The Largest Minority

January 27th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

An experimental helmet, created by Dr. Gordon Dougal of the research company Virulite, could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease within weeks. The device, which sends infra-red light through the skull and directly to brain tissue, is to be worn for just ten minutes a day. After just four weeks, symptoms such as memory loss and anxiety are reversed by stimulating the growth of brain cells and encouraging their repair.

“Currently all you can do with dementia is to slow down the rate of decay - this new process will not only stop that rate of decay but partially reverse it,” Dr. Dougal said. “The implications of this research at Sunderland are enormous - so much so that in the future we could be able to affect and change the rate at which our bodies age. We age because our cells lose the desire to regenerate and repair themselves.” He continued, “This ultimately results in cell death and decline of the organ functions - for the brain resulting in memory decay and deterioration in general intellectual performance. But what if there was a technology that told the cells to repair themselves and that technology was something as simple as a specific wavelength of light?”

Human trials are due to start this summer using levels of infra-red which occur naturally in sunlight. A study with lab mice found that middle-aged mice exposed to infrared for six minutes per day, through the span of ten days, were able to improve their performance in a maze. An Alzheimer’s Society spokesman said the reversal of Alzheimer’s symptoms could change the lives of countless people, adding that “we look forward to further research to determine whether this technique could help improve cognition in humans.”

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January 20th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

January 14th, 2008 by J. Milton

In recent years as filesharing has become more widespread and user-friendly, the entertainment industry has done it’s best to vilify all those who dare to defy their copyrights. No longer distinguishing between those who sell and those who share, the industry has tried to sue and/or criminalize so-called pirates out of existence. But perhaps pirates are not their enemy after all. This article over at TorrentFreak offers a very different perspective on piracy through a brief historical analysis. Below is an exerpt:

“Piracy is the sharp end of innovation, innovation by any means necessary. Large oligopolies control most of our industries and governments. Six companies control most of what we see and hear. According to The World Bank’s 2007 figures, roughly two-thirds the world’s 150 largest economies aren’t nations, but corporations. We all know the system doesn’t work quite the way it’s supposed to, yet continue to think of this inefficient system we have as ‘the free market’. Pirates upend inefficient systems – they take order and create short-term chaos, but often the long-term result of piracy on a large scale is a better system - a more efficient way of doing things. Pirates created many of our established orders out of chaos, and now that these industries are becoming inefficient in the face of new technologies, chaos is being created once again.”

January 11th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Hillary has not only taken policy advice from the Neocons, but advice on how to “win” elections as well. Exit polls are never wrong, yet they predicted that Gore would win Florida in 2000, that Kerry would win Ohio in 2004, and that Obama would win New Hampshire last week. What’s the variable that ties all of these anomalies together? Diebold.

Only 20% of New Hampshire’s primary ballots were counted by hand. The other 80% were counted exclusively by Diebold machines. Obama secured his predicted lead on the hand-counted ballots, but Diebold-counted ballots ended up giving the lead to Hillary. Stalin once said, “The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” Or was it John Kerry who said that after he conceded the 2004 election? Well whoever said it, it’s Kucinich who has had the courage above his slighted contenders to request that the New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner recount Tuesday’s election.

“I am not making this request in the expectation that a recount will significantly affect the number of votes that were cast on my behalf,” Kucinich stressed in a letter to Secretary of State William M. Gardner. But, “Serious and credible reports, allegations, and rumors have surfaced in the past few days…It is imperative that these questions be addressed in the interest of public confidence in the integrity of the election process and the election machinery – not just in New Hampshire, but in every other state that conducts a primary election.”

Also, the reports, allegations, and rumors regarding possible vote-count irregularities have been further fueled by the stunning disparities between various “independent” pre-election polls and the actual election results,” Kucinich wrote. “The integrity, credibility, and value of independent polling are separate issues, but they appear to be relevant in the context of New Hampshire’s votes.”

He added, “Ever since the 2000 election – and even before – the American people have been losing faith in the belief that their votes were actually counted. This recount isn’t about who won 39% of 36% or even 1%. It’s about establishing whether 100% of the voters had 100% of their votes counted exactly the way they cast them.”

Kucinich, who drew about 1.4% of the New Hampshire Democratic primary vote, wrote, “This is not about my candidacy or any other individual candidacy. It is about the integrity of the election process.” No other Democratic candidate, he noted, has stepped forward to question or pursue the claims being made.

“New Hampshire is in the unique position to address – and, if so determined, rectify – these issues before they escalate into a massive, nationwide suspicion of the process by which Americans elect their President. Based on the controversies surrounding the Presidential elections in 2004 and 2000, New Hampshire is in a prime position to investigate possible irregularities and to issue findings for the benefit of the entire nation,” Kucinich wrote in his letter.

“Without an official recount, the voters of New Hampshire and the rest of the nation will never know whether there are flaws in our electoral system that need to be identified and addressed at this relatively early point in the Presidential nominating process,” said Kucinich, who is campaigning in Michigan this week in advance of next Tuesday’s Presidential primary in that state.

You can contact New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner at (603)-271-3242 or at Elections@sos.state.nh.us. Every transfer of these ballots in the chain of custody from person to person must also be documented and proven that nobody else could have accessed them.

It’s clear from Disney’s lock out of Kucinich from the previous debates that corporations have too much control over our electoral process. They have the power to manipulate everything we see and know about this world, and use that power frequently to their advantage. Government is supposed to check private power, but when the so-called top-tier candidates are owned by this Mickey Mouse operation, there is no accountability. Since they’ve failed, it’s up to you and me. Kucinich can’t do it alone. ABC and Diebold would never have robbed us in broad daylight if they didn’t think they could get away with it. They’ve crushed democracy in Florida, Ohio, and now New Hampshire. Don’t let your state be next. Demand a recount.

h/t to BradBlog for bringing this to my attention

January 9th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

A “mandatory declassification” request has forced the National Security Agency to declassify information regarding the Vietnam War in the form of a report. The agency was responsible for much of the United States’ codebreaking and eavesdropping work during the war.

The 500-page report reveals that during the war, North Vietnamese intelligence units were occasionally successful in penetrating US communications systems. This allowed them to monitor American message traffic and “call in Allied artillery or air strikes on American units” by communicating on Allied radio nets. Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) project on government secrecy remarked, “That’s something I have never heard before.”

However, the “most historically significant feature,” according to Aftergood, is the declassified retelling of the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The official claim is that the North Vietnamese attacked American destroyers in 1964. This led to an escalation of American forces in Vietnam. “What this study demonstrated is that the available intelligence shows that there was no attack. It’s a dramatic reversal of the historical record,” Aftergood says. “There were previous indications of this but this is the first time we have seen the complete study.”

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December 22nd, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Since Brownback and Tancredo are out of the race, I guess Paul decided to keep Huckabee company amongst the presidential candidates who think the Flintstones was a documentary. Denying scientific evidence is an awfully peculiar thing for a doctor to do, but then again, Ron Paul is a paradox. He voted for the border fence with Mexico, yet claims to be a libertarian. He voted against the resolution to impeach Cheney, yet claims to be a strict constitutionalist. He’s against the occupation of Iraq, yet claims to be from Texas. Understanding Paul is like trying to nail jello to a tree, and yet that doesn’t seem to matter to the majority of his supporters who still don’t have a full picture of their savior.

Despite eyebrow-raising revelations that continue to surface, such as Paul not believing in the separation between church and state or the donations he accepts from white supremacist groups, nothing is stronger than the love a Paul fanboy has for his golden idol. Ask a left-leaning Paul supporter why they don’t just support a better candidate like Dennis Kucinich and they’ll put forth the anti-democratic group-think argument of electibility having precedence over platform. Irony anyone? Why not just support Hillary and get it over with?

It’s actually pretty shocking that Paul would use the “evolution is just a theory” argument to justify his nonacceptance of it. In science, a Theory is not merely an opinion, but a well-supported and testable explanation of how nature works. Doctor Paul must surely know the error in putting something like the geological theory of plate tectonics and my cousin’s theory that Alf is really an alien and not a muppet on equal footing. Paul has shown how extremely misinformed he is on matters of science with his solution to environmental degradation already. Perhaps we should exercise a bit of intelligent design ourselves by elected a president with at least an elementary school understanding of what constitutes scientific fact this time around, and not someone who thinks “both sides” are equally credible.

December 8th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

If you know of just one Republican presidential candidate who isn’t inexcusably ignorant on matters of both religion and science, please do inform me. Mike Huckabee has charmed some of us on the Left into believing that he’s a moderate (as if there is such a thing in either right-leaning party). However, during his 1992 Senate run, Huckabee advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding for a cure, and said that homosexuality would “pose a dangerous public health risk”. To his credit, at least he didn’t suggest that we just kill ‘em all, but I imagine that probably would’ve been the next logical step.

In 1992, Huckabee wrote, “If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague. It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.”

Huckabee also suggested that it should be Hollywood celebrities who fund AIDS research out of their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies. He wrote, “In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified. An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor (,) Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research.”

Huckabee now claims that his suggestions were given during a time of crisis when nobody knew how the disease was transmitted. However, it was common knowledge in 1992 that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact. Unscientific ideas regarding transmission were only perpetuated by fear-mongering homophobes during that time. In 1992, Huckabee said, “I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”

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December 5th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Sherri Shepard (of flat earth fame) decided to out do her fellow fundamentalists who think the world is only 6,000-years-old by knocking 4,000 years off their total. I’ve always suspected that BC was a fictional era created by secular progressives to destroy the sacrament of marriage with fictional, yet irresistibly sexy tales of Greco-Roman man love. Get out of my head Russell Crowe!