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Skip to comments.Why is HIV So Prevalent in Africa?
Posted on 04/29/2005 10:08:42 PM PDT by David Lane
Why is HIV So Prevalent in Africa?
By Michael Fumento
Tech Central Station, April 15, 2005
A determined renegade group of three scientists has fought for years – with little success – to get out the message that no more than a third of HIV transmission in Africa is from sexual intercourse and most of that is anal. By ignoring the real vectors, they say, we're sacrificing literally millions of people.
These men are no crackpots. John Potterat is author of 140 scholarly publications. He began working for the El Paso County, Colorado health department in 1972 and initiated the first U.S. partner-tracing program for AIDS/HIV.
Stuart Brody, who has just accepted a full professorship in Psychology at University of Paisley in Scotland, has published over 100 scholarly publications, including a book called "Sex at Risk." Economist and anthropologist David Gisselquist has almost 60 scholarly publications to his name and is currently advising the government of India on staunching its potentially explosive epidemic.
These renegades point out that a reason we know vaginal sex can't be the risk in Africa it's portrayed to be is that it hasn't been much of one risk in the U.S. Here 12 percent of AIDS cases are "attributed to" heterosexual transmission, meaning they claimed to have gotten it that way. Of these, over a third are males.
Yet San Francisco epidemiologist Nancy Padian evaluated 72 male partners of HIV-infected women over several years, during which time only one man was infected. Even in that case, there were "several instances of vaginal and penile bleeding during intercourse." So even the small U.S. heterosexual figure appears grossly exaggerated.
The chief reason it's so hard to spread HIV vaginally is that, as biopsies of vaginal and cervical tissue show, the virus is unable to penetrate or infect healthy vaginal or cervical tissue. Various sexually transmitted diseases allow vaginal HIV infection, but even those appear to increase the risk only by about 2-4 times.
So if vaginal intercourse can't explain the awful African epidemic, what can? Surely it's not homosexuality, since we've been told there is none in Africa. In fact, the practice has long been widespread.
For example, German anthropologist Kurt Falk reported in the 1920s that bisexuality was almost universal among the male populations of African tribes he studied. Medical records also show that African men who insist they're straighter than the proverbial arrow often suffer transmissible anorectal diseases.
Yet almost certainly greater – and more controllable – contributors to the African epidemic are "contaminated punctures from such sources as medical injections, dental injections, surgical procedures, drawing as well as injecting blood, and rehydration through IV tubes," says Brody.
You don't even need to go to a clinic to be injected with HIV: Almost two-thirds of 360 homes visited in sub-Saharan Africa had medical injection equipment that was apparently shared by family members. This, says Brody, can explain why both a husband and wife will be infected.
For those who care to look, there are many indicators that punctures play a huge role in the spread of disease. For example, during the 1990s HIV increased in Zimbabwe at approximately 12 percent annually, even as condom use increased and sexually transmitted infections rapidly fell.
Or consider that in a review of nine African studies, HIV prevalence in inpatient children ranged from 8.2% to 63% – as many as three times the prevalence in women who'd given birth. If the kids didn't get the virus from their mothers or from sex, whence its origin? Investigations of large clinical outbreaks in Russia, Romania, and Libya demonstrate HIV can be readily transmitted through pediatric health care.
There's no one reason for the mass deception. In part, once people have established any paradigm it becomes much easier to justify than challenge.
"These guys are wearing intellectual blinders," says Potterat. "Only a handful are even looking at routes other than sex. They have sex on the brain." Other reasons:
Finally, says Brody, for researchers to concede they were wrong would be "to admit they're complicit in mass death. That's hard to admit that to yourself, much less to other people." Hard, yes. And too late for many. But not too late for millions more in Africa and other underdeveloped nations – if we act now.
Read Michael Fumento's other work on diseases.
Michael Fumento is the author of numerous books. His book, BioEvolution: How Biotechnology Is Changing Our World, was published in Fall 2003 by Encounter Books.
The Hidden Face of HIV Part 1
"Knowing is Beautiful"
by Liam Scheff
As a journalist who writes about AIDS, I am endlessly amazed by the difference between the public and the private face of HIV; between what the public is told and whats explained in the medical literature. The public face of HIV is well-known: HIV is a sexually transmitted virus that particularly preys on gay men, African Americans, drug users, and just about all of Africa, although were all at risk. Were encouraged to be tested, because, as the MTV ads say, "knowing is beautiful." We also know that AIDS drugs are all thats stopping the entire African continent from falling into the sea.
The medical literature spells it out differently quite differently. The journals that review HIV tests, drugs and patients, as well as the instructional material from medical schools, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and HIV test manufacturers will agree with the public perception in the large print. But when you get past the titles, theyll tell you, unabashedly, that HIV tests are not standardized; that theyre arbitrarily interpreted; that HIV is not required for AIDS; and finally, that the term HIV does not describe a single entity, but instead describes a collection of non-specific, cross-reactive cellular material.
Thats quite a difference.
The popular view of AIDS is held up by concerned people desperate to help the millions of Africans stricken with AIDS, the same disease that first afflicted young gay American men in the 1980s. The medical literature differs on this point. It says that that AIDS in Africa has always been diagnosed differently than AIDS in the US.
In 1985, The World Health Organization called a meeting in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, to define African AIDS. The meeting was presided over by CDC official Joseph McCormick. He wrote about in his book "Level 4 Virus hunters of the CDC," saying, "If I could get everyone at the WHO meeting in Bangui to agree on a single, simple definition of what an AIDS case was in Africa, then, imperfect as the definition might be, we could actually start counting the cases..." The results African AIDS would be defined by physical symptoms: fever, diarrhea, weight loss and coughing or itching. ("AIDS in Africa: an epidemiological paradigm." Science, 1986)
In Sub-Saharan African about 60 percent of the population lives and dies without safe drinking water, adequate food or basic sanitation. A September, 2003 report in the Ugandan Daily "New Vision" outlined the situation in Kampala, a city of approximately 1.3 million inhabitants, which, like most tropical countries, experiences seasonal flooding. The report describes "heaps of unclaimed garbage" among the crowded houses in the flood zones and "countless pools of water [that] provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes and create a dirty environment that favors cholera."
"[L]atrines are built above water streams. During rains the area residents usually open a hole to release feces from the latrines. The rain then washes away the feces to streams, from where the [area residents] fetch water. However, not many people have access to toilet facilities. Some defecate in polythene bags, which they throw into the stream." They call these, "flying toilets.
The state-run Ugandan National Water and Sewerage Corporation states that currently 55% of Kampala is provided with treated water, and only 8% with sewage reclamation.
Most rural villages are without any sanitary water source. People wash clothes, bathe and dump untreated waste up and downstream from where water is drawn. Watering holes are shared with animal populations, which drink, bathe, urinate and defecate at the water source. Unmanaged human waste pollutes water with infectious and often deadly bacteria. Stagnant water breeds mosquitoes, which bring malaria. Infectious diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, TB, malaria and famine are the top killers in Africa. But in 1985, they became AIDS.
The public service announcements that run on VH1 and MTV, informing us of the millions of infected, always fail to mention this. I dont know what were supposed to do with the information that 40 million people are dying and nothing can be done. I wonder why we wouldnt be interested in building wells and providing clean water and sewage systems for Africans. Given our great concern, it would seem foolish not to immediately begin the "clean water for Africa" campaign. But Ive never heard such a thing mentioned.
The UN recommendations for Africa actually demand the opposite "billions of dollars" taken out of "social funds, education and health projects, infrastructure [and] rural development" and "redirected" into sex education (UNAIDS, 1999). No clean water, but plenty of condoms.
I have, however, felt the push to get AIDS drugs to Africans. Drugs like AZT and Nevirapine, which are supposed to stop the spread of HIV, especially in pregnant women. AZT and Nevirapine also terminate life. The medical literature and warning labels list the side effects: blood cell destruction, birth defects, bone-marrow death, spontaneous abortion, organ failure, and fatal skin rot. The package inserts also state that the drugs dont "stop HIV or prevent AIDS illnesses."
The companies that make these drugs take advantage of the public perception that HIV is measured in individual African AIDS patients, and that African AIDS - water-borne illness and poverty - can be cured by AZT and Nevirapine. Thats good capitalism, but its bad medicine.
Currently MTV, Black Entertainment Television and VH1 are running "Know HIV/AIDS"-sponsored advertisements of handsome young couples, black and white, touching, caressing, sensually, warming up to love-making. The camera moves over their bodies, hands, necks, mouth, back, legs and arms and we see a small butterfly bandage over their inner elbows, where theyve given blood for an HIV test. The announcer says, "Knowing is beautiful. Get tested."
A September, 2004 San Francisco Chronicle article considered the "beauty" of testing. It told the story of 59 year-old veteran Jim Malone, whod been told in 1996 that he was HIV positive. His health was diagnosed as "very poor." He was classified as, "permanently disabled and unable to work or participate in any stressful situation whatsoever." Malone said, "When I wasnt able to eat, when I was sick, my in-home health care nurse would say, Well, Jim, it goes with your condition.
In 2004, his doctor sent him a note to tell him he was actually negative. He had tested positive at one hospital, and negative at another. Nobody asked why the second test was more accurate than the first (that was the protocol at the Veterans Hospital). Having been falsely diagnosed and spending nearly a decade waiting, expecting to die, Malone said, "I would tell people to get not just one HIV test, but multiple tests. I would say test, test and retest."
In the article, AIDS experts assured the public that the story was "extraordinarily rare." But the medical literature differs significantly.
In 1985, at the beginning of HIV testing, it was known that "68% to 89% of all repeatedly reactive ELISA (HIV antibody) tests [were] likely to represent false positive results." (NEJM - New England Journal of Medicine. 312; 1985).
In 1992, the Lancet reported that for 66 true positives, there were 30,000 false positives. And in pregnant women, "there were 8,000 false positives for 6 confirmations." (Lancet. 339; 1992)
In September 2000, the Archives of Family Medicine stated that the more women we test, the greater "the proportion of false-positive and ambiguous (indeterminate) test results." (Archives of Family Medicine. Sept/Oct. 2000).
The tests described above are standard HIV tests, the kind promoted in the ads. Their technical name is ELISA or EIA (Enzyme-linked Immunosorbant Assay). They are antibody tests. The tests contain proteins that react with antibodies in your blood.
In the US, youre tested with an ELISA first. If your blood reacts, youll be tested again, with another ELISA. Why is the second more accurate than the first? Thats just the protocol. If you have a reaction on the second ELISA, youll be confirmed with a third antibody test, called the Western Blot. But thats here in America. In some countries, one ELISA is all you get.
It is precisely because HIV tests are antibody tests, that they produce so many false-positive results. All antibodies tend to cross-react. We produce antibodies all the time, in response to stress, malnutrition, illness, drug use, vaccination, foods we eat, a cut, a cold, even pregnancy. These antibodies are known to make HIV tests come up as positive.
The medical literature lists dozens of reasons for positive HIV test results: "transfusions, transplantation, or pregnancy, autoimmune disorders, malignancies, alcoholic liver disease, or for reasons that are unclear..."(Archives of Family Medicine. Sept/Oct. 2000).
"[H]uman or technical errors, other viruses and vaccines" (Infectious Disease Clinician of North America. 7; 1993)
"[L]iver diseases, parenteral substance abuse, hemodialysis, or vaccinations for hepatitis B, rabies, or influenza..." (Archives of Internal Medicine. August. 2000).
"[U]npasteurized cows milk Bovine exposure, or cross-reactivity with other human retroviruses" (Transfusion. 1988)
Even geography can do it:
"Inhabitants of certain regions may have cross-reactive antibodies to local prevalent non-HIV retroviruses" (Medicine International. 56; 1988).
The same is true for the confirmatory test the Western Blot.
Causes of indeterminate Western Blots include: "lymphoma, multiple sclerosis, injection drug use, liver disease, or autoimmune disorders. Also, there appear to be healthy individuals with antibodies that cross-react...." (Archives of Internal Medicine. August. 2000).
"The Western Blot is not used as a screening tool because...it yields an unacceptably high percentage of indeterminate results." (Archives of Family Medicine. Sept/Oct 2000)
Pregnancy is consistently listed as a cause of positive test results, even by the test manufacturers. "[False positives can be caused by] prior pregnancy, blood transfusions... and other potential nonspecific reactions." (Vironostika HIV Test, 2003).
This is significant in Africa, because HIV estimates for African nations are drawn almost exclusively from testing done on groups of pregnant women.
In Zimbabwe this year, the rate of HIV infection among young women decreased remarkably, from 32.5 to 6 percent. A drop of 81% - overnight. UNICEFs Swaziland representative, Dr. Alan Brody, told the press "The problems is that all the sero-surveillance data came from pregnant women, and estimates for other demographics was based on that." (PLUS News, August, 2004)
When these pregnant young women are tested, theyre often tested for other illnesses, like syphilis, at the same time. Theres no concern for cross-reactivity or false-positives in this group, and no repeat testing. One ELISA on one girl, and 32.5% of the population is suddenly HIV positive.
The June 20, 2004 Boston Globe reported that "the current estimate of 40 million people living with the AIDS virus worldwide is inflated by 25 percent to 50 percent."
They pointed out that HIV estimates for entire countries have, for over a decade, been taken from "blood samples from pregnant women at prenatal clinics."
But its not just HIV estimates that are created from testing pregnant women, its "AIDS deaths, AIDS orphans, numbers of people needing antiretroviral treatment, and the average life expectancy," all from that one test.
Ive certainly never seen this in VH1 ad.
At present there are about 6 dozen reasons given in the literature why the tests come up positive. In fact, the medical literature states that there is simply no way of knowing if any HIV test is truly positive or negative:
"[F]alse-positive reactions have been observed with every single HIV-1 protein, recombinant or authentic." (Clinical Chemistry. 37; 1991). "Thus, it may be impossible to relate an antibody response specifically to HIV-1 infection." (Medicine International. 1988)
And even if you believe the reaction is not a false positive, "the test does not indicate whether the person currently harbors the virus." (Science. November, 1999).
The test manufacturers state that after the antibody reaction occurs, the tests have to be "interpreted." There is no strict or clear definition of HIV positive or negative. Theres just the antibody reaction. The reaction is colored by an enzyme, and read by a machine called a spectrophotometer.
The machine grades the reactions according to their strength (but not specificity), above and below a cut-off. If you test above the cut-off, youre positive; if you test below it, youre negative.
So what determines the all-important cut-off? From The CDCs instructional material: "Establishing the cutoff value to define a positive test result from a negative one is somewhat arbitrary." (CDC-EIS "Screening For HIV," 2003 )
The University of Vermont Medical School agrees: "Where a cutoff is drawn to determine a diagnostic test result may be somewhat arbitrary .Where would the director of the Blood Bank who is screening donated blood for HIV antibody want to put the cut-off?...Where would an investigator enrolling high-risk patients in a clinical trial for an experimental, potentially toxic antiretroviral draw the cutoff?" (University of Vermont School of Medicine teaching module: Diagnostic Testing for HIV Infection)
A 1995 study comparing four major brands of HIV tests found that they all had different cut-off points, and as a result, gave different test results for the same sample: "[C]ut-off ratios do not correlate for any of the investigated ELISA pairs," and one brands cut-off point had "no predictive value" for any other. (INCQS-DSH, Brazil 1995).
Ive never heard of a person being asked where they would "want to put the cut-off" for determining their HIV test result, or if they felt that testing positive was a "somewhat arbitrary" experience.
In the UK, if you get through two ELISA tests, youre positive. In America, you get a third and final test to confirm the first two. The test is called the Western Blot. It uses the same proteins, laid out differently. Same proteins, same nonspecific reactions. But this time its read as lines on a page, not a color change. Which lines are HIV positive? That depends on where you are, what lab youre in and what kit theyre using.
The Mayo Clinic reported that "the Western blot method lacks standardization, is cumbersome, and is subjective in interpretation of banding patterns." (Mayo Clinic Procedural. 1988)
A 1988 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that 19 different labs, testing one blood sample, got 19 different Western Blot results. (JAMA, 260, 1988)
A 1993 review in Bio/Technology reported that the FDA, the CDC/Department of Defense and the Red Cross all interpret WBs differently, and further noted, "All the other major USA laboratories for HIV testing have their own criteria." (Bio/Technology, June 1993)
In the early 1990s, perhaps in response to growing discontent in the medical community with the lack of precision of the tests, Roche Laboratories introduced a new genetic test, called Viral Load, based on a technology called PCR. How good is the new genetic marvel?
An early review of the technology in the 1991 Journal of AIDS reported that "a true positive PCR test cannot be distinguished from a false positive." (J.AIDS, 1991)
A 1992 study "identified a disturbingly high rate of nonspecific positivity," saying 18% antibody-negative (under the cut-off) patients tested Viral Load positive. (J. AIDS, 1992)
A 2001 study showed that the tests gave wildly different results from a single blood sample, as well as different results with different test brands. (CDC MMWR. November 16, 2001)
A 2002 African study showed that Viral Load was high in patients who had intestinal worms, but went down when they were treated for the problem. The title of the article really said it all. "Treatment of Intestinal Worms Is Associated With Decreased HIV Plasma Viral Load." (J.AIDS, September, 2002)
Roche laboratories, the company that manufactures the PCR tests, puts this warning on the label:
"The AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR Test .is not intended to be used as a screening test for HIV or as a diagnostic test to confirm the presence of HIV infection."
But thats exactly how it is used to convince pregnant mothers to take AZT and Nevirapine and to urge patients to start the drugs.
The medical literature adds something truly astounding to all of this. It says that reason HIV tests are so non-specific and need to be interpreted is because there is "no virologic gold standard" for HIV tests.
The meaning of this statement, from both the medical and social perspective, is profound. The "virologic gold standard" is the isolated virus that the doctors claim to be identifying, indirectly, with the test.
Antibody tests always have some cross-reaction, because antibodies arent specific. The way to validate a test is to go find the virus in the patients blood.
You take the blood, spin it in a centrifuge, and you end up with millions of little virus particles, which you can easily photograph under a microscope. You can disassemble the virus, measure the weight of its proteins, and map its genetic structure. Thats the virologic gold standard. And for some reason, HIV tests have none.
In 1986, JAMA reported that: "no established standard exists for identifying HTLV-III [HIV] infection in asymptomatic people." (JAMA. July 18, 1986)
In 1987, the New England Journal of Medicine stated that "The meaning of positive tests will depend on the joint [ELISA/WB] false positive rate. Because we lack a gold standard, we do not know what that rate is now. We cannot know what it will be in a large-scale screening program." ( Screening for HIV: can we afford the false positive rate?. NEJM. 1987)
Skip ahead to 1996; JAMA again reported: "the diagnosis of HIV infection in infants is particularly difficult because there is no reference or gold standard test that determines unequivocally the true infection status of the patient. (JAMA. May, 1996)
In 1997, Abbott laboratories, the world leader in HIV test production stated: "At present there is no recognized standard for establishing the presence or absence of HIV antibody in human blood." (Abbot Laboratories HIV Elisa Test 1997)
In 2000 the Journal AIDS reported that "2.9% to 12.3%" of women in a study tested positive, "depending on the test used," but "since there is no established gold standard test, it is unclear which of these two proportions is the best estimate of the real prevalence rate " (AIDS, 14; 2000).
If we had a virologic gold standard, HIV testing would be easy and accurate. You could spin the patients blood in a centrifuge and find the particle. They dont do this, and theyre saying privately, in the medical journals, that they cant.
Thats why tests are determined through algorithms above or below sliding cut-offs; estimated from pregnant girls, then projected and redacted overnight.
By repeating, again and again in the medical literature that theres no virologic gold standard, the worlds top AIDS researchers are saying that what were calling HIV isnt a single entity, but a collection of cross-reactive proteins and unidentified genetic material.
And were suddenly a very long way from the public face of HIV.
But the fact is, you dont need to test HIV positive to be an AIDS patient. You dont even have to be sick.
In 1993, the CDC added "Idiopathic CD4 Lymphocytopenia" to the AIDS category. What does it mean? Non-HIV AIDS.
In 1993, the CDC also made "no-illness AIDS" a category. If you tested positive, but werent sick, you could be given an AIDS diagnosis. By 1997, the healthy AIDS group accounted for 2/3rds of all US AIDS patients. (Thats also the last year they reported those numbers). (CDC Year-End Edition, 1997)
In Africa, HIV status is irrelevant. Even if you test negative, you can be called an AIDS patient:
From a study in Ghana: "Our attention is now focused on the considerably large number (59%) of the seronegative (HIV-negative) group who were clinically diagnosed as having AIDS. All the patients had three major signs: weight loss, prolonged diarrhea, and chronic fever." (Lancet. October,1992)
And from across Africa: "2215 out of 4383 (50.0%) African AIDS patients from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Lusaka, Zambia, and Kinshasa, Zaire, were HIV-antibody negative." (British Medical Journal, 1991)
Non-HIV AIDS, HIV-negative AIDS, No Virologic Gold standard - terms never seen in an HIV ad.
But even if you do test "repeatedly" positive, the manufacturers say that "the risk of an asymptomatic [not sick] person developing AIDS or an AIDS-related condition is not known." (Abbott Laboratories HIV Test, 1997)
If commerce laws were applied equally, the "knowing is beautiful" ads for HIV testing would have to bear a disclaimer, just like cigarettes:
"Warning: This test will not tell you if youre infected with a virus. It may confirm that you are pregnant or have used drugs or alcohol, or that youve been vaccinated; that you have a cold, liver disease, arthritis, or are stressed, poor, hungry or tired. Or that youre African. It will not tell you if youre going to live or die; in fact, we really dont know what testing positive, or negative, means at all."
I was told this is all bush's fault.
The Bangui Definition
In 1985, the World Health Organization called a meeting in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, to define African AIDS. The meeting was presided over by CDC official Joseph McCormick.
He wrote about it in his book "Level 4 Virus Hunters of the CDC," saying, "If I could get everyone at the WHO meeting in Bangui to agree on a single, simple definition of what an AIDS case was in Africa, then, imperfect as the definition might be, we could actually start counting the cases..." The result was that African AIDS would be defined by physical symptoms:
fever, diarrhea, weight loss and coughing or itching. ("AIDS in Africa: an epidemiological paradigm." Science, 1986).
In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 60 percent of the population lives and dies without safe drinking water, adequate food or basic sanitation. A September, 2003 report in the Ugandan Daily "New Vision" outlined the
situation in Kampala, a city of approximately 1.3 million inhabitants, which, like most tropical countries, experiences seasonal flooding. The report describes "heaps of unclaimed garbage" among the crowded houses in the flood zones and "countless pools of water [that] provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes and create a dirty environment that favors
"Latrines are built above water streams. During rains the area residents usually open a hole to release feces from the latrines. The rain then washes away the feces to streams, from where the [area residents] fetch
However, not many people have access to toilet facilities. Some defecate in polythene bags, which they throw into the stream." They call these, "flying toilets."
The state-run Ugandan National Water and Sewerage Corporation states that currently 55 percent of Kampala is provided with treated water, and only 8 percent with sewage reclamation.
Most rural villages are without any sanitary water source. People wash clothes, bathe and dump untreated waste up and down stream from where
water is drawn. Watering holes are shared with animal populations, which drink, bathe, urinate and defecate at the water source. Unmanaged human waste pollutes water with infectious and often deadly bacteria.
Stagnant water breeds mosquitoes, which bring malaria. Infectious diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, TB, malaria and famine are the top killers in Africa.
But in 1985, these conditions defined AIDS.
if only the pope would allow them to use rubbers /s
Do Condoms Protect Against Small Viruses?
The use of condoms is widely recommended to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including those caused by such viruses as herpes simplex, hepatitis B, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The efficacy of condoms in these circumstances, however, is unknown. The water-leak test used to ensure the integrity of condoms can detect holes as small as 3 to 4 m in diameter, but sexually transmitted viruses are much smaller, with diameters of 0.04 to 0.15 m. A previous study demonstrated that about one third of condoms tested allowed penetration of HIV-sized polystyrene spheres.
Editor of Rubber Chemistry and Technology, Dr. C. Michael Roland of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., spoke about his
research on "intrinsic flaws" in latex rubber condoms and surgical gloves (published in Rubber World, June, 1993).
Roland said that what I am about to relate is "common knowledge among good scientists who have no political agenda."
Electron microscopy reveals the HIV virus to be about O.1 microns in size (a micron is a millionth of a metre). It is 60 times smaller than a syphilis bacterium, and 450 times smaller than a single human sperm.
The standard U.S. government leakage test (ASTM) will detect water leakage
through holes only as small as 10 to 12 microns (most condoms sold in Canada are made in the U.S.A., but I'll mention the Canadian test below).
Roland says in good tests based on these standards, 33% of all condoms tested allowed HIV-sized particles through, and that "spermicidal agents such as nonoxonol-9 may actually ease the passage."
Roland's paper shows electron microscopy photos of natural latex. You can see the natural holes, or intrinsic flaws. The "inherent defects in
natural rubber range between 5 and 70 microns."
And it's not as if governments don't know. A study by Dr. R.F. Carey of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that "leakage of HIV-sized
particles through latex condoms was detectable for as many as 29 of 89 condoms tested." These were brand new, pre-approved condoms. But Roland says a closer reading of Carey's data actually yields a 78% HIV-leakage rate, and concludes: "That the CDC would promote condoms based on [this] study...suggests its agenda is concerned with something other than public health and welfare."
The federal government's standard tests, he adds, "cannot detect flaws even 70 times larger than the AIDS virus." Such tests are "blind to leakage volumes less tha one microliter - yet this quantity of fluid from an AIDS-infected individual has been found to contain as many as 100,000 HIV particles."
As one U.S. surgeon memorably put it, "The HIV virus can go through a condom like a bullet through a tennis net."
It's the same story with latex gloves. Gloves from four different manufacturers revealed "pits as large as 15 microns wide and 30 microns
deep." More relevant to HIV transmission, "5 micron-wide channels, penetrating the entire thickness were found in all the gloves." He said
the presence of such defects in latex "is well established."
For Canada, the story is the same. A standard Health and Welfare Canada test of condoms manufactured between 1987 and 1990, based on stringent tests of pressure, leakage, and volume (as in the U.S., there is no effort to examine micron-level leakage), reported that an astonishing 40% of the condoms tested failed at least one of the tests. Tests in 1991 showed an
"improved" 28% rate.
New US government website attacked for comments on sexuality and effectiveness of condoms
The wording of information about condoms on the site is also potentially misleading (they mean factual). US abstinence education programmes usually only mention condoms when referring to their potential for failure.
The 4parents.com site suggests that condoms offer only moderate protection against HIV and gonorrhoea, less protection against Chlamidya, herpes and human papilloma virus, and that the ability of condoms to protect against syphilis has not been well studied. Although these claims are backed by reference to studies looking at the effectiveness of condoms, they do not acknowledge that the studies were, almost exclusively, conducted in populations with a high prevalence, or risk of sexually transmitted infections.
The rest of the article (attacking the new semi honest official statements on condoms) is a pathetic attempt to defend condoms citing the one and only study (if you can call it that) conducted over twelve years ago that claimed that condoms reduced 'AIDS' in the 132 couples studied. As usual the 'conclusions' section of that report which said 'in real world use condoms failed up to 32% of the time' was ignored.
This study has been contradicted by ALL the 400 subsequent studies almost without exception.
It really does require courage to say stuff like this, and I admire you for it.
Population: - 86,241,697 as of July 2004
Population Growth: - 1.88% (well under most countries in Africa)
Death rate 5.53 per 1,000
Median age: - 22.1 years (Lots of young people)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: - Less than 0.1%
HIV/AIDS deaths: - Less than 500
The U.S. Army study of 1.1 million G.I.'s who were stationed in the Phillipines (over a ten year period) and kept 100,000 prostitutes in business (70% were said to be HIV positive.
The study showed only ONE was HIV positive and not sick.This was the only case of mass HIV testing in the World.
Condoms in the Phillipines are of such poor quality that only 8% can even hold water.
There are 400,000 to 500,000 prostituted persons in the Philippines.
Prostituted persons are mainly adult women, but there are also male, transvestite and child prostitutes, both girls and boys. (International
Labor Organization. Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)
In the Philippines, a recent study showed there are about 75,000 children, who were forced into prostitution due to poverty. (Dario Agnote, "Sex
trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)
There are 400,000 women in prostitution in 1998, excluding unregistered, seasonal prostitutes, overseas entertainers and victims of external trafficking. One fourth of them are children and each year 3,266 more children are forced into the sex industry. (GABRIELA, Diana Mendoza, "RP
Has 400,000 Prostitutes," TODAY, 25 February 1998)
Military prostitution, it added, has always been a problem in the past when the US bases were still in the country. Past experience clearly showed that the security of the Filipino people, especially women and children, from the US military was never taken into account.
("Ex-streetwalkers fight VFA: Form advocacy groups in urban centers," The
Philippine Journal, 18 September 1998)
Subsequently, the U.S. built 23 military installations covering a total area of more than 240,000 hectares ofland (2,400 sq.km.) by the time of the signing of the Military Bases Agreement in 1947. At its peak the bases
occupied nearly 1% of the country's total land area not to mention 11,000 hectares of territorial waters and a large swath of air space.
"Why don't Filipinos want US troops in the Philippines?
There is a long history of US military intervention in the Philippines from the Philippine-American War (1899-1916) in which the US colonized the
Philippines. Filipinos resisted and one-eighth of the Filipino people were killed. Even though the Philippines officially became independent from the US in 1946, the US ensured control of the US military bases in the Philippines and access to Philippine natural resources.
The US military bases were finally kicked out in 1991 after mass protest from the Filipino people who were tired of special protected status for US
soldiers, toxic wastes (that until today, the US refuses to clean up), the prostitution of Filipinas, and the spread of alcoholism and drug use.
Filipinos don't want these again. "
Dear mfumento,
I thank you for such a nice comment.
Being 'politically correct' must not cloud the truth. That is the difference between us and liberals.
WHILE WE POOR FINANCIAL AID INTO THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES THERE POPULATION EXPLODES. The 'epidemic' is a scam to get U.S. tax payers hard earned dollars.
Latest stats show 19.75% DECREASE in SA
We are being conned by the WHO
HIV/AIDS as an official cause of death in the year 2001 as available:
<1 year of age: 1.6% (1999)
1-4 years: 3.0% (down from 3.5% in 1999)
15-24 years: 3.0%
0-18 years: not available (1.5% in 1997)
- In table 4.10, no province has a cause of death from HIV/AIDS listed as greater than 3.6% among the leading causes of death.
- Also, in table 4.12, note the large numbers of deaths from "Complications of Medical and Surgical Care" - 7.2% in the under 14's, and 6.7% in the over 65's. Just an interesting aside, considering the recent death of Makhato Mandelo after gall bladder surgery - named AIDS.
The beef is in Appendix E - "All underlying causes of death, 1997-2003, by single years"
Human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] diseases (B20 - B24)
Year - number of deaths - (% of total deaths)
1997 6,234 (2.0%)
1998 7,266 (2.0)
1999 9,925 (2.6)
2000 10,926 (2.6)
2001 9,212 (2.0)
2002 10,425 (2.1)
2003 (----) (2.1)
(A decreae of 19.75% since 2000)
So, consistently, 2.0% to 2.6% of death certificates mention "HIV diseases" as the cause of death in South Africa.
In STARK contrast to the released numbers, WHO/UNAIDS puts the estimated number of AIDS deaths in South Africa in 2003, at *370,000*.
(Source: HIVInsite, http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/global?page=cr09-sf-00
Using the 2002 figures, that would mean that there was an underreporting death from AIDS to the extent of 97%, if you believe that. (10,425 / 370,000)
I find it very hard to believe that because of a social stigma, people would balk at mentioning AIDS as a cause of death, but not Tuberculosis (the highest number of deaths).
On the other hand, this death certificate data has the HUGE advantage of not being based on estimates.
It's amazing how powerful the gay lobby has been in taking a disease first named by the American CDC as GRID (gay-related immunodeficiency). As it has been written, that name was changed quickly to AIDS, and the gay lobby began spinning it into a heterosexual problem also. "Just look, in Africa it's largely straights that get it, although it may look like a gay disease in America."
It seems like a huge publicity game to divert the fact that anal sex results in the largest transmission of AIDS and that means homosexual activity. But U.S. gays want to say it can happen to anyone, and the African AIDS patients want to claim they're strictly heterosexual.:)
Michael Fumento has been the standard bearer against the mythology of AIDS, and that does take a lot of courage. Kudo!
WASHINGTON, May 4 (LSN.ca) - In a watershed report, WorldNetDaily reveals that AIDS in Africa is defined differently than in America and that when the American definitions are used Africa's reported AIDS 'epidemic' disappears. HIV tests which are essential to the AIDS diagnosis in are not given in except to tiny samples of the population.
Rather in place place the "Bangui Definition" created at a World Health Organization meeting in October, 1985 is used to define AIDS.
According to this definition, AIDS is considered present when a person is diagnosed with two of the following three symptoms combined with any one of several minor symptoms: "prolonged fevers for a month or more, weight loss over 10 percent, prolonged diarrhea."
The minor symptoms include chronically swollen lymph nodes, persistent cough for more than a month, persistent herpes, and itching skin inflammation.
Most people with a knowledge of Africa are aware that such symptoms can be the result of a host of causes other than AIDS in that war-torn and disease-ridden continent. Rather than the tens of millions of AIDS cases in each African country as is reported in the media, strict accounting for AIDS by the American definition reports a cumulative total of 794,444 cases from 1982 to November 1999 (WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, Nov 26, 1999). African countries, the report notes, cooperate in the charade since "AIDS" acts like a magic word opening the donor coffers of the West.
The report also shows that the quest to show AIDS cases among heterosexuals is the result of zealous bias. Most reports fail to mention that according to the World Bank, under normal, healthy conditions, the chances of an infected man transmitting the virus to an unprotected woman are less then 2 in 1,000. Moreover, the August 15, 1997, "American Journal of Epidemiology" reported that male-to-female transmission of HIV is extremely difficult, requiring on average of one thousand unprotected sexual (non-anal) contacts, and female-to- male requires ann average of 8,000 contacts.
Get the full WND report at:
Yes I have. It is really interesting.
I am glad you drew attention to it.
Best wishes,
Ain't that the truth!
Imagine if you could have a pair of shoes made out of it. They'd never wear out and dammed they'd be comfortable.
Needles not sex drove African AIDS pandemicThe re-use of dirty needles in healthcare - not promiscuity - was the main cause of the AIDS pandemic now devastating Africa, according to a controversial new analysis. It challenges the assumption, dating from 1988, that unsafe heterosexual sex accounted for 90 per cent of HIV transmissions in Africa. "We've gathered all the literature we can on AIDS in Africa and the best we can estimate, for sexual transmission, is a quarter to a third," says David Gisselquist, an independent anthropologist from Hershey, Pennsylvania, who led the new study. Dirty needles accounted for almost half of all cases, the re-analysis of research concludes. The work is published as a three-paper set in the International Journal of STD & AIDS... Gisselquist says that with their mindsets fixed on the sexual explanation, researchers have ignored obvious discrepancies. He says the data contradict the idea that Africans are unusually promiscuous, or engage more readily than anyone else in unsafe sex.
by Andy Coghlan
20 February 2003
NewScientistThe Smoking Gun of AIDS[F]ield virologist Preston Marx... argues that injection campaigns in the last century that were meant to treat infections also encouraged strains of SIV--the simian immunodeficiency virus--to mutate from a bug easily squashed by the human immune system to today's epidemic HIV strains... If pockets of HIV existed in isolated African villages for centuries, he wondered, why hadn't the virus been brought to America by the slave trade, where there was a massive movement of people out of supposed HIV hot spots? If, on the other hand, the transfer of SIV to humans is so rare that it only happened in the last century, Marx found it very unlikely that this would have occurred successfully more than once.
by Solana Pyne
Vol. 23 No. 1
January 2002New Book Challenges Theories of AIDS OriginsMonkey cells were routinely used to make polio vaccines then and now. But Hooper theorizes that chimpanzees were also used to prepare the experimental polio vaccine. As circumstantial evidence, he points to a large colony of chimpanzees at the Lindi River in central Congo, where the primates were caught for research... Only a small percentage of chimpanzees are believed to carry the H.I.V.-1 ancestor virus. But if chimpanzee tissues sent to a laboratory in Philadelphia or Belgium were infected, they might have found their way into one or more batches of experimental polio vaccine, particularly the strain known as CHAT, prepared at the Wistar Institute. In such an event, H.I.V.'s simian ancestor might have grown in the batches of polio vaccine used in experimental trials only. When the vaccine was squirted into human mouths, the simian virus could have passed through a sore or ulcer and entered the bloodstream, subsequently to evolve into H.I.V.-1. From there it would have been transmitted through sexual or blood-to-blood contact. Any contamination would have been accidental, because specific tests could not have been performed before 1985, when a simian counterpart of H.I.V. was first isolated.
by Lawrence K. Altman, M.D.
November 30, 1999
The River
by Edward Hooper
Viral Sex: The Nature of AIDS
by Jaap Goudsmit
How weird. Are they giving themselves vaccinations (where would they get the vaccines?) or what?
No you're homophones ping! (It's what sets us apart from the savages ...)
I've always thought it was shoddy medical practice that spread the disease so quickly in Africa. Of course the heterosexual sex idea sounds good to homosexual activists because it takes the heat off of them.
Utter horse-puckey.
And learn decent context sometime.
The multi-billion dollar AIDS/HIV fraud is based on two fabrications: that AIDS is a single disease and that it is caused by the HI virus or the "HIV virus" as some medical/media masterminds call it - perhaps they think the V in HIV stands for volcano.
In Japan "AIDS" is virtually unknown : yet, in random tests, 25% of people were found to be "HIV-positive".
HIV-positive response means nothing of any relevance to health: it can be triggered by vaccination, malnutrition, M.S., measles, influenza,
papilloma virus wart, Epstein Barr virus, leprosy, glandular fever, hepatitis, syphillis ... : over sixty different conditions.
Dr Robert E. Willner, inoculated himself with the blood of Pedro Tocino, a HIV-positive haemophiliac, on live Spanish television: an event which was not picked up the pharma-beholden British or US media.
The great HIV/AIDS lie was created by Robert Gallo who was found guilty of "scientific misconduct". "...instead of trying to prove his insane theories about AIDS to his peers...he went public. Then, with the help of
Margaret Heckler, former head of Health and Human Services, who was under great political pressure to come up with an answer to AIDS, the infamous
world press announcement of the discovery of the so-called AIDS virus came about.
This great fraud is now responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands... It was no accident that Gallo just happened to patent the test for HIV the day after the announcement...Gallo is now a multi-millionaire because of AIDS and his fraudulent AIDS test." Dr.
By grouping together 25-plus different diseases and other allied factors -
pneumonia, herpes, candidiasis, salmonella, various cancers, infections, vaccine and antibiotic damage, amyl nitrate damage, malnutrition etc.and,
particularly in Africa, TB, malaria, dysentery leprosy and "slim disease" - and calling the whole thing an "AIDS epidemic", a multi-billion dollar/pound "AIDS research and treatment" racket has been created.
The mythical "HIV-induced AIDS plague" in the Third World generates huge sums of cash from Western relief organisations whilst smokescreening the
vaccine/drug boys, responsible for the carnage.
Every death of someone "HIV-positive" is recorded as an "AIDS death".
Periodically, the BBC/ITV/Press visit
Africa/Yugoslavia/Russia etc to
report on the "HIV/AIDS victims" and how they cannot afford the "life-saving AZT." Glaxo Wellcome's lethal drug, AZT, in combination with the diagnosis of
HIV-positive and the prediction, stated or implied, that - "You will die of AIDS" is one of the great pieces of Medical Black Magic - Voodoo Medicine at its most impressive: people have committed suicide on the
basis of the ludicrous diagnosis.
Pregnant women who are HIV-positive have been told to stop breast-feeding, dosed with AZT, have had abortions or have been sterilised. HIV-positive
babies who become ill -from vaccination or whatever - are automatically diagnosed as "suffering from AIDS".
"Considering that there is little scientific proof of the exact linkage of HIV and AIDS, is it ethical to prescribe AZT, a toxic chain terminator of DNA...to 150,000 Americans - among them pregnant women and newborn babies..? Rep.G Gutknecht US House of Representatives.
New Labour "Health" have now announced that all pregnant women in the UK will be "offered" a HIV test. Those who fall for the scam and who are diagnosed as "HIV positive" will be given the chance to have themselves and their unborn child permanently damaged by AZT etc. Pregnancy, itself, can cause a positive diagnosis.
AZT began as a "cancer drug" but was withdrawn for being too toxic: like being thrown out of the Gestapo for cruelty. Its effects include - cancer, hepatitis, dementia, seizures, anxiety, impotence, leukopaenia, , severe
nausea, ataxia, etc. and the termination of DNA synthesis. i.e. AIDS/death by prescription. AZT eventually kills all those who continue to take it.
"WARNING : Retrovir (AZT)...has been associated with symptomatic myopathy, similar to that produced by Human Immunodeficiency Virus..." Glaxo
Wellcome literature!
None of which stops the medical trade from pushing it on every trusting sap who is not ill to start with but is labelled with the "HIV-positive" nonsense and then destroyed by AZT; with "AIDS" getting the blame - and
more billions pouring in for the drug boys, vivisectors, animal breeders and the rest. The latest stunt is to give a "cocktail" of drugs - including AZT, of course, and at £12,000 per head, per year - to all homosexual men who are "HIV-positive".
A particularly good scam is to haul into court someone "guilty of deliberately infecting the victim with the 'HIV-Virus which causes AIDS' " which then develops into "full-blown AIDS" - no mention of vaccine,
antibiotic damage etc or full-blown AZT. Over 2000 - and rising, of the world's scientists are now disputing the HIV hoax, their efforts being continually suppressed by the AIDS establishment, the pharmaceutical/vivisection syndicate and their political and media lackeys
The Bangui Definition
In 1985, the World Health Organization called a meeting in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, to define African AIDS. The meeting was presided over by CDC official Joseph McCormick. He wrote about it in his book "Level 4 Virus Hunters of the CDC," saying, "If I could get everyone at the WHO meeting in Bangui to agree on a single,
simple definition of what an AIDS case was in Africa, then, imperfect as the definition might be, we could actually start counting the cases..." The
result was that African AIDS would be defined by physical symptoms: fever, diarrhea, weight loss and coughing or itching. ("AIDS in Africa: an
epidemiological paradigm." Science, 1986).
In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 60 percent of the population lives and dies without safe drinking water, adequate food or basic sanitation. A September, 2003 report in the Ugandan Daily "New Vision" outlined the
situation in Kampala, a city of approximately 1.3 million inhabitants, which, like most tropical countries, experiences seasonal flooding.
The report describes "heaps of unclaimed garbage" among the crowded houses in the flood zones and "countless pools of water [that] provide a breeding
ground for mosquitoes and create a dirty environment that favors cholera."
"Latrines are built above water streams. During rains the area residents usually open a hole to release feces from the latrines. The rain then washes away the feces to streams, from where the [area residents] fetch
However, not many people have access to toilet facilities. Some defecate in polythene bags, which they throw into the stream." They call these, "flying toilets."
The state-run Ugandan National Water and Sewerage Corporation states that currently 55 percent of Kampala is provided with treated water, and only 8 percent with sewage reclamation.
Most rural villages are without any sanitary water source. People wash clothes, bathe and dump untreated waste up and down stream from where
water is drawn.
Watering holes are shared with animal populations, which drink, bathe, urinate and defecate at the water source. Unmanaged human waste pollutes water with infectious and often deadly bacteria.
Stagnant water breeds mosquitoes, which bring malaria. Infectious diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, TB, malaria and famine are the top killers in Africa.
But in 1985, these conditions defined AIDS.
It's as simple as this; DON'T STICK THINGS WHERE THEY DON'T BELONG.
And that includes putting excrement in water, and the thing that passes water into excrement.
Bout covers it.
Homosexual Agenda Ping. Whole buncha info about AIDS. I read one of Fumento's books a long time ago; made sense to me.
***Lot happening, a lot of articles getting pinged out. Cant comment do it yourself time!
Backed up articles coming down the chute.
Let me know if you want on/off this pinglist.
Just two days ago, I was told that it's all the Pope's fault. The person (a NYT's subscriber) also seemed to think the Pope was responsible for India's huge population. Go figure.
I guess the hard part is figuring out whether Bush controls the pope or the pope controls president bush...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
Three top local African-American law officers tell SPC students about what their jobs are like.
By By JOSE CARDENAS
Published February 14, 2007
CLEARWATER -- The panel of three high-ranking law enforcement officials - one city, one state and one federal - dished out valuable career information to St. Petersburg College students Monday.
But the FBI special-agent-in charge, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent and the Clearwater police captain were inspirational in one other way, too.
Carl Whitehead, Jacquelyn Hodges Bradway and Anthony Holloway are accomplished black law enforcement officials.
The idea was to highlight contemporary African-Americans as role models, said Denotra Showers, who leads the Clearwater campus student-support services program.
"We have looked at individuals in the past who have paved the way," Showers said about previous events marking Black History Month. "What we would like to do is look at individuals who are (current) leaders."
It worked.
"I was first surprised that the FBI was headed by an African-American," student Nikia Smith, 22, said of Whitehead, who heads the bureau's Tampa office. "It was more inspirational to me personally than informative."
Whitehead, 50, has led the FBI Tampa office for four years.
Bradway, also 50 and based in Lakeland in Polk County, became a special agent for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 1980.
Holloway, 44, worked his way through the Clearwater Police Department to become a captain. He is in charge of the patrol division.
The three mixed practical career advice to students with insight into gangs, terrorism and other challenges facing law enforcement agencies.
The FBI once concentrated on investigating domestic federal crimes, Whitehead said. But since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the agency's first priority is preventing terrorism.
"On that day, it all changed," Whitehead said.
"What is the FBI's progress in other countries?" asked Efe Ovwielefuona, 24, who is studying international business.
"We actually have over 180 agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Whitehead said.
The moderator of the session was Terry Byrd, 58, program director of career development at the St. Petersburg College Allstate campus, which houses law enforcement programs.
Before he retired from the Clearwater Police Department as a lieutenant in 1991, Byrd challenged other African-American officers to reach for promotions.
"He's not just gotten one promotion," he said of Holloway. "He's gotten three promotions."
Holloway used the opportunity to tell the students what it took to become a captain.
When he asked for a promotion, he said Clearwater police Chief Sid Klein told him: "You're going to have to go back and get your four-year degree and build up your leadership skills."
Not all the students got a chance to ask questions during the session.
Zwadie Castro, a black student whose family is from Honduras, said after the event that he was curious to know the black leaders' views on one topic.
"I had a question about the 3-million African-American brothers who are in prison," said Castro, 32, who is studying mass communications.
"It would have been interesting to find out what they can do to give back to the community."
[Last modified February 14, 2007, 09:50:14]
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Deadline: Still time for tax relief
Area homeowners who want a break on their property taxes are running out of time.
Dec. 31 is the deadline to apply for the STAR tax relief program. Even if you had been a part of the program in the past, reapplying is the only way to guarantee you will still get a break.
"The STAR tax exemption provides local homeowners with meaningful relief from New York's heavy property tax burden," said state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell. "Chautauqua County residents continue to face difficult property taxes, which is why I want to make sure all eligible homeowners receive the relief they deserve. The new system, which will be operated by the New York State Department of Tax and Finance, will also help prevent waste, fraud and abuse which may currently exist in the system."
In compliance with new guidelines meant to prevent fraud and abuse of STAR benefits, participants must sign up by telephone or online with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance to continue their exemption for 2014 and beyond.
Those 65 and above and part of the Enhanced STAR are not affected.
To register, visit www.tax.ny.gov or call (518) 457-2036.


text:
Alcona girls overcome slow start to rout Owls
LINCOLN-A slow start out of the gate led to a strong finish for the Alcona girls basketball team on Homecoming Night.
The Tigers stretched a 19-point halftime lead into a 27-point advantage by the end of the third quarter and went on to beat Oscoda 63-27 on Friday at Alcona High School in a Huron Shores Conference game.
Karina Cole recorded a double-double for Alcona with 22 points and 11 rebounds and Kendra Cole added a double-double of her own with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Alcona led 14-5 at the end of the first quarter, but struggled at times to get shots to fall and also to get open for uncontested shots.
"We've been really really trying to play four quarters of basketball and we haven't done that in the last 4-5 games," Alcona coach Brad Cole said. "I thought our first quarter started out ok and then we had that big lull. We have to get rid of those lulls. You're not going to win any games in districts with lulls like that."
The Tigers eventually clamped down defensively and were also helped by the fact that Oscoda shot just 6-of-20 from the free-throw line. Alcona led 34-15 at the half.
Alcona essentially put the game away in the third quarter, starting the period on 13-2 run, including seven points from Karina.
"She's got a knack for wanting to proceed and go forward. Our team usually responds to that pretty good," Cole said of Karina.
Karina added eight steals and eight assists on the night.
Alcona led 47-20 after three quarters and several of the Tigers' bench players including Sydney Pierce, Lilly Manning and Maddie Feldhiser.
Oscoda continued to struggle with consistency on offense and went just 1-for-9 from the line in the final period.
Tori Lapointe paced the Owls with nine points and Carley Brown added eight.
ALCONA (63): Ka. Cole 8 3-4 22; Quick 3 0-0 7; Smith 2 0-0 5; Feldhiser 1 0-0 2; Ke. Cole 4 4-4 12; Walen 1 1-4 3; Carpenter 0 0-2 0; Pierce 1 1-2 4; Manning 2 0-0 4; Campbell 2 0-0 4.
OSCODA (27): Rousseau 1 2-3 4; Lapointe 2 2-14 9; Keathley 3 0-0 6; Toppi 0 0-1 0; Brown 3 2-2 8.


text:
Related Publications
The mission of Maricopa County is to provide regional leadership and fiscally responsible, necessary public services so that residents can enjoy living in a healthy and safe community.
Citizens serving citizens by working collaboratively, innovatively, efficiently, and effectively. We will be responsive to our customers while being fiscally prudent.
Strategic Priorities
Managing for Results


text:
Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with some bloggers in an on-line event co-hosted by our friends at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC). We discussed the challenges we at the State Department face in the current budget environment, as well as the work we're doing to keep our nation secure and our economy strong. It was a great opportunity for me to share my thoughts on these important issues and, more importantly, to hear from the foreign policy community.
One of the most critical questions -- and one I hear often -- focused on how the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will deal with the challenging budget environment. The short answer is that serious cuts to development and diplomacy -- to America's investment in global leadership -- would seriously undermine our long-term national security and economic prosperity. Of course, we know some cuts are coming and we're preparing to do more with less. But in these troubling times, America simply cannot afford to retreat from the world. To learn more about what we're doing, click here.
I also was asked again about the Arab Awakening, and how our diplomatic and development tools are being used to help countries like Egypt and Libya take steps toward democracy. I wrote about that in detail just this week, and you can find it here.
During the online event, I had the chance to answer many other thoughtful questions on important issues from the President's Feed the Future Initiative to PEPFAR to our work in Iraq. But unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get to all of the questions that were asked, so I wanted to address two of them in this blog entry.
First, Barbora Nemcova from MCHIP, USA asked: "Can we afford to cut back funding for foreign aid programs that are working? Can we risk losing all the results we've achieved so far?"
It's an excellent question, and I appreciate Barbara's pointing out that there are significant costs to inaction. Some of the advances we've made in the past decades have had significant impact on our efforts around the world, and have paid off for those we assist and for the American taxpayer. For instance, our work in establishing FEWS NET, the famine early warning system, allowed us to see early on the deteriorating conditions in the Horn of Africa and take steps to mitigate the humanitarian crisis. We prepositioned food -- saving expensive shipping costs -- and invested in teaching farming techniques. All of this costs less and helps more people. The same is true of any number of the innovative assistance programs and techniques that our development experts and diplomats are pursuing in the field. Cutting these programs now will force us to reinvent the (more expensive) wheel in the future. That's bad for America and the rest of the world.
Also, let's look at South Korea. Decades ago, the State Department and USAID invested heavily in Korea to help rebuild its devastated economy after the Korean War. This week, Congress approved a free trade agreement with the Republic of Korea -- our biggest trade deal in nearly two decades -- to boost American exports to the Korean market and to create American jobs. Not every country we're assisting now will be the next Korea, but a few of them will. And if we're not there, if we're not building these long-term, people-to-people relationships, then we'll miss out on the huge gains in the future. There's no doubt about that.
Second, Rolf Rosenkranz of DevEx asked: "There's a lot of talk about the 'three Ds' - development, diplomacy and defense. Is USAID turning into just another national security arm of the federal government?"
Rolf, USAID has always been critical to our national security and our economic future. Fifty years ago, President Kennedy recognized the value of sharing the best of America with the rest of the world. Innovative farming and market techniques and life-saving vaccinations have saved millions of lives, stabilizing the world and helping America's national security.
But USAID is far from "just another" national security arm. Serving side-by-side with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the development agencies of other nations, USAID has a unique role that has paid tremendous dividends. USAID fights hunger, responds to humanitarian disasters, treats diseases, and strengthens indigenous food production because it's the right thing to do and because it's the most cost-effective way to advance American interests. As I often say, our moral compass and self-interest are perfectly aligned.
I'm always interested in talking with more of you about these issues. If you have any questions, respond here, and we'll make sure you get the answers you need. Thank you for your time and caring so much about the future of U.S. leadership around the globe!
Victor B. in Russia writes:
Good day! "Man is born for happiness, freedom and private property"-T.Jefferson.
At the state exam at the university, I remember these words to life!
America is the only country where for many centuries appreciated the dignity of man on the planet! Without America the world will collapse in one hour.
And to you all hope of saving humanity on earth!
Please tell me? How will the economy affect on the American people to keep the peace and balance on Earth?
I'll be glad to cooperate with the U.S. government for humanism and the idea of perfection of the World!
With respect to you
Victor B.
Professional historian and socio-political subjects, the composer.
W.W. writes:
extend free trade agreement with Spain Italy and Greece with free movment of people // shenghen for the globe
Maureen in Massachusetts writes:
Under Secretary Thomas Nides/Global Leadership National Security:
Thank you for another informative event and the opportunity to participate. The messaging is clear and understood. Bipartisan support of State Department /USAID initiatives is essential for US positioning on the global scale. Our national security and viability is as much about planning as it is about reacting to crisis. Diplomacy on the ground makes for future alliances which could prove to be priceless in the future. Food security, health program investments will effect the US without doubt. The intricate balance of leadership opportunities and security assistance abroad will lead to stabilization and a better future for our children. The big picture is clear and for those who are interested.
My concern and question(s) is that for those who do not follow diplomacy media, the messaging may get lost despite the extremely effective efforts by the department.Average citizens may not see the importance or necessity of proactive and simultaneous engagements abroad on the fronts of diplomacy, counterterrorism/ terrorism and piracy as the result of famine not to mention the educational, health programs or biotechnology tools geared towards women taking the lead in feeding their nations, creating small business, infrastructure... The department represents the vital interests of our country yet remains somewhat of an enigma.
US taxpayers may ask how will that help bring jobs to our country even though all the initiatives are the right thing to do? How will it protect my family?
Remember that most people think of the State Department as the passport people...
Abubakar in Nigeria writes:
On this isue of helping of those who need to help their self by fowarding their education to advance level,like some of our youth with us here..it will reduce the lenth of pouerty in the world.


text:
jb wrote:motherscratcher wrote:jb wrote:The ACC if far better than the Bog 10. Clemson bets Wisky by. 21. The Big 10 is like the 40 year old former jock at the bar that is fat bloated and out of shape talking about over how he won state in wrestling over two dozen wings on his 5th beer.
Wings are good. Beer is good. And if you ever won state in wresting, that's pretty fucking impressive. Especially in ohio.
Well that's the point genius. In the 80s & 90s & Otts the an big 10 was in a renaissance after being down in the 70s with the annual PAC 10 beat down. It was the state rasslin champ. Now it's Purdue getting beat up by the MAC.
The ACC is The Conference of Tomorrow on the side of demographics.
Well, then I'm with you fellas.
Why did the B1G drop off so much? Is it all about recruiting?


text:
Candidate tackles insurance crisis
Democrat Janet Long wants the Legislature to reorganize Citizens and look at insurance savings accounts.
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published September 27, 2006
State House candidate Janet Long says she can solve Florida's insurance crisis.
Long, a Democrat who is running against Republican Dottie Reeder for the House District 51 seat, briefly described her plan Tuesday during an interview with the St. Petersburg Times editorial board. At the same time, she cautioned that the crisis that homeowners and Florida's insurance industry face is complicated and has no simple solution.
"You can't discuss this issue in sound bites," Long said.
The first step, she said, is dealing with the state-run Citizen's Property Insurance Co., set up as a fallback measure but now Florida's main property insurer.
"You cannot do away with Citizens," Long said. "It's irresponsible to do that."
She said Citizens needs to be reorganized to run like a real insurance business that evaluates risks and rates and operates with a balanced budget.
Setting up a national catastrophic fund is unrealistic, she said, because the federal government moves at a "snail's pace." It would be better, Long said, to form a consortium of states along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, all the way up to Maine. That consortium, she said, could cover windstorm and catastrophic losses much the way flood insurance is handled.
Long said the prospect of insurance savings accounts should be explored. The accounts would be filled by a portion of the premium matched by private carriers and Citizens. The money in the account would be used to offset some catastrophic losses.
Long conceded that, while she was affected by increasing property taxes, she did not yet have a solution.
"I don't really know what the answer there is yet. ... I certainly will prepare to address it once I win in November and learn more about it," Long said. But portability, or taking one's cap with the owner, is not the answer because "it will have a mushroom effect" on local and county budgets.
Reeder, who is the mayor of Seminole, said that the money used for Citizens could be better used to lure reinsurers into the market. She also wants to remove the million-dollar houses from the state insurance pool and urge Congress to establish a catastrophic fund. Reeder said she has lobbied at the federal level to have that happen. And Reeder said tax rates could be held low by leaving the property tax rate with the house rather than having owners take it to their next home. She advocates an overhaul of the system to help with new construction.
At Tuesday's meeting, Long also took a moment to talk about Reeder. Long, a former Seminole council member, and Reeder served together.
Reeder, she said, is steeped in municipal issues but lacks the view of the larger picture that Long believes she has.
She also commented about Reeder's use of campaign funds to buy a Segway to campaign from house to house.
"I'm not buying a Segway," Long said. "At least I won't fall off of it." That was a reference to a spill Reeder took shortly after she bought the Segway.
"I thought of getting on my Rollerblades (but) I won't do that. It's bumpy out there," Long said.
Long said she is walking the district.
DISTRICT 51 -- District 51 covers Seminole and parts of Largo, Pinellas Park, South Pasadena, St. Petersburg and the west Lealman area. State representatives serve two-year terms and earn $30,996 a year.


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Lately my wife and I have really been trying to cut out all the excess crap chemicals and preservatives that companies seem to shove in to absolutely everything we consume, wether or not it actually needs it. Does anybody else who reads labels have any good recommendations for a tasty pepperoni that doesn'tcontain questionable ingredients like BHA, BHT? I've had Applegate Farms and it's alright. Not great, but I'm sure I could live with it if need be. So, any suggestions? Been searching on line and not having any luck. Do more old school makers like Ezzo use that stuff? Can't find an ingredient list anywhere. Thanks for any suggestions.
Great opportunity, or excuse, to learn to make your own perhaps?
I believe the preservative issue is overstated...I make pepperone and to do it w/o nitrates/nitrites makes it taste differently...They are there to make sure the bad bacteria is killed in the process...You can make it three different ways, cured, smoked and fresh, and all three ways w/o nits taste differently than we know pepperone...No different than bacon, bacon w/o nits does not taste like the bacon we grew up on in the US...Most bacons have nits...So unless you have this real repulsion to nits, buy and make salumi w/nits...Just an opinionRJelli


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According to RPLife Rob was with David Michôd, The Rover director, and Liz Watts, producer.
According to RPLife Rob was with David Michôd, The Rover director, and Liz Watts, producer.
Omg I'm so jealous right now, I wish I simply just saw him at a bar!! You are very lucky ;)ReplyDelete
Omg I was there in Sydney to see him why the heck wasn't I in this bar. well I can only dream about next time :)ReplyDelete
So Rob is still in Australia?!?! Some pre-work for The Rover?ReplyDelete
Well all you Australia fans you could get your chance next year when he films there :)
lucky you!!!
Rob having a great time!ReplyDelete
hey rob take a good beer for me cause you look happy and relax!ReplyDelete
Rob after what you have been through you deserve to just relax and have a good time. love you :)ReplyDelete
Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate <3
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Swedish Greys - a WordPress theme from Nordic Themepark. Converted by LiteThemes.com.


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Cool Pompadour
How sexy is Justin Timberlake with his new retro pompadour hairstyle which suits him to perfection. From all his different hairstyles this has to be the coolest and most alluring one yet. It really gives him a cool and mature vibe, along with the beard complimenting his clean look with a little more rebellious and rugged style. Great thing about this hairstyle is also the maintenance is second to none, a lot of men would like to get this cut but fear not having time to maintain it and make it look proper without spending too much time doing it, we assure you 5 minutes and you are good to go.


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Police: Fatal snowmobile crash in Indian Lake was head-on
INDIAN LAKE (AP) – State police have released more details about a head-on snowmobile crash that killed two men in the Adirondacks over the weekend.
Troopers say 59-year-old Thomas Dykstra of Suffern was on a 2009 Arctic Cat heading north on Indian Lake when he rode into the path of 51-year-old Paul Prill IV, who was riding south on a 2002 Polaris at about 7 p.m. Saturday.
Both men were thrown from their sleds. They were declared dead at a hospital.
The cause of the accident is under investigation Monday, but troopers say they suspect drinking alcohol contributed to the wreck.


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Books Made Into Movies - Now in Theaters & Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
In theaters now!
The question of who's to blame for teenage atrocity tortures our narrator, Eva Khatchadourian. Two years ago, her son, Kevin, murdered seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker, and a popular algebra teacher. Because he was only fifteen at the time of the killings, he received a lenient sentence and is now in a prison for young offenders in upstate New York.
Telling the story of Kevin's upbringing, Eva addresses herself to her estranged husband through a series of letters. Fearing that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son has become, she confesses to a deep, long-standing ambivalence about both motherhood in general and Kevin in particular. How much is her fault?
We Need to Talk About Kevin offers no pat explanations for why so many white, well-to-do adolescents--whether in Pearl, Paducah, Springfield, or Littleton--have gone nihilistically off the rails while growing up in suburban comfort. Instead, Lionel Shriver tells a compelling, absorbing, and resonant story while framing these horrifying tableaux of teenage carnage as metaphors for the larger tragedy--the tragedy of a country where everything works, nobody starves, and anything can be bought but a sense of purpose.
Fortunes have changed for the King family, descendants of Hawaiian royalty and one of the state's largest landowners. Matthew King's daughters—Scottie, a feisty ten-year-old, and Alex, a seventeen-year-old recovering drug addict—are out of control, and their charismatic, thrill-seeking mother, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident. She will soon be taken off life support. As Matt gathers his wife's friends and family to say their final goodbyes, a difficult situation is made worse by the sudden discovery that there's one person who hasn't been told: the man with whom Joanie had been having an affair. Forced to examine what they owe not only to the living but to the dead, Matt, Scottie, and Alex take to the road to find Joanie's lover, on a memorable journey that leads to unforeseen humor, growth, and profound revelations.
Breaking Dawn: Meyer, Stepahanie. YA Fiction. To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.


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Moderator: Mike
cmi wrote:Thanks a lot for your review!
Can you also specify the aspect ratio of video material? Is it in original 4:3 or in cropped 16:9 like in The McCartney Years DVD set?
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Genealogy, local history and historical research in New England and other interesting places. Nutfield was the former land grant ................................. that is now the towns of Londonderry, Derry and Windham, New Hampshire.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Surname Saturday ~ Stone of Watertown
2 comments:
I descend from Lewis and Anna (---) Jones. Harrison refers to her as the daughter of Simon Stone, but this is untrue. She may have the daughter of John Hewes as inferred by Eben Putnam in "Lieutenant Joshua Hewes, A New England Pioneer and Some of his Descendants" (1913) p. 25. See: "A Few More Descendants of Lewis Jones, 1603-1684" by Jerry N. Harrison, Ph.D. (Heritage, Bowie, MD, 1995) (which is incorrect) and "The Ancestry of Eva Belle Kempton 1878-1908: Part I, The Ancestry of Warren Francis Kempton 1817-1879" by Dean Crawford Smith (Boston, NEHGS, 1996), which is correct.ReplyDelete
Thanks, Martin, I will have to check out the book by Dean Crawford Smith.ReplyDelete


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Boston Celtics Framed Championship Banner 14.5" x 27.5"
Price: $59.95
- Additional Details
- Brand: Photo File
- Dimensions: 14.5" x 27.5"
- Includes: Frame
- Made In: USA
What other team in the league can boast 17 NBA Finals Championship Titles? If you love the Celtics, then you'lll want to decorate your home with collectibles that commemorate your beloved Boston team! This Boston Celtics Framed Championship Banner is the perfect gift for yourself or to a die hard Celtics fan. The 14.5" x 27.5" championship banner features a black wood frame that is lightweight. Hang the Celtics Framed Championship Banner on your wall and let everyone know you cheer for the winningest team in the league!
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So hip, just like silver is the new gold
Last week I began some work on some ideas for a richer, interactive user notification system for Thunderbird.
Status Bar
Currently the status bar acts as one of the only notification systems to the user. However the status bar is a steady stream of temporal plain text messages. The messages are helpful if you understand what they are indicating, otherwise to most people they only convey general activity happening. In general the messages end up lacking meaning because there is too much information running by.
A First Approach
Initially I took an approach of an interactive status bar that looked a little bit like the awesome bar replacing the status bar. Instead of just giving plain text messages we could make richer messages with visualizations.
- Linked Messages
- Progress Meters
The linked message could open thunderbird up to the account or message they were referring to. Next is to add some access to status history where people can see a list of what Thunderbird had done and perform actions (like restart) on those past activities.
- History of Activity
- Interactive History Items
The New Download
After seeing the amazing work that has been done on the download manager in firefox it seemed like a good second approach to the problem could be to reuse much of what they've done.
The download manager in firefox is solving a similar set of problems. We want to allow people to watch the progress of a specific set of (likely asynchronous) activities. We also want to ensure that people can view the list of past activities in case they want to manage them.
Should we continue using a simple text status message? The progress bar included in the status bar gives a visualization for time to complete an action. But do we need to help people visualize what is happening in the background?
And then instead of an inline popup for the history list we open up the download manager window which allows for searching and management of items inside the list.
Nothing is set yet, most likely a final version will be taking bits of both approaches. Still lots of work to go, more comments and ideas are always appreciated!


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Please help us! Donate
Vote Smart Just The Facts
"Experts nearly all recommend Vote Smart."
"Vote Smart is a bright light in an often desultory civic culture."
- Bill Moyers
"We think so highly of Vote Smart that we are distributing their materials to all of our affiliates."
Key Votes
HB 1907 - Illinois Street Gang and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act - Key Vote
Illinois Key Votes
- June 11, 2012 Executive Signed
- May 31, 2012 House Concurrence Vote Passed
- May 25, 2012 Senate Bill Passed
- March 31, 2012 House Bill Passed
- Feb. 17, 2011 Introduced
Stage Details
Legislation - Signed (Executive) - June 11, 2012
Signed by Governor Pat Quinn
Legislation - Concurrence Vote Passed (House) (93-18) - May 31, 2012(Key vote)
Title: Illinois Street Gang and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act
Vote Result
Yea Votes
Nay Votes
Vote Smart's Synopsis:
Vote to concur with Senate amendments and pass a bill that expands street gang and racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) law in Illinois.
- Prohibits any individual from knowingly participating in, causing another individual to participate in, or conspiring to participate in the operation or management of an "enterprise" through a pattern of "predicate activity" (Sec. 5).
- Defines "predicate activity" as any act that is a Class 2 felony or higher and is a violation of one of the following statutes (Sec. 5):
- The Criminal Code of 1961;
- The Cannabis Control Act;
- The Illinois Controlled Substances Act; or
- The Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act.
- Defines "enterprise" as any partnership, corporation, association, business, charitable trust, or any other group of individuals associated in fact although not officially a legal entity (Sec. 5).
- Prohibits an individual from knowingly acquiring or maintaining, through a pattern of predicate activity any ownership or interest in an enterprise, real property or personal property (Sec. 5).
- Specifies that individuals may be prosecuted for violating or conspiring to violate the provisions of this bill (Sec. 5).
- Classifies a violation of the provisions of this bill as a Class X felony punishable by the following (Sec. 5):
- A fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross amount of estimated earnings from the violation, whichever is greater; and
- A prison term of 7 to 30 years or a sentence applicable to the predicate activity, whichever is longer.
- Specifies that if an individual in the process of violating the provisions of this bill causes the unlawful death of another individual then he or she will be sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison in addition to any other penalties imposed by the court (Sec. 5).
- Specifies that this bill will be repealed 5 years after it becomes law (Sec. 5).
Legislation - Bill Passed With Amendment (Senate) (46-1) - May 25, 2012
Legislation - Bill Passed (House) (90-23) - March 31, 2012
Legislation - Introduced (House) - Feb. 17, 2011
Title: Illinois Street Gang and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act
- Adam Brown (IL - R)
- Dena M. Carli (IL - D) (Out Of Office)
- Michael G. Connelly (IL - R) (Out Of Office)
- William 'Bill' Cunningham (IL - D) (Out Of Office)
- John C. D'Amico (IL - D)
- Anthony DeLuca (IL - D)
- Jehan A. Gordon-Booth (IL - D)
- Emil Jones III (IL - D)
- Daniel W. 'Dan' Kotowski (IL - D) (Out Of Office)
- Darin M. LaHood (IL - R) (Out Of Office)
- Steven M. 'Steve' Landek (IL - D)
- Joseph M. 'Joe' Lyons (IL - D) (Out Of Office)
- Edward D. Maloney (IL - D) (Out Of Office)
- Deborah L. 'Deb' Mell (IL - D) (Out Of Office)
- John J. Millner (IL - R) (Out Of Office)
- Donald L. 'Don' Moffitt (IL - R)
- Antonio 'Tony' Munoz (IL - D)
- Michael J. Noland (IL - D)
- Dennis M. Reboletti (IL - R) (Out Of Office)
- Martin A. Sandoval (IL - D)
- Ann M. Williams (IL - D)
- Karen A. Yarbrough (IL - D) (Out Of Office)


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*Effective September 1, 2013, Optum is now responsible for management of the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan, which includes outpatient mental health and substance use services for adults and children who are enrolled in Idaho Medicaid. Questions regarding eligibility, coverage, and services can be addressed by accessing their website at www.optumidaho.com or calling their member number at (855) 202-0973.
Raising a child is not easy. If a child has a serious emotional disturbance (SED), every step toward adulthood can be an uphill climb. For any family or single parent, the climb can seem overwhelming. So it's not unusual for parents of children with SED to feel alone, helpless, and uncertain about which way to turn.
The Children's Mental Health Program is a partner in the development of a community-based System of Care for children with SED and their families. The program provides services and supports that increase the capacity for children with an SED and their families to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their community.
In communities throughout Idaho, caring people are coming together to help children with SED and their families make life's journey a little easier. This "system of care" is made up of individuals representing public and private organizations, such as mental health, education, business, juvenile justice, and parent advocacy groups.
For more information about the Idaho System of Care and services and support available in your area, call the Idaho Care-Line by dialing 211 or 1-800-926-2588 or your local Health and Welfare office.
You can also contact the Idaho Federation of Families, an Idaho-based support organization for families with children affected by SED calling 1-800-905-3436.


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A post on a recent online thread about the airlines asked about the way pilots get paid—specifically, the fact that we don't get paid for all of the time we spend not flying. It's a good question, and one that is often not completely understood. Here is an abbreviated answer.
There actually is a history behind why are paid the way we are. When the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) first started, one of its goals was to have pilots treated—and paid—like professionals. There are generally three "professions" in the classic sense: doctors, lawyers, and accountants, all of whom are at some point paid by the hour (surgeons are paid by the procedure).
ALPA was aiming for the same level of recognition for pilots. Even if you accept that pilots are really more like a trade or a craft (which, in reality, is what we are), tradesmen and craftsmen also tend to get paid by the hour. Think of your local electrician, plumber, carpenter, et cetera. There may be a service fee involved, but almost all charge some sort of hourly rate.
That said, as professionals, we are getting paid only when we are practicing the "craft" of flying, which is generally defined as brake release to brake set.
Over time, the union contracts at the majors addressed the issue of unproductive trips with trip-and-duty rigs. With the trip rig, you are guaranteed to be paid one hour of pay for so many hours of time away from base (TAFB), which also determines per diem for most pilots.
A good trip rig is one hour of pay for every 3.5 hours away from base (1:3.5). The duty rig looks at each day of work on the trip, and it pays you a minimum of so many hours of pay per day (5.0 hours being considered a historically good number). At the end of the trip or the month, you look back and take the greater of the trip rig, the min day values, or the actual hours flown, and that's what you get paid.
An extreme example is a trip I flew recently. It was a five-day trip that began with a deadhead. I flew three legs over the next four days that were worth 10 hours, but because of the minimum day credit, I got 25 hours of pay. Unfortunately, there is no other way to build the trip. Without the rig, it could only be flown by reserves, who wouldn't be able to do anything else for those five days.
Other unions followed suit, and once one company jumped on the bandwagon, it made it easier for others to do the same.
Most regionals don't get any kind of rig. When I was at Comair, we had rigs that were based on a look back at the end of the month (as opposed to using the rig to look forward, which would force more days off when your schedule is actually built). Even with a look-back rig, I had many months where the rig paid me extra money. Unfortunately, there has been relatively little success in getting rigs at the regionals. The companies tend to cry wolf, and claim that it will cost them too much money, and the pilots tend to accept a slightly higher pay rate in lieu of the rigs, especially since no pilot at a regional ever thinks s/he will be at that regional long enough to care.
Done correctly, trip-and-duty rigs incentivize both management and the pilots. For the company, there is a motive to make the trips as productive as possible (or, alternatively, where they have no choice, to minimize crappy trips). For the pilot, not only are there more days off, but you usually will lose some money on a sick call, because you often only get paid for the block time, not the lost "soft" time, thus minimizing the need for extra reserves. In theory, the rigs force the company to optimize trips as well as individual duty periods, which should lead to a decrease in fatigue. The concept of the rig precedes the jet age, so in that respect it's a bit dated.
The fractionals often pay a monthly salary, which is then used to work backward to compute an hourly rate for various penalties that the company must pay. Pilots—especially (but not only) ALPA—have historically fought against salaries for fear that there will be fewer opportunities to make extra money, and the company will try extract more flying from the pilot, thus decreasing the cost per hour of the pilot, and decreasing the number of jobs at a given carrier.
Airline pay actually is pretty complicated, and it takes effort to keep up with it. But, once you understand it, you have an easier time of making sure you are getting what you are owed.—By Chip Wright
Tags: airline, airline salaries, career pilots, professional pilots, regional airline salaries


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Here's how RW members rated this race (295 votes).
In short: Fantastic race Date of review: July 30, 2013
In short: Lovely start and finishIn full: As a local I was slightly disappointed that we did not show off more if our lovely city on this run, the beginning and end where uplifting but running over duel carriage ways wasn't so scenic. Maybe encorporate some more of the marathon route. I could not clearly see the letters at the end so good job I opted for a meeting point outside Debenhams. Very well organised. Date of review: July 15, 2013
In full: Brilliant race - great support and great course, apart from the evil killer hill at the end. Not great as a spectator as Chester was just too busy but as a runner it is fantastic finishing in the centre to a street of cheering people. Parking was fine but the traffic was pretty bad and it was hectic at the racecourse - just so busy so be careful not to lose who you are with. Overall though a fanastic race and experience.Date of review: June 18, 2013
In short: Great route, crowd, organisation. A must for first-timers and experienced runnersDate of review: June 3, 2013
In short: Excellent race, well organised. Great for both experienced and new runners.In full: Organisation was excellent as we have come to expect from the Chester 1/2 and marathon organsiers. Race course start and city centre finish really make this race.Date of review: May 21, 2013
In short: A well organised eventIn full: This was the first time I've participated in this event, whch was extremley well organised. Start very good at the race course, no queing for toilets, more than ample to cover the 6,000 entrants. Nice atmosphere at start, with a warm up and Heart FM announcements. Course passes through city and out into the open countryside before winding back via housing estates before a city centre finish. The course has PB potential. I recorded my second fastest time over a half marathon distance, missing out on a PB by 30 seconds. Nice to receive a handshake and congratutalations from two marshalls at the finish, together with an excellent medal and technical tshirt (girlfriend does not like colour!!). A couple of challenges on the course. One at 8 miles, up and over a bridge, but if you've put in hill sessions, no problem. Secondly the last half mile to the finish is up hill, so leave some in the tank. My only slight negative that if this race is to accomodate a larger entrance number, then the city centre finish, as much as I liked it, finishing outside Chester Cathedral, will have to be looked at. Very large numbers of spectators and finishes in a congested area. Lastly, I could not find the A - Z alphabet to meet friends etc. I was expecting large stand alone letters, similar to Great North Run. Instead they were hanging off buildings not particular very large, but this may have been me being dense after 13.1 miles! Overall a great half, very well organised and Chester is a lovely city to make a weekend break around the race. Date of review: May 19, 2013
In short: Brilliant :)In full: This was my second half and I LOVED it!! Managed to get a new PB of 1:58:46, great course with plenty of support the whole way round. Lucozade at 6 miles was definitely appreciated :) Good goody bag and lovely medal at the end, I'll be back next year!!Date of review: May 18, 2013
In short: A good enjoyable race. Excellent organisation and atmosphere.Date of review: May 18, 2013
In short: Just a runIn full: Plenty of marshalls and good gel/gatorade/water support. Start gates were too narrow for the numbers. Good to run back to the centre of historic town.Great medal Date of review: May 17, 2013
In short: Thoroughly enjoyed Chester half marathon 2013. Quick course and the support and organisation were fantastic. Will definitely be back next yearDate of review: May 17, 2013
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text: LANSING COMMUNITY COLLEGE CURRICULAR GUIDE Medical Insurance Billing Certificate of Completion Curriculum Code: 1013 (Effective Fall 2002 - Summer 2004) This curriculum will provide a basic knowledge of word building, use, pronunciation, and spelling of medical terms. It will also introduce the student to insurance billing, diagnostic and procedure coding for physician billing, and comprehensive billing directions for commercial insurances and worker's compensation. Students will also learn to record charges/payments/information, schedule appointments, ICD-9 and CPT coding, produce claim forms and patient statements, submit claims electronically, and build office databases. PREREQUISITES Students should see Course Descriptions or Course Offerings for course prerequisite information. See the Assessment and Placement Testing section for skills assessment and advising information. INFORMATION Contact the Nursing Careers Department, Gannon Vocational-Technical Center, Room 1750, telephone number (517) 483-1410. REQUIREMENTS TOTAL: 11 CREDITS CODE TITLE CREDIT HOURS CHSE 120 Medical Terminology (See Note 1) 4 CHSE 123 Medical Insurance Billing I 3 CHSE 124 Medical Insurance Billing II 3 CHSE 125 Computers in Medical Office 1 MINIMUM TOTAL 11 NOTES: 1. CHSE 120 and CHSE 123 may be taken concurrently with program advisor approval. 2. A minimum grade of 2.5 is required in all courses for successful completion of this certificate. 3. Successful completion of CHSE 120, CHSE 123, and CHSE 124 may be applied toward the requirements of the Medical Administrative Assistant Associate in Business Degree (curriculum code 0185). SUGGESTED COURSE SEQUENCE Students should see course descriptions to find out when departments plan to offer courses. Students who for any reason are unable to follow the course sequence suggested below (for example, those who are part-time, have transferred in courses from another school, or have prerequisites to fulfill) should contact an academic advisor or counselor for help with adjustments. I II III CHSE 120 CHSE 123 CHSE 124 CHSE 125