statism watch

You would think this is common sense: “According to the plaintiffs — dozens of patients and researchers — the genes cannot be patented because they exist as naturally occurring products of nature.” Best of luck to the ACLU, we should all be pulling for them. 1/5 of the human genome is patented? That’s completely abhorrent.

Related: Sick babies denied treatment in DNA row

David Kravets, Wired.com
November 2, 2009

A federal judge ruled Monday that a lawsuit can move forward against the Patent and Trademark Office and the research company that was awarded exclusive rights to human genes known to detect early signs of breast and ovarian cancer.

The first-of-its-kind lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law claims that the patents violate free speech by restricting research.

U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet of New York, in ruling that the case may proceed to trial, noted that the litigation might open the door to challenges of a host of other patented genes. About one-fifth of the human genome is covered under patent applications and claims.

Sweet wrote: (.pdf)

The challenges to the patents-in-suit raise questions of difficult legal dimensions concerning constitutional protections over the information that serves as our genetic identities and the need to adopt policies that promote scientific innovation and biomedical research. The widespread use of gene sequence information as the foundation for biomedical research means that resolution of these issues will have far-reaching implications, not only for gene-based health care and the health of millions of women facing the spectre of breast cancer, but also for the future course of biomedical research.

The case against the patent office and patent-holder Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City is the first to challenge a patented gene under a civil rights allegation — in this case the First Amendment.

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Flashback: NY Times: Mileage Tax Would ‘Track Where Motorists Have Been’ | UK: ‘Spy-in-sky’ trials get the go-ahead despite Government promise to scrap road-pricing plan | Calls for GPS-tracked ’speed-limiting’ cars in UK | Oregon Governor Wants GPS-Tracked Vehicle Mileage Tax | Global ‘Intelligent Transport’ initiative comes to your cellphone: Location data used to track traffic flow | GPS Mapping Systems Enable Police Tracking | Metrolinx Proposes Satellite Vehicle Tracking for Road Tolls|

Xinhuanet
November 2, 2009

BEIJING — The European Commission is looking in to the efficacy of fitting black-box recorders into motorists’ cars.

The study, entitled Project Veronica, is looking at whether installing Event Data Recorders into cars would be useful to authorities and companies such as insurance firms in determining what exactly occurs in the moments leading up to and the moments immediately following road traffic accidents. The EDRs would be capable of tracking a driver’s every move and this has made the project unpopular with civil rights groups. Although information gathered by the EDR such as when brakes are applied, when the horn is used and when the indicators were turned on could all be useful in determining who is at fault during a crash, some say that the technology could be used to keep a constant eye on a drivers every move.

The 2.4 million pound study was commissioned by the European commission’s transport arm and taken three years to complete. Researchers believe the technology will improve safety if its recommendations of fitting the devices into all cars are carried out. According to the research drivers with black boxes were 10 percent less likely to be involved in a fatal accident, and their repair bills fell by as much as 25 percent. Ralf Schmidt-Cotta, director of the study, which is being carried out at the German car-parts group Continental, said, “The technology is like an independent, neutral witness. For police and insurance companies, it will be invaluable. It will also revolutionise road safety because of the psychological impact of having the boxes installed. Drivers know they cannot get away with simple excuses after an accident because their movements are recorded. They therefore drive more carefully.”

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Got religion? It’s a convenient substitute for inconvenient truths.

Flashback: Exaggerated claims undermine drive to cut emissions, scientists warn | UK: A bedtime story about drowning kittens and puppies… Labour’s £6m campaign to highlight the dangers of climate change | IPCC Crushes Scientific Objectivity, 91-0 | What happened to global warming? | IPCC case for global warming melts on multiple fronts | More defects, exclusions in key climate warming data are uncovered | Climate change complacency `global suicide pact,’ UN told | Washington Post Meteorologist: A Skeptical Take on Global Warming | Global warming is the new religion of First World urban elites | Warming oceans mean less cloud cover | Global Warming or Global Cooling? A New Trend in Climate Alarmism | Counterpoint: Climate skepticism for beginners | E-mails indicate EPA suppressed report skeptical of global warming | Polar bear expert barred from conference by global warming advocates | Global warming alarmists out in cold | Revealed: Antarctic ice growing, not shrinking | Scientists warn global warming accelerating | Top Japanese Scientists: Warming Is Not Caused By Human Activity | IPCC caught with false figures, doubt cast on accuracy of global temperature record

Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian
November 2, 2009

Nobel winner adapts fact-based message to reach those who believe they have a moral duty to protect the planet in Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis

Al’s Gore’s much-anticipated sequel to An Inconvenient Truth is published today, with an admission that facts alone will not persuade Americans to act on global warming and that appealing to their spiritual side is the way forward.

In his latest book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, the man who won a Nobel prize in 2007 for his touring slideshow on disappearing polar ice and other consequences of climate change, concludes: “Simply laying out the facts won’t work.” [Ed. Note: No, not when they're either false, distorted, or shorn of context.]

Instead, Gore tells Newsweek magazine in a pre-publication interview, that he has been adapting his fact-based message – now put out by hundreds of volunteers - to appeal to those who believe there is a moral or religious duty to protect the planet.

“I’ve done a Christian [-based] training program; I have a Muslim training program and a Jewish training program coming up, also a Hindu program coming up. I trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders here in Nashville in a version of the slide show that is filled with scriptural references. It’s probably my favourite version, but I don’t use it very often because it can come off as proselytising,” Gore tells Newsweek.

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That’s right – the World Health Organization changed the definition of ‘pandemic’ right before they declared the Swine Flu to be a pandemic. And the designation has nothing to do with severity – it is exclusively an indication of transmissibility. Which makes the common cold a ‘pandemic.’ This current ’swine flu’ pandemic is smoke and mirrors, a media illusion, and a bailout for the pharmaceutical companies. We are being gamed, and hard.

Flashback: Vaccine scarcity claims don’t add up | ‘No reason’ to delay seasonal flu shots, global health panel says | Flu Season Has Already Peaked in US, Little Benefit to H1N1 Jab: Study | Flu vaccine shortage expected to last a week | Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Mass Rejection Of Swine Flu Vaccine Continues Throughout Europe | GlaxoSmithKline profit rises on flu drug | Swine Flu Scam Reaches New Heights With Obama’s Emergency Declaration | Deaths Associated With Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In Europe | US Government Hijacks Kids TV To Propagandize For Swine Flu Shots | Swine flu vaccine approved in Canada | German Government to get special swine flu vaccine | Harper’s hedge on H1N1 shot sparks confusion | Higher instance of severe H1N1 cases in natives, women | UK: National Health Service frontline staff shun H1N1 vaccine | US: Hospitals fear ‘Flumist’ H1N1 nasal vaccine could spread swine flu | New swine-flu wave hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | 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 | Swine flu ‘related’ to 1918 pandemic virus – survivors exhibit resistance | Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | 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 | Researchers unlock secrets of 1918 flu pandemic

Stuart Paterson, The Globe and Mail
November 2, 2009

Infectious disease specialist suggests in article that World Health Organization’s loose definition could lead to false alarms

The World Health Organization’s definition of what constitutes a pandemic is too broad, according to an article published this week.

Peter Gross, infectious disease specialist with the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, has penned an editorial for the British Medical Journal’s Clinical Evidence in which he suggests that the WHO’s loose definition could lead to false alarms.

The WHO changed their definition last year, Dr. Gross said. Previously, a “shift” in the virus would have to occur, meaning a new subtype of the virus would have to appear in order for a pandemic to be declared.

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Mr. Martin may have just found the smoking gun of an artificially created ‘market panic’ for vaccine stocks.

Flashback: Flu vaccine shortage expected to last a week | Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Mass Rejection Of Swine Flu Vaccine Continues Throughout Europe | GlaxoSmithKline profit rises on flu drug | Swine Flu Scam Reaches New Heights With Obama’s Emergency Declaration | Deaths Associated With Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In Europe | US Government Hijacks Kids TV To Propagandize For Swine Flu Shots | Swine flu vaccine approved in Canada | German Government to get special swine flu vaccine | Harper’s hedge on H1N1 shot sparks confusion | Higher instance of severe H1N1 cases in natives, women | UK: National Health Service frontline staff shun H1N1 vaccine | US: Hospitals fear ‘Flumist’ H1N1 nasal vaccine could spread swine flu | New swine-flu wave hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | 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 | Swine flu ‘related’ to 1918 pandemic virus – survivors exhibit resistance | Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | 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 | Researchers unlock secrets of 1918 flu pandemic

Don Martin, National Post
November 2, 2009

It’s time to take the panic out of the pandemic, yet the six million dose question remains: Where are all the vaccines?

The feds cling tenaciously to a production claim that six million doses have already been delivered to the provinces — quoting that statistic no fewer than 12 times in Monday’s Question Period.

That suggests sole-source producer GlaxoSmithKline has shipped enough vaccine to inject one shot of H1N1 prevention into every 5.53 Canadians.

But somewhere between the factory floor and outstretched Canadian arms, a sizable portion of that shipment appears to have gone astray.

While precise statistics are hard to come by, the few provinces posting innoculation progress are a long way from exhausting their allocated shipments, even while they complain about an imminent delivery slowdown this week.

If six million Canadians had already received their swine flu immunization — this being a country where polling suggests only about 16 million plan to get the shot — there’d be no priority list left to immunize and no 3 a.m. lineups by stressed-out parents.

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Let’s see here – a last minute change in the supply of the H1N1 shots. A last minute change in the availability of unadjuvanted vaccine, and so a last minute change on which vaccine to give to pregnant women and children. Now, this panel is taking the opportunity to push the seasonal influenza vaccine by recommending a last minute change in it’s timing relative to the H1N1 jab, a relationship which appears to heighten rather than reduce risk. Add to this, the sudden panic over a single unfortunate influenza death, images of long lineups in the media (how many clinics were open initially?), a ’shortage’ of vaccine supply, and a formerly skeptical public is eating out of Health Canada’s hand. It’s a little disturbing, considering there’s enough reason to avoid the seasonal flu vaccine without having to wory about increasing your chance of contracting H1N1. And it’s extremely disturbing that CP failed to tell us in the article that the NACI is the national arm of the World Health Organization, working under SAGE – the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, which just so happens to have drug company board members on its roster. But considering Health Canada is also funded by the pharmaceutical industry, none of this should come as a great shock. It’s a pretty cozy relationship all round.

Update (2009/11/05): This is televised swine flu propaganda from 1976. Look familiar?

Flashback: Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Woman Says Seasonal Flu Shot Triggered Seizures, Rare Disorder | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests | Vaccine Court: Autism Debate Continues | Vaccines ‘not to blame for autism’, U.S. court rules | Families will make case for vaccine link to autism | Bush To Veto Ban On Mercury In Vaccines

Helen Branswell, Canadian Press

November 2, 2009

Immunization committee says potential benefit of vaccinating against seasonal flu greater than risk identified in study

It is unnecessary to delay giving seasonal flu shots this year because of concerns they might raise the risk of catching swine flu, and provinces and territories should offer the shots as soon as possible, a new recommendation from a panel of Canadian vaccine experts said Sunday.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization did not criticize the decision by most provinces and territories to put off delivering seasonal shots until the new year – a move based at least in part on unpublished Canadian studies that show a possible link.

But the committee, known as NACI, suggests even if the finding is real the risk of not vaccinating against seasonal flu is greater than the one identified by the studies.

And it is urging provinces and territories to move ahead with seasonal flu shots as soon as is feasible – even giving a thumbs up to the notion of delivering both at the same time, if that can still be arranged.

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James Travers of the Toronto Star, in the midst of a piece that’s generally supportive of the gun registry, explains why the conservatives are actually doing something that makes sense – they’re milking it for political capital, and will be just as happy if this attempt fails than if it succeeds. Likely moreso, since it remains a valuable wedge issue to take votes away from rural Liberal ridings. StatismWatch fears this is a tactic to get rural gun-rights advocates to stand down while Harper strings them along until he reverses his position or the next administration comes in. Small-scale gun confiscation operations are already underway in Canada’s urban centres. The idea may be anathema to Canadians still stuck inside the left vs right mindset, but it’s an historical fact: “Dictators Agree: Gun Control Works!”

Flashback: UK: Paramilitary police placed on routine foot patrol for first time | Toronto police seize 400 guns in ’safety push’ | Handgun bans and the world of make-believe | No vote scheduled on Tory bill to kill gun registry | Americans stick to their guns as firearms sales surge | Secret Homeland Security Threat Assessment Labels Gun Owners Potential Terrorists | Harper urges supporters to fight long gun registry | Police-run gun amnesties in trouble across country | 1,900 Guns Traded for Cameras in Toronto | Toronto Police offer gun owners shiny new camera, home visit to disarm themselves | Layton promises urban gun control | Ont. premier calls for Canada-wide ban on handguns | Citizens Witness Gunplay, Black Uniforms as ‘Flashpoint’ Shoots Drama in Heart of Toronto | A historic gun club’s final days | Chicago, awash in gun violence, gives Toronto advice: You need a gun ban like ours | Illinois governor suggests National Guard help with Chicago gun crime | Armed Police to Roam Toronto High Schools | My gun, my right. We’ll see | Municipalities Join Miller in Calling for Final Citizen Disarmament | Pistol Pendant Causes Airport Holdup | Miller wants shooting ranges shut down | Machine Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway

Susan Delacourt, Toronto Star
November 2, 2009

OTTAWA–Gun-control advocates say they are horrified and fearful that Canada’s long-gun firearms registry is on the verge this week of being scrapped because the Conservatives may have enough support from the opposition to kill it.

Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control, says her organization has been monitoring the progress of a Conservative private member’s bill to abolish the registry and is now bracing for it to clear an important vote in the Commons on Wednesday.

“It is astonishing, just a few months after the opposition parties voted for a Bloc Québécois motion that reiterated support for the firearms registry and against efforts to repeal it, that many of the same MPs will support this Conservative bill,” Cukier said Sunday.

“It not only eliminates the need to register rifles and shotguns but requires that the information contained on seven million registered guns be destroyed.”

Cukier’s fears are confirmed by NDP MP and justice critic Joe Comartin, who believes that it’s almost an “inevitability” that the private member’s bill known as Bill C-391, put forward by Manitoba Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner (Portage-Lisgar), will have enough support from the opposition to squeak through approval in principle at second reading.

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Civil war is the point – divide and conquer. Balkanize. Build pipelines. Grow opium. Sell weapons. Destabilize neighbouring countries. Rinse, propagandize, and repeat.

Flashback: Ethnic hostility is a big, maybe the biggest, part of the Afghan war

David Edwards, Steven Webster, RawStory.com
November 2, 2009

When former U.S. diplomat to Afghanistan Matthew Hoh resigned on Sept. 10, 2009, he did so in a very public manner.

Now freed from the constraints of speaking on behalf of the United States government, he’s taken to the media, spreading his view that America’s involvement in Afghanistan is senseless and must soon end.

“I hit a point in my conscience where I just felt it was senseless, what was happening,” he explained on a Monday broadcast of NBC’s Today Show. “Our troops are fighting people who are fighting us because we’re occupying them. … What we are doing there doesn’t attain any strategic value or any goals for the United States.”

Interviewer Matt Lauer, paraphrasing Hoh’s resignation letter (PDF link), said that America still views Afghanistan “through the lens of 9/11.”

“And you say that the people we’re fighting there, the insurgents, do not see it that way at all,” Lauer continued. “They are not fighting to support the Taliban, the people who allowed violence to come to our shores. They’re fighting for their individual communities and their valleys.”

Lauer’s summary concluded: “So, as long as we fail to understand that this isn’t about 9/11 and in many ways not even about the Taliban, we’re wasting the lives of men and women there.”

“Correct,” Hoh said.

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It’s wildly ironic that the court doesn’t wish to ‘offend the separation of powers‘ – but they’re more than willing to incorporate foreign policy considerations into their judgement of law.

Flashback: Head of RCMP unit that framed Arar promoted to Assistant Commissioner | Arar in Canada when ’seen’ by Khadr, hearing told | Conspiracy against Arar reached to highest levels, U.S. court told | RCMP lays no charges in Maher Arar ‘terrorist’ leaks, declares case closed | Torture was expected in ‘top-down’ decision to deport Arar: lawyer | CSIS suspected U.S. would deport Arar to be tortured: documents

CBC News
November 2, 2009

Syrian-born Canadian Maher Arar has again been denied the right to sue the United States over his deportation to Syria, where he was tortured.

During a September 2002 stopover in New York, while returning to Canada from a vacation in Tunisia, Arar was detained by U.S authorities, who were acting on information from Canadian security officials. Based on the erroneous Canadian information that Arar had links to al-Qaeda, the U.S. deported him to Syria, even though he was carrying a Canadian passport.

When Arar returned to Canada more than a year later, he said he had been tortured during his incarceration and accused American officials of sending him to Syria knowing that authorities there use torture.

In New York on Monday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 7-4 against Arar. He had asked the court to overturn a decision of the U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York, which had dismissed his suit against dozens of U.S. government officials, including former attorney-general John Ashcroft and former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge.

In the majority opinion, the court said it denied Arar’s appeal because the U.S. Congress has not laid out legislation that specifies how unusual claims such as his can proceed and what remedies exist.

The court ruled that allowing the claim to proceed would “offend the separation of powers and inhibit this country’s foreign policy.”

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Flashback: Afghan challenger drops out of election | Afghan probe voids thousands of Karzai votes | Afghan election appears headed to a second round | I was ordered to cover up President Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says | EU observers say a third of Karzai’s votes might be suspect due to fraud | Afghan vote called ‘mockery’ | Accusations over Afghan vote rigging | Has Karzai overstayed his welcome? | Britain and US prepared to open talks with the Taliban | Afghan President Karzai registers for re-election, picks warlord as running mate | Afghanistan needs 4,000 extra soldiers for elections: NATO | Canadian troops could soon target Afghan drug trade: top soldier | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | Afghan government sacks Kandahar governor | US faces downward spiral in Afghan war, says leaked intelligence report | NATO to let troops fight Afghan drug lords | Karzai’s kin linked to heroin trafficking | Afghani Narco-state Continues to Blossom under Puppet President

CBC News
November 2, 2009

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was declared the victor of the war-torn country’s presidential election as a run-off vote was cancelled after his opponent withdrew. [Ed. Note: His opponent withdrew in protest only because nothing was going to be changed to prevent continued election fraud.]

Independent Election Commission chairman Azizullah Lodin declared Karzai the victor during a news conference in Kabul on Monday. “He was the winner of the first round and the only candidate in the second round,” Lodin said.

The commission came to its decision after examining the Afghan constitution and considering what is best for the Afghan people, Lodin said.

Electoral officers had earlier expressed concerns about voter security in the second round. The Taliban had threatened more violence if the vote was held, complicating the organization and security for the balloting.

Afghanistan’s election commission cancelled the Nov. 7 vote hours after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Karzai and former presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah.

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