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When to Immunize Against Hepatitis B?
Tell me your opinion about the newly standard practice of immunizing children against hepatitis B even though they're not sexually active. Is it safe? What are the risks? Is this anything more than another pharmaceutical victory over common sense? Please help - my ex-husband and I are locked in a battle.
People with hepatitis B may suffer from a severe, prolonged, tissue-destroying infection. This is probably the worst form of hepatitis, since it has the highest potential to become chronic, with long-term risks of cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The vaccine for hepatitis B, which is a genetically engineered vaccine, appears safe and effective, although it's not cheap. Until recently it was recommended only for people who were considered at "high risk" for contracting the disease - sexually active youth and adults, intravenous drug users, and health workers (because of needle sticks). The patterns of transmission are similar to HIV, although hepatitis B is far more contagious. The federal government thought that by targeting "high-risk" populations, heptatitis B could be eradicated. Not that surprisingly, many people at high risk don't think of themselves that way; moreover, the cost has been a deterrent.
About 5 percent of the US population has been vaccinated for hepatitis B. But now the medical establishment is pushing for universal immunization, with the goal of eradicating the disease. In 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended routine vaccination of all infants in the United States. Proof of vaccination is now required for entry into some schools. Proponents argue that even though only a small number of infections occur in children, they account for a substantial portion of chronic cases. If all kids are immunized, goes the thinking, eventually everyone will be protected from the disease.
Even so, I still think it's not clear whether it is useful to immunize children who are not going to be at high risk for hepatitis B. If you can afford it and want to give it to children, I think that's fine. I would certainly consider doing so if your child was going to travel to a part of the world where the disease was endemic, such as southern China. Or, if she were going to be living in a situation where her risks for contracting it would be elevated for any reason. As far as whether we ought to be pushing for every infant and child to be vaccinated, I don't know. Ask me again a year from now.


text:
Brahim Yadel (born March 17, 1971) is a citizen of France who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 371. Born in Aubervilliers, France, the Department of Defense has reported his date of birth.

Although originally convicted in France, his trial was overturned and he was released in February 2009. On February 17, 2010, the Court of Cassation, the highest court in France, ordered a re-trial of Brahim Yadel and four other men.

Allegations of ties to terrorism
A Time magazine article, published on March 16, 2003, reported that Brahim Yadel was recruited by Karim Bourti. According to the article, Karim Bourti was: "...a self-described Paris-based recruiter for international jihad."

Brahim Yadel, and three other French Guantanamo captives, were repatriated to French custody on July 28, 2004. Brahim Yadel was repatriated to France one day prior to the institution of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals in July 2004.

French authorities held Brahim Yadel, Nizar Sassi, Mourad Benchellali and Imad Kanouni on charges of "associating with criminals engaged in a terrorist enterprise."

French authorities suspected Brahim Yadel helped organize jihadist training camps in the forest of Fontainebleau.

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts. His Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was two pages long, and was drafted on January 31, 2004. It was signed by camp commandant Geoffrey D. Miller. He recommended Bradel be detained under DoD control.

French trial
Brahim Yadel and five other returned Guantanamo detainees were to stand trial in France in 2006.

While all the other men free on conditional release, preceding the trial, Brahim Yadel was kept in detention. He had violated the terms of his conditional release.

Trial delayed
The trial was delayed to allow an investigation into the conduct of French intelligence agents who interrogated the men in Guantanamo. France had insisted French agents had not interrogated the men in Guantanamo, but leaked memos showed this was untrue.

Judge Jean-Claude Kross apologized, saying: "I am sorry, we have to start again from scratch".

The Prosecutor has recommended lenient, one-year prison sentences, to take into account their "abnormal detention" in Guantanamo.

Conviction and appeal
Brahim Yadel, and four other French citizens, were convicted in 2007 of "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise." They had their convictions overturned on appeal on February 24, 2009. Their convictions were overturned because they were based on interrogations conducted in Guantanamo, and the interrogations were conducted by French security officials, not law enforcement officials.

McClatchy interview
On June 15, 2008, the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Brahim Yadel in France. According to his McClatchy interviewer, Brahim Yadel was disgusted by al Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001, and tried to flee Afghanistan immediately after he heard of them, and never engaged in hostilities against US forces. However, he acknowledged receiving military training in Afghanistan, and "even took advanced al Qaida courses in electronics that would have led to bomb making."

He told his McClatchy interviewer that he saw the USS Cole as a legitimate military target, but felt his non-western companions in Afghanistan had no idea how appalling the attack on the World Trade Center was:

"I knew bin Laden was against the Americans," he said. "In the logic of war, attacking a warship made sense. It wasn't my battle, but I could understand it. Unlike the Afghans, I'd grown up in Western culture, which means American culture. They didn't understand the enormity of what had happened. I did. It was horrible. I didn't believe in this war."

See also

Khaled ben Mustafa
Redouane Khalid

References

External links

1971 births
Living people
French extrajudicial prisoners of the United States
French Muslims
French people of Algerian descent
Guantanamo detainees known to have been released

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Over 10% of the adult population suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD). While the two leading underlying causes of end-stage kidney disease are type II diabetes and hypertension, there can also be a dysbiosis of the gut microbiome, along with inflammation and oxidative stress as well. In addition, environmental toxins and proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use have also been linked to CKD.
Previous research has demonstrated that a high fiber diet can mitigate disease severity and kidney dysfunction in patients with CKD. Now, in a new study published in Nutrition & Metabolism, researchers demonstrated the benefit of resistant starch (RS) with CKD.
A high fiber diet leads to the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the gastrointestinal tract. These play an essential role in T regulatory cell activation, which regulates the intestinal immune system. If there is dysregulation in the immune system, there can be increased inflammation seen in CKD.
This new study was a double-blind randomized clinical trial consisting of 50 patients in end-stage renal disease. Half of the patients were given a resistant starch-enriched diet while the other half was given a placebo diet over an 8-week period. Those receiving the resistant starch-enriched diet were given crackers with 20 g of RS for the first 4 weeks, which was increased to 25 g for the remainder of the study. Laboratory assessments of BUN, creatinine, uric acid, hemoglobin, hemocrit, uric acid, hs-CRP, p-cresol, indoxyl sulfate, and bone markers were measured at baseline and at the end of the study.
Results showed a significant reduction of creatinine, uric acid, and p-cresol levels in the resistant starch group. There was not a significant change in the other parameters. There were no side effects, including gastrointestinal intolerance, with the recommended doses of resistant starch. Based on these results as well as the safety of consuming a diet with resistant starch, it makes sense that this a great adjunct in the treatment of chronic kidney disease. Other nutrients to consider include fish oil, phosphatidylcholine, and n-acetyl-cysteine and glutathione.
Source: Khosroshahi HT, Abedi B, et al. Effects of fermentable high fiber diet supplementation on gut derived and conventional nitrogenous product in patients on maintenance hemodialysis: a randomized controlled trial. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2019 Mar 12;16:18.


A Torrington floor plan. This is a traditional two-story home offers a very open first floor layout with a large family room and a flex room that can serve as formal dining, living, or a study. The kitchen includes both an island dining counter and separate breakfast area. The garage opens to a utility room, powder room, and walk-in pantry adjacent to the to the kitchen and located off a private with much more. Buyer to verify sq. footage.


near. Search by Location * Submit. House . Appliance Repair … Find Top-Rated Winslow Appliance Repair Services There are 2 top-rated appliance repair services in your area and 10 to avoid. After 20 years, it's now free to join. Join For Free.
me back 5 mins later. What a waste of everyones time! Then, I just wasn't impressed with the person who actually did the repairs. Sales man pushes us in to purchasing the Adora washer and dryer by GE in April 2015. My house was getting built… read more.
Bid Date WIN(s) Municipality Description Date Posted/ Updated; 1/30/2019: 021854.30C: Mattawamkeag-Van Buren – Regions 4 & 5: Brush Cutting/located along the Right of Way of Mattwamkeag Subdivision between Mile Post 5.6(Vanceboro)and Mile Post 105 (Brownville)and on the Van Buren Subdivision between Mile Post 0 (Mattawamkeag)and Mile Post 24 (Van Buren).


Cllr Hazel de Nortúin is the councillor for the Ballyfermot-Drimnagh ward. Passionate for both the Irish language and early years education, she is the chairperson for Teanga Beo in Ballyfermot. Hazel de Nortúin has campaigned for better childcare and school facilities.
Currently she is heavily involved in a campaign for a much-needed Gaelscoil and an Educate Together school in her constituency.


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Central American migrants moving towards the United States to seek asylum wait in line for food in Mexicali, Baja California State, Mexico, on November 19, 2018.
A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from denying asylum to migrants crossing the southern border illegally—outside a designated port of entry—as he said it was likely the Nov. 9 rule violated a federal law related to asylum eligibility.
The ruling, one of several setbacks to the administration's hard-line immigration efforts, strikes a blow against Trump's attempts to restrict a large number of Central American asylum seekers from entering the country. Trump signed the Nov. 9 order as he stoked fears of a migrant caravan headed north toward the U.S.-Mexico border.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case on behalf of several nonprofits, argued that a federal statute allowed migrants to apply for asylum, "whether or not at a designated port of arrival." The ACLU also argued that by fast-tracking the rule, the administration had ignored its legal requirement to ask for public feedback under the Administrative Procedures Act.
The Trump administration has argued that it has the authority to impose restrictions on asylum as part of the president's national security powers to protect the integrity of the country's borders.
Tigar, in his order, disagreed. The temporary nationwide restraining order indicates he believes the ACLU will win on the merit of its case and that the plaintiffs would suffer harm from the rule.
The judge's order will remain in place until Dec. 19, at which point the judge will conduct a full hearing. If the judge rules against the Trump administration, it will have the opportunity to appeal.


This character has been marked as Inactive via registry clean-up. All randomizations are here by forfeit as the character was not yet complete. If you would like to reapply, please create a new character application with the same account.


Teaming with marketing research firm Nielsen, the Organic Produce Network analysis of organic fresh produce sales at retail stores across the country for the first quarter of 2018 showed organic fresh vegetables accounted for a larger portion of organic dollars than fruits ($632 million vs $400 million). Other organic items sold in the produce department including herbs, spices, beverages and dressings totaled $205 million, according to Nielsen, for a total of over $1.2 billion in organic produce sales for the quarter.
Organic berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries) continue to see explosive growth, making up 13.5 percent ($166 million) of all organic fresh produce sales and over 40 percent of all organic fruit sales. More importantly, the organic berry category realized a 21 percent increase in dollars vs last Q1 of 2017 and a 26 percent growth in volume compared to a year ago.
Organic packaged salads continue to dominate organic fresh vegetables sales, topping a quarter billion dollars in the first quarter of 2018. According to Nielsen data, more than 80 percent of organic produce dollars come from UPC items (like packaged salads and berries), compared to only 57 percent for conventionally grown produce items.


text:
Written by Frances M. Thompson
"Run away with me," he said.
I blinked.
"Let's run away and get married,"
Married. It wasn't a shock to hear, but it still sounded foreign and forbidden.
"But we can't. We can't just go and…" I half believed it. Where would we go? What would we do? What would they say?
"Of course we can. Who's going to stop us?" He had a determined smile, like a child.
Stepping in closer, he reached for my hand. The feelings I sheltered for him charged through me, thrilling and fulfilling. Surely that would never change?
"See. You can't give me a reason why we shouldn't."
"My family…?"
"They love you, I love you. They'll understand."
I pulled away and sat down on my bed, weighed down by the potential for disobedience.
"But where will we go?"
"I don't know. Gretna Green?" He sat beside me.
"That's so obvious. And a little tacky," I squeezed his leg and felt the curved edge of his kneecap through his trousers. How I loved his skinny legs.
"We'll go wherever you want. How about Bath? You said you loved it there."
I went with my family a few years ago, when I was still living at home. The
golden greystone of the Regency properties, the steam that rose from the Roman baths, the tearoom I ate too much coffee cake in. It was a happy day.
"Yes. Bath is beautiful."
"That's where we'll go then,"
"How will we get there?"
"We'll take the first train tomorrow morning."
I glanced at my watch, the gold one my sister gave me for my eighteenth
birthday. "It's already tomorrow morning,"
"Even better!" He stood up. "I'll book us a taxi to take us to the station. We'll spend the rest of the night in that greasy spoon opposite. We'll eat bacon butties and drink tea until it's time to catch our train,"
"And where will we stay in Bath?"
"In a hotel. The best, most expensive hotel we can find,"
"No, Johnny…"
"Yes. It's my treat," he silenced me. Everyone gossiped about how rich he was, but only I knew it for a fact.
"I'll be back," he said and then he was gone.
I took in a deep breath and wrapped my cardigan around me. Made of pure merino wool, it was warm and carried the smell of my perfume. I thought about Lucy next door, Debbie across from me and Georgie down the hall. This late at night they were most likely all sleeping thoughtlessly or watching TV in their rooms. I wanted to tell them – share my rebellion and my joy - but I feared even their reaction. Eloping to get married wasn't something that happened everyday on our corridor.
Johnny always told me I cared too much about what other people thought but that didn't dilute how excited I was by him and us. I thrived on our late night meetings, crossing corridors and using soft, secret knocks. I knew they talked about us; we weren't as subtle or invisible as we thought, but that didn't stop me.
I opened my wardrobe and considered my clothes; so many new and unworn, so many too big, so many too small. I should have a clear out when we get back.
Coming back? I hadn't thought of that. I should have asked him what happens next, when we get back. It was the most important question and yet neither of us had even considered it. I shook my head and pushed it to the back of my mind. I told myself I was allowed to be happy. I was getting quite good at that.
"So, what does a girl wear on her wedding day?" I asked the wardrobe, putting on a silly voice. It answered by pulling my eye to a pale pink summer dress with a floating hem that danced in the lightest of breezes. It wasn't quite summer yet, but I would hope for sunshine.
Moments later I had a bag packed. I'd found earrings that used to belong to my grandmother and a lace shawl Mum had given me for Christmas one year. As I folded it, I felt a little sad about them not being there to see me get married.
A tender tap on my door and there he was, wearing a grey three-piece suit complete with a too-tight tie knot. I'd never seen him dressed like this before and it reminded me that he was a man full of surprises. I loved how he saw life as one big party after another and how he had an outfit for each one. There was an old brown suitcase by his feet. Nobody carried suitcases like that these days. I loved him for being different.
I kissed him firmly on the lips. It felt like the start of something.
"Let's go," I whispered.
He paid for First Class tickets and we settled into wide, upright chairs. Across from us a middle-aged man with a briefcase gave us an uneasy look before opening up a laptop and typing with few interruptions. I slipped my hand under my future husband's and fell asleep.
Bath was more beautiful than I remembered. The buildings were taller, the hills steeper and the streets longer. I used to think things got smaller as I grew older. For once, it was nice to be proved wrong.
Our hotel was far grander than I liked to think about. I had almost no money to contribute to our adventure. Nonetheless, I smiled foolishly as I stroked the plump white towels folded in our bathroom and I squealed when he leapt onto the giant bed and bounced into me. How would we ever go back to sharing my single bed again?
I didn't ask how long we were going to stay but as he pulled me to him, his tie loosened already, I hoped for forever.
We gave notice for our marriage that afternoon. I clutched the confirmation so tightly it creased around my fingertips.
It was a mixed happiness as two numbers abruptly slowed the pace of our plans.
Seven was the number of days we had to live in the city before they would marry us. And fifteen was the number of days the notice needed to be displayed in the Registry Office before we could legally wed. They were bureaucratic necessities that reminded me of the real world and they made me question it all again. I asked Johnny if it was worth it. What about the hotel bill? What about those who would miss us and worry? Would they try and find us? What would we say afterwards? How would we tell them? What happens next?
He soothed my fears and made arrangements for us to stay and wait – new clothes, a backgammon board and a pack of cards. I made a series of lying phone calls home and to Debbie, saying I'd gone on an unplanned creative writing retreat and that's why I couldn't be reached on the phone in my room. They knew about my books and my secret ambition to be a writer; they showed no sign of surprise and certainly no concern. Johnny was right, I needn't worry…
In those fifteen days I learned that Johnny liked to sing Frank Sinatra in the shower, that he flossed every day and that he drank half an inch of whiskey in bed before turning the light off. We were slow to wake up in the mornings but quick to never miss breakfast. Some days we took the train further west and I watched England's endless green blur into cities I'd never visited before; Bristol, Taunton and Weston-super-Mare. Most afternoons we took to strolling around Bath hand-in-hand, often ending up in the tearoom I remembered from my first visit. We made friends with the owner, a stout woman called Rosemary who wore mismatched floral prints and turquoise eye shadow. We shared our secret with her and she called us the "young lovers", forcing free cake on us during each visit. I feared my dress wasn't going to fit.
But it did. When the day arrived, it did.
Rosemary was one witness and the receptionist from our hotel was the other. Justyna was a young Polish woman with almost oval green eyes, like a cat. I didn't really like how she pulled her hair back into a severe high ponytail, but she always had a smile for us at the reception desk. She told us that she'd eloped to get married too, when she was 17 and he was 19. They'd just celebrated their fifteen-year anniversary. Her husband was a chef in our hotel. We felt like she understood and she took the morning off work to be with us.
We were due to be married at eleven o'clock in the morning and when we left the hotel, taking a taxi to the Registry Office, the air outside was crisp and cool. I buttoned up my favourite cardigan and wrapped the shawl around my shoulders. I'd bought a new lipstick to match my dress and when I checked my reflection in a small pocket mirror, I made a vow to wear lipstick every day of our marriage. Justyna had stolen some white chrysanthemums from the hotel restaurant's dining tables and she gave me five to hold in a bunch. With shaking hands, I pinned another to the lapel of Johnny's three-piece suit.
The flowers suddenly made everything real. As soon as I was holding their long thin stems in my hand and walking down a short, carpeted aisle, I felt like a real bride. I stopped questioning everything and focused on the vows I was making, feeling wonderfully responsible. And when Johnny's voice cracked as he said his vows to me, I felt a big, exotic happiness fill me up, like a balloon about to burst. The simple gold bands we'd chosen were identical in every way but size and the metal was still warming to my skin when Johnny took my hand in his and we walked away as husband and wife.
The sun was shining when we stepped outside and Justyna took a photo of us on her phone.
"I'll send it to you," she promised. I didn't even question how. I was still not questioning, just living.
"You both look so happy," Rosemary said and she reached her arms out, enveloping us.
We returned to the tearoom to celebrate with our witnesses. Champagne, tea and cakes were waiting for us on a table where a shiny silver balloon hovered above. "Just Married" it said, and we were.
"Congratulations Mrs. Malcolm,"
"Congratulations Mr. Malcolm," Our glasses chimed together. "I can't believe we did it."
"And how does it feel to be married?"
I remembered the first time I met him on the day I moved in. I felt so out of place. Surely I was too young to be there? As Johnny opened the door for me to walk down the corridor, I saw a glint of the same dissent in his eyes. That evening as I was unpacking, he knocked on my door. He'd brought with him a potted pink orchid and a bottle of Merlot as a welcome gift. I invited him in to play backgammon.
"It feels amazing. Amazing. Naughty. Wonderful." I looked down at my ring. "Though I'm not sure this one will last as long as my first."
He covered my married hand with his. "I should hope not. I am eighty-two, you know."
"Well, we'll see what happens," I said, feeling none of my eighty-five years.
Frances M. Thompson – Bio
Frances M. Thompson is a Londoner turned wanderer, who has been travelling since 2011 with her Australian partner and too many vintage clothes. She works as a copywriter and researcher and she blogs about her travels on www.asthebirdfliesblog.com. The Runaways is one of twelve stories published in Shy Feet: Short Stories Inspired by Travel.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


"My name is Kyle Ferland and I am a music education major at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. Even though I am primarily a flute player, I marched baritone for the Magic in 2002, 2003 and 2004. This past season I was the horn line captain. "This is a picture of me on the Magic brass bus on the way back to Florida from Worls Championships in Denver. "When you are on the road for two straight days after a very long season, people tend to lose thier minds a little. So, we decided to clean the bus a little bit to pass the time. We found a multitude of bungee cords all over the bus and we hung them all in the same place. We had so many altogether I thought to myself "I wonder if those would support my weight?" "What better way to end the season then to suspend your horn line captain from the roof of the bus with bungee cords? "Thank you very much." Thanks Kyle!


text:
This interview appears in the April 6, 2007 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
INTERVIEW: PAUL DRIESSEN
Gore's Policies Keep Africa in the Dark
Paul Driessen is the author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death (Bellevue, Wash.: Merril Press, 2003), a senior policy advisor to the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and a senior fellow with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. He writes and speaks frequently on energy and environmental policy, and he appeared in the recent British television documentary, "The Great Global Warming Swindle."
Driessen was interviewed on March 26 by Wesley Irwin of the LaRouche Youth Movement.
EIR: In the introduction to your book, it says that among other things you've done—being a senior policy advisor to certain areas of the Congress; being part of a number of different public policy institutes that focus on energy, environment, economic development; and also being the author of this book Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death—you're also a former member of the Sierra Club and Zero Population Growth.
Driessen: That's right. I'm also an Eagle Scout and helped organize the very first Earth Day on my college campus.
EIR: Clearly your views on things have changed greatly. Why is that?
Driessen: In a nutshell, because I gradually realized that these groups often misrepresented the facts and paid little or no attention to the impacts their policies had on people. Their agenda was uppermost. Take DDT, for example. Environmental Defense, Sierra Club, and other groups knew that scientific studies did not back up their claims about the allegedly toxic effects of DDT on bird eggshells, eagles, and people. They knew the ban on DDT was causing the deaths of millions from malaria. And yet, to this day, they have bogus and far-fetched claims about this life-saving chemical on their websites.
(Some studies say DDT may be "associated with" low birth weights in babies and early lactation failure in nursing mothers, for instance—as though those speculative risks are worse than the very real risks that mothers and babies will die from malaria, which DDT can prevent.)
Over and over, I caught the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and other groups saying things that just were not honest or accurate. They used photographs that were taken in one place and claimed they were taken someplace else; or published a close-up shot of a drilling rig site, with trees cut and the ground graded and leveled—when a wider angle would show one acre of disturbance in a thousand acres. Or a photo they claimed was a devastating clear-cut, was actually a forest area that had burned down because careless campers had let their fire get out of control.
Greenpeace flat-out lied about Shell Oil's plans to sink an oil platform as an artificial reef. And a lot of leaders and members sounded delighted when hundreds of loggers were put out of work and entire rural communities were destroyed.
Even after they were told their facts were wrong, they didn't change. Their lies would simply move faster than the truth. In Latin America, Amnesty International and several environmental activist groups were attacking various oil company operations. One group would say a particular picture was a Unocal operation. Another would say it showed how irresponsible Occidental Petroleum was. In reality, the picture showed some sloppy operations by state-owned PetroEcuador. They've always got some oil, timber, or mining company in their cross-hairs, to sucker people into sending them money, and to advance their anti-industry, anti-foreign investment agendas—and the facts, or people's dreams of a better life, just aren't going to get in the way.
The director of the Sierra Club's wilderness program in Colorado actually told me that the real purpose of the wilderness designations was to eliminate opportunities to develop energy and minerals. He said Americans use too much, consume too much, and aren't going to change voluntarily. So we have to force them to change, by taking the minerals away—and the best way to do that is put them in wilderness, so that they're off limits to exploration and development.
They show incredible disregard for the rights, aspirations, and even lives of the world's poorest people. They constantly hammer on the supposed risks of using chemicals, fossil fuels, and biotechnology—and never mention the far greater risks that those technologies would reduce, or the lives they can save. And they have tax-exempt status, and get literally billions of dollars a year from foundations, and even government agencies, to promote their agendas and lies, despite their lethal consequences.
Their disregard for the poor, especially dark-skinned people in developing countries, is frightening. They've never apologized once for the deaths their anti-DDT policies have caused, never even admitted they were wrong, never offered any form of aid or compensation to victims or their families, and certainly they've never been held accountable. During the World Trade Organization conference in Cancun a few years ago, the head of a major Mexican environmental group told a friend of mine: "We don't care at all about the poor. We don't want them to become rich or middle class, because then they will become consumers and that means you have to take more resources out of the ground to meet their demands, and that's bad for the Earth. It's better to keep them poor."
My Zero Population Growth days involved a lot of concern about the supposed population bomb, and then I started reading things from Julian Simon and other people, who raised questions that Paul Ehrlich [author of The Population Bomb and other environmentalists just couldn't answer. It became apparent that there was an environmental agenda that I was very uncomfortable with: keeping poor people poor, being so concerned about population that they were promoting anti-DDT, anti-biotechnology, anti-fossil fuel development, anti-economic development policies, that ultimately meant the poor were going to be kept poor, diseased, and dying prematurely.
Jacques Cousteau said we have to find a way to "eliminate" 350,000 people a day to stabilize global populations. And Prince Philip said he wanted to come back as a particularly deadly virus, and take out large segments of the Earth's population. Club of Rome co-founder Alexander King wrote, "My chief quarrel with DDT in hindsight is that it greatly added to the population problem." And former Sierra Club president Mike McCloskey said, "by using DDT, we reduce mortality rates in underdeveloped countries without considering how to support the increase in populations."
These kinds of things just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
EIR: As they should anyone, I think.
Driessen: You would think.
EIR: You also work for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). And when you bring up Paul Ehrlich and Prince Philip, I remember in the Ehrlich book, The Population Bomb, he suggests that we decrease population growth by actually targetting the black and brown populations of the planet. He's very explicit about it. In the case of Prince Philip, with his World Wildlife Fund, one of the things that EIR has previously put together is a report that shows that much of the so-called "protected lands" of Africa, are controlled by the World Wildlife Fund from the standpoint of strategic control over raw materials and resources—not allowed to be accessed by the people of those countries, which helps also keep population growth in check. Do you see tendencies in other areas to go after population control, or even a decrease in population along racial lines?
Driessen: They're rarely as open or blunt as Cousteau, Prince Philip, and Ehrlich were in the past. But if you just look at the environmental movement's policies, you see programs they would never get away with in Canada, Australia, the United States, or Europe, if they resulted in even a dozen deaths. They're trying to shut down the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in poor countries, where nutrition is marginal at best, people are starving, and GM crops would grow better, resist insects and plant diseases, require less water and pesticides, and bring in bumper crops. Even without the modern high-tech farming practices we use, biotech crops could and do make a huge difference.
But Sierra Club and Greenpeace have launched campaigns that are based on lies about the dangers of GM food and claims that planting any GM crops (or using DDT to stop malaria) would threaten these poor farmers' exports to Europe. They tell people: "If you plant GM crops, your exports to Europe, the mainstay of your economy, will dry up. If any crops in your country are bio-tech, there could be pollen contamination, and Europe is going to ban all your crops." And then they use their political muscle to stir up more European Union paranoia about GM food, DDT, and even air transport of crops from Africa.
I think we're beginning to see a change in attitude by people in these poor countries. South African farmers, for example, have been planting Bt corn, and their yields have risen so far—ten times or more—that they are making money for the first time, have more corn than they can sell, and are planting other crops they couldn't afford to plant in the past. They've also cut way back on their water and pesticide use, and their exposure to pesticides. They get much higher yields, much higher quality, at less human and environmental risk.
But there's sizable pressure against GM crops and DDT. They didn't get the ban on DDT until long after we had used it to eradicate malaria in Europe and the United States. But once malaria was gone, environmentalists, politicians, and regulators began to worry about things that only people in wealthy, healthy, disease-free countries can afford to worry about. And they exported their obsessions and paranoia, by getting them into international treaties and trade programs. They even tried to get DDT banned completely from the health-care arena. Only because of Amir Attaran and a few other health-care activists from Africa and Britain, during a Stockholm Convention summit, did DDT remain available for disease control.
But the radical greens still fight DDT to this day, even after it has been approved by the U.S. Agency for International Development and World Health Organization, even after it has been shown, over and over, that the chemical is safe for people and the environment, and that it does what no other chemical in existence, at any price, can do: keep 90% of mosquitoes from even entering a home, for six to twelve months with a single spraying, and prevent those that do enter from biting, and thus reduce the malaria rate by 75% or more.
And the countries are beginning to use DDT again, to spray the indoor walls of houses. They're saying, "We're not worried about unlikely risks of using DDT. We're worried about dying of malaria, we're worrying about 3,000 women and children dying every day from malaria—"
EIR: Every day!
Driessen: Every day. So African countries are saying, "Why do you want us to worry about something as speculative as 'lactation failure,' where you don't have any scientific evidence and just make these crazy claims? And we're not supposed to use a weapon that could save people's lives, prevent brain damage from malaria, get people healthy enough so they can work instead of being sick in bed, taken care of by other people who otherwise would be working productively?" By launching comprehensive, integrated programs to combat mosquitoes and malaria, where DDT is one more weapon in the arsenal, these countries could almost eradicate that disease in a few years. By using GM crops and more modern agricultural practices, they could improve farm yields and nutrition. Economies, hopes, and lives would be transformed.
And then you get to the other issue that I've been writing about, and that is, electricity. In sub-Saharan Africa, some 95% of the people don't have electricity. In one week, Al Gore uses more electricity than 25 million Ugandans use in a year. And yet the radical greens battle every mode of electricity generation, except the most nominal, irrelevant generators. Rainforest Action Network and other activists are constantly pressuring banks and construction companies not to build coal- or gas-fired power plants in Africa or other developing countries.
Friends of the Earth and the International Rivers Network battle hydroelectric projects, like the Bujagali dam in Uganda, because it will interfere with kayaking. And Greenpeace and Sierra Club hate nuclear power.
EIR: Isn't their argument, or the argument you hear a lot of the time, that by man changing nature in that way, we are interfering with the so-called natural process on the planet; that it's somehow unnatural for us to be using these man-made innovations to change the Biosphere in which we live?
Driessen: Yes, that is clearly part of what they say. But it goes deeper than that. They also say human beings are a "cancer" on the planet, that we're really not part of the eco-system, that we interfere so much with natural planetary cycles, that we should be restricted in number, scope, and influence.
And yet, I have not seen a lot of them in the environmental movement, whether they're Al Gore or some Hollywood glitterati, or the head of the Natural Resources Defense Council, say they're ready to live in a mud hut in Africa for even a month or two. Some friends of mine in South Africa have offered to put Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz and their "Trippin" crew up for a month in a state-of-the-art mud hut, out in the middle of nowhere, so they can live the cute, indigenous lifestyle that they extol and want to perpetuate. They can go without lights and refrigeration; drink the same filthy water that's loaded with parasites and bacteria; go without bug repellants and DDT, and battle malarial mosquitoes all night long; eat the same meager, insect-infested organic food the locals eat. And when they come down with malaria, they can walk, just like the locals, 20 miles to the nearest clinic, and hope that nurse has something other than chloroquine to treat their malaria.
If they survive, they might come back changed people. I don't see any of them volunteering to do something like that, even for one month. But they're happy to keep these people in that state of permanent poverty.
As my friend June Arunga from Kenya says, "indigenous lifestyles" just mean indigenous poverty, indigenous malnutrition, indigenous disease, and childhood death. And that's really what it comes down to: When you don't have these modern technologies, your lifespan is cut almost in half.
EIR: Let's talk about some of these modern technologies. There are a number of people out there, who aren't necessarily part of this Hollywood clique or this upper echelon of the financial bracket (like Al Gore, as you mentioned), who are hypocritically putting forth these sorts of policies. I mean, there are people who see that perhaps we are consuming more resources than we may be replenishing at this point, and they might be saying: "Don't we have to do a better job of so-called protecting the Earth. And if that's the case, why can't we develop Africa with so-called 'smarter' technologies?"
They would say, "Can't we put a solar panel on every hut? And give Africa wind power?" And, with the Gore testimony on Capitol Hill last week, certainly a number of people are now suggesting this for the United States. Does that policy make sense to you?
Driessen: Absolutely not.
Just think about it: 95% of Africans have no electricity. It would certainly be an improvement to have a little solar panel on a hut and maybe a couple of wind turbines for the village. But in essence, what you're telling them, is, "You can't have electricity, except on the most minimal scale. You can never have it for a modern home, hospital, clinic, office, school or society." If you put a solar panel on a hut, for example, the people might have enough electricity to power a couple of light bulbs, a radio, a 1- or 2-cubic-foot refrigerator, and a hot plate—but that's it!
And it would be intermittent. It would only work when the Sun is shining. You may have a battery backup, but just to have a solar panel and battery to operate a couple of light bulbs, a radio, and a tiny TV, it's going to cost you about $1,500 per hut. Wind turbines are also very expensive and, whenever the wind stops blowing, whatever you've got hooked up to that turbine shuts down. Just imagine yourself strapped on an operating table with your chest cut open, in the middle of open heart surgery ... and the wind stops blowing, or the Sun stops shining. There goes your electricity.
You cannot possibly get enough affordable, reliable, abundant electricity off of these so-called "appropriate, renewable" resources. They just aren't going to be there at the levels or with the reliability that we in this country, or anywhere in the developed world, demand.
Again, I go back to the point: If these folks who advocate this stuff want to go and live that way—great! I applaud their integrity. But I don't see Al Gore, Cameron Diaz, Prince Philip, Leo DiCaprio, Paul Ehrlich, or Barbara Boxer lining up for their turn in that state-of-the-art mud hut.
That said, there can be a place for wind and solar power—as an interim improvement in remote African villages, for instance, or to supplement household electricity in the U.S. Wind power can add juice to an electrical grid in the U.S., whenever the wind is blowing, but you just can't rely on it as a primary source, because it is too expensive and unreliable.
EIR: This brings up an interesting point. Last week a number of leading Senate Democrats voiced a certain consensus that serious changes need to be made in our own energy policy and so-called sustainability here in the United States. This brings to mind what Lyndon LaRouche and others have called the "Great Global Warming Swindle" or the "Al Gore Hoax."
So, I want to hone in for a moment, on Al Gore: What is your take on his theory that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are going to create a 20-foot rise in sea level, that will wipe out Manhattan and create hurricanes like Katrina, that have the potential to wipe out life as we know it on the Earth?
Driessen: Well, I think the whole thing is ludicrous. Even the alarmists in the UN don't buy into this hysteria. Their latest report is suggesting an 18-inch rise in sea levels over the next century is the most likely scenario. Gore's 20 feet is pure Hollywood scare-mongering. Certainly, we're experiencing some global warming, and certainly in certain places especially, humans are having some effect on local weather and climate, and so forth. But to suggest that human carbon dioxide is responsible for this stuff is crazy.
EIR: What is responsible?
Driessen: Well, let's go back for a second. Look at carbon dioxide: The total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 0.05%—the equivalent of about 1.9 inches on a 100-yard football field. And less than one-twentieth of that total is man-caused. The rest comes from plants, decaying plant matter, and the oceans.
More importantly, Al Gore has the theory backward. Gore claims that rising carbon dioxide causes warmer planetary temperatures. In reality, according to the ice core data and other records going back thousands of years, the planet warms first and then—400 to 800 years later—the carbon dioxide increases. As the oceans warm in response to various natural forces, they cannot hold as much carbon dioxide as when they're cool, so they release some of their built-up stores of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Even Gore had to admit, in response to a question after his testimony, that sometimes temperature increases have preceded CO2 increases. Even his own graph, the one he uses in his lectures, the one featured in the "Great Global Warming Swindle," shows this time lag. The temperature goes up and, several hundred years later, up goes the carbon dioxide. The temperatures go down and, several centuries later, the carbon dioxide levels go down.
EIR: So, you're saying the reason for the increase in carbon dioxide is the heating of the oceans, which is caused by something else?
Driessen: Which is caused by global warming, which is caused by a variety of natural forces. As solar radiation changes, the amount of heat energy reaching the Earth increases. Changing cosmic ray levels from the Sun affect cloud formation here on Earth, and thus the amount of sunlight reaching the surface. The tilt of the Earth's axis and shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun also change over thousands of years. And the atmosphere and the oceans themselves are dynamic, turbulent, chaotic liquids, moving and changing on their own.
And so, you combine all of these forces in ways that we certainly don't understand very well—as real climatologists like MIT's Dick Lindzen will tell you—and you get a climate that changes constantly, repeatedly, to varying degrees, in long and short cycles, due to natural forces, and with only very limited inputs from humans. But Al Gore—the passionate true believer, well-rehearsed, with friends and protectors in Hollywood and Congress—still insists that we are about to have a climate cataclysm, brought on by the very technologies that improve and enrich our lives.
So, the bottom line is this: Even if we did something as stupid as what Al Gore is talking about—and put a ban on the construction of new coal-fired power plants here in the United States—it would make no difference whatsoever. It certainly wouldn't stabilize carbon dioxide levels, because they're already going up, as warmer planetary temperatures warm the oceans and release more CO2—and as China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, and other countries burn more coal and other fossil fuels, to fuel their growing economies and lift their people out of poverty.
Within a year or so, experts say, China will exceed the United States as being the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide—and I'm certainly not going to tell China or India or any other poor nation, especially in Africa, that they cannot aspire to and enjoy better lives, even if it means more carbon dioxide.
Moreover, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It's a plant nutrient. It makes plants and crops grow better, and need less water. And, I'm firmly convinced, CO2 levels in the atmosphere are not the cause of climate change. The Sun and other natural forces are what drive climate change cycles, just as they have for millions of years. They haven't taken a holiday, just because we started burning fossil fuels.
EIR: So Al Gore is even more extreme than the other alarmists?
Driessen: That's right. All kinds of environmentalists, politicians, and grant-seeking scientists want to talk about climate catastrophes that are vastly overblown—a figment of their imaginations, Hollywood special effects, and a few computer models that spew out crazy scenarios. But no real climatologist is talking in these terms; even the IPCC has reduced its forecasts for temperature and sea level increases. Aside from some hysterical types, almost no one but Al Gore is talking about massive inundations of Manhattan and Bangladesh, or other climate Armageddons straight out of "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Convenient Lies and Half-Truths."
Plus, it's really hard to believe that even Al Gore believes his own rhetoric. He uses huge amounts of electricity and natural gas—20 times more than the average American—and he refuses to cut back. He's flying all over the planet, often in private jets, spewing out greenhouse gases. He refused to take an energy pledge that Sen. Jim Inhofe offered him last week, refused to agree to use no more energy than the average American. But he wants Africa to rely on wind and solar power, and he thinks everybody else should cut back to the level of the new middle classes in India or China, which still use only a fraction of what Americans, Canadians, and Europeans do.
EIR: One of the things that we've uncovered through our EIR research is that Al Gore is also the head of a financial management company, which was set up in 2004, which is going to make a killing off the so-called "carbon swap" and the financial speculation associated with that, if a carbon tax and carbon swap system were put in place internationally.
Driessen: That's correct. Basically, the rule of thumb is, follow the money. Follow it for Al Gore, follow it for the environmental groups, follow it for the scientists, who are going to get billions of dollars in grant money from the U.S. government, the Canadian government, the European Union, the UN, and so forth. If they start talking like climate catastrophe skeptics, that money is going to dry up.
Look at Al Gore. Not only does he have this company that's going to rake in millions of dollars by selling and trading these various emissions credits, but he gets free emission credits from his company—he doesn't even have to buy them! And he only started using these emission credits this year, just before his movie came out.
So, again, the hypocrisy is boundless, it seems.
EIR: So if you've got money, you're an exception to the rule.
Driessen: As Marie Antoinette allegedly said, "Let the peasants eat grass, like my horses." If you've got money, and you're important, you can buy the credits to sustain your grand lifestyle.
And that raises another question. Who are they buying the credits from? Who are they paying not to use electricity, not to have energy? In many cases, what it's going to come down to is, they're going to pay a billion dollars here and there to somebody like Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, and he's going to take that money, put it in a Swiss bank account, and tell his people: "We've accepted money as part of an emission trading arrangement, to save Africa from climate chaos. Now you are going to have a sustainable energy future. You get to have a couple of wind turbines and little solar panels on your huts. Aren't you happy?"
So my question is: What right does anyone have to tell a poor country it can't develop, because we're concerned (all of a sudden, now that we're rich) about climate change, and your political leaders are trading emission credits with rich country folks like Al Gore, who can't be expected to cut back on their energy use. It's fascinating and hypocritical, and, unfortunately, Democrats in Congress did their level best to keep these issues from coming up. Nobody was allowed to ask Al Gore really tough questions, and nobody on the Democratic side wanted to touch any of these issues.
EIR: Even the New York Times ran a front-page story a couple weeks ago, about how extremist Al Gore really was. In his book Earth in the Balance, you can see his extreme views about energy, population growth, and so forth. What can you say about things he proposed to the Senate?
Driessen: I would love to see them actually start enacting some of proposals that Gore is recommending: That everybody has to get rid of their incandescent bulbs, and buy new ones that are far more expensive and don't put out as much light. That they have to cut way back on coal-fired electricity generation, which would mean big increases—10, 20 maybe even 30%—in their electrical bills, which would gouge consumers and really hammer minority families and people on low and fixed incomes.
And for what? So that politicians can say they did something about climate change—about this Hollywood Frankenstein monster they created. Anything they do—aside from committing political suicide by requiring that we slash greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95% by 2050, will not stabilize atmospheric CO2 levels. So all we're talking about is $400-billion-dollar-a-year environmental symbolism.
Even if you assume CO2 levels are driving climate change—even if you bash and trash out economy, spend countless billions, and cause jobs to migrate to India and China, because they're the only places companies can still get abundant, reliable, affordable energy—you're not going to affect the climate. The climate's going to continue to do what it always has. It's going to change naturally.
EIR: I think that gets at the real intent of what Al Gore is trying to do, Gore's so-called solution for the United States. As you mentioned, he's called for banning the incandescent light bulb, lowering carbon emissions overall by 90%. He wants to set up a "Connie Mae," which I guess is a "Fannie Mae" for energy conservation and carbon emission credits. He seems to be proposing that we cut down a lot of power lines, and put solar panels on every house in America, as part of the new financial bubble. And he's saying this at the very time that the housing bubble seems to be rupturing, and we have growing financial instability in that sector.
Driessen: On one level, I'm in favor of little things that people might want to do. If they want to switch light bulbs, that's fine. It's not going to make a lot of difference, but it can help. If they want to put a solar panel on their house, more power to them, even if it means they might some day have to battle neighbors who have trees that could grow tall enough to block the solar panel.
Where I have a problem is when the government mandates them. Not only does that destroy personal freedom and put bureaucrats and radical green activists in charge of all our energy and economic decisions. It also means government picks the energy and economic winners and losers, subsidizes certain politically favored sectors, often against politically disfavored sectors—or just companies that are less adept at lobbying and currying political favors. It means your lobbyist becomes more important than your R&D department.
Moreover, and here's where the rubber meets the road: 80% of our energy right now comes from fossil fuels; about 53% of our electricity is generated by burning coal. How Al Gore thinks we're going to cut our CO2 emissions over the next 30 or 40 years by 90%—without destroying our economy and impoverishing families—I sure don't know. And even if we do, it's not going to cause the rest of the world's emissions to go down. It's a lose-lose proposition. All pain for no gain.
Just look around you. What's going to happen as the U.S. population increases, and demand goes up? What's going to happen to your electricity bill, if demand soars and we can't build new coal-fired power plants? I haven't heard Gore say, "I think we need to build 50, or 100, or 200 nuclear power plants." I haven't heard him say, "We're going to stop burning coal, but we're going to drill for oil and natural gas off our shores, in the Great Lakes, in the Rockies, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." He wants to force us—you and me, not him—to switch to wind and solar, which brings us right back to this energy sufficiency, affordability, and reliability issue. The wind stops blowing, the Sun stops shining, and you get brownouts and blackouts. It's tough enough to run a hut with a couple light bulbs off a solar panel and a wind turbine. How do you run a modern nation this way?
When you look at the amount of electricity we use in this country, to improve living standards, improve people's health, increase life spans, power wondrous new technologies—enjoy a standard of living that Al Gore is certainly not going to give up! Nor are these environmentalists or the Hollywood crowd ready to give all this up. How do you power a modern society with wind turbines—even with a million or 50 million—blanketing an area the size of Virginia, slicing and dicing birds and bats by the millions, destroying beautiful scenic vistas, and making unbelievable noise ... to provide expensive intermittent electricity?
And how many of these clever, environmentally conscious but economically and energy-illiterate politicians have figured out that—if you want a forest of wind turbines and an ocean of solar panels—you need gas-fired power plants for backup, because they're the only thing that can kick in instantaneously when the wind stops blowing, or the Sun stops shining. And that means you've got to drill for natural gas, which they absolutely oppose.
EIR: Isn't it also true that you couldn't actually manufacture a windmill or a solar panel with the amount of power produced by a solar panel or a windmill? That it actually takes nuclear or fossil fuel power to generate enough energy to even create a solar panel.
Driessen: You're talking about the energy it takes to get the minerals out of the ground, to mill and process them into steel and other components, and then build that windmill or solar panel?
EIR:: Right, that process.
Driessen: Yes, it does take a lot of energy. And this is where these guys just don't think things through. Many of them—the politicians, activists, and journalists—would fail miserably trying to run a company, especially a utility or manufacturing company. But they want to be in charge of the people who are in charge of those companies.
Go back a second to my point about gas-fired power plants. If you mandate wind power, you need gas-fired power plants and natural gas to operate those plants. Who in the Democratic Party or the environmental movement is now going to support drilling for natural gas, so that they can get this utopian wind-energy system they keep dreaming about? Which Senator is going to run his or her office solely off wind or solar power? Which one is going to be the first to volunteer for open heart surgery run entirely off a solar panel or wind turbine?
Your point about the energy needed to manufacture wind and solar systems is extremely well taken: The energy level required to make these alternative energy systems is far higher than they can put out. Right now, you take one 50-megawatt power plant in California, a gas-fired power plant: It's putting out more electricity in the course of a year, than all 13,000 of California's first-generation wind turbines. The gas-fired power plant is on about 20 acres; the wind turbines are on 106,000 acres. Those are significant environmental impacts—and then you have to add in the bird and bat kills, and transmission lines to carry electricity hundreds of miles from the wind farm to the major city.
EIR: I read in your book, that in some places, the raptors are actually being driven out of their natural habitat, or are just chopped up, by these windmills.
Driessen: I'm not sure to what extent you can say they're being driven out, but certainly they're being chopped up. Sierra Club and Audubon Society don't call wind turbines the "Cuisinarts of the Air" for nothing. As we expand these wind systems, we're going to be talking about tens of thousands of birds and bats, and a huge number of raptors that come in looking for prey and whack, we get peregrine paté.
So, again, there is no free lunch. There is an environmental cost to all of this, a human cost to all of this, a huge economic cost to all of it. Don't let us get conned by Al Gore, who's first talking about catastrophes that simply are not happening, and no rational scientist says they are on the horizon; who's offering costly, unworkable solutions that are not going to solve anything; who's not going to make any personal sacrifices to save the planet; whose bogus solutions are going to place most of the burdens squarely on the shoulders of the poorest families in our country; and whose proposed bans on fossil fuels and other electricity-generating systems are going to keep the poorest people on the planet impoverished, diseased, destitute, without jobs, without a functioning, modern economy, and dying many years before their time for another century.
It's simply unconscionable. If you want to talk about the morality of climate change, that's the morality of climate change. It's the immorality of telling people they can't have energy, they can't take their rightful places among the Earth's healthy and prosperous people.
We must not, and need not, go down that route. We have the time, technology, creativity, and humanitarian instincts to think this through, determine whether we really have a climate problem—another natural cycle or something else—and then take the wise steps to address the problem or adapt to it.
EIR: Well, Paul, being a member of the Democratic Party and being raised in Seattle, Washington, the greenie headquarters of the world, these are issues that I have wrestled with for a long time, and I appreciate your shedding some light on these subjects, because they're not easy questions, but I certainly think that the work that you're doing brings us closer to the truth on these matters.


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The Funny Women Best Comedy Writer Award with Comedy 50:50
Funny Women is launching a new industry award to recognise the female writers of unscripted comedy. The Award will be accepting nominations of the best women comedy writers from radio, tv and digital producers of unscripted comedy from Monday 29th June – Friday 21st August.
The Funny Women Best Comedy Writer Award with Comedy 50:50 has been created to recognise the women amongst our oft unsung heroes of comedy – the gag, sketch and additional material writers of TV, Radio and digital entertainment.
Through our involvement with Comedy 50:50, it became increasingly clear to us that whilst women comedians were beginning to get a much better deal on screen and on the airwaves, female comedy writers for unscripted comedies were still vastly outnumbered by their male counterparts.
Whilst acknowledging comedy writing is an incredibly hard profession for almost anyone to break into, with this award we want to celebrate the talent and tenacity of the women writers of Britain and Ireland, who have overcome the clearly disproportionate barriers to entry to succeed in this highly competitive field.
We're thrilled to have Funny Women Awards alumna, tv star, Comedian and Writer Rachel Parris as a champion of this new Award!
Comedy writing is a crucial, and often-undervalued part of all your favourite comedy shows. From radio specials, to panel shows, to topical quizzes, it's easy to forget that much of the material has been crafted and scripted by talented writers behind the scenes, all working to make it seem as "unscripted" as possible. And the more diverse that team, the better. With this award, we're celebrating and showcasing the women who write for these shows. Having worked as a writer and a comic who works with writers, I know how important it is to have women in the writers room, not because they add some kind of uniquely feminine viewpoint or brand of "female comedy", but because we exist, our voices matter, and by excluding or under-representing women, the comedy loses out. I've worked with some phenomenal female writers across TV and radio and I hope that this award helps to showcase the wealth of talent out there and to highlight how easy it is to find talented, experienced female writers to be part of any writing team.
Rachel Parris - Comedian and Writer
We're delighted to join with Funny Women to celebrate brilliant women in comedy. There are lots of them out there and we hope that by crediting them for their talent, it will remind the industry to look at improving the diversity of their writing rooms. Different voices lead to different jokes and more creative options, which in our view leads to better shows. Let's celebrate talent.
Saskia Schuster - Founder, Comedy 50:50 /Head of Scripted, Fulwell 73.
The Funny Women Best Comedy Writer Award with Comedy 50:50 will be accepting nominations from producers, head writers and executives of all of TV and Radio's Unscripted comedy shows (such as Newsjack, Have I Got News For You, The Mash Report etc) through the months of July and August and the winner will be revealed at The Funny Women Awards Grand Final in September.
Today's funny women have a strong and independent voice which needs better and equal representation at the writers' table. There's no excuse for a lack of diversity and we're calling on broadcasters to promote and encourage new female talent.
Lynne Parker - Founder and CEO, Funny Women
If you wish to nominate someone, please contact Awards Director, Becky Singh on becky.singh@funnywomen.com


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Q: Testing ng-if divs are displaying correctly with unit tests Following this question I'm using the following method to try to test whether ng-if tagged divs are displaying correctly using Karma, rather than Protractor:
var element;

beforeEach(inject(function ($rootScope, $templateCache, $compile) {
  scope = $rootScope.new();
  fooController.init(scope); //Some controller function that sets properties on the scope
                             //which are tested for in the template
  scope.$digest();
  var template = $templateCache.get('/my/template');  //Get the cached template
  var compiled = compile(template)(scope);            //Compile it

  element = angular.element(compiled);                //Wrap it with jQuery functions
}));

it('should do something', function () {
  var div = element.find('#someDiv'); //Get some div that should be affected by ng-if
  expect(div.html()).toBeUndefined(); //Expect the div not to be shown due to properties that
                                      //were set by fooController.init
});

My template has something like this:

Foo

Here, I'm using expect(div.html()).toBeUndefined(); because ngIf (unlike ngShow and ngHide) removes the entire div from the DOM if the condition inside evaluates to false (ngShow and ngHide apply classes to the div to cause it not to be shown instead).
However, when I run this and print out the compiled variable, I find that the HTML of the ngIf div is ALWAYS taken away and replaced with a comment, regardless of the value of scope.shown.
Does the Angular compile function used by Karma not work the same way as it does when it's actually rendered by Angular itself in a browser? I ask because when I test it with a browser, it displays correctly, but when I try to unit test it, it outputs the wrong info. Maybe it's also because I'm using PhantomJS for headless testing, but Google Chrome to test it myself?

A: You need to evaluate shown in your template. Try creating a function that returns true or false. And then add this to your template.
ng-if = "GetShown([parameters]) === true"

So the function in your controller would be something like
$scope.GetShown = function([parameters]){
     return [evaluation]
};

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Your specialist bookstore for over 60 years
Fogarty's Bookshop was started in 1946 by Basil Fogarty in a basement shop in 59 Main Street (now Govan Mbeki Ave). The bookshop is one of the oldest independent bookshops in South Africa.
Basil was joined by his new wife from Scotland, Eleanor and together they became a mecca for book & art lovers. Even holding exhibitions for the likes of Irma Stern.
After 59 Main Street, the shop moved to the Library Building on Market Square. And, some years later, to Traduna Mall in Main Street where it stayed for over 20 years.
At that stage, the business was taken over by Teresa Fogarty (daughter of Basil & Eleanor) and Terry Impey (Teresa's partner). With Terry's help, branches were opened in 6th Ave Walmer & later The Bridge, Greenacres.
When the Main Street branch closed, the Walmer Park shop was opened. Later The Bridge branch closed and joined Walmer.
We have been at Walmer Park for over 14 years.
Fogarty's is now firmly established in Walmer Park & serves the book loving public of Port Elizabeth (and the surrounding areas) with all their reading requirements.
Ordering & sourcing books has always been one of the services we offer, along with helpful service to our loyal customers.
Please contact us with any questions about books and, we will gladly try to assist you.
Sadly Terry, Basil & Eleanor are no longer with us but, they will always remain in our hearts & memories and, in the soul of Fogarty's Bookshop.


Backed by seven large health systems and three philanthropic groups, the new venture will be led by an industry insider who refuses to draw a salary. The company will focus initially on establishing price transparency and stable supplies for 14 generic drugs used in hospitals, without pressure from shareholders to issue dividends or push a stock price higher.
"We're trying to do the right thing — create a first-of-its-kind societal asset with one mission: to make sure essential generic medicines are affordable and available to everyone," said Dan Liljenquist, chair of Civica Rx and chief strategy officer at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah.
The consortium, which includes health systems such as the Mayo Clinic and HCA Healthcare, collectively represents about 500 hospitals. Liljenquist said that the initial governing members have already committed $100 million to the effort. The business model will ultimately rely on the long-term contracts that member health care organizations agree to — a commitment to buy a fixed portion of their drug volume from Civica.
While Civica did not disclose which drugs it's focusing on for competitive reasons, Elie M. Bahou, chief pharmacy officer of Providence St. Joseph Health, a 51-hospital system spread across seven states and one of the members of the consortium, said the criteria include drugs that underwent price increases of 50 percent or more between 2014 and 2016 and essential medicines that were on national shortage lists.
A 2016 survey commissioned by hospital lobbying groups found that a third of hospital administrators reported that higher drug prices had a "severe" effect on their ability to manage their budgets.
Several hospital leaders said shortages and price spikes on old drugs are managed on a near-daily basis. The cost isn't just the price of a drug, but the clinical and staff time spent tracking the supply, looking for alternatives and changing protocols. For hospital systems that are in multiple states, the shortage problems are often hyperlocal, too — in one state, morphine might be available while fentanyl is in shortage, while in another, the reverse could be true. So the one solution may not even work systemwide.
"There's a whiteboard at every one of our pharmacies, and there are 10 to 20 drugs on the whiteboard and a number — that's the supply they have on hand. And depending on what that number is, they'll strategize: What are we going to do," said Bob Ripley, chief pharmacy officer of Trinity Health, one of the health systems in the consortium.
Civica Rx's first drug could hit the market next year, and the company has committed to a transparent pricing model, without secret rebates that are common throughout the pharmaceutical industry.
Martin VanTrieste, chief executive of Civica, worked in the traditional pharmaceutical industry for decades — most recently at biotech giant Amgen — and said that he came out of retirement to take on the role with two requirements: He'd work without pay, and the company had to remain focused on patients. The question of how big the company might grow, he said, depends on how the market reacts.
"We want the marketplace to take care of itself and work, so if the entrance of Civica with 14 drugs — and the threat we can do more, pretty quickly, makes the marketplace work better, probably we don't grow much bigger than that," VanTrieste said. "But if the marketplace is broken and can't be fixed by adding just 14 drugs," the company could expand much more.
There are risks to the idea. Civica's leaders have discussed the possibility that other companies that make the generic drugs will temporarily cut their prices in an effort to maintain market share. But Civica leaders say the model of guaranteeing a steady supply at a fair, transparent price will be attractive to hospitals. Since the effort was first outlined in January, health organizations that represent a third of the nation's hospitals have expressed interest.
The generic drug industry has brought huge cost savings. That may be changing.


Hi, I m selling my 2005 Magna station wagon which is in very good conditon! The car has log books and full service history (always serviced on time) The car has Aircond powersteer, Powerwindows, Dual Airbags, alloy wheels, two keys cruise, control central locking, ABS and CD player. This is a 3.5 V6 engine! It has new tyres and was fully serviced 1 month ago NSW REGO until June 2019 Ideal for backpacker, surfer, lot of space in the boot.
Great little car to learn manual in, very reliable, fuel economy is pretty good, and 3-4 months rego. Great first car only selling due to upgrade.


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She is an avid social development enthusiast. Works tirelessly to help counsel and rehabilitate HIV/AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children in our organization.
Education Project Officer
Sulaiman graduated from Kyambogo University with a Bachelor's degree in Adult and Community Development.
He is our education project officer and has done a great job in liaising and creating good working relationships with all schools where our children attend.
MR. MAYENGO HERBERT
Chairperson Board and M&E Advisor
Herbert works as the M&E Coordinator at the DFID funded Expanding Social Protection Program under the Min. of Gender, Labor and Social Development. He possesses a Master of Statistics (Bio-statistics), Post Graduate Diploma M&E, and Bachelor of Statistics.
He contributes immensely in developing M&E and data management systems needed to ensure high data quality and generally lending his statistical experience and knowledge to improve the delivery of development services at our organization.
MRS. SEKYANZI AGNES
Treasurer Board and Financial Advisor
Mrs Sekyanzi works as Kampala East Regional Manager for UMEME the only power generating and distributing company in Uganda. Mrs. Sekyanzi possesses a Master of Economics and a Bachelor of Commerce.
She has extensive experience in accounting and the application of economic principles and models to better manage and run companies and organizations.
She is very resourceful when it comes to decisions that require budgeting, forecasting, and cost analysis and has helped us a lot in managing our expenses relative to our limited income.
MISS NANYANZI LUCY
Vice Chairperson Board and Education Advisor
Lucy is the Head teacher Kampala Kindergarten Association a 60 year plus institution that laid the foundation for millions of successful people in and out of Uganda.
She has long and vast experience in the Ugandan education sector, with trusted good judgement in identifying and understanding the needs and problems that affect young children.
MARK TRESTON
Mark Treston has over fifteen years of experience in education management and regulatory compliance consulting. Having served as department chair for both secondary and postsecondary institutions, he has also been employed as president of a college and CAO of two institutions of higher learning.
A talented start-up manager, Mark has successfully established several colleges and universities, from developing the initial business plans, through navigating the complex requirements of state and federal regulatory agencies. As a regulatory consultant, Mark has led numerous schools, colleges, and universities to successful outcomes with a variety of national, regional, and programmatic accreditation agencies.
Mr.Treston teaches history and government at a local university. Mr.Treston holds graduates degrees in Political Economy and Education, and he serves as a consultant for Cambridge University Press and several universities. Mr Treston serves on the board of directors for a prestigious college as well as advisory board member at a local university.
NORBERT KAWOOYA
Partner and Advisor
Norbert has a passion for humanity, Information Systems, and business but not necessarily in that order.
He pursued a career in Information systems, concentrating in I.T & Management at the BA level, CIS at the MBA level, and finally did work in Social entrepreneurship at the post MBA level. He has served and continues to serve in various leadership positions in his communities where he brings his passion, empathy and professionalism to the table. A graduate of the Landmark curriculum of education, he is currently a participant on the Team Management and Leadership Program's Los Angeles Chapter where he continues to grow his muscles in practicing the distinctions of creating working teams.
We are glad to have Norbert on Board!
Support to Children
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Q: Asynchronous processing of domain object (Grails 2) I am trying to work around a problem I have somehow introduced by moving some code from a controller to a service, to do with asynchronous processing in a Grails 2.2.5 application (using 'runAsync' from the Executor plugin). It's not possible to reproduce the code here in any meaningful way, so I am just after some better understanding of why my problem might be occurring.
Basically, I am saving a Policy object (it's an insurance system), and then doing some post-processing to create and mail the necessary documents to the customer, among other things. To avoid their having to wait for a response, I run the most time-cnsuming part of the post-processing in a separate thread, with runAsync. Until yesterday, the initial post-processing occurred in the controller and then a service method was called which included the runAsync block. Yesterday, because I needed to use the same processing from another place, I moved the initial processing code into the service as well. This has changed the behaviour in one way I cannot understand (the only difference being the move from controller to service). The initial processing set a Date field, 'issued', to the current date and saved the Policy record, with flush:true. Then within the runAsync block, this 'issued' value is used. To get around possible Hibernate issues, the first line within the runAsync block was policy=Policy.get(id). As of yesterday, this causes an error because the reloaded policy has an 'issued' of null, despite my having saved the policy record successfully immediately prior to calling the runAsync block. And, as I said, this change of behaviour was simply the result of moving the code from the controller to the service.
So, I thought I would try without the failsafe reload of the Policy (i.e.,just use the existing Policy object), and this time the issued value is available within runAsync. But when I try and do something else with the policy record within this block I get this:
Caused by: org.hibernate.NonUniqueObjectException: a different object with the same identifier value was already associated with the session:
So, what I really need to know is how best I can a) do some manipulation of a domain object in the main thread, and save those changes, and then b) do some further work on that domain object in a separate thread (with runAsync), ensuring that all changes from stage a are present and that there are no Hibernate issues. Can I explicitly unload the object somehow in the main thread before running the async block, so as to avoid the 'different object with the same identifier value was already associated with the session' issue? Or do I need to start a new Hibernate session in the async block? Or a transaction?


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Why RPM
RPM News
RPM named 2021 Top Green Provider by Food Logistics
Thank you Food Logistics Magazine for recognizing our comittment to sustainability. It's truly an honor to be named a 2021 Top Green Provider.
We prioritize drivers with CARB certifications, and reduce spoilage for our Food and Beverage and CPG customers by ensuring that our drivers have the proper equipment, including pre-cooled reefer trailers, to maintain the right temperature for perishables and other sensitive items. Because we are able to close loops and reduce deadhead miles, our ability to deliver on-time with these temperature and time-sensitive products also helps reduce waste. The RPM Drive app, that drivers use, allows RPM more visibility into load managing and gives us the ability to help close the loops for drivers—reload them out of the same location or facility that they delivered to or on their way back to their point of origin.
Over the next five years, RPM is working on initiatives to prioritize carriers who are making an environmentally conscious decision on what trucks to buy and bring into their fleet. We have been attending several virtual conferences throughout the year to explore better ways to use energy and reduce the carbon emissions on the road.
A New Year with New Woes for Freight Shippers.
RPM Welcomes Rick Grubb, Chief Information Officer
RPM Makes Inc. 5000 List for 8th Consecutive Year
RPM Makes Auto Remarketing Magazine 500 List
The Global Chip Shortage Creates Unique Challenges for Vehicle Shippers
RPM makes Crain's Top Private 200 Companies List in 2021
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Bottom line: Partnerships are complex and should not be entered into lightly. This goes for large-scale infrastructure development projects, event focused partnerships, and partnerships that focus on providing a specific service for periods of time.
How does the partnership further the agencies mission? Appropriated resources (property, staff, and dollars) must further the mission of the agency.
Did you give other potential partners a chance to join the partnership? "Sole-sourcing" a partnership is often possible, but can jeopardize the legitimacy of the partnership, so allowing the breadth of possible partners to compete for the chance to participate is optimal. This area, in particular, is a space where new Gov 2.0 technologies have allowed partnership opportunities to become more open and have allowed more potential partners to step forward.
Partnerships have the potential to add a TON of value, but they require a decent amount of homework to do right.
Though this posting was a bit more research and background info oriented, in future postings I will highlight some of the really cool PPPs from yesterday and today (per Andrew Krzmarzick's suggestion). As always, please feel free to reach out to me at any time during this series to continue to conversation.
Happy almost 4th of July!
 Gustetic, Jennifer. A Framework for Understanding and Designing Partnerships in Emergency Preparedness and Response. Cambridge, MA: MIT Libraries, 2007.
 Savas, E.S. Privatization and Public Private Partnerships. New York, NY: Chatham House Publishers, 2000.


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Finance People & Places
FCMB appoints Edun, former CFO, to replace embattled Nuru as CEO
January 6, 2021641 views0 comments
By Charles Abuede
The board of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has tapped Yemisi Edun, its chief finance officer, as replacement for its embattled chief executive officer, Adam Nuru, who has stepped down from the position.
FCMB said on Wednesday after issuing a statement concerning the scandal which befell Nuru, its immediate past managing director, in the first few days of 2021.
The appointment of Edun, in line with regulatory requirement, will await regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the immediate assumption of office, the bank said in a statement.
Yemisi Edun holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, and a Master's degree in International Accounting and Finance from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. She kick-started her career in 1987 with Akintola Williams Deloitte (member firm of Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu) with the sole focus on corporate finance activities.
She is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers; a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a CFA Charter holder.
Edun is also an associate member of the Institute of Taxation of Nigeria; a Member of Information Systems Audit and Control, U.S.A; and a Certified Information Systems Auditor.
Prior to her appointment as the new chief executive officer of the bank, she has worked as the chief financial officer (CFO) of the bank, after effectively functioning as the divisional head of internal audit and control in the bank, since she joined the bank in 2000.
Edun was also involved in the audit of banks and other financial institutions during her tenure as the chief financial officer; a position she held before she was appointed the bank managing director.
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