Washington DC Primary Election - Thousands of Fake Write-In Votes

It is very easy to hack an election using Sequoia’s e-voting machine.

There has been numerous problems regarding these machines:
a) Vote totals in New Jersey which did not add up properly
b) And that with a little effort you can vote multiple times with this machines.

And Sequoia’s response is always the same – ‘it is all untrue’ – ‘we will sue you’.

But now they have a very grave problem to deal with. The Washington DC primary election. In that election officials are puzzled about the thousand of votes that the machines added for non-existent write-in candidates.

The election board says the root of the problem is due to a faulty cartdrige.

However the interesting thing to note is that Sequoia denies a ‘faulty cartdrige’ or a ‘faulty database’.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with the database," said Michelle Shafer, spokeswoman for California-based Sequoia Voting Systems. "There's absolutely no problem with the machines in the polling places. No. No."

Now, how would these machines conduct the most important election that the whole world is waiting for?

Related Links:
Voting machine co. says equipment not at fault

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Colossal ATM Fraud Shooks Gulf

The whole of the gulf is shaken after hackers withdraw massive amount of money with counterfeit cards.

The total number of customer accounts that had been hit by the peril is still unclear. Local banks including Citibank, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Emirates NBD have all issue statements separately about the disaster.

Banks urged their customers to change their PINs as a safety step. They are also issuing text messages that the situation is under control. They assured customers that they would pay their losses.

Some banks froze customer accounts who failed to change their PINs causing a serious chaos. The environment is gloomy and customers fear that they would lose their money.

Preliminary investigations suggest that hackers may have got their hands on card details and PINs after rigging cash machines with card skimmers. Other reports raise the dark spectre that bank's internal systems have been compromised.

Related Links:
‘Hacker network’ targets UAE banks in ATM cash fraud
UAE banks step up security after card fraud spree
UAE banking on chip and pin
Banks step up anti-fraud vigil
Readers express shock over bank card fraud
UAE Banks Confirm ATM Fraud, Call for Vigilance

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How to Prevent Odometer Fraud

Odometer fraud is a common problem worldwide. This is done to mask the mileage on used cars. This is a serious problem for used-cars buyers who are unaware of the problem. This can lead to frustrating breakdowns and repairs. Odometer fraud causes a lot of money to be lost by an unsuspecting buyer.

Each year approximately 3 million used cars have their odometers rolled back an average of 30,000 miles. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, odometer fraud throughout the country results in consumer losses of approximately four billion dollars annually.

According to AAA the difference in the value of a vehicle with 30,000 miles and 70,000 miles is approximately $3,600. When increased finance, insurance and repair costs are added, the loss to a consumer who purchases a vehicle with an altered odometer can be more than $4,000.

Millions of vehicles receive new titles each year as they are sold at auction to wholesalers and dealers. Unscrupulous operators often commit fraud by recording lower mileage on the new title application, changing the odometer reading and cleaning the vehicle so its appearance matches the lower mileage reading. In many cases, the dealer selling the vehicle to the consumer may not be aware the odometer was altered by a wholesaler or at the auction.

To spot possible fraud, AAA urges motorists to have a thorough vehicle inspection performed by a qualified technician. An inspection can spot telltale signs of excessive mileage such as engine wear, emissions problems and suspension and steering component wear. Also, since original tires usually last up to 60,000 miles, new tires on a vehicle with an odometer showing 30,000 miles are a good reason to be wary.

Tips to Safeguard Yourself from Odometer Fraud:
• Visually inspect the car to see if its condition matches the miles shown on the odometer. Check to see which parts have been replaced. Unscrupulous individuals sometimes use paint to make old parts look newer.
• Check the inspection certificate. It will have the date of inspection, mileage at the time of inspection, place of inspection and the inspector's name recorded on it.
• Look for lube or maintenance stickers on the left doorframe, in the glove compartment, under the hood, in the trunk, etc. These often contain mileage information.
• Check with the manufacturer to see what work was done under the warranty and what the mileage was at the time the work was done.
• Check to see if the numbers on the odometer gauge are aligned straight across. If they are crooked, the odometer may have been tampered with.
o If the car has a General Motors mechanical odometer, the spaces between the numbers should be black. If they are silver or white, the odometer has been tampered with.
o If the car has an electronic odometer, it has been designed to show an asterisk or some other sign if it has been tampered with. Information regarding this will be contained in the owner's manual.
• Research the vehicle's title history through a commercial title checking company.
• Be suspicious if the vehicle was sold several times in a few months.
• Be skeptical of former fleet vehicles with low mileage. These vehicles are driven an average of 32,000 miles per year and are almost never taken out of service early.

Related Links:
Odometer fraud - Wikipedia
How to Avoid Odometer Fraud

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How Real Estate Agents Cheat Property Buyers and Sellers

This world is a magical cave. The inside is quite different from the outside. What you see or hear is quite different in reality. You and I only see the surface.

Consider now, the case of real estate agents.

A interesting set of data published in the book ’Freakonomics’ states that real estate agents keep their own houses on the market far longer than they would keep yours.

Now, the question is why they do like this?

You have a $300,000 house to sell. You call and agent and put it up in the market. The agents finds a buyer who is willing to pay the sum.

Now what shall she do? Sell the house for $300,000 or wait for a more lucrative offer - $10,000 more.

This whole world is about incentives. Work done - profit earned. This is the simple formula by which we all live by. And so with the real estate agents - it’s also the same.

A rate of 1.5% commission on $300,000 will give the agent $4500. And, if she sells it for $10,000 more after some hectic negotiations or with a little more effort and dedication what shall she earn? A mere $150.

Now, it is unto you to judge what shall she do? Sell it for $300,000 or $310,000.
Obviously, she will try to close the deal as soon as possible? She will sell it for $300,000 and take away her share of $4500.

But if it was her own house, what shall she do? She will wait for a few days. She will bargain a little. She will try to raise the price a few more thousand dollars. She will sell it for $310,000 and pocket it all.

*Freakonomics is a NYTimes bestseller.

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Palin will be a Miser Vice-President for USA

Ms. Palin received a “per diem” expense allowance for 312 nights she spent at her home in Wasilla, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The $60-a-day allowance is available for state employees when traveling on official state business to cover meals and other sundry expenses. Ms. Palin’s per diems, which included some charges for partial days, totaled $17,059, from Dec. 4, 2006, when she took office, through June 30, 2008, the most recent data available, according to Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office. Ms. Palin’s salary is $125,000 a year.

The whole notion of a perdiem is to reimburse you for hotel expenses when on the road. If she was working for a corporation, she would have been fired for fraudulent expense billing or at the minimum, asked to repay the money.

Related Links:

Palin aides defend billing

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Fluoride - The Scientific Fraud of the Century

"Water fluoridation is the greatest case of scientific fraud of this century... if not of all time."
Dr Robert Carton, former President of the Union of Government Scientists at the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Enforced fluoridation will not prevent tooth decay, but it will destroy an essential aspect of consumer choice over the basic resource of drinking water. And it could have a strongly adverse effect on the health of children as well as adults.
Mass studies in North America and New Zealand reveal no significant difference in decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) between fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas.
Most European countries do not fluoridate… so where are all the toothless Europeans? Tooth decay is caused by poor dental hygiene and high consumption of refined sugar products. Enforced fluoridation does nothing whatsoever to address either of these problems. If anything, it could even be counter-productive if people neglect dental hygiene because they think fluoride in their drinking water will solve the problem for them.
Medicating everyone on the grounds that this will, debatably, help a small percentage of the population, is simply not logical. It's even worse when we consider the wealth of scientific evidence that fluoride can have nasty side effects ranging from cancer, to cavities in tooth enamel. Fluoride is, in fact, highly poisonous, and the following outlines the long list of health problems associated with it, with copious scientific references.
I am opposed to mass medication. I am opposed to the destruction of consumer choice in a matter so basic as public drinking water. I believe the precautionary principle should be applied… that is, if you can't prove fluoridation is harmless, then you do NOT fluoridate. I believe in strong, sensible measures to improve health, and, ... enforced fluoridation is definitely NOT one of them.
There are ONLY two (2) undeniable scientifically proven FACTS when it comes to good healthy teeth…
GOOD HEALTHY TEETH ARE ATTAINED BY…
(i) A HEALTHY DIET, and
(ii) DAILY DENTAL HYGIENE
In addition, OBESITY is reversed or controlled by (i) as above.
I intend to exert myself in alerting the public to the full story of fluoridation, thus allowing an informed public to decide if the government should be enforcing it upon them.
Summary:
Fluoride is a known toxin. It is more toxic than lead and only marginally less poisonous than arsenic
Fluoride is described by its manufacturers' safety data as a 'hazardous waste'. It is illegal to dump it at sea
The content of a family-size tube of fluoridated toothpaste are enough to kill a 12.5 kilo child
Fluoride consumption by human beings increases the general cancer death rate
Fluoride exposure disrupts the synthesis of collagen and leads to the breakdown of collagen in bone, tendon, muscle, skin, cartilage, lungs, kidney and trachea
Fluoride inhibits antibody formation in the blood
Fluorides have a disruptive effect on various tissues in the body
Fluoride confuses the immune system and causes it to attack the body's own tissues, and increases the tumour growth rate in cancer prone individuals
Fluoride kills red blood cells and damages gastric mucosa, resulting in the symptoms of 'Irritable Bowel Syndrome'
Fluorides are medically categorized as protoplasmic poisons, which is why they are used to kill rodents
Fluoride is a cumulative poison… we excrete about half what we ingest. The rest is stored, mainly in the bones, where it increases the density but changes the internal architecture of the bone. This makes bones more brittle and prone to fracture. (Eight papers published in reputable medical journals have described the increased risk of hip fracture in elderly people living in fluoridated areas)
Where does this Government supported 'fluoride' mix come from? This is a 'commercial secret', which successive Governments don't want you to know.
However, I do want you to know.
The 'fluoride' chemical cocktail includes 'hexafluorosilicic acid' - a toxic industrial waste by-product derived from the super-phosphate fertiliser, and aluminium, industries.
The suppliers' Safety Data Sheet for hexafluorosilicic acid clearly states:
"DO NOT let this chemical enter the environment. Dispose of this product as hazardous waste. Consult the supplier to see if he will take it back. Readily filters into soil. Recover cleaning water and dispose of at a specialist site."
What's wrong with fluoride?
Scientific studies have shown:
The appendix gives copious scientific references to support the case against enforced fluoridation.
Fluoride does NOT stop tooth decay!
Large-scale studies of the official school dental data of tens of thousands of children in the US, New Zealand and Canada show that there is no difference in the incidence of decayed, missing and filled teeth between fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas.
Tests in fluoridated West Midlands (UK) have found a high proportion of children suffering discoloration of the teeth due to fluoride, and a high proportion of adults with up to four times the 'safe' level of fluoride in their body.
European children don't have worse teeth than those in fluoridated parts of Britain.
The National Pure Water Association has repeatedly asked the UK Department of Health to cite one scientific or laboratory study from anywhere in the world which proves that fluoridation reduces tooth decay in humans. They have failed to do so.
"There is not a single scientific, or laboratory, study from anywhere in the world which proves that fluoridation reduces tooth decay in humans. There are, however, hundreds of published scientific papers which show that water fluoridation is dangerous to human, animal, plant and aquatic life, which is no surprise, since fluoride is more toxic than lead and only marginally less so than arsenic."
National Pure Water Association, UK
Who opposes fluoridation?
Most European governments oppose fluoridation. So do most local authorities in Australia. So do many health-promotion organisations around the world.
The Netherlands tried fluoridation and banned it after doctors discovered adverse health effects.
In 1997, more than 1,000 members of the union working at the Environmental Protection Agency HQ in Washington DC, who are directly responsible for the implementation of the US Safe Drinking Water Act, voted unanimously to ban water fluoridation.
"Our members' review of the body of evidence over the last eleven years, including animal and human epidemiological studies, indicate a causal link between fluoride/fluoridation and cancer, genetic damage, neurological impairment and bone pathology. Of particular concern are the recent epidemiological studies linking fluoride exposure to lower I.Q. in children. As professionals charged with assessing the safety of drinking water, we conclude that the health and welfare of the public is not served by the addition of this substance to the public water supply."
Vice-President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, USA.
Since 1997 fluoridated toothpaste in the USA has carried the following warning: "If you accidentally swallow more than is needed for brushing [sic] seek professional help or contact a Poisons Control Centre."
The American Dental Association opposed this health warning. They make $billions from "accreditation" of fluoride products and certainly didn't want to see a poisons warning on their nice "clean" mega-buck earner. The British Dental Association and the British Dental Health Foundation also make tens of thousands of pounds annually in "accreditation" of similar products.
Consumer choice, or involuntary mass 'medication'?
If you are convinced of the efficacy of fluoride, you can of course buy fluoride toothpaste. It is readily available and costs no more than fluoride-free toothpaste. You have the right to make that choice. But if the 'fluoride lobby' gets its way, you will never, ever, have the choice not to swallow fluoride repeatedly every day. You will always have to imbibe a cumulative poison every time you drink a glass of water or a cup of tea.
"No physician in his right senses would prescribe for someone he has never met, whose medical history he does not know, a substance which is intended to create bodily change, with the advice: 'Take as much as you like, but you will take it for the rest of your life because some people say that it can reduce tooth decay in children."
Dr Peter Mansfield, Director, Templegarth Trust.
Despite a wealth of evidence from around the world, Government bureaucrats still insist that "... water fluoridation is safe and effective and no adverse effects have ever been found..."
The NHS even lacks a facility for testing fluoride levels in blood and urine. No wonder it doesn't spot the adverse effects, when it isn't looking for them.
In 1998 Dr. Peter Mansfield, Director of the Templegarth Trust, tested over 200 volunteers from the fluoridated West Midlands (UK). He found that 60% of them were ingesting up to four times the amount of fluoride considered to be "safe". He sent the results to the very highest levels at the Department of Health… and was ignored. But he has been attacked by leading pro-fluoride promoters. He commented: "They have no results of their own and are not willing to replicate my tests. It is obvious that the symptoms of joint pain and stiffness suffered by many of these volunteers are misdiagnosed. This is most serious negligence."
Successive Australian governments have rejected a call for a full public inquiry into the effects of fluoridation, preferring instead to close its eyes to the evidence.
Meanwhile it uses taxpayers' money to promote fluoridation.
The government now wants to allow local authorities to order enforced fluoridation. Cairns and Brisbane are among the regions in Queensland that have been singled out as targets.
What needs to be done?
Tooth decay is caused by poor dental hygiene and excessive consumption of refined sugar products. Fluoridation won't improve dental hygiene, but it will destroy consumer choice and add a known toxin to the drinking water of millions… against their will.
I believe that a majority of Australians want:
References on the scientific case... against fluoride
Fluoride exposure disrupts the synthesis of collagen and leads to the breakdown of collagen in bone, tendon, muscle, skin, cartilage, lungs, kidney and trachea.
A. K. Susheela and Mohan Jha, "Effects of Fluoride on Cortical and Cancellous Bone Composition", IRCS Medical Sciences: Library Compendium, Vol 9, No.11, pp 1021-1022 (1981)
"Fluorides are general protoplasmic poisons, with the capacity to modify the metabolism of cells by inhibiting certain enzymes. Sources of fluoride intoxication include drinking water containing 1 ppm or more of fluorine."
Journal of the American Medical Association, September 18, 1943
Fluoride stimulates granule formation and oxygen consumption in white blood cells, but inhibits these processes when the white blood cell is challenged by a foreign agent in the blood.
Robert A. Clark, "Neutrophil Iodination Reaction Induced by Fluoride: Implications for Degranulation and Metabolic Activation," Blood, Vol 57, pp. 913-921 (1981)
Fluoride depletes the energy reserves and the ability of white blood cells to properly destroy foreign agents by the process of phagocytosis. As little as 0.2-ppm fluoride stimulates superoxide production in resting white blood cells, virtually abolishing phagocytosis. Even micro-molar amounts of fluoride, below 1 ppm, may seriously depress the ability of white blood cells to destroy pathogenic agents.
"Immune Status of Children in Chemically Contaminated Environments", Zdravookhranenie, Issue 3, pp 6-9 (1987)
Fluoride confuses the immune system and causes it to attack the body's own tissues, and increases the tumour growth rate in cancer prone individuals.
Alfred Taylor and Nell C. Taylor, "Effect of Sodium Fluoride on Tumour Growth", Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, Vol 119,p 252(1965); Sheila Gibson, "Effects of Fluoride on Immune System Function", Complementary Medical Research, Vol 6, pp 111-113 (1992)
Fluoride inhibits antibody formation in the blood.
S. K. Jain and A.K. Susheela, "Effect of Sodium Fluoride on Antibody Formation in Rabbits", Environmental Research, Vol. 44, pp 117-125 (1987)
Fluoride depresses Thyroid activity.
Viktor Gorlitzer Von Mundy, "Influence of Fluorine and Iodine on the Metabolism, Particularly on the Thyroid Gland," Muenchener Medicische Wochenschrift, Vol 105, pp 182-186 (1963); "Effect of Fluorine on Thyroid Iodine Metabolism and Hyperthyroidism", Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol. 18, pp 1102-1110 (1958)
Fluorides have a disruptive effect on various tissues in the body.
Vilber A.O. Bello and Hillel J. Gitelman, "High Fluoride Exposure in Hemodialysis Patients", American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Vol. 15, pp 320-324 (1990)
Fluoride promotes development of bone cancer.
S.E. Hrudley et al., "Drinking Water Fluoridation and Osteosarcoma" Canadian Journal of Public Health, Vol 81, pp 415-416 (1990); Irwin Herskowitz and Isabel Norton, "Increased Incidence of Melanotic Tumours Following Treatment with Sodium Fluoride", Genetics Vol 48, pp 307-310 (1963)
Fluorides cause premature aging of the human body.
Nicholas Leone, "Medical Aspects of Excessive Fluoride in a Water Supply", Public Health Reports, Vol 69, pp 925-936 (1954); "The Village Where People are Old Before their Time", Stern Magazine, Vol 30, pp 107-108,111-112 (1978)
Fluoride ingestion from mouth rinses and dentifrices in children is extremely hazardous to biological development, life span and general health.
Yngve Ericsson and Britta Forsman, "Fluoride retained from mouth rinses and dentifrices in preschool children", Caries Research, Vol.3, pp 290-299 (1969); W.L. Augenstein, et al., "Fluoride ingestion in children: a review of 87 cases", Paediatrics, Vol 88, pp 907-912, (1991); George Waldbott, "Mass Intoxication from Over-Fluoridation in Drinking Water", Clinical Toxicology, Vol 18, No 5, pp 531-541 (1981)
Fluorides diminish the intelligence capability of the human brain.
Fluoride, Vol 26, No.4, pp 189-192, 1995, "Effect of Fluoride Exposure on Intelligence In Children". Presented to the 20th Conference of the International Society for Fluoride Research, Beijing, China, September 5-9, 1994
Fluoride studies in rats can be indicative of a potential for motor disruption, intelligence deficits and learning disabilities in humans. Humans are exposed to plasma levels of fluoride as high as those in rat studies. Fluoride involves interruption of normal brain development. Fluoride affects the hippocampus in the brain, which integrates inputs from the environment, memory, and motivational stimuli, to produce behavioural decisions and modify memory. Experience with other developmental neurotoxicants prompts expectations that changes in behavioural functions will be comparable across species, especially humans and rats.
Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Vol 17, No, 2, p 176, "Neurotoxicity of Sodium F luoride", Muellenix, Denbesten, Schunior, Kernan, 1995
Fluorides accumulate in the brain over time to reach neurologically harmful levels.
Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Vol 17, No, 2, p 176, "Neurotoxicity of Sodium Fluoride", Muellenix, Denbesten, Schunior, Kernan, 1995
"Drinking water containing as little as 1.2 ppm fluoride will cause developmental disturbances. We cannot run the risk of producing such serious systemic disturbances. The potentialities for harm outweigh those for good."
Journal of the American Dental Association, Editorial, October 1, 1944
The contents of a family-size tube of fluoridated toothpaste is enough to kill a 12.5 kilo child.
In 1991, the Akron (Ohio) Regional Poison Centre reported, "… death has been reported following ingestion of 16 mg/kg of fluoride. Only 1/10 of an ounce of fluoride could kill a 50 kilo adult. According to the Centre, "fluoride toothpaste contains up to 1 mg/gram of fluoride." Even Proctor and Gamble, the makers of Crest, acknowledge that a family-sized tube "theoretically contains enough fluoride to kill a small child." (National Pure Water Association, UK)
"Fluorides have been used to modify behaviour and mood of human beings. It is a little known fact that fluoride compounds were added to the drinking water of prisoners to keep them docile and inhibit questioning of authority, both in Nazi prison camps in World War II and in the Soviet gulags in Siberia."
National Pure Water Association, UK
Fluorides are medically categorized as protoplasmic poisons, which is why they are used to kill rodents.
The Journal of the American Medical Association on September 18, 1943, states, "… fluorides are general protoplasmic poisons, changing the permeability of the cell membrane by inhibiting certain enzymes. The exact mechanisms of such actions are obscure."
Fluoride consumption by human beings increases the general cancer death rate.
In 1975 Dr John Yiamouyiannis published a preliminary survey, which shows that people in fluoridated areas have a higher cancer death rate than those in non-fluoridated areas. The National Cancer Institute attempts to refute the studies. Later in 1975, Yiamouyiannis joins with Dr. Dean Burk, chief chemist of the National Cancer Institute (1939-1974) in performing other studies which are then included in the Congressional Record (USA) by Congressman Delaney, who was the original author of the Delaney Amendment, which prohibited the addition of cancer-causing substances to food used for human consumption.
Both reports confirmed the existence of a link between fluoridation and cancer. (Note: Obviously Dr. Burk felt free to agree with scientific truth only after his tenure at NCI ended, since his job depended on towing the party line)
Fluorides have little or no effect on decay prevention in humans.
In 1990 Dr John Colquhoun is forced into early requirement in New Zealand after he conducts a study on 60,000 school children and finds no difference in tooth decay between fluoridated and non-fluoridated areas. He additionally finds that a substantial number of children in fluoridated areas suffered from dental fluorosis. He makes the study public. There is no scientific data that shows that fluoride mouth rinses and tablets are safe for human use.
A 1989 study by Hildebolt, on 6,000 school children contradicts any alleged benefit from the use of sodium fluorides.
In 1990 a study by Dr John Yiamouyiannis on 39,000 school children contradicts any alleged benefits from the use of sodium fluorides.
In 1992 Michael Perrone, a legislative assistant in New Jersey, contacts the FDA requesting all information regarding the safety and effectiveness of fluoride tablets and drops. After 6 months of stalling, the FDA admitted they had no data to show that fluoride tablets or drops were either safe or effective. They informed Perrone that they will "probably have to pull the tablets and drops off the market."
In 1976, Dr D. W. Allman and co-workers from Indiana University School of Medicine (USA) feed animals 1 part-per-million (ppm) fluoride and found that in the presence of aluminium in a concentration as small as 20 parts per billion, (like in a toothpaste tube, using aluminium pans to boil water, or drinking beverages in aluminium cans), fluoride is able to cause an even larger increase in cyclic AMP levels.
Cyclic AMP inhibits the migration rate of white blood cells, as well as the ability of the white blood cell to destroy pathogenic organisms.
Journal of Dental Research, Vol 55, Sup B, p 523, 1976, "Effect of Inorganic Fluoride Salts on Urine and Tissue Cyclic AMP Concentration in Vivo".
"Fluoridation is the greatest case of scientific fraud of this century, if not of all time."
Robert Carlton, Ph.D., former U.S. EPA scientist on "Marketplace" Canadian Broadcast Company Nov 24, 1992
"Regarding fluoridation, the EPA should act immediately to protect the public, not just on the cancer data, but on the evidence of bone fractures, arthritis, mutagenicity and other effects"
William Marcus, Ph.D., senior EPA toxicologist, Covert Action, 1992, p 66
In the final analysis, when ALL the facts are revealed, the ONLY way to arrive at the expressed majority 'will of the people', is to put the question…
'Do YOU agreed with compulsory fluoridation of your drinking water supply?'
... to a duly constituted and legally conducted 'REFERENDUM' of the people, in conjunction with a State or Federal election!'
It simply comes down to…
It's YOUR choice!

Source http://www.johnston-independent.com/fluoride_fraud.html

Related Links:
Fluoride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Water fluoridation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fluoride Deception – Video Interview With Christopher Bryson

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The 10 Greatest Cheats in the History of Sports

1 Boris Onischenko
The sword that scored on its own
Boris Onischenko, an army officer from Ukraine, entered the 1976 Olympics in Montreal a respected modern pentathlete who had won a silver medal in Munich four years earlier. He exited the Games in disgrace, with banner headlines around the world denouncing him as 'Disonischenko' and 'Boris the Cheat'.Modern pentathlon is a five-discipline event that includes fencing, but Onischenko's épée was not the innocent weapon of competition it appeared. He had wired his sword so that he could trigger the eletronic scoring system with his hand and register a hit at will.
The British team, who were to win the gold medal, were the first to suspect that Onischenko was up to something during his bout against Adrian Parker. When Jim Fox, Onischenko's next opponent, protested vehemently that his opponent was managing to score without hitting him, officials took away the Soviet athlete's sword. He continued with a replacement weapon, but soon afterwards news came through that he had been disqualified. Stories that he was later banished to the Siberian salt mines were probably exaggerated. The rules of the sport were changed, though, banning grips that could hide wires or switches.
2 Chicago White Sox baseball team
Throwing the 1919 World Series
It became known as the Black Sox scandal after eight Chicago White Sox were charged with accepting money from gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series, won 5-3 by the Cincinnati Reds. The gamblers, including former boxing champion Abe Attell, promised $100,000 to eight Sox players, and the following year a Chicago grand jury convened to investigate the case. Some of the eight, including 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, confessed to the jury. They had been told no action would be taken against them, but were immediately suspended. On their way out, a young boy is said to have called out to Jackson: 'Say it ain't so, Joe.' (The phrase become one of the most famous in American sporting history, though Jackson later claims the incident never happened.) In June 1921, just before the jury trial was due to begin, the players' testimony mysteriously disappeared and they were acquitted due to lack of evidence. But Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a former federal court judge who was installed as an all-powerful baseball commissioner, upheld the suspensions, declaring: 'Regardless of the verdict of juries... no player that sits in conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers... will ever play professional baseball.'
3 Diego Maradona
The Hand of God
As the England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and the Argentine captain Diego Maradona converged on Jorge Valdano's cross in the 52nd minute of their quarter-final at the 1986 World Cup finals, the game's goalless scoreline seemed secure. Maradona was, after all, a mere 5ft 4in, eight inches shorter than Shilton, who reached out with his right arm to punch the ball clear. Miraculously, or so it seemed, the leaping Maradona managed to guide the ball into the England net. Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur, well placed to spot any infringement, ignored the protests of England's defenders that Maradona had handled the ball. He didn't even bother to consult his Bulgarian linesman, Bogdan Dotschev. But the slow-motion replay and, more tellingly, a still picture taken by a Mexican photographer showed that Maradona's left hand had deftly deflected the ball home. 'It was partly the hand of Maradona,' the Argentine said the next day, 'and partly the hand of God.' Later in the game Maradona scored a goal of unimpeachable brilliance as Argentina won 2-1 - and went on to win the World Cup.
4 Ben Johnson
Awesome Olympic champion - until his drug test caught up with him
'I'd like to say my name is Benjamin Sinclair Johnson Jnr and this world record will last 50 years, maybe 100.' So said Ben Johnson after trimming four-hundredths of a second off the world record to finish first in the 100 metres at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Within hours, though, his triumph was transmuting into one of the great Olympic scandals. In the Olympic Doping Control Centre, less than half a mile from where Johnson had received his gold medal, Dr Park Jong-Sei found that one of the numbered urine samples taken from the first four finishers contained stanozolol, a dangerous anabolic steroid. The number was Johnson's, confirming the suspicions of one American trainer, who had noted before the race that the Canadian's eyes were yellow, the result, he said, of 'his liver working overtime processing steroids'. Carl Lewis, Britain's Linford Christie and Calvin Smith were each promoted one place to fill the final medal positions as the disgraced Johnson, stripped of his gold, flew out of Seoul, feebly protesting his innocence. Johnson raced at the next Olympics after serving a two-year suspension, but was banned for life in 1993 after he tested positive again.
5 David Robertson
Transgressing golf's code of self-regulation
Golf prides itself on its culture of honesty and self-regulation, which makes the case of David Robertson, a former Scottish boys champion, all the more remarkable. Robertson was playing in final qualifying for the 1985 Open in Deal, Kent, and after 14 holes, his playing partners summoned an official and (according to a newspaper), 'after a long discussion Simmers [the official, Graeme] disqualified Robertson for not replacing his ball in the correct position on the green'. It was reckoned that, at times, he had moved his ball up to 20 feet. He did this by arriving at the green first, appearing to mark his ball, but merely picking it up and then carrying his marker on his putter around the green and dropping it much nearer the hole. He was fined £20,000 and banned for 20 years from playing as a pro by the PGA European Tour. The fine was never called in. Seven years later Robertson applied for and obtained his amateur status back and played in some amateur events in the Lothian region.
6 Fred Lorz
Marathon champion who travelled by car
The marathon at the St Louis Olympic Games of 1904 was held over a hilly course in the middle of a scorching afternoon. Small wonder only 14 of the 32 starters made it to the finish. First home, after three hours 13 minutes, was a New Yorker, Fred Lorz, who was immediately proclaimed the winner. He had already been photographed with Alice Roosevelt, the daughter of the President of the United States, and was about to be awarded the gold medal, when word got out that he had covered 11 miles as the passenger in a car. The crowd's acclaim rapidly turned to abuse. Although Lorz claimed it was a practical joke, he received a lifetime ban, which was later lifted. Thomas Hicks, an English-born American who was awarded the race, might have been disqualified himself after his handlers gave him strychnine and brandy to keep him going.
7 Sylvester Carmouche
Jockey who ensured that punters didn't have the foggiest
On a foggy afternoon, a real pea-souper, in January 1990, Sylvester Carmouche surprised punters at Louisana's Delta Downs Racetrack by finishing first on 23-1 long-shot Landing Officer. But all was not as it seemed. Carmouche had dropped out of the mile-long race while lost from view and then rejoined the field as they came round again before galloping to 'victory'. He should have waited a little longer. The fact that he won by 24 lengths and came within 1.2sec of the track record inevitably raised suspicions. The stewards disqualified him even though he protested his innocence. Later he received a 10-year ban after the other jockeys in the race testified that Carmouche had not passed them.
Eventually he admitted to what he had done. He was reinstated after serving eight years of his suspension.
8 Michel Pollentier
Cyclist caught extracting the urine
Jacques Anquetil, one of the giants of the Tour de France, once remarked: 'You don't ride the Tour on mineral water.' Whatever it was Michel Pollentier rode it on we'll never be absolutely sure because he was disqualified during the 1978 race, not because of what was in his urine but because the urine he gave at a drug test wasn't his. Pollentier had just hurtled up the precipitous Alpe d'Huez to win, alone, and take the race leader's yellow jersey. According to one report, officials conducting the post-stage test became suspicious when, 'Pollentier began pumping his elbow in and out as if playing a set of bagpipes'. Ordered to lift his jersey, the Belgian did so to reveal an elaborate plumbing system running from a rubber, urine-filled bulb under his arm to the test tube. Pollentier served a two-month suspension before he started racing again. The practice of substituting uncontaminated urine was reckoned to be widespread at the time.
10 Mr Martin
The phantom horse race of 1909
A top-hatted gentleman calling himself Mr Martin walked into the offices of The Sportsman newspaper and asked them to publish the card of the Trodmore Hunt Steeplechase to be held in Cornwall on the August Bank Holiday Monday, 1909. The editor, impressed by the detailed programme of the event, agreed not only to print the card, but also to publish the results, which his new acquaintance would telegraph through. Had the editor checked, he would have discovered that Trodmore and its steeplechases did not exist. As it was, some fancy bets on Reaper to win the fourth race, which, according to The Sportsman, it duly did at 5-1, had bookmakers paying out sizeable sums.
Other bookmakers waited for the results printed in the Sporting Life the next day and here, because of a printer's error, Reaper's price was 5-2, which raised the alarm that this was a scam. No one was ever caught.
Justifying his selection...
This month's 10 was selected by Observer sports writer Jon Henderson. Here he explains his choices:
Why single out Onischenko, from a relatively obscure sport, to head this roll of infamy? The answer is that fencing might be relatively obscure but the cheating itself was on an epic scale - and on the biggest stage of all, at the Olympic Games.
Unlike Diego Maradona, Onischenko could not claim that it was a reflex thing.
Unlike Ben Johnson, he could not dilute his guilt by saying that he was doing something many others were doing and if the authorities were unable to nail his rivals he had to cheat merely to compete.
Onischenko's cheating, in a sport rooted in chivalry, was premeditated, ingenious and wonderfully original. He must have reflected at length on what he was doing as he wired his weapon, but he saw no reason to abandon the dastardly deceit. And he devised his trickery without reference to precedent, unless this sportswriter has missed all those stories about circuit-tampering épéeists.
The contest for who should finish second was close, but the White Sox edged Maradona because the latter's action was not premeditated, though Maradona did compound his crime by claiming divine intervention (however much we enjoyed the 'Hand of God' line).
Given its current travails, it is perhaps surprising that cricket has escaped unscathed from this attempt to name sport's greatest fraudsters. WG Grace dealt more in gamesmanship and high-handedness than cheating, while the matchfixing scandals that are now unravelling will almost certainly provide prime candidates for similar lists in the future. But Hanse Cronje apart (and he was a candidate) very few big names have actually been nailed for cheating.

Source: Observer

Related Links:

John Henderson - Sports Correspondent of the Observer

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McCain And His Base Double Talk

Michael D. Shear and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, in a Washington Post article dated February 22 of this year, describe how Senator John McCain, while claiming to be an "anti-lobbyist," surrounded himself with advisers who were, in fact, lobbyists on active duty.
On his Website, McCain strikes a righteous pose to rant against "the 'revolving door' by which lawmakers and other influential officials leave their posts and become lobbyists for the special interests they have aided."
But that pose is fraudulent. Shear and Birnbaum note that when McCain "huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin ... to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every one was part of the Washington lobbying culture he has long decried."
These close advisers included Rick Davis, his campaign manager, who "co-founded a lobbying firm whose clients have included Verizon and SBC Telecommunications." Another is Charles R. Black, Jr., McCain's chief political adviser who chairs "one of Washington's lobbying powerhouses, BKSH and Associates, which has represented AT&T, Alcoa, JPMorgan and U.S. Airways. (At the moment Black also represents General Motors and United Technologies.)"
Senior advisers Steve Schmidt and Mark McKinnon work for firms that have lobbied for Land O' Lakes, UST Public Affairs, Dell and Fannie Mae."
It was back in February that we found out McCain had been flying around the country with a beautiful blonde lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, in a corporate jet owned by the telecom company that employs her.
When questions were raised about the propriety of McCain's jet jaunts, he became angry and said "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust." He must have forgotten the Keating scandal!
As Shear and Birnbaum point out, it would be difficult for any politician to steer clear of all lobbyists. There are more lobbyists in Washington, D.C. than ticks on a West Virginia hound! The problem is that "lobbyists are essentially running his [McCain's] campaign." The fact that many of them are "volunteers" doesn't mitigate the appearance of malfeasance. Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said, "The problem for McCain being so closely associated with lobbyists is that he's the candidate most closely associated with attacking lobbyists."
McCain evidently wants us to listen to what he says and ignore what he does. Thus he hired Mark Buse to be his Senate chief of staff, until recently a lobbyist for ML Strategies whichrepresented "eBay, Goldman Sachs Group, Cablevision, Tenneco and Novartis Pharmaceuticals."
Tom Loeffler has left the McCain train under pressure but until recently was the top fund-raising official. Loeffler heads up the Loeffler Group, a lobbying company which has worked with the Saudis, Southwest Airlines, AT&T, Toyota and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Public Citizen, a group that tracks campaign fundraising, noted back in February that McCain had "at least 59 federal lobbyists raising money for his campaign." That of course would give all these folks a "leg up on everybody else" when it came to White House favors.
McCain tries to brush this off by saying "I have many friends who represent various interests, ranging from the firemen to the police to senior citizens to various interests, particularly before my committee." Notice how he sloughed off the corporate connections! McCain continued, "The question is . . . do they have excess or unwarranted influence? And certainly no one ever has in my conduct of my public life and conduct of my legislative agenda."
That, of course, is a bold-faced lie. Remember the Keating scandal, Mr. McClean?
We'll take a "commercial break" here to consider whether or not, as suggested by Nico Pitney and Sam Stein at The Huffington Post, Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham may have violated McCain Campaign's ethics rules.
Both Lieberman and Graham "hold chairs" for the McCain camp as well as positions on the board of advisers of Vets for Freedom, an advocacy group that supports the Iraq war."
This advocacy group distributed an attack ad against Senator Barack Obama, which appears to be a violation of "the Arizona Republican's new conflict of interest policy." The policy states that "No person with a McCain Campaign title or position may participate in a 527 or other independent entity that makes public communications that support or oppose any presidential candidate."
No comment was forthcoming from Lieberman, Graham or McCain on this issue.
It should be noted, however, that "Craig Shirley, an influential Republican operative and McCain adviser resigned after it was revealed that the was working for the 527 Stop Her Now -- an organization that was initially dedicated to taking on Sen. Hillary Clinton but had turned its sights on Obama. Other aides have been forced to reign due to lobbying ties."
Then we have the Airbus deal. Back in March, 2008, Hesiod at Daily Kos noted that "three current McCain campaign advisors lobbied for the European Aeronautic Defence Company for the US military's $35 billion air refuling (sic) tanker deal."
This is the deal that knocked Boeing out of the park. McCain's been involved in this deal for five years. He "helped block an earlier tanker contract with Boeing and prodded the Pentagon in 2006 to develop bidding procedures that did not exclude Airbus."
As Hesoid says, "McCain intervened in the Pentagon's procurement process in such a way that it gave an advantage to EADS because it is subsidized by European governments -- and could offer a lower price target. In effect, McCain's intervention shipped American jobs to France."
Please read all the details of what this has meant to America's middle-class here and here.
As we mentioned, Tom Loeffler left the McCain campaign. Loeffler was very involved in the Airbus deal as EADS is one of his clients. Doug Goodyear, "who was to run the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Doug Davenport, a regional campaign director for the Mid-Atlantic states, also resigned this month. [May 2008] Both worked for DCI Group, a consulting firm hired to improve the image of Myanmar's military junta."
May was the month when McCain had to let Eric Burgeson go as Burgeson was a lobbyist for energy companies.
Still, some hang on, having taken "leave" from their lobbying jobs to work with McCain. These include "campaign manager Rick Davis, whose past clients have included a Russian industrialist, and Charlie Black, a high profile Washington lobbyist with domestic and foreign clients."
Charles R. Black, Jr., deserves a closer look. He has asserted "I have personally had a policy that, if I'm working in somebody's campaign that I do not lobby they and their staff, since 1984."Media Matters for America points out that Mr. Black is not being truthful. Mike Allen of Politico, reported that while "'Black served as an informal adviser to the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign in 2004,' '[l]obbying filings show that in 2003 and 2004, Black's firm lobbied the Defense Department, State Department and Executive Office of the President on behalf of' Fluor Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. According to a search of the Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, in 2003 or 2004, Black's firm lobbied the Executive Office of the President for 12 companies or individuals in addition to those Allen cited. Moreover, during the period that Black was lobbying the Bush administration, he and his wife were 'Pioneers' for the Bush/Cheney campaign, raising more than $100,000."
It gets much worse. This from P.M. Carpenter at The Fifth Columnist on May 23, 2008:"
Claude Rains shock had nothing on John McCain's when the latter found that lobbying had been going on amongst his most cherished advisers. This innocent maverick of nearly 30 Washington years had no idea that K Street extended so far and its influence ran so deep. But be that as it may, he'll have nothing of it now."
So he's cleaning his campaign house of this execrable avocation, retaining only the worst of its practitioners -- namely Charlie Black, veteran lobbyist largely for a little shop of foreign horrors once inhabited by the collective likes of Angolan guerrilla Jonas Savimbi, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Nigerian Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre."
Mr. Black had quite the profitable racket going. He'd scoop up buckets of overseas cash from bloody tyrants and dictators and then turn around, as the Washington Post tells the tale ... to help 'elect a slew of lawmakers -- including Sens. Phil Gramm, Jesse Helms, Charles McC. Mathias, Jr., Arlen Specter, Paula Hawkins and David F. Durenberger -- who worked on legislation that directly impacted [his] firm's clients' both abroad and at home, such as the Tobacco Institute.
Another pol and lobbyist friend of Mr. McCain is none other than Phil Gramm, or as David Corn calls him, "Foreclosure Phil."
Years before Phil Gramm was a McCain campaign adviser and a lobbyist for a Swiss bank at the center of the housing credit crisis, he pulled a sly maneuver in the Senate that helped create today's subprime meltdown."Mr. Corn explains: "Who's to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown.
Yet has Gramm been banished from the corridors of power? Reviled as the villain who bankrupted Middle America? Hardly. Now a well-paid executive at a Swiss bank, Gramm co-chairs Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters. He's been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win....
For all the details on the perfidy of Phil Gramm, read Mr. Corn's entire article here.
Just recently, Mr. Gramm has again made the headlines. In another article, David Corn refers to a report in The New York Times, that "federal authorities are investigating UBS to determine whether the bank helped thousands of wealthy Americans hide their assets from the IRS in UBS offshore accounts. Without mentioning that Gramm is a top McCain ally, the paper notes:"
The case could turn into an embarrassment for Marcel Rohner, the chief executive of UBS and the former head of its private bank, as well as for Phil Gramm, the former Republican senator from Texas who is now the vice chairman of UBS Securities, the Swiss bank's investment banking arm. It also comes at a difficult time for UBS, which is reeling from $37 billion in bad investments, many of them linked to risky American mortgages.'"
So it's not too early to ask, What did Phil Gramm know about UBS' offshore practices, and when did he know it? And reporters ought to ask McCain if he has asked Gramm about this investigation."
If he did know about it, former Senator Gramm would appear to have criminal culpability and should end up behind bars.
We do know this much: While he was still in office, Senator Gramm "supported these tax havens after 9/11, which hampered the government's ability to track Osama bin Laden's financial network before 9/11."
In fact, on June 4, Chris Wallace did ask McCain about Gramm. Crooks and Liars reports that Wallace's question "caught McCain by surprise ... and left him stammering, stuttering and fibbing."
Wallace: Let me ask you one last question. David Axelrod said you talked in your speech today about changing the way Washington does business, but your campaign is run by two of the biggest lobbyists in Washington. How do you respond to that?
McCain (stuttering): "Uh, I di.., look, uh, the, the, those, they are not lobbyists, but th.. the fact is Americans care about my vision and plan of action for the future," ... blah blah bs, blah ... 'Obama is a liberal' blah...
Two last quotes to sum up. The first is from Mr. Carpenter's article. He cites Joe Conason, of the New York Observer:"
The question is why, at this late date, the Republican nominee-in-waiting is pretending to be shocked by 'conflicts of interest' in which he stands neck deep and why he dismisses four or five lobbyists while keeping dozens of others, including his top advisers [such as Charlie Black], because they claim to be 'retired' or on 'leaves of absence' from their businesses. He knows that a press release won't change the habits of a lifetime in Washington's corrupt corporate culture, but apparently he hopes we will think so."
And finally, Chris Hayes from The Nation who speaking with Keith Olbermann on Countdown, noted the "stench of lobbyists that continuously plagues John McCain's campaign and how this and other devastating scandals completely blows his anti-lobbyist, tough-on-terror campaign theme."
Here's what Mr. Hayes said:"What this reveals is actually a really profound contradiction at the heart of the Republican coalition, the conservative coalition, and McCain's campaign, which is on the one hand, it's home to the most sort of, chest-beating, self-righteous moralists about foreign policy - we can't talk to Ahmedenajad because he's an anti-Semite, at the same time it's a party who's agenda is run by global conglomerates that pursue dollar and profit with no regard for any kind of sense of morality..."
John McCain is a fraud..
Source: Contextual Criticism
Related Links:
Presidential Candidate Phil Gramm -- The Dark Side
Michael D. Shear
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum

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War Against Fraud With TLC - It's Hilarious!

When I talk about TLC , I’m referring to Teaching, Learning and Communicating collectively as a lethal weapon in the war against crime. If we want to put a different spin on crime statistics we must take the time to educate ourselves and others by acknowledging the TLC mindset.

Teaching, Learning and Communicating evolved from programs that involved partnerships between local police and communities in their efforts to reduce crime. It’s a well known fact that working together is the only way to be successful at beating the crooks at their own game.

Teaching crime prevention is one of the police department’s main focuses. Your local police department offers programs on Personal Safety that help to improve your safety at home and in public by offering advice on how to respond to physical attack.

Fraud Prevention is taught to combat deceptive tactics used to defraud consumers whether through identity theft, telemarketing or internet scams. Teaching awareness of these and other types of fraud are essential if we’re going to survive in the 21st century.

Home Security Check programs are available to escalate the awareness of good home security. These programs focus on the importance of creating barriers between you and the bad guys through proper physical security.

Block Watch or Neighbourhood Watch are programs taught to proactive residents working together to help reduce residential break-and-enters and other property crimes within the community. Teaching communities about increased awareness and crime-prevention tips are this program’s main focus.

Learning about each and every one of these programs is imperative if we want to keep ourselves safe from unscrupulous predators. Most crime is committed against people that are totally oblivious to their surroundings. In many cases these people don’t know, and quite often don’t care, about crime prevention until it’s too late. Don’t group yourself into that unsuspecting aggregation who have somehow convinced themselves that crime only happens in the movies.

Start the learning process by picking up the phone and enrolling yourself in the latest crime prevention programs offered through your community policing station. Take advantage of community resources so you can gather information that will be invaluable to you and your family’s quality of life.

Communicating is an essential part of mobilizing our community’s fight against crime. Think of a crime as an unfinished puzzle with several key pieces still sitting on the table. In order to fit another piece of the puzzle, you need a new piece of information from the community. Eventually with enough information, the puzzle is finished and the crime is solved. Sharing knowledge of crime prevention tips is essential in the building of a strong crime-fighting community. Keep those doors of communication open and you will be assured of closing a burglar’s door of opportunity permanently.

So, remember that teaching leads to learning, learning leads to communicating and communicating leads to Crime Prevention.

Frank Fourchalk is widely recognized for his sustained commitment to education in Home and Business security throughout North America as a result of his syndicated newspaper columns. Mr. Fourchalk has written for The Toronto Star, The Vancouver Province, and several other daily newspapsers including the New York Post.

Quoted from Tristen's Blog

Related Links:

Frank Fourchalk

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How Reuters Fooled Millions With Fake Photos

The recent discovery that the Reuters news agency released a digitally manipulated photograph as an authentic image of the bombing in Beirut has drawn attention to the important topic of bias in the media. But lost in the frenzy over one particular image is an even more devastating fact: that over the last week Reuters has been caught red-handed in an astonishing variety of journalistic frauds in the photo coverage of the war in Lebanon.
This page serves as an overview of the various types of hoaxes, lies and other deceptions perpetrated by Reuters in recent days, since the details of the scandal are getting overwhelmed by a torrent of shallow mainstream media coverage that can easily confuse or mislead the viewer. Almost all of the investigative work has been done by cutting-edge blogs, but the proliferation of exposés might overwhelm the casual Web-surfer, who might be getting the various related scandals mixed up. In this essay I hope to straighten it all out.
It's important to understand that there is not just a single fraudulent Reuters photograph, nor even only one kind of fraudulent photograph.
There are in fact dozens of photographs whose authenticity has been questioned, and they fall into four distinct categories. The four types of photographic fraud perpetrated by Reuters photographers and editors are:
1. Digitally manipulating images after the photographs have been taken.
2. Photographing scenes staged by Hezbollah and presenting the images as if they were of authentic spontaneous news events.
3. Photographers themselves staging scenes or moving objects, and presenting photos of the set-ups as if they were naturally occurring.
4. Giving false or misleading captions to otherwise real photos that were taken at a different time or place.
All of these forms of fraud have the same intent: to serve as propaganda for Hezbollah, and to make the Israeli attacks look as brutal as possible. And, taken together, they raise a very serious question: Can any of the coverage by the entrenched media be trusted?
The ever-growing scandal now involves other news services as well; at the bottom of this page are numerous examples of bias and fraud by other agencies, including Associated Press, The New York Times, and others.
Let's examine each type of fraud, with the photographic evidence itself:
1. Digitally manipulating images after the photographs have been taken.

This is what has been getting the majority of coverage in the media, because it is the most clear-cut -- even if the actual significance or newsworthiness of the photos involved is not particularly great. This is the fraudulent photo that has gotten by far the most coverage. This hoax was first exposed on August 5 by Little Green Footballs, when a reader named "Mike" pointed out the photo to LGF's Charles Johnson, who incontrovertibly demonstrated that the image had been altered using the Photoshop "clone" tool. For more info, click on the link above; this case has also been covered extensively throughout the mediasphere.

This is an untouched version of the original photo before it was digitally altered. Reuters released it on August 6 when they admitted the doctored photo was indeed fraudulent, and announced they were no longer going to work with Adnan Hajj, the photographer who had Photoshopped the image. No word on what punishment the editors who released the obviously fake photo to the world would receive. Hajj used the Photoshop "clone" tool to copy portions of the smoke-column and repeatedly paste it into the sky, to make the smoke look larger and darker -- though his manipulations really didn't change the effect of the photo to any great degree. His claims that he accidentally added the extra smoke when he was merely trying to remove some dust flecks from the picture are so absurd as to barely even merit comment.

The other instance of digital photo doctoring was discovered by Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report on August 6. The original Reuters caption for this photo was "An Israeli F-16 warplane fires missiles during an air strike on Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon." As Shackleford pointed out, first of all, those are not missiles depicted in the photo -- they're defensive flares. But more importantly, the photo had been doctored to show three flares, when in fact there had only been one...

Quoted from http://www.zombietime.com/reuters_photo_fraud/

Related Links:

EU Referendum
Aish.com made an excellent Web video
Thomas Lifson at Real Clear Politics
Media Matters embarrasses itself
This post at James Taranto's Best of the Web
John Burtis in Canada Free Press has a nice round-up of the various photo frauds

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Ohio Vote Fraud

"The McCain/Palin GOP is already in the process of stealing the Ohio vote, as was done in 2004. Among those at the center of the GOP strategy is Bush Family computer operative Michael Connell, who programmed the key vote counting mechanisms that were used to give George W. Bush his second term.
Except for John Kennedy in 1960, no candidate since 1856 (James Buchanan) has won the White House without carrying the Buckeye State. No Republican has ever done it..."

Quoted from Ten ways the McCain/Palin GOP is now stealing the Ohio vote

Related Links:
Bob Fitrakis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harvey Wasserman
Michael Connell - LinkedIn

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The Greatest Crime In The History Of USA

"Years ago I read William Greider's excellent book published in 1987 on how the US Federal Reserve System works. It was detailed and explicit and makes wonderful and informative reading, except for the solution he suggests to a huge problem. His was far too timid. This article proposes a much different one. Greider called his book Secrets of the Temple with a sub-title: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country. A better sub-title might have been how the Fed (and other key central bankers) runs the world. This article attempts to summarize what it does, how it does it, for whose benefit and at whose expense. For those who don't know, prepare for some stunning information and commentary..."

Quoted from World Prout Assembly

Related Links:
Stephen Lendmen's Blog
William Greider Biography
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

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