Environmental Concerns

Petar Pismestrovic, «Kleine Zeitung»

The swine flu hoax II

Again and again... Flu here, flu there, diseased people here., diseased people there!
This is the approximate translation from a text I found quite interesting.

Written by Teresa Forcades i Vila on the 11th of October of 2009:

The 2 first cases of the new flu (virus A/H1N1, strain S-OIV) were diagnosed in California (USA) on the 17th of April of 2009 [1].

The new flu is not new because is of the type A, neither because the subtype is H1N1. The epidemic flu that occurred in 1918 was from this particular strain and since 1977 that H1N1 viruses belong to the annual flues [2]. The only thin new here is the strain S-OIV [3] [4].

About 66% of elderly people over 60 years of age appear to have immunity against this type of virus of the new flu [5].

Since it started till 15th of September of 2009, 137 people died from this disease in Europe and 3,559 in all over the world [6] [today this number ascends to 8000]. Note that between 40,000 and 220,000 people die every year in Europe due to the seasonal flu.

As many famous health professionals - Dr. Bernard Debré (member of the National Council of Ethics in France) and Dr. Juan José Rodriguez Sendim (president of the Association of Medical Colleges in Spain) - the data from this season, among which the countries from the South hemisphere are included, demonstrates that the mortality and complications rates of this new flu are lower than the ones of the seasonal flu [8].

Irregularities must be explained.

At the end of January 2009, the Austrian filial of the American pharmaceutical company Baxter, distributed to 16 laboratories in Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovenia, 72kg of material to prepare the vaccines against the seasonal flu. The vaccines would have to be administered to the population of this countries between February and March. Before the administration of any of these vaccines, a technician from the BioTest laboratory in Czech Republic decided, by its own, to experiment these vaccines in Ferrets [Portuguese = Furões], which are the animals used since 1918 to study the flu vaccine. All of them died!

Further investigations to the material sent by Baxter, demonstrated that the contained live viruses from the avian flu (virus A/H5N1) combined with live viruses from the seasonal flu (A/H3N2). If this contamination would not be found in time, the pandemics that, without a true background, the WHO and other national entities are announcing, would be now an amazing reality! The combination of these live viruses could be particularly lethal because it combines a live virus with a mortality rate of 60% but not so contagious (the avian flu virus) with other highly contagious but with a mortality rate much lower (the seasonal flu virus) [9].

On the 29th of April of 2009, when only 12 days passed since the first cases of the new flu, Dr. Margaret Chan, general-director of WHO, declared that the alert level for a pandemic was in phase 5 and ordered to all governments, members of the WHO group, the activation of emergency plans and maximal level of alertness. A month later, Dr. Chan declared that in the world we had already a pandemic (phase 6) caused by the A/H1N1 S-OIV virus. How could she made such statements when, according to the scientific data above, the new flu is, in fact more benign than the seasonal flu, which is not a new virus and to which part of the population is immune?

She could do it because during May, the WHO changed the definition of Pandemic: before May 2009 a pandemic to be declared would have to involve and infectious agent that caused a significant proportion of deaths among the population. This requirement - which is the unique giving a clinical concept to the associated political measures - was eliminated from the new definition on May 2009 [11], after the USA declared themselves in a "national emergency status", when in the whole country there were only 20 people infected, among each none death [12].

Polical consequences of the statement of pandemics:

In the context of a pandemics, it is possible to declare the vaccination obligatory to certain groups of professionals or even some group of citizens [13].

What can happen if a person refuses to be vaccinated? Until it is not declared obligatory, nothing can happen. But if we arrive to a situation in which the vaccination would be obligatory, the governments would have to make the people to comply with the law. Who would refuse would have to pay a fine or go to prison (in Massachussetts the fine can reach 1000€ per each day that passes without the individual being vaccinated)[14].

According to this, some people might decide "ok... i will vaccinated myself when it is compulsory". The problem is, like the seasonal vaccines, there are no shots for everyone.

We must know that there are 3 differences comparing the new vaccine with the seasonal flu vaccine. The first is that the majority of the laboratories are designing the vaccine in order to one injection will be not enough and we will need 2 doses. The WHO also recommends that who takes the new vaccine should not take the seasonal flu one because it increases by 3 times the risk of adverse effects, which are not even known yet since there were no trials. The second news is that the responsible labs for the fabrication of the vaccine, added 2 co-adjuvants that are stronger than the ones used nowadays for the seasonal flu. Co-adjuvants are substances added to stimulate the immune system. For example the vaccine being produced by Glaxo-Smith-Kline, has an adjuvant, AS03, a combination that multiplies by 10 the immune response. The problem is that no one can ensure that the usage of these substances will not cause, on a long-term basis, autoimmune diseases such as the Guillain-Barré syndrome [15]. The third innovation is that the pharmaceutical companies that are producing the vaccine are requiring/demanding that the countries sign agreements that confer impunity to the companies, in case there are further adverse effects than the expected ones (for example, it is predicted that Guillain-Barré syndrome will develop in 10 people among 1 million of vaccinations. The USA already sign such an agreement that guarantee to the pharmaceuticals and also to the politicians, full immunity (no responsibility) for the possible adverse effects of the vaccine [16].

References:

[1] Zimmer SM, Burke, DS. Historical Perspective: Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) viruses.. NEJM, Julio 16, 2009. p. 279
[2] 'The reemergence was probably an accidental release from a laboratory source in the setting of waning population immunity to H1 and N1 antigens', Zimmer, Burke, op. cit., p. 282
[3] Zimmer, Bunker, op. cit., p. 279
[4] Doshi, Peter. Calibrated response to emerging infections. BMJ 2009;339:b3471
[5] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Serum cross-reactive antibody response to a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus after vaccination with seasonal influenza vaccine. MMWR 2009; 58: 521-4.
[6] Dados oficiais do Centro Europeu para o controlo e prevenção de doenças (www.ecdc.europa.eu).
[7] Dados oficiais do Centro Europeu para o controlo e prevenção de doenças (www.ecdc.europa.eu)
[8] Cf. Le Journal du Dimanche (25 juliol '09): Debré: 'Cette grippe n'est pas dangereuse'; cf. La Razón (4 septiembre '09): Rodríguez Sendín: Cordura frente el alarmismo en la prevención de la gripe A
[9] Cf. Virus mix-up by lab could have resulted in pandemic. The Times of India, sección de ciencia, 6 marzo 2009.
[10] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009
[11] Cohen E. When a pandemic isn't a pandemic. CNN, 4 de mayo'09. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/04/swine.flu.pandemic/index.html
[12] Doshi Peter Calibrated response to emerging infections VMJ 2009;339:b3471
[13] Falkiner, Keith. Get the rushed flu jab or be jailed. Irish Star Sunday, 13 septiembre '09.
[14] Senate Bill n. 2028: An act relative to pandemic and disaster preparation and response in the commonwealth. 4 agosto '09. Cf. Moore, RT. Critics rage as state prepares for flu pandemic. 11 septiembre '09. WBUR Boston.
[15] Cf. Vaccination H1N1: méfiance des infirmières. www.syndicat-infirmier.com/Vaccination-H1N1-mefiance-des.htlm
[16] Stobbe, Mark. Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers. Associated Press, 17 Julio '09.


Teresa Forcades i Vila is a Benedict monk in the San Benedict Monastaire in Montserrat, Barcelona; she has doctorate in Public Health and specialization in Internal Medicine from New York University. She is the writer of many books among which "Los crimines de las grandes companias farmaceuticas" [the crimes of the big pharmaceutical companies].



Comment please!

Wake up call for Cholera

A better video can be seen here

People depend on water for living! what is the other option of these people other than risk drinking water from contaminated wells?! One fast measure to try to implement would be the simple acidification of water with some local acidic product (some vegetable or fruit). Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent does not tolerate acidified water for example with lemon (easy accessible in Europe).

I keep pick on swine flu and i will keep being astonished about the amounts of money spent to eliminate a barely lethal disease of the developed countries while people are dying within 24h (of uncontrolled diarrhea) when the most vulgar acidifying agents could be used as prevention of Cholera in the developing countries.


"Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing", too often in my view... Actions are simple, they just need some strength of willing.

Swine flu vaccination II

News from Sweden:

"There are reports from Sweden of possible deaths linked to the H1N1 vaccine";
"An unconfirmed source says Swedish news sources are reporting at least 350 adverse reactions to the vaccine";
"Hungary has reported one death associated with the H1N1 vaccine";
"Glaxo-Smith-Kline (...) expects to make one billion pounds from the H1N1 vaccine alone"

And news from Ireland:

"The teenager fell seriously ill after receiving the injection, along with thousands of other pupils across Northern Ireland last Friday".


Whether or not these are just some sporadic cases of adverse reactions of this new vaccine, as expected (because it did not followed the normal clinical trials), one fact is pure true: pharmaceutical companies are going to become, not just richer, they are going to be even more powerful entities achieving a dangerous position on the health system that will end up to limit the action of the other professional health staff.

Hopefully we will eradicate this new strain of virus but is it worthful? Do the expenses compensate the results? What about the other more epidemic diseases that do not affect the small minority of developed nations?

What about on the future? Are people going to have to take the vaccine even against their willing?! After all this is a rapid contagious disease despite the mild symptoms associated with it on the normal healthy population. And, who says H1N1 vaccine says also any other vaccination... How are the legal rights of a mother to deny the vaccination of her son because of the fear of adverse reactions?!

We are focusing on the wrong problems and because of that a group of few companies will become so rich but so rich that negligent judicial processes will be covered really easy and the company will proceed as richer as never on the detriment of the health conditions and the patient's rights.

The swine flu hoax

Conspiracy theory for the swine flu!
Let the discussion begin!

Produced by Dr. Ron Paul, an American physician and a Republican Congressman for the state of Texas.

You can watch one more interesting video by clicking here
Dr. Rauni_Lenna Luukanen-Kilde is the former chief of medical officer of the Lappland province in Finland and she is known by trying to take a deeper look in some questions by exposing her conspiracy theories.

Two Strikes

Freedom of the press

"Reporters Without Borders" is a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. Recently a new list of the countries where the freedom of the press is respected came out. Portugal fell 14 positions to the 30th place being now at the same level as Mali and Costa Rica! Last year Portugal occupied the 16th place together with Holland, Lithuania and Czech Republic. European countries are falling on the list as the governments are controlling more and more the Media. Other more dramatic examples are Italy and Spain, which occupy the 44th position together. This ranking is made every year. In the first position, with the biggest freedom of the press we have Denmark and as the last ones we have Cuba, Iran and Eritrea.

Countries with the biggest gaps between rich and poor

It is well known that developed countries have an increased tendency to have bigger gaps between richer and poorer people. The UN Development Program came out with a world list of the countries in which this difference is noted the most. In the first place we have Hong Kong, the most vertical city in the world! While rich people show themselves through the streets on big expensive Ferraris, about half the population lives in government-supported or -subsidized housing estates. Singapore, another fast-growing city occupies the 2nd position. Already in the 3rd, surprise or not, we have USA. Then we have Israel and, in the 5th position we have Portugal! A tiny country, considered stable, not involved in wars, member of the EU, country of the sun and the beach! Basically a country that could be on the last places of this list but, by unexplained reasons appears already in the 5th position worldwide! "While Portugal emerged from recession in the second quarter, the unemployment rate tops 9%. The ruling Socialists retained power in elections last month but lost seats to parties on the far left". The next countries appearing on the list are New Zealand, Italy and Britain (together in the 7th position), Australia, Ireland and Greece. On the other side of this ranking, we have more surprises! The countries where the rich-poor gap is less noted are Scandinavian countries, Japan and Czech Republic!

The twists this world gives, are sometimes not understandable...

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More on the peace Nobel and the role of USA in the world

Texting while driving

This video is from an English campaign against the writing of SMS's while driving. Maybe, being objective and realistic, people will think twice before grabbing a mobile phone inside the car.



"Protect the lives of others while driving"

Referendum

The meaning of the word "Referendum":
- "The submission of a proposed public measure or actual statute to a direct popular vote"?
- "a diplomatic agent's note asking for government instructions"?

No.
The true definition is: "a consultation about some proposal with the people in order to introduce debate among the country and control the media so in some years the mind of people is changed and Government can approve the new proposal"

Should the word Re-referendum exist?!

The Lisbon Treaty

This is tough subject to try to talk about, even more to say it correctly!

The treaty was first signed in Lisbon on the 13^th of December, 2007. We are now in the long period of ratification by the different countries that always try to obtain the best for themselves.

The main goals of the treaty are:

- Not to serve as an autonomous document but rather an amend to the previous European treaties (times change, laws change and need to be adapted);

- Implement a “Charter of Fundamental Rights” to save the people’s political, social and economic rights;

- To officially name the European Central bank as an EU institution;

- To change the name of the “court of justice of the European communities” to “court of justice of the EU” and create a new emergency procedure for individuals in custody abroad;

- To fully introduce the “qualified majority voting” as standard method for voting in the European Council, meaning that “a qualified majority is reached when a at least 55% of all member countries who represent at least 65% of all EU citizens vote in favour of a proposal”

- Among other articles making minor changes in the hierarchic organization of the representatives of the EU.

The EU will have exclusive competences (does not need member’s approval and members have to accept it) in:

- The customs union;

- The establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market;

- Monetary policy for the member states whose currency is the euro;

- The conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy;

- Common commercial policy.

Strict economic rules can ruin the small countries on their attempt to satisfy and meet these rules!

The Europe will become stronger and more unified with the treaty, making global important decisions to be held by many different cultures, together in an attempt to promote well-being and justice and at the same time it will face other big world potencies (USA, China, and Japan). Those are really important goals that EU should focus on because a single country does not have the same influence as a union of countries.

However, each and single country should not let this politics, to change their beliefs, culture and traditions. Small countries should not accept the proposals of the EU with indifference. The consequences should be carefully monitored because it might be the last chance of saying a world of yes or no.

Before its approval (which is done) and ratification, each country can try to have “opt-outs”, meaning they do not have to participate in certain policy areas. As much as the union tries to make equality to every country, there are always agreements and disagreements to certain policies, especially when they limit the activity of the particular country.

For example, Portugal has the largest sea territory but it is not the country of the EU that fishes the most because on the right time we did not impose our right.

Of course I am not writing this post just because I wanted to know more about this new European document. Vaclav Klaus, president of Czech Republic did not sign the treaty yet. This man is the second president of the Czech Republic and he is now on his second mandate after re-election in 2008 through the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the right-wing main party. He is known to be a strong eurosceptic and he is trying to make sure that the ratification of the treaty will not change the economics of Czech Republic, especially now that the country is in a fast-growing period.

So, what is his main reason to ask for an “opt-out”?

After de second world war many Germans were expel from Czech Republic. The West Bohemia, where Plzen is was really influenced by many German families that set their lives here during the war. As the Charter of Fundamental Rights” is now, post-war German deportees could claim their old properties in Czech soil leading to hundreds of justice processes in court that would be judge by members of the EU that are not inside the History and do not know exactly what happen at those times. He is trying to get a special amend to Czech Republic to avoid this new conflict with Germany. At least this is what the big media say.

The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."
Oslo, October 9, 2009

What is going on in our world?
Where is the truly spirit of the peace Nobel Prize?
How can a person be awarded and at the same time be on active war in several places around the world?

This nomination fell as a bomb on my thoughts and the immediate thing that I asked to myself was “where is this world going?” I like the president of the USA. He is still a good choice to try changing what he inherited from Bush and Americans are satisfied with his work. However I think it is extremely premature to award him. A person should receive some prize for what he or she has done and not for his or her wishing of discovery, willing to change something, effort in some project. I mean, first you should expose your theory, show your results and then be awarded if it justifies. Not the opposite, as it happened just now.

If one wants to be ironic, the motives of this surprising award were/are:
- He still didn’t close the Guantanamo prison;
- High risk prisoners and enemies continue to be tortured, threatened and treated in the margin of the US constitution;
- He authorized CIA to capture enemies and take them to countries where human rights are not respected;
- In Pakistan the civilian attacks multiply and we count tenths of people dead per week, despite the presence of American troops;
- He is (directly or indirectly) continuing with the oil wars in several countries, naming Iran, Uganda, Djibouti, Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan causing (again directly or indirectly) the dead of millions (yes millions!) of people;
- He just approved the sending of extra 40,000 troops to Afghanistan;
- He authorized the order to kill in case of a pirate attack to a ship (instead of trying the diplomatic way to solve the problem);
- He is doing a great job in the relationship between Palestine and Israeli by prolonging this important conflict and again by letting thousands of people to die;
- He did nothing (yet) for the global warming problem.

The man pointed almost as a saver of a nation is falling on the nets of corruption, hidden motives when helping someone and influences from really powerful people, specifically located on the fields of oil industry and banking.

Washington Post wrote: “Obama is pushing to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, stop Iran's nuclear enrichment program, pass legislation to slow global warming, and strengthen international nuclear nonproliferation protocols”

“Pushing to restart”? And meanwhile he is 1 million euro richer (not that he needs the money) and people continue to die! Trying to change the world is not so difficult but it should be recognized and motivated (however, not by the Nobel Prize). Changing it is the great challenge and if Obama changed something was the promises he made on the elections compared to what he is doing now.

The same newspaper says then “In some respects, the prize could make his [Obama’s] approach more difficult on issues as diverse as climate change and Afghanistan, where Obama has largely failed to secure significant new resources from NATO allies eight years into the war”. Isn’t this obvious?!

“Obama is the world leading speaking” does not mean he is the one deciding the meaning of the word “peace”. There are always two sides in a war and many times it is impossible to calculate which one is the good before the consequences are noted. I hope I can say this was the right decision in some years.

Once again, this is not a direct critic to the President of the USA. In my personal opinion, his general ideas fit with my beliefs. I just do not understand how a prize that is attributed for peace can be given to someone on war with half of the world. There are other ways to stimulate the “good work” made till now.

We should not put the cart in front of the bulls!

Documentary suggestion

I found this video some days ago and it is extremely interesting. It is not new that USA is involved in some kind of blurred wars all over the world being the most known example the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars.

The 4 parts documentary shows the intelligent manipulation of a nation that supposedly has the duty of maintain the peace worldwide over some small but strategically really important African countries. It shows the reality lived and being lived by defenseless people in the insatiable search of oil at any human cost. Those countries are the Djibouti, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo (also dominated by powerful multi-national companies looking for rare minerals) and Sudan.

It is available in:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The swine flu vaccination

The swine flu vaccine is almost ready! Millions of shots will be ready soon and millions of people are going to receive it. The pandemic flu will be controlled. There will be less outbreaks and the strain of this H1N1 virus will almost disappear. Everything sounds perfect! However more and more people are questioning, not just the efficacy of this flash-done vaccine but also the origin of the disease itself (which, despite the controversy, should not be questioned). While the common citizen is completely afraid of this infection, tenths of companies are enriching! Roche pharmaceutical company has the registration for Tamiflu (almost nobody knows that the active substance is Oseltamivir and there are other companies producing it). Millions of hand disinfectant containers are now available in the most crowdie places, face masks are being used everyday especially in Asiatic countries, making these companies richer than they ever imagine.

These prevention measures are showing to be quite effective to avoid the spreading of this new virus. But, do all these means justify the ends?! Is this infection as bad as the media tells us?! Since the first case in Portugal, 9600 people were infected. This number ascends to more than 15000 in Germany. In both countries there were no deads yet. 20000 are infected in Hong Kong and there were only 13 deceased people making a 0,065% mortality rate (and I did not forget to multiply by 100 to obtain percentage). More, most of the people die from previous conditions that complicate the H1N1 infection. Aren’t there much more lethal diseases in the world? Are the diseases that kill millions per year (tuberculosis, AIDS, malaria, pneumonia, dysentery) starting to be forgotten?

The new vaccine is being made in a record time in order to control this pandemic. Normally a new drug needs more than 7 years of strict trials before it is approved. Is this going to reduce its safety for the population? Even more, the priority groups (children and pregnant women) should be the ones to which a new drug is available later, after several studies proving its effectiveness and safety.

According to the newspaper The Mail (USA), the Health Protection Agency sent a letter to senior neurologists to evaluate the connection between the shot and the Guillain-Barré syndrome that develops within few days after the injection. It is not new that vaccine against the seasonal Influenza can cause this ascending paralyzing syndrome, but the percentage is really low and the condition has, normally, a benign course with a complete recovery in 80% of cases. 20% of people die, do not regain movement or become dependent on breathing machines. This percentage can be higher in this new vaccine. There are no studies yet.

What exactly should we be worried about?
Are we making some few people millionaires to save ‘nothing’ while others really die elsewhere in the world?
Is this new vaccine safe and should it be commercialized without following the normal clinical trials?
Is this a truth pandemic or no more than a different strain of a flu virus slightly more contagious than seasonal ones?

Some curiosities about the Human body

- The brain needs 10W of energy to work (the sum of the small pieces making a computer needs more than 300W and just the motherboard needs 20-30W);
- Each single neuron responsible for memory has a storage capacity that is equivalent to 5 British Encyclopaedias;
- 80% of the brain is made of water and it uses 20% of the total oxygen body consumption;
- After decapitation the consciousness is preserved for 15-20sec (morbid!!);

- During the whole life we produce enough saliva to fulfil 2 swimming pools;
- By the age of 60 we lost already more than half of the gustatory papillae;
- A sneeze can achieve 160km/h and travel 300m;
- The liver has more than 500 known functions;

- The human heart creates enough pressure to project the blood 10m away;
- Women’s heart beats faster than men’s;
- Monday is the day with higher risk to have a myocardial infarction;
- We have around 96,500km of blood vessels in our body, twice the Earth’s circumference;

- It is impossible for a person to tickle him/herself;
- Each hair follicle can support a weight of 110g;
- The hand’s middle finger nail grows faster than the others;
- Feet can produce up to 500mL of sweat per day;

- The smallest and the biggest human cells are the ones that originate life, the spermatozoa and the egg, respectively;
- Most of men have erections during sleep every hour or hour and a half;
- Each day there are around 100million sexual relationships on Earth which makes 4,17million per minute;

Adapted from Sábado

Muslim's on the world

Should we be concerned?!

E foi assim há 5 anos...

A 8 de Outubro de 2004 noticiava-se o afastamento de Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa da TVI, por pressão governamental, da então coligação PSD-CDS. Um comentador que muitas vezes colocava o governo em posições desconfortáveis mas que, como qualquer cidadão, tem o seu direito de liberdade de expressão. O mesmo acontece agora, por um governo de partido diferente mas que também se sentiu de certa forma ameaçado com as investigações jornalísticas de Manuela Moura Guedes. Primeiro o chefe da casa, depois a pivot de sexta-feira, não pelo seu estilo muitas vezes satirizado pelo público mas pelas pressões exercidas por um governo democrático, defensor das liberdades dos cidadãos. As mesmas liberdades que levaram a um trabalho sério por parte da jornalista (que nem sempre foi imparcial), mostrando que é possível a informação e não apenas a intoxicação de “desinformação” e “deseducação” a que estamos já habituados. Dois grandes casos mediáticos foram investigados e desenvolvidos por esta estação televisiva, o caso da Universidade Independente e o caso Freeport. Por se terem tornado um obstáculo em plena campanha eleitoral, afastam-se os indesejados, aqueles que expõem a realidade política. Continua a máxima de fazer o que for preciso para ganhar, assegurar um lugar em vez de se lutar pela liberdade de expressão e se defender os direitos dos cidadãos.

Portuguese police vs. Czech police

Not declaring and not even guaranteeing the efficacy of these different countries institutions, I would like to show you some pictures showing the 2 stereotypes. Even if there are men and men (or women) I think the idea running in the society is quite good expressed.

Portuguese example:





And the Czech example:



With these images I don't want to say that Czech police is better than Portuguese one. I want to stress that changes are needed in the Portuguese police way of admittance, formation and training of the society protectors. The authority is the police, not the thieves. The punishments are monetary fines (when applicable) and prison, not the (literally) term of identity and residence (the obligation of a person that committed a crime to present himself to the police once every week/month). The police as an institution that defends the citizens that fullfill the law has the duty of controlling the outlaws and calling them to the court, not the simple presence of the officers, which does not discourage the crime. Action is needed!
The number of people wanting to become a policeman in Portugal is quite good. however there is a limit number of candidates by law. This number should be increased, not to increase the number of policemen formed, but to increase the range of selection. More accepted candidates would permit also a greater exclusion of people that are not qualified for the job.

The symbolism of the Swastik cross

During my trip to Hong Kong, I had the possibility of visiting the Tian Tan Buddha statue, located on Ngong Ping village in Lantau island. I was extremely surprised by the symbol carved on the chest’s statue. A swastika! This brought me to search a little to become a bit less ignorant. I was a complete layman when looking at the statue. I was just thinking “WTF is wrong here?!”

Well the swastika is indeed an ancient symbol with many different meanings that became corrupted by the bloody chapter of the Nazism period. It can be seen in the art of Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Celts, Native Americans, Persians, Indian, Hindus and Buddhists.

The list is extensive so let’s just focus in some of the crowd.

To Buddhists, the swastika represents the Dharma (“one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term”), auspiciousness and good fortune as well as the Buddha’s footprints and heart. It can be found oriented to both sides (clockwise – to the right; and counter clockwise – to the left). In the first case, it represents strength and intelligence (ura manji) and, when facing left, it expresses love and mercy (omote manji). In China and Japan, the Buddhist swastika is seen as a symbol of plurality, eternity, abundance, prosperity and long life.

To Hindus the clockwise swastika is a symbol of the sun, the god Vishnu (the supreme God), the evolution of the universe; while the counter clockwise represents magic , Kali Yuga (“last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures”), the involution of the universe.

The Native Americans also used the swastika, with different meanings among the several tribes: the octopus that created the world (for the Kuna people), a ritual of healing (Hopi people)…

Finally when it was adopted by Adolf Hitler’s party the swastika could be understood as “the symbol of the creating, acting life” and as “race emblem of Germanism”. The red colour of the flag represented the social idea of the movement while in white the nationalistic idea. This horrific period of History added wrong interpretations to the ancient swastika and all the mysticism around it, especially in the youth population of the western world where its representation is even prohibited in some countries and always associated with slaughter and death.

“People only see what they are prepared to see”

Grandes Obras Públicas

Aqui pela Ásia, enquanto faço tempo para que amanheça, descobri um email enviado por um amigo onde se encontrava parte da crítica escrita por Miguel Sousa Tavares e publicada no Expresso.
Apesar de, pessoalmente, desgostar do autor, este texto tenta elucidar aos Portugueses a maneira como somos vistos lá de fora: eternos ignorantes caídos na tolerância da arrogância dos sucessivos governos que têm marcado a política nos últimos anos. Resumindo:
- auto-estradas sem veículos,
- potencial agrícola sub-aproveitado e até abandonado,
- falta de iniciativa para a modernização das linhas ferroviárias já existentes,
- o projecto ridículo do TGV e a comparação com o TGV escandinavo (que não existe nem há planos para existir nestes países evoluídos, tidos como modelo para os restantes),
- alternativas pouco estudadas à construção de raíz de um novo aeroporto,
- investimentos que prometiam mais e melhor e continuam sem estarem concluídos.

Vale a pena ler este balanço, em tom de conversa:
http://aeiou.expresso.pt/esta-noite-sonhei-com-mario-lino=f523352

Hannah Clark

She is a 16 year old girl whose story travelled around the world. During early childhood she had a cardiomyopathy and to overcome this situation a heart transplant was necessary. At the time, doctors decided to perform it using the “piggy-back” technique. This means, like in a kidney transplant, that the original organ(s) stays inside the body. For the kidneys it is really convenient because a retroperitoneal operation, which is extremely difficult, is avoided. However, in the case of the heart, the original diseased organ is normally removed and replaced by the donor’s one. Well, after transplantation she needed immunosuppressant therapy for life to avoid the rejection of the new organ. The drugs depressed her immune system and eventually she got lymphoma. Doctors had now a new challenge. To treat the tumor, chemotherapy was needed but for that, the immunosuppressant drugs had to be stopped leading to the rejection of the donor’s heart by Hannah´s immune system. Luckily she still had her original heart, which recovered from the cardiomyopahty through all these 14 years after transplantation. The chemotherapy solved the lymphoma, the donor’s heart was removed and Hannah has now a completely normal life without needing of almost any medication. Doctors were not expecting such a recovering from her heart. This opens new thoughts for the future heart transplants in children!