Ebola confirmed as killer virus in Uganda

A virus that killed 16 people and infected more than 50 others in
western Uganda has been confirmed as Ebola, the health ministry said
Thursday [29 Nov 2007]. The deadly virus was confirmed in samples
flown to a laboratory in Atlanta in the United States, the ministry
said. “We have been on the ground and we are deploying more people to
manage the situation,” said Sam Zaramba, the country’s top medical
official.

Zaramba said the first case was reported on November 10 in Bundibugyo
district on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
where three patients were currently in an isolation ward. “It is a
dangerous disease as is any other haemorrhagic fever, but the WHO
(World Health Organisation) and officials from CDC (Centre for
Disease Control) are working with us to remain in control of the
situation,” Zaramba explained.

An outbreak of Ebola, a highly contagious disease that can have
fatality rates as high as 90 percent, killed at least 170 people in
northern Uganda in 2000. It spreads by direct human contact,
especially through blood contact. A similar Ebola outbreak killed at
least 26 people in DR Congo’s West Kasai region in recent weeks,
according to the country’s Health Minister Victor Makwenge Kaput. The
WHO says Ebola has killed at least 1200 people since it was first
discovered in DRC and Sudan in 1976.

–
From ProMed.

[The most striking feature of this report is the statement that: "the
Ebola strain identified in the western enclave is completely
different from the four known sub types of [Ebola/heamorrhagic fever
[virus], namely; Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Reston (that only
affects monkeys) and Ebola Tai (Ivory Coast)”. Further information is
awaited concerning the origin of the outbreak and any relationship
with mining operations or proximity to bat colonies.

Anyone having any doubts please read on….about the “Dark Side of Huckabee”

Ask the retarded Fort Smith teenager, raped by her stepfather, who sought Medicaid funding for an abortion as federal law required. Huckabee stood in the hospital door, at least figuratively, to prevent state funding. Ask the gay people belittled by his cracks about “Adam and Steve.” Ask the scientists who’ve seen evolution virtually disappear from the textbooks and classrooms of Arkansas with his administration’s acquiescence.

Social issues alone should give moderates pause. He championed a law in Arkansas making it harder to get a divorce, the so-called covenant marriage law that has been widely ignored except when he and his wife recommitted in a Valentine’s Day publicity stunt held in a 17,000-seat arena.

<a href=”http://judo.salon.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.salonmagazine.com/opinion/content/large.html@Right”><img src=”http://judo.salon.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.salonmagazine.com/opinion/content/large.html@Right” width=”300″ height=”250″ border=”0″ alt=”" /></a>

Huckabee’s administration worked hard and unapologetically to prevent gay people from being foster parents. He avidly supported the state amendment that bans gay marriage as well as civil unions and bans any equal treatment under the law — such as in health insurance coverage — for same-sex partners. He professed opposition to alcohol and gambling, but he allowed passage of legislation that made it easier for restaurants to obtain private-club mixed-drink permits in dry counties. Over the angry objection of the church lobby, he sped final action on a bill to allow video poker at the state’s racetracks, an act followed not long afterward by a $10,000 campaign contribution from the owner of the state’s biggest race track, at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.

All this is sometimes done with humor, but rarely the sort of gentle humor the national media has encountered. Huckabee prefers sarcastic putdowns and hyperbole. Because Arkansas Democrats tried to enfranchise more citizens with weekend voting in Arkansas, he called his home state a banana republic on the Don Imus show. He’s compared weight loss with a concentration camp. Abortion, even in the earliest microscopic stages, he’s called a holocaust. He referred in a Farm Bureau speech to “fruits and nuts” and “wacko environmentalists” in decrying environmentalists as a threat to agriculture. (Yes, this is the same man that gullible mainstream columnists praise for his ringing environmental proclamations.)

But the national press has more to examine than rhetoric when it comes to Huckabee. He is not the man of principle that credulous commentators describe. Though Huckabee doesn’t support embryonic stem cell research, he took a hefty honorarium and bulk book sales this year from a diabetes drug maker, Novo Nordisk, which performs embryonic stem cell research. He has lied when there’s been no other way around admitting embarrassing missteps, such as his advocacy of freedom for a convicted rapist.

There are also legitimate questions about his skills as a manager. He left Arkansas with a bill of more than $40 million for overcharges of the federal government’s Medicaid program. A State Police director left after a tiff over Huckabee’s demand that the agency improve his private lake property in the name of security. Troubles dogged both the state’s computer services agency and its workforce agency. Youth services have been an unending series of tragedies. The buck never stopped at Huck’s desk, you can be sure.

The governor’s office records — triumph and tragedy, sage advice and venom-filled screeds about members of the press and Legislature — would tell this tale. But, as I’ve mentioned, the computer hard drive destruction ensured that would never happen.

If I could resurrect one batch of files, it would be those reflecting the advice of his staff that he not pursue his desire to free convicted rapist Wayne DuMond. By “advice,” I mean I think some of them all but pleaded with Huckabee not to do it.

Though DuMond’s prior record included a conviction for assault and his alleged involvement in a slaying and one other rape, by the start of Huckabee’s governorship DuMond had become a national figure thanks to Republican efforts to depict him as a victim of the Bill Clinton machine. The rape victim was a distant relative of Clinton’s.

Huckabee, perhaps persuaded by DuMond’s supposed conversion to Christianity, announced his intention to commute DuMond’s sentence without talking to the victim. Outraged, she stepped forward to protest publicly. The backlash was swift and powerful. Huckabee backed away from commuting DuMond’s sentence, but in a private meeting lobbied the state Parole Board to release him. Huckabee said, in writing, that he supported DuMond’s release. DuMond moved to Missouri in 2000, where he molested and killed one woman and was suspected of doing the same to another, but died in prison before he could be charged in the second case.

To this day, Huckabee tries to minimize his responsibility for DuMond’s release. Huckabee’s 2007 book “From Hope to Higher Ground” also fudges the facts, implying that DuMond died before being convicted of either Missouri murder. In one recent interview, he even suggested that he had fought DuMond’s parole, a statement his own writings prove to be a lie.

Now, go to salon.com and read the entire story, you will be amazed.

Court orders Bush administration to disclose telecom lobbying ties.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has won another significant legal battle, as a federal judge in California yesterday ordered the Bush administration (.pdf) to comply with EFF’s FOIA demand and disclose documents revealing its “communications with telecommunications carriers and members of Congress” regarding efforts to amend FISA and provide amnesty to telecoms. Better still, the court imposed an extremely quick deadline for release of these documents — December 10 — so that “the public may participate in the debate over the pending legislation on an informed basis.”

Needless to say, the Bush administration raised every argument it could to avoid having to disclose this information. These disclosures will reveal — among other things — which telecom lobbyists and other representatives were meeting with DNI Michael McConnell in order to secure telecom amnesty, as well as which members of Congress McConnell and other Bush officials privately lobbied. As an argument of last resort, the administration even proposed disclosing these documents on December 31 so that — as EFF pointed out — the information would be available only after Congress passed the new FISA bill…the rest of the story

Pardon me if I am a tad bit um….cynical. I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But hop on over there and read the whole story, it is well…..just wow.

 Ok, wow.   I have included the entire article here because you should read it.  But please do click on over to the original site and peruse it, good stuff!

Global warming: How much is too much for the White House?
ASK THIS | November 28, 2007 President Bush says he’s committed to fighting global warming. So why won’t the White House say how much the United States and other countries should reduce global warming pollution?

By Alden Meyer
ameyer@ucsusa.org

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) most recent report lays out stark choices for policy-makers when it comes to global warming. According to the best science, human activity is driving global warming, its effects are already evident, and as Earth continues to warm, the consequences will become increasingly severe. The report also says that cost-effective technologies are available to limit temperature increases. But accelerated deployment of these technologies requires appropriate government policies — in particular policies that put a price on global warming pollution by setting firm caps on emissions.

President Bush insists that his administration wants to be part of the solution. But his key advisors have refused to identify what they consider a dangerous level of global warming or how much the United States and other countries should reduce their emissions – even after hosting a recent meeting of the world’s largest emitters to address precisely those two questions.

Representatives from more than 180 nations will meet next month in Bali, Indonesia, to begin hammering out a new international agreement to cut global warming pollution. With the climate summit fast approaching, now is the time for the White House to tell the world whether or not it will do more than pay lip service to this critical problem.

Substantial scientific evidence indicates that an increase in the global average temperature of more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels would bring about large-scale, irreversible changes to the world’s climate. Sustained warming of such magnitude could result in the extinction of many species and extensive melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, causing global sea level to rise 12 to 40 feet. It also would exacerbate problems brought about by global warming that are already evident, such as increases in wildfires, hurricane intensity, and severe drought.

The European Union has already set a goal of allowing warming to increase global temperatures no more than 2 degrees C. According to a study by my group, the Union of Concerned Scientists, even if China, India and other major developing countries take very aggressive action to fight global warming, the United States and other industrialized countries would have to cut their emissions 70 to 80 percent below 2000 levels by 2050 to have a 50 percent chance of keeping the world from warming more than 2 degrees C.

In February 2002, during his announcement of a new U.S. approach to climate change, President Bush stated, “I reaffirm America’s commitment to the United Nations framework convention and its central goal, to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate.” James Connaughton, the president’s senior environmental advisor, repeated that pledge in testimony before Congress on March 19 of this year.

But when Connaughton was asked how the White House defined “dangerous climate change” during a November 16 press conference call on the IPCC’s most recent report, he replied, “We don’t have a view on that.” Sharon Hays, associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, added, “[T]he science simply can’t tell us what that number is. There are always going to be value judgments associated with it.”

Hays’ boss, John Marburger, was working from the same script weeks earlier. In a letter to the editor in the Washington Post, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director wrote that determining what constitutes “dangerous climate change involve[s] value judgments that go far beyond what science alone can determine.”

To date, neither Connaughton, Hays nor Marburger have addressed the key questions:  (click for the key questions) (more…)

Only five weeks till the end of the year! We are excited and scared–we’re close but not yet at our destination. The only number that counts is 611,000 verified petitions. Please, please send your holiday love to Florida in the way of petitions and donations. There are lots of festivities ahead in the coming season to use as an occasion for collecting petitions from friends and family. Let’s give this State the biggest gift ever: putting this historic reform on the ballot! Use the pdf petition to sign and send!

Best,

Lesley

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/lakenona/orl-maxwell2507nov25,0,2991976.column

OrlandoSentinel.com

Proposal to limit growth scares some pols

Scott Maxwell

TAKING NAMES

November 25, 2007

By now, you’ve probably heard something about “Hometown Democracy.” But you may not know quite what it is.

In the simplest sense, Hometown Democracy is a ballot proposal — something you may get to vote on next year. It would take the power to approve many major developments away from elected officials and place it directly in the hands of the people. You and your neighbors would get to decide whether Super Wal-Mart moves in or a neighboring subdivision can be built.

But in a grander sense, Hometown Democracy is a story of how Florida politics works — how politicians refuse to deal with problems until we make them.

Here’s how this story is unfolding:

For years, growth in Florida has been a relatively simple affair. If you wanted to build something, all you had to do is convince a majority of the members of a county commission or city council.

Such a thing has never been tough in Florida , where you never have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to get a good deal on an elected official. A few campaign donations here. A steak dinner here. Bingo! You’ve got yourself the permits to build whatever you want, regardless of what neighbors think.

Obviously, this system hasn’t worked as well for us average Joes as it does for the development execs. The same growth that means boosted profits for special interests can mean crowded schools, clogged roads, water woes and pollution for everyone else.

Residents have tried to fight back. They’ve voiced complaints — and sometimes even elected politicians who promised that they, too, wanted to slow things down.

But then, even with those “smart growth” pols in office, residents must endure a school such as Timber Creek High in east Orange County , where 4,300 students spend each day in a campus meant for 2,700. Or they find themselves stuck on roads such as University Boulevard or Alafaya Trail, that were once a straight shot, but, now lined with development, are anything but.

And they start to realize that some of these politicians make the National Enquirer seem reliable.

So residents finally take matters into their own hands by amending the constitution. They did the same thing with a class-size amendment when the politicians refused to get serious about education.

This is what scares the politicians. Because now you’ve threatened to interrupt their gravy train, expose them as part of the problem and infringe upon their power.

This is the part of our story where the politicians suddenly become your new best friends. Suddenly they empathize and understand. Suddenly, they want a solution too . . . just not this solution.

We saw such an argument a few weeks ago when Tom Pelham, secretary of the state’s community affairs department, wrote a piece for the Sentinel that called Hometown Democracy “an extreme solution to a real problem.”

Pelham said there are “more measured and practical solutions than the meat ax wielded by Hometown Democracy.”

He then suggested several reasonable-sounding ones, including legislative action that would reduce the number of loopholes and exceptions that allow development to spread too fast and so wide.

Pelham’s suggestions sound like they make sense. But if Pelham and other state officials are so keen on controlling growth and have such sensible-sounding solutions, why haven’t they done so before now?

Because they didn’t have to.

Because, until now, no one called their bluff.

After Pelham’s piece ran, I asked him about his timing — and suggested that, if he wanted to convince voters he was serious about all this, he would get his slow-growth legislation passed before residents vote on the matter.

Pelham responded that he would try to do just that and push to limit growth “regardless of the outcome of the Hometown Democracy campaign.”

Good for him.

I’ll believe it when I see it. But if the Legislature does finally put more reasonable checks on growth, maybe that will be a better solution than Hometown Democracy.

But even if Hometown Democracy fails at the polls, it still may be a success.

Because it is forcing us to deal with a problem we would have otherwise continued to ignore.

HELP SAVE WHAT’S LEFT OF FLORIDA…
LET THE PEOPLE VOTE to control growth!

Help put HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY on the 2008 ballot

Please download and SIGN THE PETITION !

http://www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com

PO Box 636, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170-0636.

Use the pdf petition to sign and send!

On April 25, skin-burning water flowed from the tap in Spencer, Mass., sending 100 people to the hospital and forcing everyone else to avoid their faucets and hoses.

One week after the incident, investigators discovered that two city workers accidentally released an excessive amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, into the water system after they forgot to switch the feed system from manual to automatic.

Thirty-four gallons of sodium hydroxide entered the city’s water supply over a 12.5-hour period, from the night of April 24 to the morning of April 25.

In addition, an alarm system for alerting offsite workers to the situation wasn’t working properly, and no one was in the building to hear onsite alarms.

Though not an agroterrorism incident, the event shows how easy an attack on the water supply could be, said Robert Finch, emergency preparedness coordinator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency in Kentucky.

We all need to take more care in our environment and this article is just ONE of the things that happens and shows that our food supply should have a more robust protection system than is now in place.

What was NY to do before Rudy?

From NBC/NJ’s Matthew Berger and NBC’s Lauren Appelbaum
Giuliani introduced his third ad for the New Hampshire market in a week Wednesday. The new 30-second spot focuses on New York City’s transformation from before Giuliani’s mayoral stint to after, and uses George Will’s proclamation that Giuliani led a successful conservative government….

lol, and everyone knows that NY is one of the LIBERAL city’s of America.

Rudy Giuliani vows to be tough on terror, picks people that want to bomb Iran and doesn’t think pretending to drown prisoners is torture…

When New Yorkers reminisce about Giuliani, they tend to recall his contentious moments — threatening to pull funding from a museum over a controversial exhibit, disclosing sealed records of an unarmed man killed by police, insulting a city resident over whether ferrets should be pets, trying to place a homeless shelter in the district of a councilman he disliked or surrounding City Hall with barricades and barriers….-reuters

Yeah, you know, stuff a high schooler might do to someone that crossed him.

Some WOW comments regarding Rudy…

“This is one dangerous man: it’s George Bush with brains,” wrote Michael Tomasky, editor of the Guardian Online.

“There is a sense Rudy Giuliani isn’t just wrong but is genuinely scary. Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson or John McCain are wrong, and they’re perceived as putting the country on the wrong track, but Rudy Giuliani is genuinely scary,” said Steve Benen, editor of The Carpetbagger Report.

“They don’t know him. He’s a really smooth, charming person. When you talk to him, you don’t become aware from what he says to you of his history in New York City. I honestly believe on 9/10 he couldn’t have been elected dogcatcher.” - Former Mayor Koch

“He is a scary guy,” said Jerome Hauer, who ran the city’s Office of Emergency Management for Giuliani. “He was probably one of the more divisive mayors the city has ever seen.

With Pat Robertson’s endorsement, he’s probably got the Evangelical Troglodyte vote, as well. It’s now up to the thinking population to stave off Rudy’s determination to usher in Armageddon and bring back Jeeeezzzzzuuuuusssssss. - nerzog- MMFA

Funny how Rudy couldn’t stand to share the credit for NYC’s drop in crime with Bratton. Now that Bratton’s in LA, crime has dropped there. How ’bout that? - Conchobhar- MMFA

Anyone that thinks waterboarding is just fine is one sick person if you ask me. Add expansion of Gitmo, the fact that he wants to put people in positions of power that WANT to bomb Iran and the fact that he is trying to out Bush-Bush with his constant and carping 9/11. (oh yeah, and the facts that he does not like to share the lime light with anyone, brings up his huge and flawed EGO….just google it.)

Personally, I’m not even sure NY could have made it if good ole Rudy had not been elected…how about you? -sarcasm off.

PARIS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday he supported Iran’s suggestion that oil be sold in a basket of currencies rather than dollars, and the basket should include the euro, Japan’s yen and China’s yuan.

On Monday, Chavez said: “The empire of the dollar is crashing,” and Ahmadinejad on Sunday called the U.S. dollar a “worthless piece of paper”.

and in another article

“Here are two brother countries, united like a single fist,” Chavez said upon his arrival in Tehran, according to Venezuela’s state-run Bolivarian News Agency.

“God willing, with the fall of the dollar, the deviant U.S. imperialism will fall as soon as possible, too,” Chavez said after a two-hour closed meeting with Ahmadinejad, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

…although it’s a sensitive issue for his ally, Chavez joked about acquiring his own atomic bombs, apparently seeking to poke fun at the U.S. accusation that Iran is using its nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons.

According to a Venezuelan state TV report, when a reporter asked about the aims of his visit, Chavez quipped: “As the imperialist press says, I came to look for an atomic bomb, and I’ve got it here. If anyone should cross me, I’ll fire it.”

Ok, really hilarious….NOT.

I have read that in some countries the leaders must take a sanity test before they take control of the government.

Not so bad of an idea in these days and times.

“I feel I have met a brother and trench mate after meeting Chávez.” says, Ahmadinejad on Chávez.   On the bright side, Chavez also called Saddam Hussein  “Brother”.   I would say, let the buyer beware.

These two are conspiring to bring an end to the US led economy.  Luckily, their proposals were overruled by other cartel members, led by Saudi Arabia.

Georgia governor leads prayer for rain

Hundreds gather for the vigil on the state Capitol’s steps, hoping a miracle could end the drought. But others aren’t so sure.

By Jenny Jarvie, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 14, 2007

ATLANTA — Bowing his head outside the Georgia Capitol on Tuesday, Gov. Sonny Perdue cut a newly repentant figure as he publicly prayed for rain to end the region’s historic drought.

“Oh father, we acknowledge our wastefulness,” Perdue said. “But we’re doing better. And I thought it was time to acknowledge that to the creator, the provider of water and land, and to tell him that we will do better.”…

Oh boy, this is comedy gold.  The governor didn’t say, “If you give us rain, we’ll be good,” but he came close.

Wasteful for years, then ask god to send rain, we will do better!     The governor of Georgia offers religion as a solution to the governments greed in developing acres and acres of land per day.

On the other hand, Pat Robertson might claim that they “deserve” the lack of rain for their sinful ways.

I wonder if god is a republican?

(more…)

Opinion/Commentary 12-13-07
Jackson Renault
With the UK revelation of the highly pathogenic outbreak (H5N1) just a few hours ago, I thought a post on the Bird Flu would be appropriate, even though over the last couple of years there have been untold posts regarding such.

“Officials have predicted a flu pandemic will cause massive disruptions that could last for months and cities, states and businesses must make plans now to keep functioning and not count on a federal rescue.“

My first thought was of course, you mean like after Katrina hit? Personally I don’t think my family has ever depended on the government to “rescue” us. Living in Florida as we do, it is traditional for natives to prepare for hurricane season. A pandemic situation would be only slightly different. Among other things, distribution of meds and vaccines will probably be disbursed differently. If an outbreak occurred in your area quarantine or, curfew, or martial law might be implemented to help with the situation. On the issue of quarantine, the president has already signed an executive order not too long ago, adding a pandemic influenza to the list of quarantinable diseases. On an on, you have probably read a billion articles on such so I won’t bore you.

At the end of this article you will find ABC’s list of things easy on the budget, and easy to accomplish that you can do to lessen any impact that a pandemic might have on you and your family. (this goes for any disaster too)

But the fact is that H5N1 has not, to date, jumped from birds to humans and most of the people who have contracted the disease have been people that have had close contact with birds. Surveillance is the key to looking for that all important transition. Were the H5N1 bird flu to find its way to the U.S., bird handlers and poultry workers would need to take precautions, such as wearing surgical masks, gloves and other protective equipment. Pens, cages, trucks and other equipment would need regular disinfection. Regular hand washing, along with the use of a gel disinfectant would also help decrease the risk

In Florida bird hunters have been asked to help with surveillance for h5n1.

Scientists are enlisting the aid of duck hunters in public hunting areas of Palm Beach and Brevard counties in a search for a virus that could cause an epidemic.

Hunters who volunteer will have their dead ducks swabbed, fore and aft, to collect viruses that live in the birds’ digestive tracts. Samples will be sent to a laboratory for signs of the H5N1 strain of virus, commonly known as bird flu.

Something I have never heard of before in the medical community is drive through immunization. Wow, what an idea. “Turn yer’ car off Mack, its vibrating and I can’t get the needle in yer’ arm!”

In a new twist on drive-through convenience, patients at Caritas Norwood Hospital next week can get a flu shot while idling in their cars, much like they would pick up a coffee or a burger at a fast-food window. State officials say it may be the first such offering in the state.

Last year, ABC News had this to say about preparation.

March 14, 2006 — Over the weekend, the government told Americans to start storing canned foods and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the United States. The fear is that the bird flu will turn into a pandemic and drastically alter the course of American life for a time.

The Red Cross says that if there’s a pandemic, we need to prepare for 10 days of being stuck in our homes, and that we may be without power and water during that time. In the event of a bird flu pandemic, Americans should plan for interruptions or delays in other services: Banks might close, hospitals could be overwhelmed, and postal service could be spotty. Experts also say that people need to begin stocking up on extra food and supplies like protective masks, flashlights, portable radios, batteries and matches… (more…)