Killer Flu Outbreak Hits U.S. and Mexico
- CBC's Heather Hiscox interviews Gregory Hartl of the World Health Organization about the flu-like outbreak (Runs: 4:34)
- Play: QuickTime »
- Play: Real Media »
- CBC's Andrew Nichols interviews Dr. Michael Gardam, director of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control at the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Runs: 7:55)
- Play: QuickTime »
- Play: Real Media »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcTzm5hr5SM
Mexico shuts schools for millions of children after 60 die in flu epidemic
WHO worries Mexico flu deaths could mark pandemic 25 Apr 2009 Mexico closed its schools across its capital Friday after at least 16 otherwise healthy people died and more than 900 others fell ill from what could be a new strain of swine flu. The World Health Organization worried that it could mark the start of a flu pandemic.
Outbreak in Mexico, U.S. tied to new swine flu --Source of unique virus a mystery; CDC expects more cases 24 Apr 2009 The unique strain of swine flu found in seven people in California and Texas has been connected to the deadly flu that has broken out in Mexico, killing as many as 61 people. The strain has never been seen before and is raising fears of a possible pandemic across North America. The World Health Organization said the virus that killed at least 12 of the victims in Mexico had the same genetic structure as an outbreak discovered in California. [See: Flu 'Oddities'.]
Navy Experimenting With Flu at Mexican Border --Mexico Shuts Schools Amid Deadly Flu Outbreak 25 Apr 2009 Mexican officials, scrambling to control a swine flu outbreak that has killed at least 16 people and possibly dozens more in recent weeks... The unusual strain this year was noticed, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of respiratory diseases the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only because the agency was trying out a new diagnostic test at a Navy laboratory and doing more testing than usual through a new Border Infectious Disease Surveillance Project along the Mexican border. [See: The U.S.-Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance Project: Establishing Bi-national Border Surveillance (cdc.gov)]
Possible Swine Flu Outbreak At NYC Prep School --Department of Health Officials Testing 75 Students At St. Francis Preparatory School In Queens 24 Apr 2009 New York City health officials say that about 75 students at a Queens high school have fallen ill with flu-like symptoms and testing is under way to rule out the strain of swine flu that has killed dozens in Mexico. The Health Department's Dr. Don Weiss said Friday that a team of agency doctors and investigators were dispatched to the private St. Francis Preparatory School the previous day after students reported fever, sore throat, cough, aches and pains.
'Laboratory testing showed that the virus does not match any known flu strains.' In California and Texas, 5 New Swine Flu Cases 24 Apr 2009 Government scientists have identified five more people who have been infected with swine flu, apparently confirming suspicions that the unusual strain of the respiratory infection is spreading from person to person, federal health officials said yesterday. Three new cases were found in California and two in Texas, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to seven, officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said... Genetic analysis of the virus indicates it is highly unusual: It is a hybrid that resulted from a [Fort Detrick?] combination of four different viruses.'
Troops Could Be Sent to Border --Under $350M plan, National Guard would be aimed at drug war 24 Apr 2009 The Pentagon and Homeland Security Department are developing contingency plans to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border under a $350 million initiative that would expand the U.S. military's role in [fomenting] the drug war, according to Obama administration officials.
Previous Swine Flu Outbreak Originated At Fort Dix
Mass vaccination program was halted after hundreds contracted debilitating nerve disease
Hundreds of soldiers on the base, mostly recruits, were infected without becoming ill in 1976.
President Gerald Ford immediately ordered a nationwide vaccination program.
More than 40 million people were vaccinated. However, the program was stopped short after over 500 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a severe paralyzing nerve disease, were reported. 30 people died as a direct result of the vaccinations.
Unanswered questions regarding the outbreak remain to this day. According to a CDC investigation, It is not known why the virus did not extend beyond basic trainees or beyond the military base. The source of the virus, the exact time of its introduction into Fort Dix, and factors limiting its spread and duration remain unknown.
That's what FEMA wants to be ready to do - and they're training local officials for it.
An Indiana county municipal official in the vicinity of Chicago reveals the contents of his meetings with FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. The initial requests seem reasonable enough when FEMA asks the county officials to prepare a Hazard Mitigation Plan to deal with flooding, fires, high winds and tornadoes.
But as the required meetings and calls with FEMA and DHS continue over a two year period their request become more unusual, raising suspicions of county officials
From the audio:
We want to know every important thing in this county. We want to know where police departments are. Where weapons are stored. Hazardous material. Where can we land a helicopter. Where are the airports. How big a plane can you land at the airport. Where are all the bridges. Where are all the power stations. Where are all the generating stations.Where are all the substations. They literally wanted to know where everything was. Im sitting there thinking man if there was ever martial law. This kind of information is exactly the kind of stuff they are going to want. Were just laying it all out for them right there.
During the legally mandated meetings held with FEMA and DHS different disaster scenarios were reveled to county officials:
• Every county in the nation would be required to prepare a Hazard Mitigation Plan.
• The county should prepare a plan to vaccinate the entire population within 48 hours and practice the plan several times.
• FEMA inquired to where mass graves could be placed in the county and would they accept bodies from elsewhere.
• The sheriffs department via the state sheriff association was told that no .223 ammunition rounds would be available as the military would be purchasing all stocks.
• The county was asked to make plans for hardening of police and fire stations, putting in hardened bunker type buildings around town.
• The county was asked to make plans for the possibility of up to 400,000 refugees from Chicago.
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In observance of "Holocaust Remembrance Day," here is a video from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum called "Encountering Auschwitz," the largest, and one of the most notorious of the Nazi Concentration (Death) Camps. Israel came to a standstill today in observance of the solemn Remembrance Day:
A complex of camps, Auschwitz included a concentration, extermination, and forced-labor camp. It was located 37 miles west of Krakow (Cracow), near the prewar German-Polish border.
It is estimated that at minimum 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945; of these, at least 1.1 million were murdered.
In this film from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, historians and survivors discuss the significance of Auschwitz.
Ok calling all boots on the ground Now for HR 1207
H.R. 1207 now has 71 cosponsors
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR01207:@@@P
47,000 petitions will be delivered to Congressional offices next Tuesday in Washington, D.C. We are asking that you organize on the same day for a Nationwide Mass Action Day - Tuesday, April 28 to deliver as many signed petitions as possible to district offices in your home state. Together, we can make a huge impact.
H.R. 1207 now has 71 cosponsors
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR01207:@@@P
Fed Petition
U.S. Cities Increasing Use of Armed Mercenaries to Replace Police
The United States is in the midst of the most radical privatization agenda in its history. We see this in schools, health care, prisons, and certainly with the US military/national security/intelligence apparatus.
There are almost 200,000 "private contractors" in Iraq (more than U.S. soldiers) and President Barack Obama is continuing to use mercenaries there and in Afghanistan and Israel/Palestine. At present, 70 percent of the U.S. intelligence budget is going to private companies.
This privatization trend is hardly new, but it is accelerating. While events such as the Nisour Square massacre committed in September 2007 by Blackwater operatives in Baghdad show the lethal danger of unleashing mercenary forces on foreign soil, one area with the potential for extreme abuses resulting from this privatization is in domestic law enforcement in the U.S.
Many people may not be aware of this, but since the 1980s, private security guards have outnumbered police officers.
"The more than 1 million contract security officers, and an equal number of guards estimated to work directly for U.S. corporations, dwarf the nearly 700,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States," according to the Washington Post. Some estimate that private security operate inside the U.S. at a 5-to-1 ratio with police.
In New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of the city, private security poured in. Armed operatives from companies like Blackwater, Wackenhut, Intercon and DynCorp spread out in the city. Within two weeks of the hurricane, the number of private security companies registered in Louisiana jumped from 185 to 235.
In New Orleans at the time, I interviewed Israeli commandos from a company called Instinctive Shooting International as they operated an armed checkpoint on Charles Street after having been hired by a wealthy businessman. I also interviewed private guards who bragged of shooting "black gangbangers."
The abuses by private security guards in New Orleans and elsewhere has not to this day been thoroughly investigated. Moreover, the legality and constitutionality of the deployment of these modern-day Pinkertons needs to be seriously explained to the U.S. public.
Now it seems that some cities think it is a great idea to expand the use of these private forces using taxpayer funds.
The Wall Street Journal this week reported, "Facing pressure to crack down on crime amid a record budget deficit, Oakland is joining other U.S. cities that are turning over more law-enforcement duties to private armed guards. The City Council recently voted to hire International Services Inc., a private security agency, to patrol crime-plagued districts. While a few Oakland retail districts previously have pooled cash to pay for unarmed security services, using public funds to pay for private armed guards would mark a first for the city."
In a stunning development revealed late Wednesday night, Oakland dropped its plan to hire International Services Inc. after the firm's founder and two other executives were arrested on charges of defrauding the state of California out of more than $9 million in workers compensation.
Although this particular company may be going down in flames, that doesn't seem to deter Oakland's advocates for using private forces. According to the WSJ:
Ignacio De La Fuente, a city council member who led the drive to hire armed guards, said he will push to retain another security service. "There is still a very serious need for security in some of our more crime-plagued areas," he said. Before selecting [International Services Inc.], Mr. De La Fuente said, he and representatives of Oakland's police department interviewed security candidates and found nothing out of the ordinary.
Regardless of the specific company, this trend toward hiring private security companies is an ominous development. As it is, Oakland (and many other cities) have severe problems holding accountable police (and other law enforcement) for brutality and extrajudicial killings.
"Oakland, unfortunately, has had a history of treating the African American community unfairly," said George Holland Sr., an attorney who heads the Oakland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "The community has a great distrust for police officers because they feel they can't be punished."
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