Journalist and author Naomi Klein spoke in New York last night and addressed the crisis in Haiti: “We have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy—which is part natural, part unnatural—must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interest of our corporations. This is not conspiracy theory. They have done it again and again.”
NAOMI KLEIN: But as I write about in The Shock Doctrine, crises are often used now as the pretext for pushing through policies that you cannot push through under times of stability. Countries in periods of extreme crisis are desperate for any kind of aid, any kind of money, and are not in a position to negotiate fairly the terms of that exchange.
And I just want to pause for a second and read you something, which is pretty extraordinary. I just put this up on my website. The headline is “Haiti: Stop Them Before They Shock Again.” This went up a few hours ago, three hours ago, I believe, on the Heritage Foundation website.
“Amidst the Suffering, Crisis in Haiti Offers Opportunities to the U.S. In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the image of the United States in the region.” And then goes on.
Now, I don’t know whether things are improving or not, because it took the Heritage Foundation thirteen days before they issued thirty-two free market solutions for Hurricane Katrina. We put that document up on our website, as well. It was close down the housing projects, turn the Gulf Coast into a tax-free free enterprise zone, get rid of the labor laws that forces contractors to pay a living wage. Yeah, so it took them thirteen days before they did that in the case of Katrina. In the case of Haiti, they didn’t even wait twenty-four hours.
Now, why I say I don’t know whether it’s improving or not is that two hours ago they took this down. So somebody told them that it wasn’t couth. And then they put up something that was much more delicate. Fortunately, the investigative reporters at Democracy Now! managed to find that earlier document in a Google cache. But what you’ll find now is a much gentler “Things to Remember While Helping Haiti.” And buried down there, it says, “Long-term reforms for Haitian democracy and its economy are also badly overdue.”
But the point is, we need to make sure that the aid that goes to Haiti is, one, grants, not loans. This is absolutely crucial. This is an already heavily indebted country. This is a disaster that, as Amy said, on the one hand is nature, is, you know, an earthquake; on the other hand is the creation, is worsened by the poverty that our governments have been so complicit in deepening. Crises—natural disasters are so much worse in countries like Haiti, because you have soil erosion because the poverty means people are building in very, very precarious ways, so houses just slide down because they are built in places where they shouldn’t be built. All of this is interconnected. But we have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy, which is part natural, part unnatural, must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti, and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interests of our corporations. And this is not a conspiracy theory. They have done it again and again.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Propaganda moderna
Iata un exemplu cum democratica dictatura corporatista care a substituit dictatura comunista, aceiasi actori din spatele scenei, spala creierele copilasilor in centrele de formarea a Omului Nou, in spiritul noilor (pentru ei) directive primite de la centru. Nu un centru politic, ideologic, ca in trecut ci un centru economic, financiar mult mai eficient si productiv care apeleaza nu la constiinta omului (care nu exista oricum) ci la buzunarul de alminteri saracit, al salahorului.
In urma cu citeva zile am putut gasi o multime de linkuri in care se arata ca se stia de ani de zile si ca intotdeuna nu s-a facut nimic. Oricum azi aceste linkuri au fost mascate astfel incit orice cautare sa nu ofere decit partea oficiala a "dezastrului". Deci o dovada ca se poate pentru care trebui sa multumim partidului conducator care cu grija de protejeaza de tot ceea ce este rau in lume. Citeva linkuri au mai scapat, cit mai este activ, arunca o privire la
Sunday, January 17, 2010
BASM
Geo BOGZA
Pe vremea cînd Dumnezeu umbla cu Sf. Petru, pe pămînt, într-o noapte ploioasă, au ajuns la marginea unui sat şi abia au îndrăznit să bată cu toiagul în prima poartă. Cîini mari s-au repezit să-i sfîşie, dar numaidecît s-a auzit un glas bărbătesc întrebînd:
- Cine bate?
- Oameni buni!
Atunci omul, potolind cîinii, i-a poftit în casă, unde nevasta şi copiii abia se trezi din somn, şi a început a da porunci, dar cu blîndeţe:
- Mario, ia mai pune cîteva vreascuri pe foc. Tudore, dă fuga la fîntînă după o ciutură de apă proaspătă. Ilenuţă, ia vezi de o oliţă cu lapte proaspăt.
Şi le-a dat să se spele şi să se şteargă cu ştergare albe şi i-au ospătat şi i-au dus să doarmă într-o odaie în care mirosea a gutuie şi busuioc…
A doua zi dimineaţa iar le-a dat să se spele, i-a ospătat şi le-a pus în traistă nişte mere cum nu mai văzuseră şi le-a urat drum bun.
Şi cum au ieşit din sat, Sf. Petru a început să se roage de Dumnezeu:
- Doamne, fă ceva pentru oamenii ăştia, că tare ne-au primit frumos!
- Ce-ai vrea să fac Sf. Petre, c-ai văzut că nu erau nevoiaşi.
- Doamne, fă ceva să-şi vadă măcar o dată sufletul!
- Să-şi vadă sufletul spui Sf. Petre?
- Da, Doamne, să-şi poată vedea sufletul, aşa cum vedem noi plopul cel de-acolo!
- Bine, Sf. Petre, a răspuns Dumnezeu, privind gînditor la satul din vale.
Iar după o vreme, în neamul acela de oameni s-a născut Mihai Eminescu.
Pe vremea cînd Dumnezeu umbla cu Sf. Petru, pe pămînt, într-o noapte ploioasă, au ajuns la marginea unui sat şi abia au îndrăznit să bată cu toiagul în prima poartă. Cîini mari s-au repezit să-i sfîşie, dar numaidecît s-a auzit un glas bărbătesc întrebînd:
- Cine bate?
- Oameni buni!
Atunci omul, potolind cîinii, i-a poftit în casă, unde nevasta şi copiii abia se trezi din somn, şi a început a da porunci, dar cu blîndeţe:
- Mario, ia mai pune cîteva vreascuri pe foc. Tudore, dă fuga la fîntînă după o ciutură de apă proaspătă. Ilenuţă, ia vezi de o oliţă cu lapte proaspăt.
Şi le-a dat să se spele şi să se şteargă cu ştergare albe şi i-au ospătat şi i-au dus să doarmă într-o odaie în care mirosea a gutuie şi busuioc…
A doua zi dimineaţa iar le-a dat să se spele, i-a ospătat şi le-a pus în traistă nişte mere cum nu mai văzuseră şi le-a urat drum bun.
Şi cum au ieşit din sat, Sf. Petru a început să se roage de Dumnezeu:
- Doamne, fă ceva pentru oamenii ăştia, că tare ne-au primit frumos!
- Ce-ai vrea să fac Sf. Petre, c-ai văzut că nu erau nevoiaşi.
- Doamne, fă ceva să-şi vadă măcar o dată sufletul!
- Să-şi vadă sufletul spui Sf. Petre?
- Da, Doamne, să-şi poată vedea sufletul, aşa cum vedem noi plopul cel de-acolo!
- Bine, Sf. Petre, a răspuns Dumnezeu, privind gînditor la satul din vale.
Iar după o vreme, în neamul acela de oameni s-a născut Mihai Eminescu.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Your dentist is full of bunk: surgery to remove wisdom teeth is worthless, says British Medical Journal
In a groundbreaking report from the British Medical Journal, researchers who poured over thousands of studies detailing the efficacy of medical and dental procedures have concluded that many popular surgical procedures are completely worthless. Among those is one of the most common procedures performed by your dentist: the removal of so-called "impacted" wisdom teeth. According to the BMJ, this procedure may actually do more harm than good.
I don't trust dentists. I've long suspected dentists of scaring patients into undergoing unnecessary procedures in order to generate more business. My suspicions were confirmed when I visited a dentist in 2001 for a basic checkup. After taking dental x-rays (another health hazard, as new research is showing), my dentist fed me a scare story about how I still had all my wisdom teeth, and that all those teeth needed to be surgically removed. I was absolutely stunned. My wisdom teeth were working just fine: no cavities, no pain, no problems. I had made an appointment for a routine checkup, not to undergo expensive surgery for my wisdom teeth. But my dentist insisted, relying on a variety of scare tactics to try to convince me to undergo this expensive -- and completely unnecessary -- procedure. His behavior was highly unethical. He was using his authority and position as "the dentist" to try to scare me into accepting a surgical procedure that I quite obviously didn't need. In fact, even he couldn't give me a good reason for justifying the surgery other than to say, "We usually remove the wisdom teeth quite early." Which means, of course, that they just order the surgery for every child or teenager who walks into the clinic, regardless of whether they actually need it.
Now, it turns out, the removal of wisdom teeth has been found to be an utterly worthless procedure to begin with. It "may do more harm than good" says the British Medical Journal, after reviewing literally thousands of case studies. So the typical dentist is really just hyping a useless procedure, and if your dentist is anything like the dentist I encountered, they're also using all sorts of highly unethical scare tactics to try to force people into undergoing the procedure. That's downright evil, and yet it's a common practice among dentists in the United States.
Folks, you need to start questioning your dentist. Don't believe everything they tell you. Most of the time, they're full of bunk, or they're just trying to sell you on whatever procedure they get paid for performing. They're not all evil -- many actually believe these procedures will help you, which is why they seem so sincere -- but they are misinformed. Their beliefs are based on medical dogma, not scientific fact. Their beliefs in these procedures are nothing more than a sort of medical pathology, where certain things are just considered "true" and never questioned even though the original basis for accepting them as truth has been proven entirely false.
In the vast majority of cases, you will be healthier and wiser by ignoring the advice of your doctor or dentist and seeking out a naturopathic doctor or other healer. In fact, it's very important to avoid allowing a doctor or dentist to even hit you with a scare story or other manipulation tactic, because most people will just go right along with their advice even when it makes no sense. People don't question medical authorities as much as they should. And dentists know it. They know that most patients will just go ahead and agree to practically anything they recommend. That makes a situation where fraud and exploitation of patients is frighteningly easy to accomplish. Any dentist that wants to generate more revenues for their office can simply start recommending an expensive surgical procedure as "standard practice" and claim, "we always take those teeth out." It might be complete hogwash, but most people -- absurdly -- will buy into it. Don't let that person be you. Keep your dentist honest. Better yet, seek out a "natural" dentist who won't use mercury fillings or highly toxic fluoride, and who will turn to surgery as a last resort rather than a "standard procedure." Don't be tricked into unnecessary (and medically dangerous) surgical procedures that can only cause you harm.
With this attitude, I'm happy to say that I now have eight more teeth than most other people -- those are eight wisdom teeth that many dentists try to remove from the mouths of everyone else. Yes, I feel wiser for keeping them. And no, they don't cause me any problems at all. Go figure.
By the way, I found another dentist who agreed to remove my mercury fillings, but only after calling me a fool for my "outrageous" belief that mercury was somehow dangerous. (Are these dentists for real?) That's what it takes to be a modern dentist: you have to be a complete idiot who has no concept of neurotoxicity, no ethics, and no hesitation twisting the arms of patients into undergoing dangerous procedures. I know this doesn't characterize all dentists, but it sure does describe the vast majority of them.
I don't trust dentists. I've long suspected dentists of scaring patients into undergoing unnecessary procedures in order to generate more business. My suspicions were confirmed when I visited a dentist in 2001 for a basic checkup. After taking dental x-rays (another health hazard, as new research is showing), my dentist fed me a scare story about how I still had all my wisdom teeth, and that all those teeth needed to be surgically removed. I was absolutely stunned. My wisdom teeth were working just fine: no cavities, no pain, no problems. I had made an appointment for a routine checkup, not to undergo expensive surgery for my wisdom teeth. But my dentist insisted, relying on a variety of scare tactics to try to convince me to undergo this expensive -- and completely unnecessary -- procedure. His behavior was highly unethical. He was using his authority and position as "the dentist" to try to scare me into accepting a surgical procedure that I quite obviously didn't need. In fact, even he couldn't give me a good reason for justifying the surgery other than to say, "We usually remove the wisdom teeth quite early." Which means, of course, that they just order the surgery for every child or teenager who walks into the clinic, regardless of whether they actually need it.
Now, it turns out, the removal of wisdom teeth has been found to be an utterly worthless procedure to begin with. It "may do more harm than good" says the British Medical Journal, after reviewing literally thousands of case studies. So the typical dentist is really just hyping a useless procedure, and if your dentist is anything like the dentist I encountered, they're also using all sorts of highly unethical scare tactics to try to force people into undergoing the procedure. That's downright evil, and yet it's a common practice among dentists in the United States.
Folks, you need to start questioning your dentist. Don't believe everything they tell you. Most of the time, they're full of bunk, or they're just trying to sell you on whatever procedure they get paid for performing. They're not all evil -- many actually believe these procedures will help you, which is why they seem so sincere -- but they are misinformed. Their beliefs are based on medical dogma, not scientific fact. Their beliefs in these procedures are nothing more than a sort of medical pathology, where certain things are just considered "true" and never questioned even though the original basis for accepting them as truth has been proven entirely false.
In the vast majority of cases, you will be healthier and wiser by ignoring the advice of your doctor or dentist and seeking out a naturopathic doctor or other healer. In fact, it's very important to avoid allowing a doctor or dentist to even hit you with a scare story or other manipulation tactic, because most people will just go right along with their advice even when it makes no sense. People don't question medical authorities as much as they should. And dentists know it. They know that most patients will just go ahead and agree to practically anything they recommend. That makes a situation where fraud and exploitation of patients is frighteningly easy to accomplish. Any dentist that wants to generate more revenues for their office can simply start recommending an expensive surgical procedure as "standard practice" and claim, "we always take those teeth out." It might be complete hogwash, but most people -- absurdly -- will buy into it. Don't let that person be you. Keep your dentist honest. Better yet, seek out a "natural" dentist who won't use mercury fillings or highly toxic fluoride, and who will turn to surgery as a last resort rather than a "standard procedure." Don't be tricked into unnecessary (and medically dangerous) surgical procedures that can only cause you harm.
With this attitude, I'm happy to say that I now have eight more teeth than most other people -- those are eight wisdom teeth that many dentists try to remove from the mouths of everyone else. Yes, I feel wiser for keeping them. And no, they don't cause me any problems at all. Go figure.
By the way, I found another dentist who agreed to remove my mercury fillings, but only after calling me a fool for my "outrageous" belief that mercury was somehow dangerous. (Are these dentists for real?) That's what it takes to be a modern dentist: you have to be a complete idiot who has no concept of neurotoxicity, no ethics, and no hesitation twisting the arms of patients into undergoing dangerous procedures. I know this doesn't characterize all dentists, but it sure does describe the vast majority of them.
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