GMO Apples

USDA APPROVES FIRST GMO APPLE FOR PLANTING

Part of 'speedy' GMO approval process

by ANTHONY GUCCIARDI | INFOWARS.COM | FEBRUARY 14, 2015

Adding another genetically modified food to the growing list of biotech creations, the USDA has now approved the first GMO apple for commercial planting inside the United States. Slated for your dinner table, the new GMO apple is reportedly ‘resistant to turning brown when sliced or bruised.’

Coming just months after the USDA approved the first genetically modified potato, the news reminds us of the USDA’s declaration to give Monsanto and other biotech organizations ‘speedy approval’ when it comes to approving genetically modified foods. In other words, less testing and more rubber stamping.

According to the New York Times, the USDA ‘considered the issues’ over the new GMO apple (including the intense opposition), writing:

“The Department of Agriculture, which approved the apples for commercial planting, said on Friday that it had considered these issues. However, it said that under the law, approval is based on whether a genetically modified crop poses a threat to other plants. The department determined that the apples posed no such risk…. The so-called Arctic apples — which will be available in the Granny Smith and Golden Delicious varieties — are genetically engineered in a way to suppress the production of an enzyme that causes browning when cells in the apple are injured, from slicing, for example.”

The good news? You may actually be able to identify these GMO apples by their sale name ‘Arctic’ — or perhaps an FDA-approved label that they are considered ‘non-browning’. An indicator that we have not yet seem with genetically modified foods — and for good reason. After all, no one would actually purchase GMO foods (including the new GMO apple) if they carried an appropriate label.

Why do you think over 96% of Monsanto shareholders are against GMO labeling?

This news comes as both a surprise and an expected announcement. As the USDA continues to roll through GMO products into the dining rooms of consumers nationwide, it’s less and less of a shock as every staple food becomes modified by mega biotech — and the time is now to demand real testing and action. Or at least answers as to why the US State Department is paying for Monsanto’s marketing materials like DVDs and threatening other countries who reject their GMO crops.

Would you eat a GMO apple?

Land of the free

U.S. Falls Again in World Press Freedom Index – Now Ranked #49 Globally

The greatest myth we Americans collectively like to tell to ourselves is that we live in the “land of the free.”

by Michael Krieger | Liberty Blitzkrieg | February 13, 2015        

In the United States, 2014 was marked by judicial harassment of New York Times investigative reporter James Risen in connection with the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer charged under the Espionage Act with giving him classified information. US journalists are still not protected by a federal shield law that would guarantee their right not to name their sources or reveal other confidential information about their work. Meanwhile, at least 15 journalists were arbitrarily arrested during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against black teenager Michael Brown’s fatal shooting by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
– From Reporters Without Borders’ 2015 World Press Freedom Index
The greatest myth we Americans collectively like to tell to ourselves is that we live in the “land of the free.” We particularly pride ourselves on “freedom of the press” — enshrined in the U.S. Constitution — but how free is this press really?
               According to the World Press Freedom Index, published each year by Reporters Without Borders, not that free at all. I highlighted last year’s plunge in the index in the post: U.S. Plunges to #46 in World Press Freedom Index, Below Romania and Just Above Haiti. Here’s an excerpt: As you might expect, the economic decline of a nation into rule by a handful of corrupt oligarchs will have many other negative repercussions. One of these is a loss of civil rights and freedoms that many of us have taken for granted. Reporters Without Borders puts out their Press Freedom Index every year, and the 2014 ranking came out today. It was not a good showing for the USSA. Specifically, the U.S. registered one of the steepest falls of all nations, down 13 slots to the #46 position. As the screen shot shows, just above Haiti and just below Romania. Well the decline continued in 2014. Dropping three spots, the U.S. now comes in just below Burkina Faso, Niger and Malta to #49. The APnotes that: The U.S. fell three places to 49th amid a “war on information” by the Obama administration in some cases. Reporters also faced difficulty covering events like demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri, where a black teenager was shot dead in August by a white police officer, Morillon said. It’s not just the U.S. either. There is a global trend away from press freedom, which makes perfect sense given that world wealth is basically being consolidated by a handful of oligarchs who don’t want the rabble to have access to anything but their various forms of propaganda. For example: War, the rise of non-state groups, crackdowns on demonstrations and economic crises provided a backdrop for a tough 2014. The Paris-based media watchdog said two-thirds of the 180 countries surveyed in its annual World Press Freedom index scored worse than a year earlier. Western Europe, while top-ranked, lost the most ground as a region. Three Nordic countries headed the list, but there was slippage in Italy — where mafia and other threats weighed on journalists — and Iceland, where the relationship between the media and politicians soured, the group said. Here’s the list of countries that ranked ahead of the U.S.

Rank	Country
1	Finland
2	Norway
3	Denmark
4	Netherlands
5	Sweden
6	New Zealand
7	Austria
8	Canada
9	Jamaica
10	Estonia
11	Ireland
12	Germany
13	Czech Republic
14	Slovakia
15	Belgium
16	Costa Rica
17	Namibia
18	Poland
19	Luxembourg
20	Switzerland
21	Iceland
22	Ghana
23	Uruguay
24	Cyprus
25	Australia
26	Portugal
27	Liechtenstein
28	Latvia
29	Suriname
30	Belize
31	Lithuania
32	Andorra
33	Spain
34	United Kingdom
35	Slovenia
36	Cape Verde
37	Eastern Caribbean
38	France
39	South Africa
40	Samoa
41	Trinidad and Tobago
42	Botswana
43	Chile
44	Tonga
45	El Salvador
46	Burkina Faso
47	Niger
48	Malta
49	United States

When it comes to these United States, it’s not just press freedom that has been plunging. Economic freedom has been also spiraling down the toilet bowl ever since the year 2000. Recall the post from last fall, New Report – The United States’ Sharp Drop in Economic Freedom Since 2000 Driven by “Decline in Rule of Law”. Here’s an excerpt:

Expanded use of regulation has also been an important contributing factor to the declining ratings of the United States. During the past decade, non-tariff trade barriers, restrictions on foreign investment, and business regulation have all grown extensively. The expanded use of regulation in the United States has resulted in sharp rating reductions for components such as independence of the judiciary, impartiality of the courts, and regulatory favoritism. To a large degree, the United States has experienced a significant move away from rule of law and toward a highly regulated, politicized, and heavily policed state.

VACCINATED CHILDREN HAVE UP TO 500% MORE DISEASE THAN UNVACCINATED CHILDREN

VACCINATED CHILDREN HAVE UP TO 500% MORE DISEASE THAN UNVACCINATED CHILDREN

PF Louis

Natural News

June 19, 2012

(NaturalNews) Suspicions have been confirmed for those wary of vaccinating their children. A recent large study corroborates other independent study surveys comparing unvaccinated children to vaccinated children.

They all show that vaccinated children have two to five times more childhood diseases, illnesses, and allergies than unvaccinated children.

Originally, the recent still ongoing study compared unvaccinated children against a German national health survey conducted by KiGGS involving over 17,000 children up to age 19. This currently ongoing survey study was initiated by classical homoeopathist Andreas Bachmair.

However, the American connection for Bachmair’s study can be found at VaccineInjury.info website that has added a link for parents of vaccinated children to participate in the study. So far this ongoing survey has well over 11,000 respondents,mostly from the U.S.A. Other studies have surveyed smaller groups of families.

Nevertheless, the results were similar. Of course, none of these studies were picked up by the MSM (mainstream media). None were funded by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the World Health Organization (WHO) or any national or international health agency or medical profession group (http://healthimpactnews.com).

They don’t dare compare the health of unvaccinated children to vaccinated children objectively and risk disrupting their vaxmania (vaccination mania). The focus for all the studies was mostly on childhood illnesses occurring as the children matured.

Dramatic, debilitating, or lethal vaccine injuries were not the focus since so few, five percent or less, actually get reported to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Injury Reporting System) in the U.S.A. for various reasons including:

* It’s a complicated system that takes time from a doctor’s practice.
* Most parents don’t know about it.
* Only adverse reactions that occur immediately after vaccinations are considered.
* Since VAERS is voluntary, most doctors don’t want to incriminate themselves with vaccination injuries and maintain their denial of vaccine dangers.

Consequently, even the most terrible adverse reactions are minimally acknowledged, while long term negative health issues resulting from vaccines are not even considered relevant.

Different surveys summarized

The childhood diseases usually posed to respondents by the independent surveys involved asthma, reoccurring tonsillitis, chronic bronchitis, sinusitis, allergies, eczema, ear infections, diabetes, sleep disorders, bedwetting, dyslexia, migraines, hyperactivity, ADD, epilepsy, depression, and slower development of speech or motor skills.

In 1992, a New Zealand group called theImmunization Awareness Society (IAS) surveyed 245 families with a total of 495 children. The children were divided with 226 vaccinated and 269 unvaccinated. Eighty-one families had both vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

The differences were dramatic, with unvaccinated children showing far less incidence of common childhood ailments than vaccinated children (http://www.vaccineinjury.info/images/stories/ias1992study.pdf).

From a different survey in the South Island New Zealand city of Christchurch, among children born during or after 1977, none of the unvaccinated children had asthma events where nearly 25% of the vaccinated children were treated for asthma by age 10 (http://www.vaccineinjury.info/images/stories/ias1992study.pdf).

Many of the comments from non-vaccinating parents to VaccineInjury.info for the ongoing Bachmair survey mentioned vaccination danger and developing true immunity naturally were concerns (http://www.vaccineinjury.info).

A PhD immunologist who wrote the book Vaccine Illusion, Dr. Tetyana Obukhanych, has gone against the dogma of her medical training and background. She asserts that true immunity to any disease is not conferred by vaccines. Exposure to the disease, whether contracted or not, does (http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org).

Perhaps the most informal grass-roots survey going on now is by Tim O’Shea, DC, author of Vaccination is Not Immunization. He simply has non-vaccinating parents email him with comparisons of their children’s health to friends and families they know with vaccinated children. That and more is available on his site (http://www.thedoctorwithin.com).

Sources for this article include:

http://healthimpactnews.com

http://www.vaccineinjury.info/images/stories/ias1992study.pdf

Link to participate in Bachmair survey here:http://www.vaccineinjury.info

http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org

http://www.thedoctorwithin.com

May be of interest for the undecided:http://churnyourown.com/2011/11/28/vaccine-controversy/

UNVACCINATED CHILDREN LESS PRONE TO ALLERGIES AND DISEASE THAN VACCINATED CHILDREN

STUDY: UNVACCINATED CHILDREN LESS PRONE TO ALLERGIES AND DISEASE THAN VACCINATED CHILDREN

Ethan Huff

Natural News
October 13, 2011

It is commonly assumed that vaccinations are responsible for bringing about substantial improvements in public health, and that humans were much more prone to developing serious disease prior to their advent. But a new survey released by VaccineInjury.info debunks this myth by showing that unvaccinated children are far less prone to developing allergies, autoimmune disorders, neurological problems, endocrine diseases, and other illnesses compared to their vaccinated counterparts.

German homeopathic practitioner Andreas Bachmair compiled health data on more than 8,000 unvaccinated children from at least 15 different countries, and compared it to health data compiled on more than 17,400 vaccinated children involved in a German study known asKiGGS – The German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents.

The children involved in both studies ranged in age from 0 – 17, but most of the children involved in the unvaccinated study were eight years of age or younger. Both studies, however, used the same criteria for collecting data on children’s health, and both are considered to have arrived at valid results.

In every single health category evaluated as part of both studies, the overall health of unvaccinated children was leaps and bounds ahead of the vaccinated children. The allergy rate among vaccinated children, for instance, was more than double the allergy rate among unvaccinated children. And worse, vaccinated children were found to be nearly eight times more prone to developing asthma or chronic Bronchitis than were unvaccinated children.

Another significant difference between the two groups was observed in the category of autoimmune disorders. While less than half of one percent of unvaccinated children were found to have developed an autoimmune disease, roughly seven percent of vaccinated children developed one — and according to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), nearly 25 percent of Americans today suffer from at least one autoimmune disorder.

The other health categories where unvaccinated children fared better than vaccinated children included neurodermatitis, herpes, otitis media, hay fever, hyperactivity, scoliosis, epilepsy and seizures, migraine headaches, and thyroid disease. The only category where disease rates were roughly equal between the two groups was in the category of diabetes mellitus, a disease which affects only about 0.2% of children under 20 anyway.

You can view the entire Bachmair vaccination study, complete with thorough details and visual graphs, by visiting:

http://www.vaccineinjury.info/vaccinations-in-general/health-unvaccinated-children/survey-results-illnesses.html

Vaccine Vocabulary

Essential vocabulary for the medical police state descending upon America

Incredibly, U.S. Presidential candidates from the democratic party are now openly suggesting that all parents across America should be arrested and charged with crimes if they do not submit to having their children injected with toxic chemicals like mercury, aluminum, MSG and formaldehyde (all of which are known neurotoxins, by the way).

The top Republican candidates, on the other hand, are correctly pointing out that America is not a dictatorship and that citizens still have medical choice. Rand Paul, in particular, continues to correctly support medical choice even though he still advocates vaccines in principle.

It is astonishing that there's even a question over whether citizens of America own their own bodies. The public health contradictions from Washington have reached a level of insanity no one could have imagined just a year ago. For example, the White House and CDC both insist that doctors and nurses directly exposed to Ebola victims should not be quarantined. But perfectly healthy children who have no symptoms of any disease must be quarantined, we're not told, if they've never been vaccinated.

In what bizarro world should healthy children be quarantined while nurses exposed to Ebola should not? The weird world of voodoo vaccine science, of course.

"Voodoo vaccine science" is just one of the many new terms you'll need to know in order to make sense of the conversation. Here are several more:



Essential terms for the medical police state

Medical kidnapping - When hospitals kidnap children for profit by naming a diagnosis that demands an expensive course of treatment. If the parents ask for a second medical opinion or refuse to go along with the recommended treatment, doctors call law enforcement and Child Protective Services to seize custody of the child and threaten the parents with arrest if they interfere. The increasing frequency of medical kidnappings in America has given rise to the website www.MedicalKidnap.com

Gag order - When hospitals kidnap children for profit, the local courts are often used to issue gag orders that attempt to prevent the parents from talking to the press. This accomplishes the goal of preventing the public from hearing the truth about medical kidnappings.

Shaken Baby Syndrome - The diagnosis often assigned to a baby damaged by vaccines. Because the medical establishment can never blame vaccines for anything, all the damage they cause must be blamed on the parents. Shaken Baby Syndrome is frequently invoked to accomplish exactly that. This does not mean that there aren't also genuine cases of parents shaking babies to the point of harm, only that the diagnosis is simultaneously used to blame some parents for damage caused by vaccines.

Vaccine violence - Refers to the biological violence committed against children by vaccine manufacturers who have been repeatedly caught committing scientific fraud, faking vaccine results, running vaccine experiments on children in third world nations and much more.

Medical Abuse - A term used by doctors to silence parents who ask too many medical questions such as, "Do flu shots still contain mercury?" (Yes, they do.) Under the medical police state in America today, doctors have become intolerant medical enforcers who can call for parents to be arrested while their children are seized by state authorities. The mere invocation of "medical abuse" is all that's necessary, even if it is entirely fabricated. Under a medical police state, parents are required to OBEY, not question.

Medical fascism - A system of medicine dominated by collusion between corporations and the state. Mirrors political fascism which is the merging of corporations and the state for the purpose of exerting totalitarian control over the population. Medical fascism is now the de facto state of medicine in America today. Under medical fascism, medical kidnappings are condoned by the state and also corporate-funded trolls and corrupt industry "scientists." See the list of medical kidnappings happening in America.

Chemical child abuse - Describes the reality of the rampant abuse of children by the medical and pharmaceutical industries, both of which see children as profit centers rather than conscious individual beings. Big Pharma exploits children to profit from psychiatric drugs and the mass-medication of children with mind-altering chemicals. The vaccine industry profits by releasing vaccines that fail to protect against outbreaks, then blaming the outbreaks on the lack of vaccines.

Vaccine voodoo science - Describes the delusional groupthink upon which modern-day vaccine propaganda is based. In vaccine voodoo science, all evidence that vaccines don't work or might cause harm is automatically censored. All whistleblowers from within the vaccine industry (or even the CDC) who attempt to go public with firsthand accounts of scientific fraud are silenced and intimidated. All vaccines are, by default, declared to be "safe and effective" even when their own insert sheets clearly state they are often backed by no clinical trials whatsoever.

Quarantine - A tactic used by the government to isolate "undesirables" from society, regardless of whether they carry any infectious disease. The U.S. government now says that nurses who have been directly exposed to Ebola patients in Africa should never be quarantined, but children who are perfectly healthy but not vaccinated should always be quarantined. The government, in other words, believes that a healthy child who isn't vaccinated is more dangerous than a nurse carrying Ebola.

Gunpoint medicine - A term coined here at NaturalNews.com, which describes the real foundation of a medical police state: guns in your face while the government demands your compliance. When medicine must be forced upon the population at gunpoint, it becomes a mockery of the very thing it claims to stand for: "First, do no harm." Any system of medicine that must use armed government agents in order to achieve compliance is no system of medicine at all... it is brute-force tyranny carried out under the false banner of "public health."

Pro-Choice - A term that is embraced by supporters of abortion rights for women while being simultaneously contradicted by those very same people when it comes to medical choice for children. Nearly all political democrats in America currently believe it is a woman's choice to end the life of an unborn child, but they simultaneously hold the contradictory belief that women should have no choice whatsoever about whether to inject their children with toxic mercury and other chemicals still used in vaccines. "Pro-choice" is selectively applied, in other words. A mother's choice ends when the child is born, we are told, at which point the state becomes the parent and therefore dictates all health choices affecting the child.

Safe and effective - The junk science mantra endlessly repeated in the media, which actually describes vaccines that have adverse side effects and often don't work. Vaccines that cause the very diseases they claim to prevent -- or that openly admit they are backed by no clinical trials at all -- are confidently described as "safe and effective" by utterly clueless doctors, drug pushers and media newscasters who are ordered to read pro-vaccine teleprompter scripts on air or lose their jobs. All health news is entirely scripted to support the vaccine industry while censoring real events of children being harmed by vaccines.

Herd Immunity - The flawed theory that claims all children must be immunized in order for any of the children in a particular group to be safe from a disease. "Herd immunity" fails to recognize the following logical contradiction: If vaccines create immunity, then vaccinated children have nothing to fear at all from unvaccinated children. Somehow, by invoking the phrase "herd immunity," we are told that unvaccinated children magically caused vaccinated children to retroactively lose their vaccine protection.

This irrational thinking is also part of "vaccine voodoo science," mentioned above.

Vaccine skeptics - People who are skeptical of the false claims, fraudulent research, toxic ingredients and distorted propaganda of the vaccine industry. Members of the scientific community that dominates the western media today claim to be "skeptics" when it comes to homeopathy or vitamins, but skepticism is never allowed when it comes to psychiatric drugs, vaccines, statin drugs or anything that generates profits for the cancer industry. All conventional "skeptics" are actually gullible stooges when it comes to thinking critically about vaccines, psychiatric drugs or chemotherapy.

Pro-vaccine - A term used to describe a person who blindly accepts the "groupthink" of vaccine voodoo science; namely, that all vaccines are "safe and effective" even when the hard science clearly says they are not.

Another important attribute of the pro-vaccine person is their belief that all vaccines are perfectly safe no matter what chemicals or heavy metals they contain. Mercury in fish is toxic to the body, everybody knows, but pro-vaccine denialists claim that mercury injected in the form of a vaccine is magically transformed into "safe mercury."

To be blindly "pro-vaccine" is to also be pro-mercury, pro-aluminum, pro-MSG, pro-formaldehyde and pro-medical-fascism.

I think this speaks for itself

Get your flu shot!

And here are some of the adverse effects many have experienced after getting their flu shot

• Eye pain and chest pain
• Arthritis
• Dizziness, tremors and losing consciousness (syncope)
• Convulsions and seizures
• Gullain-Barre Syndrome
• Cranial nerve paralysis or limb paralysis
• Swelling of the brain
• Partial facial paralysis

• Blood and Lymphatic System Disorders: Lymphadenopathy.
• Eye Disorders: Eye pain, photophobia.
• Gastrointestinal Disorders: Dysphagia.
• General Disorders and Administration Site Conditions: Chest pain, injection site inflammation, asthenia, injection site rash, abnormal gait, injection site bruising, injection site sterile abscess.
• Immune System Disorders: Allergic reactions including anaphylaxis, angioedema.
• Infections and Infestations: Rhinitis, laryngitis, cellulitis.
• Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Disorders: Muscle weakness, arthritis.
• Nervous System Disorders: Dizziness, paresthesia, hypoesthesia, hypokinesia, tremor, somnolence, syncope, Guillain-Barre syndrome, convulsions/seizures, facial or cranial nerve paralysis, encephalopathy, limb paralysis.
• Psychiatric Disorders: Insomnia.
• Respiratory, Thoracic, and Mediastinal Disorders: Dyspnea, dysphonia, bronchospasm, throat tightness.
• Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue Disorders: Urticaria, pruritus, sweating.
• Vascular Disorders: Flushing, pallor.

 In what world has mercury been good for humans?  And if there have been no controlled trials, that would make the public the lab rat.  I don't know about you but I'd rather not play Russian roulette with any of these vaccines that are being pushed.  Putting a gun to your head and hoping there isn't a bullet in the chamber is no different then putting a needle in your arm and hoping you don't get any of the many possible side effects.   

Mercury is good for you?

But what does the insert of the vaccine say about adverse reactions?

Merck's M-M-R® II

(MEASLES, MUMPS, and
RUBELLA VIRUS VACCINE LIVE)

ADVERSE REACTIONS
The following adverse reactions are listed in decreasing order of severity, without regard to causality, within each body system category and have been reported during clinical trials, with use of the marketed vaccine, or with use of monovalent or bivalent vaccine containing measles, mumps, or rubella:
Body as a Whole
Panniculitis; atypical measles; fever; syncope; headache; dizziness; malaise; irritability.
Cardiovascular System
Vasculitis.
Digestive System
Pancreatitis; diarrhea; vomiting; parotitis; nausea.
Endocrine System
Diabetes mellitus.
Hemic and Lymphatic System
Thrombocytopenia (see WARNINGS, Thrombocytopenia); purpura; regional lymphadenopathy;
leukocytosis.
Immune System
Anaphylaxis and anaphylactoid reactions have been reported as well as related phenomena such as angioneurotic edema (including peripheral or facial edema) and bronchial spasm in individuals with or without an allergic history.
Musculoskeletal System
Arthritis; arthralgia; myalgia.  Arthralgia and/or arthritis (usually transient and rarely chronic), and polyneuritis are features of infection with wild-type rubella and vary in frequency and severity with age and sex, being greatest in adult females and least in prepubertal children. This type of involvement as well as myalgia and paresthesia, have also been reported following administration of MERUVAX II.  Chronic arthritis has been associated with wild-type rubella infection and has been related to persistent virus and/or viral antigen isolated from body tissues. Only rarely have vaccine recipients developed chronic joint symptoms.  Following vaccination in children, reactions in joints are uncommon and generally of brief duration. In women, incidence rates for arthritis and arthralgia are generally higher than those seen in children (children: 0-3%; women: 12-26%),{17,56,57} and the reactions tend to be more marked and of longer duration. Symptoms may persist for a matter of months or on rare occasions for years. In adolescent girls, the reactions appear to be intermediate in incidence between those seen in children and in adult women. Even in women older than 35 years, these reactions are generally well tolerated and rarely interfere with normal activities.
Nervous System
Encephalitis; encephalopathy; measles inclusion body encephalitis (MIBE) (see
CONTRAINDICATIONS); subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE); Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS); acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM); transverse myelitis; febrile convulsions; afebrile convulsions or seizures; ataxia; polyneuritis; polyneuropathy; ocular palsies; paresthesia.
Experience from more than 80 million doses of all live measles vaccines given in the U.S. through
1975 indicates that significant central nervous system reactions such as encephalitis and
encephalopathy, occurring within 30 days after vaccination, have been temporally associated with
measles vaccine very rarely.{58} In no case has it been shown that reactions were actually caused by vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pointed out that "a certain number of cases of encephalitis may be expected to occur in a large childhood population in a defined period of time even when no vaccines are administered". However, the data suggest the possibility that some of these cases may have been caused by measles vaccines. The risk of such serious neurological disorders following live measles virus vaccine administration remains far less than that for encephalitis and encephalopathy with wild-type measles (one per two thousand reported cases).
Post-marketing surveillance of the more than 200 million doses of M-M-R and M-M-R II that have been distributed worldwide over 25 years (1971 to 1996) indicates that serious adverse events such as encephalitis and encephalopathy continue to be rarely reported.{17}
There have been reports of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) in children who did not have a history of infection with wild-type measles but did receive measles vaccine. Some of these cases may nhave resulted from unrecognized measles in the first year of life or possibly from the measles vaccination. Based on estimated nationwide measles vaccine distribution, the association of SSPE cases to measles vaccination is about one case per million vaccine doses distributed. This is far less than the association with infection with wild-type measles, 6-22 cases of SSPE per million cases of measles. The results of a retrospective case-controlled study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that the overall effect of measles vaccine has been to protect against SSPE by preventing nmeasles with its inherent higher risk of SSPE.{59}
Cases of aseptic meningitis have been reported to VAERS following measles, mumps, and rubella
vaccination. Although a causal relationship between the Urabe strain of mumps vaccine and aseptic
meningitis has been shown, there is no evidence to link Jeryl Lynn™ mumps vaccine to aseptic
meningitis.
Respiratory System
Pneumonia; pneumonitis (see CONTRAINDICATIONS); sore throat; cough; rhinitis.
Skin
Stevens-Johnson syndrome; erythema multiforme; urticaria; rash; measles-like rash; pruritis.
Local reactions including burning/stinging at injection site; wheal and flare; redness (erythema);
swelling; induration; tenderness; vesiculation at injection site.

Special Senses — Ear
Nerve deafness; otitis media.

Special Senses — Eye
Retinitis; optic neuritis; papillitis; retrobulbar neuritis; conjunctivitis.

Urogenital System
Epididymitis; orchitis.

Other
Death from various, and in some cases unknown, causes has been reported rarely following
vaccination with measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines; however, a causal relationship has not been established in healthy individuals (see CONTRAINDICATIONS). No deaths or permanent sequelae were reported in a published post-marketing surveillance study in Finland involving 1.5 million children and adults who were vaccinated with M-M-R II during 1982 to 1993.{60} Under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, health-care providers and manufacturers are required to record and report certain suspected adverse events occurring within specific time periods after vaccination. However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has established a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) which will accept all reports of suspected events.{49} A VAERS report form as well as information regarding reporting requirements can be obtained by calling VAERS 1-800-822-7967.


Sign me up for one of those vaccines! Please.....

Obama says to get your vaccinations

Join or Die

Join or Die

Benjamin Franklin is famous for his sense of humor. In 1751, he wrote a satirical commentary in his Pennsylvania Gazette suggesting that as a way to thank the Brits for their policy of sending convicted felons to America, American colonists should send rattlesnakes to England.

Three years later, in 1754, he used a snake to illustrate another point. This time not so humorous. Franklin sketched, carved, and published the first known political cartoon in an American newspaper. It was the image of a snake cut into eight sections. The sections represented the individual colonies and the curves of the snake suggested the coastline. New England was combined into one section as the head of the snake. South Carolina was at the tail. Beneath the snake were the ominous words "Join, or Die."

This had nothing to do with independence from Britain. It was a plea for unity in defending the colonies during the French and Indian War. It played off a common superstition of the time: a snake that had been cut into pieces could come back to life if you joined the sections together before sunset.

The snake illustration was reprinted throughout the colonies. Dozens of newspapers from Massachusetts to South Carolina ran Franklin's sketch or some variation of it. For example, the Boston Gazette recreated the snake with the words "Unite and Conquer" coming from its mouth.

I suppose the newspaper editors were hungry for graphic material, this being America's first political cartoon. Whatever the reason, Franklin's snake wiggled its way into American culture as an early symbol of a shared national identity.

Written by Chris Witten @ Gadsden.info

Don't Tread on Me

The origins of the Gadsden flag

By 1775, the snake symbol wasn't just being printed in newspapers. It was appearing all over the colonies: on uniform buttons, on paper money, and of course, on banners and flags.

The snake symbol morphed quite a bit during its rapid, widespread adoption. It wasn't cut up into pieces anymore. And it was usually shown as an American timber rattlesnake, not a generic serpent.

We don't know for certain where, when, or by whom the familiar coiled rattlesnake was first used with the warning "Don't Tread on Me."

It is not known when it first entered the history books.

In the fall of 1775, the British were occupying Boston and the young Continental Army was holed up in Cambridge, woefully short on arms and ammunition. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, Washington's troops had been so low on gunpowder that they were ordered "not to fire until you see the whites of their eyes."

In October, a merchant ship called The Black Prince returned to Philadelphia from a voyage to England. On board were private letters to the Second Continental Congress that informed them that the British government was sending two ships to America loaded with arms and gunpowder for the British troops.

Congress decided that General Washington needed those arms more than the British. A plan was hatched to capture the cargo ships. They authorized the creation of a Continental Navy, starting with four ships. The frigate that carried the information from England, the Black Prince, was one of the four. It was purchased, converted to a man-of-war, and renamed the Alfred.

To accompany the Navy on their first mission, Congress also authorized the mustering of five companies of Marines. The Alfred and its sailors and marines went on to achieve some of the most notable victories of the American Revolution. But that's not the story we're interested in here.

What's particularly interesting for us is that some of the Marines that enlisted that month in Philadelphia were carrying drums painted yellow, emblazoned with a fierce rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike, with thirteen rattles, and sporting the motto "Don't Tread on Me."

An American Guesser

In December 1775, "An American Guesser" anonymously wrote to the Pennsylvania Journal:

"I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, 'Don't tread on me.' As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America."

This anonymous writer, having "nothing to do with public affairs" and "in order to divert an idle hour," speculated on why a snake might be chosen as a symbol for America.

First, it occurred to him that "the Rattle-Snake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America."

The rattlesnake also has sharp eyes, and "may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance." Furthermore,

"She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. ... she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her."

Finally,

"I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, 'till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. ...

"'Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living."

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Many scholars now agree that this "American Guesser" was Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin is also known for opposing the use of an eagle — "a bird of bad moral character" — as a national symbol.

Written by Chris Witten @ Gadsden.info

Distress Signal

      Why is the US Flag diplayed Upside Down?

The upside down U.S. flag is an official signal of distress. It is not meant to be, and is not officially recognized as any type of disrespect when so displayed for the right reasons. To the contrary, here is the relevant part of the US Code of Laws regarding how to fly the flag when in distress:

THE FLAG CODE 

Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10 

As amended by P.L. 344, 94th Congress

Approved July 7, 1976

§ 176. Respect for flag: No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

America is in a extreme danger to her life and property. Ask yourself how free are we really as an American people. How many times do you see our rights, guaranteed to us in the constitution, being violated everyday in the news. When will we as a people and country wake up and take back our rights? If it is not soon America as we once knew it will be dead and forgotten. 

This is the reason for this blog