Police are warning gun owners that they will be "inconvenienced" if they carry unconcealed handguns in the city.
A police Lieutenant spokesman for the Philadelphia city police, announced that that gun owners who open carry, which is legal in the city, may be asked to lay on the ground until officers feel safe while they check permits.
The threat to gun owners comes after Mark Fiorino, a suburban Philadelphia IT worker, posted an audiotape to YouTube of his tense, 45-minute encounter with police in February over his exposed handgun. The video went viral and captured national attention.
After Fiorino released the audiotape, he was charged with disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment. He now faces up to two years in prison.
"The police department and assistant district attorney are coming after me, in my opinion, to make an example of me because I stood up to them and exposed them for their lack of knowledge," Fiorino said, who called the trial "absolutely inappropriate and a waste of taxpayer money."
Fiorino said he did nothing reckless, nor did he endanger anyone's life.
"I had a gun pointed at my chest," he said.
On Feb. 13 a police sergeant who was unaware of the law -- which dates back to at least 1996 when the state Supreme Court referenced it in an unrelated ruling -- stopped Fiorino, who was walking to an auto parts shop in Northeast Philadelphia with a gun on his hip.
Sgt. Michael Dougherty can be heard yelling out to Fiorino as "Junior," and asking him to show his hands as Fiorino protests having a gun pointed at his chest, prompting Dougherty to call for backup.
Dougherty grows increasingly agitated as Fiorino offers to show his permit when he is ordered to get on his knees, causing Dougherty to threaten to shoot if he makes a move. Dougherty then unleashed a string of profanities as the two argued over the legality of open carry.
"Do you know you can't openly carry here in Philadelphia?" Dougherty yells.
"Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms," Fiorino responds."It's Directive 137. It's your own internal directive."
When several other officers arrive, Fiorino is forced to the ground as he tries to explain that he's not breaking the law.
#2
Interesting how police departments and prosecutors are never, ever in the wrong. After Fiorino's criminal case is dismissed, he could use some high-priced legal assistance to file a civil suit for assault and battery against the individual police officers. Sue them for their entire net worth.
#3
He will certainly have a number of very good lawyers attending to his needs. The NRA will see to it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/25/2011 20:24 Comments ||
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#4
I see the guy's point, I also see the police's not knowing if he has a permit they must check and in order to do so must secure the suspect.
That being said, here's a random. Metropolis, since superman left town, needs to hire police officers. The standards for application are lowered in order to hire more. Something like this happens, go to court. Could the defense of the police officers argue that because the standards no longer require an officer to be (as) familiar with local regulations so they are dismissed of charges, reasoning being that by acting in good faith ignorance of the law is a valid excuse?
Guess that is up to the jury? Need help on this question, I am ignorant on PA and Philly law process...
#1
Once the FBI proves it was the idiots who 'found' the note that wrote it, they will claim it was those evil Joooosss from Mossad that made them do it, at gun point.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Lost Drill Bit Division - Halliburton ||
05/25/2011 1:58 Comments ||
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#2
The Joooos don't need no guns. The use the Jedi Mind Trick. It always works on the weak-minded.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2011 6:03 Comments ||
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The commanding officer of Norfolk Naval Shipyard has been temporarily removed from command while a formal investigation into the command environment at the yard is completed, Navy officials said. Temporarily permanently, I'm assuming...
Capt. Greg Thomas, who has commanded the Portsmouth, Va., shipyard since September 2010, was assigned to temporary duty at Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., pending the outcome of the investigation, being conducted by the Naval Inspector General, according to NAVSEA spokeswoman Pat Dolan. She described Thomas as being "temporarily reassigned."
A Navy statement said only that the investigation involved the command environment. NAVSEA spokesman Christopher Johnson later elaborated, saying the IG will be reviewing issues "across the entire command, not just for leadership." He said he couldn't provide more detail "in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation. The IG is looking at everything," Johnson said.
Rear Adm. Joseph Campbell, a former shipyard commander who had been working as head of the NAVSEA directorate for logistics, maintenance and industrial operations, reported Monday morning as the acting shipyard commander until the investigation is complete, Dolan said.
Thomas was nominated for promotion to rear admiral on March 26, 2010. He is the 11th commanding officer fired so far this year. I take it the promotion is off...
NNSY also went through an abrupt leadership change last year. Capt. William Kiestler was fired June 30, 2010.
The stated reason for the firing was a loss of confidence in Kiestler's ability to command, Dolan said at the time. The loss of confidence was related to "failure to ensure critical maintenance work was being performed according to procedure and loss of situational awareness with respect to the status of ongoing submarine projects." Like Thomas, Kiestler had been in command for less than a year, taking charge in July 2009.
#1
Any bets that the 'loss of confidence' involves females not related to the (former) CO and 'attempts at relations'?........
but it won't take a million bucks for bail; there won't be no steeking bail.
#2
The loss of confidence was related to "failure to ensure critical maintenance work was being performed according to procedure and loss of situational awareness with respect to the status of ongoing submarine projects."
As he should have been fired. No slip ups when you send folks out who could be crushed like a beer can.
Due to high demand, growing anger and longer-than-anticipated lines, Joplin MO officials have temporarily waived a provision for area residents to obtain work permits before entering the city's tornado disaster area.
The decision to waive the permits was made before noon Wednesday, when four checkpoints set up at by the city were mobbed by people wanting to enter the area.
#2
Two more interesting aspects of tornadoes:
(1) why people ignore warnings, delay seeking shelter, and basically set themselves up for disaster. Many stories from Joplin are of this nature.
(2) How to get word to people who are on the road or otherwise in situations where they can't hear warnings or sirens. It is still not possible to buy a car radio with a built-in weather alarm AFAICT. Reverse 911 might be useful here for those who have land lines.
#4
I'm glad I'm not in Devastating Tornado Division, I just drill for that evil oil of doom. Which was going all gangbusters til one pump went KABOOM and for some reason they won't let us drill without a backup pump. So I'll just be sitting here tonight, doing nothing and getting my evil oil/bloody money.
Darn. Getting paid to sit here and do nothing. What could be worse?
Posted by: Silentbrick - Lost Drill Bit Division - Halliburton ||
05/25/2011 1:55 Comments ||
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#5
I skip all the middlemen and blame the sun. Or Q.
I had not heard of haarp or chemtrails causing sever weather. That is looney toons, a simplified explanation with fun conspiracy undertones to help explain what is, understandably, an quite incomprehensable amount of energy needed to build, create, and sustain one supercell, nevermind a string stretching 1000 miles. In one day. We are talking months of this activity. It is absurd to think that nuking a hurricane will stop it, the weather patterns which create this type of sever weather are at least as large.
Alerts. Yes, they are thinking up new ways to warn people, as they should. Expect someone to push the cell phone warning system like in NYC and what many responder departments across the US utilize. Two things concern me about this massive cell phone call. First, what is the capacity of the cellular system, locally especially, to be able to mass text tens of thousends of people, if not millions, in a relatively quick fashion (too soon, people will forget or think it missed them...too late, well). Second, comm towers have a way of getting knocked out of service during sever weather.
Land line system, much more reliable. Again, lines can get knocked out of comission. The other concern is a person must be right next to the phone.
The most reliable system is still radio, the built in weather alarm is a great idea. Also, the ability to overlap gps maps with sever weather patterns and warnings would be helpful to those who can afford such a system. Also, many phones and gadgets give internet access while driving and can give updates
But when it comes down to it, sirens, texts, singing the wizard of oz tornado riff while pointing at the twister with one hand and giving a wedgy with the other, some people will just not get it. They will grap their camera, drive into the dark clouds, think it doesn't apply to them.
And there is the honest mistakes - I was driving on the interstate in Spring, looking at the weather ahead. Had the radio on, knew there was bad weather about, warning for so and so county but I don't know what that is. Asked the wife to get the map and locate - when she did I realized that the shower I was driving in was part of a rain wrap, charted our options and gtfo...and I spot, just didn't look like much.
It ultimately comes down to the individual to be aware of the weather and not be careless.
#6
Had additional thought, cell phone etc. warnings, would the local towers be responsible for broadcasting info to every receivable phone in the area, or would the phone have a tracking app and tie into a database which would warn user when sever weather or otherwise bad situation is in the area. Good idea, but must be choice not mandate as either way tracks a person's movement.
An issue to consider, but not dismiss, is that some people's cell phones get sketchy away from home, whether terrain or plan. People can become too reliant as in my phone didn't ring so I didn't know there was a problem. Another would be texting and driving.
AH9418, some people bless them are just not too bright, or too busy, or too caught up in themselves. Not saying that with Joplin, saying that is everywhere. One of the more dangerous aspects are the tourists, the untrained car of goofballs looking for a rush who ignore all traffic regulations and considerations and haul ass on roads generally unfamiliar with and sharing them with people who are trying to get away from danger. The professional spotters are, in general from my experience, a bit better as they have a plan on how to approach and the experience to know when and when not to take chances, and generally have assigned tasks for driver and equipment operator as well as up to date mapping.
I am all for exploring any means of warning. I am not surprised by people saying they didn't hear the sirens, likely on account of heavy wind,rain,hail and especially if in a vehicle. Sometimes a person does everything right but can be eaten by the bear in an EF3, nevermind the ultraviolent EF5s. An entire Kansas town was wiped out by an EF3 on account of the nature of the structures being unreinforced historical brick and morter. One weather man said something rather smart. He kept going over and over to take shelter and where, was being rather repetitive (that and I had to watch the poperah goodbye between reports) and aptly stated, "I know Kansans are familiar with this type of weather, but for all you all new to the area this is what you need to do and do now."
I believe Oklahoma passed a law recently requiring establishments such as trailor parks and apartments with insufficient protection to host storm bunkers. A town in my region recently built a basketball court and stands, workout center, etc. but built to withstand a tornado so doubling as an above ground storm bunker; some places have a water table and/or soil as such that a traditional basement is not feasable.
But just in case: H-DTD thanks for checking fire on Kansas City, trying to make it to a ballgame this summer ; )
Seriously though, even the hail associated with the cells is enough to ruin your day. Saw a deal where a cross-country team practiced anyways and got pelted. A well presented severe weather class is quite educational.
CAIRO Egypts ex-president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons were on Tuesday referred to a criminal court on charges of ordering the killings of anti-regime protesters and graft, the public prosecutors office said. The prosecutors office said that Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal have been charged with premeditated murder of some participants in the peaceful protests of the January 25 revolution. Unfortunately, every other thug in the world is watching what is happening to Hosni and concluding, "ain't no way I'm giving up power if that's down the road for me."
The public prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmud has decided today to refer former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal, who will remain under detention, and businessman Hussein Salem to a criminal court, it said.
The murder charges may lead to a death sentence if Mubarak is found guilty, the justice minister said earlier this month.
Mubarak and his sons have also been charged with profiteering and using their positions for illicit gains and squandering public funds, the prosecutors office added.
Several of the charges extend to the fourth defendant, Hussein Salem, a businessman close to Mubarak who has been blamed for a controversial deal to supply Israel with gas at lower than usual prices. He has fled the country.
The prosecutor also referred to the military prosecution complaints against Mubarak that he had taken a commission from arms deals.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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A New Zealand truck driver who inflated "like a balloon" when he fell buttocks-first onto a compressed air nozzle is being described as lucky to be alive.
While working on Saturday, Steven McCormack slipped between the cab and the trailer of his truck and was impaled in the thigh by a high-pressure air cylinder which saw his body pumped full of compressed air.
The 48-year-old Bay of Plenty truckie told the Whakatane Beacon he felt as if he was going to explode and began to scream as his neck, feet and hands swelled up.
"I was blowing up like a football... it felt like I had the bends, like in diving. I had no choice but just to lay there, blowing up like a balloon," he said.
Workmates rushed to Mr McCormack's aid, turning off the compressed air and packing ice around his swollen neck.
Ambulance officers removed the brass nozzle and rushed him to Whakatane Hospital, where a surgeon treated the injury and drained one of his lungs, which had filled with fluid during the ordeal.
Mr McCormack said doctors later told him that the air separated fat from muscle and they were surprised his skin did not burst.
Now recuperating, he told the Beacon his skin felt "like a pork roast", hard and crackly on the outside but soft underneath.
Treating surgeon Dr Barnaby Smith said by the time Mr McCormack arrived at the hospital, the gas had made its way from his thigh, into his abdominal cavity and chest.
"It even tracked as high as his eyelids - he couldn't open them because they were so swollen," he said.
"He did have gas within the chest cavity compressing the lungs and heart."
Emergency surgery helped relieve the pressure on Mr McCormack's heart and lungs.
"It's not in the textbooks, and it's the first time anyone I know has seen it as well," Dr Smith said.
A hospital spokeswoman said it could have killed Mr McCormack.
"It's fair to say he's lucky to be alive, it was a potentially life-threatening situation," she said.
Dr Smith said Mr McCormack had almost shrunk back to his normal size.
If the US economy got off to a bad start in 2011 with a 1.8% GDP annualized growth rate, the start of the second quarter looks like it might be worse. The Commerce Department reported this morning that durable goods orders fell 3.6% in April after a 4.4% increase the month before. Orders dropped across the board:
New orders for manufactured durable goods in April decreased $7.1 billion or 3.6 percent to $189.9 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This decrease, down two of the last three months, followed a 4.4 percent March increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 1.5 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 3.6 percent. Transportation equipment, also down two of the last three months, had the largest decrease, $4.9 billion or 9.5 percent to $46.7 billion.
Even with this sharp drop in orders, inventories continued to expand, and have now reached record highs:
Inventories of manufactured durable goods in April, up sixteen consecutive months, increased $3.2 billion or 0.9 percent to $350.5 billion. This was at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 1.7 percent March increase. Transportation equipment, also up sixteen consecutive months, had the largest increase, $1.0 billion or 1.0 percent to $106.1 billion. This was also at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 2.4 percent March increase.
Bulging inventories mean that goods arent moving. Until inventories begin to decline, orders will continue to fall as sellers run out of cash to buy more goods. We will soon start to see sharp discounting to get rid of inventories, which means narrower profits and less capital for future growth.
The decrease in capital goods was even more dramatic, at 7.3% in the non-defense market. That points to a significant decrease in business investment, which would indicate that the private sector has turned bearish on the weak recovery from the Great Recession. If so, the tax break given to businesses as part of the deal made between the White House and Congress in December that allowed businesses to take a 100% write-off on FY2011 capital investment appears to have already run its course. Thats bad news for the Obama administration, which had hoped to ride a rising economic wave to a second term in office for Barack Obama.
Inspired by an obscure Turkish imam, the Gulen movement is associated with more than 1,000 schools in 130 countries as well as think tanks, newspapers, TV and radio stations, universities - and even a bank. It has no set structure, no visible organisation and no authorized membership.
Its supporters claim to simply work together, in a loose affiliation inspired by charismatic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who promotes altruism, hard work and education. Turkish businessmen admire his international outlook and pragmatic approach to issues like using credit.
In Turkey today, they are believed to have up to 10 million supporters. A recent study says many give between 5%-20% of their income to movement affiliated groups.
Critics accuse the movement of wanting power, to spread socially conservative Islamic attitudes on issues like marriage and alcohol around the world, and to suppress opposition.
During the past year, three prominent critics have been jailed in Turkey, leading some to say that it has become a sinister force in its native land.
Gulen's critics point to a video which showed up in 1999, where he seemed to tell his followers to infiltrate the mainstream:
"You must move within the arteries of the system, without anyone noticing your existence, until you reach all the power centres. You must wait until such time as you have got all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institution in Turkey," said Gulen.
In 2000, Gulen was charged with trying to undermine Turkey's secular state. He left for the United States, claiming the recording had been tampered with. He has been cleared in absentia of all charges.
Today, at age 70, Gulen lives the life of a recluse on a country estate in Pennsylvania. He urges his followers to build schools instead of mosques, and encourages interaction with people of other faiths through dialogue societies.
#4
Fethullah Gulen is a Fraud and a Fake. Just google GUlen Charter Schools And GUlen H1-B visa fraud. you will see this movement is all aout taking advantage of other other countries and to suck as much money out while indoctrinating children to become sympathetic for his nationalistic turkocentric point of view.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Federal prosecutors issued a subpoena for a New York Times reporter demanding his testimony in the prosecution of a former CIA operations officer charged with illegally leaking classified information. The heart (urp) bleeds...
In a court filing late Monday, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia said the reporter, James Risen, can provide crucial testimony implicating the defendant, ex-CIA employee Jeffrey Sterling, of O'Fallon, Mo.
But Risen has steadfastly refused to cooperate in the Sterling prosecution. A judge previously quashed a subpoena issued to Risen at an earlier stage in the case. And Risen's lawyer, Joel Kurtzberg, said Risen will again seek to quash the subpoena. He declined further comment.
Prosecutors say Risen's testimony would be relevant to a jury, and that reporters enjoy no special privilege under federal law to avoid testifying.
"Mr. Risen is an eyewitness to those crimes. Mr. Risen's testimony, like that of any other citizen in his situation, should therefore be admitted to permit the jury to carry out its truth-seeking function," prosecutors from the Department of Justice's Criminal Division and the Eastern District of Virginia wrote in a court filing seeking to compel Risen's testimony at trial.
Prosecutors allege Sterling was a source for Risen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, in his 2006 book "State of War" about CIA operations in Iran.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride in the Eastern District of Virginia referred calls to the Justice Department, where DOJ procedures require the attorney general himself to sign off on subpoenaing a journalist.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I guess that means the book is accurate, based on informed sources and thus worth a read.
India stepped up its push to deepen its economic ties with Africa and emerge from the shadow of rival China by offering $5 billion to help the continent rich with minerals and commodities.
At an address to an India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh trumpeted his country's historical ties with Africa in an attempt to catch-up with Beijing's growing influence on the continent.
"There is a new economic growth story emerging from Africa. Africa possesses all the prerequisites to become a major growth pole of the world," Singh said.
"The India-Africa partnership is unique and owes its origins to history and our common struggle against colonialism, apartheid, poverty, disease, illiteracy and hunger."
Singh, who is on a six-day trip to Africa which began on Monday, is pledging development support in exchange for trade agreements to fuel growth in India's resource-intensive economy, and boost the presence of Asia's third-largest economy which lags China in the world's poorest continent.
"We will offer 5 billion US dollars for the next three years under lines of credit to help Africa achieve its development goals," he said in a speech in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.
Singh said India would offer an additional $700 million for new institutions and training programmes, a further $300 million for a new Ethiopia-Djibouti railway line and $2 million to fund the African Union's peacekeeping force in Somalia. Bypass the Eritreans? I like that already...
Rival emerging economies India and China are scouring the globe to secure energy resources, minerals and food. Both are keen to stress to African nations that they are more than just trade partners and want to help the continent develop.
Both nations are also trying to extend their influence in Africa as they emerge as economic powers and appear keener to flex their diplomatic muscle.
India is trying to increase it presence on the continent as well as get African support for its bid for a permanent place on the UN Security Council, as the body is reformed to include emerging powers and developing nations.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Africa has many Indians living within its various countries at least in the south and east.
The indians are considered the "jews" of africa. THey run the businesses often. The internet cafes, the takeaway shops , the importers/exporters are often run by Indians
As a result, the blacks can be resentful and dislike the Indians.
Lots of indian businesses eg in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania; Nairobi, Kenya etc.
They are very brave and run small shipping services to and from somalia, running charcoal and sacks of grain.
they are often taken hostage by pirates, adn are beaten, starved and treated poorly compared to other foreign nationals who are not beaten
Indians have been the businessmen of Africa for centuries. It remains to be seen how the blacks react to the Chinese, relative newcomers.
White africans (eg: kenya, namibia) tend to like Indians.
#2
one other thing: train line ethiopia to djibouti is very interesting. Ethiopia exports fresh produce and wants to export electricity to the french military enclave.
Djibouti is an unpleasant little outpost, identical to Somalia in every way but for the french presence it would be.
the US is building a massive base there.
it's the one little port along the gulf of aden where foreign navies can stop and refuel other than Oman.
It's bordered by Eritrea (super dodgy) on the coast to the west/north and Somalia to the east.
Ethiopia, totally landlocked (as like idiots they gave up their one sea port in negotiations a while back) is to the south but rich in fertile land and rainfall
don't give any charity money to africa ever
africa is RICH
it's just poorly distributed. next famine to hit, save your pennies, and let the starving people riot and change their governments who are the problem.
A DEVASTATING cattle disease known as rinderpest has been eradicated, an unprecedented achievement, the world monitor for trade in farm animals has declared. Viciously contagious and often fatal, the rinderpest virus is also known as cattle plague. It has been a curse to livestock farmers throughout the ages, often contributing to famines that in turn have fuelled turbulence and war. Its eradication - the result of a decades-long campaign of vaccination and disease surveillance - was approved today to loud applause at a long-expected ceremony at the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Which isn't part of the UN.
Fourteen countries were the last on the list of nations to be certified rinderpest-free. Veterinarians liken the achievement to the stamping out of smallpox, certified in 1979.
"It's a very proud moment in the history of our profession," said Bill Taylor, who gave a report on the final stages of the eradication campaign, led by the OIE and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) who did their part by racking up expenses in 5 star hotels and restaurants..
#1
I think they had a half a dozen false starts to the eradication of smallpox in the wild.
Rinderpest is closely related to distemper, and human measles is directly descended from it.
From 1889-1897 a rinderpest plague swept through the African continent killing virtually all the cattle and wild ungulates. This had a major impact in the Boer War, as though the Boer's horses had been exposed to rinderpest, the English horses had not, so died as soon as they arrived in country, thus crippling their campaign.
The problem was somewhat alleviated with the import of more resistant horses from New South Wales, Australia, that were referred to as "Walers", by Rudyard Kipling.
The disease was originally introduced into Africa with the conclusion of a long running war between British ruled Egypt and Ethiopia, in which, after the British made a peace treaty with Ethiopia (1884), they turned over some development projects to the Italians, who then imported rinderpest infected cattle from Asia.
This resulted in the loss of 90% of Ethiopian farm animals, along with a drought, resulted in a massive famine in Ethiopia. In turn, smallpox, typhus, cholera and influenza epidemics decimated the human population.
The famine was so great that the Emperor turned out the nobility to boost public morale and show how to hoe fields by hand instead of with oxen. He opened his palace grounds to mass feedings of imported food, paid for out of his own wealth.
Before then, even though rinderpest was endemic to continental Europe, except for Britain, it had also been to a great extent eradicated in Italy, due to the response by the Pope to a vicious outbreak in the 18th Century that had wiped out most European cattle, and the prized Papal herd of cattle.
According to a Dr. Lancisi, chief physician to the Pope, the disease was contagious and he recommended slaughter and restricted movement of cattle.
The penalties for transgressors were drastic; guilty laymen were hung, drawn and quartered and guilty ecclesiastics were sent to the galleys. The Papal edicts were not popular but their application rid Romagna and parts south of rinderpest.
Elsewhere in Europe rinderpest frequently broke into point epidemics by a continuum of wars, resulting in a loss of livestock disease containment.
It had such a reputation for altering the course of war that it was one of the primary biological weapons still in development before they were outlawed by treaty in the 1970s.
#3
If they really did eradicate rinderpest then they deserve a good five-star meal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2011 11:53 Comments ||
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#4
"It had such a reputation for altering the course of war that it was one of the primary biological weapons still in development before they were outlawed by treaty in the 1970s."
So no need to get nostalgic, as there is still plenty of the bacteria left in the world's secret bio-weapons labs.
In an unprecedented step, a court in the US might rule that UN diplomatic immunity does not extend to its financial obligations and that it has to pay its debts.
Seems the UN Development Program (UNDP) is notorious for not paying their bills. A company under contract for the UNDP to remove several ships from an Iraqi harbor and open it for business discovered this the hard way as they have never been paid for their work in Iraq. The UN even made an agreement that should have settled the issue but then reneged on the deal when it turned out the UNDP would actually have to use their own money to pay the debt.
That begs the question: Just what, exactly, is the UN doing with all that money we are sending them if they aren't paying the contracts they are letting?
It seems to be common practice with the UNDP to simply refuse paying until the claimant goes away out of frustration. As they could not be taken to court, there is really nothing anyone could do. This might change.
GENEVA -- Health ministers from around the world agreed Tuesday to put off setting a deadline to destroy the last known stockpiles of the smallpox virus for three more years, rejecting a U.S. plan that had called for a five-year delay.
After two days of heated debate, the 193-nation World Health Assembly agreed by consensus to a compromise that calls for another review in 2014.
The United States had proposed a five-year extension to destroying the U.S. and Russian stockpiles, arguing that more research is needed and the stockpiles could help prevent one of the world's deadliest diseases from being used as a biological weapon. But other ministers at the decision-making assembly of the World Health Organization said they saw little reason to retain the stockpiles, and objected to the delay in destroying them.
Dr. Nils Daulaire, head of the U.S. Office of Global Health Affairs and the chief American delegate to the assembly, expressed some disappointment but said the compromise was satisfactory.
"Three years is a reasonable time period in terms of the next review," he told reporters. "Obviously during that time period, we expect there will be meaningful progress in the research on anti-virals and vaccines and diagnostics." So smallpox will be officially gone, until it turns up somewhere.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Smallpox will be gone until construction workers accidentally tear up an old cemetery of smallpox victims, or ....
#3
The signs & symptoms of smallpox are severe enough to draw attention to a sufferer. AFAIK no active cases have been seen in the world for decades. AFAIK there are no asymptomatic carriers of smallpox: if you are carrying the virus, you're sick with it. After you recover, you don't carry the virus.
Unfortunately smallpox virus is quite durable outside of the human body, and no one really knows how long it can last that way. Hence my reference to digging up smallpox victims of long ago. The 'experts' have not thought this through IMO.
#4
Seems like a good idea on the surface, but I'm a little ambivalent. Isn't the virus a living creature, with rights to existence? Is it wise to destroy the knowledge contained within it's DNA sequences? Someday we may wish we knew the biological makeup of this noble and unique lifeform....
#5
Anguper's point is the one I'm worried about. Smallpox lives for a long, long time outside the human body.
When (not if) it turns up again, we'll need vaccines. The only way we know vaccines work is to have a small supply of smallpox for testing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2011 9:18 Comments ||
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#6
They're finding virus parts in fossil genomes, and viable bacteria in amber-preserved critters, so maybe this isn't such a good idea.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/25/2011 9:23 Comments ||
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#7
Smallpox will be gone until construction workers accidentally tear up an old cemetery of smallpox victims, or ....
I've seen this movie. It doesn't end well.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/25/2011 9:59 Comments ||
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#8
When (not if) it turns up again, we'll need vaccines. The only way we know vaccines work is to have a small supply of smallpox for testing.
Given that we stopped vaccinating long ago, when it turns up again won't we have a naturally produced large supply of small pox for testing?
I'm more worried that the Ruskies or others won't destroy theirs and will continue weaponization.
Also, presumably we have the DNA/RNA of the virus fully mapped. How difficult would it be to rebuild it? Or how soon would it not not be too difficult to rebuild it?
#9
What exactly is the point of destroying research samples? Strikes one as the same kind of reasoning behind the unilateral disarmament movement of the 80's.
The good news, of course, is that samples floating around in secret bioweapons programs will now be more valuable.
#10
This strikes me as analogous to nuclear disarmament. Everyone is required to destroy stockpiles. The US, in good faith, goes first. Meanwhile, Russia delays, fakes it, refuses inspections, continues tinkering with the virulence factors and mining for new strains in SE Asian backwaters. Meanwhile, we'll never have any idea when a batch will get "lost" or sold to the highest bidder. I.e., nothing changes, except now it's much more difficult for the US to defend itself, against either accidental or intentional release. Which is exactly the goal.
Sounds like Dr. Daulaire's job is to politely and perpetually tell these international busybodies to piss off. Good.
#12
When smallpox rears its head and it will the percentage of the population over 50 is going to soar. The boomers were the last generation vaccinated.
Posted by: retired LEO ||
05/25/2011 16:19 Comments ||
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#13
It's the World "Health" Organization practicing eugenics in not so forward way.
#14
If smallpox ever gets out into the population then there will be tons of it in every hospital. We are not going to have go dig around in the back closet of the CDC to find a sample. Destroy it now, and manufacture existing vaccine recipes for the future.
#15
manufacture existing vaccine recipes for the future Easy to say. Not easy to do. 30% mortality is typical among the unvaccinated who get smallpox. How lucky do we feel?
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