A Duty To Warn

Liberty Bell

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ASM Defends Science-Based Health Policy in Letter to Executive Branch

"July 14, 2020

In response to a coordinated effort to discredit public health officials, ASM, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) issued the following letter to Vice President Pence demonstrating support for public health officials who are prioritizing science-based public health strategies to address the COVID-19 pandemic​.


Dear Vice President Pence:

During a national public health emergency, it is vital that we lead with science and with the best data available. Our continued response to and successful recovery from the COVID-19 crisis depends on adherence to sound scientific and public health guidance from the experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who have made the health and safety of the public the top priority.

As organizations representing thousands of researchers, public health professionals, health care providers and others serving in scientific and health care professional fields, we object to any attempt to cast doubt on science and sow mistrust for public health expertise, and to spread misinformation during this challenging time for all Americans. Such efforts not only put the health of our population in greater peril, but also undermine the work underway to move our country beyond the pandemic and return to normalcy.

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus and COVID-19 is a new condition with which we have no prior experience. As is the case with any new pathogen or disease, we are learning in real time. Public health and medicine are inherently dynamic fields that adapt as the science evolves. We have embarked on an unprecedented global effort to develop medical countermeasures and refine public health guidance, and as this work uncovers new knowledge, recommendations can and will change. By heeding the recommendations of those who are on the front lines of progress to combat this virus, we have the best chance at a successful outcome.


Sincerely,

American Society for Microbiology
Association of Public Health Laboratories
Infectious Diseases Society of America
AcademyHealth
African American Health Alliance
American Academy of HIV Medicine
American Association for Anatomy
American Association for Dental Research
American Association for Respiratory Care
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
American Association of Immunologists
American Association of Physics Teachers
American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Physiological Society
American Public Health Association
American Society for Cell Biology
American Society for Clinical Pathology
American Society for Investigative Pathology
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
American Society for Virology
American Society of Hematology
American Society of Pediatric Nephrology
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
American Sociological Association
American Thoracic Society
Association for Psychological Science
Association of American Cancer Institutes
Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health
AVAC
Baruch S. Blumberg Institute
Big Cities Health Coalition
Biophysical Society
Black AIDS Institute
Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
Coalition for the Life Sciences
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
Council of Scientific Society Presidents
Cure HHT
Endocrine Society
Genetics Society of America
Hepatitis B Foundation
HIV Medicine Association
Institute for Systems Biology
Institute of Food Technologists
International Society for Stem Cell Research
Jeffrey Modell Foundation
LUNGevity Foundation
NASTAD
National Association of County and City Health Officials
Natural Science Collections Alliance
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Prevention Institute
Safe States Alliance
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society
Society of General Internal Medicine
Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP)
Society of Toxicology
STChealth LLC
The Histochemical Society
Treatment Action Group
Trust for America's Health
Vaccinate Your Family
Washington State Department of Health
AIDS Foundation Chicago
American Statistical Association
North Carolina AIDS Action Network
IRMA - International Rectal Microbicide Advocates
HealthHIV
Positive Women's Network-USA
National Coalition for LGBT Health
The Well Project
Cascade AIDS Project
Latinos Salud
Entomological Society of America
AIDS Alabama
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
American Crystallographic Association
North American Vascular Biology Organization
American College of Nuclear Medicine (ACNM)
AIDS United
AIDS Action Baltimore
International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
WVU Health Sciences Center
American Society for Gravitational and Space Research
International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
Institute of Mathematical Statistics
American Urological Association
The AIDS Institute
IAVI
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
American Medical Technologists
Federation of American Scientists
Pan American Society for Clinical Virology
Association of American Medical Colleges
North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
National Association of School Nurses
AIDS Alliance for Women, Infants, Children, Youth & Families
International Mammalian Genome Society
International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH)"

An Updated World Ocean Database

WOD18 Approaches

I have now downloaded all of the latest update (end of September) of the World Ocean Database (WOD13), and am now "coming up for air."

Preparing it for use will take a day or so, but then I will post about it.

The more important news is that the World Ocean Database is going to be updated even more (WOD18).

From what I can tell, for several reasons it will be even better than the recent September update.

The main reason that this comping update interests me is that the well-known CSV file format is being implemented.

For those of us who had to write software programs to decipher the native WOD format and convert it to CSV format, it is a most welcome accomplishment.

Here are some links so readers can familiarize themselves with what is on the way:

WOD 18 prelim notes
main page
data
download info
publications
masks
pre-release doc PDF

Some of that may change because some of it is pre-release.

Anyway, in case you want to grab the latest legacy data, the latest download containing additions and corrections to the legacy WOD data (WOD13) increased the size of the download.

I plan to do some upcoming posts comparing the September update with the legacy data.

Stay tuned.

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Global Warming Blaze

Blaze
(by Zack Strait)

we were riding out to an abandoned farmhouse
on his pearl black Triumph

deaf to the sound of bleating sheep

that was when he told me it was the same model
James Dean had swapped for
three days after

they’d finished filming East of Eden

I tried to tell him that was cool but he didn’t act
like he’d heard me
so I hugged him tight

and set my head on his shoulder

and watched how the yellow moon was shifting
behind the pines
like the face of a jailbird

he’d told me before that his wife knew he didn’t
swing her way
but she was keeping quiet about it

for their kid’s sake

we rumbled into the dry grass and started cutting
through the cornstalks

into a big clearing where he kicked
the bike stand
and told me to get off

he tossed his chrome aviators and then we started
our hike to the farmhouse
which was sagging in the field

opposite of us

we were quiet on the way like a couple of thieves
about to rob someone blind

I stood back as he tore a warped door
off the barn
and flung it into the gravel

inside the air was dusty and thick and the moon
was still with us
cocked behind a streaked window

like we’d traded places

and now we were the jailbirds serving a lifetime
sentence without parole

John pulled off his steel-toe boots
and told me to wait for him
up in the hayloft

I left my loafers there and climbed a wood ladder
until I was looking into the eyes
of a great horned owl

he kept shaking his head
like he couldn’t believe what was about to happen

I was going to be John’s first

but while I was gathering the wet straw
I smelled smoke
and slid back down the ladder

that was when I saw the fire licking the crossbeams
and ran outside

John was passing through the wheat
like a final judgment

his figure was muscled with flame and I kept silent
as he reached for a head of grain

and burned it to the ground

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"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)"
(by Arcade Fire)

I woke up with the power out
Not really something to shout about
Ice has covered up my parents hands
Don't have any dreams, don't have any plans

I went out into the night
I went out to find some light
Kids are swingin' from the power lines
Nobody's home, so nobody minds

I woke up on the darkest night
Neighbors all were shoutin' that they found the light
"We found the light!"
Shadows jumpin' all over my walls
Some of them big, some of them small

I went out into the night
I went out to pick a fight with anyone
Light a candle for the kids
Jesus Christ don't keep it hid!

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

Ice has covered up my parents hands
Don't have any dreams, don't have any plans
Growin' up in some strange storm
Nobody's cold, nobody's warm

I went out into the night
I went out to find some light
Kids are dyin' out in the snow,
Look at them go, look at them go!

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

And the power's out
In the heart of man
Take it from your heart
Put it in your hand

What's the plan? What's the plan?

Is it a dream? Is it a lie?
I think I'll let you decide
Just light a candle for the kids
Jesus Christ don't keep it hid!

'Cause nothin's hid
From us kids
You ain't foolin' nobody
With the lights out!

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

And the power's out
In the heart of man
Take it from your heart
Put it in your hand

And there's something wrong
In the heart of man
Take it from your heart
Put it in your hand

Where'd you go?!

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Looking Back on 2014: Posts I Could Not Complete

Hexagon: Inverse of NASA colors (see last image)

There were quite a few posts I wanted to get to but had "writer's block" or blogger's block, and just could not "git 'R dun" for some reason.

So, in surrender, and to get beyond the block, I am providing the names of the posts that were not written, but not the links that were to have been included in those embryonic posts that were never born.

The three graphics shown in today's post are NASA Cassini-Huygens photos of the mysterious hexagon on the planet Saturn's north pole.

I have managed to write about it a time or two in times past (Saturn's Many Mysteries, Saturn - Home of the Hexagon Mystery, cf. Exploded Planet Hypothesis).

Hexagon & 'hot-spot' outlined

Original NASA Colors

There are many things about our planet, our Sun, our solar system, ourselves, and our universe that we do not understand.

So, it is fun sometimes to speculate and indulge in some science fiction mixed as always with scientific facts.

The year that begins tomorrow will be another interesting year.

I wrote about one event that will put climate change in the forefront of some minds that have not yet contemplated it fully (Message of Science & Religion - Western - 2).

There are many other events, such as the rising danger of nuclear war, as well as the rising sea levels, that will keep The Dredd Blog System focused on important issues.

Another mystery that was not solved in 2014 is the book written in a language that has not been deciphered yet.

I wrote about it some years ago (Ancient Ecocosmology?).

Anyway, here are the unfinished (shame on me) posts I planned to do, but failed to write, during 2014 --but which I plan to try again to complete in 2015:

Exploded Planet Hypothesis - 3
Ecosystems, Microbes, Viruses, and Virulence
Earth Farming vs. Organic Farming
A Savvy Ecocosmological Earth Calendar - 3
Big Bang Challenges
Wanted: Technology To Save Our Species - 2 (Done)
What Kind of Intelligence is Prescience? - 3
The Little People - 3
A Religious Doctrine For Toxins of Power - 2
Is Specialization a Source of Toxins of Power?
On The Origin of the Toxins of Conspiracy Power
Toxoplasmosis - Sapolsky
Origin of Cats
The Pillars of Knowledge: Faith and Trust? - 2
Propaganda In Microbes

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Thanks to all readers from all over the world who read Dredd Blog System posts (Who Reads Dredd Blog).

On This Date Five Years Ago

Occasionally we take a look at the past on Dredd Blog to see how much things are the same or how much things have changed.

One thing going on back then that we did not know about, which we know now, is that psychologists, who are supposed to be doctors were torturing people as if that was their calling (Psychologists Torture).

The ground is still shaking from those revelations, so lets look at a couple of posts from this date in 2009:

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Oilah Akbar! Oilah Akbar! - 2

The AP is reporting that Iran seized Oil Well # 4 which the Iraqis claim as theirs.

It is a border dispute in theory, but the reality is that it is an addiction dispute.

Drug dealers are very territorial and drug users are very dangerous.

Oil addiction and Copenhagen are linked in the sense that oil addiction is the disaster that is causing the impending climate disaster governments of the world seem too weak to prevent.

Oilah Akbar is the real religion behind all this madness.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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Dorgan Attempts To Reform Health Care

Senator Dorgan presented a bi-partisan amendment to the health care bill to truly reform health care.

It was a bi-partisan amendment with co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle:

Dorgan and Snowe introduced bipartisan legislation that had over 30 Senate co-sponsors in the last session of Congress, including President Obama and Senator John McCain.

(Dorgan Amendment [Wayback Machine version here]). One segment of health care is prescription drugs, which was the focus of Senator Dorgan's Amendment:

... American consumers are charged the highest prices in the world for the same medicines that are available in other major, industrialized nations at a fraction of the cost. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Dorgan–Snowe legislation will save U.S. consumers more than $50 billion over the next decade.

The legislation will allow American consumers, pharmacies and drug wholesalers to import FDA–approved prescription drugs at the substantially lower prices available on the world market.

(FAQ About Amendment [Wayback Machine version here], emphasis added). Americans are treated unfairly by Big Pharma. A post yesterday shows the vote, which reveals who is serious about health care reform and who is not.

Those who voted against this amendment, including prominent democrats, are serious about getting money from Big Pharma for their election, but not about health care reform. Their vote exposes them.

Governor Dean is correct that the Senate Version of the health care legislation does not pass the smell test and should be rejected in favor of the House Bill.

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It was a two-post day back in 2009 on this date.

As we look back, some things are still the same today as they were back then.

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Suicide Ride, by Bodeco

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2,000 Posts For Dredd Blog

Today's post is the 2,000th post on Dredd Blog.

It is hard work to research subjects and share ideas for free and without advertising, but it can be and has been done.

When bloggers contemplate strenuous posting activity from time to time we notice an ebb and flow, a swinging back and forth from major events to minor events that can end up making the selection of subjects to blog about more difficult at times.

Like writers cramp, selecting material is somewhat impacted by a history of interests, like fluctuating gravity perhaps, in that, some of us see fluctuations or oscillations while others do not:

F = G (M₁ * M₂)
     R²

In that formula "G" represents the gravitational "constant" which, as it turns out, is not constant in the usual sense of the word:

The official CODATA value for G in 1986 was given as G=(6,67259±0.00085) x 10^-11 m³ Kg^-1 s^-2 and was based on the Luther and Towler determination in 1982. However, the value of G has been recently called into question by new measurements from respected research teams in Germany, New Zealand, and Russia in order to try to settle this issue. The new values using the best laboratory equipment to-date disagreed wildly to the point that many are doubting about the constancy of this parameter and some are even postulating entirely new forces to explain these gravitational anomalies. For example, in 1996, a team from the German Institute of Standards led by W. Michaelis obtained a value for G that is 0.6% higher than the accepted value; another group from the University of Wuppertal in Germany led by Hinrich Meyer found a value that is 0.06% lower, and in 1995, Mark Fitzgerald and collaborators at Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand measured a value that is 0.13% lower. The Russian group found a curious space and time variation of G of up to +0.7%. In the early 1980s, Frank Stacey and his colleagues measured G in deep mines and bore holes in Australia. Their value was about 1% higher than currently accepted. In 1986 Ephrain Fischbach, at the University of Washington, Seattle, claimed that laboratory tests also showed a slight deviation from Newton's law of gravity, consistent with the Australian results. As it may be seen from the Cavendish conference data, the results of the major 7 groups may agree with each other only on the level 10^-1%. So, despite our great technology advancements in measuring equipment, we are still very close to the precision of 1% obtained by Cavendish in the 17th century. This controversy has spurred several efforts to make a more reliable measurement of G, but till now we only got further conflicting results.
...
It is not a coincidence that ALL Cavendish and free fall setup experimental results fit within the same upper and lower boundary limits of 6.645E-11 to 6.715E-11, equivalent to -0.43% and +0.611% relative to the present (average) value from CODATA. What scientists seem to be missing is that G is oscillating within these two boundaries, and any experiment will give the value of G at the particular point in time of the oscillation. It means that all experimental data points shown above are in fact tracing an oscillating curve.

(Gravity Variations, emphasis added). Human history and the gravity in the universe oscillate even though we tend to think of them in linear, sequential, and constant terms.

But, we do tend to suspect that human history repeats itself, or perhaps oscillates between "really good" and "really bad".

Perhaps that oscillation is somewhat like the oscillation which the gravitational constant seems to go through.

Depending on the impact that any such oscillation of "G" would have on protons or molecules, it might cause some proton tunnelling mutation in DNA that it otherwise would not:

"The analysis of the original proton wave packet involves an interesting phase problem, and, since the energy distribution is temperature dependent, the whole phenomenon is also temperature dependent."
...
"The tunneling times will depend essentially on the height and the form of the barrier. In DNA, the form of the double-well potentials regulating the hydrogen bonds depend not only on the base pair involved but also on neighboring pairs, their net charges, and the entire electric environment. The tunneling time is hence not only characteristic for a certain biological specimen but is also a function of the position in the DNA molecule involved. The tunneling time is very likely also temperature dependent, even if the protons are well shielded in the double helix. The main problem is whether the tunneling time is very short in comparison to the replication time, or whether there exist organisms where the penetration of the barrier is slow in comparison to the replication." 
...
"It should always be remembered that, in Born's interpretation of quantum mechanics, the quantity |¥|² represents the probability density for finding the proton in a specific position. The tunneling of the wave packet is hence a time-dependent process which is going to influence the properties of the genetic code."
...
"In this connection, it should be observed that the tunneling probabilities depend not only on the base pair involved but also on the electrostatic environment, the neighboring base pairs, etc., which may explain the occurrence of "hot spots."
...
At a DNA replication, the protons have to "choose sides," and the proton code immediately after a DNA replication represents actually a nonstationary state from the quantum-mechanical point of view. The time evolution of the system and particularly the penetration of the potential barrier in the double-well potential represents a loss of the genetic code which should perhaps be considered as the primary cause of aging. The aging is thus a process which

Abiotic Mutation

goes on continuously in the DNA molecule but gets "manifested" at the replications.
...
Proton tunneling may finally be of importance in connection with the occurrence of spontaneous tumors. The growth of an individual is a highly refined balance between factors which enhance the cell duplication and other factors which limit this duplication so that the organism takes a specific shape. The entire process is stimulated and controlled by various enzymes, and there is a feedback from the environment about which we know, at present, very little. If there is a somatic mutation, i.e., a change of the genetic code in a DNA molecule in the body of an organism, the change may influence the protein synthesis and the balance between the enhancing and controlling enzyme actions in the growth cycle. Actually, the new genetic code may lead to the development of a "new individual" within the individual, i.e., a tumor."
...
"In this paper we have pointed out that, since the protons are not classical particles but "wave packets" obeying the laws of modern quantum theory, the genetic code cannot --in spite of all precautions-- be 100% stable. Due to the quantum-mechanical "tunnel effect," there is always a small but finite probability that the protons will change place, alter the genetic code, and give rise to mutations. This implies also that this transfer of protons over a distance of about 10^-8 cm may be one of the driving forces in the evolution of living organisms on the earth."

(The Uncertain Gene, quoting Löwdin). Keep in mind that gravity is a "weak" force when compared to some other forces, however, at times it would not take so much to nudge the proton into the tunnel.

Which might mean that a mutation would result.

Subject matter of post contents on blogs goes through that too.

For example, on the social side of life, the gravitation towards war waxes and wanes, i.e. it oscillates like "G" does.

So, we can imagine a formula:

F = W (N₁ * N₂)
     P²

Where "W" is the warmonger constant, "N" is a nation's proclivity to war, and "P" is the people's ability to keep their government in line.

We see war rhetoric a lot, and the news seems to indicate that we get closer to war ... then further from it ... as history oscillates back and forth like gravitation.

Bloggers feel these tugs and pulls from time to time, and those tugs and pulls have an impact on what we blog about, and what readers want to read.

I will try to find interesting subjects for readers as long as I can.

It is said that spontaneous citizen journalist blogs like Dredd Blog tend to be active for about two years.

Note that Dredd Blog is halfway through its 6th year now.

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When Dredd Blog Was Young - 2

"A little Dredd with coffee."

"Once upon a time a dreaded youngster wore out the keyboards.

On this date in those ancient times Dredd Blog did multiple posts in one day.

For your perusal they are reposted today so you can see if history is presenting changes in a new world, or whether history is much ado about the same.

Below are the posts on this date in 2009 from that young whipper-snapper Dredd Blog ...

... the little meanie who sends fascists and commies and psychopathic politicians into a rage against the truth ..."

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Oil Sheiks 'Borrow' Bail Out Money

Rep. Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said on the MSNBC program "1600 Pennsylvania Ave" today that taxpayer TARP money is going to Dubai, UAE.

You know, oil soaked billionaire country, "the projects". Dubai sheiks have built the highest building in the world and are building the largest airport. And on another note, they were the only nation to officially and publicly support the Taliban prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Those are the sheiks who wanted to run US ports a while back. The very ones that enraged Americans, the ones who Cheney's Halliburton moved its headquarters next door to a while back (NY Times, ABC News [ABC News 'lost' the page so I use the Wayback Machine to recover it: ABC News].

I am sure there is no connection (wink, wink). No connection that Halliburton moved from the US to Dubai and then plane loads of cash followed when the Bush II Treasury Secretary approved it.

Never mind that 2 million Americans have lost jobs recently, the sheiks need a little cash to tidy them along.

Here is a link to an article indicating Dubai got billions, and below is an MSNBC video of the "1600 Pennsylvania Ave" program where the matter is discussed.

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Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Burn Notice - Cheney The Assassin

Well now Hersh has gone and done it and Raw Story is spreading the news. He has said Cheney was maybe assassinating Americans and who knows who else. The Yoo memos said he could use the military within the US despite the posse comitatus law. I doubt that the Dick was pulling the trigger, since he can only hit pals at close range with a shotgun. The new administration will probably not be too concerned as long as he had a bipartisan crew:

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

(Raw Story). The military was running it. And they were sure to let the Dick know what they thought he should know. I'll bet they did not tell him much after he shot his buddy in the face then tried to hide it from the press. Huffington Post is covering it too, and they have a link to the prime source.

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Get Over It, V?

The movie V for Vendetta is a story about a torture victim, "V", who escaped. During the movie V lives underground while plotting to overthrow the big brother dictatorship that tortured him and those like him. V could have been a Jew at one of the death camps during the time we refer to as the holocaust. Should the Israeli and German officials get over it or should they continue in their prosecution of American citizens accused of being NAZI murderers? A recent thread here pointed out the sensitivity the Catholic Church has, and the insensitivity some Americans who call themselves progressives have. Some of them think free speech is yelling "F*** You" to anything they perceive as ... well ... Veeish. Hey, we all have to think with the brain we have, including Cable Guy. If they think yelling "F*** Israel" is the best way to bring peace to the mid east and that is the best they can do, hey, that is the best they can do.

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Freeman Resigns - Foreign Pressures

We wrote about Charles Freeman in a thread a while back. We were upbeat then because we think there needs to be balance in the Palestinian / Israeli scene. That is to say, the past 8 years of the Bush II regime have been decidedly unbalanced. In the interest of mid east peace, before Bush II, the US had traditionally attempted to play the role of an independent broker fair to both sides. No one wants a biased judge. But the Bush II regime was clearly unbalanced in favour of one of the parties. We saw Freeman as a reset and a start toward a new balance. Well, the waters are evidently so poisoned, according to Mr. Freeman, that he could not stay in his post any longer. He had hardly unpacked. Some will say zionists did it. I think it was warsters, i.e. neoCons. But warster zionists, warster palestinians, and warster neoCons all have the same mental and emotional "DNA". Those types all have the same behavioural and cognitive pattern, so the label is less important than the fact they are rabid and do not want peace. At this moment their polarization does not bode well for mid east politics. This development also shows how difficult the job is for the Secretary of State and the ambassadors to that region.

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The previous post in this series is here.

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"When I was Young", by The Animals

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No Milk Today

I am working on a couple of series ... researching ... including listening to my new copy of Tempest, Bob Dylan's new album, which my partner gifted me.

So, tomorrow we ride again.

Meanwhile, since there is no milk today, listen to the song in the video below: "No milk today", by Herman's Hermits.

And by all means, try to notice how the American and British English languages have really changed since that time.

Notice the phonetics "turrist house in a back street part of town", as well as "the company was gay", "my love reigned as Queen", "we turned night into day", and other words that catch your ear.

The words I mentioned do not mean what they mean today compared to what they meant then.

Word morph ... be diligent to keep your vocabulary alive.

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Hermeneutics For The Blogosphere

The definition of "hermeneutics" is "the theory and practice of interpretation" (Hermeneutics).

It is said that originally the notion of hermeneutics was a way to interpret scripture.

In the western world in general, that would mean interpreting the Bible (ibid).

In the realm of jurisprudence, lawyers and judges utilize "legal hermeneutics" when they analyze, for example statutes, and it has even been said by some writers that they have refined the practice of hermeneutics:

In the larger field of hermeneutics, legal hermeneutics is characteristically described as exemplary.

(SSRN, The Distinctiveness of Legal Hermeneutics). Notice that there is a "larger field of hermeneutics", and that the field of legal hermeneutics is "exemplary", that is, a good example for the other fields of hermeneutics.

I can think of one technique immediately that brings out one exemplary dynamic of legal hermeneutics:

... canons of construction are no more than rules of thumb that help courts determine the meaning of legislation, and in interpreting a statute a court should always turn first to one, cardinal canon before all others. We have stated time and again that courts must presume that a legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says there ... When the words of a statute are unambiguous, then, this first canon is also the last: “judicial inquiry is complete.”

(Connecticut Nat. Bank v. Germain, 503 U.S. 249, 253-254, 1992). It seems like a "no brainer", after even minimal analysis, that if there is only one unambiguous meaning to a text, "interpretation" is not necessary.

But remember that the definition given in the first link in this post was that hermeneutics was all about "interpretation."

Still, "interpretation" would be perverse to meaning if there was nothing about the subject text that could be "interpreted".

So, in the practice of "exemplary" legal hermeneutics, the exercise is first called "statutory construction", rather than "statutory interpretation", because the first exercise is to determine whether or not any "interpretation" is necessary.

Remember the oft repeated statement "what is it about 'no' that you don't understand?"

The implication is that "interpretation" is unnecessary to determine what "no" means.

Those who can find their way around the blogosphere know that misunderstanding of both blog posts, and of comments on those blog posts, are regularly confused and/or conflated as to their meaning.

We bloggers would do well to follow good canons of textual inquiry, that is, good blogging hermeneutics.

Using good hermeneutics does not mean that we have to agree with any text, once it has been analyzed for meaning, but it does mean that we won't be arguing or debating incoherently over that text.

One has to wonder if improper hermeneutics could be the reason that some experts disagree on the same body of evidence --- they have not developed sound hermeneutics?

The Citizen Journalist In America

The Dredd Blog System has only touched upon the nature of citizen journalism in America, and why citizen journalism is needed now more than ever (see The Free Press Is Very Far From Here, Not-So-Free Press Files Bankruptcy - 2, Not-So-Free Press Files Bankruptcy, Warriors Press For Propaganda - 3, Warriors Press For Propaganda - 2, Warriors Press For Propaganda, GE Serves The Pentagon On TV Near Yoo, GE Serves The Pentagon On TV Near Yoo - 2, Stockholm Syndrome on Steroids? - 2, Survival Of The Fittest Willie McTell, The Matriarch of The Matrix).

So, to improve upon past coverage, today we focus on the citizen journalist exclusively, because the issue is important in the Occupy Movement context, and because citizen journalists are ultimately involved in the "free press" in America today.

Let's begin by noting that Dredd Blog does NOT include the corporate for-profit media of any sort, including the main stream media, in the term "free press", because they have let down the American people (see PBS - Citizen Journalist).

You might want to view the jaw-dropping video at the bottom of this post before proceeding, but just in case you don't, I will summarize by saying it is a news story from a main stream source quoting from a citizen journalist.

The citizen journalist is facing 75 years in prison for video-taping police performing public duties.

When the main stream media goes to the court house to inquire further, they are intimidated by officials there who warn them not to show what they have captured on video.

The lawyer for that main stream media news organization told them to obey the officials.

Thus, the main stream media cower while the citizen journalist stands up for his your rights, even facing what would be life in prison at his age ("give me liberty or give me death" comes to mind).

It might be excusable that the British are suffering confusion on that issue, as noted in a Guardian Article concerning the photographing of police.

That should not be the case for Americans, but alas, our nation has drifted away from our founding principles such much so that today America has morphed into a strange nation that suffers amnesia.

The question of the citizen journalist's right to take pictures of police performing their duties in public should be a no-brainer to Americans who have exposed themselves to Civics 101, specifically the First Amendment.

First, notice that "free press" citizen journalists are not required to be licensed by the state, nor can general constraint be imposed:

The press in its connotation comprehends every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion ... We think that the ordinance is invalid on its face. Whatever the motive which induced its adoption, its character is such that it strikes at the very foundation of the freedom of the press by subjecting it to license and censorship.

(Lovell v City of Griffin GA, U.S. Supreme Ct., 1938). Not only that, "free press" citizen journalism includes all legal means for gathering that news data, and any police or other official who improperly hampers that collection of data is personally liable to the citizen journalist for damages:

Simon Glik was arrested for using his cell phone's digital video camera to film several police officers arresting a young man on the Boston Common. The charges against Glik, which included violation of Massachusetts's wiretap statute and two other state-law offenses, were subsequently judged baseless and were dismissed. Glik then brought this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that his arrest for filming the officers constituted a violation of his rights under the First and Fourth Amendments ... The First Amendment issue here is, as the parties frame it, fairly narrow: is there a constitutionally protected right to videotape police carrying out their duties in public? Basic First Amendment principles, along with case law from this and other circuits, answer that question unambiguously in the affirmative.
...
It is firmly established that the First Amendment's aegis extends further than the text's proscription on laws "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," and encompasses a range of conduct related to the gathering and dissemination of information.As the Supreme Court has observed, "the First Amendment goes beyond protection of the press and the self-expression of individuals to prohibit government from limiting the stock of information from which members of the public may draw." ("It is ... well established that the Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas.").

An important corollary to this interest in protecting the stock of public information is that "[t]here is an undoubted right to gather news 'from any source by means within the law.'" ... The filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place, including police officers performing their responsibilities, fits comfortably within these principles. Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting "the free discussion of governmental affairs." ... Moreover, as the Court has noted, "[f]reedom of expression has particular significance with respect to government because '[i]t is here that the state has a special incentive to repress opposition and often wields a more effective power of suppression.'" ... (quoting Thomas Emerson, Toward a General Theory of the First Amendment 9 (1966)). This is particularly true of law enforcement officials, who are granted substantial discretion that may be misused to deprive individuals of their liberties.

(Glik v. Cunniffe, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, 2011, PDF). The court was quite clear that police officers who wrongfully interfere with citizen journalists, and cities, counties, and states who allow them to do so, can be liable for very large sums of money damages, injunctions, and the like.

So you in the free press, including bloggers, all citizens filming the police in Occupy Movement locations around the USA, as well those like Dredd Blog who perform a public service for the people, let's keep the First Amendment alive.

The next post in this series is here.

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In further preparation for the military junta state, to Big Brother it is a felony to be a citizen journalist, to videotape Big Brother's minions abusing peaceful citizens who are only exercising their constitutional rights.

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The Dredd Blog System considers these citizens to be anti-toxins to the sickness caused by the toxins of power infecting the nation at this time. See (An Example of an Antitoxin, An Example of an Antitoxin - 2).

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The Evolution of Song Truth

Have you ever noticed that some songs are only a bit true when first written and released?

But then the song seems to grow into mega-truth as "time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin' into the future"?

What is really happening is that the song was more prescient than the songwriter knew at the time?

At least in the sense that events in the changing world afterward seem to conform to the words of the song?

At least more so than it would have seemed to the songwriter at the time the song was written?

For example, recall an old but not so old song that says:

I get the news I need on the weather report.
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.

...

Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where,
And we don't know where.

Here I am..........

Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where,
And we don't know where.

(Only Living Boy In New York, Simon & Garfunkel). Anyone watching the weather channel knows killer floods are happening everywhere in the world.

At the same time there are fire epidemics, recently in California, Russia, and Australia, but now those places are flooding.

Some observers call it global weirding, as scientists tell us this is only the tiny beginning, and as people fight the reality with the global weirding of denial.

You can easily get all the news you need to know about the direction the world is taking itself (by polluting the once healthy weather cycles) by getting that news "on the weather report".

Another song rings true concerning the evolution from left to right:

...
A poor little baby child is born

In the ghetto
... he'll grow to be an angry young man some day
...
Do we simply turn our heads
And look the other way
... his hunger burns
... Then one night in desperation
... Face down on the street with a gun in his hand
... young man dies
... Another little baby child is born
In the ghetto

(In the ghetto, Elvis). The song was originally called "The Vicious Circle", indicating that the author saw something evolving and replicating itself.

We can look around and see people of all colors and creeds beginning these last few years to experience the phenomenon (think foreclosure, job loss, bankruptcy, homelessness).

In fact, the congress is thinking of modifying the bankruptcy code to allow states to file for bankruptcy, even as financial experts begin to expect a flood of municipality bankruptcies (Chap. 9) in the USA.

This brings to mind a Dylan song:

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you

(Like a Rolling Stone, Dylan). Our "doll" MOMCOM will become a bum with the desperation of the young child in the ghetto, to eventually die face down like the power mad empires that went before.

Finally, think about the lyric in another Dylan tune that rings true to those who can envision what is coming, and what would happen to their children if they were to engender children:

You’ve thrown the worst fear

That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

(Masters of War, Dylan). Knowledge brings people to the brink of reality forcing us to believe the science or believe the amygdala, then act accordingly.

Song truth keeps on ringing in our ears as floods damage a nuclear power plant in the USA like what a tsunami has already done to Fukushima in Japan.

The next post in this series is here.

Dredd Blog House Cleaning & Change

Some of the subject matter covered on this blog seemed better suited for more specialized blogs.

So Ecocosmology blog and Toxins Of Power blog are where some of the material which used to be here has been moved.

Posts that have been moved have a "This post has been moved to the [blog link] blog" and will have a link to the post on the other blog.

Additionally, "Open Threads" that had no comments on them were deleted.

Now there is room for more posts.

Is Your Blog A Honey Pot Blog?

Got some pot, honey?

In bloglatin a 'honey pot blog' is a blog designed to attract a certain clientèle.

A clientèle who have a certain mindset at a particular time on a particular subject matter.

It is not the same as a 'honey pot server', but it is an expansion of that theme to blogs.

Honey draws flies and bees and bloggers.

This is just an analogy, so the actual content on the blog may not be 'sweet', and in point of fact, many 'honey pot blogs' use hate speech or hate anything to draw people.

Other blogs do in fact use sweet things instead to draw people.

And of course there are genuine hate blogs and genuine love blogs. Genuine in the sense they are not 'honey pot blogs' but are sincere.

For instance Aryan racial hatred blogs are not fake they are real. World peace blogs are not fake they are real.

A honey pot blog draws only for the purposes of building a file on its bloggers (domestic or foreign espionage blogs), changing their minds on the particular subject matter (evangelizing blogs), or trying to discover what ideas are 'out there' on a particular subject matter (poller blogs).

A honey pot blog, then, in general will tend to be 'a one trick pony', i.e. focused on a single or very narrow range of subject matter.

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One Trick Pony, Paul Simon:

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Obama - All Blogs Are Not Equal

George Washington's blog has an interesting article entitled The Truth About Blogs.

I like that blog because it looks like this blog.

Anyway, the article concerns financial comments on blogs. The GW thread says Obama does not trust blogs. Is that like saying one does not trust the news media at all?

Zip, none, nada? Surely some newspapers are more worthy than other newspapers?

Well, Mr. President, please slow down and remember that not all newspapers and TV news are the same. Some are pure bunk and some are valid.

Fox News is different from Mother Jones. Likewise, blogs are not all the same. I said the following on a blog a long time ago:

Bob Ney helped create the American housing bubble as I have posted here before. His legislation set us up for what is now happening to the stock market. The financial stocks are crumbling pulling hedge funds and who knows what else, like Diebold, down with it.

Its faux news and a faux economy. Bush must have planned for it to come down a bit later, because it is clear to see that the republicans produced the bubble by legislating the out of control bubble.

Bush was involved in the great savings and loan fiasco in the early 90's too. He hangs with the bubble crowd.

(BB 8-14-2007). I made that comment over a year before the big crash began and over a year before the 2008 election.

And that comment recalled an even earlier thread where the same subject matter had been discussed. Bloggers are saavy if you find the right places.

Blogs are the future, people, so it is time for folks to learn how to pick the good ones.