Dope-Smoking, Menstruating Monkey Study Got $3.6 Million in Tax Dollars

June 10th, 2011

CNSNews.com

By: Christopher Neefus

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a division of the federal government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), has spent $3,634,807 over the past decade funding research that involves getting monkeys to smoke and drink drugs such as PCP, methamphetamine (METH), heroin, and cocaine and then studying their behavior, including during different phases of the female monkeys’ menstrual cycles.

The study also uses “interventions” as “treatment models” for monkeys who have been taught to use drugs.

NIDA wins CNSNews.com’s “What Were They Smoking Award”—symbolized by The Golden Hookah (see video)—for sponsoring an outrageous government spending program that sends taxpayer dollars up in smoke.

Precursor research on drug-using monkeys, also funded by NIDA, discovered that after smoking cocaine monkeys exhibited “dilated pupils and slightly agitated, hyperactive behavior”—which helped researchers conclude that the “physiological effects” of cocaine on monkeys “were similar to those reported in studies of human subjects.”

In yet another federally funded study of drug-taking monkeys, the monkeys were sometimes given “trail mix” after “their daily experimental sessions.”

Back in 2001, the NIH gave $328,364 to a project called “A Primate Model of Drug Abuse: Intervention Strategies.” The principal investigator for the project was Dr. Marilyn E. Carroll, a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota.

The description of the grant published by NIH said: “Goals of the proposed research are to use a rhesus monkey model of drug abuse, to study factors affecting vulnerability to drug abuse and to evaluate behavioral and pharmacological treatment interventions. Routes of administration that have been developed in this laboratory will include oral drug self-administration and smoking.”

“Vulnerability factors to be examined,” said the NIH description, “are sex and phase of the menstrual cycle as well as patterns/duration of access to drugs.”

“The drugs that will be studied,” the NIH said, “are cocaine, ethanol, heroin, methadone and phencyclidine (PCP).”

“The use of nondrug reinforcers as a behavioral treatment will also be compared in male and female monkeys and during 3 phases of the menstrual cycle,” said the description.

“Potential treatment medications will also be examined in male monkeys using a behavioral economic approach.”

A decade later, the NIH continued to provide federal funding to the “Primate Model of Drug Abuse: Intervention Strategies” project at the University of Minnesota. On March 31, the federal agency gave the project its latest award, $386,907 in tax dollars.

A description posted by the NIH for the 2011 version of the project says the first aim of the study is: “To examine the effects of sex and menstrual cycle phase on the reinforcing strength of orally-delivered PCP and METH, and a nondrug control substance, saccharin, as well as smoked COC [cocaine], HER [heroin], and METH.”

“The main objective of this research is to develop nonhuman primate models (rhesus monkeys) of critical aspects of addiction that will yield useful information for the prevention and treatment of drug abuse,” says the description.

“The proposed experiments are designed to evaluate vulnerability factors in drug abuse, such as sex and phase of the menstrual cycle (hormonal status), that are related to the development and persistence of drug abuse,” it says.

“Nonhuman primate models of oral drug self-administration such as phencyclidine (PCP) and methamphetamine (METH) and smoked drugs such as cocaine (COC), heroin (HER), and METH will be used, and behavioral and pharmacological interventions will be applied as treatment models in males and females and in females during different phases of the menstrual cycle,” says the NIH description.

Dr. Marilyn E. Carroll, the principal investigator, explains her research on her webpage at the University of Minnesota.

“My research is directed toward developing behavioral and pharmacological methods of reducing and preventing drug abuse,” she says. “Animals are trained to self-administer drugs that humans abuse, and several phases of the addiction process are modeled, such as acquisition, maintenance, withdrawal, craving, and relapse.”

In April 20, 1990 article in Psychopharmacology (“Cocaine-base smoking in rhesus monkeys: reinforcing and physiological effects”), Carroll and three University of Minnesota colleagues—Kelly Krattinger, Daniel Gieske and Daniel A. Saddoff—described earlier federally funded research (supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse) involving monkeys. This research, they wrote, was “designed to establish a primate model of cocaine base smoking.”

Click here for the full report from CNSNews.com

Bilderberg 2011: Full Official Attendee List

June 10th, 2011

Infowars.com

Thanks to the fantastic work of Bilderberg activists, journalists and the Swiss media, we have now been able to obtain the full official list of 2011 Bilderberg attendees. Routinely, some members request that their names be kept off the roster so there will be additional Bilderbergers in attendance.

Infowars will be on the scene identifying other attendees not on the list.

Belgium

• Coene, Luc, Governor, National Bank of Belgium
• Davignon, Etienne, Minister of State
• Leysen, Thomas, Chairman, Umicore

China

• Fu, Ying, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Huang, Yiping, Professor of Economics, China Center for Economic Research, Peking University

Denmark

• Eldrup, Anders, CEO, DONG Energy
• Federspiel, Ulrik, Vice President, Global Affairs, Haldor Topsøe A/S
• Schütze, Peter, Member of the Executive Management, Nordea Bank AB

Germany

• Ackermann, Josef, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank
• Enders, Thomas, CEO, Airbus SAS
• Löscher, Peter, President and CEO, Siemens AG
• Nass, Matthias, Chief International Correspondent, Die Zeit
• Steinbrück, Peer, Member of the Bundestag; Former Minister of Finance

Finland

• Apunen, Matti, Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA
• Johansson, Ole, Chairman, Confederation of the Finnish Industries EK
• Ollila, Jorma, Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell
• Pentikäinen, Mikael, Publisher and Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat

France

• Baverez, Nicolas, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
• Bazire, Nicolas, Managing Director, Groupe Arnault /LVMH
• Castries, Henri de, Chairman and CEO, AXA
• Lévy, Maurice, Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe S.A.
• Montbrial, Thierry de, President, French Institute for International Relations
• Roy, Olivier, Professor of Social and Political Theory, European University Institute

Great Britain

• Agius, Marcus, Chairman, Barclays PLC
• Flint, Douglas J., Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings
• Kerr, John, Member, House of Lords; Deputy Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell
• Lambert, Richard, Independent Non-Executive Director, Ernst & Young
• Mandelson, Peter, Member, House of Lords; Chairman, Global Counsel
• Micklethwait, John, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
• Osborne, George, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Stewart, Rory, Member of Parliament
• Taylor, J. Martin, Chairman, Syngenta International AG

Greece

• David, George A., Chairman, Coca-Cola H.B.C. S.A.
• Hardouvelis, Gikas A., Chief Economist and Head of Research, Eurobank EFG
• Papaconstantinou, George, Minister of Finance
• Tsoukalis, Loukas, President, ELIAMEP Grisons

International Organizations

• Almunia, Joaquín, Vice President, European Commission
• Daele, Frans van, Chief of Staff to the President of the European Council
• Kroes, Neelie, Vice President, European Commission; Commissioner for Digital Agenda
• Lamy, Pascal, Director General, World Trade Organization
• Rompuy, Herman van, President, European Council
• Sheeran, Josette, Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme
• Solana Madariaga, Javier, President, ESADEgeo Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics
• Trichet, Jean-Claude, President, European Central Bank
• Zoellick, Robert B., President, The World Bank Group

Ireland

• Gallagher, Paul, Senior Counsel; Former Attorney General
• McDowell, Michael, Senior Counsel, Law Library; Former Deputy Prime Minister
• Sutherland, Peter D., Chairman, Goldman Sachs International

Italy

• Bernabè, Franco, CEO, Telecom Italia SpA
• Elkann, John, Chairman, Fiat S.p.A.
• Monti, Mario, President, Univers Commerciale Luigi Bocconi
• Scaroni, Paolo, CEO, Eni S.p.A.
• Tremonti, Giulio, Minister of Economy and Finance

Canada

• Carney, Mark J., Governor, Bank of Canada
• Clark, Edmund, President and CEO, TD Bank Financial Group
• McKenna, Frank, Deputy Chair, TD Bank Financial Group
• Orbinksi, James, Professor of Medicine and Political Science, University of Toronto
• Prichard, J. Robert S., Chair, Torys LLP
• Reisman, Heather, Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc. Center, Brookings Institution

Netherlands

• Bolland, Marc J., Chief Executive, Marks and Spencer Group plc
• Chavannes, Marc E., Political Columnist, NRC Handelsblad; Professor of Journalism
• Halberstadt, Victor, Professor of Economics, Leiden University; Former Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings
• H.M. the Queen of the Netherlands
• Rosenthal, Uri, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Winter, Jaap W., Partner, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek

Norway

• Myklebust, Egil, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors SAS, sk Hydro ASA
• H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway
• Ottersen, Ole Petter, Rector, University of Oslo
• Solberg, Erna, Leader of the Conservative Party

Austria

• Bronner, Oscar, CEO and Publisher, Standard Medien AG
• Faymann, Werner, Federal Chancellor
• Rothensteiner, Walter, Chairman of the Board, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG
• Scholten, Rudolf, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG

Portugal

• Balsemão, Francisco Pinto, Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA, S.G.P.S.; Former Prime Minister
• Ferreira Alves, Clara, CEO, Claref LDA; writer
• Nogueira Leite, António, Member of the Board, José de Mello Investimentos, SGPS, SA

Sweden

• Mordashov, Alexey A., CEO, Severstal

Schweden

• Bildt, Carl, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Björling, Ewa, Minister for Trade
• Wallenberg, Jacob, Chairman, Investor AB

Switzerland

• Brabeck-Letmathe, Peter, Chairman, Nestlé S.A.
• Groth, Hans, Senior Director, Healthcare Policy & Market Access, Oncology Business Unit, Pfizer Europe
• Janom Steiner, Barbara, Head of the Department of Justice, Security and Health, Canton
• Kudelski, André, Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group SA
• Leuthard, Doris, Federal Councillor
• Schmid, Martin, President, Government of the Canton Grisons
• Schweiger, Rolf, Ständerat
• Soiron, Rolf, Chairman of the Board, Holcim Ltd., Lonza Ltd.
• Vasella, Daniel L., Chairman, Novartis AG
• Witmer, Jürg, Chairman, Givaudan SA and Clariant AG

Spain

• Cebrián, Juan Luis, CEO, PRISA
• Cospedal, María Dolores de, Secretary General, Partido Popular
• León Gross, Bernardino, Secretary General of the Spanish Presidency
• Nin Génova, Juan María, President and CEO, La Caixa
• H.M. Queen Sofia of Spain

Turkey

• Ciliv, Süreyya, CEO, Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S.
• Gülek Domac, Tayyibe, Former Minister of State
• Koç, Mustafa V., Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.
• Pekin, Sefika, Founding Partner, Pekin & Bayar Law Firm

USA

• Alexander, Keith B., Commander, USCYBERCOM; Director, National Security Agency
• Altman, Roger C., Chairman, Evercore Partners Inc.
• Bezos, Jeff, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com
• Collins, Timothy C., CEO, Ripplewood Holdings, LLC
• Feldstein, Martin S., George F. Baker Professor of Economics, Harvard University
• Hoffman, Reid, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn
• Hughes, Chris R., Co-founder, Facebook
• Jacobs, Kenneth M., Chairman & CEO, Lazard
• Johnson, James A., Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC
• Jordan, Jr., Vernon E., Senior Managing Director, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC
• Keane, John M., Senior Partner, SCP Partners; General, US Army, Retired
• Kissinger, Henry A., Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
• Kleinfeld, Klaus, Chairman and CEO, Alcoa
• Kravis, Henry R., Co-Chairman and co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis, Roberts & Co.
• Kravis, Marie-Josée, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc.
• Li, Cheng, Senior Fellow and Director of Research, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution
• Mundie, Craig J., Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft Corporation
• Orszag, Peter R., Vice Chairman, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
• Perle, Richard N., Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
• Rockefeller, David, Former Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank
• Rose, Charlie, Executive Editor and Anchor, Charlie Rose
• Rubin, Robert E., Co-Chairman, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Secretary of the Treasury
• Schmidt, Eric, Executive Chairman, Google Inc.
• Steinberg, James B., Deputy Secretary of State
• Thiel, Peter A., President, Clarium Capital Management, LLC
• Varney, Christine A., Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust
• Vaupel, James W., Founding Director, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
• Warsh, Kevin, Former Governor, Federal Reserve Board
• Wolfensohn, James D., Chairman, Wolfensohn & Company, LLC

Click here for the full report from Infowars.com

Secret Bilderberg Agenda Leaked by Mole

June 10th, 2011

Infowars.com

By: Kurt Nimmo

Alex Jones and Infowars.com have received inside information regarding the Bilderberg agenda now unfolding in the idyllic Swiss countryside.

According to AFP journalist and legendary Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker’s inside sources, the agenda now under review includes a number of critical issues at the top of the elite’s to-do list. These breakdown as follows:

The elite are concerned that the American Congress may soon turn against the illegal and immoral invasion under humanitarian cover by NATO and the UN against the north African dictator Moammar Gaddafi.

As columnist Patrick Buchanan noted yesterday, Congress is rising in opposition to bogus wars launched by the executive branch in violation of the Constitution.

“Last week, House Speaker John Boehner had to scramble to cobble up a substitute resolution to prevent half his GOP caucus from joining with Democrats to denounce President Obama’s war in Libya as unconstitutional and to demand a total U.S. pullout in 15 days,” Buchanan wrote.

More than a third of House Republicans voted to pull out of the NATO coalition attacking Gaddafi’s forces, in essence forcing a NATO withdrawal from the color revolution engineered civil war in that country.

In January, former oil industry pastor Lindsey Williams revealed that his inside sources said oil prices will skyrocket – a fait accompli with gas prices at the pump now at historically high levels – as the global elite work behind the scenes to take take down national economies. Williams appeared on the Alex Jones Show to talk about new revelations that deal with the death of the dollar, exploding energy prices, and the engineered onset of order out of chaos revolution worldwide.

The elite now meeting behind closed doors in Switzerland are pushing for a wider war and incalculable suffering in the Middle East.

The money masters have long profited from war and mass murder. Nathan Rothschild made a financial bet on Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo while also funding the Duke of Wellington’s peninsular campaign against Napoleon. The House of Rothschild financed the Prussian War, the Crimean War and the British attempt to seize the Suez Canal from the French and also financed the Mexican War and the Civil War in the U.S.

In addition to worrying about Congress waking up to the Libyan scam, the global elite is also concerned about a diverse liberty movement that has grown exponentially with the help of an open and free internet.

In response, the pocketed pawns in Congress have introduced a raft of bills over the last few months designed to take down the internet and blunt its impact as a medium for alternative news and information.

On April 1, 2009, the Senate introduced two bills, endangering a free and open internet: S. 773: Cybersecurity Act of 2009 and S. 778 to establish a White House cybersecurity czar.

In addition, on September 20, 2010, S. 3804: Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) was introduced.

Early last month, an especially ominous bill was introduced in the Senate. Entitled Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011, PROTECT IP for short, this legislation would use copyright infringement as a smoke screen to take down web domains and institute rolling censorship.

On the international front, the European Commission gave a nod toward implementing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a draconian measure that will subvert national sovereignty, trash Net Neutrality, consumer privacy, and civil liberties. In the United States, the corporate media has virtually ignored ACTA, but then key players in the Mockingbird media are often Bilderberg attendees and privy to aspects of the agenda.

The above represent a small sampling of legislation and treaties that will be used to shut down the opposition under the cover of protecting copyright and preventing terrorism.

Hyperventilating over exaggerated threats of cybersecurity, Senator Jay Rockefeller mused during a congressional meeting on cyber crime and terrorism in 2009: “It really almost makes you ask the question would it have been better if we had never invented the internet.”

The globalists are not opposed to the internet, especially as a corporatized money-making instrument. They are, however, opposed to an open, free, and unregulated by government internet where alternative media opposed to their globalist devices are allowed to thrive.

In addition, we can expect minions of the global elite who parade around as our elected representatives and appointed government officials to continue their propaganda efforts to convince the American people that the internet will be used as a terrorist weapon of mass destruction and as such needs to be tightly regulated – for our own safety, of course, and that of the children.

Finally, the Bilderbergers will work on an effort to sucker an already economically besieged American public into further fantastic debt producing bankster bailouts, specifically for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and other member EU nations sliding toward bankruptcy and social disruption on a monumental scale.

In late 2010, the U.S. Treasury, now operating as a liaison between the government and the bankster owned private Federal Reserve, indicated it was ready to fork over billions more to the European black hole.

“There are obviously some severe market problems,” said a faceless bureaucrat, speaking on condition of anonymity. “In May, it was Greece. This is Ireland and Portugal. If there is contagion that’s a huge problem for the global economy.”

As of late 2010, the IMF, whose biggest single “shareholder” (read: parasitical host) is the United States, has committed 250 billion euros to the bankster engineered black hole.

“Why should American taxpayers be on the hook because a foreign government cannot cover its debts?” asked Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, at a House subcommittee hearing last May.

Because the plan is to take down national sovereignty, impose drastic austerity measures, hold fire sales on national assets, consolidate wealth and power, and use an endless economic crisis as an excuse to usher in world government, a one-world currency, and a sprawling high-tech police state.

Click here for the full report from Infowars.com

China Ratings House Says US Defaulting

June 10th, 2011

Yahoo! News

By: AFP

A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive debt, state media said Friday, a day after Beijing urged Washington to put its fiscal house in order.

“In our opinion, the United States has already been defaulting,” Guan Jianzhong, president of Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., the only Chinese agency that gives sovereign ratings, was quoted by the Global Times saying.

Washington had already defaulted on its loans by allowing the dollar to weaken against other currencies — eroding the wealth of creditors including China, Guan said.

Guan did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

The US government will run out of room to spend more on August 2 unless Congress bumps up the borrowing limit beyond $14.29 trillion — but Republicans are refusing to support such a move until a deficit cutting deal is reached.

Ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday joined Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s to warn the United States could lose its first-class credit rating if it fails to raise its debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on loans.

A downgrade could sharply raise US borrowing costs, worsening the country’s already dire fiscal position, and send shock waves through the financial world, which has long considered US debt a benchmark among safe-haven investments.

China is by far the top holder of US debt and has in the past raised worries that the massive US stimulus effort launched to revive the economy would lead to mushrooming debt that erodes the value of the dollar and its Treasury holdings.

Beijing cut its holdings of US Treasury securities for the fifth month in a row to $1.145 trillion in March, down $9.2 billion from February and 2.6 percent less than October’s peak of $1.175 trillion, US data showed last month.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Thursday urged the United States to adopt “effective measures to improve its fiscal situation”.

Dagong has made a name for itself by hitting out at its three Western rivals, saying they caused the financial crisis by failing to properly disclose risk.

The Chinese agency, which is trying to build an international profile, has given the United States and several other nations lower marks than they received from the the big three.

Click here for the full report from Yahoo! News

Mike Adams – The Health Ranger

Click the picture or link below to hear the Health Ranger and editor of NaturalNews.com, Mike Adams, being interviewed on The Kevin Trudeau Show, and click here to get the inside scoop on what is really going on in the world of health.

Mike Adams on The Kevin Trudeau Show 06/09/11

The Kevin Trudeau Show: 6-9-11

Today, the Health Ranger and editor of NaturalNews.com, Mike Adams, stops by the show to reveal the truth behind the deadly e.coli superbug spreading throughout Europe and why Coco-Cola is even worse for you than originally thought! Plus, find out what the drug companies are doing to keep you as a customer and why you may want to reconsider eating a banana next time you’re hungry.

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Conventional Cosmetic Products Linked To Damaging Side Effects

June 9th, 2011

Natural News

By: Ethan A. Huff

A new report published by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) highlights some of the worst cosmetic products that cause harmful side effects. Among the most damaging are permanent hair dyes, facial and body moisturizers, cleansers, and even sunscreens, all of which are used by a significant portion of the overall population. And cases of severe reactions from such everyday-use products are widespread, say researchers.

Cosmetics, of course, imply much more than just make-up for women. Hair gels, toothpastes, mouthwashes, skin creams, body sprays, moisturizers, deodorants, and pretty much anything else a person applies to skin or hair is considered a cosmetic product. In other words, virtually every human being uses some kind of cosmetic product every single day.

According to the report, entitled National Register of Adverse Effects from Cosmetic Products 2008-2010, roughly 12 percent of survey respondents indicated that they experienced “very unpleasant adverse effects” as a result of applying common, conventional cosmetic products to their skin and hair. Some of these effects were so severe that respondents indicated that they had to be hospitalized.

The overall worst offender was moisturizers, which represented nearly 58 percent of all adverse events reported. Sunscreens and tanning products ranked second worse at 12.5 percent, and both cleansing products and hair dye products placed third and fourth at 9.2 percent and 6.6 percent respectively. Further down on the list were general hair care products, dental care products, and make-up.

The number one reported adverse event from using cosmetic products included eczema and oedema, as well as blistering and/or stinging pain. Other negative effects included dermatitis, urticaria, acne, itching, and even anaphylactic shock. Swelling and allergic reactions were also common, likely due to the presence of harmful toxins in the cosmetic formulas.

“The Register gives us a better overview of the products that cause adverse effects, the type of adverse effect and who experiences them. Then we can make an assessment and even warn against the use of certain products,” said Berit Granum from the Division of Environmental Medicine at NIPH, concerning the report.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has also established a Cosmetics Database through which the public can freely access information about the ingredients used in cosmetic products. It is important to always be aware of what you are putting on your skin or ingesting in your body, and you can learn more about that here: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Click here for the full report from Natural News

Police Gun Down Man In Street, Threaten To Shoot Witnesses For Filming Incident

June 9th, 2011

Natural News

By: Ethan A. Huff

When Narces Benoit decided to use his cell phone to film Miami Beach police officers gunning down a man sitting in a parked car early Monday morning, he had no idea the same cops would eventually target him as well. According to video evidence and witness testimony, officers pointed a gun at Narces and his girlfriend, threw them to the ground, destroyed his camera and what they thought was the footage he captured, and handcuffed and arrested the couple, all because Narces happened to capture indicting video evidence of the officers’ heinous actions.

The Miami Herald reports that Narces and his girlfriend were driving on Collins Avenue in South Beach, Fla., when they happened upon the shocking tail-end of a police chase involving Raymond Herisse, the suspect in question who had allegedly fled police following a scuffle. When Herisse’s car later came to a stop, officers surrounded the vehicle and unloaded more than 100 rounds at the car, effectively murdering Herisse and injuring four innocent bystanders.

The Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) has tried to justify their shooting spree by claiming that Herisse attempted to run over officers with his car, but Narces’ video footage, which was salvaged when he discreetly removed his cell phone’s memory card and put it in his mouth before officers destroyed it, shows otherwise. In the video, it is clearly evident that Narces’ vehicle had been stopped both prior to and during the time when the gang of officers murdered him in cold blood.

You can view the video footage for yourself here:

Perhaps even more disturbing than the actual shooting, though, is the way the police aggressively threatened and intimidated those who witnessed the situation, including Narces and his girlfriend. After allegedly putting guns to their heads and throwing them to the ground, Narces says one officer grabbed his cell phone and said “You want to be [expletive] Paparazzi?” upon which he proceeded to smash the phone and stick it back into Narces’ pocket.

Initially, other officers on the scene denied any awareness that this type of activity had taken place, but the department later admitted that officers had, indeed, confiscated Narces’ and several other witnesses’ phones. Filming such incidents, of course, is perfectly legal, and the officers involved had no right to threaten, confiscate, destroy, or otherwise interfere with the activity of bystanders, but they decided to do it anyway.

Following the incident, the MBPD has come out denying that its officers had held Narces at gunpoint, or that they tried to destroy his phone. The department alleges that Narces had appeared to be fleeing the shooting scene, which prompted them to come after him. This claim, however, does not make any logical sense in light of the situation, and the video footage Narces captured shows that officers pursued him only after they realized that he had been filming the incident, upon which he fled for refuge in his vehicle.

The entire event reeks of abuse and coverup. No matter how the MBPD tries to slice and dice it before the public, there really is no justification for firing hundreds of bullets at an unmoving vehicle in the first place, especially one with a man that appears not to even have been armed. Ironically, an MBPD announcement made days after the incident that a gun had been found “somewhere” in Herisse’s vehicle upon processing — which was an attempt at justifying the officers’ actions — does not vindicate them at all. What it actually shows is that Herisse could not have been firing that weapon when police gunned him down, otherwise it would have been right there with his body and not hidden somewhere else in the car.

Further, there is absolutely no justification for officers pointing guns at and arresting innocent bystanders who were merely exercising their rightful freedom to film public events — and no amount of denial or excuse-making on behalf of the MBPD can change this fact. Narces’ video, which is the smoking gun in this case, exposes the grim reality of this encroaching American police state, and how it is quickly devolving into a deadly display of brute force all across the country. Officers of the state apparently now have no qualms about openly gunning people down, threatening to gun down witnesses, and later trying to cover up or justify their abusive actions.

Click here for the full report from Natural News

Major Drug Company Pays $44 Million to Settle Kickback Claims

June 9th, 2011

WalletPop.com

By: Jorgen Wouters

Swiss biotech giant EMD Serono Inc. agreed to pay $44.3 million last month to settle federal charges of kickbacks that resulted in the submission of false claims to Medicaid and Medicare for its multiple sclerosis drug Rebif.

Serono was accused by the U.S. federal government and a number of states of violating the False Claims Act, a federal law aimed at companies that defraud governmental programs. Serono, government attorneys said, essentially paid doctors to prescribe Rebif to patients suffering from multiple sclerosis.

“Health care decisions must be based solely upon what is best for the individual patient and not on which pharmaceutical company is paying the doctor the biggest kickback,” Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, said in a statement.

“All consumers have the right to know that their health care provider’s judgment about medications they should take has not been undermined by kickbacks from pharmaceutical manufacturers,” Rosenstein added.

Rebif was launched in 2002, and from then until 2009, the Justice Department alleged, Serono paid medical professionals to promote and prescribe the drug to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis.

Serono, the Justice Department asserted, paid health care professionals for speaking engagements and attending training, advisory, consultant and marketing meetings — many of which were held at lavish resorts and upscale urban locations — designed to promote Rebif.

All of these actions, government attorneys said, resulted in false claims for Rebif to federal health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid — claims that were tainted by kickbacks.

“It’s imperative that medical determinations are guided by a patient’s needs, not tainted by illegal incentives or fraud,” Tony West, assistant attorney general of the civil division, said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring that the chronically ill and other vulnerable members in our communities who rely on Medicare and Medicaid programs receive the best possible care.”

In a press release issued by the company, Serono stressed the fact the settlement did not require the company to admit any wrongdoing.

“It is important to note that the settlement contains no claims that unnecessary prescriptions for Rebif were written, no allegations of patient harm and no admission of fault by the company,” Thomas G. Gunning, senior vice president and general counsel for EMD Serono Inc.. said in a statement. “EMD Serono is committed to operating its business with the highest legal, compliance and ethical standards.”

The federal government will receive $34.6 million of the $44.3 million settlement, with the states sharing the remaining $9.7 million. State payments were based on how much was spent on Rebif in each state. The state of New York, for example, will receive $2.5 million from the settlement, while Washington will receive $338,000.

“Those who compromise the integrity of the markets for profit at the expense of taxpayers will be forced to pay,” New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a statement. “Taxpayers and, in this case, patients must have absolute confidence that they are receiving health care on the merits [of their needs] and that taxpayers are getting the best deal possible.”

The Serono settlement resulted from an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Maryland, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies. Since January 2009, the Justice Department has used the False Claims Act to recover more than $7.3 billion, including approximately $5.7 billion in cases involving federal health care program fraud.

This isn’t Serono’s first brush with U.S. law. In 2005, Serono paid $704 million to the federal government and the states to settle criminal charges and civil allegations of illegal activity to promote, market and sell its AIDS drug, Serostim, between 1996 and 2004. Under the settlement, Serono paid a $136.9 million criminal fine, while its affiliate companies coughed up $567 million to settle civil accusations.

Click here for the full report from Wallet Pop

You’ve Been Eating Cloned Bananas

June 9th, 2011

Natural News

By: Mike Adams

Have you ever noticed that while there are a plethora of varieties of nearly all common fruits such as apples, oranges and peaches, each banana seems identical to every other? When someone says “banana,” you probably think of a large fruit with yellow skin and a soft, pale middle.

That’s because only bananas of the “Cavendish” variety are sold in stores. And while there are indeed many species in the banana genus “Musa,” those species are drastically different from the “banana” in taste and texture. Fruit corporations long ago decided that it would best serve their profits to train consumers to expect all bananas to be identical.

In order to preserve their distinctive properties, Cavendish bananas are never allowed to reproduce sexually. That means they all have the exact same genetic code as the first Cavendish tree selected by United Fruit Corporation in the 1950s to replace the Gros Michael banana.

The Gros Michael banana — another genetically identical cultivar — was so devastated by disease that it could no longer be supplied to the global market in any quantity. Now the same disease is targeting the Cavendish variety, exposing yet again the folly and non-sustainability of monoculture.

Source: 25 Amazing Facts About Food, authored by Mike Adams and David Guiterrez. Learn surprising things about where your food comes from and what’s really in it! Download the full report (FREE) by clicking here. Inside, you’ll learn 24 more amazing but true facts about foods, beverages and food ingredients. Instant download of the complete PDF.

Click here for the full report from Natural News

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