Your Foods Contain Neurotoxins

January 28th, 2010

Natural News

By David Gutierrez

A neurotoxic flame retardant resists environmental breakdown and builds up in the food chain, a new study conducted by researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health and published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has found.

“They are persistent in the environment. They don’t get broken down,” lead researcher Alicia Fraser said. “Therefore, it takes a really long time for the contamination to leave our environment and our bodies. Even though we don’t know the health effects at this point, most people would want policies that would stop us from being exposed to them.”

The chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are closely related to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were banned in the 1970s after evidence emerged that they produced birth defects and neurological damage. Flame-retardant PBDEs were introduced at roughly the same time and soon became popular in a wide variety of household and consumer products.

Since the 1990s, evidence has increasingly emerged linking PBDEs to neurological damage in animals. Furthermore, study after study has shown that the chemicals can build up in the human body, particularly in breast milk. Every human population on Earth currently carries PBDEs in their bodies.

In the new study, researchers tested 2,000 people for PBDEs, finding that meat eaters had body burdens 25 percent higher than vegetarians. This provided still more evidence that the chemicals build up in animal fat, resisting degradation.

“The more meat you eat, the more PBDEs you have in your serum,” Fraser said.

Many PBDEs have already been banned by the European Union, as well as the states of California, Maine and Washington. The new findings suggest that even if the chemicals are banned worldwide, they will continue to plague us for decades to come — just like PCBs.

“The industry is finding new products to use as flame retardants, and we don’t know the health and safety implications of those products either,” Fraser said. “We need to test the health and safety implications of products before they go into use, not after.”

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Babies Testing for BPAs in the Womb

January 28th, 2010

Natural News

By E. Huff

For the first time in the history of its testing, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has found bisphenol A (BPA) in the umbilical cord blood of American babies. Nine out of ten samples tested positive for the chemical, a shocking number when considering the laundry list of chronic illnesses that are associated with BPA exposure.

Used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, BPA has come under increasing scrutiny over the past several years for its role in contributing to the development of cancer, endocrine damage, reproductive problems, and neurological dysfunction. Many plastics manufacturers have begun removing the additive from their products, despite continued reassurances by the FDA that the chemical is safe.

Studies continue to show that BPA is dangerous, even at minimal levels, and that it should not be used in consumer products. Several groups, including the Endocrine Society and the American Medical Association (AMA), have expressed opposition to the use of BPA. Scientists are finding that low-dose exposure, especially during early developmental years, can actually cause more endocrine and reproductive problems than larger-dose exposure due to the way the body recognizes the chemical.

Not only was BPA found in babies, but 231 other chemicals were detected as well, indicating that human beings are exposed to more toxic chemicals than ever. Experts fear that such an onslaught of toxicity may cause permanent damage to the next generation of Americans.

Public outcry over the FDA’s continued approval of BPA despite numerous studies revealing its dangers has led the agency to express that it will reevaluate its position. The agency was supposed to issue an updated review about BPA safety on November 30 but it never actually followed through. The FDA most recently claimed that the report will be made available before the end of the year.

Experts and analysts believe the food industry is behind the push to keep BPA legal, exerting influence on the FDA to conceal the truth about its dangers. Many manufacturers have voluntarily been able to eliminate BPA from their products, illustrating that there is no reason why it should continue to be used by anyone.

The AMA, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have all endorsed a resolution that calls on Congress to minimize or eliminate the use of BPA in consumer products. The EWG hopes that top priority will be given to the issue in light of the group’s recent discovery.

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Acupuncture Increases Sex Drive Decreases Hot Flashes

January 28th, 2010

Natural News

By Mike Adams

A recent study conducted by Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan revealed that acupuncture has even more benefits than previously thought for patients with breast cancer. In addition to reducing hot flashes better than drug therapy, acupuncture is effective at boosting the sex drive and overall sense of well-being in women undergoing intensive breast cancer treatment.

Published in the Journal of Oncology, the study highlights the superiority of acupuncture in improving the quality of life for breast cancer patients without imposing negative side effects like drugs do. Dr. Eleanor Walker, lead author of the study and division director of breast services in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford, confirmed this to be true when explaining the details of the study.

Two groups, one receiving acupuncture for their symptoms and the other receiving Venlafaxine drug therapy, were observed over a 12 week period. Initially, all the women experienced a 50 percent reduction in hot flash and night sweat symptoms. At the end of the treatment period, however, the group that received Venlafaxine experienced an immediate increase in symptoms while the acupuncture group did not.

The purpose of the study was to focus on alternative treatments to Venlafaxine that would better alleviate the negative side effects of breast cancer treatment and ultimately encourage women to continue participating in it.

According to the National Cancer Institute, 13 percent of women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Since conventional treatment is long and difficult, researchers hope to alleviate some of the associated misery with methods other than drug therapies that only make the situation more difficult.
Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Once again, another clinical study scientifically demonstrates the power of acupuncture to make real, measurable improvements in the health and lives of patients.

It’s no surprise, of course: Acupuncture has been used safely and effectively for over five thousand years in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and literally hundreds of clinical trials conducted over the last twenty years have shown it to be remarkably safe and effective in treating a variety of health complaints from back pain to infertility.

Acupuncture works because the body reacts to stimulation with a healing response (well, that’s only part of the reason acupuncture works, actually). A skilled acupuncture practitioner can initiate a healing response in the patient that no drug, no surgery and no medical intervention could ever accomplish.

That’s what’s really interesting about acupuncture: It doesn’t do any healing. Rather, acupuncture stimulates the body to heal itself. This idea fails to be recognized at all in conventional medicine, which continues to follow the long-outmoded belief that the doctor heals the patient and that, astonishingly, the patient has no role in his or her own healing.

Practitioners of acupuncture knew thousands of years ago what many western doctors still haven’t figure out today:

The patient is the healer. The doctor is merely an initiator of the patient’s own self-healing ability.Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Once again, another clinical study scientifically demonstrates the power of acupuncture to make real, measurable improvements in the health and lives of patients.

It’s no surprise, of course: Acupuncture has been used safely and effectively for over five thousand years in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and literally hundreds of clinical trials conducted over the last twenty years have shown it to be remarkably safe and effective in treating a variety of health complaints from back pain to infertility.

Acupuncture works because the body reacts to stimulation with a healing response (well, that’s only part of the reason acupuncture works, actually). A skilled acupuncture practitioner can initiate a healing response in the patient that no drug, no surgery and no medical intervention could ever accomplish.

That’s what’s really interesting about acupuncture: It doesn’t do any healing. Rather, acupuncture stimulates the body to heal itself. This idea fails to be recognized at all in conventional medicine, which continues to follow the long-outmoded belief that the doctor heals the patient and that, astonishingly, the patient has no role in his or her own healing.

Practitioners of acupuncture knew thousands of years ago what many western doctors still haven’t figure out today: The patient is the healer. The doctor is merely an initiator of the patient’s own self-healing ability.

Click here for the full report

Take Omega-3s for Anti-Aging Effects

January 28th, 2010

Natural News

By S. L. Baker

As NaturalNews has previously reported, omega-3s, the fatty acids found primarily in cold water fish like salmon, have a host of health benefits, including alleviating depression, preventing age-related blindness  and protecting against prostate cancer . And now there’s evidence omega-3s may have a profound anti-aging effect, too.

Telomeres, structures at the end of chromosomes that are involved in the stability and replication of chromosomes, are markers of biological aging. Genetic factors, exposure to certain chemicals and environmental stressors shorten the length of telomeres and are believed to contribute to the aging process. New research just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that omega-3s slow down the shortening of telomeres — this means omega-3 fatty acids may protect against aging on a cellular level.

Previous studies have shown that people with established cardiovascular disease who have a high dietary intake of marine omega-3 fatty acids live longer than others with the same health problems who do not have adequate omega-3s in their diet. However, the exact way omega-3s exert this protective effect is not well understood, according to background information in the JAMA study.

So Ramin Farzaneh-Far, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues decided to investigate whether omega-3 fatty acid blood levels were linked to changes in leukocyte (a type of blood cell) telomere length in a study of 608 people who had stable coronary artery disease. The scientists studied the patients for about five years, measuring leukocyte telomere length at the beginning of the study and at the end of 5 years of follow-up. Their goal? To see if there was any association between baseline levels of two types of omega-3 fatty acids — docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) — in the patients’ bodies and any subsequent change in telomere length. There was.

The scientists found that the research subjects with the least amount of DHA and EPA experienced the most rapid rate of telomere shortening. However, those with the highest levels of the omega-3 fatty experienced the slowest rate of telomere shortening.

“Levels of DHA+EPA were associated with less telomere shortening before and after sequential adjustment for established risk factors and potential confounders. Each 1-standard deviation increase in DHA+EPA levels was associated with a 32 percent reduction in the odds of telomere shortening,” the authors wrote in their study. “These findings raise the possibility that omega-3 fatty acids may protect against cellular aging in patients with coronary heart disease.”

This also raises the very real possibility that an abundance of omega-3s in the diet could offer protection from cellular aging for all people — whether they have heart disease or not.

Click here for the full report

Running Barefoot Beats Pricey Sneakers

January 28th, 2010

The Boston Globe

By Carolyn Y.  Johnson

We were born to run, but maybe not with shoes on.

New research, led by Harvard scientists and published today, shows that people who run barefoot or with minimal shoes – as people have done for millions of years – often land on their feet in a way that avoids a jarring impact. That’s very different from most shoe-clad runners, who crash down on their heels with every bound.

“It’s as if every time you land on the ground, someone hits you on the heel with a hammer,’’ said Daniel E. Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, who studies the biomechanics of running in the lab – and himself runs with minimal or no shoes. “It’s an amazing thing. Running barefoot can be less impactful.’’

Instead of striking heel-first, barefoot runners tend to land on the ball or middle of their foot. Researchers need to do followup studies to test whether less impact translates into fewer injuries, but the new finding may become yet another example of the way in which the luxuries of modern life are a bad fit for bodies shaped by millions of years of evolution. Humans adapted to an environment lacking desk jobs, video games, abundant processed foods, and the modern running shoe.

Several scientists not involved in the research said the findings were intriguing, but that the critical next step will be to test whether landing differently decreases injuries.

“I think the contentious part will be whether wearing shoes and changing the pattern of running . . . actually has an impact on foot injury,’’ said Brian Richmond, an anthropologist at George Washington University not involved in the research. “It’s an idea worth examining, because basically what they found is how people would run in a more natural setting.’’

The new work builds on Lieberman’s longstanding interest in humans’ ability to run long distances. While walking on two feet is a hallmark of human evolution, so is endurance running, argues Lieberman, who has previously found fossil evidence of numerous skeletal traits adapted for running. But if humans have been running for more than a million years, what did they do before the running shoe came out in the 1970s?

Now, studying runners in the United States and Kenya who normally run barefoot and comparing them with people who run in shoes, he and an international team of researchers have detailed the differences. Lieberman’s lab receives support from Vibram, a company with offices in Concord that makes FiveFingers, minimal shoes that look like gloves for feet.

The vast majority of runners strike the ground heel first, experiencing an initial impact of two to three times their body weight. Shoes slow the crash, but barefoot runners avoid it by landing on their forefoot or midfoot with a more springy step.

Click here for the full report

Urine Odor May Help Identify Lung Cancer

January 27th, 2010

HealthyDay News

By Alan Mozes

Scientists say they have fashioned a new test that can detect lung cancer simply on the basis of a tumor-causing change in the odor of bodily fluids.

The finding is so far based solely on work with mice, but follow-up studies are underway to see if this novel approach could aid in the early diagnosis of lung cancer in humans.

“But this work already proves, at least in principle, that tumors — in this case lung cancer tumors in mice — result in a change in odors that ought to be useful for diagnostic purposes,” observed senior study author Gary K. Beauchamp, a biologist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

Beauchamp and his colleagues published their findings online in the January issue of PLoS One.

The authors noted that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 220,000 men and women were diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States in 2009. Nearly 160,000 Americans died from the disease that same year.

Researchers have long sought to expand the ways they could screen for lung cancer at as early a stage as possible, given that the disease often develops in the absence of easily identifiable symptoms.

Although previous anecdotal reports have indicated that tumor-provoked odor changes might signal the presence of cancer, the research team noted that this prospect has never conclusively been proven.

Setting out to do just that, Beauchamp and his associates devised what they described as a “rigorously controlled animal model” to isolate smell biomarkers in the urine of mice that develop as the result of lung cancer-induced organic compound changes occurring at the molecular level.

On one front, the researchers trained so-called “sensor mice” to recognize the particular scent found in the urine of mice that had developed lung cancer tumors. These mice were ultimately able to tell the difference between mice with lung cancer and healthy mice.

On another front, the authors found that tumor-triggered organic compound changes were both significant and readily identifiable, as a result of chemical comparisons between urine taken from healthy mice and cancer-ridden mice, respectively.

Specifically, the comparisons revealed that odor shifts in urine taken from mice with cancer were often linked to a drop in the levels of particular organic compounds. While Beauchamp described this observation as “surprising,” he confirmed that “although an increase in a compound can change odor, a decrease can change it just as much.”

In turn, the researchers developed “chemical profiles” designed to classify the biomarker compounds of mouse urine as either tumor-related or not. Ultimately, the team found that their classification technique was able to correctly screen for lung cancer in mice 47 out of 50 times.

“But of course the major caveat here is what’s the relevance to human cancer,” cautioned Beauchamp. “This work certainly doesn’t prove that this diagnostic approach will be useful in humans, so we don’t truly know the answer to that question yet as we don’t know how our current work with patients is going to turn out. So I am very hard-pressed to answer how soon this kind of diagnosis could be available for patients and physicians,” he explained.

“But I would think we should know within a year or so whether or not this is something we should go forward with,” he added. “Although in any case, we don’t foresee this as supplanting other diagnostic methods. Rather, we think — if it works — this could be useful as an additional available tool.”

Dr. Roy Herbst, chief of the section of thoracic medical oncology in the department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at the M.D Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, described the effort to expand diagnosis options as “huge.”

“The potential for this to help with diagnoses is enormous,” he said. “It’s still just in mice, so it’s still early, but I think it really gets to the whole idea that we’re using modern tools to get a grasp on these dangerous cancers. And if this works it would give us a way to better understand and better identify those who might have lung cancer earlier, and then to treat the disease, and guide the way we treat it, in more effective ways.”

Click here for the full report

Antidepressants May Complicate Breast-Feeding

January 27th, 2010

WebMD Health News

By Salynn Boyles

Early research suggests a link between antidepressant use and breastfeeding difficulties in new moms.

The risk of delayed lactation after giving birth was twice as great among women in the study taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants as among new mothers who did not take the drugs.

Just eight, or about 2%, of the 431 study participants were taking the antidepressants, however, so the findings are far from conclusive.

But the study is the first to explore the impact of antidepressant use on lactation in humans.

“Delayed lactation is very common in the United States, but we don’t really understand the reasons for it,” researcher Nelson D. Horseman, PhD, of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine tells WebMD. “This may end up being one of the few concrete explanations for at least some of the delayed lactation we see.

“Earlier research in Nelson’s lab found that the hormone serotonin plays a role in breast function, including the ability to secrete milk when needed.

The finding led the researchers to wonder if drugs that affect serotonin levels, such as SSRI antidepressants, would also affect the ability of the breasts to secrete milk when needed.

SSRIs are the most widely prescribed antidepressants. They include the drugs Zoloft, Celexa, Prozac, Paxil, and Lexapro.

In an effort to answer the question, Nelson and colleagues followed 431 first-time mothers from childbirth through the first days of motherhood.

For the purposes of the study, the researchers considered breastfeeding delayed when a woman did not have copious milk production within three days, or 72 hours, of giving birth.

All the women in the study were eventually able to breastfeed, whether they were taking antidepressants or not.

But the average time to lactation for the eight women taking SSRIs was almost 86 hours after childbirth, which was almost a day later than the average time it took women who did not take the antidepressants to establish a milk supply.

Lactation specialist Laurie Nommsen-Rivers, PhD, tells WebMD that this extra day can be the difference between success or failure for women anxious to provide their babies nutrition.

A co-author of the study, Nommsen-Rivers is also an epidemiologist with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “That delay can be the point where many women throwing in the towel and decide they can’t breastfeed,” she says. “It is important to point out that all the women in our study eventually lactated. SSRI use doesn’t prevent women from breastfeeding, but it might take SSRI users a little longer.

“Nommsen-Rivers says that while all new moms should have access to breastfeeding support, such support may be especially important for new moms who take antidepressants.

The study appears in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

“These women need to know that delay doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen,” she says.

Texas Tech University Medical School health psychologist and lactation consultant Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, points to numerous studies that have explored the impact of SSRIs on babies born to women who use them.

“To my knowledge this lactation delay has not been documented before,” she tells WebMD. “I would guess that if this is happening, it is rare.”

She points out that pregnant women are at the highest risk for depression in their last trimester and in the early weeks after giving birth.

While she feels too many women may be taking antidepressants when other treatments might work for them, Kendall-Tackett also warns that moms-to-be and new moms should never stop taking SSRIs or any other prescribed antidepressant without their doctor’s approval.

“Generally speaking, if a woman is on an antidepressant during the last trimester of pregnancy she probably needs to stay on it, and she should never go off it on her own,” she says.

Click here for the full report

Baby Born Without Eyes Due to Rare Disorder

January 27th, 2010

Fox News

Brielle Garrison suffers from anophthalmia, which is a disorder that results in the absence of ocular tissue and usually develops during pregnancy.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing editor of health at FoxNews.com and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, said he has delivered several babies with this ocular abnormality.

“The condition can usually be diagnosed by ultrasound – around 18 weeks,” Alvarez, who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, told FoxNews.com.” “The condition can be associated with other birth defects as well, including abnormal brain development.”

Causes of anophthalmia may include genetic mutations and abnormal chromosomes, according to the National Institutes of Health. Researchers also believe that environmental factors, such as exposure to X-rays, chemicals, drugs or viruses may increase the risk, but research is not conclusive, the NIH said on its Web site.

Lori Garrison, Brielle’s grandmother, said this has been incredibly hard on her family.

“For a baby to be born with no eyes is just so cruel, and because my daughter’s 15, it was just mind boggling that such a thing could happen,” Garrison said.

Brielle has a long road ahead of her and will have to have several surgeries so that her face does not become deformed, according to the report.

“It’s hard,” said Taylor Garrison, Brielle’s mother. “I mean, this week we have an appointment every day, and there are always appointments (and) different doctors.”

There is no treatment for severe anophthalmia, however children can be fitted for with an artificial eye for cosmetic purposes and to promote socket growth, the NIH said.

In a recent study in England, one in 10,000 newborns was found to have anopthalmia.

Click here for the full report

UK Paper Gives Obama a ‘F’ for World Leadership

January 28th, 2010

Telegraph.co.uk

By Nile Gardiner

As expected, Barack Obama’s 70 minute State of the Union address focused heavily on the economy and the domestic political agenda. This was hardly surprising in the aftermath of last week’s catastrophic defeat for his party in the Massachusetts special Senate election, where the Republicans scored an historic victory. American voters are turning strongly against the president’s health care reform package as well as his big government vision for the economy, which has contributed to spiraling public debt and mounting unemployment, now standing at over 10 percent.

But the scant attention paid in the State of the Union speech to US leadership was pitiful and frankly rather pathetic. The war in Afghanistan, which will soon involve a hundred thousand American troops, merited barely a paragraph. There was no mention of victory over the enemy, just a reiteration of the president’s pledge to begin a withdrawal in July 2011. Needless to say there was nothing in the speech about the importance of international alliances, and no recognition whatsoever of the sacrifices made by Great Britain and other NATO allies alongside the United States on the battlefields of Afghanistan. For Barack Obama the Special Relationship means nothing, and tonight’s address further confirmed this.
Significantly, the global war against al-Qaeda was hardly mentioned, and there were no measures outlined to enhance US security at a time of mounting threats from Islamist terrorists. Terrorism is a top issue for American voters, but President Obama displayed what can only be described as a stunning indifference towards the defence of the homeland.

The Iranian nuclear threat, likely to be the biggest foreign policy issue of 2010, was given just two lines in the speech, with a half-hearted warning of “growing consequences” for Tehran, with no details given at all. There were no words of support for Iranian protestors who have been murdered, tortured and beaten in large numbers by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s thuggish security forces, and no sign at all that the president cared about their plight. Nor was there any condemnation of the brutality of the Iranian regime, as well as its blatant sponsorship of terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As the example of Iran showed, the advance of freedom and liberty across the world in the face of tyranny was not even a footnote in the president’s speech. I cannot think of a US president in modern times who has attached less importance to human rights issues. For the hundreds of millions of people across the world, from Burma to Sudan to Zimbabwe, clamouring to be free of oppression, there was not a shred of hope offered in Barack Obama’s address.

Obama’s world leadership in his first year in office has been weak-kneed and little short of disastrous. He has sacrificed the projection of American power upon the altar of political vanity, with empty speeches and groveling apologies across the world, from Strasbourg to Cairo. He has appeased some of America’s worst enemies, and has extended the hand of friendship to many of the most odious regimes on the face of the earth. Judging by the State of the Union address tonight, we can expect more of the same from an American president who seems determined to lead the world’s greatest power along a path of decline

As expected, Barack Obama’s 70 minute State of the Union address focused heavily on the economy and the domestic political agenda. This was hardly surprising in the aftermath of last week’s catastrophic defeat for his party in the Massachusetts special Senate election, where the Republicans scored an historic victory. American voters are turning strongly against the president’s health care reform package as well as his big government vision for the economy, which has contributed to spiraling public debt and mounting unemployment, now standing at over 10 percent.But the scant attention paid in the State of the Union speech to US leadership was pitiful and frankly rather pathetic. The war in Afghanistan, which will soon involve a hundred thousand American troops, merited barely a paragraph. There was no mention of victory over the enemy, just a reiteration of the president’s pledge to begin a withdrawal in July 2011. Needless to say there was nothing in the speech about the importance of international alliances, and no recognition whatsoever of the sacrifices made by Great Britain and other NATO allies alongside the United States on the battlefields of Afghanistan. For Barack Obama the Special Relationship means nothing, and tonight’s address further confirmed this.Significantly, the global war against al-Qaeda was hardly mentioned, and there were no measures outlined to enhance US security at a time of mounting threats from Islamist terrorists. Terrorism is a top issue for American voters, but President Obama displayed what can only be described as a stunning indifference towards the defence of the homeland.The Iranian nuclear threat, likely to be the biggest foreign policy issue of 2010, was given just two lines in the speech, with a half-hearted warning of “growing consequences” for Tehran, with no details given at all. There were no words of support for Iranian protestors who have been murdered, tortured and beaten in large numbers by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s thuggish security forces, and no sign at all that the president cared about their plight. Nor was there any condemnation of the brutality of the Iranian regime, as well as its blatant sponsorship of terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.As the example of Iran showed, the advance of freedom and liberty across the world in the face of tyranny was not even a footnote in the president’s speech. I cannot think of a US president in modern times who has attached less importance to human rights issues. For the hundreds of millions of people across the world, from Burma to Sudan to Zimbabwe, clamouring to be free of oppression, there was not a shred of hope offered in Barack Obama’s address.Obama’s world leadership in his first year in office has been weak-kneed and little short of disastrous. He has sacrificed the projection of American power upon the altar of political vanity, with empty speeches and groveling apologies across the world, from Strasbourg to Cairo. He has appeased some of America’s worst enemies, and has extended the hand of friendship to many of the most odious regimes on the face of the earth. Judging by the State of the Union address tonight, we can expect more of the same from an American president who seems determined to lead the world’s greatest power along a path of decline

Click here for the full report

Iran Hangs 2 for Allegedly Aiming to Topple State

January 28th, 2010

apnews.myway.com

By Nasser Karimi

Iran on Thursday executed two men accused of involvement in an armed anti-government group, as the public prosecutor announced that new death sentences have been issued against opposition activists involved in protests over June’s disputed presidential election.

The two men, who were hanged before dawn Tuesday, did not appear to be connected to the postelection protests – at least one of them was arrested before the election, according to his lawyer.

But state media depicted the two as part of the protest movement, a sign of how the government has lumped together many of its enemies with the political opposition amid its postelection crackdown. The media’s depiction of the executions may aim to intimidate the opposition ahead of new street demonstrations expected in February

In a further move likely aimed at cowing protesters, Tehran’s prosecutor announced that five people have been sentenced to death for involvement in the most recent major demonstrations, on Dec. 27. That day saw the worst violence of postelection crackdown, with at least eight people killed in clashes between police and protesters and hundreds arrested.

The new verdicts raise to nine the number of people sentenced to death for involvement in protests, said the prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi.

The two men who were executed, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, were convicted by a Revolutionary Court of belonging to “counterrevolutionary and monarchist groups,” plotting to overthrow “the Islamic establishment” and planning assassinations and bombings, Dowlatabadi told state TV.

He said the two confessed during the trial and that an appeals court upheld their death sentences. He made no mention of the postelection protests in connection to the case.

Rahmanipour’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, told the Associated Press Thursday that the 20-year-old Rahmanipour was arrested in April on the charge of membership in an armed opposition group, the Royal Association of Iran.

She said his trial and verdict were “unfair and illegal,” saying his lawyer was not allowed to participate in the court sessions and he was forced to confess. She said she and Rahmanipour’s relatives had not been notified of any appeal’s court ruling upholding the death sentences.

Iran’s English language channel, Press TV, said that among the charges against the two was that they had a role in the 2008 bombing of a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz.

Still, state TV portrayed the executions as part of the postelection crackdown. In a report aired on the channel and reported on its Web site, it said Rahmanipour and Zamani were among those sentenced to death “in the wake of the rioting and counterrevolutionary and antiestablishment acts of recent months.”

The opposition says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the June presidential election through fraud. Hundreds of thousands have poured into the streets in Iran since then on various occasions to support Ahmadinejad’s main challenger, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Dozens of protesters were killed in the unrest and hundreds detained since June.

Iran has put on trial more then 100 political activists and figures since August. The defendants have included not only those directly involved in protests but also opposition politicians and writers – a sign that the leadership has used the turmoil as an opportunity to cast a wide net in pursuing its various opponents. More than 80 of those on trial have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to 15 years.

Previously, authorities had said five of those on trial had been sentenced to death. The five more announced by Dowlatabadi should raise the total to 10, but he spoke only of nine. There was no explanation for the discrepancy, but it appeared to be a sign of how others – like Rahmanipour and Zamani – have been lumped in with the protest movement.

The charge of membership of armed groups opposed to the Tehran ruling establishment is widely taken to be a reference the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization, or MEK, and groups loyal to the Western-backed monarchy that was toppled by the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iran has accused both groups of involvement in the assassination this month of an Iranian physicist.

Click here for the full report

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