Quake, aftershocks rattle Calif. residents
Tremor reminds some to update emergency plans
By Gillian Flaccus
Associated Press / May 19, 2009
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Glass shattered and ceiling tiles fell as a moderate tremor shook laid-back Southern California, rattling residents' nerves and reminding them they need to update earthquake emergency plans.
No significant damage or major injuries were reported but the Greater Los Angeles region vibrated for about 10 to 15 seconds Sunday night and the tremor was felt as far south as San Diego, said Susan Hough, a seismologist at the US Geological Survey.
"This was a serious jolt," Hough said.
The magnitude-4.7 earthquake was centered about 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles and 3 miles east of Los Angeles International Airport, according to the US Geological Survey.
"First thing I thought was 'Is this the big one?' It was pretty powerful," said Long Beach resident Tom Oswalt, 46. "My first thought was to get out of the building, get my dog and get out of the building."
At least 10 aftershocks had followed by yesterday, with the largest registering magnitude-3.1.
Sunday's shock was one of the most powerful earthquakes Carel McEachern had felt during her four decades in Long Beach.
"It didn't get me out of the house, but after it was over, we all wandered out in the street and asked around and we all agreed it was the strongest one in a long time," said McEachern, 58.
Charlene Ebright said she hadn't updated her earthquake emergency supplies in eight years but now she plans to do so.
"I've cut out a million articles about what to do and what you need but I've never gotten around to it," Ebright said. "It just reminds you, you've got to be ready."
Glass broke at a Starbucks in Torrance, and one person there was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Torrance Fire Department dispatchers said.
The shaking was most intense in the coastal communities south of the airport, including Long Beach.
Carolyn Gray was reading a book at her Long Beach home when her dog, Rocket, jumped into her lap. It was the 2 1/2-year-old pet's first earthquake.
"It was a good jolt. It wasn't really a roll," she said.
Mariella Freyre, 30, a waitress at Kafe Neo, a Greek restaurant in Long Beach, said she was surprised by the strength of the earthquake, which she felt while she talked to customers.
"There were tremors and glasses started shaking," she said at the restaurant yesterday. "I felt the movement on the floor. I've been in many tremors but I've never felt the floor move like that."
The quake originated 8.4 miles below the surface and appeared consistent with movement on the Newport-Inglewood fault, said Ken Hudnut, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey.
That fault was responsible for the magnitude-6.4 Long Beach earthquake in 1933 that killed 120 and caused more than $50 million in damage.
The last damaging earthquake in Southern California was the 1994 magnitude-6.7 Northridge earthquake that toppled bridges and buildings.
Since Northridge, the region has been in a relative seismic lull, although activity has picked up in the past year.
Last summer, a 5.4-magnitude earthquake was centered in Chino Hills, east of Los Angeles, but did not cause major damage. This year, an earthquake swarm shook the desert near the southern end of the San Andreas Fault.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Ron Paul Talking About Wars and Money
Our newest president promised "Change" yet as Ron Paul is mentioning nothing seems to be changing.
Protect the American People from Dental Mercury and the FDA!
Dear Legislator,
I am writing to you at the suggestion of the Natural Solutions Foundation to request that you compel the NIH to release an independent evaluation of a highly suspect and corrupt process through which mercury amalgams were given a predetermined clean bill of health despite a Congressional mandate for a meaningful evaluation of the health hazards posed by continued use of mercury in dental fillings.
This evaluation was never carried out in a forthright and independent fashion. Instead, the dental arm of the FDA provided a blueprint to the consultant chosen to receive this contract outlining the desired mercury-favoring results. A meeting coordinator was selected without background or experience in developing this kind of report and the coordinator inverted the terms of reference of the report from "finding evidence of harm", the Congressional mandate, to "proof that the product is unsafe".
Two FDA Scientific Advisory Committees rejected the report leading NIH Chairman Elias Zerhouni to hire an independent CPA firm to do an investigation and report on this process and report. To date, despite 2 freedom of information requests, the CPA's evaluation has not been released to the public.
This is representative of the corrupt, industry friendly, health hostile practices of the FDA and segments of the NIH. Since this sort of shenanigan provides immediate harm through poor decision making (e.g., retaining mercury in dental amalgams) and undermines the highly significant mandate of the FDA to safeguard American health, food and products, I strongly urge you to take the following steps:1. Compel NIH Chairman Zerhouni to release the CPA report and the underlying documents upon which it is based to the public immediately since the health of your constituency is very seriously impaired by the secrecy and failed report involved here.2. Compel the FDA to commission a new and truly independent study on the the dangers posed by dental mercury under Congressional oversight3. We ask Federal legislators old hearings on the feasibility, impact and mechanisms for splitting the FDA up into two separate agencies to regulate food and drugs without contamination of food regulation by drug interests and vice versa since clean, unadulterated food and supplements are a direct threat to the economic health of the pharmaceutical industry which provides a significant portion of the operating budget of the FDA through drug company "User fees"4. We ask State Legislators to hold hearings on the feasibility, impact and mechanisms for banning all medical uses of mercury in your State since the continued use of mercury poses a well-documented health hazard to the people of your State5. Introduce legislation to ban mercury from all medical uses and making its use or introduction into the human body a felony offense.
The Natural Solutions Foundation, http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/, would be happy to provide scientific and technical support to assist in all steps of this process.
Thank you for your commitment to my health and well-being. I will be following your steps on this issue closely.
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
I am writing to you at the suggestion of the Natural Solutions Foundation to request that you compel the NIH to release an independent evaluation of a highly suspect and corrupt process through which mercury amalgams were given a predetermined clean bill of health despite a Congressional mandate for a meaningful evaluation of the health hazards posed by continued use of mercury in dental fillings.
This evaluation was never carried out in a forthright and independent fashion. Instead, the dental arm of the FDA provided a blueprint to the consultant chosen to receive this contract outlining the desired mercury-favoring results. A meeting coordinator was selected without background or experience in developing this kind of report and the coordinator inverted the terms of reference of the report from "finding evidence of harm", the Congressional mandate, to "proof that the product is unsafe".
Two FDA Scientific Advisory Committees rejected the report leading NIH Chairman Elias Zerhouni to hire an independent CPA firm to do an investigation and report on this process and report. To date, despite 2 freedom of information requests, the CPA's evaluation has not been released to the public.
This is representative of the corrupt, industry friendly, health hostile practices of the FDA and segments of the NIH. Since this sort of shenanigan provides immediate harm through poor decision making (e.g., retaining mercury in dental amalgams) and undermines the highly significant mandate of the FDA to safeguard American health, food and products, I strongly urge you to take the following steps:1. Compel NIH Chairman Zerhouni to release the CPA report and the underlying documents upon which it is based to the public immediately since the health of your constituency is very seriously impaired by the secrecy and failed report involved here.2. Compel the FDA to commission a new and truly independent study on the the dangers posed by dental mercury under Congressional oversight3. We ask Federal legislators old hearings on the feasibility, impact and mechanisms for splitting the FDA up into two separate agencies to regulate food and drugs without contamination of food regulation by drug interests and vice versa since clean, unadulterated food and supplements are a direct threat to the economic health of the pharmaceutical industry which provides a significant portion of the operating budget of the FDA through drug company "User fees"4. We ask State Legislators to hold hearings on the feasibility, impact and mechanisms for banning all medical uses of mercury in your State since the continued use of mercury poses a well-documented health hazard to the people of your State5. Introduce legislation to ban mercury from all medical uses and making its use or introduction into the human body a felony offense.
The Natural Solutions Foundation, http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/, would be happy to provide scientific and technical support to assist in all steps of this process.
Thank you for your commitment to my health and well-being. I will be following your steps on this issue closely.
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
Please Oppose All Restricitions on Nutritional Free Speech
Dear Legislator:
I am writing to my National and State Legislators to urge you to resist current pressures to adopt laws that restrict Free Speech about Nutrition. Such a law was adopted a few years ago in Ohio with bad results. This week, Legislators in New Jersey are being asked to adopt a law granting a monopoly on speech about Nutrition to Dietitians who are poorly trained in Nutrition (A2933 in the Assembly and S1941 in the Senate). Similar bills are pending in other states as well.
I urge you to oppose all such bills on the State and Federal levels. On the Federal level, such restrictions are often imposed through FDA regulations and I urge my Federal representatives to exercise their oversight obligation to make sure that travesties such as FDA's recent attempt to impose a new regulatory category, "CAM Product" continue to fail to be implemented.
At a minimum true Health Freedom requires the free flow of truthful and not misleading information about these matters of personal concern. That's why Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in Thompson v. Western States Medical Center, decided on April 29, 2002 - 535 U.S. 357:
"If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort."
"We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making bad decisions with the information."
"Even if the Government did argue that it had an interest in preventing misleading advertisements, this interest could be satisfied by the far less restrictive alternative of requiring ... a warning that the [product] had not undergone FDA testing and that its risks were unknown."
Without such free and open access to commercial information, part of the Free Speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution for the united States of America, we are not adults making decisions about our own bodies and health.
Health Freedom is a very important issue to me and I will remember to cast my votes for Legislators who are leaders in the effort to achieve and maintain the fullest Freedom of Speech in Nutrition.
Please see the Natural Solutions Foundation's important web site, http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ for more information about this.
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
I am writing to my National and State Legislators to urge you to resist current pressures to adopt laws that restrict Free Speech about Nutrition. Such a law was adopted a few years ago in Ohio with bad results. This week, Legislators in New Jersey are being asked to adopt a law granting a monopoly on speech about Nutrition to Dietitians who are poorly trained in Nutrition (A2933 in the Assembly and S1941 in the Senate). Similar bills are pending in other states as well.
I urge you to oppose all such bills on the State and Federal levels. On the Federal level, such restrictions are often imposed through FDA regulations and I urge my Federal representatives to exercise their oversight obligation to make sure that travesties such as FDA's recent attempt to impose a new regulatory category, "CAM Product" continue to fail to be implemented.
At a minimum true Health Freedom requires the free flow of truthful and not misleading information about these matters of personal concern. That's why Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in Thompson v. Western States Medical Center, decided on April 29, 2002 - 535 U.S. 357:
"If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort."
"We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making bad decisions with the information."
"Even if the Government did argue that it had an interest in preventing misleading advertisements, this interest could be satisfied by the far less restrictive alternative of requiring ... a warning that the [product] had not undergone FDA testing and that its risks were unknown."
Without such free and open access to commercial information, part of the Free Speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution for the united States of America, we are not adults making decisions about our own bodies and health.
Health Freedom is a very important issue to me and I will remember to cast my votes for Legislators who are leaders in the effort to achieve and maintain the fullest Freedom of Speech in Nutrition.
Please see the Natural Solutions Foundation's important web site, http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ for more information about this.
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
Protect our Children from Compuslory Vaccination
Dear Lawmaker
I am writing to you at the suggestion of the Natural Solutions Foundation, a not for profit, tax exempt organization focused on protecting health and health freedom, to urge your strongest support for legislation which protects both adults and children from the dangers, both physical and Constitutional, of forced vaccination. Those dangers are becoming more and more clear, despite the vigorous efforts of the Pharmaceutical industry to hide them. Vaccines dangers include permanent brain damage resulting in autism, cancer, neurological disorders of many sorts, auto immune disease, paralysis and death (sometimes misdiagnosed as "Shaken Baby Syndrome" or "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome", both of which are well characterized vaccine reactions. Forced vaccination, such as that being considered by New York State and at the Federal level through Acts such as BARDA, the mis-named "Patriot Act" and other legislation is intolerable in a free society.
Bills like the one New York State is currently considering, Assembly Bill 10942 which makes all vaccines recommended by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ADIP) mandatory and permits the state to administer vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases such as HPV without parental knowledge or consent are a danger to our children and our liberties. Lawmakers in New York must act to defeat New York Assembly Bill 10942 , lawmakers in other states must resist the pressure brought to bear by pharmaceutically-financed pressure techniques, while Congress must pass legislation to end the continuing threat of state by state and/or federal mandatory vaccination.
This practice would provide huge profits for the manufacturers of vaccines in both the primary round of profit taking and in the billions of dollars spent on treating the victims of vaccination: the autistic, those with cancer, diabetes, neurological disorders, auto immune disease and a host of other preventable chronic diseases which can be traced to vaccination. But the rights and well-being of ourselves and our children would be the ultimate cost to this drug company windfall.
You are a legislator whom I have entrusted with my protection and safety. If I do not wish to have my child or myself exposed to vaccines, and wish to control the conditions impacting on his or her body, or mine, based on my own best judgment, that is surely my right as a Citizen of a Country protected by our Constitution and as a parent and as the owner of my own body. I urge you to pass actively protective legislation allowing exemptions based on philosophical objection, conviction or medical conditions at the legislative level at which you have been elected to serve me.
As a concerned citizen, I will be watching your actions on this vital matter closely!
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
I am writing to you at the suggestion of the Natural Solutions Foundation, a not for profit, tax exempt organization focused on protecting health and health freedom, to urge your strongest support for legislation which protects both adults and children from the dangers, both physical and Constitutional, of forced vaccination. Those dangers are becoming more and more clear, despite the vigorous efforts of the Pharmaceutical industry to hide them. Vaccines dangers include permanent brain damage resulting in autism, cancer, neurological disorders of many sorts, auto immune disease, paralysis and death (sometimes misdiagnosed as "Shaken Baby Syndrome" or "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome", both of which are well characterized vaccine reactions. Forced vaccination, such as that being considered by New York State and at the Federal level through Acts such as BARDA, the mis-named "Patriot Act" and other legislation is intolerable in a free society.
Bills like the one New York State is currently considering, Assembly Bill 10942 which makes all vaccines recommended by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ADIP) mandatory and permits the state to administer vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases such as HPV without parental knowledge or consent are a danger to our children and our liberties. Lawmakers in New York must act to defeat New York Assembly Bill 10942 , lawmakers in other states must resist the pressure brought to bear by pharmaceutically-financed pressure techniques, while Congress must pass legislation to end the continuing threat of state by state and/or federal mandatory vaccination.
This practice would provide huge profits for the manufacturers of vaccines in both the primary round of profit taking and in the billions of dollars spent on treating the victims of vaccination: the autistic, those with cancer, diabetes, neurological disorders, auto immune disease and a host of other preventable chronic diseases which can be traced to vaccination. But the rights and well-being of ourselves and our children would be the ultimate cost to this drug company windfall.
You are a legislator whom I have entrusted with my protection and safety. If I do not wish to have my child or myself exposed to vaccines, and wish to control the conditions impacting on his or her body, or mine, based on my own best judgment, that is surely my right as a Citizen of a Country protected by our Constitution and as a parent and as the owner of my own body. I urge you to pass actively protective legislation allowing exemptions based on philosophical objection, conviction or medical conditions at the legislative level at which you have been elected to serve me.
As a concerned citizen, I will be watching your actions on this vital matter closely!
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
Please Co-Sponsor the Science Free Speech Act - H.R. 7120
Dear Representative,
Utah Congressman Chris Cannon has recently introduced a bill, the Science Free Speech Act, H.R. 7120-- this bill would protect the public's right to know truthful information about health and nutrition.
Click here (http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dvknc7z_183gtpwt5nh) to read Congressman Cannon's Science Free Speech Act, HR 7120 and here (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.00a10d0c-947d-43a0-ab30-ab9f7bc222ff) to read his very important and articulate "Dear Collegue" letter and attachments which document how irrational and destructive the FDA's lopsided war on supplements and truthful statements has become.
As one of your constituents, I urge you to immediately become a Co-Sponsor and strong supporter of this important bill. Health Freedom is a "litmus test' issue for me and your support of this bill is something I will take into account when voting for Congress.
I agree with the US Supreme Court in Thompson v Western States, 535 U.S. 357:
"If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort... We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making [even] bad decisions with the information..."
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
Utah Congressman Chris Cannon has recently introduced a bill, the Science Free Speech Act, H.R. 7120-- this bill would protect the public's right to know truthful information about health and nutrition.
Click here (http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dvknc7z_183gtpwt5nh) to read Congressman Cannon's Science Free Speech Act, HR 7120 and here (http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.00a10d0c-947d-43a0-ab30-ab9f7bc222ff) to read his very important and articulate "Dear Collegue" letter and attachments which document how irrational and destructive the FDA's lopsided war on supplements and truthful statements has become.
As one of your constituents, I urge you to immediately become a Co-Sponsor and strong supporter of this important bill. Health Freedom is a "litmus test' issue for me and your support of this bill is something I will take into account when voting for Congress.
I agree with the US Supreme Court in Thompson v Western States, 535 U.S. 357:
"If the First Amendment means anything, it means that regulating speech must be a last - not first - resort... We have previously rejected the notion that the Government has an interest in preventing the dissemination of truthful commercial information in order to prevent members of the public from making [even] bad decisions with the information..."
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
Become A Co-Sponsor or Introduce H.R. 6635, H.R. 6636, H.R. 6637
As one of your constituents I want to express my concerns regarding Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in our food supply and other products, including clothing. I am writing to you at the suggestion of the Natural Solutions Foundation, http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/, to express my grave concerns about unlabeled and potentially dangerous Genetically Modified Organisms which have been approved and widely disseminated in the absence of science of sense.
Under what is called the "Precautionary Principle", many countries around the world have placed moratoriums on the sale of GMO products and some have banned these products. However, without any serious testing, the United States government has not only allowed GMO ingredients in our food supply, but the FDA has actually tried to forbid companies from truthfully advertising “GMO Free” products. As my Congressperson, I want you to take a lead in reversing this trend. The Precautionary Principle, in essence, hold agencies and countries to the standard that is something has not been shown to be safe, it cannot be used, grown, offered or sold.
Genetically Modified Organisms do not meet the Precautionary Principle because they are administratively, not scientifically, deemed to be equivalent to unmodified organisms while excellent science substantiates that they pose special high level dangers for consumers, farmers and the environment. Disturbingly, these dangers are not temporary since, once the novel DNA, the antibiotic resistant DNA and the promoter virus are introduced into the DNA of the consumer, or of other organisms in the environment, the consequences are totally unpredictable and have been shown to be highly dangerous. Once loosed, however, the novel DNA cannot be called back, like the genie in the bottle.
Congressman Dennis Kuchinch has introduced three important bills to comprehensively regulate GMO products since they are virtually unregulated now. These bills are:
• H.R. 6636, The Genetically Engineered Food Right To Know Act, which would require mandatory labeling of all foods that contain or are produced with GM material. No such labeling is permitted at this time in the US.
• H.R. 6635, The Genetically Engineered Safety Act, which would require that GE foods follow a food safety review process to prevent contamination of food supplies by pharmaceutical and industrial crops. This Act would also require that the FDA screen all GE foods to ensure they are safe for human consumption. No such safety review is permitted at this time in the US.
• H.R. 6637, The Genetically Engineered Technology Farmer Protection Act, places liability from the impacts of GM crops on the biotechnology companies that created the GMOs, and protects farmers from lawsuits by biotechnology companies. No such liability exists at this time for pharmaceutical plants and animals once approval is granted by the acting agencies for the organism and the same is true for non drug modifications as well.
These flaws in the regulatory structure are of great concern to me and I believe that they should be deep concerns of yours as well since more than 80% of all food consumed in the US today contains GMO food or ingredients. Lethal allergies, auto immune disease (including diabetes in children), birth defects and sterility rates are rising and can be, in large measure, laid squarely at the door of a dangerous food supply, including GMOs in most of what we eat.
I urge you to become a co-sponsor of these bills or to introduce sister legislation in the Senate in order to protect us from the currently unknown potential threats of GMO products. This is a very important matter to me and I am among the over 80% of the public that a recent NY Times / CBS poll indicated wants mandatory GMO labeling.
As a concerned citizen, I will be watching your active stance on these bills and look forward to sharing the news of your co-sponsorship and support for these measures with other constituents in your district.
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
Under what is called the "Precautionary Principle", many countries around the world have placed moratoriums on the sale of GMO products and some have banned these products. However, without any serious testing, the United States government has not only allowed GMO ingredients in our food supply, but the FDA has actually tried to forbid companies from truthfully advertising “GMO Free” products. As my Congressperson, I want you to take a lead in reversing this trend. The Precautionary Principle, in essence, hold agencies and countries to the standard that is something has not been shown to be safe, it cannot be used, grown, offered or sold.
Genetically Modified Organisms do not meet the Precautionary Principle because they are administratively, not scientifically, deemed to be equivalent to unmodified organisms while excellent science substantiates that they pose special high level dangers for consumers, farmers and the environment. Disturbingly, these dangers are not temporary since, once the novel DNA, the antibiotic resistant DNA and the promoter virus are introduced into the DNA of the consumer, or of other organisms in the environment, the consequences are totally unpredictable and have been shown to be highly dangerous. Once loosed, however, the novel DNA cannot be called back, like the genie in the bottle.
Congressman Dennis Kuchinch has introduced three important bills to comprehensively regulate GMO products since they are virtually unregulated now. These bills are:
• H.R. 6636, The Genetically Engineered Food Right To Know Act, which would require mandatory labeling of all foods that contain or are produced with GM material. No such labeling is permitted at this time in the US.
• H.R. 6635, The Genetically Engineered Safety Act, which would require that GE foods follow a food safety review process to prevent contamination of food supplies by pharmaceutical and industrial crops. This Act would also require that the FDA screen all GE foods to ensure they are safe for human consumption. No such safety review is permitted at this time in the US.
• H.R. 6637, The Genetically Engineered Technology Farmer Protection Act, places liability from the impacts of GM crops on the biotechnology companies that created the GMOs, and protects farmers from lawsuits by biotechnology companies. No such liability exists at this time for pharmaceutical plants and animals once approval is granted by the acting agencies for the organism and the same is true for non drug modifications as well.
These flaws in the regulatory structure are of great concern to me and I believe that they should be deep concerns of yours as well since more than 80% of all food consumed in the US today contains GMO food or ingredients. Lethal allergies, auto immune disease (including diabetes in children), birth defects and sterility rates are rising and can be, in large measure, laid squarely at the door of a dangerous food supply, including GMOs in most of what we eat.
I urge you to become a co-sponsor of these bills or to introduce sister legislation in the Senate in order to protect us from the currently unknown potential threats of GMO products. This is a very important matter to me and I am among the over 80% of the public that a recent NY Times / CBS poll indicated wants mandatory GMO labeling.
As a concerned citizen, I will be watching your active stance on these bills and look forward to sharing the news of your co-sponsorship and support for these measures with other constituents in your district.
Regards,
UltimateeBookStore.com
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