Afghan Yuppies Get Rich On Ten Years of War
October 4th, 2011Via: AFP:
“Business is booming, I have made good profits since the Taliban were ousted,” said a smiling Sayed Habib as he showed Western dresses to young women in one of Kabul’s glitziest shopping malls.
Habib, 34, is one of a new generation of rich young Afghans driving flashy cars and wearing designer labels who have made fortunes in Afghanistan’s war economy since the US-led invasion 10 years ago.
His shop is one of many signs that some in the Afghan capital are now very wealthy — although Kabul’s mirrored glass malls and lavish mansions often sit on dusty roads dotted with children begging for money, highlighting wider, ingrained poverty.
SSL Was Broken by Design
October 4th, 2011Via: Cryptome:
So how was it that Netscape SSL had exactly the same faults as IPsec, ISAKMP, Oakley, IKE? Political pressure! Somebody really REALLY wanted to be able track users and intercept/substitute….
Do I have proof? No, it’s merely circumstantial. Also, my multi-year FBI personal investigation over PPP CHAP was coincidental, too.
Netscape caved, for their commercial interests. There was also the CA business model. User’s own interests took last place.
So, arguing about ease of use is a waste of time, as long as the easy to use protocol was designed to be broken. It really is time to start over.
Most Popular Contraceptive Used in Parts of Africa May Double Risk of Contracting HIV
October 4th, 2011Instead of cheap, effective, ubiquitous neem oil being promoted by alleged humanitarian organizations for birth control, dangerous and expensive pharmaceutical products are used that also happen to double the risk of women being infected with HIV.
That’s an absolutely fascinating coincidence.
Via: New York Times:
The most popular contraceptive for women in eastern and southern Africa, a hormone shot given every three months, appears to double the risk the women will become infected with H.I.V., according to a large study published Monday. And when it is used by H.I.V.-positive women, their male partners are twice as likely to become infected than if the women had used no contraception.
The findings potentially present an alarming quandary for women in Africa. Hundreds of thousands of them suffer injuries, bleeding, infections and even death in childbirth from unintended pregnancies. Finding affordable and convenient contraceptives is a pressing goal for international health authorities.
But many countries where pregnancy rates are highest are also ravaged by H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. So the evidence suggesting that the injectable contraceptive has biological properties that may make women and men more vulnerable to H.I.V. infection is particularly troubling.
Neem Oil: An Effective, Non Toxic and Extremely Inexpensive Contraceptive
October 4th, 2011Neem oil can be used as an effective, non toxic contraceptive. It is extremely inexpensive and could potentially wipe out billions of dollars in pharmaceutical industry profits per year.
National Research Development Corporation (India):
Pressure extracted neem oil was found to have in-vitro spermicidal activity against rat, monkey and human sperms. On intravaginal application before coitus, neem oil was found to prevent pregnancy in rats, rabbits, monkey and human beings. When neem oil was applied intravaginally after coitus, it was found to prevent implantation and cause abortion in rats. All these effects were systemic and dose dependent. The application of neem oil did not alter the hormonal profile.
In short neem oil was found to be a promising (a) pre-coital vaginal contraceptive and (b) a post-coital contraceptive preventing implantation and also (c) an abortifacient agent. All these effects are reversible. Only one ml of oil is to be applied for these effects every time and the cost is negligible as one litre of neem oil can be used for 30 cycles by a woman if it is daily used as a pre-coital vaginal contraceptive. It is purely of herbal origin available in plenty and indigenous. The smell can be marked by adding lemon grass scent can be used with the help of an applicator.
Application of neem oil once daily for 10 days in rabbits did not cause any vaginal irritation. When it was applied once daily in rats for eight weeks there was no toxic effect.
Here are some extended excerpts from, Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems, National Research Council, 1992 (Other Sources: Google, Amazon):
BIRTH CONTROL
Research has shown that neem oil acts as a powerful spermicide. This finding is preliminary and may eventually prove of little consequence, but it may also prove of paramount importance. Perhaps 80 percent of the expected population explosion, which may double the number of people on earth in the next 40 years, will occur in countries where neem can be grown. An inexpensive birth-control method that can be produced in the backyards of even the remotest and poorest villages could be a vital resource.
11
Khalid et al., 1986; Khalid et al., 1989.
12
Badam et al., 1987.
13
Terumo Corporation 1983, 1985. Anti-inflammatory polysaccharides from Melia azadirachta. Japan Kokai Tokyo Koho JP 82-05532 and 83-225021.
Neem and Birth Control
Scientists at India’s Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS) have isolated a neem-oil extract (Nim 76) that they believe can be refined into a new birth control method. Their trials have found that neem oil is strongly spermicidal. Rhesus monkey and human spermatozoa, for example, became totally immotile within 30 seconds of contacting the oil.
Studies in 20 rats, 8 rabbits, 14 rhesus monkeys, and 10 human volunteers showed that neem oil applied intravaginally before sexual intercourse prevented pregnancy. Histopathological studies on the rat tissues (vagina, cervix, and uterus) showed no ill effects. By contrast, nonyl-phenoxy polyethoxy ethanol, the spermicide in a popular vaginal contraceptive cream, produced obvious irritation. Radioisotope studies indicated that neem oil was not absorbed from the vagina.
DIPAS scientists maintain that neem oil might be an ideal contraceptive: it is a natural product, readily available, inexpensive, and nontoxic. Moreover, they anticipate that it will be widely accepted. The only disadvantage, they say, is neem oil’s unpleasant odor. However, adding a small amount of scent masks most of the smell without reducing the spermicidal property.
All in all, they conclude, neem oil has particular potential for widespread use by the poor. It seems likely to be the cheapest contraceptive available, and villagers in remote areas may well accept it as a regular method of birth control because sophisticated methods are financially beyond their reach and because they are extremely apprehensive about sterilization and other sophisticated methods.
In a scientific article in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, DIPAS researchers report that tests also show that Nim 76 can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the wall of the uterus. Nim 76 was effective in rats and rabbits if applied on day 2 to day 7 of the expected pregnancy. The minimum effective dose was very small (only 25 µ1 for rats). And a month after the applications ceased, the animals were completely fertile again. According to the researchers, there were no deleterious effects on subsequent pregnancies or offspring (see Appendix B, page 104).
Indian scientists have demonstrated that neem oil is a potential new contraceptive for women (see sidebar). It kills spermatozoa within 30 seconds and has proved effective both in laboratory trials and in practice—where an intravaginal dose of I ml of neem oil was used. Histopathology failed to reveal any side effects.
As a follow-up to these experiments, the Indian army provided neem oil to 20 soldiers and their families as a birth-control measure. This trial was considered so successful that the colonel in charge of the program was honored by the prime minister. A neem-oil formulation called “Sensal” is now sold in India for contraceptive purposes.
Neem-leaf extracts have also shown promise as male birth-control products because they reduce fertility in a variety of male mammals. Reportedly, there was no impotence or loss of libido.14
More details of these tentative but potentially far-reaching discoveries are given both in the sidebar (opposite) and in Appendix B.
APPENDIX B
BREAKTHROUGHS IN POPULATION CONTROL?
Most observers conclude that today’s skyrocketing growth in human population is creating a serious underlying threat to the well-being of the world’s natural and economic resources. Between 1990 and 2025, for instance, the number of people on the planet is expected to rise by 3.2 billion.1 And by the year 2000, it is projected that 1.7 billion people will be added to countries that can barely support their populations now, let alone create an economic climate to raise everyone out of poverty.
Whether neem can help reduce runaway population growth is uncertain. However, as noted earlier, exploratory research has indicated that certain neem ingredients have contraceptive properties. Thus it is possible that, given research attention, products from this tree could come into widespread use for the reduction of unwanted pregnancies. This could be an important breakthrough because perhaps 2 billion of the projected population increase before 2025 will occur in regions where neem can be grown.
Eventually, contraception could perhaps become the greatest of neem’s contributions. Because of the importance of any breakthrough in this area, we reproduce in this appendix the abstracts of three recent research papers that point toward the possibility of neem providing cheap, widely available contraceptives for even the remotest regions of many of the already overpopulated nations.2
1
United Nations Department of International Economic and Social Affairs. 1989. World Population Prospects, 1988. Population Studies No. 106. United Nations, New York.
2
Other antifertility effects of neem are summarized in Jacobson, 1988, pages 145-147.
NEEM OIL FOR THE “MORNING AFTER”
Shakti N. Upadhyay, Charu Kaushic, and G.P. Talwar. 1990. Antifertility effects of neem (Azadirachta indica) oil by single intrauterine administration: a novel method for contraception. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences 242:175-179.
A novel use of neem (Azadirachta indica) oil, a traditional plant product, for long-term and reversible blocking of fertility after a single intrauterine application is described. Female Wistar rats of proven fertility were given a single dose (100 µl) of neem oil by intrauterine route; control animals received the same volume of peanut oil. Whereas all control animals became pregnant and delivered normal litters, the rats treated with neem oil remained infertile for variable periods ranging from 107 to 180 days even after repeated matings with males of proven fertility. The block in fertility was, however, reversible, as half of the animals regained fertility and delivered normal litters by five months after treatment, without any apparent teratogenic effects. Unilateral administration of neem oil in the uterus blocked pregnancy only on the side of application, whereas the contralateral uterine horn treated with peanut oil had normally developing foetuses; no sign of implantation or foetal resorption was noted in the neem-oil-treated horn. The ovaries on both sides had 4-6 corpora lutea, indicating no effect of treatment on ovarian functions. The animals treated with neem oil showed a significant leukocytic infiltration in the uterine epithelium between days 3 and 5 post coitum, i.e., during the pre-implantation period. Intrauterine application of neem oil appears to induce a pre-implantation block in fertility; the possible mechanisms of the antifertility action are discussed.
NEEM OIL AS SPERMICIDE
Gp. Capt. K.C. Sinha and Lt. Col. S.S. Riar. 1985. Neem oil—an ideal contraceptive. Biological Memoirs 10(1 and 2):107-114.
Neem oil in vitro proved to be a strong spermicidal agent. Rhesus monkey and human spermatozoa became totally immotile within 30 seconds of contact with the undiluted oil.
In vivo studies in rats (20), rabbits (8), rhesus monkeys (14), and human volunteers (10) proved that neem oil applied intravaginally before sexual intercourse prevented pregnancy in all the species.
Neem oil has also been found to have anti-implantation/abortifacient effect in rats and rabbits if applied intravaginally on day 2 to day 7 of expected pregnancy. The minimum effective dose is 25 µl for rats. One month after the stoppage of neem oil application there was complete reversibility in fertility in these animals. It had no deleterious effect on the subsequent pregnancies and the offsprings.
Histopathological studies on rats’ vagina, cervix, and uterus showed no ill effects of neem oil in these tissues. In contrast, nonyl-phenoxy polyethoxy ethanol, a popular vaginal contraceptive cream, showed signs of severe irritant reaction in these tissues. Radioisotope studies indicated that neem oil was not absorbed from the vagina; it thus ruled out its possible systemic effects.
Results of the present study indicate than neem oil is an “ideal” female contraceptive, being easily available, cheap, and nontoxic. Therefore, its mass acceptance is anticipated.
NEEM-LEAF EXTRACT TO REDUCE MALE FERTILITY
N.L. Sadre, Vibhavari Y. Deshpande, K.N. Mendulkar, and D.H. Nandal. 1983. Male antifertility activity of Azadirachta indica in different species. Pages 473-482 in H. Schmutterer and K.R.S. Ascher, eds. 1984. Natural Pesticides from the Neem Tree (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) and other tropical plants. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, Germany.
Male antifertility activity of neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) was studied in mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs by daily oral feeding of a cold-water extract of fresh green neem leaves. The infertility effect was seen in treated male rats, as there was a 66.7 percent reduction in fertility after 6 weeks, 80 percent after 9 weeks, and 100 percent after 11 weeks. There was no inhibition of spermatogenesis. During this period there was no decrease in body weight and no other manifestation of toxicity were observed. There was a marked decrease in the motility of spermatozoa. The infertility in rats was not associated with loss of libido or with impotence and the animals maintained normal mating behavior. The male antifertility activity was reversible in 4 to 6 weeks and the active principle from the extract was observed to be thermostable. Neem extract also shows reversible male antifertility activity in mice without inhibition of spermatogenesis. In guinea pigs and rabbits, however, it exhibited toxicity, as demonstrated by 66.6 percent and 74.9 percent mortality in guinea pigs and 80 percent and 90 percent mortality in rabbits at the end of 4 and 6 weeks, respectively.
Greece Falls Into ‘Death Spiral’: Rising Debt, No Growth
October 4th, 2011Greece just needs a central bank and an international community who will look the other way when it buys hundreds of billions of dollars of its own debt. Thousands of nuclear warheads, and a vast network of military bases around the world would also help.
But substitute the word Greece with America anyway. The economic situation is remarkably similar.
Via: Reuters:
Drowning in red ink, Greece has nowhere to turn to revive the economic growth that might put its debt on a sustainable trajectory, reassure angry foreign creditors and offer hope to its recession-weary citizens.
Instead, the country finds itself in a vicious circle—a death spiral, some would say—in which it is borrowing ever more to keep up on its existing debts, crushing growth in the process and thereby worsening its all-important ratio of debt-to-gross domestic product.
Putin Wants to Build ‘Eurasian Union’
October 4th, 2011Via: Reuters:
Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he wants to bring ex-Soviet states into a “Eurasian Union” in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he prepares to return to the Kremlin as the country’s next president.
Putin said the new union would build on an existing Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan which from next year will remove all barriers to trade, capital and labor movement between the three countries.
“We are not going to stop there and are setting an ambitious goal — to achieve an even higher integration level in the Eurasian Union,” Putin wrote in an article which will be published in Izvestia newspaper on October 4.
Koch Industries: A Global Menace
October 3rd, 2011Just another day at the office.
Via: Business Insider:
A just-published bombshell article in the November issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine implicates Koch Industries, the company controlled by Republican mega-donors Charles and David Koch, in dozens of criminal acts around the globe over the past three decades.
According the report, company officials have been caught paying bribes to win contracts, trading with Iran in violation of the U.S. embargo, price-fixing, neglecting safety and ignoring environmental regulations.
Research Credit: noncompliant
The Secret Memo That Explains Why Obama Can Kill Americans
October 3rd, 2011Via: The Atlantic:
Outside the U.S. government, President Obama’s order to kill American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki without due process has proved controversial, with experts in law and war reaching different conclusions. Inside the Obama Administration, however, disagreement was apparently absent, or so say anonymous sources quoted by the Washington Post. “The Justice Department wrote a secret memorandum authorizing the lethal targeting of Anwar al-Aulaqi, the American-born radical cleric who was killed by a U.S. drone strike Friday, according to administration officials,” the newspaper reported. “The document was produced following a review of the legal issues raised by striking a U.S. citizen and involved senior lawyers from across the administration. There was no dissent about the legality of killing Aulaqi, the officials said.”
Isn’t that interesting? Months ago, the Obama Administration revealed that it would target al-Awlaki. It even managed to wriggle out of a lawsuit filed by his father to prevent the assassination. But the actual legal reasoning the Department of Justice used to authorize the strike? It’s secret. Classified. Information that the public isn’t permitted to read, mull over, or challenge.
Why? What justification can there be for President Obama and his lawyers to keep secret what they’re asserting is a matter of sound law? This isn’t a military secret. It isn’t an instance of protecting CIA field assets, or shielding a domestic vulnerability to terrorism from public view. This is an analysis of the power that the Constitution and Congress’ post September 11 authorization of military force gives the executive branch. This is a president exploiting official secrecy so that he can claim legal justification for his actions without having to expose his specific reasoning to scrutiny. As the Post put it, “The administration officials refused to disclose the exact legal analysis used to authorize targeting Aulaqi, or how they considered any Fifth Amendment right to due process.”
Obama hasn’t just set a new precedent about killing Americans without due process. He has done so in a way that deliberately shields from public view the precise nature of the important precedent he has set.
Greece to Miss Deficit Targets Despite Austerity
October 3rd, 2011Via: Reuters:
Greece will miss a deficit target set just months ago in a massive bailout package, according to government draft budget figures released on Sunday, showing that drastic steps taken to avert bankruptcy may not be enough.
The dire forecasts came while inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, EU and European Central Bank, known as the troika, were in Athens scouring the country’s books to decide whether to approve a loan tranche. Without that installment, Greece would run out of cash as soon as this month.
Millions of Bees Mysteriously Die in Florida
October 2nd, 2011Via: CBS:
Florida officials are abuzz as to how millions of honey bees were killed in Brevard County.
Several beekeepers in the county have reported lost colonies this week. Charles Smith of Smith Family Honey Company told Stuart News Thursday he lost 400 beehives. He says the bees appeared to have been poisoned.
