Intelligence agencies. Her scientific career has included research for the Ministry of Aircraft Production during the Second World War, followed by nine years at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell. In her submission to the <i>1995 Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life</i>, she tells the story of an attempt to recruit her into the Communist Party at <i><b>Oxford University</b></i> in 1940. The Communists, she said, had gone "underground" by joining the University Labour Party and she attended a meeting of a Labour Party "study group" in a room at University College.<br /><br />The main speaker at the meeting, who clearly believed he was among friends, began to reveal the plot to destabilize the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, ready for a Marxist/Fascist (same thing) takeover. She later realized that this was part of the plan designed to introduce the global centralized control called the<b><i><a href="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_sociopol_nwo.htm" style="color: #ffaa00;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000dd;">New World Order</span></a></i></b>. The plot was outlined by the speaker at that <i><b>Oxford</b></i> meeting to destroy the United Kingdom defenses, engineer a Marxist/Fascist takeover of <i><b>Rhodesia</b></i> and <i><b>South Africa</b></i> and to use what became known as the <b><i>European Community</i></b>, now <b><i>Union</i></b>, as a smokescreen to hide the changeover to a centralized Marxist/Fascist rule of Europe. The plan was also to destroy British manufacturing industry.<br /><br />He went on to describe how members of the political section of this subversive organization were going to infiltrate the British Parliament and civil service, some entering each of the political parties. Many would go into the right wing of the <i><b>Labour Party</b></i>, others to the left wing of <i><b>the Conservatives</b></i>. Eventually there would be a fusion into a new "<i><b>Centre Party</b></i>". Put the majority of Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat politicians together and, if you ignore the rhetoric and look at the policies, that’s what we now have in fact - a one party "consensus". The speaker at <b>Dr Little</b>’s meeting said that the British distrusted extremists and so posing as "moderates", occupying the centre ground, would allow them to dismiss their opponents as "right wing extremists". This subversive organization did not have a name, he said, because that would make it harder to prove it existed. The speaker said he had been chosen to be the political head of this organization and expected himself one day to become the <u>Prime Minister of the United Kingdom</u>. All this was said in 1940 and <u>that man did indeed become Prime Minister</u>.<br /><br /><u><b>His name was Harold Wilson</b></u><b>Wilson</b> (<i><b>Bilderberg Group</b></i> - "Bil") was Prime Minister for the period 1964 to 1976, except for four years when his friend at Oxford, <b>Ted Heath</b> (Bil), took over between 1970 and 74. <b>Dr Little</b> says that when she made her story public, the Daily Express writer of intelligence "exposes", <b>Chapman Pincher</b>, showed a copy of her allegations to <b>Harold Wilson</b>. He was issuing libel writs like confetti at the time, but his only reaction to <b>Dr Little</b> was to say she had mistaken him for a <b>Tom Wilson</b>. She knew she had done nothing of the kind, but she checked the entire University records and <u>there was not even one T. Wilson enrolled there in this century</u>! She knew <b>Wilson</b> as an economics fellow at <b><i>Oxford</i></b> because it was he who researched and compiled most of the "<i><b>Beveridge</b></i>" <i><b>Report</b></i>, which created the Welfare State and the Social Security system after the war. <b>William Beveridge</b> was <b>Wilson</b>’s economics master at Oxford and, <b>Dr. Little</b>says, he was little more than a figurehead who put his name to it. On the surface the report was admirable in many ways, but from the perspective of today it can be seen to have wider implications. It created dependency and control, while destroying opportunities for self-reliance and independence outside the elite-controlled system. Now that dependency has been created the Welfare State is being dismantled and much of what is left is being handed over to privatization -<b><i>the elite bankers in other words</i></b> - and the rug pulled from under the dependent people.<br /><br /><b>Wilson</b> resigned abruptly in 1976 and was replaced by <b>Jim Callaghan</b> (Bil), who became a joint president of the <i><b>Royal Institute of International Affairs</b></i>. His fellow presidents were <b>Lord Carrington</b> (TC and <b><i>Bilberberg</i></b> chairman) and Harold Wilson’s former Chancellor and Home Secretary, <b>Lord (Roy) Jenkins</b> (TC, Bil), who, with <b>Lord David Owen</b> (TC, Bil), <b>Bill Rogers</b> (Bil), and <b>Shirley Williams</b>, left the Labour Party in the early 1980s <u>to form a centre party</u>, the <i><b>SDP</b></i>,<u>now the Liberal Democrats</u>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">All these people worked closely with another prominent member of the Labour Government under <b>Harold Wilson</b> and <b>James Callaghan</b>. This was the<i><b>Bilderberger</b></i>, <i><b>Trilateralist</b></i>, chairman of the International Monetary Fund Interim Committee, and council member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Denis Healey. All of these people were heavily involved with <b>Ted Heath</b> <u>in taking the UK into the European Community</u>. I wonder when they were in the highest political offices in the land, if <b>Wilson, Heath, Jenkins, </b>and<b> Healey</b>, ever got together and pondered on the remarkable twist of "destiny" that led four people who were at <b><i>Oxford University</i></b> in the same period to become the leading political names of the 1960s and 70s, just as the United Kingdom was committing itself to the <b><i>European Community</i></b>. Indeed <b>Jenkins</b> would go on to be president of the European Commission and <b>Heath</b> would take the UK into the community, now union. <b>Wilson</b> (Jesus College and University College), <b>Healey</b> (Balliol), <b>Jenkins</b> (Balliol) and <b>Heath</b> (Balliol), are such an inspiration to us all. Look at what an<u>Oxford education can do for you</u>. In this same period, the Liberal Party leaders also did <i><b>Oxford</b></i> proud in the form of <b>Jo Grimond</b> (Balliol and Bil), and <b>Jeremy Thorpe</b> (Trinity College), the author of the book, <i>Europe: The Case for Going in.</i><br /><b>Lord Jenkins</b> also went on, of course, to become Chancellor of Oxford University. He has also been described as something of a guru to UK Prime Minister,<b>Tony Blair</b>. Today <b>Blair</b> is another "<i>centre ground</i>" extremist in Downing Street who is pressing for the UK to join the Euro and concede what is left of its independence to <b><i>the Illuminati</i></b>-controlled super state. <b>Blair</b> received a law degree in 1975 from St. John’s College at <i><b>Oxford University</b></i> and is a member of the<i><b>Bilderberg Group</b></i>, as is his mentor, <b>Peter Mandelson</b> (St Catherine’s, Oxford), and his chancellor, <b>Gordon Brown</b>.<br /><br /><b><i>Oxford University</i></b> is a nexus for the control of what is "taught" in education and a breeding ground for <b><i>the Illuminati</i></b> placemen and women of the next generation. The vast majority of students are not aware of this because they are not the chosen ones and even many of those who are chosen, <u>overwhelmingly by bloodline</u>, have no idea until much later why they found fortune smiling upon them.<br /><br />The way to break this circle is through peaceful rebellion with the emphasis on peaceful. What you fight, you inevitably become, which is why you will see no difference between a vehement <b><i>Nazi</i></b> and a vehement "<b><i>anti-Nazi</i></b>". They are mirrors of each other <u>while they believe they are opposites</u>. No, the way to bring down this network of power and manipulation is to <i><b>stop co-operating with it</b></i>, stop being unquestioningly subservient to it, and to make public the information that <i><b>the Illuminati</b></i>-controlled education system and media are so desperate to suppress and discredit.<br /><br />Don’t let them tell you what to think, no matter how "<i>different</i>" your own views may be in relation to the official line. If you are not different in this world of stunning uniformity, what on earth are you doing? Baaaaaaa.<br /> </span></div></i>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-76131072171618578292013-02-24T07:01:00.001-08:002013-03-03T16:45:51.860-08:00Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">GLOSSARY:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Immunodeficiency (weakness of the immune system) can take many forms. AIDS, for example, refers to an immunodeficiency which is “acquired,” rather than “inborn.” Radiation and vegetable oils can cause “acquired immunodeficiency.” Unsaturated oils, especially polyunsaturates, weaken the immune system’s function in ways that are similar to the damage caused by radiation, hormone imbalance, cancer, aging, or viral infections. The media discuss sexually transmitted and drug-induced immunodeficiency, but it isn’t yet considered polite to discuss vegetable oil-induced immunodeficiency.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Unsaturated oils: When an oil is saturated, that means that the molecule has all the hydrogen atoms it can hold. Unsaturation means that some hydrogen atoms have been removed, and this opens the structure of the molecule in a way that makes it susceptible to attack by free radicals.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Free radicals are reactive molecular fragments that occur even in healthy cells, and can damage the cell. When unsaturated oils are exposed to free radicals they can create chain reactions of free radicals that spread the damage in the cell, and contribute to the cell’s aging.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Rancidity of oils occurs when they are exposed to oxygen, in the body just as in the bottle. Harmful free radicals are formed, and oxygen is used up.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Essential fatty acids (EFA) are, according to the textbooks, linoleic acid and linolenic acid, and they are supposed to have the status of “vitamins,” which must be taken in the diet to make life possible. However, we are able to synthesize our own unsaturated fats when we don’t eat the “EFA,” so they are not “essential.” The term thus appears to be a misnomer. [M. E. Hanke, "Biochemistry," Encycl. Brit. Book of the Year, 1948.]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: You say vegetable oils are hazardous to your health. What vegetable oils are you talking about?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Mainly, I’m referring to soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, canola, sesame oil, sunflower seed oil, palm oil, and any others that are labeled as “unsaturated” or “polyunsaturated.” Almond oil, which is used in many cosmetics, is very unsaturated.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Chemically, the material that makes these oils very toxic is the polyunsaturated fat itself. These unsaturated oils are found in very high concentrations in many seeds, and in the fats of animals that have eaten a diet containing them. The fresh oils, whether cold pressed or consumed as part of the living plant material, are intrinsically toxic, and it is not any special industrial treatment that makes them toxic. Since these oils occur in other parts of plants at lower concentration, and in the animals which eat the plants, it is impossible to eat a diet which lacks them, unless special foods are prepared in the laboratory.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">These toxic oils are sometimes called the “essential fatty acids” or “vitamin F,” but this concept of the oils as essential nutrients was clearly disproved over 50 years ago.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Linoleic and linolenic acids, the “essential fatty acids,” and other polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are now fed to pigs to fatten them, in the form of corn and soy beans, cause the animals’ fat to be chemically equivalent to vegetable oil. In the late 1940s, chemical toxins were used to suppress the thyroid function of pigs, to make them get fatter while consuming less food. When that was found to be carcinogenic, it was then found that corn and soy beans had the same antithyroid effect, causing the animals to be fattened at low cost. The animals’ fat becomes chemically similar to the fats in their food, causing it to be equally toxic, and equally fattening.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">These oils are derived from seeds, but their abundance in some meat has led to a lot of confusion about “animal fats.” Many researchers still refer to lard as a “saturated fat,” but this is simply incorrect when pigs are fed soybeans and corn.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: How are these oils hazardous to your health?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Ultimately, all systems of the body are harmed by an excess of these oils. There are two reasons for this. One is that the plants produce the oils for protection, not only to store energy for the germination of the seed. To defend the seeds from the animals that would eat them, the oils block the digestive enzymes in the animals’ stomachs. Digestion is one of our most basic functions, and evolution has built many other systems by using variations of that system; as a result, all of these systems are damaged by the substances which damage the digestive system.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">The other reason is that the seeds are designed to germinate in early spring, so their energy stores must be accessible when the temperatures are cool, and they normally don’t have to remain viable through the hot summer months. Unsaturated oils are liquid when they are cold, and this is necessary for any organism that lives at low temperatures. For example, fish in cold water would be stiff if they contained saturated fats. These oils easily get rancid (spontaneously oxidizing) when they are warm and exposed to oxygen. Seeds contain a small amount of vitamin E to delay rancidity. When the oils are stored in our tissues, they are much warmer, and more directly exposed to oxygen, than they would be in the seeds, and so their tendency to oxidize is very great. These oxidative processes can damage enzymes and other parts of cells, and especially their ability to produce energy.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">The enzymes which break down proteins are inhibited by unsaturated fats, and these enzymes are needed not only for digestion, but also for production of thyroid hormones, clot removal, immunity, and the general adaptability of cells. The risks of abnormal blood clotting, inflammation, immune deficiency, shock, aging, obesity, and cancer are increased. Thyroid and progesterone are decreased. Since the unsaturated oils block protein digestion in the stomach, we can be malnourished even while “eating well.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Plants produce many protective substances to repel or injure insects and other animals that eat them. They produce their own pesticides. The oils in seeds have this function. On top of this natural toxicity, the plants are sprayed with industrial pesticides, which can concentrate in the seed oils.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">It isn’t the quantity of these polyunsaturated oils which governs the harm they do, but the relationship between them and the saturated fats. Obesity, free radical production, the formation of age pigment, blood clotting, inflammation, immunity, and energy production are all responsive to the ratio of unsaturated fats to saturated fats, and the higher this ratio is, the greater the probability of harm there is.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">There are interesting interactions between these oils and estrogen. For example, puberty occurs at an earlier age if estrogen is high, or if these oils are more abundant in the diet. This is probably a factor in the development of cancer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">All systems of the body are harmed by an excess of these oils. There are three main kinds of damage: one, hormonal imbalances, two, damage to the immune system, and three, oxidative damage.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: How do they cause hormonal imbalances?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">There are many changes in hormones caused by unsaturated fats. Their best understood effect is their interference with the function of the thyroid gland. Unsaturated oils block thyroid hormone secretion, its movement in the circulatory system, and the response of tissues to the hormone. When the thyroid hormone is deficient, the body is generally exposed to increased levels of estrogen. The thyroid hormone is essential for making the “protective hormones” progesterone and pregnenolone, so these hormones are lowered when anything interferes with the function of the thyroid. The thyroid hormone is required for using and eliminating cholesterol, so cholesterol is likely to be raised by anything which blocks the thyroid function. [B. Barnes and L. Galton, Hypothyroidism, 1976, and 1994 references.]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: How do they damage the immune system?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Vegetable oil is recognized as a drug for knocking out the immune system. Vegetable oil emulsions were used to nourish cancer patients, but it was discovered that the unsaturated oils were suppressing their immune systems. The same products, in which vegetable oil is emulsified with water for intravenous injection, are now marketed specifically for the purpose of suppressing immunity in patients who have had organ transplants. Using the oils in foods has the same harmful effect on the immune system. [E. A. Mascioli, et al.,Lipids 22(6) 421, 1987.] Unsaturated fats directly kill white blood cells. [C. J. Meade and J. Martin, Adv. Lipid Res., 127, 1978.]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: How do they cause oxidative damage?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Unsaturated oils get rancid when exposed to air; that is called oxidation, and it is the same process that occurs when oil paint “dries.” Free radicals are produced in the process.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">This process is accelerated at higher temperatures. The free radicals produced in this process react with parts of cells, such as molecules of DNA and protein and may become attached to those molecules, causing abnormalities of structure and function.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: What if I eat only organically grown vegetable oils?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Even without the addition of agricultural chemicals, an excess of unsaturated vegetable oils damages the human body. Cancer can’t occur, unless there are unsaturated oils in the diet. [C. Ip, et al., Cancer Res. 45, 1985.] Alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver cannot occur unless there are unsaturated oils in the diet. [Nanji and French, Life Sciences. 44, 1989.] Heart disease can be produced by unsaturated oils, and prevented by adding saturated oils to the diet. [J. K. G. Kramer, et al., Lipids 17, 372, 1983.]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q. What oils are safe?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Coconut and olive oil are the only vegetable oils that are really safe, but butter and lamb fat, which are highly saturated, are generally very safe (except when the animals have been poisoned). Coconut oil is unique in its ability to prevent weight-gain or cure obesity, by stimulating metabolism. It is quickly metabolized, and functions in some ways as an antioxidant. Olive oil, though it is somewhat fattening, is less fattening than corn or soy oil, and contains an</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">antioxidant which makes it protective against heart disease and cancer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Israel had the world’s highest incidence of breast cancer when they allowed the insecticide lindane to be used in dairies, and the cancer rate decreased immediately after the government prohibited its use. The United States has fairly good laws to control the use of cancer-causing agents in the food supply, but they are not vigorously enforced. Certain cancers are several times more common among corn farmers than among other farmers, presumably because corn “requires” the use of more pesticides. This probably makes corn oil’s toxicity greater than it would be otherwise, but even the pure, organically grown material is toxic, because of its intrinsic unsaturation.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">In the United States, lard is toxic because the pigs are fed large quantities of corn and soy beans. Besides the intrinsic toxicity of the seed oils, they are contaminated with agricultural chemicals. Corn farmers have a very high incidence of cancer, presumably because of the pesticides they use on their crop.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: But aren’t “tropical oils” bad for us?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">In general, tropical oils are much more healthful than oils produced in a cold climate. This is because tropical plants live at a temperature that is close to our natural body temperature. Tropical oils are stable at high temperatures. When we eat tropical oils, they don’t get rancid in our tissues as the cold-climate seed oils, such as corn oil, safflower oil and soy oil, do. [R.B. Wolf, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 59, 230, 1982; R. Wolfe, Chem 121, Univ. of Oregon, 1986.]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">When added to a balanced diet, coconut oil slightly lowers the cholesterol level, which is exactly what is expected when a dietary change raises thyroid function. This same increase in thyroid function and metabolic rate explains why people and animals that regularly eat coconut oil are lean, and remarkably free of heart disease and cancer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Although I don’t recommend “palm oil” as a food, because I think it is less stable than coconut oil, some studies show that it contains valuable nutrients. For example, it contains antioxidants similar to vitamin E, which lowers both LDL cholesterol and a platelet clotting factor. [B. A. Bradlow, University of Illinois, Chicago; Science News 139, 268, 1991.] Coconut oil and other tropical oils also contain some hormones that are related to pregnenolone or progesterone.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: Isn’t coconut oil fattening?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Coconut oil is the least fattening of all the oils. Pig farmers tried to use it to fatten their animals, but when it was added to the animal feed, coconut oil made the pigs lean [See Encycl. Brit. Book of the Year, 1946].</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: What about olive oil? Isn’t it more fattening than other vegetable oils?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">In this case, as with coconut oil, “fattening” has more to do with your ability to burn calories than with the caloric value of the oil. Olive oil has a few more calories per quart than corn or soy oil, but since it doesn’t damage our ability to burn calories as much as the unsaturated oils do, it is less fattening. Extra virgin olive oil is the best grade, and contains an antioxidant that protects against cancer and heart disease. [1994, Curr. Conts.]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: Is “light” olive oil okay?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">No. Now and then someone learns how to make a profit from waste material. “Knotty pine” boards were changed from a discarded material to a valued decorative material by a little marketing skill. Light olive oil is a low grade material which sometimes has a rancid smell and probably shouldn’t be used as food.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: Is margarine okay?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">There are several problems with margarine. The manufacturing process introduces some toxins, including a unique type of fat which has been associated with heart disease. [Sci. News, 1974; 1991.] There are likely to be dyes and preservatives added to margarine. And newer products contain new chemicals that haven’t been in use long enough to know whether they are safe.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">However, the basic hardening process, hydrogenation of the oils, has been found to make the oils less likely to cause cancer. If I had to choose between eating ordinary corn oil or corn oil that was 100% saturated, to make a hard margarine, I would choose the hard margarine, because it resists oxidation, isn’t suppressive to the thyroid gland, and doesn’t cause cancer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: What about butter?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Butter contains natural vitamin A and D and some beneficial natural hormones. It is less fattening than the unsaturated oils. There is much less cholesterol in an ounce of butter than in a lean chicken breast [about 1/5 as much cholesterol in fat as in lean meat on a calorie basis, according to R. Reiser of Texas A & M Univ., 1979.].</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: Are fish oils good for you?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Some of the unsaturated fats in fish are definitely less toxic than those in corn oil or soy oil, but that doesn’t mean they are safe. Fifty years ago, it was found that a large amount of cod liver oil in dogs’ diet increased their death rate from cancer by 20 times, from the usual 5% to 100%. A diet rich in fish oil causes intense production of toxic lipid peroxides, and has been observed to reduce a man’s sperm count to zero. [H. Sinclair, Prog. Lipid Res. 25, 667, 1989.]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: What about lard?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">In this country, lard is toxic beause the pigs are fed large quantities of corn and soy beans. Besides the natural toxicity of the seed oils, the oils are contaminated with agricultural chemicals. Corn farmers have a very high incidence of cancer, presumably because corn “requires” the use of more pesticides. This probably makes corn oil’s toxicity greater than it would be otherwise. but even the pure, organically grown material is toxic, because of its unsaturation.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Women with breast cancer have very high levels of agricultural pesticides in their breasts [See Science News, 1992, 1994].</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Israel had the world’s highest incidence of breast cancer when they allowed the insecticide lindane to be used in dairies, and the cancer rate decreased immediately after the government prohibited its use. The United States has fairly good laws to control the use of cancer-causing agents in the food supply, but they are not vigorously enforced. [World Incid. of Cancer, 1992]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q: I have no control over oils when eating out. What can I do to offset the harmful effects of polyunsaturated oils?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">A small amount of these oils won’t kill you. It is the proportion of them in your diet that matters. A little extra vitamin E (such as 100 units per day) will take care of an occasional American restaurant meal. Based on animal studies, it would take a teaspoonful per day of corn or soy oil added to a fat-free diet to significantly increase our risk of cancer. Unfortunately, it is impossible to devise a fat-free diet outside of a laboratory. Vegetables, grains, nuts, fish and meats all naturally contain large amounts of these oils, and the extra oil used in cooking becomes a more serious problem.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Q Why are the unsaturated oils so popular if they are dangerous?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">It’s a whole system of promotion, advertising, and profitability.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">50 years ago, paints and varnishes were made of soy oil, safflower oil, and linseed (flax seed) oil. Then chemists learned how to make paint from petroleum, which was much cheaper. As a result, the huge seed oil industry found its crop increasingly hard to sell. Around the same time, farmers were experimenting with poisons to make their pigs get fatter with less food, and they discovered that corn and soy beans served the purpose, in a legal way. The crops that had been grown for the paint industry came to be used for animal food. Then these foods that made animals get fat cheaply came to be promoted as foods for humans, but they had to direct attention away from the fact that they are very fattening. The “cholesterol” focus was just one of the marketing tools used by the oil industry. Unfortunately it is the one that has lasted the longest, even after the unsaturated oils were proven to cause heart disease as well as cancer. [Study at L.A. Veterans Hospital, 1971.]</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">I use some of these oils (walnut oil is very nice, but safflower oil is cheaper) for oil painting, but I am careful to wash my hands thoroughly after I touch them, because they can be absorbed through the skin.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">SUMMARY</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Unsaturated fats cause aging, clotting, inflammation, cancer, and weight gain.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Avoid foods which contain the polyunsaturated oils, such as corn, soy, safflower, flax, cottonseed, canola, peanut, and sesame oil.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Mayonnaise, pastries, even candies may contain these oils; check the labels for ingredients.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Pork is now fed corn and soy beans, so lard is usually as toxic as those oils; use only lean pork.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Fish oils are usually highly unsaturated; “dry” types of fish, and shellfish, used once or twice a week, are good. Avoid cod liver oil.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Use vitamin E.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Use coconut oil, butter, and olive oil.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Unsaturated fats intensify estrogen’s harmful effects.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">REFERENCES</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">1. C. F. Aylsworth, C. W. Welsch, J. J. Kabora, J. E. Trosko, “Effect of fatty acids on junctional communication: Possible role in tumor promotion by dietary fat,” Lipids 22(6), 445-54, 1987.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">2. J. M. Bell and P. K. Lundberg, “Effects of a commercial soy lecithin preparation on development of sensorimotor behavior & brain biochemicals in the rat,” Dev. Psychobiol. 8(1), 59-66, 1985.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">3. R. S. Britton and B. R. Bacon, “Role of free radicals in liver diseases and hepatic fibrosis,” Hepatogastroenterology 41(4), 343-348, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">4. M. S. Brown, et al., “Receptor mediated uptake of lipoprotein-cholesterol and its utilization for steroid synthesis,” Recent Progress in Hormone Res. 35, 315-257, 1979.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">5. P. A. Cerutti, “Oxy-radicals and cancer,” Lancet 455(8926), 862-863, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">6. I. Davies and A. P. Fotheringham, “Lipofuscin–Does it affect cellular performance?” Exp. Gerontol. 16, 119-125, 1981.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">7. K. L. Erickson, et al., “Dietary lipid modulation of immune responsiveness,” Lipids 18, 468-74, 1983.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">8. V. A. Folcik and M. K. Cathcart, “Predominance of esterified hydroperoxy-linoleic acid in human monocyte-oxidized LDL,” J. Lipid Res. 35(9), 1570-1582, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">9. Fuller, C. J. and I. Jialal, “Effects of antioxidants and fatty acids on low-density-lipoprotein oxidation,” Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 60(6 Suppl.), S1010-S1013, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">10. M. C. Galli, et al., “Peroxidation potential of rat thymus during development and involution,” Comp. Biochem. Physiol (C) 107(3), 435-440, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">11. J. M. Gaziano, et al., “Supplementation with beta-carotene in vivo and in vitro does not inhibit low density lipoprotein oxidation,” Atherosclerosis 112(2), 187-195, 1995.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">12. M. B. Grisham, “Oxidants and free radicals in inflammatory bowel disease,” Lancet 344(8926), 859-861, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">13. J. M. C. Gutteridge, “Antioxidants, nutritional supplements and life-threaening diseases,” Brit. J. Biomed. Sci. 51(3), 288-295, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">14. D. Harman, et al., “Free radical theory of aging: effect of dietary fat on central nervous system function,” J. American Geriatrics Soc. 24(1), 292-98, 1976.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">15. W. S. Hartroft and E. A. Porta, “Ceroid pigments,” chapter VIII in Present Knowledge in Nutrition, 3rd Edition, Nutrition Foundation, N.Y., 1967.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">16. H. J. Helbock, et al., (Univ. of Calif. Berkeley) January, 1993 Pediatrics; in Science News 143, 78, 1993. “Toxic ‘fats’ in preemie supplement.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">H. R. Hirsch, “The waste-product theory of aging: Cell division rate as a function of waste volume,” Mech. Ageing Dev. 36, 95-107, 1986.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">17. S. G. Imre, et al., “Increased proportion of docosahexanoic acid and high lipid peroxidation capacity in erythrocytes of stroke patients,” Stroke 25(12), 2416-2420, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">18. Clement Ip, et al., “Requirement of essential fatty acids for mammary tumorigenesis,” Cancer Res. 45(5), 1997-2001, 1985.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">19. P. V. Johnston, “Dietary fat, eicosanoids, and immunity,” Adv. in Lipid Res. 21, 103-41, 1985.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">20. S. Kasayna, et al., “Unsaturated fatty acids are required for continuous proliferation of transformed androgen-dependent cells by fibroblast growth factor family proteins,” Cancer Research 54(24), 6441-6445, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">21. H. A. Kleinveld, et al., “Vitamin E and fatty acid intervention does not attenuate the progression of atherosclerosis in watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbits,” Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 15(2), 290-297, 1995.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">22. J. K. G. Kramer, et al., Lipids 17, 372, 1983.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">23. I. A. Kudryavtsev, et al., “Character of the modifying action of polyunsaturated fatty acids on growth of transplantable tumors of various types,” Bull. Exp. Biol & Med. 105(4), 567-70, 1986.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">24. R. D. Lynch, “Utilization of polyunsaturated fatty acids by human diploid cells aging in vitro,” Lipids 15(6), 412-20, 1967.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">25. M. Martinez and A. Ballabriga, “Effects of parenteral nutrition with high doses of linoleate on the developing human liver and brain,” Lipids 22(3), 133-8, 1987.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">26. R. S. Mehta, et al., “High fish oil diet increases oxidative stress potential in mammary gland of spontaneously hypertensive rats,” Clin. Exp. Pharmacol. Physiol. 21(11), 881-889, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">27. A. A. Nanji and S. W. French, “Dietary linoleic acid is required for development of experimentally induced alcoholic liver-injury,” Life Sciences 44, 223-7, 1989.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">28. J. A. Lindsay, et al., “Fatty acid metabolism and cell proliferation,” Lipids 18, 566-9, 1983.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">29. M. L. Pearce and S. Dayton, “Incidence of cancer in men on a diet high in polyunsaturated fat,” Lancet 1, 464-467, 1971.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">30. Pryor, W. A., “Free radicals and lipid proxidation–what they are and how they got that way,” Natural Antioxidants in Human, pp. 1-24, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">31. P. Purasiri, et al., “Modulation of cytokine production in vivo by dietary essential fatty acids in patients with colorectal cancer,” Clin. Sci. 87(6), 711-717, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">32. S. Rapoport and T. Schewe, “Endogenous inhibitors of the respiratory chain,” Trends in Biochemical Sci., Aug., 1977, 186-189.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">33. H. Selye, “Sensitization by corn oil for the production of cardiac necrosis…,” Amer. J. of Cardiology 23, 719-22, 1969.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">34. D. A. Street, et al., “Serum antioxidants and myocardial infarction–Are low levels of carotenoids and alpha-tocopherol risk factors for myocardial infarction?” Circulation 90(3), 1154-1161, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">35. M. Takei, et al., “Inhibitory effects of calcium antagonists on mitochondrial swelling induced by lipid peroxidation or arachidonic acid in the rat brain in vitro,” Neurochem. Res. 29(9), 1199-1206, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">36. J. P. Thomas, et al., “Involvement of preexisting lipid hydroperoxides in Cu2+-stimulated oxidation of low-density lipoprotein,” Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 315(2), 244-254, 1994.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">37. C. W. Welsch, “Review of the effects of dietary fat on experimental mammary gland tumorigenesis: Role of lipid peroxidation,” Free Radical Biol. Med. 18(4), 757-773, 1995.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Essential Fatty Acids (“EFA”): A Technical Point</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Those fatty acids, such as linoleic acid and linolenic acid, which are found in linseed oil, soy oil, walnut oil, almond oil, corn oil, etc., are essential for the spontaneous development of cancer, and also appear to be decisive factors in the development of age pigment, alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, obesity, stress-induced immunodeficiency, some aspects of the shock reaction, epilepsy, brain swelling, congenital retardation, hardening of the arteries, cataracts, and other degenerative conditions. They are possibly the most important toxin for animals.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">The suppression of an enzyme system is characteristic of toxins. The “EFA” powerfully, almost absolutely, inhibit the enzyme systems–desaturases and elongases–which make our native unsaturated fatty acids.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">After weaning, these native fats gradually disappear from the tissues and are replaced by the EFA and their derivatives. The age-related decline in our ability to use oxygen and to produce energy corresponds closely to the substitution of linoleic acid for the endogenous fats, in cardiolipin, which regulates the crucial respiratory enzyme, cytochrome oxidase.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">Although the fish oils are less effective inhibitors of the enzymes, they are generally similar to the seed oils in their ability to promote cancer, age-pigment formation, free radical damage, etc. Their only special nutritional value seems to be their vitamin A and vitamin D content. Since vitamin A is important in the development of the eye, it is interesting that claims are being made for the essentiality of some of the fatty acid components of fish oil, in relation to the development of the eye.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">The polyunsaturated oils from seeds are recommended for use in paints and varnishes, but skin contact with these substances should be avoided.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;">© Ray Peat 2006. All Rights Reserved. </span><a href="http://www.raypeat.com/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #004276; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://www.RayPeat.com</a>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-15768331385230209122013-02-24T01:48:00.001-08:002013-02-24T04:23:51.794-08:00<br />
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Budget tax cuts for business to follow loss of AAA credit rating</h1>
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George Osborne has vowed not let up in his plan to cut Britain’s deficit as he paved the way to cut tax for businesses in next month’s Budget.</h2>
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<span class="caption" style="color: #404040; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.38em; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px;">Mr Osborne is expected to use next month’s Budget to do more to help hard-pressed businesses</span> <span class="credit" style="color: #999999; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.38em;">Photo: PA</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: initial;"><img alt="Patrick Hennessy" border="0" height="60" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01910/Patrick-Hennessy_6_1910964j.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block;" width="60" /></a></div>
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By <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/patrick-hennessy/" rel="author" style="color: #234b7b; outline: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="Patrick Hennessy">Patrick Hennessy</a>, Political Editor</div>
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9:00PM GMT 23 Feb 2013</div>
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<img alt="Comments" src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/template/ver1-0/i/share/comments.gif" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; margin-right: 5px;" /><a dsqid="9889978" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/georgeosborne/9889978/Budget-tax-cuts-for-business-to-follow-loss-of-AAA-credit-rating.html#disqus_thread" style="color: #234b7b; font-weight: normal; outline: 0px; text-decoration: initial;">240 Comments</a></div>
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The Chancellor hit back after the loss of the country’s prized AAA credit rating amid worries about weak growth and rising levels of debt.</div>
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He faced political flak after repeatedly stressing the importance of staving off any downgrade, vowing before the 2010 general election: “We will maintain that AAA rating.”</div>
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However, Mr Osborne said Moody’s, the ratings agency which took the decision, had sent out a “clear message” that Britain had a debt problem which needed to be tackled “head on” and which required “tough measures”.</div>
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He is expected to use next month’s Budget to do more to help hard-pressed businesses.</div>
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Conservative MPs expect the main rate of corporation tax, already cut to 21p from 2014, to be further reduced.</div>
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The special rate for smaller enterprises could also come down from its current level of 20p as Mr Osborne looks to create the most favourable tax regime for business of all G20 nations.</div>
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Further Government spending cuts are also under way as Mr Osborne grapples with the deficit.</div>
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He is already looking to achieve at least £10billion extra savings from welfare spending in 2015-16 - and sources close to him indicated this programme would be driven through with conviction.</div>
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Mr Osborne will look to use the Budget next month to spell out how much extra savings need to be achieved - and then spell out exactly how this will be done in the Spending Review, which will set detailed totals for government departments from 2015 to 2017, in early summer.</div>
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A source close to him said: “If people don’t want cuts to public services such as the police and the armed forces they have to accept that there need to be savings elsewhere.”</div>
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Three senior cabinet ministers - Theresa May, the Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, and Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary - are currently said to be digging their heels in during intense negotiations ahead of the Spending Review.</div>
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Mr Osborne appears unlikely, however, to meet the wishes of some Tory MPs who are urging the abolition of capital gains tax.</div>
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A Treasury source said: “We must get away from the illusion that there is a silver bullet that would end all our economic problems.”</div>
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In a BBC interview, the Chancellor said Britain’s situation would get “very much worse” if the coalition abandoned it efforts to deal with Britain’s debt mountain - a course of action he said Labour were advocating.</div>
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Question on the credit rating downgrade, Mr Osborne said: “I think we’ve got a very clear message, a loud and clear message that Britain cannot let up in dealing with its debts, dealing with its problems, cannot let up in making sure that Britain can pay its way in the world.</div>
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“What is the message from the ratings agency? Britain’s got a debt problem. I agree with that. I’ve been telling the country for years that we’ve got a debt problem, we’ve got to deal with it.</div>
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“What do they also say? That if we abandon our commitment to deal with that debt problem, then our situation would get very much worse and I’m absolutely clear that we must not do that.</div>
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“In the end, the test of our credibility as a country is there every day in the markets when we borrow money on behalf of this country from investors all around the world.</div>
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“At the moment we can do that very cheaply with very low interest rates precisely because people have confidence that we have got a plan, we’ve got to stick to that plan and we are going to deliver that plan.”</div>
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While Labour went on the attack, the party faced questions of its own after Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, admitted borrowing would now be higher if he were in charge.</div>
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Mr Balls told <i>Radio 4</i>: “The economy has flatlined. There has been no growth now for two years, our deficit is getting bigger... the plan has not worked.”</div>
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In a separate interview, on <i>Sky News</i>, Mr Balls insisted that the economy would be in a better condition if the coalition had stuck to Labour’s spending plans in 2010.</div>
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However, he admitted he would currently be increasing borrowing if he was in charge.</div>
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“That is what I would do right now,” he said. “I would slow the pace of deficit reduction. I would have an immediate stimulus in the economy.”</div>
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In the wake of the shadow chancellor’s interview John Penrose, the Conservative MP, demanded: “Can anyone think of a question where Ed Balls’ answer would not be 'borrow more money’? No? Me neither.”</div>
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Andrea Leadsom, a Conservative member of the Commons Treasury select committee, said: “Labour will no doubt claim it’s all the government’s fault. The truth is Labour brought our country to its knees.</div>
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"Labour want us to spend more....it was excessive spending that got us into this mess and anyone who calls for yet more borrowing and spending must be off their rocker.”</div>
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Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said Mr Osborne should now take “immediate action” to cut the deficit.</div>
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“George Osborne should focus on making sufficient savings in public spending to implement a substantial programme of tax reductions,” said Mr Littlewood.</div>
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“With the size and scope of the state in Britain at current levels it is no wonder our economy is so fragile.”</div>
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Moody’s said it had acted to downgrade Britain for the first time because of “continuing weakness in the UK’s medium-term growth outlook”, the risk that the Government will fail to hit its targets for reducing the deficit and the UK’s “high and rising debt burden”.</div>
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However, Moody’s predicted that on its current course, the UK will eventually regain its AAA status.</div>
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Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the downgrade was “disappointing news.”</div>
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However, he added: “Our credibility as a country is tested every day in the financial markets. We continue to command very low interest rates.</div>
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Credit ratings agencies were not the “be all and end all” but “one benchmark among many,” Mr Alexander added.</div>
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<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-share gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-vertical gig-share-button-container-vertical" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-style: none none dotted; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; width: auto;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td class="gig-button-td" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div alt="" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-right" id="shareSide-reaction0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; cursor: pointer; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" title="">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td id="shareSide-reaction0-left" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction0-left_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction0-icon" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" id="shareSide-reaction0-icon_img" src="http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/sharebar/icons/share3.png" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; display: block; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" /></td><td id="shareSide-reaction0-text" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div class="gig-button-text gig-share-button-text" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #333333; float: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; white-space: nowrap; width: auto;">
Share</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction0-right" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction0-right_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -4px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="gig-counter gig-share-counter gig-counter-$rid gig-counter-right" id="shareSide-reaction0-count" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -8px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px auto 0px 1px; padding: 0px; position: static; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; width: 38px; zoom: 1;">
<span class="gig-counter-text gig-share-counter-text gig-counter-text-right gig-share-counter-text-right" id="shareSide-reaction0-count-value" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; left: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;">193</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-facebook gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-vertical gig-share-button-container-vertical" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-style: none none dotted; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; width: auto;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td class="gig-button-td" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div alt="" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-right" id="shareSide-reaction1" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; cursor: pointer; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" title="">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td id="shareSide-reaction1-left" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction1-left_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction1-icon" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div id="shareSide-reaction1-facebook_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -62px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 16px;">
</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction1-text" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div class="gig-button-text gig-share-button-text" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #333333; float: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; white-space: nowrap; width: auto;">
Facebook</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction1-right" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction1-right_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -4px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="gig-counter gig-share-counter gig-counter-$rid gig-counter-right" id="shareSide-reaction1-count" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -8px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px auto 0px 1px; padding: 0px; position: static; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; width: 38px; zoom: 1;">
<span class="gig-counter-text gig-share-counter-text gig-counter-text-right gig-share-counter-text-right" id="shareSide-reaction1-count-value" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; left: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;">125</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-twitter gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-vertical gig-share-button-container-vertical" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-style: none none dotted; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; width: auto;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td class="gig-button-td" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div alt="" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-right" id="shareSide-reaction2" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; cursor: pointer; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" title="">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td id="shareSide-reaction2-left" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction2-left_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction2-icon" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div id="shareSide-reaction2-twitter_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -78px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 16px;">
</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction2-text" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div class="gig-button-text gig-share-button-text" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #333333; float: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; white-space: nowrap; width: auto;">
Twitter</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction2-right" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction2-right_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -4px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="gig-counter gig-share-counter gig-counter-$rid gig-counter-right" id="shareSide-reaction2-count" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -8px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px auto 0px 1px; padding: 0px; position: static; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; width: 38px; zoom: 1;">
<span class="gig-counter-text gig-share-counter-text gig-counter-text-right gig-share-counter-text-right" id="shareSide-reaction2-count-value" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; left: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;">68</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-email gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-vertical gig-share-button-container-vertical" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-style: none none dotted; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; width: auto;">
<div alt="" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-none" id="shareSide-reaction3" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; cursor: pointer; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" title="">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td id="shareSide-reaction3-left" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction3-left_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction3-icon" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" id="shareSide-reaction3-icon_img" src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/template/ver1-0/i/email_transparent.png" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; display: block; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" /></td><td id="shareSide-reaction3-text" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div class="gig-button-text gig-share-button-text" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #333333; float: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; white-space: nowrap; width: auto;">
Email</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction3-right" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction3-right_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -4px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-linkedin gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-vertical gig-share-button-container-vertical" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-style: none none dotted; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px; width: auto;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td class="gig-button-td" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div alt="" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-right" id="shareSide-reaction4" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; cursor: pointer; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;" title="">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td id="shareSide-reaction4-left" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction4-left_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction4-icon" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div id="shareSide-reaction4-linkedin_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -110px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 16px;">
</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction4-text" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png); background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div class="gig-button-text gig-share-button-text" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #333333; float: none; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 3px; white-space: nowrap; width: auto;">
LinkedIn</div>
</td><td id="shareSide-reaction4-right" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div id="shareSide-reaction4-right_img" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -4px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: static; width: 2px;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><div class="gig-counter gig-share-counter gig-counter-$rid gig-counter-right" id="shareSide-reaction4-count" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Ficons%2F%5Bshare%2Cfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cemail%2Clinkedin%2Cgoogle-plusone%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -8px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px auto 0px 1px; padding: 0px; position: static; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; width: 38px; zoom: 1;">
<span class="gig-counter-text gig-share-counter-text gig-counter-text-right gig-share-counter-text-right" id="shareSide-reaction4-count-value" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; left: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;">0</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><td style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-google-plusone gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-vertical gig-share-button-container-vertical" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border-top-style: none; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; width: auto;">
<div id="shareSide-reaction5" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; float: none; line-height: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">
<div id="___plusone_0" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 20px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 90px;">
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<br />
Reading this stuff makes me feel so angry these days. I'm grinding my teeth here. Mark Littlewood of the IEA seems to be a very intelligent person, but he is is purposely playing dumb in regards to his (or most certainly the IEA's) policy on economic recovery. He knows full well that cutting corporate tax will not help the economy. He knows that it will only help corporations get richer.<br />
<br />
Mark Littlewood knows full well that cutting public spending, namely welfare benefits, will not aid the economy. He knows that it will only make the poor even poorer. As there are a lot of poor people in the UK, making up a large percentage of the population, it means that there will be less money available to spend, and therefore, less money being paid into the economy.<br />
<br />
In summary, it would appear that Mark Littlewood's policy has no intention of aiding economic recovery at all. Indeed, one might conclude that it has purposely been designed to do the complete opposite - that is, break the economy, and to break the power held by a large consumer group. To be too unkind to Mark Littlewood is perhaps a little unfair, as after-all, he is nothing but a <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shill" style="font-family: Arial;">shill</a>.<br />
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<span class="hw" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">shill</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> </span><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" height="21" style="font-size: 13px; margin: 1px;" width="13"><embed src="http://img.tfd.com/m/sound.swf" flashvars="sound_src=http://img.tfd.com/hm/mp3/S0343600.mp3" menu="false" width="13" height="21" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></object><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="pron" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(128, 158, 131); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px;">(sh<img align="absbottom" src="http://img.tfd.com/hm/GIF/ibreve.gif" />l)</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Slang</i><br />
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<i>n.</i><br />
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One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle.</div>
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<i>v.</i> <b>shilled</b>, <b>shill·ing</b>, <b>shills</b></div>
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<i>v.</i><i>intr.</i><br />
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To act as a shill.</div>
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<i>v.</i><i>tr.</i><br />
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<b>1. </b>To act as a shill for (a deceitful enterprise).</div>
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<b>2. </b>To lure (a person) into a swindle.</div>
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So, who the hell are the IEA (Institute of Economic Affairs) anyway? What type of "libertarian" think-tank purposely dreams up a scheme to break down and hurt a society? One that works only in the interests of corporations, that's who. This of course is by no means a new phenomena. It's been going on for centuries:<br />
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"<a href="http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/quotes/index.htm">The</a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments' plans. "</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1876</span></div>
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There is a very telling quote which is often taken from Woodrow Wilson's book "<a href="http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/New_World_Order/WWilson_NewFreedom.html">The New Freedom</a>"(1913). Oddly, he not only talks of men of commerce being afraid of something, but apparently afraid of one person in-particular:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.</span></div>
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When are we going to make these corporations stop in their strong arm tactics of government? A more constructive question perhaps would be to lead, not with "when" but "how"?</div>
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The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-22316969313880638192013-02-23T14:08:00.001-08:002013-02-23T14:09:26.029-08:00<br />
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The educational charities that do PR for the rightwing ultra-rich</h1>
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Billionaires control the political conversation by staying hidden and paying others to promote their brutal agendas</div>
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David Koch, of Koch Industries, pictured here in his role as chairman of Americans for Prosperity at the Defending the American Dream Summit in November 2011. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</div>
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Conspiracies against the public don't get much uglier than this. As the Guardian revealed last week, two secretive organisations working for US billionaires have spent $118m to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/14/funding-climate-change-denial-thinktanks-network" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">ensure that no action is taken to prevent manmade climate change</a>. While inflicting untold suffering on the world's people, their funders have used these opaque structures to ensure that their identities are never exposed.</div>
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The two organisations – the Donors' Trust and the Donors' Capital Fund – were set up as political funding channels for people handing over $1m or more. They have financed 102 organisations which either dismiss climate science or downplay the need to take action. The large number of recipients creates the impression of many independent voices challenging climate science. These groups, working through the media, mobilising gullible voters and lobbying politicians, helped to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/23/us-senate-climate-change-bill" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">derail Obama's cap and trade bill</a> and the climate talks at Copenhagen. Now they're seeking to prevent the US president from trying again.</div>
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This covers only part of the funding. In total, between 2002 and 2010 the two identity-laundering groups paid $311m to 480 organisations, most of which take positions of interest to the ultra-rich and the corporations they run: less tax, less regulation, a smaller public sector. Around a quarter of the money received by the rightwing opinion swarm comes from the two foundations. If this funding were not effective, it wouldn't exist: the ultra-rich didn't get that way by throwing their money around randomly. The organisations they support are those that advance their interests.</div>
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A small number of the funders have been exposed by researchers trawling through tax records. They include the billionaire <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/08/koch-brothers-lobbying" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">Koch brothers</a>(paying into the two groups through their Knowledge and Progress Fund) and the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauriebennett/2011/12/26/the-ultra-rich-ultra-conservative-devos-family/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">DeVos family</a> (the billionaire owners of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">Amway</a>). More significantly, we now know a little more about the recipients. Many describe themselves as free-market or conservative thinktanks.</div>
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Among them are the American Enterprise Institute, American Legislative Exchange Council, Hudson Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Reason Foundation, Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, Mont Pelerin Society and Discovery Institute. All pose as learned societies, earnestly trying to determine the best interests of the public. The exposure of this funding reinforces the claim by David Frum, formerly a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, that such groups<a href="http://nymag.com/news/politics/conservatives-david-frum-2011-11/index2.html" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">"increasingly function as public relations agencies"</a>.</div>
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One name in particular jumped out at me: American Friends of the IEA. The <a href="http://www.iea.org.uk/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">Institute of Economic Affairs</a> is a British group that, like all the others, calls itself a free-market thinktank. Scarcely a day goes by when its staff aren't interviewed in the broadcast media, promoting the dreary old billionaires' agenda: less tax for the rich, less help for the poor, less spending by the state, less regulation for business. In the first 13 days of February, its people were on the BBC 10 times.</div>
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Never have I heard its claim to be an independent thinktank challenged by the BBC. When, in 2007, I called the institute a business lobby group, its then director-general responded, in a letter to the Guardian, that <a href="http://www.iea.org.uk/in-the-media/media-coverage/naughty-george" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">"we are independent of all business interests"</a>. Oh yes?</div>
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The database published by the Canadian site <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">desmogblog.com</a> shows that American Friends of the IEA has (up to 2010) received $215,000 from the two secretive funds. When I spoke to the IEA's fundraising manager, she confirmed that the sole purpose of American Friends is to channel money to the organisation in London. She agreed that the IEA has never disclosed the Donors' Trust money it has received. She denied that the institute is a sockpuppet organisation: purporting to be independent while working for some very powerful US interests.</div>
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Would the BBC allow someone from Bell Pottinger to discuss an issue of concern to its sponsors without revealing the sponsors' identity? No. So what's the difference? What distinguishes an acknowledged public relations company taking money channelled by a corporation or a billionaire from a so-called thinktank, funded by the same source to promote the same agenda?</div>
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The IEA is registered with the Charity Commission as an educational charity. The same goes for Nigel Lawson's climate misinformation campaign (the <a href="http://www.thegwpf.org/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">Global Warming Policy Foundation</a>) and a host of other dubious "thinktanks". I've said it before and I'll say it again: it is outrageous that the Charity Commission allows organisations that engage in political lobbying and refuse to reveal their major funders to claim charitable status.</div>
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This is the new political frontier. Corporations and their owners have learned not to show their hands. They tend to avoid the media, aware that they will damage their brands by being seen to promote the brutal agenda that furthers their interests. So they have learned from the tobacco companies: stay hidden and pay others to do it for you.</div>
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They need a network of independent-looking organisations that can produce plausible arguments in defence of their positions. Once the arguments have been developed, projecting them is easy. Most of the media is owned by billionaires, who are happy to promote the work of people funded by the same class. One of the few outlets they don't own – the BBC – has been disgracefully incurious about the identity of those to whom it gives a platform.</div>
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By these means the ultra-rich come to dominate the political conversation, without declaring themselves. Those they employ are clever and well-trained, with money their opponents can only dream of. They are skilled at rechannelling public anger that might otherwise be directed at their funders: the people who tanked the economy, who use the living planet as their dustbin, who won't pay taxes and demand that the poor must pay for the mistakes of the rich. Anger, thanks to the work of these hired hands, is instead aimed at the victims or opponents of the billionaires: people on benefits, trade unions, Greenpeace, the American Civil Liberties Union.</div>
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The answer, as ever, is transparency. As the so-called thinktanks come to play an ever more important role in politics, we need to know who they are working for. Any group – whether the IEA or Friends of the Earth – that attempts to influence public life should declare all donations greater than £1,000. We've had a glimpse of who's paying. Now we need to see the rest of the story.</div>
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<em style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Twitter: </em><a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title=""><em style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">@georgemonbiot</em></a><em style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">. A fully referenced version of this article can be found at </em><a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2013/01/10/as-it-happened/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title=""><em style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Monbiot.com</em></a></div>
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World news</h4>
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Media</h4>
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UK news</h4>
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More on this story</h3>
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<a class="link-image " data-link-name="anchor image" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/19/eon-lobbied-miliband-sentences-kingsnorth" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;"><img alt="Kingsnorth protests" height="84" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2009/10/26/1256585084603/Kingsnorth-protests-004.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; height: 84px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;" width="140" /></a></div>
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<a class="link-text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/19/eon-lobbied-miliband-sentences-kingsnorth" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;">E.ON lobbied for stiff sentences against Kingsnorth activists, papers show</a></div>
<div style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; padding: 0px;">
Power giant warned then energy secretary Ed Miliband that failure to impose tough sentences would 'impact' investment</div>
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<a class="link-text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/feb/06/lobbying-energy-civil-servants-transparency" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;">It's time civil servants were open about energy lobbying</a></div>
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<a class="link-text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/05/iain-duncan-smith-adviser-lobbying" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;">Iain Duncan Smith adviser being paid by thinktank lobbying his department</a></div>
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<a class="link-text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/18/prince-charles-charity-access-whitehall" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;">Prince Charles's charity officials given access to Whitehall elite</a></div>
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</div>
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<a class="link-text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/15/defence-lobbying-challenged" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;">Defence lobbying can be challenged – if the will is there</a></div>
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<a class="link-text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/oct/14/military-lobbying-scandal-more-embarrassment" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;">Military lobbying scandal: more embarrassment may be on the way</a></div>
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</span>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-45494092287979929712013-02-21T02:43:00.000-08:002013-02-21T02:43:05.798-08:00US supreme court hears Monsanto soybean patent case<br />
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The agribusiness giant's latest patent dispute headed to the Supreme Court on Tuesday</div>
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Maggie Severns for <a href="http://motherjones.com/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;">Mother Jones</a>, part of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/network" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="Guardian Environment Network">Guardian Environment Network</a></div>
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<img alt="MDG : Soybeans sit in a field before being harvested in Ines Indar , Argentina" height="276" itemprop="contentUrl representativeOfPage" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2011/6/1/1306923520324/MDG--Soybeans-sit-in-a-fi-007.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="460" /><br />
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Soybeans in a field before being harvested. Photograph: Diego Giudice/Getty Images</div>
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Vernon Hugh Bowman, a 75-year old Indiana farmer, says that switching to Monsanto Inc.'s "Roundup Ready" soybeans "made things so much simpler and better." Monsanto's patented beans can survive when they are sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate, also known as Roundup, which makes pest control much easier. Monsanto is less impressed with Bowman: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday on a lawsuit that the company filed against him in 2007, accusing him of violating its patent on Roundup Ready soybeans.</div>
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Here's what happened: Bowman bought seeds from a grain elevator that sold soybeans as grain for animal feed, industrial use, or other non-planting purposes. The elevator contained a lot of "second generation" Roundup Ready seeds—the spawn of original seeds that other farmers had bought and harvested from Monsanto. That's not surprising, since "[Roundup Ready soybeans are] probably the most rapidly adopted technological advance in history," said Seth Waxman, who is representing Monsanto. "The very first Roundup Ready soybean seed was only made in 1996. And it now is grown by more than 90 percent of the 275,000 soybean farms in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on United States">United States</a>."</div>
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Bowman then planted the soy beans—and that's the part that Monsanto objects to. Farmers who plant Monsanto soybeans have to sign an agreement saying they will not save the "second-generation" seeds and use them for the next harvest. Bowman didn't re-plant his own Monsanto seeds, but he did plant seeds that contained somebody else's second-generation Monsanto seeds. According to Monsanto, buying that grain and planting it to make more soybeans (as opposed to buying the grain to use for food or another purpose) is a patent violation, too.</div>
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Why aren't the owners of the grain elevator to blame? After all, they're the ones who sold the soybeans to Bowman, right? Wrong, says Monsanto: The grain elevator was selling the soybeans as grain for general purposes, not planting. Monsanto contends that the patent violation is Bowman's fault because he took the grains and used them to create new versions of Monsanto's patented soybeans that Monsanto, the patent holder, hadn't sold him.</div>
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The company claims that violations like this could stymie investment in similar products in the future. "It would be near impossible to recoup your investments with that first sale and so the more likely consequence is that research dollars would be put elsewhere," said Melissa Arbus Sherry, assistant to the solicitor general at the Department of Justice, during the argument.<br />
"They want the farmers to take all the risks associated with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/farming" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Farming">farming</a>, yet they want to control how they use those seeds all the way down the distribution chain."</div>
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Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to agree. "Why in the world would anybody spend any money to try to improve the seed if as soon as they sold the first one anybody could grow more and have as many of those seeds as they want?" he asked.</div>
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But Bowman's lawyer, Mark Walters, argues that there have to be limits on how far and how long the patent on a GMO soybean extends. "They want the farmers to take all the risks associated with farming, yet they want to control how they use those seeds all the way down the distribution chain," he said during oral argument.</div>
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Monsanto is no stranger to patent battles: Think Progress reports that the company devotes $10 million per year and 75 staffers to investigating and prosecuting farmers for patent violations. It has also sued more than 400 farmers over the last 13 years for patent infringement.</div>
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The Obama administration reportedly backs Monsanto, and urged the court to stay out of this case because it could have implications for patenting other products that can reproduce in fields like nanotechnology and genetics.</div>
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</span>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-90861369931116787832013-02-08T10:24:00.001-08:002013-02-08T10:32:46.751-08:00Proof that Banks Create Money<br />
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Proof that Banks Create Money</h1>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Lucida Sans', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do banks really create money? Yes! But we know it’s hard to believe. After all, the police spend time and energy hunting down any criminal gang that starts printing their own £10 notes. But when it comes to digital money – the numbers in your bank account – the same rules don’t apply.</span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Don’t take our word for it – t</span><span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">his is Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England:</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2012/speech613.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0000cc; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignright wp-image-12604" height="155" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Screen-Shot-2012-10-24-at-16.09.032.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: right; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Screen Shot 2012-10-24 at 16.09.03" width="150" /></a></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 17px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When banks extend loans</strong> to their customers, <strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 17px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">they create money</strong> by crediting their customers’ accounts.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2012/speech613.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Sir Mervyn King, Speech to the South Wales Chamber of Commerce at The Millenium Centre, Cardiff on 23rd October 2012</a></cite></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And here is Martin Wolf, chief economics editor for the Financial Times:</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Martin Wolf, the Financial Times Chief Economics Commentator." class="size-thumbnail wp-image-7695 alignright" height="150" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/MWolf_full2-150x150.jpg" style="border: 1px solid black; display: block; float: right; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Martin Wolf, the Financial Times Chief Economics Commentator." width="150" /></span></div>
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The essence of the contemporary monetary system is creation of money, out of nothing, by private banks’ often foolish lending </div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/93c4e11e-ec39-11df-9e11-00144feab49a.html#axzz1oXt9pYYV" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Martin Wolf, Financial Times, 9th November 2010</a></cite></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In other words, when banks make loans, they create brand new money (in the form of the numbers in our bank accounts). </span>The chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Lord Adair Turner has described this system as being at the root of the financial crisis:</div>
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<a href="http://www.positivemoney.org/2012/11/adair-turner-the-clearest-explanation-of-the-cause-of-financial-crisis/" style="border: 0px; color: #0000cc; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignleft wp-image-13131" height="155" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/adair.turner-1.jpeg" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="adair.turner (1)" width="150" /></a></div>
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The financial crisis of 2007/08 occurred because we failed to constrain the private financial system’s creation of private credit and money.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/speeches/1102-at.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Adair Turner, Speech to the South African Reserve Bank, 2nd November 2012</a></cite></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here’s further confirmation from a Bank of England paper:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb0703.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0000cc; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Bank of England 2007, Q3 front cover" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-7696 alignleft" height="150" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Screen-Shot-2012-03-09-at-16.03.242-150x150.png" style="border: 1px solid black; display: block; float: left; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Bank of England 2007, Q3 front cover" width="150" /></span></a></div>
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By far the largest role in creating broad money is played by the banking sector… When banks make loans they create additional deposits for those that have borrowed the money</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb0703.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bank of England, Interpreting movements in broad money, p.377</a></cite></div>
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<a href="http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/htcdn/Interim-Report-110411.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0000cc; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-12507 alignright" height="152" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Screen-Shot-2012-10-17-at-17.40.45.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: right; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Screen Shot 2012-10-17 at 17.40.45" width="167" /></a></div>
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Even before the crisis banks enjoyed various kinds of state support, including the effective right to create money.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/htcdn/Interim-Report-110411.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Independent Commission on Banking Interim Report, p65</a></cite></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So when you take out a loan from the bank, the ‘money’ is just typed into your account and created effectively out of nothing. Here’s further proof from Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and Member of the Monetary Policy Committee (the term ‘extend credit’ is a synonym for ‘make loans’):</span></div>
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Banks extend credit by simply increasing the borrowing customer’s current account … That is, banks extend credit [i.e. make loans] by creating money</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2007/speech331.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Bank of England. Speech: ‘Money and Credit: Banking and the Macroeconomy’</a></cite></div>
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[Banks] can lend simply by expanding the two sides of their balance sheet simultaneously, creating (broad) money.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2012/speech566.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Bank of England. Speech: ‘Shadow Banking: thoughts for a possible policy agenda’</a></cite></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That’s a very mundane way of saying that </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the creation of money in the UK has been privatised.</strong><span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In other words, </span><strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">banks are able to create all the money in the economy and lend it to us. </strong><span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This has a wide range of rarely-discussed consequences and effects upon the economy and society, and is surely something that we should be questioning in the wake of a huge financial crisis.</span></div>
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If you’ve always thought that banks took money in from savers and lent it to borrower (as we did, before we started researching this issue), this can be quite hard to believe. But here’s the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Lord Adair Turner:</div>
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The banking system can thus create credit and create spending power – a reality not well captured by many apparently common sense descriptions of the functions which banks perform. Banks it is often said take deposits from savers (for instance households) and lend it to borrowers (for instance businesses) with the quality of this credit allocation process a key driver of allocative efficiency within the economy. But in fact they don’t just allocate pre-existing savings, <strong style="border: 0px; font-size: 17px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">collectively they create both credit and the deposit money which appears to finance that credit.</strong></div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.fsa.gov.uk/library/communication/speeches/2011/0929_at.shtml" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Adair Turner, Chairman of the FSA, Speech: ‘Credit Creation and Social Optimality’, Sept 2011</a></cite></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">However, the UK is not a special case – the same system operates in every country in the world. </span></div>
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But isn’t this just the Money Multiplier?</h3>
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It is important to note that what is being described in these comments is not the money multiplier model of banking so beloved of economics textbooks (which implies the central bank has complete control over the amount of money that banks can create). Empirical research has proved that banks do not need reserves to make loans:</div>
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There is no evidence that either the monetary base or M1 leads the [credit] cycle, although some economists still believe this monetary myth. Both the monetary base and M1 series are generally procyclical and, if anything, the monetary base lags the [credit] cycle slightly.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.minneapolisfed.org/research/qr/qr1421.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Nobel prize winners Finn Kydland and Ed Prescott , Federal Reserve bank of Minneapolis (1990)</a></cite></div>
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MPs Talk about Banks Creating Money</h3>
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Conservative MP Jesse Norman sits on the Treasury Select Committee, a group of MPs that is responsible for scrutinising the Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Services Authority. In 2011 he wrote the following in a <a href="http://www.jesse4hereford.com/pdf/Case_for_Real_Capitalism_28122011.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0000cc; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">paper</a> entitled The Case for Real Capitalism:</div>
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[C]ommercial banks have an even greater power than that: they have the power to create credit—that is, money—by expanding their balance sheets. It is not widely understood how important this power is: of the money presently in circulation in the UK economy today, three per cent takes the form of cash; 97 per cent is in credit and deposits. This financial alchemy is an extraordinary privilege, which we as citizens and taxpayers underwrite. </div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.jesse4hereford.com/pdf/Case_for_Real_Capitalism_28122011.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Jesse Norman MP, The Case for Real Capitalism</a></cite></div>
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Even Major City firms talk about Banks Creating Money:</h3>
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A recent<a href="http://www.lgim.com/library/capabilities/Fixed%20Income%20Focus%20April%202012.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #0000cc; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"> paper from Legal and General Investment Management</a> confirmed the fact that most money is created by banks. This is a firm with nearly 10,000 employees and revenue of over £18bn. Their paper opens with:</div>
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We all know that money makes the world go round. But where does it come from? Before the recent descent into central bank money printing, the answer was that banks created money whenever they made a new loan. </div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.lgim.com/library/capabilities/Fixed%20Income%20Focus%20April%202012.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Legal and General Investment Management</a></cite></div>
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In America:</h3>
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The actual process of money creation takes place primarily in banks.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://ia600202.us.archive.org/3/items/ModernMoneyMechanics/MMM.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (1992) Modern Money Mechanics</a></cite></div>
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In the real world, banks extend credit, creating deposits in the process , and look for the reserves later.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/conf/conf1/conf1i.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Alan Holmes, then Senior Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1969)</a></cite></div>
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And in Europe:</h3>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Domestic Payments in Euroland: Commercial and Central Bank Money Document" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-7707 alignright" height="150" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Screen-Shot-2012-03-09-at-18.00.05-150x150.png" style="border: 1px solid black; display: block; float: right; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Domestic Payments in Euroland: Commercial and Central Bank Money Document" width="150" /></span></div>
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At the beginning of the 20th (century) almost the totality of retail payments were made in central bank money. Over time, this monopoly came to be shared with commercial banks, when deposits and their transfer via checks and giros became widely accepted. Banknotes and commercial bank money became fully interchangeable payment media that customers could use according to their needs.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/payments/docs/framework/roundtable/ecb_en.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, then Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank. Speech: ‘Domestic payments in Euroland: commercial and central bank money’</a></cite></div>
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In the Eurosystem, money is primarily created through the extension of bank credit…. The commercial banks can create money themselves, the so-called giro money.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.positivemoney.org/how-banks-create-money/proof-that-banks-create-money/" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">(Bundesbank (2009), Geld und Geldpolitik, as cited and translated by Richard A. Werner, (2009), Topics in Monetary Economics, Lecture Slides for Master in Money and Finance degree course, Goethe University, Frankfurt</a></cite></div>
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This paper contends that the emphasis on policy-induced changes in deposits is misplaced. If anything, the process actually works in reverse, with loans driving deposits. In particular, it is argued that the concept of the money multiplier is flawed and uninformative in terms of analyzing the dynamics of bank lending. Under a fiat money standard and liberalized financial system, there is no exogenous constraint on the supply of credit except through regulatory capital requirements. An adequately capitalized banking system can always fulfill the demand for loans if it wishes to.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bis.org/publ/work297.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Piti Distayat and Claudio Bori, Bank for International Settlements (2009)</a></cite></div>
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It is argued by some that financial institutions would be free to instantly transform their loans from the central bank into credit to the non-financial sector. This fits into the old theoretical view about the credit multiplier according to which the sequence of money creation goes from the primary liquidity created by central banks to total money supply created by banks via their credit decisions. In reality the sequence works more in the opposite direction with banks taking first their credit decisions and then looking for the necessary funding and reserves of central bank money.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.ecb.int/press/key/date/2011/html/sp111208.en.html" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Vitor Constancio, vice president of the ECB (2011)</a></cite></div>
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In Canada:</h3>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="grip of death cover" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-7711" height="150" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/grip-of-death-cover-150x150.png" style="border: 1px solid black; display: block; float: left; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="grip of death cover " width="150" /></span></div>
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Each and every time a bank makes a loan, new bank credit is created – new deposits – brand new money</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grip-Death-Slavery-Destructive-Economics/dp/1897766408" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Graham Towers (1939), former Governor of the Central Bank of Canada, quoted in Rowbotham, M (1998) The Grip of Death, p.12</a></cite></div>
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And a few more quotes from the UK:</h3>
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<img alt="Bank of England 2007 Quarterly Bulletin " class="alignright" height="150" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Screen-Shot-2012-03-09-at-17.03.592-150x150.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: right; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Bank of England 2007 Quarterly Bulletin " width="150" /></div>
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Broadly speaking, at present, the money-creating sector covers UK banks and building societies, whereas the money-holding sector consists of UK households and private companies.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb0703.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bank of England, Proposals to modify the measurement of broad money in the United Kingdom p.402</a></cite></div>
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<img alt="Bank of England 1994 Publications - Speeches" class="alignleft" height="150" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Screen-Shot-2012-03-09-at-16.51.40-150x150.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: left; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Bank of England 1994 Publications - Speeches" width="150" /></div>
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In the United Kingdom, money is endogenous—the Bank supplies base money on demand at its prevailing interest rate, and broad money is created by the banking system</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb940301.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bank of England, 1994, Q3 Quarterly Bulletin, p.264</a></cite></div>
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<img alt="Bank of England 2007, Q3 Quarterly Bulletin" class="alignright" height="150" src="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Screen-Shot-2012-03-09-at-17.03.59-150x150.png" style="border: 0px; display: block; float: right; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Bank of England 2007, Q3 Quarterly Bulletin" width="150" /></div>
<blockquote align="left" class="blockquote_end style02" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: url(http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/plugins/styles-with-shortcodes/images/quote02.png); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 63px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
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The money-creating sector in the United Kingdom consists of resident banks (including the Bank of England) and building societies</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb0703.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bank of England, Proposals to modify the measurement of broad money in the United Kingdom, p.405</a></cite></div>
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changes in the money stock [i.e. the total amount of money in the economy] primarily reflect developments in bank lending as new deposits are created.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb0703.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bank of England, Interpreting movements in broad money, p.378</a></cite></div>
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The money stock is a dependent, endogenous variable. This is exactly what the heterodox, Post-Keynesians, from Kaldor, through Vicky Chick, and on through Basil Moore and Randy Wray, have been correctly claiming for decades, and I have been in their party on this.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/events/ccbs_cornell2007/paper_6goodhart.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Charles Goodhart, (2007), Whatever became of the Monetary Aggregates?</a></cite></div>
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Given the near identity of deposits and bank lending, Money and Credit are often used almost inseparably, even interchangeably…</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2007/speech331.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Bank of Engalnd. Speech: ‘Money and Credit: Banking and the Macroeconomy’</a></cite></div>
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…the banking sector plays such an important role in the creation of money. Changes in the terms for deposits will affect the demand for money, while changes in the terms for loans will affect the amount of bank lending and hence money supply.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb0703.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bank of England, Interpreting movements in broad money, p.383</a></cite></div>
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Money-creating organisations issue liabilities that are treated as media of exchange by others. The rest of the economy can be referred to as money holders</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/qb0703.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bank of England, Proposals to modify the measurement of broad money in the United Kingdom, p.402</a></cite></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And if you need further proof, here’s a letter written by a correspondent of ours to the Bank of England (see the <a href="http://www.positivemoney.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/BankOfEngland-LetterMoneyCreation.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #0000cc; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">original here</span></a>). He asked them:</span></div>
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When a commercial bank makes a loan to a borrower, does the commercial bank in effect create new money? In other words, when a bank makes a loan to a borrower, is that ‘money’ just created out of thin air?</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.positivemoney.org/how-banks-create-money/proof-that-banks-create-money/" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"></a></cite></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And the Bank of England response was:</span></div>
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When banks make loans, commercial banks do indeed create much of the money in the economy.</div>
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From the Mainstream Press</h3>
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[M]uch as they might like to think they are in charge, it isn’t really the central bank in a country that creates the money – it is the commercial banks.<br />
Every time they expand their lending they increase the supply of money in the economy. And every time they contract lending they reduce it.</div>
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<cite style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 70px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4342e830-edc7-11e1-8d72-00144feab49a.html#axzz257bJfN1N" style="border: 0px; color: #000066; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Merryn Somerset Webb, editor-in-chief of Money Week, The Financial Times, August 24, 2012</a></cite></div>
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The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-406996152488895992013-02-04T03:59:00.001-08:002013-04-09T15:58:02.857-07:00Do we really need land value taxation?<i><br />
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<i>A Telling Silence</i><br />
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<i><time datetime="2013-01-21T19:59:04+00:00" pubdate="pubdate" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">January 21, 2013</time></i></h2>
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<i>Why we need land value taxation.</i></div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 22nd January 2013</span></i></div>
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<i>You can learn as much about a country from its silences as you can from its obsessions. The issues politicians do not discuss are as telling and decisive as those they do. While the government’s cuts beggar the vulnerable and gut public services, it’s time to talk about the turns not taken, the opportunities foregone: the taxes which could have spared us every turn of the screw.</i></div>
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<i>The extent of the forgetting is extraordinary. Take, for example, capital gains tax. Before the election, the Liberal Democrats promised to raise it from 18% to “the same rates as income” (in other words a top rate of 50%), to ensure that private equity bosses were no longer paying lower rates of tax than their office cleaners(<a href="http://network.libdems.org.uk/manifesto2010/libdem_manifesto_2010.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">1</a>). It made sense, as it would have removed the bosses’ incentive to collect their earnings as capital. Despite a powerful economic case, the government refused to raise the top rate above 28%. The Lib Dems protested for a day or two(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/22/budget-capital-gains-tax-rises" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">2</a>), and have remained silent ever since. In the parliamentary debate about cuts to social security, this missed opportunity wasn’t mentioned once(<a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130108/debtext/130108-0002.htm" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">3</a>).</i></div>
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<i>But at least that tax has risen. In just two and half years, the government has cut corporation tax three times. It will fall from 28% in 2010 to 21% in 2014(<a href="http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/corp.htm" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">4</a>,<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/05/corporation-tax-cut-autumn-statement" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">5</a>). George Osborne, the chancellor, boasted last month that this “is the lowest rate of any major western economy”(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/05/corporation-tax-cut-autumn-statement" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">6</a>): he is consciously setting up a destructive competition with other nations, creating new excuses further to reduce the UK rate.</i></div>
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<i>Labour’s near-silence on this issue is easily explained. Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who were often as keen as the Conservatives to appease corporate power, the rate was reduced from 33% to 28%. Prefiguring Osborne’s boast, in 1999 Brown bragged that the rate he had set was “the lowest rate of any major industrialised country anywhere, including Japan and the United States.”(7) What a legacy for a Labour government.</i></div>
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<i>As for a Robin Hood tax on financial transactions, after an initial flutter of interest you are now more likely to hear the call of the jubjub bird in the House of Commons. According to the Institute for Public Policy Research, a tax rate of just 0.01% would raise £25bn a year, rendering many of the chamber’s earnest debates about the devastating cuts void(<a href="http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/1779/financial-sector-taxes" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">8</a>). Silence also surrounds the notion of a windfall tax on extreme wealth. And to say that Professor Greg Philo’s arresting idea of transferring the national debt to those who possess assets worth £1m or more has failed to ignite the flame of passion in parliament would not overstate the case(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/15/deficit-crisis-tax-the-rich" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">9</a>).</i></div>
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<i>But the loudest silence surrounds the issue of property taxes. The most expensive flat in that favourite haunt of the international super-rich, One Hyde Park, cost £135m. The owner pays £1,369 in council tax, or 0.001% of its value(<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sultans-tax-discount-on-london-house-shows-law-favours-rich-8229543.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">10</a>). Last year the Independent revealed that the Sultan of Brunei pays only £32 a month more for his pleasure dome in Kensington Palace Gardens than some of the poorest people in the same borough(<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sultans-tax-discount-on-london-house-shows-law-favours-rich-8229543.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">11</a>). A mansion tax – slapped down by David Cameron in October(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/07/david-cameron-mansion-tax-cuts" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">12</a>) – is only the beginning of what the owners of such places should pay. For the simplest, fairest and least avoidable levy is one which the major parties simply will not contemplate. It’s called land value tax.</i></div>
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<i>The term is a misnomer. It’s not really a tax. It’s a return to the public of the benefits we have donated to the landlords. When land rises in value, the government and the people deliver a great unearned gift to those who happen to own it.</i></div>
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<i>In 1909 a dangerous subversive explained the issue thus. “Roads are made, streets are made, services are improved, electric light turns night into day, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains – and all the while the landlord sits still. Every one of those improvements is effected by the labor and cost of other people and the taxpayers. To not one of those improvements does the land monopolist, as a land monopolist, contribute, and yet by every one of them the value of his land is enhanced. He renders no service to the community, he contributes nothing to the general welfare, he contributes nothing to the process from which his own enrichment is derived. … the unearned increment on the land is reaped by the land monopolist in exact proportion, not to the service, but to the disservice done.”(<a href="http://www.landvaluetax.org/current-affairs-comment/winston-churchill-said-it-all-better-then-we-can.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">13</a>)</i></div>
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<i>Who was this firebrand? Winston Churchill. As Churchill, Adam Smith(14) and many others have pointed out, those who own the land skim wealth from everyone else, without exertion or enterprise. They “levy a toll upon all other forms of wealth and every form of industry.”(15) Land value tax recoups this toll.</i></div>
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<i>It has a number of other benefits(<a href="http://www.landvaluetax.org/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">16</a>). It stops the speculative land hoarding that prevents homes from being built. It ensures that the most valuable real estate – in city centres – is developed first, discouraging urban sprawl. It prevents speculative property bubbles, of the kind that have recently trashed the economies of Ireland, Spain and other nations and which make rents and first homes so hard to afford. Because it does not affect the supply of land (they stopped making it some time ago), it cannot cause the rents that people must pay to the landlords to be raised. It is easy to calculate and hard to avoid: you can’t hide your land in London in a secret account in the Cayman Islands. And it could probably discharge the entire deficit.</i></div>
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<i>It is altogether remarkable, in these straitened and inequitable times, that land value tax is not at the heart of the current political debate. Perhaps it is a sign of how powerful the rent-seeking class in Britain has become. While the silence surrounding this obvious solution exposes Labour’s limitations, it also exposes the contradiction at heart of the Conservative Party. The Conservatives claim, in David Cameron’s words, to be “the party of enterprise”(<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/2011/03/enterprise-government-party" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">17</a>). But those who benefit most from its policies are those who are rich already. It is, in reality, the party of rent.</i></div>
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<i>This is where the debate about workers and shirkers, strivers and skivers should have led. The skivers and shirkers sucking the money out of your pockets are not the recipients of social security demonised by the Daily Mail and the Conservative Party, the overwhelming majority of whom are honest claimants. We are being parasitised from above, not below, and the tax system should reflect this.</i></div>
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www.monbiot.com</div>
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References:</div>
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1. <a href="http://network.libdems.org.uk/manifesto2010/libdem_manifesto_2010.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://network.libdems.org.uk/manifesto2010/libdem_manifesto_2010.pdf</a></div>
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2. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/22/budget-capital-gains-tax-rises" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/22/budget-capital-gains-tax-rises</a></div>
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3.<a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130108/debtext/130108-0002.htm" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130108/debtext/130108-0002.htm</a></div>
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4. <a href="http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/corp.htm" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/corp.htm</a></div>
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5. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/05/corporation-tax-cut-autumn-statement" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/05/corporation-tax-cut-autumn-statement</a></div>
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6. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/05/corporation-tax-cut-autumn-statement" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/05/corporation-tax-cut-autumn-statement</a></div>
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7. Gordon Brown, 1st November 1999. Speech to the CBI Conference.</div>
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8. Tony Dolphin, June 2010. Financial Sector Taxes. Institute for Public Policy Research. <a href="http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/1779/financial-sector-taxes" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/1779/financial-sector-taxes</a></div>
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9. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/15/deficit-crisis-tax-the-rich" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/15/deficit-crisis-tax-the-rich</a></div>
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10. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sultans-tax-discount-on-london-house-shows-law-favours-rich-8229543.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sultans-tax-discount-on-london-house-shows-law-favours-rich-8229543.html</a></div>
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11. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sultans-tax-discount-on-london-house-shows-law-favours-rich-8229543.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sultans-tax-discount-on-london-house-shows-law-favours-rich-8229543.html</a></div>
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12. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/07/david-cameron-mansion-tax-cuts" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/oct/07/david-cameron-mansion-tax-cuts</a></div>
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13. <a href="http://www.landvaluetax.org/current-affairs-comment/winston-churchill-said-it-all-better-then-we-can.html" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.landvaluetax.org/current-affairs-comment/winston-churchill-said-it-all-better-then-we-can.html</a></div>
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14. “Ground-rents are a still more proper subject of taxation than the rent of houses. A tax upon ground-rents would not raise the rents of houses. It would fall altogether upon the owner of the ground-rent, who acts always as a monopolist, and exacts the greatest rent which can be got for the use of his ground.” Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chapter 2.</div>
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15. Winston Churchill, as above.</div>
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16. <a href="http://www.landvaluetax.org/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.landvaluetax.org/</a></div>
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17. <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/2011/03/enterprise-government-party" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.newstatesman.com/2011/03/enterprise-government-party</a><br />
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Personally, I don't agree with what Monbiot is trying to say here (and often elsewhere I might add). Land is essentially worthless. By that I mean land does not generate wealth by its own accord. The money does not magically sprout from the ground with landlords kicking their heels and dancing round it. To make a profit, the land has to be sold, or developed, or farmed, or rented. Sure, you can accuse a landowner of making a profit by-proxy, in that his/her land might increase in value if they are neighbours to plots of land which have undergone development. If the land is increasing in value over time, then surely the right time to tax the land is when someone takes the opportunity to try and make a profit from it. Actual proper, tangible profit - not some pie-in-the-sky nonsense about invisible "windfall gains".<br />
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For years, speculators had remained disinterested in obtaining ground rent portfolios because they are notoriously poor at making profit. Ground rents are low. Leases last from anywhere between 99 to 999 years, and in that time are not reviewed, so that time and inflation erodes the value of the ground rent. If you are hoping to make a big profit from them, then you are going to have to accumulate a lot of ground rent payments. And the only "people" who can afford to get their hands on enough land in order to accumulate ground rents are wealthy corporations.<br />
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If you tax the land, you are going to force landlords to find the money somehow. LVT is designed to sap away at the personal wealth of landlords. It seems unlikely that they will simply pay the money from their own coffers. Landlords will have to increase ground rents. If this does not suffice, then they will have to either develop the land themselves, or sell it on to developers. What purpose to society is a tax that actively encourages landlords to rob their tenants, and smeer concrete all over green lush countryside?<br />
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Because many of the current landlords will be unable to review their ground rents, it may mean that some will be forced to sell. And these corporations will just snap them up. They will literally own the very dirt beneath our feet, and then they will give it a great big tug. When corporations become landlords, do you imagine that you will ever see a lease that is not reviewed for 999 years, or even 9 years? Not bloody likely. They are going to try and extract every penny they can from it - from you - year in, year out.<br />
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One particular example of the investment markets renewed salivating interest in ground rent portfolios has been included <a href="http://www.slcsolicitors.com/guide-view.php?guide_id=24">below</a>. You'll notice their apparent delight in the prospect of making greater profits by slapping charges upon those that default on payments; in other words, kicking those that are down.<br />
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<i>ground rents - sound rents?</i><br />
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<i>Why would any investor or developer want to own ground rents? - seemingly anachronistic low rents - relics of when landed estate owners in earlier centuries leased land at a 'ground' rent, rather than at a 'rack' or 'market' rent, to speculative builders to enable them to develop the land - thus ensuring the landowners received an income whilst the development was carried on. Time and inflation, however, have eroded the value of those ground rents as most were not subject to review. Why then do so many wish to invest in them?</i></div>
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<i>Indeed, far from being a Victorian practice, in recent times, more and more ground rents have been created as landowners and developers developed large estates where the units were sold off on a long leasehold basis for a premium but subject to a ground rent. Indeed in the 'boom' years for development running up to the recession millions of new ground rents were created resulting in millions of pounds' worth of rental income for those developers and investors who retained the freehold and ownership of the ground rents.</i></div>
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<i>Investment in property has long been a sound investment but in recent years owing to the poor economic climate, the value of such investment has faltered. By contrast, however, investment in ground rents has not been affected by the recession and lack of fluidity in the mortgage market and is seen by most financial advisors as an increasingly sound investment.</i></div>
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<i>It may not, however, be in the economic interests of a small investor to own ground rents but for larger scale investors or developers with sizeable portfolios of ground rents then this sort of investment can prove not only to be sound but also recession–proof. Before the recession took hold many developers or ground rent owners may have been ambivalent about the income derived from ground rents and may not even have bothered to collect in the rents but now that the development potential and the finance with which to undertake it has been curtailed in this economic market, ground rents are being recognised as a viable source of income and a sound investment.</i></div>
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<i>The reason for this is that ground rent ownership provides a secure income [by way of the rents generated - albeit individually low] and also the low risk profile most investors seek. Such ground rent investment is an ideal way to diversify portfolios and manage exposure to the vagaries of the property market in a low risk manner. The reason the risk is low is that the investment is secured in every case against the value of vacant possession of the long leasehold interest.</i></div>
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<i>The worth of ground rent ownership is a combination of the rental income and the ever increasing value of the decreasing terms of the long leasehold interests. In most modern leases the freeholder or developer should seek to review the rent upwardly as this has a beneficial effect on the rental income for the ground rent owner.</i></div>
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But ground rent ownership also provides other income streams in addition to rent which enhance the attraction of such ownership, for example:</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.6em; list-style: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Lease extensions - as the lease term gets shorter and, as a result, the ability to secure mortgage lending declines, so the value of the ground rent ownership increases as, subject to statute [Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993], ground rent owners are able to secure a capital payment from leaseholders in return for the grant of a new lease; or</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.6em; list-style: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Management fees - in most leases the leaseholders require the consent of the ground rent owner/freeholder for assignments; underletting; alterations and works to the property; certificates of compliance for land registry purposes on sales of the property - all of which can produce an income for the production of those consents; or</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.6em; list-style: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Development potential - ground rent owners may be able to take advantage of the possibilities afforded by spare land at the development or flat roofs or unused buildings to create and develop more units to derive substantial capital and additional rental income; or</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.6em; list-style: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Insurance commissions - most leases provide that the freeholder/developer effects the insurance for the whole block thus affording a chance to negotiate insurance commissions with the insurance company on the premium; or</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.6em; list-style: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Interest on late payments - most leases provide for interest to be charged on late payment of ground rents accruing from the date they fell due and usually at a rate of 4% above the base lending rate of the bank specified in the lease. This sum could easily be considerable if there has been ineffective collection in the past; or</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.6em; list-style: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">Administration charges - if the lease permits administration charges can be levied by the ground rent owner on late payers and, again, this could be a considerable sum if arrears have been allowed to build up. </li>
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As can be seen, therefore, ground rent ownership is a valuable investment opportunity but one that is readily traded should the owner wish to raise funds for other acquisitions or to raise capital generally.</div>
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It should be noted, however, that there is a statutory bar to selling on ground rents /reversionary interests without first giving the leaseholders the right of first refusal to acquire. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 obliges owners to serve a 'Schedule V' notice on all qualifying tenants offering to sell them the reversionary interest on the same terms as it wishes to sell to any other party. Those tenants have 2 months within which to respond and a further 2 months to nominate a purchaser if they are interested in proceeding - if they do not respond within the requisite time frame then the sale may proceed to the other party as normal.</div>
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If retaining ownership of ground rents then owners should be aware of the practicalities of securing the payment of the rents. Section166 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 provides that long leaseholders are not liable to pay ground rent until the landlord has given them a statutorily prescribed form of notice advising of the amount and date for payment of the rent. This notice must also contain other prescribed information. For a template of a Demand for Ground Rent - (<a href="http://www.slcsolicitors.com/files/SLC-Demand-for-Ground-Rent-S166-CLRA-2002-1.pdf" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #79a3d8; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Click here to view</a>).</div>
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The limitation period for collecting ground rents is 6 years from the date the same fell due for payment [section 19 of the Limitation Act 1980]</div>
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The ultimate sanction for non payment or persistent arrears is forfeiture of the lease provided the sum outstanding is greater than £350 or the sum has been outstanding for 3 years or more.</div>
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SLC Solicitors are experts in ground rent arrears recovery working as they do for major ground rent portfolio owners and developers in this niche area. We can also provide assistance to ground rent owners with management services such as licences to assign and underlet; deeds of consent for works and alterations and provision of Certificates of Compliance for Land Registry purposes on sales. We also have the expertise to provide guidance on the Section V notice requirements and sales of ground rent portfolios. </div>
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The irony of course is that LVT will not end the monopolisation of land by landlords. It is bizarre to try and suggest as such. LVT will simply deflect monopolisation from small, independent landlords to large, ruthless corporations. And that's why big business is now backing LVT.<br />
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You will find that the arguments used to support LVT can't wait to quote Winston Churchill and his speech on "land monopolists". And they can't wait to throw in some figures about all this supposed money that our society is losing (which it isn't), and how awful it is that these landowners (which includes private landowners by the way!) are "freeloading" and sucking up all our wealth (which they're not). The following quote below is a good example of this sort of argument, and was gleened from Prospect Magazine, in an article entitled "<a href="http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/blog/land-value-tax-mansion-tax/">The rise of the freeloaders</a>":<br />
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<i>The ability of individuals to make something for nothing is so pervasive that it even has a special name: “economic rent.” It was identified by the great eighteenth-century economist Adam Smith as one of the three main types of income. In <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Wealth of Nations</em>, Smith divided income into wages, profits and “rent.” He refers to “rent” in a way that confuses the modern reader, so I’ll use the term “economic freeloading.”</i></div>
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<i>Freeloading, once it is recognised, provokes instinctive revulsion. Recent studies indicate human morality evolved partly as a response to the damage done by “free riders.” In primitive societies, anyone hitching a free ride was lethal to the social group, since hunter-gatherer existence required everyone to pull their weight. Humans had to develop a finely tuned sense of fairness and root out free riders, or their social group would become extinct. Most people (except Private Schulz) feel guilty when they hitch a free ride on others, and therefore avoid doing so.</i></div>
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<i>One group engages in economic freeloading on a gigantic scale: landowners. This group, consisting of commercial property owners and private homeowners, sucks billions of pounds out of society each year. The average homeowner would be shocked and indignant at being described as a freeloader. A house is somewhere to live. Freeloading suggests some sort of sneaky behaviour, but those buying a home are overwhelmingly law-abiding and responsible, supporting themselves and their dependents without calling on assistance from the state. But the tax system makes them freeloaders, whether they know it or not.</i></div>
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<i>In a speech supporting the Liberal government’s “people’s budget” of 1909, Winston Churchill explained why this counts as freeloading:</i></div>
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“Roads are made, streets are made, railway services are improved, electric light turns night into day, electric trams glide swiftly to and fro, water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains—and all the while the landlord sits still… To not one of these improvements does the land monopolist as a land monopolist contribute, and yet by every one of them the value of his land is sensibly enhanced.”</div>
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There is nothing a property owner can do to change the value of his plot of land. The value per square foot depends on its location. Is it near a station? A good school? All of these factors are determined by the actions of society, not the individual efforts of the owner. Any increase in the value per square foot of his plot is a pure free ride, towards which he has done nothing to contribute.</div>
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The scale of this free ride is huge. The total value of the private housing stock in the UK has risen from about £1.3tn in 1992 to about £4.2tn today. This increase is largely due to inflation and growth in land value; the stock did not substantially increase during this period. If the increase had been due to inflation alone, this would have taken the value to £2.3tn. The additional £2tn reflects the increase in the value of the land that the houses are built on. So landowners, including homeowners, have gained almost £2tn over 20 years from a rise in land values.</div>
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A specific example of landowners getting a free ride at public expense was the construction of the Jubilee line extension in London in the 1990s. This cost £3.5bn and led to an increase of £13bn in the value of nearby land. The cost of building the line was almost exclusively borne by the general taxpayer, but the £13bn benefit was pocketed by local landowners, most of whom had contributed no more to the building of the Jubilee line than any other British taxpayer.</div>
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I love the way this article portrays landowners has having accumulated all these lost billions. But of course there are no lost billions. Nobody has pocketed billions of taxpayers money. What is happening is that LVT supporters are imagining how much money the land is making, so they go on to accuse the landowner of hogging all this imaginary money, and they get all worked up and angry about it. And then they want you to get all worked up and angry about it too.<br />
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I mean, is it really the landowners' fault that somebody decided to build the Jubilee Line in their backyard? Maybe they didn't want the Jubilee Line. They might even decide to sell the land and move elsewhere. This then is the perfect opportunity for the government to step in and slap on a tax. A tax which is applied to real money, real money that one can let slip between their fingers, and comes from an actual profit being made; a tax which can quite happily reflect upon the capital gains made by a landowner over time, and deduct monies accordingly.<br />
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<br />The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-22348072213010464402013-02-03T04:46:00.002-08:002013-02-03T04:46:46.371-08:00<i><br />
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Deborah Orr and Iain Duncan Smith – Two Sides of the Same Coin</h1>
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on</span> <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/deborah-orr-and-iain-duncan-smith-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="2:54 pm"><span class="entry-date" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">November 17, 2012</span></a> <span class="by-author" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by</span> <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/author/johnnyvoid/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by johnny void">johnny void</a></span> </span><span class="comments-link" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="meta-sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">|</span> <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/deborah-orr-and-iain-duncan-smith-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/#comments" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Comment on Deborah Orr and Iain Duncan Smith – Two Sides of the Same Coin">60 Comments</a></span></div>
<div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0.85em 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<a href="http://johnnyvoid.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/burnrich1.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignleft wp-image-4865" height="180" src="http://johnnyvoid.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/burnrich1.jpg?w=174&h=180" style="border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-right: 11px;" title="burnrich" width="174" /></a>There is nothing more vile than the rich lecturing the rest of us about what it means to be poor. Whether it comes from a chinless failure like IDS, who sponges off his wife’s wealth, or a liberal hack like Deborah Orr, who sponges off her husband’s book royalties, it is the most contemptible trait of the so called chattering classes that they think they know anything at all about our lives.</div>
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Couched as it is in crass liberal piety, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/16/fix-child-poverty-deborah-orr" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Deborah Orr’s column in The Guardian today</a> exposes the truth about what fake left liberals truly think of those who haven’t reached their latte slurping heights. The concept of the deserving and undeserving poor is just as entrenched amongst humous guzzling Clapham (or in Orr’s care, edgy Stockwell) yummy mummys and flash daddys as it is in any Knightsbridge drinking club.</div>
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Orr has deigned to speak of the lower classes today in order to offer a tacit defence of Iain Duncan Smith’s attempt to rebrand poverty as a moral failing.</div>
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In an attempt to demonstrate she isn’t a vile old Tory, Orr points out that a life of minimum wage work is hardly an aspiration, unlike Iain Duncan Smith’s work makes you free mantra. She stops far short of calling for higher wages though (wonder how much she pays her cleaner?). Instead she declares: <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Duncan Smith’s indicators invite consideration of how the poorest can truly be motivated.”</em></div>
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Nothing else she says before or after this statement really matters. She has clearly decided in her Chablis addled mind that all the poor need to do is motivate themselves and their problems will disappear.</div>
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Iain Duncan Smith announced this week that he will abandon the internationally agreed definition of poverty, which is calculated according to how much money someone has compared to everyone else. Instead he has come up with yet another hare-brained scheme which attempts to shift the blame of poverty firmly onto those who are poor.</div>
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Along with the predictable ‘worklessness’, the new Tory speak for unemployment, IDS claims that family breakdown, poor health, low educational attainment, addiction and debt are the new causes of child poverty.</div>
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Yet even the richest in society can suffer from all of these so called moral failings including worklessness. Deborah Orr is a prime example. She seems to think that writing the occasional shit column for The Guardian, whilst her husband – the public school then Oxford educated Will Self – spunks out the odd book and is sometimes on the telly, means they have proper jobs.</div>
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Worklessness infects the cosy media elite, with their army of underpaid child minders and cleaners, far more than the rest of us who have to clean up our own shit and look after our our own kids.</div>
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As for the other new indicators of poverty, poor health can happen to anyone, and at some point is likely to happen to everyone. Millionaires can run up huge debts whilst the divorce courts are full of squabbling Tarquins and Jemimas ripping each other apart over who gets to keep the fucking chandelier. Deborah Orr’s own husband spent a large part of his earlier arduous career as a Guardian journalist shooting up smack.</div>
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The question is how these social problems, which cut across the classes, impact on people’s lives. And that is down to how much money people have.</div>
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When kids who’ve lost EMA can no longer afford books and fares to school or College, their poverty has nothing to do with poor educational attainment. Their poor educational attainment is down to the fact they’ve got no fucking money. When people’s health is worsened because they can’t afford good food, warm homes, or their local hospital has closed down, that is down to simple lack of cash.</div>
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If couples split up because of arguments over money, or because the benefit system increasingly pays people to be apart – something that will get much worse when next year’s benefit cap for families is introduced – they are placed under that pressure because they are skint. When families run up huge debts with loan sharks because they can’t pay the heating bill, then that debt is merely a symptom of having no money, not the initial cause.</div>
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People on sickness or disability benefits are not poor because they are unmotivated, or even because they are sick or disabled. Lots of rich people are sick or disabled. They are poor because society no longer has the decency to ensure those who can’t work due to illness or disability are paid a livable income.</div>
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And whilst a cosy spell in The Priory may be enough to confine youthful drug addiction to a scary dinner party anecdote amongst the pampered middle classes, shit housing, shit benefits, and shit treatment services mean the reality is very different if you are poor. And by poor I mean have no money, which is what poor means.</div>
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The endless jumping through intellectual hoops in an effort to redefine poverty that comes from both liberals and tories is rooted in the same entrenched sense of class entitlement. Neither wishes to acknowledge their own privilege and instead insist they are in such a cosy position because they are simply wonderful examples of human beings who’ve worked hard and are very clever. Both sides overlook the structures in society which create both mass poverty and their own affluent lifestyles. And both sides, just like Deborah Orr and Iain Duncan Smith, send their children to private school to pass on their social privilege.</div>
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They will both connive to maintain this privilege, insisting that society can’t be organised any other way and all the poor need to do is pull their socks up and stop whining. As Deborah Orr herself said, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/02/protesting-cuts-pointless-deborah-orr" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">protesting about the cuts is a waste of time.</a></div>
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And both, whether openly expressed, or snidely insinuated, believe that those with least are responsible for their poverty – because if people stop blaming the poor, then they might start blaming the rich. And even the most mung bean sprouting, Big Issue buying, politically correct and oh so concerned affluent liberal knows instinctively whose side they are really on in the class war.</div>
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<a class="like needs-login sd-button" href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/deborah-orr-and-iain-duncan-smith-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=a34a077b61" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgb(247, 247, 247) 0%, rgb(239, 239, 239) 100%); border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221) !important; box-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px inset; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" title="I like this."><span style="background-position: 2px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; opacity: 0.8; outline: 0px; padding: 1px 5px 1px 2px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Like</span></a></div>
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<span class="wpl-count-number" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">10</span> bloggers like this.</div>
<ul class="wpl-avatars sd-like-gravatars" style="background-image: none; border: none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0px 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; zoom: 1;">
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/misterharrywilliams" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Harry" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-d83e189fa691c98c695dc6ff5fb3a545-0" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d83e189fa691c98c695dc6ff5fb3a545?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/exiledstar" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="M.K. Hajdin" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-fe42b2129aff2041ac8d6c9d3cb94d52-0" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/fe42b2129aff2041ac8d6c9d3cb94d52?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/paul8ar" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="paul8ar" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-3b62d80f4f7c159e8a6721f5d87f1f5d-0" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/3b62d80f4f7c159e8a6721f5d87f1f5d?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/ralfast" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="ralfast" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-59fe0b24d2c1fd700eda83225f8a5474-0" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/59fe0b24d2c1fd700eda83225f8a5474?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/bjo61" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Bridget" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-b0583e0c45cef28251896dbfb51bcab5-0" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b0583e0c45cef28251896dbfb51bcab5?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/isread" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Paul Nightingale" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-df780df042dec94f7dcd306a7697d7b3-0" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/df780df042dec94f7dcd306a7697d7b3?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/calvin227" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="calvin227" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-41ee23b048f528a305395d9c6688e12a-0" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/41ee23b048f528a305395d9c6688e12a?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/danidenada" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Dani de Nada" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-bd0e15745377cd4db8f3ec7d4d31bd20-0" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/bd0e15745377cd4db8f3ec7d4d31bd20?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li>
<li style="background-image: none; border: none; display: block; float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 32px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px !important; vertical-align: baseline; width: 32px;"><a class="wpl-liker" href="http://gravatar.com/buddyhell" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="buddyhell" class="avatar avatar-30 grav-hashed" height="30" id="grav-e4df4010cfe1d8fb9532258e27c6772e-0" src="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/e4df4010cfe1d8fb9532258e27c6772e?s=30&d=identicon&r=G" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; position: static;" width="30" /></a></li></i>
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This entry was posted in <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in Uncategorized">Uncategorized</a> and tagged <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/tag/class-war/" rel="tag" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">class war</a>, <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/tag/deborah-orr/" rel="tag" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Deborah Orr</a>, <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/tag/iain-duncan-smith/" rel="tag" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Iain Duncan Smith</a>, <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/tag/poverty/" rel="tag" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">poverty</a>. Bookmark the <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/deborah-orr-and-iain-duncan-smith-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Permalink to Deborah Orr and Iain Duncan Smith – Two Sides of the Same Coin">permalink</a>.</div>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-30394019729283795442013-02-03T02:47:00.001-08:002013-02-03T03:16:02.184-08:00The rich get richer: David Cameron's tax cut will help 13,000 millionaires<div class="styleGroup clearfix" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; zoom: 1;">
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<time class="published-date" datetime="2013-02-03T00:00:00" itemprop="datePublished" style="border-left-color: black; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 5px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/by-date/03-02-2013" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">3 Feb 2013 00:00</a></time><br />
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New figures reveal the number of people earning at least £1m a year has rocketed</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.28125px;">THE number of millionaires who will benefit from David Cameron’s April tax cut has soared to 13,000.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.28125px;">Experts had predicted that 8,000 people earning £1million a year would get an average tax cut of almost £100,000 – thanks to the PM and Chancellor George Osborne’s decision to cut the 50p top rate of tax to 45p.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.28125px;">But new figures reveal the number of people earning at least £1m a year has rocketed to 13,000, despite the economy being on the brink of a triple-dip recession.</span><br />
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The income of Brits who earned more than £1m last year was an astonishing £27.4billion.</div>
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HM Revenue and Customs figures reveal that the million-pound earners would have paid a total of £12.7bn this year at the 50p tax rate.</div>
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But that will drop by £1.3bn to £11.4bn when the rate is slashed to 45p.</div>
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The cut will come as Britain’s poorest are hit by a council tax benefits shake-up.</div>
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<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bedroom-tax-will-plunge-thousands-into-poverty-1571248" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">A “bedroom tax” will mean people living in social housing who are deemed to have a spare bedroom face being forced to move to a smaller house or face a cut in benefits</a>.</div>
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Labour’s Shadow Treasury Minister Catherine McKinnell said the latest figures proved that Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne were “out of touch with reality”.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 23.734375px;"><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-camerons-tax-cut-will-help-1572074">http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-camerons-tax-cut-will-help-1572074</a></span></span></div>
The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-43209286702161403282013-02-02T02:59:00.001-08:002013-02-02T03:00:47.047-08:00The Mind Thieves<i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.71428571em;"><time datetime="2012-09-10T18:24:47+00:00" pubdate="pubdate" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">September 10, 2012</time></i><br />
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<i>The evidence linking Alzheimer’s disease to the food industry is strong and growing.</i></div>
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<i>By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian, 11th September 2012</i></div>
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<i>When you raise the subject of over-eating and obesity, you often see people at their worst. The comment threads discussing these issues reveal a legion of bullies, who appear to delight in other people’s problems.</i></div>
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<i>When alcoholism and drug addiction are discussed, the tone tends to be sympathetic. When obesity is discussed, the conversation is dominated by mockery and blame, though the evidence suggests that it can be driven by similar forms of addiction(1,2,3,4). I suspect that much of this mockery is a coded form of snobbery: the strong association between poor diets and poverty allows people to use this issue as a cipher for something else they want to say, which is less socially acceptable.</i></div>
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<i>But this problem belongs to all of us. Even if you can detach yourself from the suffering caused by diseases arising from bad diets, you will carry the cost, as a growing proportion of the health budget will be used to address them. The cost – measured in both human suffering and money – could be far greater than we imagined. A large body of evidence now suggests that Alzheimer’s is primarily a metabolic disease. Some scientists have gone so far as to rename it. They call it diabetes type 3.</i></div>
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<i>New Scientist carried this story on its cover last week(5): since then I’ve been sitting in the library trying to discover whether it stands up. I’ve now read dozens of papers on the subject, testing my cognitive powers to the limit as I’ve tried to get to grips with brain chemistry. While the story is by no means complete, the evidence so far is compelling.</i></div>
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<i>Around 35 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease worldwide(6); current projections, based on the rate at which the population ages, suggest that this will rise to 100 million by 2050(7). But if, as many scientists now believe, it is caused largely by the brain’s impaired response to insulin, the numbers could rise much further. In the US, the percentage of the population with diabetes type 2, which is strongly linked to obesity, has almost trebled in 30 years(8). If Alzheimer’s, or “diabetes type 3”, goes the same way, the potential for human suffering is incalculable.</i></div>
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<i>Insulin is the hormone which prompts the liver, muscles and fat to absorb sugar from the blood. Diabetes 2 is caused by excessive blood glucose, resulting either from a deficiency of insulin produced by the pancreas, or resistance to its signals by the organs which would usually take up the glucose.</i></div>
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<i>The association between Alzheimer’s and diabetes 2 is long-established: type 2 sufferers are two to three times more likely to be struck by this dementia than the general population(9). There are also associations between Alzheimer’s and obesity(10) and Alzheimer’s and metabolic syndrome (a complex of diet-related pathologies)(11).</i></div>
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<i>Researchers first proposed that Alzheimer’s was another form of diabetes in 2005. The authors of the original paper investigated the brains of 54 corpses, 28 of which belonged to people who had died of the disease(12). They found that the levels of both insulin and insulin-like growth factors in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients were sharply reduced by comparison to those in the brains of people who had died of other causes. Levels were lowest in the parts of the brain most affected by the disease.</i></div>
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<i>Their work led them to conclude that insulin and insulin-like growth factor are produced not only in the pancreas but also in the brain. Insulin in the brain has a host of functions: as well as glucose metabolism, it helps to regulate the transmission of signals from one nerve cell to another, and affects their growth, plasticity and survival(13,14).</i></div>
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<i>Experiments conducted since then appear to support the link between diet and dementia(15,16,17,18), and researchers have begun to propose potential mechanisms. In common with all brain chemistry, these tend to be fantastically complex, involving, among other impacts, inflammation, stress caused by oxidation, the accumulation of one kind of brain protein and the transformation of another(19,20,21,22). I would need the next six pages of this paper even to begin to explain them, and would doubtless get it wrong (if you’re interested, please follow the links on my website).</i></div>
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<i>Plenty of research still needs to be done. But if the current indications are correct, Alzheimer’s disease could be another catastrophic impact of the junk food industry, and the worst discovered so far. Our governments, as they are in the face of all our major crises, appear to be incapable of responding.</i></div>
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<i>In this country as in many others, the government’s answer to the multiple disasters caused by the consumption of too much sugar and fat is to call on both companies and consumers to regulate themselves. Before he was replaced by someone even worse, the former health secretary, Andrew Lansley, handed much of the responsibility for improving the nation’s diet to food and drinks companies: a strategy that would work only if they volunteered to abandon much of their business(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/12/government-health-deal-business" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">23</a>,<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/14/obesity-crisis-doctors-fastfood-deals-ban" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">24</a>).</i></div>
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<i>A scarcely-regulated food industry can engineer its products – loading them with fat, salt, sugar and high fructose corn syrup – to bypass the neurological signals which would otherwise prompt people to stop eating(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/11/why-our-food-is-making-us-fat" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">25</a>). It can bombard both adults and children with advertising. It can (as we discovered yesterday) use the freedoms granted to academy schools to sell the chocolate, sweets and fizzy drinks now banned from sale in maintained schools(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/10/junk-food-academy-schools-claims" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">26</a>). It can kill the only effective system (the traffic light label) for informing people how much fat, sugar and salt their food contains. Then it can turn to the government and blame consumers for eating the products it sells. This is class war: a war against the poor fought by the executive class in government and industry.</i></div>
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<i>We cannot yet state unequivocally that poor diet is a leading cause of Alzheimer’s disease, though we can say that the evidence is strong and growing. But if ever there was a case for the precautionary principle, here it is. It’s not as if we lose anything by eating less rubbish. Averting a possible epidemic of this devastating disease means taking on the bullies: those who mock people for their pathologies and those who spread the pathologies by peddling a lethal diet.</i></div>
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<i>www.monbiot.com</i></div>
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<i>References:</i></div>
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<i>1. Caroline Davis et al, 2011. Evidence that ‘food addiction’ is a valid phenotype of obesity. Appetite Vol. 57, pp711–717. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.08.017</i></div>
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<i>2. Paul J. Kenny, November 2011. Common cellular and molecular mechanisms in obesity and drug addiction. Nature Neuroscience, Vol. 12, pp 638-651. doi:10.1038/nrn3105</i></div>
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<i>3. Joseph Frascella et al, 2010. Shared brain vulnerabilities open the way for nonsubstance addictions: Carving addiction</i><br />
<i>at a new joint? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1187, pp294–315.</i><br />
<i>doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05420.x</i></div>
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<i>4. Ashley N. Gearhardt et al, 2010. Can food be addictive? Public health and policy implications. Addiction, 106, 1208–1212. ad. d_3301 1208..1212</i><br />
<i>doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03301.x</i></div>
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<i>5. Bijal Trivedi, 1st September 2012. Eat Your Way to Dementia. New Scientist.</i></div>
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<i>6. Sónia C. Correia et al, 2011. Insulin-resistant brain state: The culprit in sporadic Alzheimer’s disease? Ageing Research Reviews Vol. 10, 264–273. doi:10.1016/j.arr.2011.01.001</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>7. Fabio Copped`e et al, 2012. Nutrition and Dementia. Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research, Vol. 2012, pp1-3.</i><br />
<i>doi:10.1155/2012/926082</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>8. See the graph in Bijal Trivedi, 1st September 2012. Eat Your Way to Dementia. New Scientist.</i></div>
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<i>9. Johanna Zemva and Markus Schubert, September 2011. Central Insulin and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Signaling – Implications for Diabetes Associated Dementia. Current Diabetes Reviews, Vol.7, No.5, pp356-366. doi.org/10.2174/157339911797415594</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>10. Eg Weili Xu et al, 2011. Midlife overweight and obesity increase late life dementia risk: a population-based twin study. Neurology, Vol. 76, no. 18, pp.1568–1574.</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>11. M. Vanhanen et al, 2006. Association of metabolic syndrome with Alzheimer disease: A population-based study. Neurology, vol. 67, pp.843–847.</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>12. Eric Steen et al, 2005. Impaired insulin and insulin-like growth factor expression and signaling mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease – is this type 3 diabetes?.</i><br />
<i>Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Vol. 7, pp.63–80.</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>13. Konrad Talbot et al, 2012. Demonstrated brain insulin resistance in Alzheimer’s disease patients is associated with IGF-1 resistance, IRS-1 dysregulation, and cognitive decline. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Vol.122, No.4, pp.1316–1338. doi:10.1172/JCI59903.</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>14. Naoki Yamamoto et al, 2012. Brain insulin resistance accelerates Aβ fibrillogenesis by inducing GM1 ganglioside clustering in the presynaptic membranes. Journal of Neurochemistry, Vol. 121, 619–628. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2012.07668.x</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>15. Eg:</i><br />
<i>Wei-Qin Zhao and Matthew Townsend, 2009. Insulin resistance and amyloidogenesis as common molecular foundation for type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.</i><br />
<i>Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Vol.1792, pp.482–496. doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2008.10.014,</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>16. Sónia C. Correia et al, 2011. Insulin-resistant brain state: The culprit in sporadic Alzheimer’s disease? Ageing Research Reviews Vol. 10, 264–273. doi:10.1016/j.arr.2011.01.001</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>17. T. Ohara et al, 2011. Glucose tolerance status and risk of dementia in the community, the Hisayama study. Neurology, Vol. 77, pp.1126–1134.</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>18. Karen Neumann et al, 2008. Insulin resistance and Alzheimer’s disease: molecular links & clinical implications. Current Alzheimer Research, Vol.5, no.5, pp438–447.</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>19. Eg: Lap Ho et al, 2012. Insulin Receptor Expression and Activity in the Brains of</i><br />
<i>Nondiabetic Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease Cases. International Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Volume 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/321280</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>20. Suzanne M. de la Monte, 2012. Contributions of Brain Insulin Resistance and Deficiency in Amyloid-Related Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease. Drugs, Vol. 72, no.1, pp. 49-66. doi: 10.2165/11597760</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>21. Ying Liu et al, 2011. Deficient brain insulin signalling pathway in Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. Journal of Pathology, Vol. 225, pp.54–62. doi: 0.1002/path.2912</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>22. Konrad Talbot et al, 2012. Demonstrated brain insulin resistance in Alzheimer’s disease patients is associated with IGF-1 resistance, IRS-1 dysregulation, and cognitive decline. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Vol.122, No.4, pp.1316–1338. doi:10.1172/JCI59903.</i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>23. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/12/government-health-deal-business" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/12/government-health-deal-business</a></i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>24. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/14/obesity-crisis-doctors-fastfood-deals-ban" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/14/obesity-crisis-doctors-fastfood-deals-ban</a></i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>25. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/11/why-our-food-is-making-us-fat" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/11/why-our-food-is-making-us-fat</a></i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none !important; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i>26. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/10/junk-food-academy-schools-claims" style="background-color: transparent; color: #aa0000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/10/junk-food-academy-schools-claims</a></i></div>
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The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-39894061314495987402013-02-01T03:13:00.000-08:002013-02-01T04:33:04.218-08:00<br />
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To us, it's an obscure shift of tax law. To the City, it's the heist of the century</h1>
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In David Cameron we have a leader whose job is to quietly legitimise a semi-criminal, money-laundering economy</div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/06/david-cameron-rules-out-tax-cuts" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">'I would love to see tax reductions,"</a> David Cameron told the Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, "but when you're borrowing 11% of your GDP, it's not possible to make significant net tax cuts. It just isn't." Oh no? Then how come he's planning the biggest and crudest corporate tax cut in living memory?</div>
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If you've heard nothing of it, you're in good company. The obscure adjustments the government is planning to the tax acts of 1988 and 2009 have been missed by almost everyone – and are, anyway, almost impossible to understand without expert help. But as soon as you grasp the implications, you realise that a kind of corporate coup d'etat is taking place.</div>
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Like the dismantling of the NHS and the sale of public forests, no one voted for this measure, as it wasn't in the manifestos. While Cameron insists that he occupies the centre ground of British politics, that he shares our burdens and feels our pain, he has quietly been plotting with banks and businesses to engineer the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor and middle to the ultra-rich that this country has seen in a century. The latest heist has been explained to me by the former tax inspector, now a Private Eye journalist, Richard Brooks and current senior tax staff who can't be named. Here's how it works.</div>
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At the moment tax law ensures that companies based here, with branches in other countries, don't get taxed twice on the same money. They have to pay only the difference between our rate and that of the other country. If, for example, Dirty Oil plc pays 10% corporation tax on its profits in Oblivia, then shifts the money over here, it should pay a further 18% in the UK, to match our rate of 28%. But under the new proposals, companies will pay nothing at all in this country on money made by their foreign branches.</div>
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Foreign means anywhere. If these proposals go ahead, the UK will be only the second country in the world to allow money that has passed through tax havens to remain untaxed when it gets here. The other is Switzerland. The exemption applies solely to "large and medium companies": it is not available for smaller firms. The government says it expects "large financial services companies to make the greatest use of the exemption regime". The main beneficiaries, in other words, will be the banks.</div>
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But that's not the end of it. While big business will be exempt from tax on its foreign branch earnings, it will, amazingly, still be able to claim the expense of funding its foreign branches against tax it pays in the UK. No other country does this. The new measures will, as we already know, accompany a rapid reduction in the official rate of <a href="http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1809451/emergency-budget-corporation-tax-drop-2014" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">corporation tax: from 28% to 24% by 2014</a>. This, a Treasury minister has boasted, will be the lowest rate "of any major western economy". By the time this government is done, we'll be lucky if the banks and corporations pay anything at all. In the Sunday Telegraph, David Cameron said: "What I want is tax revenue from the banks into the exchequer, so we can help rebuild this economy." He's doing just the opposite.</div>
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These measures will drain not only wealth but also jobs from the UK. The new legislation will create a powerful incentive to shift business out of this country and into nations with lower corporate tax rates. Any UK business that doesn't outsource its staff or funnel its earnings through a tax haven will find itself with an extra competitive disadvantage. The new rules also threaten to degrade the tax base everywhere, as companies with headquarters in other countries will demand similar measures from their own governments.</div>
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So how did this happen? You don't have to look far to find out. Almost all the members of the seven committees the government set up "to provide strategic oversight of the development of corporate tax policy" are corporate executives. Among them are representatives of Vodafone, Tesco, BP, British American Tobacco and several of the major banks: HSBC, Santander, Standard Chartered, Citigroup, Schroders, RBS and Barclays.</div>
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I used to think of such processes as regulatory capture: government agencies being taken over by the companies they were supposed to restrain. But I've just read <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/22/treasure-islands-tax-havens-shaxson-review" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">Nicholas Shaxson's Treasure Islands</a> – perhaps the most important book published in the UK so far this year – and now I'm not so sure. Shaxson shows how the world's tax havens have not, as the OECD claims, been eliminated, but legitimised; how the City of London is itself a giant tax haven, which passes much of its business through its subsidiary havens in British dependencies, overseas territories and former colonies; how its operations mesh with and are often indistinguishable from the laundering of the proceeds of crime; and how the Corporation of the City of London in effect dictates to the government, while remaining exempt from democratic control. If Hosni Mubarak has passed his alleged $70bn through British banks, the Egyptians won't see a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_piastre" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">piastre</a> of it.</div>
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Reading Treasure Islands, I have realised that injustice of the kind described in this column is no perversion of the system; it is the system. Tony Blair came to power after assuring the City of his benign intentions. He then deregulated it and cut its taxes. Cameron didn't have to assure it of anything: his party exists to turn its demands into public policy. Our ministers are not public servants. They work for the people who fund their parties, run the banks and own the newspapers, shielding them from their obligations to society, insulating them from democratic challenge.</div>
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Our political system protects and enriches a fantastically wealthy elite, much of whose money is, as a result of their interesting tax and transfer arrangements, in effect stolen from poorer countries, and poorer citizens of their own countries. Ours is a semi-criminal money-laundering economy, legitimised by the pomp of the lord mayor's show and multiple layers of defence in government. Politically irrelevant, economically invisible, the rest of us inhabit the margins of the system. Governments ensure that we are thrown enough scraps to keep us quiet, while the ultra-rich get on with the serious business of looting the global economy and crushing attempts to hold them to account.</div>
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And this government? It has learned the lesson that Thatcher never grasped. If you want to turn this country into another Mexico, where the ruling elite wallows in unimaginable, state-facilitated wealth while the rest can go to hell, you don't declare war on society, you don't lambast single mothers or refuse to apologise for Bloody Sunday. You assuage, reassure, conciliate, emote. Then you shaft us.</div>
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• A fully referenced version of this article can be found on <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial;" title="">George Monbiot's website</a></div>
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</div>The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1647271444845503024.post-10839478340831794752013-01-30T10:34:00.002-08:002013-01-30T10:35:58.886-08:00The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race<i><br />
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<i>
Jared Diamond, "The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race," <i>Discover Magazine</i>, May 1987, pp. 64-66.<hr />
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The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race</h2>
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By Jared Diamond<br />University of California at Los Angeles Medical School</h3>
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To science we owe dramatic changes in our smug self-image. Astronomy taught us that our earth isn't the center of the universe but merely one of billions of heavenly bodies. From biology we learned that we weren't specially created by God but evolved along with millions of other species. Now archaeology is demolishing another sacred belief: that human history over the past million years has been a long tale of progress. In particular, recent discoveries suggest that the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we have never recovered. With agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism, that curse our existence.At first, the evidence against this revisionist interpretation will strike twentieth century Americans as irrefutable. We're better off in almost every respect than people of the Middle Ages, who in turn had it easier than cavemen, who in turn were better off than apes. Just count our advantages. We enjoy the most abundant and varied foods, the best tools and material goods, some of the longest and healthiest lives, in history. Most of us are safe from starvation and predators. We get our energy from oil and machines, not from our sweat. What neo-Luddite among us would trade his life for that of a medieval peasant, a caveman, or an ape?<br />
For most of our history we supported ourselves by hunting and gathering: we hunted wild animals and foraged for wild plants. It's a life that philosophers have traditionally regarded as nasty, brutish, and short. Since no food is grown and little is stored, there is (in this view) no respite from the struggle that starts anew each day to find wild foods and avoid starving. Our escape from this misery was facilitated only 10,000 years ago, when in different parts of the world people began to domesticate plants and animals. The agricultural revolution spread until today it's nearly universal and few tribes of hunter-gatherers survive.<br />
From the progressivist perspective on which I was brought up, to ask "Why did almost all our hunter-gatherer ancestors adopt agriculture?" is silly. Of course they adopted it because agriculture is an efficient way to get more food for less work. Planted crops yield far more tons per acre than roots and berries. Just imagine a band of savages, exhausted from searching for nuts or chasing wild animals, suddenly grazing for the first time at a fruit-laden orchard or a pasture full of sheep. How many milliseconds do you think it would take them to appreciate the advantages of agriculture?<br />
The progressivist party line sometimes even goes so far as to credit agriculture with the remarkable flowering of art that has taken place over the past few thousand years. Since crops can be stored, and since it takes less time to pick food from a garden than to find it in the wild, agriculture gave us free time that hunter-gatherers never had. Thus it was agriculture that enabled us to build the Parthenon and compose the B-minor Mass.<br />
While the case for the progressivist view seems overwhelming, it's hard to prove. How do you show that the lives of people 10,000 years ago got better when they abandoned hunting and gathering for farming? Until recently, archaeologists had to resort to indirect tests, whose results (surprisingly) failed to support the progressivist view. Here's one example of an indirect test: Are twentieth century hunter-gatherers really worse off than farmers? Scattered throughout the world, several dozen groups of so-called primitive people, like the Kalahari bushmen, continue to support themselves that way. It turns out that these people have plenty of leisure time, sleep a good deal, and work less hard than their farming neighbors. For instance, the average time devoted each week to obtaining food is only 12 to 19 hours for one group of Bushmen, 14 hours or less for the Hadza nomads of Tanzania. One Bushman, when asked why he hadn't emulated neighboring tribes by adopting agriculture, replied, "Why should we, when there are so many mongongo nuts in the world?"<br />
While farmers concentrate on high-carbohydrate crops like rice and potatoes, the mix of wild plants and animals in the diets of surviving hunter-gatherers provides more protein and a bettter balance of other nutrients. In one study, the Bushmen's average daily food intake (during a month when food was plentiful) was 2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein, considerably greater than the recommended daily allowance for people of their size. It's almost inconceivable that Bushmen, who eat 75 or so wild plants, could die of starvation the way hundreds of thousands of Irish farmers and their families did during the potato famine of the 1840s.<br />
So the lives of at least the surviving hunter-gatherers aren't nasty and brutish, even though farmes have pushed them into some of the world's worst real estate. But modern hunter-gatherer societies that have rubbed shoulders with farming societies for thousands of years don't tell us about conditions before the agricultural revolution. The progressivist view is really making a claim about the distant past: that the lives of primitive people improved when they switched from gathering to farming. Archaeologists can date that switch by distinguishing remains of wild plants and animals from those of domesticated ones in prehistoric garbage dumps.<br />
How can one deduce the health of the prehistoric garbage makers, and thereby directly test the progressivist view? That question has become answerable only in recent years, in part through the newly emerging techniques of paleopathology, the study of signs of disease in the remains of ancient peoples.<br />
In some lucky situations, the paleopathologist has almost as much material to study as a pathologist today. For example, archaeologists in the Chilean deserts found well preserved mummies whose medical conditions at time of death could be determined by autopsy (<i>Discover</i>, October). And feces of long-dead Indians who lived in dry caves in Nevada remain sufficiently well preserved to be examined for hookworm and other parasites.<br />
Usually the only human remains available for study are skeletons, but they permit a surprising number of deductions. To begin with, a skeleton reveals its owner's sex, weight, and approximate age. In the few cases where there are many skeletons, one can construct mortality tables like the ones life insurance companies use to calculate expected life span and risk of death at any given age. Paleopathologists can also calculate growth rates by measuring bones of people of different ages, examine teeth for enamel defects (signs of childhood malnutrition), and recognize scars left on bones by anemia, tuberculosis, leprosy, and other diseases.<br />
One straight forward example of what paleopathologists have learned from skeletons concerns historical changes in height. Skeletons from Greece and Turkey show that the average height of hunger-gatherers toward the end of the ice ages was a generous 5' 9'' for men, 5' 5'' for women. With the adoption of agriculture, height crashed, and by 3000 B. C. had reached a low of only 5' 3'' for men, 5' for women. By classical times heights were very slowly on the rise again, but modern Greeks and Turks have still not regained the average height of their distant ancestors.<br />
Another example of paleopathology at work is the study of Indian skeletons from burial mounds in the Illinois and Ohio river valleys. At Dickson Mounds, located near the confluence of the Spoon and Illinois rivers, archaeologists have excavated some 800 skeletons that paint a picture of the health changes that occurred when a hunter-gatherer culture gave way to intensive maize farming around A. D. 1150. Studies by George Armelagos and his colleagues then at the University of Massachusetts show these early farmers paid a price for their new-found livelihood. Compared to the hunter-gatherers who preceded them, the farmers had a nearly 50 per cent increase in enamel defects indicative of malnutrition, a fourfold increase in iron-deficiency anemia (evidenced by a bone condition called porotic hyperostosis), a theefold rise in bone lesions reflecting infectious disease in general, and an increase in degenerative conditions of the spine, probably reflecting a lot of hard physical labor. "Life expectancy at birth in the pre-agricultural community was bout twenty-six years," says Armelagos, "but in the post-agricultural community it was nineteen years. So these episodes of nutritional stress and infectious disease were seriously affecting their ability to survive."<br />
The evidence suggests that the Indians at Dickson Mounds, like many other primitive peoples, took up farming not by choice but from necessity in order to feed their constantly growing numbers. "I don't think most hunger-gatherers farmed until they had to, and when they switched to farming they traded quality for quantity," says Mark Cohen of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, co-editor with Armelagos, of one of the seminal books in the field, <i>Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture</i>. "When I first started making that argument ten years ago, not many people agreed with me. Now it's become a respectable, albeit controversial, side of the debate."<br />
There are at least three sets of reasons to explain the findings that agriculture was bad for health. First, hunter-gatherers enjoyed a varied diet, while early fanners obtained most of their food from one or a few starchy crops. The farmers gained cheap calories at the cost of poor nutrition, (today just three high-carbohydrate plants -- wheat, rice, and corn -- provide the bulk of the calories consumed by the human species, yet each one is deficient in certain vitamins or amino acids essential to life.) Second, because of dependence on a limited number of crops, farmers ran the risk of starvation if one crop failed. Finally, the mere fact that agriculture encouraged people to clump together in crowded societies, many of which then carried on trade with other crowded societies, led to the spread of parasites and infectious disease. (Some archaeologists think it was the crowding, rather than agriculture, that promoted disease, but this is a chicken-and-egg argument, because crowding encourages agriculture and vice versa.) Epidemics couldn't take hold when populations were scattered in small bands that constantly shifted camp. Tuberculosis and diarrheal disease had to await the rise of farming, measles and bubonic plague the appearnce of large cities.<br />
Besides malnutrition, starvation, and epidemic diseases, farming helped bring another curse upon humanity: deep class divisions. Hunter-gatherers have little or no stored food, and no concentrated food sources, like an orchard or a herd of cows: they live off the wild plants and animals they obtain each day. Therefore, there can be no kings, no class of social parasites who grow fat on food seized from others. Only in a farming population could a healthy, non-producing elite set itself above the disease-ridden masses. Skeletons from Greek tombs at Mycenae c. 1500 B. C. suggest that royals enjoyed a better diet than commoners, since the royal skeletons were two or three inches taller and had better teeth (on the average, one instead of six cavities or missing teeth). Among Chilean mummies from c. A. D. 1000, the elite were distinguished not only by ornaments and gold hair clips but also by a fourfold lower rate of bone lesions caused by disease.<br />
Similar contrasts in nutrition and health persist on a global scale today. To people in rich countries like the U. S., it sounds ridiculous to extol the virtues of hunting and gathering. But Americans are an elite, dependent on oil and minerals that must often be imported from countries with poorer health and nutrition. If one could choose between being a peasant farmer in Ethiopia or a bushman gatherer in the Kalahari, which do you think would be the better choice?<br />
Farming may have encouraged inequality between the sexes, as well. Freed from the need to transport their babies during a nomadic existence, and under pressure to produce more hands to till the fields, farming women tended to have more frequent pregnancies than their hunter-gatherer counterparts -- with consequent drains on their health. Among the Chilean mummies for example, more women than men had bone lesions from infectious disease.<br />
Women in agricultural societies were sometimes made beasts of burden. In New Guinea farming communities today I often see women staggering under loads of vegetables and firewood while the men walk empty-handed. Once while on a field trip there studying birds, I offered to pay some villagers to carry supplies from an airstrip to my mountain camp. The heaviest item was a 110-pound bag of rice, which I lashed to a pole and assigned to a team of four men to shoulder together. When I eventually caught up with the villagers, the men were carrying light loads, while one small woman weighing less than the bag of rice was bent under it, supporting its weight by a cord across her temples.<br />
As for the claim that agriculture encouraged the flowering of art by providing us with leisure time, modern hunter-gatherers have at least as much free time as do farmers. The whole emphasis on leisure time as a critical factor seems to me misguided. Gorillas have had ample free time to build their own Parthenon, had they wanted to. While post-agricultural technological advances did make new art forms possible and preservation of art easier, great paintings and sculptures were already being produced by hunter-gatherers 15,000 years ago, and were still being produced as recently as the last century by such hunter-gatherers as some Eskimos and the Indians of the Pacific Northwest.<br />
Thus with the advent of agriculture and elite became better off, but most people became worse off. Instead of swallowing the progressivist party line that we chose agriculture because it was good for us, we must ask how we got trapped by it despite its pitfalls.<br />
One answer boils down to the adage "Might makes right." Farming could support many more people than hunting, albeit with a poorer quality of life. (Population densities of hunter-gatherers are rarely over on person per ten square miles, while farmers average 100 times that.) Partly, this is because a field planted entirely in edible crops lets one feed far more mouths than a forest with scattered edible plants. Partly, too, it's because nomadic hunter-gatherers have to keep their children spaced at four-year intervals by infanticide and other means, since a mother must carry her toddler until it's old enough to keep up with the adults. Because farm women don't have that burden, they can and often do bear a child every two years.<br />
As population densities of hunter-gatherers slowly rose at the end of the ice ages, bands had to choose between feeding more mouths by taking the first steps toward agriculture, or else finding ways to limit growth. Some bands chose the former solution, unable to anticipate the evils of farming, and seduced by the transient abundance they enjoyed until population growth caught up with increased food production. Such bands outbred and then drove off or killed the bands that chose to remain hunter-gatherers, because a hundred malnourished farmers can still outfight one healthy hunter. It's not that hunter-gatherers abandoned their life style, but that those sensible enough not to abandon it were forced out of all areas except the ones farmers didn't want.<br />
At this point it's instructive to recall the common complaint that archaeology is a luxury, concerned with the remote past, and offering no lessons for the present. Archaeologists studying the rise of farming have reconstructed a crucial stage at which we made the worst mistake in human history. Forced to choose between limiting population or trying to increase food production, we chose the latter and ended up with starvation, warfare, and tyranny.<br />
Hunter-gatherers practiced the most successful and longest-lasting life style in human history. In contrast, we're still struggling with the mess into which agriculture has tumbled us, and it's unclear whether we can solve it. Suppose that an archaeologist who had visited from outer space were trying to explain human history to his fellow spacelings. He might illustrate the results of his digs by a 24-hour clock on which one hour represents 100,000 years of real past time. If the history of the human race began at midnight, then we would now be almost at the end of our first day. We lived as hunter-gatherers for nearly the whole of that day, from midnight through dawn, noon, and sunset. Finally, at 11:54 p. m. we adopted agriculture. As our second midnight approaches, will the plight of famine-stricken peasants gradually spread to engulf us all? Or will we somehow achieve those seductive blessings that we imagine behind agriculture's glittering facade, and that have so far eluded us?</i><br />
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<i>http://www.ditext.com/diamond/mistake.html</i></div>
The Last Stoichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16145179955497944349noreply@blogger.com0