Mazanga Von Badman

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

2012-02-09T23:55:00.000+02:00

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

Jaroslav Flegr is no kook. And yet, for years, he suspected his mind had been taken over by parasites that had invaded his brain. So the prolific biologist took his science-fiction hunch into the lab. What he’s now discovering will startle you. Could tiny organisms carried by house cats be creeping into our brains, causing everything from car wrecks to schizophrenia? A biologist’s science- fiction hunch is gaining credence and shaping the emerging science of mind- controlling parasites.

By Kathleen McAuliffe

Michal Novotný

No one would accuse Jaroslav Flegr of being a conformist. A self-described “sloppy dresser,” the 63-year-old Czech scientist has the contemplative air of someone habitually lost in thought, and his still-youthful, square-jawed face is framed by frizzy red hair that encircles his head like a ring of fire.
Certainly Flegr’s thinking is jarringly unconventional. Starting in the early 1990s, he began to suspect that a single-celled parasite in the protozoan family was subtly manipulating his personality, causing him to behave in strange, often self-destructive ways. And if it was messing with his mind, he reasoned, it was probably doing the same to others.
The parasite, which is excreted by cats in their feces, is called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxo for short) and is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis—the reason pregnant women are told to avoid cats’ litter boxes. Since the 1920s, doctors have recognized that a woman who becomes infected during pregnancy can transmit the disease to the fetus, in some cases resulting in severe brain damage or death. T. gondii is also a major threat to people with weakened immunity: in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, before good antiretroviral drugs were developed, it was to blame for the dementia that afflicted many patients at the disease’s end stage. Healthy children and adults, however, usually experience nothing worse than brief flu-like symptoms before quickly fighting off the protozoan, which thereafter lies dormant inside brain cells—or at least that’s the standard medical wisdom.
But if Flegr is right, the “latent” parasite may be quietly tweaking the connections between our neurons, changing our response to frightening situations, our trust in others, how outgoing we are, and even our preference for certain scents. And that’s not all. He also believes that the organism contributes to car crashes, suicides, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. When you add up all the different ways it can harm us, says Flegr, “Toxoplasma might even kill as many people as malaria, or at least a million people a year.”
An evolutionary biologist at Charles University in Prague, Flegr has pursued this theory for decades in relative obscurity. Because he struggles with English and is not much of a conversationalist even in his native tongue, he rarely travels to scientific conferences. That “may be one of the reasons my theory is not better known,” he says. And, he believes, his views may invite deep-seated opposition. “There is strong psychological resistance to the possibility that human behavior can be influenced by some stupid parasite,” he says. “Nobody likes to feel like a puppet. Reviewers [of my scientific papers] may have been offended.” Another more obvious reason for resistance, of course, is that Flegr’s notions sound an awful lot like fringe science, right up there with UFO sightings and claims of dolphins telepathically communicating with humans.
But after years of being ignored or discounted, Flegr is starting to gain respectability. Psychedelic as his claims may sound, many researchers, including such big names in neuroscience as Stanford’s Robert Sapolsky, think he could well be onto something. Flegr’s “studies are well conducted, and I can see no reason to doubt them,” Sapolsky tells me. Indeed, recent findings from Sapolsky’s lab and British groups suggest that the parasite is capable of extraordinary shenanigans. T. gondii, reports Sapolsky, can turn a rat’s strong innate aversion to cats into an attraction, luring it into the jaws of its No. 1 predator. Even more amazing is how it does this: the organism rewires circuits in parts of the brain that deal with such primal emotions as fear, anxiety, and sexual arousal. “Overall,” says Sapolsky, “this is wild, bizarre neurobiology.” Another academic heavyweight who takes Flegr seriously is the schizophrenia expert E. Fuller Torrey, director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, in Maryland. “I admire Jaroslav for doing [this research],” he says. “It’s obviously not politically correct, in the sense that not many labs are doing it. He’s done it mostly on his own, with very little support. I think it bears looking at. I find it completely credible.”
What’s more, many experts think T. gondii may be far from the only microscopic puppeteer capable of pulling our strings. “My guess is that there are scads more examples of this going on in mammals, with parasites we’ve never even heard of,” says Sapolsky.
Familiar to most of us, of course, is the rabies virus. On the verge of killing a dog, bat, or other warm-blooded host, it stirs the animal into a rage while simultaneously migrating from the nervous system to the creature’s saliva, ensuring that when the host bites, the virus will live on in a new carrier. But aside from rabies, stories of parasites commandeering the behavior of large-brained mammals are rare. The far more common victims of parasitic mind control—at least the ones we know about—are fish, crustaceans, and legions of insects, according to Janice Moore, a behavioral biologist at Colorado State University. “Flies, ants, caterpillars, wasps, you name it—there are truckloads of them behaving weirdly as a result of parasites,” she says.
Consider Polysphincta gutfreundi, a parasitic wasp that grabs hold of an orb spider and attaches a tiny egg to its belly. A wormlike larva emerges from the egg, and then releases chemicals that prompt the spider to abandon weaving its familiar spiral web and instead spin its silk thread into a special pattern that will hold the cocoon in which the larva matures. The “possessed” spider even crochets a specific geometric design in the net, camouflaging the cocoon from the wasp’s predators.
Flegr himself traces his life’s work to another master of mind control. Almost 30 years ago, as he was reading a book by the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, Flegr was captivated by a passage describing how a flatworm turns an ant into its slave by invading the ant’s nervous system. A drop in temperature normally causes ants to head underground, but the infected insect instead climbs to the top of a blade of grass and clamps down on it, becoming easy prey for a grazing sheep. “Its mandibles actually become locked in that position, so there’s nothing the ant can do except hang there in the air,” says Flegr. The sheep grazes on the grass and eats the ant; the worm gains entrance into the ungulate’s gut, which is exactly where it needs to be in order to complete—as the Lion King song goes—the circle of life. “It was the first I learned about this kind of manipulation, so it made a big impression on me,” Flegr says.
After he read the book, Flegr began to make a connection that, he readily admits, others might find crazy: his behavior, he noticed, shared similarities with that of the reckless ant. For example, he says, he thought nothing of crossing the street in the middle of dense traffic, “and if cars honked at me, I didn’t jump out of the way.” He also made no effort to hide his scorn for the Communists who ruled Czechoslovakia for most of his early adulthood. “It was very risky to openly speak your mind at that time,” he says. “I was lucky I wasn’t imprisoned.” And during a research stint in eastern Turkey, when the strife-torn region frequently erupted in gunfire, he recalls being “very calm.” In contrast, he says, “my colleagues were terrified. I wondered what was wrong with myself.”
His bewilderment continued until 1990, when he joined the biology faculty of Charles University. As it happened, the 650-year-old institution had long been a world leader in documenting the health effects of T. gondii, as well as developing methods for detecting the parasite. In fact, just as Flegr was arriving, his colleagues were searching for infected individuals on whom to test their improved diagnostic kits, which is how he came to be asked one day to roll up his sleeve and donate blood. He discovered that he had the parasite—and just possibly, he thought, the key to his baffling self-destructive streak.
He delved into T. gondii’s life cycle. After an infected cat defecates, Flegr learned, the parasite is typically picked up from the soil by scavenging or grazing animals—notably rodents, pigs, and cattle—all of which then harbor it in their brain and other body tissues. Humans, on the other hand, are exposed not only by coming into contact with litter boxes, but also, he found, by drinking water contaminated with cat feces, eating unwashed vegetables, or, especially in Europe, by consuming raw or undercooked meat. Hence the French, according to Flegr, with their love of steak prepared saignant—literally, “bleeding”—can have infection rates as high as 55 percent. (Americans will be happy to hear that the parasite resides in far fewer of them, though a still substantial portion: 10 to 20 percent.) Once inside an animal or human host, the parasite then needs to get back into the cat, the only place where it can sexually reproduce—and this is when, Flegr believed, behavioral manipulation might come into play.

The parasite T. gondii, seen here, may be changing connections between our neurones, altering how we act and feel. (Dennis Kunkel Microscropy, Inc./Visuals Unlimited/Corbis Images)

Researchers had already observed a few peculiarities about rodents with T. gondii that bolstered Flegr’s theory. The infected rodents were much more active in running wheels than uninfected rodents were, suggesting that they would be more-attractive targets for cats, which are drawn to fast-moving objects. They also were less wary of predators in exposed spaces. Little, however, was known about how the latent infection might influence humans, because we and other large mammals were widely presumed to be accidental hosts, or, as scientists are fond of putting it, a “dead end” for the parasite. But even if we were never part of the parasite’s life cycle, Flegr reasoned, mammals from mouse to man share the vast majority of their genes, so we might, in a case of mistaken identity, still be vulnerable to manipulations by the parasite.
In the Soviet-stunted economy, animal studies were way beyond Flegr’s research budget. But fortunately for him, 30 to 40 percent of Czechs had the latent form of the disease, so plenty of students were available “to serve as very cheap experimental animals.” He began by giving them and their parasite-free peers standardized personality tests—an inexpensive, if somewhat crude, method of measuring differences between the groups. In addition, he used a computer-based test to assess the reaction times of participants, who were instructed to press a button as soon as a white square popped up anywhere against the dark background of the monitor.
The subjects who tested positive for the parasite had significantly delayed reaction times. Flegr was especially surprised to learn, though, that the protozoan appeared to cause many sex-specific changes in personality. Compared with uninfected men, males who had the parasite were more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to other people’s opinions of them, and inclined to disregard rules. Infected women, on the other hand, presented in exactly the opposite way: they were more outgoing, trusting, image-conscious, and rule-abiding than uninfected women.
The findings were so bizarre that Flegr initially assumed his data must be flawed. So he tested other groups—civilian and military populations. Again, the same results. Then, in search of more corroborating evidence, he brought subjects in for further observation and a battery of tests, in which they were rated by someone ignorant of their infection status. To assess whether participants valued the opinions of others, the rater judged how well dressed they appeared to be. As a measure of gregariousness, participants were asked about the number of friends they’d interacted with over the past two weeks. To test whether they were prone to being suspicious, they were asked, among other things, to drink an unidentified liquid.
The results meshed well with the questionnaire findings. Compared with uninfected people of the same sex, infected men were more likely to wear rumpled old clothes; infected women tended to be more meticulously attired, many showing up for the study in expensive, designer-brand clothing. Infected men tended to have fewer friends, while infected women tended to have more. And when it came to downing the mystery fluid, reports Flegr, “the infected males were much more hesitant than uninfected men. They wanted to know why they had to do it. Would it harm them?” In contrast, the infected women were the most trusting of all subjects. “They just did what they were told,” he says.
Why men and women reacted so differently to the parasite still mystified him. After consulting the psychological literature, he started to suspect that heightened anxiety might be the common denominator underlying their responses. When under emotional strain, he read, women seek solace through social bonding and nurturing. In the lingo of psychologists, they’re inclined to “tend and befriend.” Anxious men, on the other hand, typically respond by withdrawing and becoming hostile or antisocial. Perhaps he was looking at flip sides of the same coin.
Closer inspection of Flegr’s reaction-time results revealed that infected subjects became less attentive and slowed down a minute or so into the test. This suggested to him that Toxoplasma might have an adverse impact on driving, where constant vigilance and fast reflexes are critical. He launched two major epidemiological studies in the Czech Republic, one of men and women in the general population and another of mostly male drivers in the military. Those who tested positive for the parasite, both studies showed, were about two and a half times as likely to be in a traffic accident as their uninfected peers.
When I met Flegr for the first time, last September, at his office on the third floor of Charles University’s Biological Sciences building, I was expecting something of a wild man. But once you get past the riotous red hair, his style is understated. Thin and slight of build, he’s soft-spoken, precise with his facts, and—true to his Toxo status—clad in old sneakers, faded bell-bottom jeans, and a loose-fitting button-up shirt. As our conversation proceeds, I discover that his latest findings have become—to quote Alice in Wonderland—“curiouser and curiouser,” which may explain why his forehead has the deep ruts of a chronic worrier, or someone perpetually perplexed.
He’s published some data, he tells me, that suggest infected males might have elevated testosterone levels. Possibly for that reason, women shown photos of these men rate them as more masculine than pictures of uninfected men. “I want to investigate this more closely to see if it’s true,” he says. “Also, it could be women find infected men more attractive. That’s something else we hope to test.”
Meanwhile, two Turkish studies have replicated his studies linking Toxoplasma to traffic accidents. With up to one-third of the world infected with the parasite, Flegr now calculates that T. gondii is a likely factor in several hundred thousand road deaths each year. In addition, reanalysis of his personality-questionnaire data revealed that, just like him, many other people who have the latent infection feel intrepid in dangerous situations. “Maybe,” he says, “that’s another reason they get into traffic accidents. They don’t have a normal fear response.”
It’s almost impossible to hear about Flegr’s research without wondering whether you’re infected—especially if, like me, you’re a cat owner, favor very rare meat, and identify even a little bit with your Toxo sex stereotype. So before coming to Prague, I’d gotten tested for the parasite, but I didn’t yet know the results. It seemed a good time to see what his intuition would tell me. “Can you guess from observing someone whether they have the parasite—myself, for example?,” I ask.
“No,” he says, “the parasite’s effects on personality are very subtle.” If, as a woman, you were introverted before being infected, he says, the parasite won’t turn you into a raving extrovert. It might just make you a little less introverted. “I’m very typical of Toxoplasma males,” he continues. “But I don’t know whether my personality traits have anything to do with the infection. It’s impossible to say for any one individual. You usually need about 50 people who are infected and 50 who are not, in order to see a statistically significant difference. The vast majority of people will have no idea they’re infected.”
Still, he concedes, the parasite could be very bad news for a small percentage of people—and not just those who might be at greater risk for car accidents. Many schizophrenia patients show shrinkage in parts of their cerebral cortex, and Flegr thinks the protozoan may be to blame for that. He hands me a recently published paper on the topic that he co-authored with colleagues at Charles University, including a psychiatrist named Jiri Horacek. Twelve of 44 schizophrenia patients who underwent MRI scans, the team found, had reduced gray matter in the brain—and the decrease occurred almost exclusively in those who tested positive for T. gondii. After reading the abstract, I must look stunned, because Flegr smiles and says, “Jiri had the same response. I don’t think he believed it could be true.” When I later speak with Horacek, he admits to having been skeptical about Flegr’s theory at the outset. When they merged the MRI results with the infection data, however, he went from being a doubter to being a believer. “I was amazed at how pronounced the effect was,” he says. “To me that suggests the parasite may trigger schizophrenia in genetically susceptible people.”
One might be tempted to dismiss the bulk of Flegr’s work as hokum—the fanciful imaginings of a lone, eccentric scholar—were it not for the pioneering research of Joanne Webster, a parasitologist at Imperial College London. Just as Flegr was embarking on his human trials, Webster, then a freshly minted Ph.D., was launching studies of Toxo-infected rodents, reasoning, just as Flegr did, that as hosts of the parasite, they would be likely targets for behavioral manipulation.
She quickly confirmed, as previous researchers had shown, that infected rats were more active and less cautious in areas where predators lurk. But then, in a simple, elegant experiment, she and her colleagues demonstrated that the parasite did something much more remarkable. They treated one corner of each rat’s enclosure with the animal’s own odor, a second with water, a third with cat urine, and the last corner with the urine of a rabbit, a creature that does not prey on rodents. “We thought the parasite might reduce the rats’ aversion to cat odor,” she told me. “Not only did it do that, but it actually increased their attraction. They spent more time in the cat-treated areas.” She and other scientists repeated the experiment with the urine of dogs and minks, which also prey on rodents. The effect was so specific to cat urine, she says, that “we call it ‘fatal feline attraction.’”
She began tagging the parasite with fluorescent markers and tracking its progress in the rats’ bodies. Given the surgically precise way the microbe alters behavior, Webster anticipated that it would end up in localized regions of the brain. But the results defied expectations. “We were quite surprised to find the cysts—the parasite’s dormant form—all over the brain in what otherwise appeared to be a happy, healthy rat,” she says. Nonetheless, the cysts were most abundant in a part of the brain that deals with pleasure (in human terms, we’re talking sex, drugs, and rock and roll) and in another area that’s involved in fear and anxiety (post-traumatic stress disorder affects this region of the brain). Perhaps, she thought, T. gondii uses a scattershot approach, disseminating cysts far and wide, enabling a few of them to zero in on the right targets.
To gain more clarity on the matter, she sought the aid of the parasitologist Glenn McConkey, whose team at the University of Leeds was probing the protozoan’s genome for signs of what it might be doing. The approach brought to light a striking talent of the parasite: it has two genes that allow it to crank up production of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the host brain. “We never cease to be amazed by the sophistication of these parasites,” Webster says.
Their findings, reported last summer, created immediate buzz. Dopamine is a critical signaling molecule involved in fear, pleasure, and attention. Furthermore, the neurotransmitter is known to be jacked up in people with schizophrenia—another one of those strange observations about the disease, like its tendency to erode gray matter, that have long puzzled medical researchers. Antipsychotic medicine designed to quell schizophrenic delusions apparently blocks the action of dopamine, which had suggested to Webster that what it might really be doing is thwarting the parasite. Scientists had already shown that adding the medicine to a petri dish where T. gondii is happily dividing will stunt the organism’s growth. So Webster decided to feed the antipsychotic drug to newly infected rats to see how they reacted. Lo and behold, they didn’t develop fatal feline attraction. Suddenly, attributing behavioral changes to the microbe seemed much more plausible.
As the scientific community digested the British team’s dopamine discoveries, Robert Sapolsky’s lab at Stanford announced still more attention-grabbing news. The neuroscientist and his colleagues found that T. gondii disconnects fear circuits in the brain, which might help to explain why infected rats lose their aversion to cat odor. Just as startling, reports Sapolsky, the parasite simultaneously is “able to hijack some of the circuitry related to sexual arousal” in the male rat—probably, he theorizes, by boosting dopamine levels in the reward-processing part of the brain. So when the animal catches a whiff of cat scent, the fear center fails to fully light up, as it would in a normal rat, and instead the area governing sexual pleasure begins to glow. “In other words,” he says, “Toxo makes cat odor smell sexy to male rats.”
The neurobiologist Ajai Vyas, after working with Sapolsky on this study as a postdoctoral student, decided to inspect infected rats’ testicles for signs of cysts. Sure enough, he found them there—as well as in the animals’ semen. And when the rat copulates, Vyas discovered, the protozoan moves into the female’s womb, typically infecting 60 percent of her pups, before traveling on up to her own brain—creating still more vehicles for ferrying the parasite back into the belly of a cat.
Could T. gondii be a sexually transmitted disease in humans too? “That’s what we hope to find out,” says Vyas, who now works at Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore. The researchers also discovered that infected male rats suddenly become much more attractive to females. “It’s a very strong effect,” says Vyas. “Seventy-five percent of the females would rather spend time with the infected male.”
After I return from Prague, Flegr informs me that he’s just had a paper accepted for publication that, he claims, “proves fatal feline attraction in humans.” By that he means that infected men like the smell of cat pee—or at least they rank its scent much more favorably than uninfected men do. Displaying the characteristic sex differences that define many Toxo traits, infected women have the reverse response, ranking the scent even more offensive than do women free of the parasite. The sniff test was done blind and also included urine collected from a dog, horse, hyena, and tiger. Infection did not affect how subjects rated these other samples.
“Is it possible cat urine may be an aphrodisiac for infected men?,” I ask. “Yes. It’s possible. Why not?” says Flegr. I think he’s smiling at the other end of the phone line, but I’m not sure, which leaves me wondering whether I’ve stumbled onto a topic ripe for a Saturday Night Live skit, or a matter worthy of medical concern. When I ask Sapolsky about Flegr’s most recent research, he says the effects Flegr is reporting “are incredibly cool. However, I’m not too worried, in that the effects on humans are not gigantic. If you want to reduce serious car accidents, and you had to choose between curing people of Toxo infections versus getting people not to drive drunk or while texting, go for the latter in terms of impact.”
In fact, Sapolsky thinks that Toxo’s inventiveness might even offer us some benefits. If we can figure out how the parasite makes animals less fearful, he says, it might give us insights into how to devise treatments for people plagued by social-anxiety disorder, phobias, PTSD, and the like. “But frankly,” he adds, “this mostly falls into the ‘Get a load of this, can you believe what nature has come up with?’ category.”
Webster is more circumspect, if not downright troubled. “I don’t want to cause any panic,” she tells me. “In the vast majority of people, there will be no ill effects, and those who are affected will mostly demonstrate subtle shifts of behavior. But in a small number of cases, [Toxo infection] may be linked to schizophrenia and other disturbances associated with altered dopamine levels—for example, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and mood disorders. The rat may live two or three years, while humans can be infected for many decades, which is why we may be seeing these severe side effects in people. We should be cautious of dismissing such a prevalent parasite.”
The psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey agrees—though he came to this viewpoint from a completely different angle than either Webster or Flegr. His opinion stems from decades of research into the root causes of schizophrenia. “Textbooks today still make silly statements that schizophrenia has always been around, it’s about the same incidence all over the world, and it’s existed since time immemorial,” he says. “The epidemiology literature contradicts that completely.” In fact, he says, schizophrenia did not rise in prevalence until the latter half of the 18th century, when for the first time people in Paris and London started keeping cats as pets. The so-called cat craze began among “poets and left-wing avant-garde Greenwich Village types,” says Torrey, but the trend spread rapidly—and coinciding with that development, the incidence of schizophrenia soared.
Since the 1950s, he notes, about 70 epidemiology studies have explored a link between schizophrenia and T. gondii. When he and his colleague Robert Yolken, a neurovirologist at Johns Hopkins University, surveyed a subset of these papers that met rigorous scientific standards, their conclusion complemented the Prague group’s discovery that schizophrenic patients with Toxo are missing gray matter in their brains. Torrey and Yolken found that the mental illness is two to three times as common in people who have the parasite as in controls from the same region.
Human-genome studies, both scientists believe, are also in keeping with that finding—and might explain why schizophrenia runs in families. The most replicated result from that line of investigation, they say, suggests that the genes most commonly associated with schizophrenia relate to the immune system and how it reacts to infectious agents. So in many cases where the disease appears to be hereditary, they theorize, what may in fact be passed down is an aberrant or deficient immune response to invaders like T. gondii.
Epstein-Barr virus, mumps, rubella, and other infectious agents, they point out, have also been linked to schizophrenia—and there are probably more as yet unidentified triggers, including many that have nothing to do with pathogens. But for now, they say, Toxo remains the strongest environmental factor implicated in the disorder. “If I had to guess,” says Torrey, “I’d say 75 percent of cases of schizophrenia are associated with infectious agents, and Toxo would be involved in a significant subset of those.”
Just as worrisome, says Torrey, the parasite may also increase the risk of suicide. In a 2011 study of 20 European countries, the national suicide rate among women increased in direct proportion to the prevalence of the latent Toxo infection in each nation’s female population. According to Teodor Postolache, a psychiatrist and the director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a flurry of other studies, several conducted by his own team, offers further support of T. gondii’s link to higher rates of suicidal behavior. These include investigations of general populations as well as groups made up of patients with bipolar disorder, severe depression, and schizophrenia, and in places as diverse as Turkey, Germany, and the Baltimore/Washington area. Exactly how the parasite may push vulnerable people over the edge is yet to be determined. Postolache theorizes that what disrupts mood and the ability to control violent impulses may not be the organism per se, but rather neurochemical changes associated with the body’s immune response to it. “As far-fetched as these ideas may sound,” says Postolache, “the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention was willing to put money behind this research.”
Given all the nasty science swirling around this parasite, is it time for cat lovers to switch their allegiance to other animals?
Even Flegr would advise against that. Indoor cats pose no threat, he says, because they don’t carry the parasite. As for outdoor cats, they shed the parasite for only three weeks of their life, typically when they’re young and have just begun hunting. During that brief period, Flegr simply recommends taking care to keep kitchen counters and tables wiped clean. (He practices what he preaches: he and his wife have two school-age children, and two outdoor cats that have free roam of their home.) Much more important for preventing exposure, he says, is to scrub vegetables thoroughly and avoid drinking water that has not been properly purified, especially in the developing world, where infection rates can reach 95 percent in some places. Also, he advises eating meat on the well-done side—or, if that’s not to your taste, freezing it before cooking, to kill the cysts.
As concerns about the latent infection mount, however, experts have begun thinking about more-aggressive steps to counter the parasite’s spread. Inoculating cats or livestock against T. gondii might be one way to interrupt its life cycle, offers Johns Hopkins’ Robert Yolken. Moving beyond prevention to treatment is a taller order. Once the parasite becomes deeply ensconced in brain cells, routing it out of the body is virtually impossible: the thick-walled cysts are impregnable to antibiotics. Because T. gondii and the malaria protozoan are related, however, Yolken and other researchers are looking among antimalarial agents for more-effective drugs to attack the cysts. But for now, medicine has no therapy to offer people who want to rid themselves of the latent infection; and until solid proof exists that Toxo is as dangerous as some scientists now fear, pharmaceutical companies don’t have much incentive to develop anti-Toxo drugs.
Yolken hopes that will change. “To explain where we are in Toxo research today,” he says, “the analogy I always give is the ulcer bacteria. We first needed to find ways of treating the organism and showing that the disease went away when you did that. We will have to show that when we very effectively treat Toxoplasma, some portion of psychiatric illness goes away.”
But T. gondii is just one of an untold number of infectious agents that prey on us. And if the rest of the animal kingdom is anything to go by, says Colorado State University’s Janice Moore, plenty of them may be capable of tinkering with our minds. For example, she and Chris Reiber, a biomedical anthropologist at Binghamton University, in New York, strongly suspected that the flu virus might boost our desire to socialize. Why? Because it spreads through close physical contact, often before symptoms emerge—meaning that it must find a new host quickly. To explore this hunch, Moore and Reiber tracked 36 subjects who received a flu vaccine, reasoning that it contains many of the same chemical components as the live virus and would thus cause the subjects’ immune systems to react as if they’d encountered the real pathogen.
The difference in the subjects’ behavior before and after vaccination was pronounced: the flu shot had the effect of nearly doubling the number of people with whom the participants came in close contact during the brief window when the live virus was maximally contagious. “People who had very limited or simple social lives were suddenly deciding that they needed to go out to bars or parties, or invite a bunch of people over,” says Reiber. “This happened with lots of our subjects. It wasn’t just one or two outliers.”
Reiber has her eye trained on other human pathogens that she thinks may well be playing similar games, if only science could prove it. For example, she says, many people at the end stages of AIDS and syphilis express an intense craving for sex. So, too, do individuals at the beginning of a herpes outbreak. These may just be anecdotal accounts, she concedes, but based on her own findings, she wouldn’t be surprised if these urges come from the pathogen making known its will to survive.
“We’ve found all kinds of excuses for why we do the things we do,” observes Moore. “‘My genes made me do it.’ ‘My parents are to blame.’ I’m afraid we may have reached the point where parasites may have to be added to the laundry list of excuses.”
She has a point. In fact, I’ve been wondering whether T. gondii might in some small way be contributing to my extreme extroversion—why I can’t resist striking up conversations everywhere I go, even when I’m short of time or with strangers I’ll never see again. Then it occurs to me that cysts in my brain might be behind my seesaw moods or even my splurges on expensive clothes. Maybe, I think with mounting conviction, the real me would have displayed better self-control, had I not been forced to swim upstream against the will of an insidious parasite. With my feline pal Pixie on my lap (for the record, she’s an outdoor cat), I call to get the results of my Toxo test. Negative. I don’t have the latent infection.
I call to tell Flegr the good news. Even though I’m relieved, I know my voice sounds flat. “It’s strange to admit,” I say, “but I think I’m a little disappointed.” He laughs. “People who have cats often feel that way, because they think the parasite explains why they behave this way or that,” he says. “But,” I protest, “you thought the same way.” Then it hits me. I may have dodged T. gondii, but given our knack for fooling ourselves—plus all those parasites out there that may also be playing tricks on our minds—can anyone really know who’s running the show?

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-making-you-crazy/8873/?single_page=true

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops

2012-01-29T11:12:00.000+02:00

American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case.

Judge Robert Blackburn ordered a Peyton, Colo., woman to decrypt the hard drive of a Toshiba laptop computer no later than February 21--or face the consequences including contempt of court.

PGP Desktop: Even the FBI can't crack it!

(Credit: Symantec)

Blackburn, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Fifth Amendment posed no barrier to his decryption order. The Fifth Amendment says that nobody may be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself," which has become known as the right to avoid self-incrimination.

"I find and conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer," Blackburn wrote in a 10-page opinion today. He said the All Writs Act, which dates back to 1789 and has been used to require telephone companies to aid in surveillance, could be invoked in forcing decryption of hard drives as well.

Ramona Fricosu, who is accused of being involved in a mortgage scam, has declined to decrypt a laptop encrypted with Symantec's PGP Desktop that the FBI found in her bedroom during a raid of a home she shared with her mother and children (and whether she's even able to do so is not yet clear).

Colorado Springs attorney Phil Dubois, who once represented PGP creator Phil Zimmermann, now finds himself fighting the feds over encryption a second time.

"I hope to get a stay of execution of this order so we can file an appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals," Fricosu's attorney, Phil Dubois, said this afternoon. "I think it's a matter of national importance. It should not be treated as though it's just another day in Fourth Amendment litigation." (See CNET's interview last year with Dubois, who once represented PGP creator Phil Zimmermann.)

Dubois said that, in addition, his client may not be able to decrypt the laptop for any number of reasons. "If that's the case, then we'll report that fact to the court, and the law is fairly clear that people cannot be punished for failure to do things they are unable to do," he said.

Today's ruling from Blackburn sided with the U.S. Department of Justice, which argued, as CNET reported last summer, that Americans' Fifth Amendment right to remain silent doesn't apply to their encryption passphrases. Federal prosecutors, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment this afternoon, claimed in a brief that:

Public interests will be harmed absent requiring defendants to make available unencrypted contents in circumstances like these. Failing to compel Ms. Fricosu amounts to a concession to her and potential criminals (be it in child exploitation, national security, terrorism, financial crimes or drug trafficking cases) that encrypting all inculpatory digital evidence will serve to defeat the efforts of law enforcement officers to obtain such evidence through judicially authorized search warrants, and thus make their prosecution impossible.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has not confronted the topic, a handful of lower courts have.

In March 2010, a federal judge in Michigan ruled that Thomas Kirschner, facing charges of receiving child pornography, would not have to give up his password. That's "protecting his invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination," the court ruled (PDF).

A year earlier, a Vermont federal judge concluded that Sebastien Boucher, who a border guard claims had child porn on his Alienware laptop, did not have a Fifth Amendment right to keep the files encrypted. Boucher eventually complied and was convicted.

Prosecutors in this case have stressed that they don't actually require the passphrase itself, and today's order appears to permit Fricosu to type it in and unlock the files without anyone looking over her shoulder. They say they want only the decrypted data and are not demanding "the password to the drive, either orally or in written form."

Because this involves a Fifth Amendment claim, Colorado prosecutors took the unusual step of seeking approval from headquarters in Washington, D.C.: On May 5, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer sent a letter to Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh saying "I hereby approve your request."

The question of whether a criminal defendant can be legally compelled to cough up his encryption passphrase remains an unsettled one, with law review articles for at least the last 15 years arguing the merits of either approach. (A U.S. Justice Department attorney wrote an article in 1996, for instance, titled "Compelled Production of Plaintext and Keys.")

Much of the discussion has been about what analogy comes closest. Prosecutors tend to view PGP passphrases as akin to someone possessing a key to a safe filled with incriminating documents. That person can, in general, be legally compelled to hand over the key. Other examples include the U.S. Supreme Court saying that defendants can be forced to provide fingerprints, blood samples, or voice recordings.

On the other hand are civil libertarians citing other Supreme Court cases that conclude Americans can't be forced to give "compelled testimonial communications" and extending the legal shield of the Fifth Amendment to encryption passphrases. Courts already have ruled that that such protection extends to the contents of a defendant's minds, the argument goes, so why shouldn't a passphrase be shielded as well?

Fricosu was born in 1974 and living in Peyton as of 2010. She was charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering as part of an alleged attempt to use falsified court documents to illegally gain title to homes near Colorado Springs that were facing "imminent foreclosure" or whose owners were relocating outside the state. Some of the charges could yield up to 30 years in prison; she pleaded not guilty. Her husband, Scott Whatcott, was also charged.

Vector Symbolism and its connection to space

2012-01-28T05:08:00.001+02:00

"Veneration of the Vector" - NWO Vector Symbolism and its connection to space

Uploaded by LunaCognita on Feb 23, 2011

"Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity."
Marshall McLuhan

In this video, we will take a closer look at the global infatuation that many space programs around the world seem to have with the "vector" symbol. I actually briefly discussed this particular subject matter publicly before in an on-camera interview I did a couple years back that appeared in the documentary film "Moon Rising" (directed by Jose Escamilla), so for those of you who have seen that film already, you will already be no doubt aware of some of the bizarre and blatant connections I am highlighting in this presentation here. There are a few new things I included that did not make it into "Moon Rising" though, so I hope you still enjoy watching my version of this evidence presentation.

While NASA of course plays front and center in this, their "meatball" insignia is far from the only example of official space program symbology that blatantly engages in this "vector worship", and it may surprise some people when they see how important those who really "run the show" here on planet Earth consider this design element to be.

This vector shape has long held tremendous secret symbolism for certain elite facets of our planet's population, with those "Powers That Be" covertly ensuring that the vector symbology would be globally emblematic of the most advanced and awe-inspiring of all human scientific exploratory endeavours - mankind's reconnaissance of the vast New Ocean above that we refer to as "space".

The Powers That Be employ this veneration of the vector, attaching variations of this symbology to their various space-related programs in particular, because those scientific/military efforts are typically recognized as being the highest-technology sectors any government has control of. The use of the vector is a way of symbolically demonstrating the global nature of the control they have over the population of this planet, in essence allowing them to flaunt the depth of their power (in this case, their control of this planet's highest levels of technical and scientific prowess) by using the symbolic connections that are blatant to anyone who cares to appreciate what they are looking at.

What this video demonstrates is that the magnitude of control these Powers possess goes well beyond "old world" methods of governance and transcends "petty" beliefs such as holding a nationalistic allegiance to a sovereign nation-state. It is not merely about the control the PTB have within individual countries and borders - it is about how the control the PTB have is already at a level today where those individual countries and borders are in the process of being removed in favor of a One World Government. They are comprised of the global scientific, political, economic, corporate and military elite, and their long-term goal is to control the population of this planet under a singular power.

This is not some theoretical conspiracy or a "still-in-the-planning-stages" concept of global control being touched on here. The New World Order already exists, and in many instances, their goal of a One World Government has already been covertly realized and is in place behind-the-scenes. The bulk of the public may not recognize or appreciate the somewhat obvious connections, and many people still fall for the "public record" version of history and the mass media propaganda interpretations designed to downplay this buildup and concentration of power, but there is no doubt it is occurring around the world. It would be foolish to ignore the ramifications this dramatic shift in control policy brings with it, as well as the corruption and capability to distort the truth it provides the PTB as well.

One thing you can be certain of - When talking about real world civilian/military space efforts or even science-fiction TV entertainment/propaganda, if the subject matter deals with the exploration of our universe, then the vector shape will be there to play its typically prominent symbolic role.

Here is the link to one of the NASA archive versions of the last image I used in this presentation, showing astronaut Joseph R. Tanner during an EVA with a vector-shaped object clearly visible in his visor reflection.

- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-115/html/s115e05753.html

Cheers everyone,
LunaCognita

Category:

Science & Technology

The Bomb Squad

2012-01-13T23:55:00.001+02:00

Captured on helmet camera, we see what Adam sees as he is standing over the bomb which could kill him if he makes one wrong move. Over the past weeks, Adam and his team have cleared 17 IEDs from a compound, so that it can be used as an army base. The Bomb Squad is full of revelations what an IED looks like, what it's like to risk your life as a highly trained operator.

Episode 1/2 Duration: 1 hour

For the first time ever, the Ministry of Defence has allowed the work of specialist bomb disposal teams in Afghanistan to be shown. Adam is halfway through his tour of Afghanistan as a bomb disposal operator. Captured on helmet camera, we see what Adam sees as he is standing over the bomb which could kill him if he makes one wrong move. Over the past weeks, Adam and his team have cleared 17 IEDs from a compound, so that it can be used as an army base. When they're called out to the compound one final time, they take a casualty. The Bomb Squad is full of revelations what an IED looks like, what it's like to risk your life as a highly trained operator or as a young searcher, and what it's like to be the family left behind, wondering if their loved ones will come home.

Episode 2/2 Duration: 1 hour

For the first time ever, the Ministry of Defence has allowed the work of specialist bomb disposal teams in Afghanistan to be shown. After a missile strike kills an insurgent laying an IED, bomb disposal operator Rod and his team are dropped into the area by helicopter to investigate. Captured on helmet camera, we see what Rod sees as he is standing over the bomb, which could kill him if he makes one wrong move.
Three months into their tour, Search Team 9 have already taken casualties. They have lost three team members but they're still at the front searching for IEDs and they are about to search one of the most dangerous villages in Helmand. The Bomb Squad is full of insights; from what it's like to be a bomb disposal operator working in Afghanistan for the first time, to searching for IEDs after you've seen friends killed or injured by them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b014s238

READ ME, AND HELP PLEASE!

2012-01-12T19:55:00.000+02:00

PLEASE READ THIS ONE AND ALL!!
i read all you people on veterans day cut paste "support your vets". this divorced single father and 100% disabled veteran needs all your support badly. no one responds to a honest and a real plea for help. its easy to cut n paste bullshit.... and when i call u on it (cut & paste) i get deleted from your friends list, i get cursed out n told that i did nothing and to fuck myself...... i see how far you support disabled vets that served and get nothing in return. this disabled vet, father of 3 children has been fucked over for too long and is now made to beg people for help. i am sure 99% of you would not have any trouble in donating the price of a cup of coffee or the price of a burger to some one in need....
well my children and i are the ones in need now and i am seriously ashamed that i have no other choice than to beg. my disability check has been cut drastically and i find it impossible to pay rent and feed my children. i beg of all who read this please donate !!!! but again its easier to cut paste n do nothing.......3000 "friends" almost 500,000 hits on my blog long hours of posting to amuse and educate the masses but u all seem to be in a world of your own, this pains me no end and makes me very sad. IF YOU CARE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS, FRIEND ME AND CUT PASTE IN YOUR STATUS, PLEASE DONATE. thank you who ever cares enough to read this and respond as a caring human, but i doubt that any of you will..... a.k.a mazanga. http://mazanga.blogspot.com/p/donate-help-feed-mazanga-son.html

Planned parenthood

2012-01-10T16:54:00.002+02:00

This pix was deleted off facebook by a chicken shit trolls complaint, no name no user id just a fucking self righteous piece of shit asshole hiding behind facebook anonymity..... so here it is and this is not gonna go any where, just for you fucktard troll !!!

YA DONT LIKE IT TROLL GO FUCK U R SELF !!!
FUCK THE TROLLS & FUCK CHICKEN SHIT FACEBOOK !!!!!
FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE !!!
yea a typo i know ......

P.S. TROLL, U R MOMS A WHORE!!!

Bus 174

2012-01-09T21:52:00.000+02:00

If the "Bus 174" hostage standoff had taken place in America, it would have been shown live via news chopper on nationwide television for a day and then replaced by some other televised catastrophe, forgotten except for its occasional rebroadcast as a ninety-second curiosity on shows with titles like "World's Scariest Hostage Crises." We would have learned nothing.

Brazilian filmmaker Jose Padilho didn't want that to happen in his country, so he made a documentary that looks deeply into this one incident and all its antecedents in the culture of Rio de Janeiro. It may momentarily indulge our fascination with watching "reality" unfold onscreen, but at the end of two hours we've gotten more than just a little daily diversion — we've seen exactly how the culture of street kids, prison, rich and poor, and official bumbling collided to produce more than just the random tragedy of the day.

Sandro Rosa do Nascimento apparently meant to quickly rob the passengers on Bus 174, hop off and buy drugs, a common occurrence on the streets of Rio but one that happened to go wrong in almost every way on June 12, 2000. Trapped on the bus, Sandro followed his instincts — instincts that were almost always wrong — and held a pistol on half a dozen hostages in an all-day battle of nerves from which SWAT cops say he had no chance of emerging alive.

But Padilha does much more than just present a hostage situation. He hunts down people who knew Nascimento and reconstructs his tortured life. As a boy, he witnessed his pregnant mother being stabbed to death. With no father, he took to the streets and a life of petty crime. His young life was touched by violence again when he survived a massacre of other street children.

The remaining hostages also were interviewed, and Padilha intercuts their emotional comments with the continuing hostage drama. In effect, we hear from them exactly what they were feeling during the moments we have just witnessed.

The hijacker himself seems aware of the disconnect between reality and fiction. Holding a gun to a hostage, he yells out a window of the bus, "This ain't no action movie thing. This is serious shit."

"Bus 174" attempts to make Nascimento's actions understandable. His friends speculate that he was motivated by a fear of being put in Brazil's medieval prisons.

The film takes us behind bars to hear horror stories from prisoners. They're illuminated by a black light to hide their identity. The effect is like looking at an X-ray. Moments like this attest to Padilha's artistry as a filmmaker.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_174
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/reviews/movies/BUS174.DTL#ixzz1izXGkBgN
http://www.offoffoff.com/film/2003/bus174.php

Australian Male Bashing Guru Jennifer McIntosh Calls Israel To Avoid Shared Parenting

2012-01-08T18:34:00.001+02:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Militant Feminists at Israel's Rackman Center recruited Australian male bashing guru Jennifer McIntosh to persuade officials not to terminate automatic custody of children to women.

January 8, 2012

As the Israel government is now recognizing that divorced fathers and their children deserve equal rights as divorced women, a militant feminist conference at the Rackman Center in Bar Ilan University has caused a fury in Israel. The anti-male conference was designed to sabotage parental equality and indoctrinate social workers to treat all men and fathers in divorce or separation as unfit or dangerous parents. Men's and children's rights organizations vehemently protested it, members of Knesset tried to stop it, litigation in Texas has been launched and pleas to the United Nations (UN) CEDAW rapporteur Rashida Manjoo were sent, seeking the termination of the organizer, Ruth Halperin Kaddari's membership in CEDAW.

The Rackman Center at Bar Ilan University is headed by militant feminist Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kadari, in close association with another leading speaker, Dr. Dafna Hacker of Tel Aviv University’s Gender Studies program, another militant feminist with strong ties to the New Israel Fund. Hacker is a founder of Itach-Maaki, an organization that recently volunteered to assist in the legal defense of sadistic man-killer Erika Orbush Frishkin. Father's rights groups in Israel state that Halperin-Kaddari and Hacker publicly encourage women to use children to extort financial benefits from former spouses.

The morning session at Bar-Ilan was an indoctrination session to train social workers in justifying parental alienation - PAS, and the use of sophisticated language to deny fathers parental rights and access to their children. Australian male bashing guru Jennifer McIntosh participated by video conference and tried to persuade Israel social workers that only mothers connect to children because of "neuron emissions from the right side of their brains". There was no discussion of the documented importance of a father's role in the well being of their children. The second session is the unveiling of two committee reports, one on custody and visitations, and the other on child support. Both committees announced reforms which the ultra feminist organizations are desperately trying to sabotage. The second session was attended by the Minister of Justice, Yaakov Neeman, and the committee chairmen, Dan Schnit and Pinchas Schiffman.

Israel pro-family and men’s rights organizations are outraged that such important conferences are held on the militant feminists’ home turf, and will be moderated by the same women who try to prevent any reform in family law from taking place. Moderator Ruth Halperin Kaddari has already expressed her position that the tender years presumption (automatic custody to women) should not be eliminated and instead stretched out to apply to children and youths until the age of 18.

In the past, Ruth Halperin Kaddari has been caught falsifying statistical data and disseminating false results of public opinion polls and surveys. Another speaker at the first session, Saviona Rotlevi, was herself in charge of a sub-Commission on parental equality between 1997-2003. After six years of deliberations, she refused to issue a final recommendation, on the ground that she personally thinks that men are not mature enough to handle tasks of caring for children.

This appears to have been the 9th annual conference held in this format. All eight previous conferences were secret and the public was not made aware of them. Members of the pro-family and men’s rights organizations stated: “Now we understand why we are being treated with such immense hostility. Apparently, the Israel Ministry of Welfare has been training its social workers at the institution where hatred of men is a form of art."

MK Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich (Kadima) has published letters she sent earlier this week to Welfare Minister Moshe Kachlon and Bar Ilan President Moshe Kaveh, asking them to rethink the conference, and cancel it. She states that it is academic hypocrisy to allow only radical male hating feminist speakers at such important conferences with national impact, and close the events to speakers supporting parental equality. The conference is timed to coincide with the release of the conclusions of government committees that are expected to recommend canceling the Tender Years Clause that gives mothers automatic custody over young children in divorce. Israel is said to be the last country in the world where this presumption is still in effect, and causes a generation of fatherless children.

Member of Knesset Shamalov-Berkovich notes that the conference is biased and that the social workers should also be exposed to the views of experts who support the cancellation of the Tender Years presumption, and the benefits of joint custody. In divorce cases that involve disagreement over parenting arrangements, social worker’s reports and recommendations are crucial to shaping the court’s decision, because family courts simply “so order” them without trial.

Bar Ilan U’s militant feminist leadership suffered some setbacks in the past year, in the wake of growing criticism of its ultra-leftist leanings. Jennifer McIntosh, the Australian key speaker who advocates use of “mental primary caretaker” research in Australia, received warnings from Israeli men's rights activists. "It is a shame that anything bad in Israeli family law in blamed on the Australians feminists, who are persistently meddling with Israeli families", said Amir Shipperman.

“The fathers’ rights organizations in Israel protested both inside and outside against Australian meddling with the internal affairs of Israel and the rights of parents in Israel for a happy, peaceful, loving and caring relationship with their children post-divorce on an equal basis”. The fathers complain that McIntosh has “no idea about the ruthless oppression of men in Israel Courts and by social workers, police, psychiatrists and even the rabbinical courts”, and “no idea how prevalent the “contact centers” are in Israel. It is enough that a woman creates a “lack of trust” situation for the SW and judges to send normative men to contact centers”. In an op-ed letter sent to the Sydney Morning addressed to McIntosh, the fathers wrote to McIntosh "You have no idea how many men commit suicide here because of the incitement of hatred by organizations such as the Rackman Center. You also have no idea how hate mongering propaganda emanating from the Rackman Center is being used to suppress the lives of men, and you appear to willingly join the war against men in Israel”.

According to the divorced fathers, the conferences were videotaped and will be used as evidence in a litigation which is already filed in Texas based on Alien Tort Claim Act (“ATCA”) on the allegation that that the McIntosh and “the ferocious feminist organizations incite hatred and perpetrate crimes against humanity by separating men from their children”. In conclusion, the Israeli fathers told McIntosh: “we find that what you have spoken of, at said conference, is nothing but junk science and a despicable one as well, dressed up as 'academic research', when in fact, it is purely hate speech and incitement to commit crimes against humanity, incitements to perpetuate conflicts between women and men, incitement for woman to file false domestic violence complaints to create 'high conflict', and the encouragement of parental alienation on a grand scale. You and your cohorts have already given Australia a negative reputation in the international community and especially here in Israel, since your unfounded, undocumented and gender bias ideas have no academic substance whatsoever." An Israel Justice Ministry panel called to revoke an archaic 40-year-old law that automatically grants custody of all children under age six to the mother. The proposal suggested the law be replaced with a gender-equal alternative.

A complaint submitted last year to the United Nation’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Coalition for Children and Family (CCF), an Israel non-profit organization vying for father’s rights, blasted the legislation as “blatantly discriminatory against men.” “If it was not for crazy feminist hate-inciting monsters we could have achieved changes in legislation in 2003,” said Daniel Zer, a father who has not seen his son for more than two years and who is active in the CCF. “This would already have brought us a whole slew of changes, including in the area of divorces and the rabbinical courts, which is also a problem for many men.”

Zer stated that Schnitt’s recommendations were not relevant because it was the state’s obligation to remove this specific law because “Israel’s basic laws require equality.” He said that it was time for Israel to adopt similar measures followed in most Western countries regarding custody placement. “There either needs to be gender mutuality, where the law is simply silent about the gender of the parent and bases the decision on the best interest of the children,” said Zer. “Or there needs to be joint custody with a two-home presumption.”

Donate help feed Mazanga & son.

2012-01-05T00:15:00.002+02:00

Donate help feed Mazanga & son.: Please help me to feed my children, my disability payments have been cut and i find it almost impossible to pay rent and buy food, i am ashamed of this fact and need all you good peoples help. I am a 100% disabled veteran, I was drafted during the 80's and have served 20+ years in various qualifications and skill levels in a special unit of the combat engineers.

Discovered after many years of incompetent doctor visits. I suffer from a body full of Fibromyalgia among other severe pain inducing conditions caused and aggravated by 20 years military service above and beyond all possible call. Today my life and I, are nothing to compare with how we once were, my body and mind have often betrayed me. As with many others that I had learned to trust, value and rely upon, I have been cheated, lied to, abused and let down by them all.

Thank you one and all,
Mazanga Von Badman

Collecting rainwater now illegal in many states as Big Government claims ownership over our water

2011-12-31T15:56:00.000+02:00

Monday, July 26, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I'm about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

As bizarre as it sounds, laws restricting property owners from "diverting" water that falls on their own homes and land have been on the books for quite some time in many Western states. Only recently, as droughts and renewed interest in water conservation methods have become more common, have individuals and business owners started butting heads with law enforcement over the practice of collecting rainwater for personal use.

Check out this YouTube video of a news report out of Salt Lake City, Utah, about the issue. It's illegal in Utah to divert rainwater without a valid water right, and Mark Miller of Mark Miller Toyota, found this out the hard way.

After constructing a large rainwater collection system at his new dealership to use for washing new cars, Miller found out that the project was actually an "unlawful diversion of rainwater." Even though it makes logical conservation sense to collect rainwater for this type of use since rain is scarce in Utah, it's still considered a violation of water rights which apparently belong exclusively to Utah's various government bodies.

"Utah's the second driest state in the nation. Our laws probably ought to catch up with that," explained Miller in response to the state's ridiculous rainwater collection ban.

Salt Lake City officials worked out a compromise with Miller and are now permitting him to use "their" rainwater, but the fact that individuals like Miller don't actually own the rainwater that falls on their property is a true indicator of what little freedom we actually have here in the U.S. (Access to the rainwater that falls on your own property seems to be a basic right, wouldn't you agree?)

Outlawing rainwater collection in other states

Utah isn't the only state with rainwater collection bans, either. Colorado and Washington also have rainwater collection restrictions that limit the free use of rainwater, but these restrictions vary among different areas of the states and legislators have passed some laws to help ease the restrictions.

In Colorado, two new laws were recently passed that exempt certain small-scale rainwater collection systems, like the kind people might install on their homes, from collection restrictions.

Prior to the passage of these laws, Douglas County, Colorado, conducted a study on how rainwater collection affects aquifer and groundwater supplies. The study revealed that letting people collect rainwater on their properties actually reduces demand from water facilities and improves conservation.

Personally, I don't think a study was even necessary to come to this obvious conclusion. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that using rainwater instead of tap water is a smart and useful way to conserve this valuable resource, especially in areas like the West where drought is a major concern.

Additionally, the study revealed that only about three percent of Douglas County's precipitation ended up in the streams and rivers that are supposedly being robbed from by rainwater collectors. The other 97 percent either evaporated or seeped into the ground to be used by plants.

This hints at why bureaucrats can't really use the argument that collecting rainwater prevents that water from getting to where it was intended to go. So little of it actually makes it to the final destination that virtually every household could collect many rain barrels worth of rainwater and it would have practically no effect on the amount that ends up in streams and rivers.

It's all about control, really

As long as people remain unaware and uninformed about important issues, the government will continue to chip away at the freedoms we enjoy. The only reason these water restrictions are finally starting to change for the better is because people started to notice and they worked to do something to reverse the law.

Even though these laws restricting water collection have been on the books for more than 100 years in some cases, they're slowly being reversed thanks to efforts by citizens who have decided that enough is enough.

Because if we can't even freely collect the rain that falls all around us, then what, exactly, can we freely do? The rainwater issue highlights a serious overall problem in America today: diminishing freedom and increased government control.

Today, we've basically been reprogrammed to think that we need permission from the government to exercise our inalienable rights, when in fact the government is supposed to derive its power from us. The American Republic was designed so that government would serve the People to protect and uphold freedom and liberty. But increasingly, our own government is restricting people from their rights to engage in commonsense, fundamental actions such as collecting rainwater or buying raw milk from the farmer next door.

Today, we are living under a government that has slowly siphoned off our freedoms, only to occasionally grant us back a few limited ones under the pretense that they're doing us a benevolent favor.

Fight back against enslavement

As long as people believe their rights stem from the government (and not the other way around), they will always be enslaved. And whatever rights and freedoms we think we still have will be quickly eroded by a system of bureaucratic power that seeks only to expand its control.

Because the same argument that's now being used to restrict rainwater collection could, of course, be used to declare that you have no right to the air you breathe, either. After all, governments could declare that air to be somebody else's air, and then they could charge you an "air tax" or an "air royalty" and demand you pay money for every breath that keeps you alive.

Think it couldn't happen? Just give it time. The government already claims it owns your land and house, effectively. If you really think you own your home, just stop paying property taxes and see how long you still "own" it. Your county or city will seize it and then sell it to pay off your "tax debt." That proves who really owns it in the first place... and it's not you!

How about the question of who owns your body? According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark office, U.S. corporations and universities already own 20% of your genetic code. Your own body, they claim, is partially the property of someone else.

So if they own your land, your water and your body, how long before they claim to own your air, your mind and even your soul?

Unless we stand up against this tyranny, it will creep upon us, day after day, until we find ourselves totally enslaved by a world of corporate-government collusion where everything of value is owned by powerful corporations -- all enforced at gunpoint by local law enforcement.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html#ixzz1i7TGEJ40

United Jewish Appeal Sponsors Torture

2011-12-18T09:39:00.002+02:00

United Jewish Appeal Sponsors Torture

by mazanga, UnPromisedLand channel editor

http://www.youtube.com/user/UnPromisedLand

Jerusalem, 15 December 2011 -- R. David Weisskopf filed a $20 million lawsuit against the United Jewish Appeal yesterday in U.S. Federal Court. (Case No. 6:11-CV-668) The lawsuit alleges the United Jewish Appeal donated over one billion dollars to anti-father lobbyists such as Bar Ilan University’s “Rackman Institute” which aggressively pressures the Israeli Knesset to revive Social Darwinian laws against fathers.

Bar Ilan’s “Rackman Institute” sponsors conferences in which judges and social workers get "educated" about the benefits of visitation refusals, and encouraged to tear children away from fathers and break up family units. According to the Coalition for Children and the Family in Israel, Bar Ilan’s findings are not based on any modern research which measures up to post-Social Darwin academic standards.

The complaint also identifies the Shiluv Institute as a recipient of funds from the United Jewish Appeal. Shiluv Institute hires court-appointed social workers to provide “family therapy” as a pay-off for preferential treatment from city hall. One Shiluv social worker who came out of Bar Ilan submitted false reports against Weisskopf to court in an effort to sever his parental rights. In the process, this social worker destroyed Weisskopf’s career in child welfare and seriously traumatized his children.

One out of 75 divorced fathers commits suicide each year in Israel according to data from the Ministry of Welfare and the Ministry of Health’s 2011 suicide report. Israel’s overall suicide rate is 1 in 20,000.

Internationally, the second highest suicide rate reported among men is 1 out of 1,600 in Lithuania according to the World Health Organization. Last week the United Nations called on Israel to immediately stop its practice of torturing fathers and their children.

Israeli social workers like the one mentioned above simply refuse to place children into the father’s custody in cases even when the mother is mentally unstable. According to such social workers’ illogical arguments, that would pull the carpet from the psychologically instable mother. Furthermore, it goes against the “Tender Years” presumption which Bar Ilan’s Rackman Institute has been using United Jewish Appeal funds to solidify into Israeli law for years.

In the USA this is blatant gender-bias and can be grounds to revoke the 501(c)(3) status from the United Jewish Appeal for funding violations of the human rights for fathers like this. Their connection with institutions like Shiluv and Bar Ilan links their fundraising headquarters in New York with international crimes against humanity in Jerusalem. Weisskopf claims this link justifies a $20 million claim per count under the Alien Tort Claims Act.

Israeli victim’s rights advocates are joining forces with the Israeli father’s rights movement to stop the flow of donations to the crusade against fathers. Perhaps if the Internal Revenue Service were to revoke the United Jewish Appeal’s 501(c)(3) status, and more victimized fathers were to file lawsuits in the United States under the Alien Tort Claims Act; the United Jewish Appeal might finally get the message – Stop torturing our children!

14 United State Governors Prepare State Militia Defenses

2011-12-17T15:48:00.000+02:00

14 United State Governors Prepare State Militia Defenses: To Counter Obama’s Rogue Federal Forces!

September 16, 2010
by Volubrjotr

Obama fearing a revolution against him by the states, has moved swiftly by nationalizing nearly all National Guard Forces in multiple states; Georgia, Alabama, Kansas, Minnesota, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina – to name a few. The Governors of the Great States of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia still have under their Command-and-Control the State Defense Forces to go against U.S. Federal forces should the need arise. Also important to note: There are NO U.S. laws prohibiting National Guard troops from also joining their State’s Defense Forces. This dilemma occurred during the Civil War with many “citizen soldiers” choosing to serve their states instead of the Federal Government.
Obama is angered by the several State Governors who have reestablished “State Defense Forces.” These forces are described as: “State Defense Forces (also known as State Guards, State Military Reserves, State Militias) in the United States are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government; they are not regulated by the National Guard Bureau nor are they part of the Army National Guard of the United States. State Defense Forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each state. State Defense Forces are distinct from their state’s National Guard in that they cannot become federal entities.”

Mr. Obama is fearful of these State Defense Forces, in that he does not have control of said forces, and with the U.S. Military stretched to near breaking from multiple deployments and theatre actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, these State military forces would be under the direct command and authority of the Governors in which states have said forces. In essence, the Governors would have “de facto control” of the United States.

Notice All Of Ramadan Celebrating Islamic Terrorist Camps

The two Governors leading this move are: Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota; and Rick Perry, Governor of Texas. Both of these State Governors stated they have: “…deep fear the President is destroying their Nation.” Governor Pawlenty’s fear of Obama is that since Obama took office he has appeased America’s enemies and has shunned some of America’s strongest allies, especially Israel. Governor Perry has declared that Obama is punishing his State of Texas by dumping tens-of-thousands of illegal Mexican immigrants into the cities and small towns of Texas. Governor Perry further recently stated: “If Barack Obama’s Washington doesn’t stop being so oppressive, Texans might feel compelled to renounce their American citizenry and secede from the union.”

Dr. Lyle J. Rapacki

Lyle is an intelligence analyst and consultant who receives and disseminates critical intelligence and policy information from and to law enforcement, intelligence operatives, homeland security officials, government and community leaders. He is the author of dozens of white papers, bulletins and briefings, and he is frequently called on to share his expertise with public and private security directors and organizations.

Lyle J. Rapacki, Ph.D.
Protective Intelligence and Assessment Specialist
Consultant at Behavioral Analysis and Threat Assessment
Independent Intelligence and Information Warfare Analyst
FBI InfraGard-Arizona
ASIS-International

http://politicalvelcraft.org/2010/09/16/14-united-state-governors-reestablish-state-militia-defense-forces-to-be-ready-against-federal-forces/

An Open Message to Police & Military

2011-12-13T16:30:00.001+02:00

Uploaded by StormCloudsGathering on Dec 5, 2011

This is a message to the Police, to the military, to the TSA, to Homeland Security and to members of every other enforcement arm of the government.
http://waitingforthestorm.com

America 2011 is Germany 1939

2011-12-10T18:18:00.001+02:00

America 2011 is Germany 1939

FEMA Seeking Subcontractors to Provide "Temporary Camp Services"

2011-12-10T18:18:00.000+02:00

FEMA Seeking Subcontractors to Provide "Temporary Camp Services"

Anonymous - Message to the American People

2011-12-08T18:49:00.000+02:00

Dear brothers and sisters. Now is the time to open your eyes!

In a stunning move that has civil libertarians stuttering with disbelief, the U.S. Senate has just passed a bill that effectively ends the Bill of Rights in America.

The National Defense Authorization Act is being called the most traitorous act ever witnessed in the Senate, and the language of the bill is cleverly designed to make you think it doesn't apply to Americans, but toward the end of the bill, it essentially says it can apply to Americans "if we want it to.

Bill Summary & Status, 112th Congress (2011 -- 2012) | S.1867 | Latest Title: National Defense Authorization Act for.

This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a "battleground" upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.

Even WIRED magazine was outraged at this bill, reporting:

Senate Wants the Military to Lock You Up Without Trial

...the detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn't limited to foreigners. It's confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas' Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — "U.S. citizens are included in the grant of detention authority."

The passage of this law is nothing less than an outright declaration of WAR against the American People by the military-connected power elite. If this is signed into law, it will shred the remaining tenants of the Bill of Rights and unleash upon America a total military dictatorship, complete with secret arrests, secret prisons, unlawful interrogations, indefinite detainment without ever being charged with a crime, the torture of Americans and even the "legitimate assassination" of U.S. citizens right here on American soil!

If you have not yet woken up to the reality of the police state we've been warning you about, I hope you realize we are fast running out of time. Once this becomes law, you have no rights whatsoever in America. — no due process, no First Amendment speech rights, no right to remain silent, nothing.

The US senate does not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?
Cruelty and injustice...intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told...if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War. Terror. Disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you and in your panic, you turned to the now President in command Barack Obama. He promised you order. He promised you peace. And all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

More than four hundred years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness. Justice, and freedom are more than words - they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek...then I ask you to stand beside one another, one year from November 5th, 2011, outside the gates of every court house of every city DEMANDING our rights!!

Together we stand against the injustice of our own Government.

We are anonymous.
We are Legion.
United as ONE.
Divided by zero.
We do not forgive Censorship.
We do not forget Oppression.
US SENATE...
Expect us!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrXyLrTRXso

tom and jerry that's my boy.asf

2011-12-07T22:38:00.000+02:00

Queen Elizabeth II is Direct Lineage of the Roman Caesars by blood! (Proven Fact), page 1

2011-11-26T21:31:00.000+02:00

Queen Elizabeth II is Direct Lineage of the Roman Caesars by blood! (Proven Fact), page 1

Allegedly Anti-Semitic Billboard Torn Down, Left Behind Next To West Side Highway : Gothamist

2011-11-23T18:39:00.000+02:00

Allegedly Anti-Semitic Billboard Torn Down, Left Behind Next To West Side Highway

(Courtesy ABC 7)

Earlier this week, the Wodka Vodka company slapped up a billboard along the West Side Highway featuring two dogs—one wearing a yarmulke and another in a Santa hat—with the copy "Christmas quality, Hanukkah pricing." The "joke," as if you needed it spelled out for you, is that the Jews like cheap crap while the Goys like paying through the nose for luxury. Immediately after Gawker reported on the billboard's existence, controversy ensued, surprising no one. And that's why you're reading about Wodka Vodka today, even after the billboard was removed. Whoever does their marketing is getting a nice Hanukkah bonus this year!

Ron Meier, the New York regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, promptly fired off a statement calling the ad "crude and offensive. Particularly with the long history of anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money, with the age-old notion that Jews are cheap, to use the Jewish holiday in dealing with issues of money is clearly insensitive and inappropriate."

After the predictable backlash and media exposure , Wodka Vodka Tweeted an apology yesterday saying: "Although rarely serious, we apologize to anyone we may have offended, and are removing our billboard immediately." City Councilwoman Gale Brewer praised the billboard placement company's decision to yank the ad, "The lesson here is simple: messages occupying public space cannot become platforms for vulgarity and invidious stereotypes."

The Times notes that Wodka is known for "shock advertising" intended to draw attention and generate controversy. A previous ad carried the text “Hamptons quality. Newark pricing." (We don't see what's so shocking about that, but anyway.) Brian Gordon, who runs the company that designed the campaign, denied the billboard was shock advertising, and told the Times, "We thought people would perceive it as 'ha ha quirky.' But people perceived it as offensive, and because of that, we pulled it." The billboard was taken down yesterday, and the Times reports they left it in a "crumpled heap near the road." Which, coincidentally, is how every experience with Wodka Vodka comes to an end.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Allegedly Anti-Semitic Billboard Torn Down, Left Behind Next To West Side Highway : Gothamist

Footage of Scott Olsen being shot by Police at Occupy Oakland

2011-11-23T01:35:00.000+02:00

Depleted Texas lakes expose ghost towns, graves

2011-11-21T18:36:00.001+02:00

Depleted Texas lakes expose ghost towns, graves

November 20, 2011 1:31 PM

A child's grave site, normally at least 20 to 30 feet underwater, has joined other remnants of old Bluffton, Texas, resurfacing as the drought shrinks the state's largest inland lake. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

(AP) BLUFFTON, Texas - Johnny C. Parks died two days before his first birthday more than a century ago. His grave slipped from sight along with the rest of the tiny town of Bluffton when Lake Buchanan was filled 55 years later.

Now, the cracked marble tombstone engraved with the date Oct. 15, 1882, which is normally covered by 20 to 30 feet of water, has been eerily exposed as a yearlong drought shrinks one of Texas' largest lakes.

Across the state, receding lakes have revealed a prehistoric skull, ancient tools, fossils and a small cemetery that appears to contain the graves of freed slaves. Some of the discoveries have attracted interest from local historians, and looters also have scavenged for pieces of history. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at one site.

"In an odd way, this drought has provided an opportunity to view and document, where appropriate, some of these finds and understand what they consist of," said Pat Mercado-Allinger, the Texas Historical Commission's archeological division director. "Most people in Texas probably didn't realize what was under these lakes."

Tour guide Tim Mohan stands on the concrete foundation of an old cotton gin in the old town of Bluffton, Texas.

(Credit: AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Texas finished its driest 12 months ever with an average of 8.5 inches of rain through September, nearly 13 inches below normal. Water levels in the region's lakes, most of which were man made, have dropped by more than a dozen feet in many cases. The vanishing water has revealed the long-submerged building foundations of Woodville, Okla., which was flooded in 1944 when the Red River was dammed to form Lake Texoma. A century-old church has emerged at Falcon Lake, which straddles the Texas-Mexico border on the Rio Grande.

Steven Standke and his wife, Carol, drove to the old Bluffton site on a sandy rutted path that GPS devices designate not as a road but the middle of the 22,335-acre lake, normally almost 31 miles long and five miles wide.

"If you don't see it now, you might never see it again," said Carol Standke, of Center Point, as she and her husband inspected the ruins a mile from where concrete seawalls ordinarily would keep the lake from waterfront homes.

Old Bluffton has been exposed occasionally during times of drought. The receding waters have revealed concrete foundations of a two-story hotel, scales of an old cotton gin, a rusting tank and concrete slabs from a Texaco station that also served as a general store. The tallest structure is what's left of the town well, an open-topped concrete cube about 4 feet high. Johnny Parks' tombstone is among a few burial sites.

A rusting tank and concrete slabs from a Texaco service station, normally at least 20 to 30 feet underwater.

(Credit: AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Local historian Alfred Hallmark, whose great-great-great grandfather helped establish Bluffton, said his research showed 389 graves were moved starting in 1931 when dam construction began. That's the same year Bluffton's 40 or 50 residents started moving several miles west to the current Bluffton, which today amounts to a convenience store and post office at a lonely highway intersection serving 200 residents. Residents had to leave their ranches and abandon precious pecan trees, some of which produced more than 1,000 pounds of nuts each year. "It was devastating," said Hallmark, 70, a retired teacher, of the move. "They had no choice."

Other depleted lakes across Texas are revealing much older artifacts. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at Lake Whitney, about 50 miles south of Fort Worth, for removing Native American tools and fossils that experts believe could be thousands of years old.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees Lake Whitney, is patrolling a number of areas that contain artifacts, including some rock shelters once filled with water, said Abraham Phillips, natural resources specialist with the agency.

At Lake Georgetown near Austin, fishermen discovered what experts determined was the skull of an American Indian buried for hundreds or thousands of years. It's not clear what will become of the skull, said Kate Spradley, a Texas State University assistant anthropology professor who is keeping it temporarily in a lab. Strict federal laws governing American Indian burial sites bar excavations to search for other remains.

No such restrictions exist for the nearly two dozen unmarked graves discovered this summer in a dried-up section of a Navarro County reservoir. Some coffin lids are visible just under the dirt. Crews plan to excavate the site about 50 miles south of Dallas and move the remains to a cemetery, said Bruce McManus, chairman of the county's historical commission. He said the area of Richland-Chambers Lake is on property formerly owned by a slave owner.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime find ... and maybe the only silver lining in the ongoing drought," McManus said.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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Original Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57328356/depleted-texas-lakes-expose-ghost-towns-graves/

Nikola Tesla unlimited free energy forever

2011-11-18T09:33:00.001+02:00

Nikola Tesla unlimited free energy forever

From Google Videos.
Lightworks Video&Audio
Hosted by Bill Jenkins, formerly of ABC Radio, this comprehensive documentary features physicists and inventors who are challenging orthodox science to bring this non-polluting technology forward despite ridicule and suppression. See actual working prototypes that defy classical physics including phenomenal experiments in anti-gravity and the transmutation of metals.
http://www.lightworksav.com/

Israel Social Services abandon raped and abused youth

2011-11-16T23:37:00.001+02:00

Channel 1, at the news, August 2010

IAD filed charges against three police officers from the police station in Carmiel about a boy was beaten unjustly. A child in Carmiel was abused in the Carmiel police station and raped and tortured the Kishon Detention Center . Carmiel Social Services Administration did not help the child even after all the traumatic events that he will bear all his life. The childs older brother who had served in a combat unit in the IDF, after this event the family has decided to to leave Israel.

It began with the police beating S., a 17 year old from Carmiel, a public urination call was made. The police charged him for attempted burglary. He was sent to the Kishon detention center for youth. There he was raped, abused they cut the boy's ear and tortured him for 4 more days, all this under the guard's noses.

The case is currently being studied in the Department of Internal Affairs Ministry of Justice. Menahem Hadar brings hard documentation on abandonment of a nightmares that will last all of his life. The boy's father turned to Carmiel Municipality in order to receive assistance but only received evasive answers.
The boy says: "It hurts, I can not sleep, I get flashbacks, and I can not talk to people. I just can not get through the day without thinking about what happened to me, what they did to me".

The original,

לשכת הרווחה כרמיאל הפקירה ילד לאונס והתעללות

FAIR USE NOTICE: These Videos may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode

Australian photographer Lincoln Harrison endures 15-hour photo shoots to capture stunning night images of star trails | Mail Online

2011-11-15T13:01:00.000+02:00

Extremely long exposure: Photographer endures 15-hour shoots in the wintry Australian outback to snare stunning images of star trails in the night sky

By Stephen Hull

Last updated at 1:26 PM on 30th August 2011

At first glance these spectacular swirls of colour may look like clever computer graphics or the result of faulty camera work.

They are, in fact, the product of hour after hour of painstaking night-time shooting by photographer Lincoln Harrison.

His stunning pictures of star trails across the Australian night sky were taken over periods of up to 15 hours.

Shooting stars: Photographer Lincoln Harrison spent up to 15 hours taking these long exposure pictures over Lake Eppalock near Bendigo in Victoria, Australia

Ghostly: A gnarled old tree comes alive with the swirl of stars

He said: ‘It was a gruelling night with a total shooting time was 15 hours in freezing conditions, sunset to sunrise.’

He had to spend entire nights outside, braving freezing temperatures in the depths of the Australian winter near Bendigo over the scenic Lake Eppalock.

Captured using a long exposure lens, the trails are created as the Earth rotates, giving the impression of the stars moving across the sky.

More...

Mr Harrison, 36, bought his first camera last year to take pictures of clothes he wanted to sell on eBay.

He added: ‘My favourite shot is the star trail with the purple and yellow background that I've called Dawn Fire.

‘I even left my torch in my other camera bag, so I had to climb down a steep rocky cliff in the dark to get this picture. But it was worth it. It's a personal favourite.’

Stunning pattern: Lincoln created these remarkable pictures of stars moving across the night sky

Light over the lake: Sun starts to rise over Lake Eppalock in Australia

Lincoln added: ‘I bought my first camera in October 2010, a Nikon D3100.

‘I wanted something decent for general picture taking and for taking pictures of stuff I wanted to sell on ebay items.

‘I wasn't planning on getting into photography as a hobby but a week later I had about eight lenses and all the other goodies.

‘I've been shooting at least two or three times a week ever since, mainly landscapes, star trails when the conditions are just right.'

Reflection: Light from stars darts off the calm waters

Mirror image: Colour spills over a rock as sun sets across the lake

Nano Chemtrails

2011-11-14T13:25:00.001+02:00

Nano Chemtrails

"It is potentially relatively inexpensive to do," Hall clarified. "About the same price per pound as potatoes."
Why so cheap? Because nano particles can be potentially self-replicating. That is, they can be made to reproduce themselves until programmed to stop.
Hopefully.
Maybe.
Sometimes.

Owning The Weather goes on to say that the USAF will "manage and employ a weather-modification capability by the Weather Force Support Element." These weather forces will use real-time updates from swarms of the nano-size "smart sensors" to model developing weather patterns with a super-duper computer.

Based on continually updated forecast, the weather warriors will fly follow-on missions as needed to tweak the storm. It's perfect, crows the air force. "The total weather-modification process becomes "a real-time loop of continuous, appropriate, measured interventions, and feedback capable of producing desired weather behavior."
Really?

Weather modification did not work too well with Katrina.
If the notion of inserting Autonomous Intelligence nanobots into weather systems to monitor, steer and mess with them seems risky, just wait. Around the next cloud corner are coming swarms of airborne nano-bots to optimize wind dispersal patterns for germ warfare. Or chemtrails.
But there's one small hitch. Nobody knows how Earth's atmosphere works. It is so big, so complex and so unpredictable, even real-time nano-snapshots are ancient history as soon as they are taken.
This is why the air force said, "Advances in the science of chaos are critical to this endeavor."
Good luck. After a decade of trying, not even a 48-hour weather forecast can be made without constant surprises.
Because they cannot be graphed in a cause-and-effect straight line, chaotic "non-linear" weather processes can morph unexpectedly, defying predicted weather modification inputs. Just ask Beijing.
Then there's the matter of accidental genocide. I mean human health.

SICKOS

The chemtrails we are too familiar with after a decade-long dose continue to inflict eye infections, nosebleeds, skin sores, muscle pain, chronic exhaustion, weakened immunity, acute asthma and allergies, short-term memory loss and heart attacks on people in more than a dozen countries. [americanskywatch.com; Chemtrails Confirmed 2008 by William Thomas]
Small particulates like the aluminum oxide found in chemtrails also kill.
Dr. Dan Woodard calls aluminum oxide a "nuisance dust". This MD says that prolonged exposures to very high concentrations of particulates that are visible in the air "can produce pulmonary fibrosis, somewhat like the silicosis formerly seen in miners."
"At one time it was thought to precipitate Alzheimer's disease, but more recent research has shown it is almost certainly unrelated," Dr. Woodward adds.
It's the tiny size of chemtrail fallout - one-tenth the width of the human hair - that make people very ill. The EPA warns that there is a strong link between all tiny particles and thousands of premature deaths each year.
Two key studies from the early 1990's by the Harvard School of Public Health and the American Cancer Society found strong links between high levels of small particles and a rise in death rates. In an article headlined, "Tiny Particles Can Kill" the August 5, 2000 issue of New Scientist pointed to findings in six cities over 16 years showing that "city-dwellers in Europe and the U.S. are dying young because of microscopic particles in the air."

According to the New York Times, "microscopic motes… are able to infiltrate the tiniest compartments in the lungs and pass readily into the bloodstream." Particles in the size range called for by the Welsbach Patent describing chemtrails are "most strongly tied to illness and early death, particularly in people who are already susceptible to respiratory problems." [New York Times Oct 14/06]

The Welsbach Patent calls for megatons of 10 micron-size aluminum oxide particles to be spread in the atmosphere. The EPA calls particles this small "an extreme human health hazard" leading to 5% increased death rate within 24 hrs.

"Hearts as well as lungs can be damaged by ultra-fine particles small enough to get into the bloodstream and inflame tissues and cells," reports the LA Times. "After they reach the heart, the particles are thought to cause a stress reaction in cells, producing inflammation that contributes to heart disease. The particles also may cause blood clots." [Los Angeles Times Dec 29/03]

The Neurotoxicology (brain poisoning) division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that exposure to airborne Particulate Matter "is an environmental health risk of global proportions." [Health Risks Of Aerosoled Particulates PubMed Abstract]

The EPA explains that by penetrating deep into the lungs and circulatory system, these dust-size particles "are implicated in tens of thousands of deaths annually from both respiratory and coronary disease."

POP QUIZ: What do you think will happen when nano-size machines tens of thousands of times smaller than this are sprayed into the open air?

"SMART PARTICLES" IN YOUR BRAIN MAKE YOU DEAD
Nanoparticles might better be called Nastyparticles because they make a beeline for the brain as soon as they are inhaled. Not surprisingly, they tend to accumulate and clump in the area of the brain that deals with smell. Too big to pass back through the blood-brain barrier, they become trapped there. [Nature.com Jan 5/04]

Dr. Celine Filippi also observed that nanoparticles inhaled into the lungs are so mall they easily cross the lung barrier and enter the blood. "Particles in the blood can reach the liver, amongst other organs." [globalresearch.ca Oct 21/07]

NANO CHEMTRAILS
So are we being sprayed with nano-chemtrails?
Owning The Weather 2025 was published in 1995 and discussed only non-classified military weather modification projects. Hall's Overview of Nanotechnology also appeared in 1995, when nanotech was in its Frankenstein infancy. Since then, many sources tell us, nanotech has gone exponential. [nanotech-now.com]

HANK CALLS
The term "nano-chemtrails" on my homepage prompted my trusted military informant I've dubbed "Hank" to call.
"They have them," he confirmed. The U.S. Air Force has occasionally added nanoparticles to the chemtrail mix to demonstrate proof of concept.
"We're way beyond science fiction," Hank confirmed. "You can hide just about anything you want in a chemtrail - including nanotubes. Chemtrails are being altered for whatever spectrum of wavelength they're trying to bounce off of them.

MORGELLONS
What about Morgellons? Is there any connection between this bizarre and frightening malady and nano experiments?

"You're not going to like this," Hank said. "Morgellons is one unintended manifestation of nano spray experiments."
Morgellons manifests - or presents" - as intolerable itching in the skin followed by alien eruptions of thin hairs or tendrils through the skin. "It's basically the same as excreting something through a hair follicle," Hank said.
He meant a toxin - something foreign to the body.
"If you manufacture a liquid super-cyrstalline structure, vibrate it a little and give it an electrical charge - it will form into a chain."
These nanotubes will be invisible to the eye, of course. But their tendency to clump together could eventually make them big enough to be photographed and posted on the web.

How much nanocrap has been sprayed so far?
"Tens of tons," he replied.
Tens of tons of molecules?
"Much of it is still up there," Hank went on to explain. This is because nanoparticles are so light and small they tend bind to bind with oxygen molecules. And piggybacking on oxygen particles makes them buoyant.

"It travels worldwide," Hank continued. "Some of it comes down. Whatever it's exposed to up there it brings down here. We get exposed to it. We breathe it in, we ingest it. It accrues in the same spot every time. And attracts more of it… "In the liver. And brain.
"The fallout would look like a prion disease," Hank said.

"Fallout from nanoparticles would eat holes in our brains?
"Pretty much. Nano particles are ionized particles that go to what attracts them…. Because of their electro-chemical properties, they are attracted to the potassium-calcium channel in the brain."

Think about it, he said. "If they are capable of withstanding the corrosive upper atmosphere - corrosive sunlight and all those (industrial) chemicals - what would they have to be manufactured out of? Does the body manufacture anything that can deal with that? Who will come forward and say these are good?

NUISANCE
A person shall not discharge from any source whatsoever such quantities of air contaminants or other material which cause injury, detriment, nuisance, or annoyance to any considerable number of persons or to the public, or which endanger the comfort, repose, health or safety of any such persons or the public, or which cause, or have a natural tendency to cause, injury or damage to business or property.
-EPA Air Quality Management Rule 402.

CHEMTRAILS CONFIRMED 2010 7.95

Links for 2011-03-29 [del.icio.us]

2011-03-30T00:00:00-07:00

Daily Show: Odyssey Dawn Monday March 21, 2011 | Mazanga Von Badman
The Daily Show : Odyssey Dawn Monday March 21, 2011

The U.S. military fires Tomahawk missiles against Libyan defense targets on the anniversary of the Iraq war.

Links for 2011-03-09 [del.icio.us]

2011-03-10T00:00:00-08:00

Daily Show: Allison Stanger | Mazanga Von Badman

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2011-01-27T00:00:00-08:00

FRONTLINE: Are We Safer?: Map - Your Local Fusion Center | PBS | Mazanga Von Badman
Fusion centers -- places for state, local and federal officials to share and analyze information -- sprang up at the local level in the wake of the post-9/11 complaints about the failure to "connect the dots." In 2003, the federal government began contributing funding; to date, the Department of Homeland Security has provided more than $420 million in funding to 72 fusion centers across the country, but some localities have funded additional centers.

Fusion centers are built upon the idea of cops on a beat -- local authorities will recognize potential threats to their communities and feed the system with intelligence about possible terrorists. But critics charge that the imperative to gather as much information as possible can lead to abuses and misinformation that can get into national databases.

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2010-12-27T00:00:00-08:00

Von Forum
my forum all are welcome as well as to my chat

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2010-12-23T00:00:00-08:00

The War You Don't See - John Pilger | Mazanga Von Badman
The new film is a powerful and timely investigation into the media's role in war, tracing the history of 'embedded' and independent reporting from the carnage of World War One to the destruction of Hiroshima, and from the invasion of Vietnam to the current war in Afghanistan and disaster in Iraq. As weapons and propaganda become even more sophisticated, the nature of war is developing into an 'electronic battlefield' in which journalists play a key role, and civilians are the victims. But who is the real enemy?

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2010-08-08T00:00:00-07:00

An American Revolution | Mazanga Von Badman
An American Revolution
D.C. rules for medical pot program | Mazanga Von Badman
“All District residents deserve access to the full slate of medical treatments available,” Fenty said in a statement Friday. “My Administration will work to ensure that medical marijuana is dispensed safely and efficiently.”

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2010-08-01T00:00:00-07:00

Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency (CECD) | Mazanga Von Badman
Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency (CECD)

Mazanga Von Badman

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

By Kathleen McAuliffe

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops

Vector Symbolism and its connection to space

"Veneration of the Vector" - NWO Vector Symbolism and its connection to space

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The Bomb Squad

READ ME, AND HELP PLEASE!

Planned parenthood

Bus 174

Australian Male Bashing Guru Jennifer McIntosh Calls Israel To Avoid Shared Parenting

Donate help feed Mazanga & son.

Collecting rainwater now illegal in many states as Big Government claims ownership over our water

Outlawing rainwater collection in other states

It's all about control, really

Fight back against enslavement

United Jewish Appeal Sponsors Torture

14 United State Governors Prepare State Militia Defenses

14 United State Governors Prepare State Militia Defenses: To Counter Obama’s Rogue Federal Forces!

An Open Message to Police & Military

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America 2011 is Germany 1939

FEMA Seeking Subcontractors to Provide "Temporary Camp Services"

Anonymous - Message to the American People

tom and jerry that's my boy.asf

Queen Elizabeth II is Direct Lineage of the Roman Caesars by blood! (Proven Fact), page 1

Allegedly Anti-Semitic Billboard Torn Down, Left Behind Next To West Side Highway : Gothamist

Allegedly Anti-Semitic Billboard Torn Down, Left Behind Next To West Side Highway

Footage of Scott Olsen being shot by Police at Occupy Oakland

Depleted Texas lakes expose ghost towns, graves

Nikola Tesla unlimited free energy forever

Israel Social Services abandon raped and abused youth

Australian photographer Lincoln Harrison endures 15-hour photo shoots to capture stunning night images of star trails | Mail Online

Extremely long exposure: Photographer endures 15-hour shoots in the wintry Australian outback to snare stunning images of star trails in the night sky

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Nano Chemtrails

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