statism watch

Flashback: Pregnant mother tasered at baptism party | US Lawsuit: Cops tasered 3 kids in shelter, threatened one with sodomy | Latest TASER victim looked ’scared’ as officer approached with knife | Mounties discussed Tasing Dziekanski prior to altercation | UK Police watchdog to investigate Taser arrest, beating posted on YouTube | New video shows officer shove, then taser 72-year-old great grandmother

Victor A Patton, Merced Sun-Star
September 20, 2009

Another UN shakedown – your money or your lives. As though influenza doesn’t already exist in these nations. And to top it off, we learn that “[the report] was commissioned in July after Ban ki-moon, the UN’s secretary general, expressed concern that the H1NI virus could have a severe impact on the world’s poorest countries.” Politics and science don’t mix.And it’s important to repeat the fact here that at least one Pharmacuetical company board members sit on the main body advising the UN, SAGE. And given the revolving door between public health positions and the private sector, it wouldn’t be too hard to find drug company employment in the history of the majority of them. But don’t worry. The pharmaceutical industry loves Africans oh so much.

Flashback: Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert | Swine flu unlikely to become superbug | UK: Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals | Flu vaccine plan will be too slow: CMAJ | Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America | Canada to order 50.4 million H1N1 vaccine doses – with adjuvant additive | Genetically modified Swine Flu hybrid may provide vaccine yield solution | Washington Post: Swine Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury | UK Government Swine Flu Advisor On Vaccine Maker Payroll | Fast-tracked swine flu vaccine will be safe, officials insist | Swine flu: How scared should we be? | Top Epidemiologist Slams Swine Flu Fearmongering | Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe

Rajeev Syal, The Observer
September 20, 2009

The swine flu pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the world’s poorest nations unless £900m can be raised from rich countries to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines, says a UN report leaked to the Observer.

The disclosure will provoke concerns that health officials will not be able to stem the growth of the worldwide H1N1 pandemic in developing countries. If the virus takes hold in the poorest nations, millions could die and the economies of fragile countries could be destroyed.

Health ministers around the globe were sent the warning on Thursday in a report on the costs of averting a humanitarian disaster in the next few months. It comes as officials inside the World Health Organisation, the UN’s public health body, said they feared they would not be able to raise half that amount because of the global downturn.

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Flashback: UN chief warns of climate-related disaster | German Scientists Call for ‘World Climate Bank’ | G8 Summit: Rich nations to pay green tab | Ontario unveils cap-and-trade legislation | Economic stabilization may rely on carbon economy, economist says | Climate panel presses for federal cap-and-trade system | Obama, Gore, tied to Chicago carbon exchange | U.N. ‘Climate Change’ Plan Would Likely Shift Trillions to Form New World Economy | U.N. Environment Head Wants Global Warming Tax | Time to emulate Roosevelt’s New Deal and create green jobs | EU calls for global carbon trading system to fight climate change | Harper ready to harmonize with U.S. on climate change | Harper Govt. to push North American carbon market plan with Obama | B.C. carbon tax kicks in on Canada Day | Every adult in Britain should be forced to carry ‘carbon ration cards’, say MPs | CEOs call for ‘aggressive’ action on climate change

Suzanne Goldenberg, The Observer
September 20, 2009

Pared-down summit will force heads of rich states to listen to those of third world in hope of kickstarting radical action

The United Nations is planning a form of diplomatic shock therapy for world leaders this week in the hope of injecting badly needed urgency into negotiations for a climate change treaty that, it is now widely acknowledged, are dangerously adrift.

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon and negotiators say that unless they can convert world leaders into committed advocates of radical action, it will be very hard to reach a credible and enforceable agreement to avoid the most devastating consequences of climate change.

As the digital counter ticking off the hours to the Copenhagen summit — which had been supposed to seal the deal on climate change — hit 77 days today, progress at the UN summit in New York is seen as vital. Nearly 100 heads of state and government are to attend the summit, for which a pared-down format has been devised.

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