House votes 397-21 for “Iran Freedom Support Act”

As if Iraq isn’t a big enough mess, the House of Representatives has just voted to ‘hold Iran accountable and support a transition to democracy’. Sound Familiar? Only this time Iran is a democracy. They just held an election where their president was actually elected by the people. How refreshing.

After everything that has been exposed...the lies, the profiteering, the long list of war crimes, 397 ‘Representatives’ gave Bush the go ahead on attacking Iran. Only 21 Patriots voted Nay.

Esas imágenes que los Estados Unidos no quieren ver

Translation: The images the United States doesn't want you to see

Warning: Graphic

So, George and Dick and all you PNACers, this is what you are willing to pay to make money? You should be put on trial, and locked away for the rest of your natural lives.

Reposted: Russia Recently

4/22/06: Russian bombers flew undetected across Arctic

Russian military planes flew undetected through the U.S. zone of the Arctic Ocean to Canada during recent military exercises, a senior Air Force commander said Saturday.

The commander of the country's long-range strategic bombers, Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, said the U.S. Air Force is now investigating why its military was unable to detect the Russian bombers.
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4/21/06: Dollar too unstable to be reliable

Russia cannot consider the dollar as a reliable reserve currency because of its instability, the finance minister said Friday.

"This currency has devalued by 40% against the euro in recent years," Alexei Kudrin told a news conference in Washington on the occasion of the opening spring session of the International Monetary Fund.
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4/22/06: Russia Warns on Aggravating Iran Standoff

A top Kremlin diplomat warned against threatening Iran with sanctions or the use of force, saying that would only aggravate the international standoff over Tehran's suspect nuclear program, Russian media reports said Saturday.

"We firmly stand today for resolving the problems in and around Tehran diplomatically rather than militarily. Increasing international pressure on Iran has no prospects," Ozerov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
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4/27/06: War on Iran will start this year - Zhirinovsky

Populist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a deputy speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, said Thursday that war would be declared on Iran in 2006.

Apple's all-seeing screen

We could soon see a new kind of display screen from computer maker Apple – one that simultaneously takes pictures while showing images.

The clever idea is to insert thousands of microscopic image sensors in-between the liquid crystal display cells in the screen. Each sensor captures its own small image, but software stitches these together to create a single, larger picture.

Who's looking at you, kid?

Conservatives Bow to Industry, Block Amendment to Scan All Shipping Containers

Early this afternoon, conservatives in the House Homeland Security Committee voted down an amendment by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) that would have mandated 100 percent scanning of American-bound shipping containers for radiological weapons.

The vote followed an “aggressive lobbying campaign” by a “coalition of industry groups” who pressed conservative members to oppose the amendment. Yesterday, committee chairman Peter King (R-NY) announced that he was caving to industry interests. His excuse was that Markey’s plan was “not realistic“:

There’s no sense putting something in the bill if it’s not realistic, if it’s not going to be implemented and can’t be done. We want a real bill, not a headline.

In fact, the plan is realistic: for well over a year, Hong Kong has been successfully using high tech screening machines to inspect every single container. Achieving that in the United States will undoubtedly take time, but it is technologically feasible, and should be our number one port security priority. Businesses that rely on shipping simply don’t want to spend the money, and conservatives are bending to their will at the expense of our homeland security.

Copy of the Markey amendment

Susan Lindauer, cousin to Andy Card

Lindauer,42, an ex-Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter, former U.S. Congressional aide and a cousin of White House Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, was charged in March 2004 with espionage for conspiring to act as a spy and being an unregistered Iraqi agent.

Although the espionage charge has since been dropped, U.S. prosecutors originally alleged the antiwar activist accepted $10,000 from Hussein's intelligence unit over five years and sought to support resistance groups after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Lindauer always had categorically denied accepting Iraqi money, saying she was framed for wanting to go public about sensitive information she possessed about the illegal Iraqi invasion, as well as information she was going to publish clearly demonstrating that Pan Am Flight 103 was an inside government job and blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by Syrians, not Libyans as the U.S. insists.

Lindauer has been jailed since last October for psychiatric evaluation despite the fact she was found mentally competent by a court-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Landauer numerous times before her imprisonment.

"Someone put acid on the steering wheel of my car on a day I was supposed to drive to NYC for a meeting at the Libya House," she wrote. "I scrubbed my hands with a toilet brush, but my face was burned so badly that 3 weeks later friends worried I might be badly scarred. Also, my house was bugged with listening devices and cameras -- little red laser lights in the shower vent. And I survived several assassination attempts. Oh, could I write a book."

Iran oil bourse next week

Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said on Wednesday that the establishment of Oil Stock Exchange is in its final stage and the bourse will be launched in Iran in the next week.

He told reporters, upon arrival from Qatar where he attended the 10th General Assembly of International Energy Agency and consultations with OPEC member states, that registration of the Oil Stock Exchange is underway and the entity will operate after being approved by by Council of Stock Exchange.

He rejected a statement attributed to him saying that Oil Stock Exchange will bring to the ground the US economy and said, "I don't know who has speculated that I've not talked about US economy." Asked about conference on energy in Doha, he said that more than 60 countries and 30 oil companies and consultants took part in the conference.

Kamal Daneshyar, who heads the Majlis Energy Commission, told Iran’s Economic News Agency that the oil bourse will open on Kish Island, Iran’s main free trade zone in the Persian Gulf.

“The first phase will handle deals on oil derivatives,“ he said, adding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Management and Planning Organization (MPO) have approved relevant rules to the effect.

What makes the Iranian Oil Bourse the subject of such interest by the American government? According to rumors, which first vaulted the issue into the spotlight, the financial exchange in the aforementioned bourse will trade for oil in euros instead of the U.S. dollar. The dollar has long been the dominant currency for international oil trade.

The debate over the ultimate financial impact of trading oil in euros rather than dollars is a complex one, but according to some experts such a move could lead to a huge drop in value for the American currency, potentially putting the U.S. economy in its greatest crisis since the depression era of the 1930s.

Wikipedia entry on Kish Island

Link to a great explanation of the dollar consequences of an Iranian Oil Bourse and the US move away from a gold standard

Democrats lose House vote on Net neutrality

By a 34-22 vote, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee rejected a Democratic-backed Net neutrality amendment that also enjoyed support from Internet and software companies including Microsoft, Amazon.com and Google.

Original post on net neutrality

The bottom line...you may have to pay more for certain access, or be denied access for certain content all together.

So Much for "Force Fields"

"The Army is passing up [on Trophy] ... to pursue an alternative system that won’t be fielded until 2010 or later," Defense News ace Greg Grant reports.

Texas Training Pamphlet: 'Nice Guys' Who Wear Levis & Travel With Children Likely Terrorists

A Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Law Enforcement pamphlet gives the public characteristics to identify terrorists that include buying baby formula, beer, wearing Levi jeans, carrying identifying documents like a drivers license and traveling with women or children.

View Entire Pamphlet: Page 1 Page 2

Enterprise Carrier Strike Group set to deploy

Nearly 7,500 sailors will leave their East Coast homeports May 2 when the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group deploys in support of the Global War on Terrorism, the Navy’s Second Fleet announced.

The six-ship group includes the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Enterprise and Carrier Air Wing 1; the cruiser Leyte Gulf, destroyer McFaul and frigate Nicholas, all based in Norfolk; the attack sub Alexandria, homeported in Groton, Conn.; and the fast combat supply ship USNS Supply, out of Earle Weapons Station, N.J.

More info as it becomes available...

State Would Outlaw Mandatory Microchip Implants

Wisconsin is way ahead of its time...note to all those who thought I was crazy for concerning myself with the prospect of mandatory chip implants; I'm not the only one.

A proposal moving through the Wisconsin Legislature would prohibit anyone from requiring people to have the tiny RFID chips embedded in them or doing so without their knowledge. Violators would face fines of up to $10,000.

If this bill passes, Wisconsin would be the first state to ban mandatory microchip implants.

Proposed National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, includes opening intelligence front companies in the US and abroad

Section 921 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 states:

SEC. 921. PERMANENT AUTHORITY FOR DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE
COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES.

Section 431(a) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking the last sentence.

What does Section 431(a) of title 10, United States Code say? That is below:

(a) Authority.— The Secretary of Defense, subject to the provisions of this subchapter, may authorize the conduct of those commercial activities necessary to provide security for authorized intelligence collection activities abroad undertaken by the Department of Defense. No commercial activity may be initiated pursuant to this subchapter after December 31, 2004.

Commercial activity is defined in the link above, and would allow the Department of Defense to set up front companies in the US and abroad in support of "collection of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information".

The DOD had to discountinue starting front companies at the end of 2004. Now, if this legislation is passed as is, they will be able to being anew. Watch out for who's partnering with your search engine, your cell phone company, your ISP, your bank, your travel agent...

Top 10 Weapons of the Future

1. Autonomous weapons
2. High-energy lasers
3. Space-based weapons
4. Hypersonic aircraft (Scramjet)
5. Active Denial System
6. Nuclear missiles
7. Stun guns (Tasers)
8. High-power microwave weapons (e-bombs)
9. Layered missile defence
10. Information warfare

Bush Flashback: Using Strategic Oil Reserve To Lower Prices Damages “National Security”

President Bush will order the Department of Energy to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserve “in order to get more fuel on the market and help reduce rising gasoline prices.”

In September 2000, then-Gov. George W. Bush criticized President Clinton for proposing to use the strategic oil reserve in response to high prices:

The Strategic Reserve is an insurance policy meant for a sudden disruption of our energy supply or for war. Strategic Reserve should not be used as an attempt to drive down oil prices right before an election. It should not be used for short-term political gain at the cost of long-term national security.

Today, Bush did precisely what he criticized President Clinton for five-and-a-half years ago.

You're a special one, George...

Mick beats George to suite

PRESIDENT George Bush can’t get no satisfaction — after Mick Jagger grabbed his hotel room.

The Rolling Stone splashed out £3,600 a night for the suite days before the US leader tried to book it.

Now Mick, 62, who has been a fierce critic of the Bush-led war in Iraq, is refusing to give it up.

CIA and NSA may get arrest power

Amid intense debate over how far the government can go to keep its secrets secret, Congress is taking up an expansive intelligence measure that proposes tougher steps in cracking down on leaks of classified information and authorizes broad arrest powers for security officers at intelligence agencies.

Provisions tucked into the legislation, which the House is expected to vote on as early as tomorrow, represent a major departure from traditional intelligence agency roles in plugging leaks and conducting domestic law enforcement, according to government watchdog groups and intelligence professionals.

"In a moment when the intelligence community should be looking forward toward what it does best, the arrest powers represent a step back toward the Nixon-era abuses," said Jason Vest, an investigator with the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group.

Loch Johnson, a top Senate aide on the Church Committee, which investigated CIA abuses in the 1970s, called it a "worrisome" expansion of power."

That's why we have the FBI and other law enforcement officials," he said. "I don't know that this needs to be an intelligence officer's function. I wouldn't think it should be."

Project On Government Oversight (POGO) letter to Reps Hoekstra and Harman with suggestions and concerns about portions of the FY 07 House Intelligence Authorization Bill dealing with Intelligence Community oversight, whistleblowers, and CIA/NSA Police powers

Express-AM11 Spacecraft Failure

(19 April 2006) On March 29, 2006 at 3:41 a.m. (Moscow time) due to a sudden external impact the Express-AM11 satellite (96.5 East) experienced failure.

According to preliminary findings of NPO-PM satellite manufacturer the telemetry information showed, that failure had been caused by a sudden external impact on the spacecraft resulting in an instantaneous depressurisation of the thermal control system fluid circuit followed by a sudden outburst of the heat-carrying agent. Due to the external impact and outburst of the heat-carrying agent from the thermal control system a significant disturbing moment was generated followed by the spacecraft orientation loss and rotation. At present, provision of services via the Express-AM11 satellite is impossible and a decision to terminate its operation was taken.

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It should be noted that the US has restarted their anti-satellite program. One tactic used to disrupt foreign satellites is to ram a "micro-satellite" into the target satellite, disabling it. The Russian Express-AM11 was launched April 26, 2004. Since then the US has launched a few that could be responsible for the AM11.

12/21/04: Heavy Lift Vehicle Operational Launch Service Demonstration Payload [HLVOLSDP], test by USAF, NRO A5, also included here are the National Recon Office's TR01, TR05

March 2006: Defense Support Program [DSP] 23, classified by USAF

This may just be conspiracy theory, but the Bush administration wants to weaponize space, and should be darn close to testing...

Army Spac

New Gasoline Study Shows Profits, Not Crude Oil Prices Or Ethanol, Are Driving Pump Price Spike

4/18/06

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights released a new study today of rising gasoline prices in California that found corporate markups and profiteering are responsible for spring price spikes, not rising crude costs or the national switchover to higher-cost ethanol, as the oil industry claims.

Click here to download and read the study.

Brazil quietly prepares uranium enrichment center

As Iran faces international pressure over developing the raw material for nuclear weapons, Brazil is quietly preparing to open its own uranium enrichment center, capable of producing exactly the same fuel.

Brazil - like Iran - has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and Brazil's constitution bans the military use of nuclear energy.

Also like Iran, Brazil has cloaked key aspects of its nuclear technology in secrecy while insisting the program is for peaceful purposes.

While Brazil is more cooperative than Iran on international inspections, some worry its new enrichment capability - which eventually will create more fuel than is needed for its two nuclear plants - suggests that South America's biggest nation may be rethinking its commitment to nonproliferation.

"Brazil is following a path very similar to Iran, but Iran is getting all the attention," said Marshall Eakin, a Brazil expert at Vanderbilt University. "In effect, Brazil is benefiting from Iran's problems."
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8/30/1990: THE BRAZILIAN BOMB South America goes ballistic

As the United States worries about missiles in the hands of Iraq and other countries in the Middle East, an egregious case of missile proliferation is taking shape in its own back yard.

Brazil is now turning its largest and most successful space rocket, the Sonda IV, into an intermediate-range, nuclear-capable missile. The con-version is being handled by a research arm of the Brazilian Air Force called CTA (the Aerospace Technology Center). Besides converting the Sonda IV to a missile, CTA is also converting natural uranium into nuclear-weapon-grade material at a secret installation, according to press reports confirmed by US. officials. There is no reason to expect that CTA will keep Brazil's obligatory promise to restrict the European rocket technology to peaceful use. In fact, Brazil is already breaking a peaceful use pledge to West Germany. To import German nuclear equipment, Brazil promised to allow inter-national inspectors to verify that it would not be used to make atomic bombs. Not only has Brazil refused to allow inspections, it has even shifted German-trained engineers from the civilian to the military side of its nuclear program.

Brazil is one of the world's largest arms exporters to the Third World.
________________________________

4/16/2004: Brazil's commitment to nonproliferation under suspicion

Brazil's refusal to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to fully inspect one of its nuclear facilities has heightened suspicions about its commitment to nonproliferation.

Although Brazil signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1997 and said its nuclear program has peaceful objectives, suspicions over its commitment have simmered for more than a year.

They came to a head last week after the government confirmed that IAEA inspectors were denied access in February and March to uranium-enrichment centrifuges at a facility under construction in Resende, near Rio de Janeiro.

"If we don't want these kinds of facilities in Iran or North Korea, we shouldn't want them in Brazil," said former U.S. nuclear negotiator James E. Goodby. "You have to apply the same rules to adversaries as you do to friends. I do not see that happening in Brazil."
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10/5/2004: Warming to Brazil, Powell Says Its Nuclear Program Isn't a Concern

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, stepping up the American courtship of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said Tuesday that the United States had no concerns that Brazil was planning to develop nuclear weapons despite the country's resistance to allowing international inspectors greater access to one of its nuclear reactors.

On the nuclear issue, Mr. Powell addressed a question about concerns in many countries that Brazil's opposition to unlimited inspections, as sought by the International Atomic Energy Agency, might embolden other nations like Iran and North Korea to reject inspections of their suspected nuclear arms programs.

"I don't have those concerns," Mr. Powell said at a news conference after meeting with Foreign Minister Celso Amorim. "I don't think Brazil can be talked about in the same vein or put in the same category as Iran or North Korea."

Russia Recently

4/22/06: Russian bombers flew undetected across Arctic

Russian military planes flew undetected through the U.S. zone of the Arctic Ocean to Canada during recent military exercises, a senior Air Force commander said Saturday.

The commander of the country's long-range strategic bombers, Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, said the U.S. Air Force is now investigating why its military was unable to detect the Russian bombers.
__________________________

4/21/06: Dollar too unstable to be reliable

Russia cannot consider the dollar as a reliable reserve currency because of its instability, the finance minister said Friday.

"This currency has devalued by 40% against the euro in recent years," Alexei Kudrin told a news conference in Washington on the occasion of the opening spring session of the International Monetary Fund.
__________________________

4/22/06: Russia Warns on Aggravating Iran Standoff

A top Kremlin diplomat warned against threatening Iran with sanctions or the use of force, saying that would only aggravate the international standoff over Tehran's suspect nuclear program, Russian media reports said Saturday.

"We firmly stand today for resolving the problems in and around Tehran diplomatically rather than militarily. Increasing international pressure on Iran has no prospects," Ozerov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
__________________________

4/27/06: War on Iran will start this year - Zhirinovsky

Populist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a deputy speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, said Thursday that war would be declared on Iran in 2006.

Anthrax inventory doesn't add up at lab / Missing bioterror substances have officials guessing

Two vials of a deadly bacteria may be missing from a government lab in Trenton - or officials might simply have miscounted, they said yesterday.

Over the last three weeks, officials have been readying samples from the Trenton Distribution Center - a postal facility in Hamilton where anthrax-laced letters were discovered in 2001 - for a move to a new, safer bioterrorism facility.

An inventory turned up 350 two-inch test tubes of liquid-encased anthrax spores, when 352 should have been on site at the New Jersey Public Health Environmental Laboratory where the anthrax has been stored since its removal from the postal facility.

__________________________________

In the past year, two New Jersey laboratories have been unable to account for plague-infested mice and vials of deadly anthrax spores, and top state officials are scrambling to devise better ways to safeguard deadly material.

Microsoft has partnered with the federal government to spy on you...updated 6/12/1994

It’s supposed to protect you from predators spying on your computer habits, but a bill Microsoft Corp. helped write for Oklahoma will open your personal information to warrantless searches, according to a computer privacy expert and a state representative.

Called the “Computer Spyware Protection Act,” House Bill 2083 would create fines of up to a million dollars for anyone using viruses or surreptitious computer techniques to break on to someone’s computer without that person’s knowledge and acceptance, according to the bill’s state Senate author, Clark Jolley.

“The bill has a clear prohibition on anything going in without your permission. You have to grant permission,” said Jolley, R-Edmond. “You can look at your license agreement. It will say whether they have the ability to take that information or not.”

But therein lies the catch.

If you click that “accept” button on the routine user’s agreement, the proposed law would allow any company from whom you bought upgradable software the freedom to come onto your computer for “detection or prevention of the unauthorized use of or fraudulent or other illegal activities in connection with a network, service, or computer software, including scanning for and removing computer software prescribed under this act.”

New Plans Foresee Fighting Terrorism Beyond War Zones

SOCOM has dispatched small teams of Army Green Berets and other Special Operations troops to U.S. embassies in about 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, where they do operational planning and intelligence gathering to enhance the ability to conduct military operations where the United States is not at war.

And in a subtle but important shift contained in a classified order last year, the Pentagon gained the leeway to inform -- rather than gain the approval of -- the U.S. ambassador before conducting military operations in a foreign country, according to several administration officials. "We do not need ambassador-level approval," said one defense official familiar with the order.

Lawyer: Rice Allegedly Leaked Defense Info

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist in the same manner that landed a lower-level Pentagon official a 12-year prison sentence, the lobbyist's lawyer said Friday.

Prosecutors disputed the claim.

The allegations against Rice came as a federal judge granted a defense request to issue subpoenas sought by the defense for Rice and three other government officials in the trial of Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman. The two are former lobbyists with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who are charged with receiving and disclosing national defense information.

Sad thing is that this case will most likely get dismissed, and even if it doesn't, Rice will not respond to the subpoena.

Getting away with murder...a true American disgrace

More on the AIPAC case

California Becomes Second State to Introduce Bush Impeachment

Joining Illinois, California has become the second state in which a proposal to impeach President Bush has been introduced in the state legislature. And this one includes Cheney as well.

Illinois Bill

Press release on California Bill

If it comes to a shooting war...

American planners did not consider the worst-case scenario in its latest war in Iraq, but instead operated on the "best-case scenario", such as considering the Iraq invasion a "cake walk" and that the Iraqi people would be parading in the streets, throwing flowers and welcoming American soldiers as "liberators", only to discover the opposite.

More on Iran, Russia and China soon.

Japanese researchers find new giant picture on Peru's Nazca Plateau

The image is 65 meters long, and appears to be an animal with horns. It is thought to have been drawn as a symbol of hopes for good crops, but there are no similar patterns elsewhere, and the type of the animal remains unclear.

More on the Nazca Lines

IMF acquires new policing powers

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has won new powers to police the world economy after its 184 member countries endorsed a new framework to monitor how the economic policies of one country affects others.

The International Monetary and Financial Committee, or IMFC, said IMF surveillance would focus on spillovers and links between countries' economic policies and reaffirm their monetary, fiscal and exchange-rates frameworks.

Rodrigo Rato, the IMF Managing Director, will have the authority to bring nations together on an ad hoc basis to thrash out any economic mis-alignments based on IMF analyses.

Officials said this would create a new forum that would better reflect the rise of Asia in the global economy for instance, and could possibly replace bodies like the Group of Seven industrial countries, which some say can no longer call all the shots.

One of the problems facing the G7 is that major economic players like China are not part of the club, even though it is the fourth-largest economy in the world.

The United States has pressured the IMF to broaden its surveillance to include the exchange rates of emerging countries, as Washington also pushes Beijing to loosen its tightly managed currency.
____________________

Ah, the real reason...

Of interesting note, the Executive Director of the IMF is Nancy P. Jacklin, who released a statement on September 19, 2002, while she was still a nominee for the position that stated the following:

"there is a need for the IMF to improve its tools and methods for assessing when a country’s debt situation becomes unsustainable; and lastly, the IMF should seek to strengthen the framework for dealing with the situation when a country’s level of debt is unsustainable."

June 1999, THE TICKING DEBT BOMB: Why the U.S. International Financial Position Is Not Sustainable by Robert A. Blecker

Thank god the IMF will police the rest of the world to make certain that Bush and his despotic cohorts will reap millions, if not billions, while you pay through the nose for gasoline. Oh, given the current US debt position, the IMF should be policing the US...Viva Amerika.

Damning Evidence of ‘Big Oil’ Conspiracy To Limit Supply

“As observed over the last few years and as projected well into the future, the most critical factor facing the refining industry on the West Coast is the surplus refining capacity, and the surplus gasoline production capacity. The same situation exists for the entire U.S. refining industry. Supply significantly exceeds demand year-round. This results in very poor refinery margins, and very poor refinery financial results. Significant events need to occur to assist in reducing supplies and/or increasing the demand for gasoline.”

--Internal Texaco document, March 7, 1996

Who's paying for it now, sucka?

Group A Streptococcus and the FDA

Suprisingly, the FDA wants to remove restrictions on Group A streptococcus organisms and derivatives in your food and medicines. In the Friday, April 21, 2006, Federal Register a Final Rule was posted that "removes the regulation applicable to the status of specific products; group A streptococcus."

The regulation, 21 CFR 610.19, is deemed "obsolete and a perceived impediment to the development of Group A streptococcus vaccines."

What does this regulation state? Read below:

The presence of Group A streptococcus organisms and derivatives of Group A streptococcus in Bacterial Vaccines and Bacterial Antigens with “No U.S. Standard of Potency” may induce dangerous tissue reactions in humans. Available data demonstrate that they are unsafe as ingredients in products for human use. Group A streptococcus organisms and derivatives of Group A streptococcus are prohibited from Bacterial Vaccines and Bacterial Antigens with “No U.S. Standard of Potency.” Any Bacterial Vaccine or Bacterial Antigen with “No U.S. Standard of Potency” containing Group A streptococcus organisms or derivatives of Group A streptococcus in interstate commerce is in violation of section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262).

What can happen? Increased incidence of strep throat and impetigo. But...STSS is possible. Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome [general description] [clinical explanation] is a rare [because of 21 CFR 610.19] but extremely severe illness characterized by hypotension (low blood pressure) and shock. Other symptoms can include renal (kidney) impairment, coagulopathy (abnormality in the blood's ability to clot), adult acute respiratory distress syndrome, rash organ and local tissue destruction. Death occurs in up to 70% of people who develop streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

Thank you, FDA.

Former German Minister Says Building 7 Used To Run 9/11 Attack

There is substantial evidence that thermite was used to cut the central support columns, which caused the towers to fall.

Evidence can be seen on photographs of the columns from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

In this photo, for example, the column directly above the fireman's helmet shows that it was cut with thermite. There is a substantial amount of hardened molten iron which can be seen on both the inside and outside of the box column. This is precisely what one would expect to find on a column which had been cut with thermite.
_________________________

Former Helmut Schmidt cabinet member, 25-year German Parliamentarian and global intelligence expert Andreas Von Bülow says that the 9/11 attack was run by the highest levels of the US intelligence apparatus using WTC Building 7 as a command bunker which was later demolished in order to destroy the crime scene.

Von Bülow discussed the special software programs that allow the CIA to track suspicious stock market movements in real time. Record put options placed on United and American Airlines in the week before 9/11, a speculation that the stock would crash, clearly indicated inside foreknowledge of the impending attack.

"The Bush administration is in a deep defensive [mode] and probably they would like to come out with a new offensive," said Von Bülow as he considered whether a new staged false flag terror attack could be launched to further an interventionist agenda.

"I would hope that one 'new Pearl Harbor' is enough," said Von Bülow, "but I cannot be sure."

Dollar in rough water and needing support...like an attack on Iran

The US dollar suffered a terrible week, hitting a seven-month low against the euro, as the market wondered what would support the currency when monetary tightening had run its course.
_____________

The price of gold has climbed to over US$ 600 an ounce. Many are saying this is because of the pending war with Iran. However, this leap in gold prices has little to do with a real or imagined war with Iran, it has to do with greed.

In March of 2006, Iran broke the OPEC oil-for-U.S. dollars-only agreement by offering oil on the Paris stock market for EUROdollars. Other OPEC countries fed up with U.S. hegemony are sure to follow. China and Japan, with their wallets stuffed with yuan and yen, are cheerfully holding Iran's coat while waiting for the dust to settle.

Since our "federal reserve notes" have no value unless all countries are forced to buy them at economic gunpoint, Iran is the leak in the dike. If the USA doesn't stick its finger in it, it will definitely grow. Once other nations see Iran getting away with selling her oil for real money, they will stop buying U.S. dollars and the USA will be flooded with inflation because of her idiocy in having federal reserve notes backed by nothing.

Inevitably, a major OPEC producer, Iran, just said NO!, and is selling its oil for more viable currency, with the benefit of wrecking the US economy far more than a thousand attacks on U.S. buildings could yield. Even our allies are rubbing their hands in glee as they eagerly await us to go down in economic flames.

Saddam Hussein attempted to sell his oil for other than U.S. dollars, and look what happened to him under the false excuse that he had "WMD's." Now Iran is attempting the same thing, so it looks like we might attack Iran under the false excuse that they may be thinking of developing breeder reactors in a few years that will take another 3-7 years to produce fissionable uranium and then develop a viable delivery system. But just THINKING of it years in the future is an excuse for war today, because when all is done, we gotta protect American dollar-based oil companies and their shareholders which comprise all the movers, shakers and campaign donors in the USA. And if it takes killing another 50,000 of your teenage children to protect their estates and trust funds, hey, it's worth it.

Condoleeza Rice invokes "Self-Defense"

"The right to self-defense does not necessarily require a UN Security Council resolution," she says, noting that the United States went to war in the Balkans without one.

"It is important to note that the president doesn't take any options off the table," Rice adds. "We are prepared to use measures at our disposal- political, economic or others to persuade Iran."

5/1/2001: Leaving a wave of controversy in its wake, one of the most visible reminders of the Bush administration's ties to big oil - the 129,000-ton Chevron tanker Condoleezza Rice - has quietly been renamed, Chevron officials acknowledged yesterday.

Abbas Nixes Hamas Security-Force Plans

The British promise made bad.

In their sharpest dispute yet, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday blocked the ruling Hamas party's plans to set up a shadow security force made up of militants and headed by the No. 2 fugitive on Israel's wanted list.

Abbas, who favors peace talks with Israel, and Hamas, which has refused to renounce its calls for the Jewish state's destruction, have been on a collision course since the militant group took control of parliament and Cabinet earlier this year.

The shadow force announced Thursday by Interior Minister Said Siyam of Hamas was seen as an attempt to counter Abbas' moves to take control of all the powerful Palestinian security forces.

But Abbas, like Israel and the international community, was outraged by the notion of a militants' army headed by the leader of a group that is a key player in ongoing rocket attacks on Israel and is suspected in a deadly 2003 bombing of an American convoy in the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, he used his considerable power to issue a presidential decree vetoing the plan.
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In related news, a growing barrage of Israeli pressure against Hamas, a senior military commander said Israel is actively preparing to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and a powerful lawmaker said the entire Palestinian Cabinet could be targeted for assassination after the appointment of a wanted militant to head a new security force.
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Who is the aggressor here? Abbas is saying that he doesn't want a militant in charge of the security force, and Israel responds by threatening to retake Gaza and assassinate the Palestinian cabinet???? More on Israel in a moment.

CARL BERNSTEIN, of Watergate fame, calls for hearings on Bush, NOW!

Worse than Watergate? High crimes and misdemeanors justifying the impeachment of George W. Bush, as increasing numbers of Democrats in Washington hope, and, sotto voce, increasing numbers of Republicans—including some of the president's top lieutenants—now fear? Leaders of both parties are acutely aware of the vehemence of anti-Bush sentiment in the country, expressed especially in the increasing number of Americans—nearing 50 percent in some polls—who say they would favor impeachment if the president were proved to have deliberately lied to justify going to war in Iraq.

John Dean, the Watergate conspirator who ultimately shattered the Watergate conspiracy, rendered his precipitous (or perhaps prescient) impeachment verdict on Bush two years ago in the affirmative, without so much as a question mark in choosing the title of his book Worse than Watergate. On March 31, some three decades after he testified at the seminal hearings of the Senate Watergate Committee, Dean reiterated his dark view of Bush's presidency in a congressional hearing that shed more noise than light, and more partisan rancor than genuine inquiry. The ostensible subject: whether Bush should be censured for unconstitutional conduct in ordering electronic surveillance of Americans without a warrant.

Raising the worse-than-Watergate question and demanding unequivocally that Congress seek to answer it is, in fact, overdue and more than justified by ample evidence stacked up from Baghdad back to New Orleans and, of increasing relevance, inside a special prosecutor's office in downtown Washington.

Rumsfeld: ‘The Implication That There Was Something Wrong with the War Plan is Amusing’

On Monday, Rumsfeld appeared on the Bill Cunningham Show and had this to say about the retired generals criticizing his management of the Iraq war:

Of course the implication that there was something wrong with the war plan is amusing almost because of the fact that the war plan’s fashioned by the combatant commanders and it’s reviewed in great detail by the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then it’s recommended to me and the President.

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Who is ultimately responsible for the the US Armed Forces and the war plans? The President with reliance on the SECDEF's guidance.

From February 28, 2003, NY Times article:

Mr. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, opened a two-front war of words on Capitol Hill, calling the recent estimate by Gen. Eric K. Shinseki of the Army that several hundred thousand troops would be needed in postwar Iraq, "wildly off the mark." Pentagon officials have put the figure closer to 100,000 troops.

At a Pentagon news conference with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Mr. Rumsfeld echoed his deputy's comments. Neither Mr. Rumsfeld nor Mr. Wolfowitz mentioned General Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, by name. But both men were clearly irritated at the general's suggestion that a postwar Iraq might require many more forces than the 100,000 American troops and the tens of thousands of allied forces that are also expected to join a reconstruction effort.

"The idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces I think is far off the mark," Mr. Rumsfeld said. General Shinseki gave his estimate in response to a question at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday: "I would say that what's been mobilized to this point — something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers — are probably, you know, a figure that would be required." He also said that the regional commander, Gen. Tommy R. Franks, would determine the precise figure.

A spokesman for General Shinseki, Col. Joe Curtin, said today that the general stood by his estimate. "He was asked a question and he responded with his best military judgment," Colonel Curtin said. General Shinseki is a former commander of the peacekeeping operation in Bosnia.

In his testimony, Mr. Wolfowitz ticked off several reasons why he believed a much smaller coalition peacekeeping force than General Shinseki envisioned would be sufficient to police and rebuild postwar Iraq. He said there was no history of ethnic strife in Iraq, as there was in Bosnia or Kosovo. He said Iraqi civilians would welcome an American-led liberation force that "stayed as long as necessary but left as soon as possible," but would oppose a long-term occupation force. And he said that nations that oppose war with Iraq would likely sign up to help rebuild it. "I would expect that even countries like France will have a strong interest in assisting Iraq in reconstruction," Mr. Wolfowitz said. He added that many Iraqi expatriates would likely return home to help.
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It is amusing, isn't it Donny? When you invade Iran, listen to your generals. I believe you guys said it right after Katrina perfectly, "Let's not play the blame game." Take some responsibility you effing PNACer.

The CIA “Wehrmacht”

From Harper's Magazine

With the war in Iraq an utter debacle and public opinion turned against the White House, anger within the armed forces towards Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Administration is growing, and the Pentagon is fighting back (see “Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics” in the April 16 New York Times). But what's been little noted thus far is what looks to be a similar revolt brewing at the CIA. An ex-senior agency officer who keeps in contact with his former peers told me that there is a “a big swing” in anti-Bush sentiment at Langley. “I've been stunned by what I'm hearing,” he said. “There are people who fear that indictments and subpoenas could be coming down, and they don't want to get caught up in it.”

Rolling Stone: One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

Now, though, George W. Bush is in serious contention for the title of worst ever. In early 2004, an informal survey of 415 historians conducted by the nonpartisan History News Network found that eighty-one percent considered the Bush administration a "failure." Among those who called Bush a success, many gave the president high marks only for his ability to mobilize public support and get Congress to go along with what one historian called the administration's "pursuit of disastrous policies." In fact, roughly one in ten of those who called Bush a success was being facetious, rating him only as the best president since Bill Clinton -- a category in which Bush is the only contestant.

Twelve percent of the historians polled -- nearly as many as those who rated Bush a success -- flatly called Bush the worst president in American history. And these figures were gathered before the debacles over Hurricane Katrina, Bush's role in the Valerie Plame leak affair and the deterioration of the situation in Iraq. Were the historians polled today, that figure would certainly be higher.
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Congratulations, George!!!

Karl Rove: Fitzgerald may issue indictment, Rove focusing on "politics" instead of "policy"

Just as the news broke Wednesday about Scott McClellan resigning as White House press secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove shedding some of his policy duties, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the grand jury hearing evidence in the CIA leak case and introduced additional evidence against Rove, attorneys and other US officials close to the investigation said.

The grand jury session in federal court in Washington, DC, sources close to the case said, was the first time this year that Fitzgerald told the jurors that he would soon present them with a list of criminal charges he intends to file against Rove in hopes of having the grand jury return a multi-count indictment against Rove.

Fitzgerald told the grand jury that Rove lied to investigators and the prosecutor eight out of the nine times he was questioned about the leak and also tried to cover-up his role in disseminating Plame Wilson's CIA status to at least two reporters.
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Not sure if that is a real photo...but it should be.

Bush Plan To Hide Data on 1.5M Lbs. of Toxic Chemicals in California

A Bush Administration proposal to roll back Americans' right to know about chemical hazards in their neighborhoods would let California industries handle almost 1.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals a year without telling the public, according to an investigation of federal data by Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program requires industrial facilities to report annually the release, disposal, incineration, treatment or recycling of 500 pounds or more of 650 chemicals covered by the law. But last fall the EPA proposed sharply raising the reporting threshhold so that only releases of 5,000 pounds or more would be reported, and reports would only be required every other year.

"The right to know what hazardous chemicals are coming out of the smokestack across the street from your child's school is essential," said EWG Vice President Bill Walker. "The Administration's proposal makes it easier for industries to pollute our communities with hazardous chemicals—in secret."

EPA will announce later this year whether it plans to adopt the proposed rollback.

NASA keeps mum on space robot’s failure, DART report considered too sensitive for public release [imagine that!]

Citing sensitive information, NASA says it will not publicly release its official report on the failure of a spacecraft during a mission to rendezvous with a Pentagon satellite without human help.

The DART [Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, NASA] spacecraft was a flight experiment attempting to establish autonomous rendezvous capabilities for the U.S. space program. While previous rendezvous and docking efforts have been piloted by astronauts, the DART spacecraft completed the rendezvous and acquisition with no human intervention, relying on a variety of sensors and analyses to complete these functions.

The 70-page document on the DART spacecraft mishap contains details protected by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, space agency spokesman Michael Braukus told The Associated Press on Friday.

NASA's embarrassment over the DART debacle, and the excruciatingly long wait for public disclosure of the mishap report, contrasts with the tone of reports relating to the U.S. Air Force's robot rendezvous mission, known as XSS-11.
The XSS-11 spacecraft made a successful rendezvous with its own booster rocket last September — an achievement first reported on MSNBC.com — and then began shifting its path to match orbits with another target satellite.

The XSS-11 spacecraft may be part of a larger move towards reinvigorating US anti-satellite capabilities; a prelude to the weaponization of space, which is on the Bush administration's agenda.

Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese of the Naval War College,Testimony Before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, September 15, 2005: "the XSS microsat program and Air Force statement that, 'XSS-11 can be used as an ASAT weapon'"

ISP snooping gaining support

The explosive idea of forcing Internet providers to record their customers' online activities for future police access is gaining ground in state capitols and in Washington, D.C.

Top Bush administration officials have endorsed the concept, and some members of the U.S. Congress have said federal legislation is needed to aid law enforcement investigations into child pornography. A bill is already pending in the Colorado State Senate.

Internet providers generally offer three reasons why they are skeptical of mandatory data retention: first, it is not clear who will be able to access records of someone's online behavior; second, it's not clear who will pay for the data warehouses to be constructed; and third, it's not clear that police are hindered by current law as long as they move swiftly in investigations.

"What we haven't seen is any evidence where the data would have been helpful, where the problem was not caused by law enforcement taking too long when they knew a problem existed," said Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, which represents small to midsize companies.

McClure said that while data retention aficionados cite child pornography, the stored data would be open to any type of investigation--including, for instance, those focused on drug crimes, tax fraud, or terrorism prosecutions. "The agenda behind this doesn't appear to be legitimate," he said.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear...except... [NOTE: the man who authored the linked article worked in George W. Bush's administration]

Original post on the NSA / AT&T vacuum cleaner that is reading your email and listenting to your calls right now

Prominent U.S. Physicists Send Letter to President Bush

Thirteen of the nation’s most prominent physicists have written a letter to President Bush, calling U.S. plans to reportedly use nuclear weapons against Iran “gravely irresponsible” and warning that such action would have “disastrous consequences for the security of the United States and the world.”

The physicists include five Nobel laureates, a recipient of the National Medal of Science and three past presidents of the American Physical Society, the nation’s preeminent professional society for physicists.

Their letter was prompted by recent articles in the Washington Post, New Yorker and other publications that one of the options being considered by Pentagon planners and the White House in a military confrontation with Iran includes the use of nuclear bunker busters against underground facilities. These reports were neither confirmed nor denied by White House and Pentagon officials.

The letter was initiated by Jorge Hirsch, a professor of physics at the University of California , San Diego , who last fall put together a petition signed by more than 1,800 physicists that repudiated new U.S. nuclear weapons policies that include preemptive use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear adversaries (http://physics.ucsd.edu/petition/). Hirsch has also published 15 articles in recent months (http://antiwar.com/hirsch/) documenting the dangers associated with a potential U.S. nuclear strike on Iran .

“We are members of the profession that brought nuclear weapons into existence, and we feel strongly that it is our professional duty to contribute our efforts to prevent their misuse,” says Hirsch. "Physicists know best about the devastating effects of the weapons they created, and these eminent physicists speak for thousands of our colleagues.”

“The fact that the existence of this plan has not been denied by the Administration should be a cause of great alarm, even if it is only one of several plans being considered,” he adds. “The public should join these eminent scientists in demanding that the Administration publicly renounces such a misbegotten option against a non-nuclear country like Iran .”

Links to the must-read letter

HTML version of the letter
PDF version of the letter
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For those not familiar with what a nuclear weapon can do, read John Hersey's book "Hiroshima". It will change the way you view our world.

Nanogenerators May Spark Miniature Machines

Researchers have developed a new technique for powering nanometer-scale devices without the need for bulky energy sources such as batteries. By converting mechanical energy from body movement, muscle stretching or water flow into electricity, these "nanogenerators" could make possible a new class of self-powered implantable medical devices, sensors and portable electronics.

Described in the April 14th issue of the journal Science, the nanogenerators produce current by bending and then releasing zinc oxide nanowires – which are both piezoelectric and semiconducting. The research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the NASA Vehicle Systems Program and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

"Our bodies are good at converting chemical energy from glucose into the mechanical energy of our muscles," Wang noted. "These nanogenerators can take that mechanical energy and convert it to electrical energy for powering devices inside the body. This could open up tremendous possibilities for self-powered implantable medical devices."
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A scanning electron microscope image (top) shows an array of zinc oxide nanowires. Middle image shows a schematic of how an AFM tip was used to bend nanowires to produce current. Bottom image depicts output voltages produced by the array as it is scanned by the AFM tip. Credit: Z. L. Wang

Democratic Congressmen ask Bush about reports of US military operations in Iran

Two Democratic Congressmen have written letters to President Bush on the heels of a growing number of news reports that American forces may have already begun military operations in Iran, RAW STORY has found.

Both House members express concern that if the stories are true, then the president may have acted unilaterally without first obtaining proper authorization from Congress.

"Recently, it has been reported that U.S. troops are conducting military operations in Iran," wrote Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) last Friday. Kucinich is the Ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations.

"If true, it appears that you have already made the decision to commit U.S. military forces to a unilateral conflict with Iran, even before direct or indirect negotiations with the government of Iran had been attempted, without UN support and without authorization from the U.S. Congress," Kucinich continued.

Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) intends to introduce a resolution "expressing the sense of the Congress that the President cannot initiate military action against Iran without congressional authorization" soon, and is forwarding his letter to other House members to collect additional signatures.

"We are writing to remind you that you are constitutionally bound to seek congressional authorization before launching any preventive military strikes against Iran," DeFazio writes.
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It's amazing that Congressional leaders have to remind him. Copies of the letters are at the bottom of the linked page.

Russia, US slipping into familiar 'chill'?

In a recent poll, 57 percent of Russians regard the US as a 'threat to global security.'

An intensifying shouting match between the US and Russia has stirred fears that the two former adversaries could be drifting back to a familiar ideologically charged rivalry.

A January poll conducted by the independent Levada Center in Moscow found that 57 percent of Russians regard the US as a "threat to global security," while just 33 percent think it isn't.

National Archives Releases Second Declassified MOU

Washington, DC…On Thursday, April 13, 2006, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein learned that a second classified Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) relating to the re-review of open records existed. He requested its immediate declassification. This MOU, drawn up by the CIA, was declassified on Friday, April 14, 2006, and is available to the public today. Because this agreement unlike the one with the Air Force was generic and procedural in nature, National Archives staff initially did not view it as part of the reclassification program.

Upon learning of the second agreement, Professor Weinstein said, "There can never be a classified aspect to our mission. Classified agreements are the antithesis of our reason for being. Our focus is on the preservation of records and ensuring their availability to the American public while at the same time fulfilling the people's expectation that we will properly safeguard the classified records entrusted to our custody. Agencies have the prerogative to classify their requests to the National Archives if disclosure of the reasons why they are asking us to take action would cause identifiable damage to national security. However, what we do in response to such requests, and how we do it, will always be as transparent as possible. If records must be removed for reasons of national security, the American people will always, at the very least, know when it occurs and how many records are affected.

Post of the first MOU

Forced Vaccination in Florida: Get your duct tape and plastic ready, here comes the monster under your bed

President Bush is expected to approve soon a national pandemic influenza response plan that identifies more than 300 specific tasks for federal agencies, including determining which frontline workers should be the first vaccinated and expanding Internet capacity to handle what would probably be a flood of people working from their home computers.

The Treasury Department is poised to sign agreements with other nations to produce currency if U.S. mints cannot operate. The Pentagon, anticipating difficulties acquiring supplies from the Far East, is considering stockpiling millions of latex gloves. And the Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a drive-through medical exam to quickly assess patients who suspect they have been infected.

The document is the first attempt to spell out in some detail how the government would detect and respond to an outbreak, and continue functioning through what could be an 18-month crisis, which in a worst-case scenario could kill 1.9 million Americans. Bush was briefed on a draft of the implementation plan on March 17. He is expected to approve the plan within the week, but it continues to evolve, said several administration officials who have been working on it.
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What You Need to Know About The Proposed Model State Emergency Health Powers Act in Your State [must read]

2001 Draft of the MSEHP Act [pdf]

Florida Law on Mandatory Vaccination and Quarantine [the heart of the text is at the bottom of page 5 and the top of page 6]

CRS Report - Mandatory Vaccinations: Precedent and Current Laws. January 18, 2005

Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency
By creating a federal agency shielded from public scrutiny, some lawmakers think they can speed the development and testing of new drugs and vaccines needed to respond to a bioterrorist attack or super-flu pandemic.The proposed Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, or BARDA, would be exempt from long-standing open records and meetings laws that apply to most government departments, according to legislation approved Oct. 18 by the Senate health committee.Those exemptions would streamline the development process, safeguard national security and protect the proprietary interests of drug companies, say Republican backers of the bill. The legislation also proposes giving manufacturers immunity from liability in exchange for their participation in the public-private effort. "There is no other agency that I am aware of where the agency is totally exempt either from FOIA or FACA," said Pete Weitzel, coordinator of the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government.

Department of Health and Human Services: Pandemic Planning Update, March 13, 2006

pandemicflu.gov
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Now, with all this said, this past Saturday the head of the CDC said this:

“There is no evidence it [avian flu] will be the next pandemic, there is no evidence it is evolving in a direction that is becoming more transmissible to people.”

And this was published today:

HANDWASH KILLS BIRD FLU BUG IN 30 SECONDS

Legislation currently on the Senate's Calendar, the Project Bioshield II Act of 2005, not only shifts liability of drug manufacturers in the event of a suit to the United States (read: don't even try brining that), but would raise the fines and possible jail time for violations of a quarantines from $1,000 and one year to $250,000 and 10 years [see Sec. 2503 (a)(1)]. Your only recourse for wrongful detention would be to file a writ of habeas corpus...and we know how those are handled currently...