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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/28/2012 4:42:01 PM
	Syria Now "In A 'Real State of War" Says Assad by Kristina Chew June 27, 2012 Seven people including journalists and security guards were killed by gunman who raided the headquarters of a pro-government Syrian TV channel, Ikhbariya TV, about 14 miles south of the capital of Damascus early this morning. The station is privately owned but has strong ties to President Bashar al-Assad. SANA, the Syrian state news agency, said that a rebel “massacre against the freedom of the press” had occurred. A number of other employees were wounded and security guards were reportedly kidnapped. The station continue to air its programs hours after the attacks. Earlier this month, gunmen shot and seriously wounded two Ikhbariya employees, who had been covering the clashes between the regime’s forces and the rebels, in the north-western town of Haffa. The rebels have denied targeting the media. The attacks are just the latest indications of an upsurge in violence. The BBC reports that at least 100 people were killed on Tuesday; a video shows reporter Ian Pannell meeting a family who are too scared to take their wounded children to the hospital. Hours before the attack at around 4am this morning, Assad said that Syria was now “in a real state of war.” Burhan Ghalioun, the former leader of the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, says that part of northern Syria, the north-western province of Idlib, has been “liberated” from Assad and is now under the control of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Syrian Envoy Walks Out of UN Human Rights Council Meeting The United Nations deputy envoy on Syria says that violence has now “reached or surpassed” levels before a ceasefire deal negotiated in April by Kofi Annan, special envoy to the UN. On Tuesday at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, an investigation gave details of its report on the May 25 Houla massacre in which 108 including dozens of children were slain. Commission chairman Paulo Pinheiro said that “forces loyal to the government may have been responsible for many of the deaths” and cited three possible groups, the ”shabiha” or other local militia who perhaps acted with the army; anti-government armed groups, or foreign groups. However, Pinheiro said that it was “very much unlikely” that anti-government groups had carried out the killings. Condemning the meeting as “flagrantly political,” Faisal Khabbaz Hamoui, walked out. A “See-saw Battle” US intelligence officials predict a long and drawn-out conflict in what they have termed a “see-saw battle” in which “the military strikes hard, then the rebels change tactics and gain momentum, followed by the military forces stepping up again.” While two colonels and a general reportedly defected last week, most of the army remains loyal to Assad. A senior American official quoted in Reuters noted that “the regime inner circle and those at the next level still seem to be holding fairly firm in support of the regime and Assad.” While sympathizers in Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been sending arms into Syria, these are mostly “small arms such as AK-47 automatic weapons, and some anti-tank guided munitions and rocket-propelled grenades.” On June 30, an international conference will be held in Geneva where Annan hopes to revive his peace plan. Russia has requested that Iran, Syria’s close ally, attend; the US has said that it will not attend the meeting if Iran does. US allies are also opposed to Iran attending. The UN estimates that at least 10,000 have been killed in the uprising that began in southern Syria in March of 2011 but activists put the figure at 40,000. The Syrian government reported in June that 6,947 Syrians had died, including at least 3,211 civilians and 2,566 security forces personnel. Previous Care2 Coverage Turkey Says Syria Shot At Two Of Its Planes: Crisis Escalates US and UK May Offer Syria’s Assad “Safe Passage” Obama Unable To Persuade Putin About Syria Read more: assad, bashar al-assad, damascus, FSA, iran, mideast, mideast conflict, refugees, russia, syria, united nations Photo by Freedom House Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/syria-now-in-a-real-state-of-war-says-assad.html#ixzz1z6fbmgAc
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/28/2012 10:00:18 PM
	Colorado Wildfires Spread 2012 JUNE 28 Posted by Steve Beckow The cabal has been known to start wildfires. This may be their work as their power base crumbles. Our prayers go out to the victims. Wildfire victims crowd shelters as fight continues CBS News, June 27, 2012 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57461483/32k-ordered-to-flee-as-colorado-blaze-doubles-in-size/ (CBS/AP) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Fire crews fought to save the U.S. Air Force Academy and residents begged for information on the fate of their homes Wednesday after a night of terror sent thousands of people fleeing a raging Colorado Springs wildfire. More than 30,000 people frantically packed up belongings Tuesday night after the Waldo Canyon Fire barreled into neighborhoods in the foothills west and north of Colorado’s second-largest city. With flames looming overhead, they clogged roads shrouded in smoke and flying embers, their fear punctuated by explosions of bright orange flame that signaled yet another house had been claimed. “The sky was red, the wind was blowing really fast and there were embers falling from the sky,” said Simone Covey, a 26-year-old mother of three who fled an apartment near Garden of the Gods park and was staying at a shelter. “I didn’t really have time to think about it. I was just trying to keep my kids calm.” Wilma Juachon sat under a tree at an evacuation center, wearing a mask to block the smoke. A tourist from California, she was evacuated from a fire near Rocky Mountain National Park last week and, now, from her Colorado Springs hotel. “I said I hope it never happens again, and guess what?” Juachon said. Record heat hampers wildfire fight Western wildfires threaten tourist destinations Video: Firefighters focus on steering Colo. wildfire The White House issued a statement Wednesday in which President Obama is planning to visit Colorado on Friday to survey the damage. “The President reiterated his administration’s focus, through the U.S. Forest Service as well as the Department of Interior and FEMA, on continuing to bring all resources to bear to assist local responders in Colorado and a number of Western States currently being impacted by fires,” said the statement. The full scope of the 28-square-mile fire, which doubled in size overnight, remained unknown. So intense were the flames and so thick the smoke that rescue workers weren’t able to tell residents which structures were destroyed and which ones were still standing. Steve Cox, a spokesman for Mayor Steve Bach, reported that at least dozens of homes had been consumed, though he had no more precise figure. Indeed, authorities were too busy Wednesday struggling to save homes in near-zero visibility to count how many had been destroyed in what is the latest test for a drought-parched and tinder-dry state. Crews also were battling a deadly and destructive wildfire in northern Colorado and another that flared Tuesday night near Boulder. Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown insisted his personnel heroically saved many homes in the midst of the firestorm. The strategy: protecting houses adjacent to those in flames to prevent a domino effect and then racing to the next suburban hot spot, a technique he called “triage.” “The radiant heat from home to home, or infrastructure, or trees, is unbelievable. You add in 60 mph gusts of wind — it’s unbelievable conditions,” Brown told The Associated Press. Firefighters, he said, “responded exactly like they’re trained — as professionals, safely, yet aggressively.” The Waldo Canyon Fire burned about 10 acres along the southwest boundary of the Air Force Academy campus. No injuries or damage to structures — including the iconic Cadet Chapel — were reported. With 90 firefighters battling the flames, Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michael Gould insisted that 1,500 cadets taking summer classes and more than 1,000 freshmen arriving Thursday will be safe — with campus ceremonies or housing to be moved away from the fire-hit area or off-campus if needed. The Red Cross struggled to accommodate victims at its shelters, with space enough for perhaps 2,500 people. Most evacuees were staying with family and friends. Expected thunderstorms could produce the blessing of much-needed rain — but more curses as well, such as high, gusty winds and lightning strikes that have triggered several blazes this year Colorado wasn’t the only state affected by fire, as several burned throughout the parched West. Tom Harbour, director of fire and aviation management for the U.S. Forest Service, said that with several fires burning, there is competition for firefighting resources, but “we’re still at a point where we’ve got lots of available assets to mix and match on individual incidents.” Harbour said there’s a difference between what incident commanders want and what they need to fight a fire effectively. And despite some criticism, he said the agency has been working to get equipment where it’s needed most. Four military C-130 tankers, which can each carry up to 3,000 gallons of water, are positioned to cover the blazes burning near Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, as well as the entire Front Range if another fire were to break out, he said. At total of 18 air tankers were assigned to wildfires across the region.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel

1162

61587

Lima

RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?

6/29/2012 4:28:20 PM

How the Global War on Drugs Drives HIV and AIDS
By Maia Szalavitz | Time.com

The drug war's unexpected pandemic

Rates of HIV infections are being driven up by the continued anti-drug effort, a new report says. Shocking link

The war on drugs is driving much of the global AIDS pandemic, increasing new infections among injection-drug users in the U.S. and elsewhere, according to a new report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

The commission — led by a distinguished panel including the former presidents of Mexico, Poland, Colombia, Brazil and Switzerland, along with Virgin Airlines entrepreneur Richard Branson, the former chair of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, and former Secretary of State George Schulz, among others — finds in its report that about one-third of all new infections outside of sub-Sarahan Africa occur in injection-drug users.

Since the 1990s, effective public-health strategies to curb HIV transmission in drug users have led to drops in new infections in most countries. But over the same time period, seven countries have seen a 25% increase in new infections. Not coincidentally, five of these countries — mainly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia — employ aggressive drug war strategies, such as arresting and incarcerating users for drug or needle possession.

These tactics have been shown to be ineffective not only for controlling drug use, but also for reining in the spread of HIV. Why? Because the fear of recrimination prevents drug users from seeking clean needles — a major risk factor for HIV infection. In the U.S. as well, areas with the highest infection rates are those that have the most aggressive drug policies, the report shows. The solution is straightforward, if drastic; it requires a complete overhaul of current drug policy: drug users need treatment, not imprisonment, and drug possession needs to be decriminalized, the authors argue.

(MORE: 10 Reasons to Revisit Marijuana Policy Now)

Look no further than New York City, the epicenter of the American HIV epidemic among drug users in the late 1980s and early '90s, as testament to the effects of a policy about-face. Twenty-five years ago, city law enforcement was battling outdoor drug markets by arresting users en masse; at the same time, the city reported a 50% HIV infection rate among people who injected drugs.

In the early '90s, the situation began to change. The city started expanding methadone prescribing to help treat users addicted to drugs. Needle-exchange programs, run illegally mostly by AIDS activists from ACT UP, began to be established. At the start, the activists deliberately provoked arrest — but soon the courts would rule that the public health benefits of the programs outweighed any merits of keeping them illegal. Over time, many of the underground needle-exchange programs grew into legal, government-funded operations.

The rate of HIV infection among IV drug users in New York City has fallen by two-thirds since its peak; while injection-drug use once accounted for half of all new infections in the city, today it is linked to fewer than 5%.

The strategy has worked in other cities as well: a 1997 study f0und that HIV infection rates in U.S. cities without needle-exchange programs increased 6% per year; in contrast, infection rates in cities that had clean-needle programs fell by the same amount. International data presented in the new report tell the same story: when access to needles and methadone treatment is expanded — and when drug users do not have to fear arrest for possession of needles — HIV infection rates fall.

(MORE: Clean Needles Saved My Life. Now Congress Wants to Ban Funding for Needle Exchange)

Research also shows that the reverse is true. A study published in The Lancet in 2010 found that nearly one-fifth of all HIV infections in the Ukraine may be associated with police beatings of IV drug users during arrest. Because possession of needles can be grounds for arrest and attack, fear of police keeps drug users from obtaining clean needles.

The countries hardest hit by drug-war driven HIV include Russia and many other regions of the former Soviet Union. Russia’s situation is especially dire because it bans methadone maintenance treatment for those addicted to opioids like heroin. This, despite the fact that the World Health Organization and other expert bodies that have examined the question scientifically have determinedthat maintenance is more effective than other treatments at reducing drug-related crime, death and the spread of blood-borne disease.

Russia's opposition is ideological: maintenance is viewed as the simple substitution of one harmful drug for another; the data show, however, that maintenance dramatically improves health. Currently, 37% of all IV-drug users in Russia are HIV-positive. Globally, infection among IV-drug users tends to drive heterosexual and pediatric infections in epidemics outside of Africa.

The U.S. isn't immune to the problem either: a longstanding federal ban on funding for needle exchange, which was briefly lifted in 2011, was reinstated this year. The effects of Congress's AIDS policies have been felt most profoundly at its doorstep in Washington, D.C., which has the highest rate of HIV infection in the country. Because of D.C.'s unique status, Congress can also prevent the city from using its own funds for needle exchange, which it was barred from doing until 2008. (That year, D.C.'s local ban was lifted, though the federal ban remains.) The result: at roughly 3%, our nation's capital has a higher HIV infection rate than Ethiopia or Sierra Leone.

(MORE: Addiction Treatment in America: Not Based in Science, Not Truly ‘Medical’)

In America, the war on drugs disproportionately harms black communities. African American men are at least twice as likely to be arrested or imprisoned for drug crimes as white men. Further, jails and prisons house people at high risk of HIV infection together — about 25% of people with HIV pass through correctional facilities annually — while limiting or denying access to condoms, let alone clean needles. Even a short jail term doubles the risk of syringe sharing and increases the risk of HIV-medication failure by a factor of seven, according to a Baltimore study cited in the Global Commission's report. It's not surprising, then, that while African Americans make up 12% of the U.S. population, they account for 50% of new HIV infections.

The commission's AIDS report concludes: “Any sober assessment of the impacts of the war on drugs would conclude that many national and international organizations tasked with reducing the drug problem have actually contributed to a worsening of community health and safety. This must change.”

The authors call for complete decriminalization of drug possession by users who are harming no one but themselves, as well as greater access to maintenance treatment, needle exchange and other services. Politically, however, we might be more likely to see Republicans increase taxes for the rich and Democrats eliminate Social Security and Medicare.

But it doesn't have to be that difficult; the data here clearly point to specific solutions. Researchers know what works to fight HIV, and they also know that it is far cheaper to prevent infection than it is to treat it. More than ever before, the evidence also reveals how best to combat addiction — arresting users for needle or drug possession does not help.

PHOTOS: Inside Colorado's Marijuana Industry

Maia Szalavitz is a health writer at TIME.com. Find her on Twitter at @maiasz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME Healthland’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIMEHealthland.

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/29/2012 4:44:34 PM
	Ask Not How Clean But How Very Dirty Our Beaches Are by Kristina Chew June 28, 2012 It’s summer, it’s hot, it’s time to go the beach — though if you read the National Resources Defense Council annual Testing The Waters report, you might have second thoughts. The NRDC has been issuing the report for 22 years. 2011 saw the third-highest levels of beach closings and advisory days, for a total of 23,481 days, a 3 percent decrease from 2010. Says the Testing The Waters report: More than two-thirds of closings and advisories were issued because bacteria levels in beachwater exceeded public health standards, indicating the presence of human or animal waste in the water. The portion of all monitoring samples that exceeded national recommended health standards for designated beach areas remained stable at 8% in 2011, compared with 8% in 2010 and 7% for the four previous years. In addition, the number of beaches monitored in 2011 increased slightly (2%) from a five-year low in 2010. The largest known source of pollution was stormwater runoff (47%, compared with 36% last year). The 2011 results confirm that our nation’s beaches continue to experience significant water pollution that puts swimmers and local economies at risk. Up to 3.5 million people become ill (with stomach flu, skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections, meningitis and hepatitis) from raw sewage from sanitary sewer overflows each year, according to the EPA.But that number should probably be higher as people often become ill from swimming in polluted waters but do not attribute them to be the cause. How Did Our Public Waters Get So Dirty? According to the Testing The Waters report, sources of pollution are: (1) stormwater runoff, (2) sewage overflows and inadequately treated sewage, (3) agricultural runoff, and (4) other sources, such as beachgoers themselves, wildlife, septic systems, and boating waste. Source number 4 is a reminder that we humans are polluting our beaches in ways that we are not fully aware of. As Grist’s Philip Bump says about what you can expect if you take a dip in our public waters: “If you leave the house at all this summer, do so in a watertight wetsuit.” Recommendations To Keep Our Beaches Safe Some policy changes the NRDC urges are: (1) Cleaning up polluted runoff by reducing the amount of stormwater flowing into drains in the first place, especially by creating a green infrastructure via such innovations as porous pavement, green roofs, parks, roadside plantings and rain barrels to stop rain where it falls and storing it or letting it filter into the ground. (2) Instituting better standards to protect beachgoers by urging that the EPA “revise the level of acceptable risk” for people getting gastrointestinal illness from public waters. As the NRDC notes, the EPA recently said that it is “acceptable” for 1 in 28 people to get sick from being at the beach and in the ocean, due to unsafe levels of disease-causing bacteria and viruses. But such a high rate is not acceptable; a rate such as 1 in 100 would be far better for our health. If these arguments to protect the environment are not enough, there are economic reasons: 85 percent of all tourism revenue comes from coastal states. One reason people like to live there and to visit is precisely because of the beach. As the NRDC points out, closing Lake Michigan beach due to pollution could mean losses of as high as $37,030 per day. Really, we simply cannot afford dirty beaches! Related Care2 Coverage EPA: It’s “Acceptable” For 1 in 28 To Get Sick From the Beach California Surfers Work To Conserve Their Favorite Spots Great Pacific Garbage Patch Leads To Boom In Ocean Bugs Read more: beach, beaches, epa, green infrastructure, ocean, pollution, sewage Photo of the East River, New York City, by WaveBreaker Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/ask-not-how-clean-but-how-very-dirty-our-beaches-are.html#ixzz1zCWr8dL4
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/29/2012 4:55:32 PM
	How desperate it is that it is petitioning with fake signatures! Coal Industry Gets Desperate for Friends by Climate Progress June 28, 2012 Written by Stephen Lacey The U.S. Coal industry is so deeply unpopular, it has now turned to its imaginary friends for help. That’s according to a linguistic analysis of a recent petition opposing new regulation of toxic coal ash. The petition, which was sent to the White House by the coal industry last year, featured more than two thousand Chinese names. That raised the curiosity of the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). So the organization commissioned an analysis of the signatories. EIP says the analysis shows that hundreds of the names are complete fakes. When translated, many of the Chinese “people” supporting the coal industry’s petition have names like “Steamed Bun Little Sister” and “Come to China Donkey.” The translator who examined the signatures determined that “most of the Chinese names in the petition are not authentic, and … appear to be generated by a piece of software or a group of individuals.” The analysis of “Citizens for Recycling First” shows that the only recycling this organization is doing is recycling names: Generated by software/small group of individuals. Based on the consistent wording and style of many of these names, they appear to be generated by a piece of software or a small group of individuals. While many of the first names might be real, they appear frequently with either the last name or one character altered. An illustration of a similar randomly combined list of Western names might look something like this: George Jones, William Jones, James Jones, Henry Jones, Peter Jones, William Smith, Frank Smith, Jim Smith, Larry Smith, etc. Use of non-names. At least 80 of the names identified in Chinese characters in the petition refer to objects or descriptions that are not used as surnames in the Chinese language. These include: Popular food items: Steamed Bun, Older Sister, Steamed Bun Little Sister, Small Steamed Bun and Big Steamed Bun, etc. Dozens of the names are simply names of animals in Mandarin, including: Big Bear, Big Grey Wolf, Little Duck, Little White Rabbit and Yellow Tiger. Invitations to travel. Some of the names included in the petition are in fact invitations to visit China, such as: Come to China Big, Come to China Cat, Come to China China, Come to China Donkey, Come to China Little Girl, and so on. Appearance-obsessed fake names. Thirteen names appearing in the petition include the first name of “Handsome”, including Handsome Six, Handsome Eight, Handsome Good Looking, Handsome Dragon and the Most Handsome Guy. Famous historical/literary figures. Another 30 of the Chinese names in the petition actually identify famous characters in Chinese politics, history or literature. These include: Dasheng Sun: The monkey king in the Journey to the West (a famous Chinese novel) and Shanbo Liang, who is the protagonist in a very well-known legend. This follows revelations in May that the coal industry paid people $50 to wear pro-coal t-shirts at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing. With coal consumption dropping precipitously in the U.S., the industry is looking for some friends to help prop it up. But when buying them didn’t work, it appears that making them up was the next best option. This post was originally published by Climate Progress. Related Stories: National Standard To Be Set on Deadly Soot Bank of America: Strong on Rhetoric, Weak on Climate & Coal Ozone Attacks Your Heart Within Hours Of Exposure Read more: big coal, climate progress, coal industry Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/coal-industry-gets-desperate-for-friends.html#ixzz1zCYvq4Uu
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Colorado Wildfires Spread

Wildfire victims crowd shelters as fight continues

How the Global War on Drugs Drives HIV and AIDS
By Maia Szalavitz | Time.com

The drug war's unexpected pandemic

Coal Industry Gets Desperate for Friends

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Colorado Wildfires Spread

Wildfire victims crowd shelters as fight continues

How the Global War on Drugs Drives HIV and AIDSBy Maia Szalavitz | Time.com

The drug war's unexpected pandemic

Coal Industry Gets Desperate for Friends

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How the Global War on Drugs Drives HIV and AIDS
By Maia Szalavitz | Time.com