OP/ED: Bush Budget: More Pork, Less Beef

The Federal Budget goes to Congress for approval Monday, February 6. The proposed budget funnels trillions of taxpayer dollars to international "security" firms and defense corporations. It supports contract mercenaries pulling in $2000-$4000 per day in Iraq after the security firms take their cut, leaving US soldiers to fight without armor while their families live on food stamps. The budget also ignores evidence that Mad Cow and related 'prion' diseases cause chronic disabilities in over 100 million Americans. New research shows infectious prions infect all the body's organs, muscle and blood vessels - and underlie the nation's heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer epidemics. The diseases spread through soil, water and processed foods, and from contaminated facilities, not just tainted beef. New technology exists for cheap and easy testing and diagnosis; for prevention; and for clean-up - but nothing is done because the crisis is denied, and responsible departments and agencies are under-funded.





1. The Federal Budget being presented tomorrow prioritizes international corporate profits over the safety and health of American people, and US soil. Most of the allocations are funnelled to international corporations, not even American ones. American troops are being dissed in the budget because the military is in transition.

Soon, contract special ops from private, international security corporations will work almost exclusively with robots, instead of US troops. The military budget is allocated to effect this transition.

2. At the same time, America is facing a crisis with Mad Cow and other prion related diseases. This is a real and present danger right here at home, on American soil, right here and right now. Scientific reports are being published almost daily. Prions already are contaminating our water, food and nearly everything else. We do not need to fear boogeyman bioterrorists - only inaction, and bad leadership.

3. The Federal Budget does not deal with this crisis. At all. In fact, it dismantles or cuts funding to the few protections that do exist.



How International Corporations Take Money Away from the Troops


Outsourcing the Pentagon

Privatizing War - How affairs of state are outsourced to corporations beyond public control

Mercenary Firms and War Profiteers 1
Mercenary Firms and War Profiteers 2

Executive Outcomes: A new kind of army for privatized global warfare

Dogs Of War Inc. - A $300 Billion Dollar Business



A Quick Overview of Robot Technology


Microbots: Towards a New Military

The Talon Robot: Ready for Iraq

Fly-eating robot powers itself


The Bush budget strategy has one main goal, one critical weakness, and one essential defense.

The Goal: Funnel the majority of tax revenues into international corporations, mainly for "military purposes."

The Weakness: Mad Cow and other related prion diseases are epidemic, and have far-reaching impacts on Americans' health, safety and economic well-being. Handling the crisis is doable, but it will cost, and cut international corporations' profits.

The Defense: Denial. Current research proves that Mad Cow is only one of hundreds of different prion diseases; it proves that prions infect all the body's organs, muscle and blood vessels - and underlie the nation's heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer epidemics. It shows that prion diseases spread through water, soil and processed foods, and from contaminated facilities, not just tainted beef. New technology exists for cheap and easy testing and diagnosis; for prevention; and for clean-up - and has since 1999-2000. But Bush denies everything.

As per usual, and like any 10-year-old, Bush covers it both ways with glib lies, saying "There is no problem," but if there was, "There is no solution."


In fact, there is a Mad Cow crisis.


Reports on Mad Cow and prions are all over the international news lately, although coverage in the USA is censored. Current research confirms scientists' worst fears. There are breakthroughs that provide ways to handle the crisis, but on the surface the news is not good. Here are a few "bad news" highlights from the past few days...

"Researchers now have proved conclusively that prions can be created by laboratory techniques. The news has far-reaching political and economic implications. Prions are the misfolded proteins infamous for causing Mad Cow disease. Scientists long have known that many standard laboratory techniques and chemical processes cause proteins to misfold and clump together, or "aggregate." This tendency for proteins to misfold and aggregate has frustrated researchers, and chemical and drug manufacturers for half a century. Until now, prion researchers have not proved conclusively that these artificially created misfolded proteins could be infectious."

Mad Cow-type Prions Created in Lab


"A new study confirms that prions, the infectious proteins that cause Mad Cow disease are found throughout the body. Organs previously thought to be free of prions are now known to contain them, as well as muscle, skin and blood vessels. Yale and University of Zurich researchers report that super-imposed infections play a role in causing prions to spread through the body. This study and other current research appears to validate scientists previous claims that "subclinical" prion infections are common, and may underlie epidemic rising rates of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and various chronic disabilities."

Mad Cow-causing Prions Found in All Organs


Prions hijack the immune system, and use it to spread through the body. Super-imposed infections "somehow help the prions to replicate, and to spread to the parts of the body being targeted by the immune reaction."

"Mad Cow" Disease Uses Immune System to Spread in Body

One assumption lies at the root of efforts to keep the meat we eat safe from mad cow disease: that tissues beyond an animal's brain, spinal cord and immune system are free of the prions that cause the disease.

(Now) Researchers have found that if an animal falls ill with another infection, its immune response can carry large numbers of prions to organs throughout its body. ..."The rules no longer apply," warns pathologist Adriano Aguzzi at Zurich University Hospital, Switzerland, who led the research.

"If the animal has an additional infection in the body, the prions are no longer confined to the areas where they normally are," explains Surachai Supattapone, an expert in infectious diseases at the Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire. ...The researchers believe that the cells involved in the inflammatory response somehow help the prions to replicate, and to spread to the parts of the body being targeted by the immune reaction.

Prions and the Immune System

The implications of this information are far reaching and difficult to grasp all at once. First, it shows that no meat is safe from an infected animal. Second, it helps explain the appearance of new diseases, and growing epidemics in the USA and around the world of diseases like cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes stroke and probably, AIDS.

The "chronic wasting disease" epidemic in deer and elk gives us an hint about how widespread prion diseases are in the USA. "Chronic wasting disease"
is caused by a specific infectious prion strain, related to "Mad Cow" disease. It now is found in wild herds in Wyoming and Colorado, and also Nebraska, New Mexico, Illinois, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin. It has spread to domestic herds in Colorado, Montana and other states.

"Mad Cow" Spreading in Deer and Elk


What are Infectious Prions?


Infectious prions are misfolded or 'mutated' proteins that cause normal proteins to misfold and mutate on contact. Proteins are the building blocks of life; they build cells, which build tissue and then organs, and other body parts and systems. When proteins misfold and mutate, everything else follows. Misfolded proteins are sticky, and clump together or "aggregate" to form deposits, plaques or fibrosis.

Susan L. Lindquist, director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

"The problem of why proteins misfold ...is very complex, ...One reason for the complexity is that "there seem to be a variety of different ways in which proteins can misfold," she explains. "In addition, there are different kinds of aggregates."

Lindquist believes prions arise when certain normal proteins accidentally produce folding intermediates that have a sticky surface. "That surface provides a template for other partially unfolded proteins, which bind with it and wind up getting trapped," she explains. "Little aggregates of protein are then passed on from mother cell to daughter cell through the cytoplasm, and when the daughter cell starts making her own proteins, these have the same capacity to get trapped on larger aggregates.

..."It's very heritable. It's very reproducible," Lindquist says. "If you cross a cell that has a prion trait with a cell that doesn't, the prion trait is always dominant because it's got that sticky surface, and the other proteins join up to it. Then all the cell's progeny will have that trait in them."

Lindquist on Prions

"When proteins misfold, that is, do not fold correctly, there can be serious effects, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, and Parkinson's disease."

Department of Biology, RPI
genomenewsnetwork


People do not have natural defenses against infectious prions. "Scientists think if the proteins misfold, they can become infectious, ...In prion diseases, the animals' immune system doesn't produce antibodies for the proteins."

www.agobservatory.org...


Scientists associated with industry say prions are not infectious. However, Stanley Prusiner won the Noble Prize for discovering infectious prions, and President Bush thinks prions are dangerous enough to qualify as "select agents" under anti-terrorist legislation.

Prusiner Nobel Prize

US Amends 'Select Agent' Regs

Classification of BSE Prions as 'Select Agents' Could Hinder Research

US Blocking Prion Research


Current research shows that once misfolded proteins are created, they have the ability to become infectious prions.


Where Do Prions Come From?


Some prions do occur naturally, but prion researchers have little doubt that most misfolded prions are man-made, or result from human activities. For example, many prescription and over-the-counter drugs 'target' proteins, so proteins are needed for drug research. Chemical companies manufacture proteins, and one of the biggest problems in protein manufacturing is that the proteins tend to misfold and clump together or "aggregate."

Proteins misfold in the production process regularly - a huge problem in commercial manufacturing.

Producing commercially important recombinant proteins in large quantities has long been a headache for biotechnology companies, particularly if the protein of interest has a tendency to fold incorrectly.

www.nature.com...

In fact, it is so common for proteins to misfold in production processes or during experiments that developing a protein resistant to misfolding usually results in an industry Press Release. Systems to monitor protein folding and misfolding also have a secure market niche.

Protein misfolding in commercial protein production may be caused by many different things including the use of centrifuges, exposure to electricity, electro-magnetic fields and temperature changes.

A great many manufacturing and research processes produce misfolded proteins as a byproduct, or accidentally. Prion scientists believe that any misfolded protein may have the ability to become infectious.

"Scientists think if the proteins misfold, they can become infectious..."

www.agobservatory.org...

The scientists who insist misfolded proteins are benign are generally employed or funded by, or associated with chemical and drug companies. In the end, the real controversy about "infectious prions" has to do with liability and profit.

Drug companies and researchers have been creating misfolded proteins for a very long time, and releasing raw prion aggeregates into the environment. If misfolded proteins are benign and not infectious, it doesn't matter, and they're off the hook. But if the misfolded proteins created by the chemical and drug industries are or can become infectious, then there is reason for great concern.

Unlike bacteria, viruses and other microbes, prions are not killed by standard decontamination and sterilization procedures.

…prions are notoriously difficult to break down… "We don't know why prions are so highly stable, but they are extremely hard to destroy. Indeed, one standard method of decontamination – soaking in fomaldehyde – actually stabilises the prions."

Effective Methods for Killing Prions

It is highly likely that infectious prions now contaminate most of the nation's soil, and from there, have seeped into groundwater to rivers, then into the oceans and seas. This means that drinking water is contaminated, and so is the water that's used to irrigate crops and water livestock, to make drinks and beverages, to process food, to reconstitute juice, and the list goes on.

Prions in Soil


It is simple to deal with industry created prions: Make it illegal to dump misfolded proteins and aggregates into standard waste removal systems; require industry to create new, effective systems to handle prion contaminated waste, and to filter and destroy misfolded proteins from waste.

Cleaning up the results of past mistakes will be more complicated and expensive, but it's also doable.


[More coming in this section]



There are solutions.

Handling the crisis is doable. There are vaccines. There are preventive treatments, effective filters for water and blood, new solutions that can decontaminate and sterilize water treatment facilities and food processing plants.

BUT. If Bush acknowledges the Mad Cow/prion crisis, then money has to be taken from the military budget and international corporations, and put into public health and environmental clean-ups and prevention.

International corporations will have to spend money for new decontamination and sterilization technologies, bringing profits down.

If Bush acknowledges the crisis, then insurance has to cover diagnosis, vaccines and preventive treatments. They don't want to: it costs too much. The vaccines are targeted to specific strains, and treat existent disease as well as protect against future infections. The expense comes in having to diagnose the specific strain(s). This is 'personalized medicine' - which basically runs a battery of tests, then creates an individualized treatment tailored to treat each person's different infections. Stem cell therapies and transplants are the fallback position. In the end, it's cheaper and easier to let people get sick, and sell them painkillers and other medications to keep them going. Insurance companies get away with it because few people die quickly. Prion diseases kill slowly; symptoms change from person to person, and nobody realizes it's all the same disease.

So the denial strategy works on two fronts: It scares the heck out of people while convincing them nothing can be done - then lets them off the hook by saying the crisis doesn't really exist.

In the meantime, besides being a great money pit, war is a good distraction. Bush is pitting special interest groups against one another to push his agenda: a standard strategy. It prevents coalitions from forming, and weakens the opposition by making them fight against one another instead of him. Here's how it breaks down.

"Special Interests" on the Table:


Public Health.

...(The budget) will drastically cut public health programs, The New York Times said Saturday. ...A Public Health Service program to prevent chronic disease - including obesity - and promote health - would be cut by 6.5 percent to 841 million.

Similarly, Bush's proposes cuts to a training program for nurses, dentists and other health professionals by 64 percent to 160.5 million, and another to train doctors at children's hospitals by 33 percent to 200 million dollars.

A nine million dollar program for the treatment of people with traumatic brain injury and a 9.9 million dollar program to collect stem cells from blood found in the umbilical cord after birth - a non-controversial source of stem cells for medical research - would be eliminated.

[Ed. note: Mad Cow and other prion diseases cause obesity and chronic illness.]
Budget Proposal Cuts Public Health Programs

Environmental Protection.

Prions contaminate our water and food - through contaminated water treatment facilities and food processing plants, as well as waterways and soil. Tap water needs new, special filters to protect the nations' drinking water; wastewater needs to be filtered to protect and preserve our groundwater, waterways and aquifers. Factories and plants need to be decontaminated and sterilized using new solutions and methods.

The Ogallala/Great Plains aquifer provides water for cattle and crops in the US breadbasket. Because prions are excreted in urine, blood and other bodily fliuds, the water is practically guaranteed to be contaminated with prion diseases - and infecting beef and milk cattle, crops, wildlife like deer and elk, and pretty much most of the nations' food supply.

With or without vaccines and treatment, clean up and prevention would go a long way to protect the health of the nation.

...According to figures obtained by the AP: The Environmental Protection Agency's $8.1 billion would drop by $450 million, or about 6 percent, with most reductions coming in water programs and projects won by lawmakers for their home districts.

Bush's budget goes to Congress Monday

Our Soldiers.


International private security firms, mercenaries and defense contractors get most of the money. Our soldiers are left without armor or air cover, and their families live on food stamps. Contractors manipulate public opinion by saying soldiers need support, then redirect the cash to private contracts.

"Skelton, Talent and others worried that the budget number won't be enough to increase ground troops, properly outfit soldiers, replace weapons being worn out in Iraq, invest in new technology and transform the military to better fight terrorists. ...Skelton said his concerns are heightened because over the past two years, defense officials "had to tap funds intended for maintaining our defense infrastructure and the readiness levels of our troops in order to cover underestimated war costs" in Iraq. Partly as a result, he said, the Pentagon "was inexcusably slow to provide adequate armor and protection against improvised explosive devices to service members on the frontline."

"The Department of Defense is trying to show that (the increased troops) will come at the expense of some of Congress' favorite projects," said Heritage Foundation military expert Jack Spencer. "I think this year's defense budget, more so than in the past, is really a beginning point for the negotiations. So we should expect a little more jockeying this time than we usually see."

One of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's watchwords over the past four years has been transformation of the nation's military. That involves shifting from the Cold War emphasis on masses of troops and conventional heavy equipment to a more agile, maneuverable force with stealthy, high-tech weapons that can meet unpredictable threats and irregular foes...

Talent and other key defense figures in Congress worry that this will come at the expense of the ground troops and firepower they say is needed in places like Iraq – and they point to the level to which reserve forces are being stretched. "

[urls=http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10827672.htm?1c]Bush budget doesn't allocate enough to troops[/url]

So where are the trillions of dollars in military appropriations going?


Microbots: Towards a New Military

The Talon Robot: Ready for Iraq
Talon Robot on ATS

Fly-eating robot powers itself
Fy-eating Robot on ATS

Mercenary Firms and War Profiteers 1
Mercenary Firms and War Profiteers 2

Executive Outcomes: A new kind of army for privatized global warfare

Dogs Of War Inc. - A $300 Billion Dollar Business

Privatizing War - How affairs of state are outsourced to corporations beyond public control






This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as information comes available.


Background Information About Prions

In theory at least, the USA is a democracy. Voters have the right to question national expenditures, and budget priorities.



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
SCI/TECH: "Mad Cow" Spreading in Deer and Elk
SCI/TECH: "Mad Cow" Disease Uses Immune System to Spread in Body
OP/ED: The Final Solution
NEWS: Mad Cow Disease Is Found In Goat


[edit on 6-2-2005 by Banshee]

[edit on 6-2-2005 by soficrow]

[edit on 6-2-2005 by soficrow]

[edit on 6-2-2005 by soficrow]

[edit on 7-2-2005 by soficrow]

The USA is not a democracy, theoretical or otherwise. It is a republic and has always been thus.

Really soficrow, this sounds more like an op/ed piece rather than hard news...one man's pork is another's bread-and-butter.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
The USA is not a democracy, theoretical or otherwise. It is a republic and has always been thus.

I believe in democracy, and I believe America IS a democracy. I will fight to protect democracy in America.

...one man's pork is another's bread-and-butter.

So you're saying our tax money should go to support international corporations' growth - and not be used to save America's water, health, economy OR people?

Cuz that's the choice.

this sounds more like an op/ed piece rather than hard news

The Federal Budget is hard news. People are lining up all over America to make their voices heard about this budget - and most of them are against it.

...This article is not a pro-war, pro-Bush, anti-people propaganda piece like most so-called "news" - and it is far less an op/ed piece than most coverage we see passing for "hard news."

.

We are truly a republic. We vote for people (representatives, senators, governors, the President, etc.) to run the government. If we were a true a democracy we'd vote on every single law and issue ourselves and not have any elected representatives.

Edit:

We are a democratic republic because we pretty much have universal sufferage, almost all adults can vote for government representatives.

[edit on 2/6/2005 by djohnsto77]

So soficrow, i've noticed alot of news surfacing recently. Is there ANY good news whatsoever? I mean i've heard all the negatives but are there people who stand a chance against prion infections?

Originally posted by Linux
So soficrow, i've noticed alot of news surfacing recently. Is there ANY good news whatsoever? I mean i've heard all the negatives but are there people who stand a chance against prion infections?

There are vaccines, there are preventive treatments, effective filters for water and blood, new solutions that can decontaminate and sterilize water treatment facilities and food processing plants.

BUT - if the crisis is acknowledged, then insurance has to cover diagnosis and preventive treatments. They don't want to - costs too much. Easier to let people get sick, sell them painkillers and other medications - and more profitable. ...They get away with it because few people die quickly - prion diseases kill slowly and it takes a long time - symptoms change from person to person, nobody realizes it's all the same disease...

...if the crisis is acknowledged, then money has to be taken from the military budget and put into clean-up and prevention...

...if the crisis is acknowledged, then international corporations will have to spend $$$ for new decontamination and sterilization technologies - and profits will go down...

Get the picture? ...It's all about agenda, budget "priorities" - and a government that represents international corporations instead of ordinary Americans.



.

[edit on 6-2-2005 by soficrow]

Why the hell is Mad Cow and prions being discussed here? This isn't a real issue, it's one that exists in your head.

Can't we get some real complaints with Bush's budget?

Originally posted by Disturbed Deliverer
Why the hell is Mad Cow and prions being discussed here? This isn't a real issue, it's one that exists in your head.

Can't we get some real complaints with Bush's budget?

Yes....he's a friggin' warmonger, intent on global domination.

Originally posted by Disturbed Deliverer
Why the hell is Mad Cow and prions being discussed here? This isn't a real issue, it's one that exists in your head.

Mad Cow and prions are major topics in international scientific and political news - even if the topics are censored in the USA.

The US is fielding allegations that the nation is contaminated with Mad Cow and other prion diseases. Japan won't take US beef. The US and Canada are in negotiations to re-open the border to beef imports. ...Poland is the only nation in the EU that accepts US beef - and just reported its 12th case of Mad Cow in a year.

Several new studies have been released showing that prion diseases infect muscles, blood, milk, organs - and pretty much go through the whole body. Another study shows how they use the immune system to travel through the body. Another one focuses on "subclinical" prion infections - that cause chronic illness. ...All this information shows that infected meat is infected, period. There are no "safe" cuts. More important, it shows why chronic disabling diseases in people are epidemic.

Can't we get some real complaints with Bush's budget?

This is a breaking news story. It's being updated as information comes available. ....Just added a new section when I came online.



.

Yes....he's a friggin' warmonger, intent on global domination

That's all well and good, but what does that have to do with the budget...?

Mad Cow and prions are major topics in international scientific and political news - even if the topics are censored in the USA

They're not being censored here, it's just not the story you seem to think it is. Mad Cow has been around for years. It's not like it suddenly evolved. It's not affecting anyone.

The US is fielding allegations that the nation is contaminated with Mad Cow and other prion diseases. Japan won't take US beef. The US and Canada are in negotiations to re-open the border to beef imports. ...Poland is the only nation in the EU that accepts US beef - and just reported its 12th case of Mad Cow in a year.

This has been going on for a while now. These were precautions taken. It's not some epidemic.

Several new studies have been released showing that prion diseases infect muscles, blood, milk, organs - and pretty much go through the whole body. Another study shows how they use the immune system to travel through the body. Another one focuses on "subclinical" prion infections - that cause chronic illness. ...All this information shows that infected meat is infected, period. There are no "safe" cuts. More important, it shows why chronic disabling diseases in people are epidemic.

Obviously it's not that big of a deal. They may have just figured this out, but it's not like the disease itself has changed. If it were so serious, I think we'd see a lot more people being affected by it.

This just seems like you blowing a few news stories out of proportion. It's a lot of hype and not much else...

The only ones that will benefit from this new budget proposal are the big firm investing on the defense budget, we the regular people mean nothing to the Bush administration.

Get ready the more he cuts the more heavy the burden the individual states will have to take to meet their own, do I see state taxes going up?

Originally posted by Disturbed Deliverer

but what does that have to do with the budget...?

Money that's desperately needed for the nation's health and safety is being re-directed to international corporations through military appropriations.

Mercenary Firms and War Profiteers 1
Mercenary Firms and War Profiteers 2

Executive Outcomes: A new kind of army for privatized global warfare

Dogs Of War Inc. - A $300 Billion Dollar Business

Privatizing War - How affairs of state are outsourced to corporations beyond public control

. Mad Cow has been around for years. It's not like it suddenly evolved. It's not affecting anyone.

New research shows that Mad Cow HAS evolved - and creates new strains like lightning. ....People ARE affected. 1 in 2 American men will get cancer in their lifetimes, and 1 in 3 women. Heart disease is now the #1 killer in the USA - obesity, diabetes and other prion-related diseases are epidemic.

...Prion diseases incubate slowly, and create chronic illness and disability long before they kill. ...The US economy is in the toilet because of it - and American's lives are being destroyed.

Medical bills spark 46% of U.S. personal bankruptcies

This has been going on for a while now. These were precautions taken. It's not some epidemic.

The precautions are completely inadequate. The epidemics are raging.

Obviously it's not that big of a deal. ...If it were so serious, I think we'd see a lot more people being affected by it.

Again, ....People ARE affected. 1 in 2 American men will get cancer in their lifetimes, and 1 in 3 women. Heart disease is now the #1 killer in the USA - obesity, diabetes and other prion-related diseases are epidemic.

...Prion diseases incubate slowly, and create chronic illness and disability long before they kill. ...The US economy is in the toilet because of it - and American's lives are being destroyed.

This just seems like you blowing a few news stories out of proportion. It's a lot of hype and not much else...

No. Just fighting censorship, damage control campaigns and bs spin.



.

The only ones that will benefit from this new budget proposal are the big firm investing on the defense budget, we the regular people mean nothing to the Bush administration.

You know, there's this thing called capitalism. It's kind of what has allowed America to become the strongest nation on the Earth, with the best living standards on the planet.

The complaints with the budget are dumb. Bush is giving more control to the people. The largest of his tax cuts have gone to the bottom classes of this country.

Bush is not some evil man looking out for corporations.

It is not the government's role to provide healthcare, social security or welfare. It's not fair that other people have to pay the way for others. What's worst of all this, the private sector could handle all of these things better then the government.

Money that's desperately needed for the nation's health and safety is being re-directed to international corporations through military appropriations.

Mercenaries, or military contracters, have always been used. This isn't something new with Iraq or Bush.

These guys are very good at what they do.

New research shows that Mad Cow HAS evolved - and creates new strains like lightning. ....People ARE affected. 1 in 2 American men will get cancer in their lifetimes, and 1 in 3 women. Heart disease is now the #1 killer in the USA - obesity, diabetes and other prion-related diseases are epidemic.

Now if only there was a link between Mad Cow, cancer, and diabetes...

...Prion diseases incubate slowly, and create chronic illness and disability long before they kill. ...The US economy is in the toilet because of it - and American's lives are being destroyed.

Our economy isn't "in the toilet." It's the most powerful economy in the Western world in just about every way. Even during our "recession" after 9/11 we were still better off then Europe and Canada in every way economically.

No. Just fighting censorship, damage control campaigns and bs spin.

The problems you mention exist in every Western nation. Obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer...

Peopla are always sick.

I am somewhat concerned about mad cow, but I also think it's ridiculous to say the U.S. should divert defense and security funds from the War on Terror to mad cow disease. The number of Americans who died on one day (9/11) due to terrorism is about 20 times the number of humans who have ever died in world history due to mad cow disease.

as posted by soficrow
Our soldiers are left without armor or air cover, and their families live on food stamps.

Links (as in multiple verified sources, not just one) to verified sources substantiating this assertion, soficrow. I may have missed it/them.




seekerof

Originally posted by Disturbed Deliverer

New research shows that Mad Cow HAS evolved - and creates new strains like lightning. ....People ARE affected. 1 in 2 American men will get cancer in their lifetimes, and 1 in 3 women. Heart disease is now the #1 killer in the USA - obesity, diabetes and other prion-related diseases are epidemic.

Now if only there was a link between Mad Cow, cancer, and diabetes...

Many scientists believe "subclinical" prion infections are common, and do underlie epidemic rising rates of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and various chronic disabilities. Some of the links are quite direct, eg., diabetes and prions, heart disease and prions, vascular disease and prions... Another thing to remember is that prions make proteins mutate, which makes cells mutate. ...Already mutated cells easily can take the next step, and mutate into cancer cells...

This information has been censored systematically to prevent people learning about the extent and nature of the diseases, presumably to 'prevent panic.' New studies showing prions in all organs, muscle etc simply add proofs to associations established in earlier research.

Mad Cow-causing Prions Found in All Organs

"Mad Cow" Disease Uses Immune System to Spread in Body


...Most of the research is in technical language, talking about molecular biology, proteins etc, but here are a few highlights.

A quick backgrounder:

“Diverse human disorders …arise from misfolding and aggregation of an underlying protein.”
“Protein misfolding and disease: the case of prion disorders.” Cell Mol Life Sci. 2003 Jan;60(1):133-43. Hetz C, Soto C. Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute, 14 Chemin des Aulx, 1228 Plan les Ouates, Switzerland. PMID: 12613663

“Prions, once dismissed as an impossibility, have now gained wide recognition as extraordinary agents that cause a number of infectious, genetic and spontaneous disorders”
www.cyber-dyne.com...

“…this hypothesis would shed some light on other diseases not presently classified as prion diseases and in the process of ageing.”
* “Prion plaques: molecular tumors. A hypothesis on the etiopathogenesis of prion diseases.” Ossa JE, Machado G, Giraldo MA, McEwen JG. Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia. Med Hypotheses. 1995 Feb;44(2):124-6. PMID: 7596306

* “Cyclic amplification of protein misfolding: application to prion-related disorders and beyond.” Trends Neurosci. 2002 Aug;25(8):390-4. Soto C, Saborio GP, Anderes L. Serono International SA, Geneva, Switzerland. PMID: 12127750

* “Chronic Subclinical Prion Disease Induced by Low-Dose Inoculum” Received September 24, 2001; J Virol. 2002 March; 76 (5): 2510–2517 Alana M. Thackray,1 Michael A. Klein,2 Adriano Aguzzi,3 and Raymond Bujdoso www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov...

Diabetes

For example:

New infectious prion strain called vacuolar protease B (PrB) identified by the US National Institute of Diabetes, National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. NIH officially acknowledges that:
a. Infectious prions can be enzymes;
b. Fibrous prion protein deposits are not necessarily amyloid proteins (Note: Previous research shows that 90% of type 2 diabetes patients have amyloid plaques in their pancreas); and
c. Infectious prions cause disease in other parts of the body besides the brain and central nervous system.

* Source: “A new kind of prion: a modified protein necessary for its own modification.” Cell Cycle. 2004 Mar-Apr;3(2):100-3. Roberts BT, Wickner RB. National Institute of Diabetes, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland USA. PMID: 14712063
www.landesbioscience.com...

Also see: “Role of islet amyloid in type 2 diabetes mellitus: consequence or cause?” Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2002 Nov 29;197(1-2):205-12. Hoppener JW, Nieuwenhuis MG, Vroom TM, Ahren B, Lips CJ. Department of Clinical Endocrinology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Location University Hospital, G02.228, P.O. Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands. PMID: 12431814

As far as different diseases go:

“...the biochemical isoform of PrP(Sc) found is influenced by the cell type in which it accumulates.”
* “Peripheral Tissue Involvement in Sporadic, Iatrogenic, and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: An Immunohistochemical, Quantitative, and Biochemical Study.” Am J Pathol. 2004 Jan;164(1):143-153. Head MW, Ritchie D, Smith N, McLoughlin V, Nailon W, Samad S, Masson S, Bishop M, McCardle L, Ironside JW. National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit and Division of Pathology, School of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. PMID: 14695328

....I'll stop here for now, this got way long.


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Originally posted by djohnsto77
I am somewhat concerned about mad cow, but I also think it's ridiculous to say the U.S. should divert defense and security funds from the War on Terror to mad cow disease. The number of Americans who died on one day (9/11) due to terrorism is about 20 times the number of humans who have ever died in world history due to mad cow disease.

You're not paying attention. Please, check the references and read the links.

Mad Cow is linked to heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes and more. Heart disease is the #1 killer in America - and 1 in 2 American men will get cancer; 1 in 3 women.

Over 100 million Americans suffer from chronic disabilities. Over 46% of personal bankruptcies in the USA are linked to medical bills.


OTH - The so-called "War on Terror" is a trumped up excuse to use the American military and US tax dollars for corporate colonisation - and to funnel hard earned American money into international corporations' pockets.

Bottom line: it's our health and quality of life versus more international coporate profits.


Forget the right to "pursuit of happiness" - Bout now, I'd settle for the right to ingest uncontaminated food and water.


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[edit on 6-2-2005 by soficrow]

Originally posted by Seekerof

as posted by soficrow
Our soldiers are left without armor or air cover, and their families live on food stamps.

Links (as in multiple verified sources, not just one) to verified sources substantiating this assertion, soficrow. I may have missed it/them.

seekerof

Aside from the fact the issue was all over everywhere at election time, including ATS,

it's one of the main arguments being to used to rationalize larger appropriations. Please, check the links and read the references - at least the main article!

FYI - "Rep. Ike Skelton, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, ...charged that the modernizing of equipment was being shortchanged ...Other specific shortfalls, ...include enough money for personnel, families, ..."This approach is short-sighted and ends up hurting the troops," "

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Originally posted by Seekerof
Links (as in multiple verified sources, not just one) to verified sources substantiating this assertion, soficrow. I may have missed it/them.

Who are you to make such demands of someone's time? Are your fingers broken?

figurative language(fig-YOOR-a-tive LAN-gwije): a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say. Also known as the "ornaments of language," figurative language does not mean exactly what it says, but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to comprehend an author's point. It usually involves a comparison between two things that may not, at first, seem to relate to one another. In a simile, for example, an author may compare a person to an animal: "He ran like a hare down the street" is the figurative way to describe the man running and "He ran very quickly down the street" is the literal way to describe him. Figurative language facilitates understanding because it relates something unfamiliar to something familiar. Some popular examples of figurative language include a simile and metaphor. See A Handbook to Literature, A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, and A Glossary of Literary Terms.

and this

hyperbole (hi-per-bo-lee): an extravagant exaggeration. From the Greek for "overcasting," hyperbole is a figure of speech that is a grossly exaggerated description or statement. In literature, such exaggeration is used for emphasis or vivid descriptions. In drama, hyperbole is quite common, especially in heroic drama. Hyperbole is a fundamental part of both burlesque writing and the “tall tales” from Western America. The conscious overstatements of these tales are forms of hyperbole. Many other examples of hyperbole can be found in the romance fiction and comedy genres. Hyperbole is even a part of our day-to-day speech: ‘You’ve grown like a bean sprout’ or ‘I’m older than the hills.’ Hyperbole is used to increase the effect of a description, whether it is metaphoric or comic. In poetry, hyperbole can emphasize or dramatize a person’s opinions or emotions. Skilled poets use hyperbole to describe intense emotions and mental states. See A Glossary of Literary Terms, A Handbook to Literature.

As for the information being conveyed by the poster in that statement, those that are informed enough to "get the point" without hitting a mental roadblock of arrogant indignation don't need to demand sources. We have already seen them. We took the time to search them out.

Try it sometime.

edit:emphasis

[edit on 2/6/2005 by Gools]

Our soldiers are left without armor or air cover, and their families live on food stamps.

I missed this the first time around.

It's a lot of bogus trash. The majority of all humvees in Iraq have received the latest body armor. All troops on the frontlines in Iraq had the armor going in. Nearly all of the humvees in Iraq have been armored at this point.

Many scientists believe "subclinical" prion infections are common, and do underlie epidemic rising rates of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and various chronic disabilities. Some of the links are quite direct, eg., diabetes and prions, heart disease and prions, vascular disease and prions... Another thing to remember is that prions make proteins mutate, which makes cells mutate. ...Already mutated cells easily can take the next step, and mutate into cancer cells...

Are these the same ones who believe there's about to be a flu epidemic?

Wait, haven't you posted about that one before, too?

The problems you point out aren't the government's problems, anyway. If people find these things to be a problem, they can stop eating beef. The government doesn't have to tell people what to do. I'll say this again. We aren't children.