Thursday, May 24, 2012

There is controversy brewing over a electro-therpy.

It will eventually stop as did other forms of therapy. This will receive pressure from the public, but, ultimately the profession itself will have to address the therapy. I imagine it is in the DSM-IV somewhere as a treatment for some disorders. There are professionals that claim it works. The picture to the left is one of a 'before' treatment. 


Electricity is a strange capacity to use on the body. In Psychiatry there is ECT, Electro Convulsive Therapy. It has been used for a long time and continues to be available for severe depression.



By Rodrique Ngowi
Posted May 10, 2012 @ 02:08 AM
Last update May 10, 2012 @ 02:26 AM
BOSTON —
A woman who settled a lawsuit (click here) against a Massachusetts school for disabled children that administers shock treatment therapy stepped up efforts to end the practice on Wednesday, delivering a petition signed by more than 223,000 people urging state lawmakers to ban the treatment.

Cheryl McCollins of Brooklyn, N.Y., shed tears and hugged an autistic woman who showed up at the Massachusetts State House to support the initiative targeting the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton. McCollins joined a former teacher at the school who authored the online petition, which describes the shock therapy as an “inhumane practice that the United Nations considers torture.”…


The treatment at Judge Rotenberg Center has been issued by judicial order. I would suggest an attorney(s) do some Pro Se work for the disabled in treatment and seek a redress of those orders. Treatment 20 years old is very old and even more current patients will benefit from new therapies and medications, so they all should be reviewed by the court. Perhaps even as as a class.


One of the profound problems with releasing patients from this therapy will have to be a Step-Down from the current regime. These folks have been under this therapy for something like 20 years or more and still wear backpacks to supply shock to the skin. I have no doubt there is brain damage from the electro-shock, as the young man who was subject of the recent lawsuit, was catatonic the same day he started the therapy. He obviously has some brain cells damaged. To some extent this therapy seeks to do damage and inhibit a runaway nervous system from functioning.


The picture to the right is after treatment.


This is the study and it shows concrete and measurable results.

Treatmentof Life-Threatening Vomiting and Rumination with Contingent Electric Shock (click here)
Robert W. Worsham, Matthew L. Israel, Robert E. von Heyn, and Daniel A. Connolly
Behavior Research Institute
This paper describes the treatment of life-threatening ruminating and vomiting in a 12-year-old boy with profound mental retardation and pervasive developmental disorder. Body weight and behavioral data are presented for baseline and behavior modification treatment conditions over a period of two-and-a-half years. Treatment conditions which were held constant throughout included positive reinforcement schedules (DRO, DRA), a functional communication system, and skills training…

The graphs to the left published in the study as evidence of the effectiveness of the therapy.


Electricity is used as treatment in the body elsewhere. Electrolysis, cardioversion and a very sophisticated intervention call Electrophysiology (click here) of the heart to stop nervous system pathways of the cardiac muscle. It is called ablation. The abated pathway stops causing dysrhythmias (click here) that are at the very least troublesome and can be fatal. People also use pacemakers. So the idea of applying electricity to a human condition is not foreign, but, the benefits are definitely dose related.


There is also the issue of Stun Guns in police work. We know there was a young 13 year old, I believe it was Florida, who was unruly and the police applied a stun gun to stop him. He eventually would develop a seizure disorder from what I remember.


There are a lot of things unusual about genetic development and sometimes children are born with what appears to be hopeless conditions. All these doctors are guilty of is trying something that would bring about life and hopefully function beyond what already existed. The study here applied other therapies as well as electro-shock. Doses of electricity that cause catatonia in one day is far too heavy a treatment.


We are entering an age of concern with these therapies as the number of autistic children grows. Researchers believe there is a relationship between a mother's weight and her child's development of autism. I think it needs more research.


The relationship, no doubt, is obvious, BUT, and it is a very big but; the correlation has to do with the development of the nervous system and the interruption of development which may be somewhere in myelin development. The myelin continues development for the first year of a child's life and detection early will, even in utero, be beneficial. Amniocentesis will probably be an option for obese women during pregnancy and/or a nutrition regime that contains excessive weight gain during pregnancy.


The thing is obesity often is a problem at the onset of pregnancy, so is it the obesity itself that is the problem or the food consumption. At the onset, as there is evidence of the connection, it is reasonable to assume both are at play; hence study groups without any danger to the fetus. Not to say there won't be the usual miscarriages of the fetus in a study group, but, it will take data collection and following both the mother and child for a period of time.


There may even be a profound connection between the food consumption of the mother and specific building blocks or amino acids (click here) that construct the nervous system in utero. It might be the amino acids of the DNA aren't in sufficient amounts to connect the nervous tissue sufficiently and some spines (of autistic) may have short circuits as AVAILABLE amino acids are substituted for what sincerely belongs there. I personally believe it is the nutrition supplying the amino acids that is the problem and not so much the obesity. I believe obesity provides a unique character of starvation and/or malnutrition in the USA. If a mason doesn't have sufficient bricks to build the house he will substitute substandard materials to deliver the goods. I think the human body and very sticky genetic material has the same capacity.


Basically, more research needs to be done.


But, considering what we are finding in our society about disorders in children, including dietary disorders has to be handled with a goal of 'quality of life' at the end of the rainbow. This electro-shock therapy will disappear, it is already illegal in Massachusetts for new cases. We need to be a better society to find what works and not one that simply asks for excuses to say 'we have accomplished a cure' when in fact the cure is inhumane. We have to determine if this treatment is sincerely effective, but, should the patient be conscious at all when and if this is the only path of hope.

Could it be Conservatives are actually the true Un-Americans?

I simply can't believe the Political Right Wing is not as appalled as everyone else that a person given opportunity by the culture and governance of the USA doesn't have loyalty to it.


I don't know what party or political philosophy Edwardo Severin hails as his own, but, I do know he likes money and the opportunity to obtain it. The USA provided him that opportunity and now he wants to seek an advantage over that opportunity and forget about everyone else that seeks support for their government for that reason.


By Shawn Hess · May 16, 2012 
...You might recall last Friday (click here) when we reported on Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Eduardo attended Harvard with Mark Zuckerberg and helped Facebook arrange for much of the financing that got it to where it is today. Before the social network site really took off, Eduardo was forced out of the loop, but some years later he filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg and others involved in the creation of the site and won a sizable settlement along with a 4% share of the company....


Everyone can state this is all about politics, but, I sincerely think it is about $67 million US. Besides that Liberals have been called Un-American for as long as I can remember even though I don't recall any one of them making off with $67 million US.


Where this gets really, really ludicrous is to realize Severin would not even have his share of Facebook if he didn't access the USA Judicial System. Severin's ownership cost the USA Taxpayer plenty and we want what we are entitled to. 


As a man of an ethnic decent he is proud of, he might want to return to his homeland and seek to improve things there, but, that is best done by a foundation in his name or his parents name or something protected by US laws to provide that opportunity. So, if he thinks his personal wealth is more important than paying the government, he is sadly mistake. Perhaps, all the new millionaires at Facebook sincerely need some council to achieve their goals, personal or otherwise. I would not be so hasty to leave the country if I were Severins, but, then again he might be finished with fame and fortune.


Perhaps the argument that the TRUE Un-Americans reside in the Conservative Philosophy would be best understood by an article that believes Liberals are not Un-American, but, Punitive-Liberals. This one is a real eye opener. I explains itself quite well.



POSTED ON  BY STEVEN HAYWARD IN LIBERALS

It was James Piereson, (click here) author of the splendid book Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism, who I think first came up with the phrase “punitive liberalism.”  It’s a perfect description for the post-sixties liberalism that abandoned growth for limits, opportunity for entitlement, the rule of law for retribution, and whose egalitarianism—reasonable within limits—has degenerated into pure envy and resentment.

Nothing makes this more clear than the reaction of Democrats today to the news about Eduardo Severin, the Facebook co-founder who renounced his U.S. citizenship last fall in favor of low-tax Singapore.  Sen. Chuck Schumer, who, it should be noted, is the chief protector of the 15 percent tax rate for “carried interest” beloved of New York hedge fund managers, is outraged that he won’t be able to pick all of Severin’s pockets.  He’s proposing a law to make it difficult to renounce citizenship without paying maximum taxes to the U.S. and adds the twist that if someone does escape out tax net, he or she can be barred from ever returning to the United States, even as a visitor.  How’s that for punitive liberalism?...


All I have to say is; when conservatives need a bailout they are really happy Liberals have been punitive!

Romney, "80% of Bain investments made revenue."

No one doubts that, but, private sector equity revenue is very different than revenue achieved in government.


May 22, 2012, 03:05AM ET
By STEVE PEOPLES

The core (click here) of his presidential candidacy under attack, Mitt Romney has yet to shape a playbook to defend a quarter-century in the business world that created great riches for himself and great hardship, at times, for some American workers.
Romney and his aides have struggled to respond consistently to intensifying criticism about his tenure at Bain Capital and how it would be reflected in his presidency. The lack of a cohesive message stems, in part, from Romney's fundamental belief that any debate that puts the economy front and center is a win for Republicans. Public polling shows most Americans are not satisfied with the pace of the recovery under Obama's watch....


Let's see, government has income tax, sales tax, property tax, leases of public land, but, is not a profit driven machine that destroys jobs and reaps profits. If anything government at any level is the complete polar opposite.


Raising taxes is NOT like raising prices on a product, everyone will pay it or pay the price of not paying. Either way, the only real way government raises REVENUES is to create more taxes or lease property. There are import taxes that take the burden off the citizen and place it on companies which also protects American made goods. But, basically taxes is the largest revenue source for government. So. unless Romney opens concessions in the White House Oval Office, I don't know what he is going to do differently, because, he won't raise taxes, if anything he'll cut them on the wealthy. 


For Romney to tout he was a successful CEO of what is basically a salvage operation of corporate America doesn't qualify him for President of the USA, if anything it disqualifies him and why this country fell into the pitfalls of bailing out banks that were TOO BIG TO FAIL.

Gabby Giffords Honored With Medal Of Valor


May 23, 2012 9:47 PM
Former Congresswoman (click here) Gabrielle Giffords was among a group of heroes honored Wednesday evening at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Beverly Hills.
Giffords stepped down from her congressional seat to concentrate on her physical rehabilitation. She and eighteen other people were shot during a public meeting held January 8, 2011  in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona. Six of the wounded died, including Arizona District Court Chief Judge John Roll; one of Rep. Giffords’ staffers; and Christina-Taylor Green, 9.
This evening, an audience applauded Giffords as she accepted a medal of valor award, for her resilience.
Hand in hand with her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, Giffords stood in front of a capacity crowd. As the honor was bestowed around her neck, she was told “It is a special honor.”...

Social Security a focus of debate in Arizona seat (click here)

Posted: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 8:57 pm | Updated: 6:11 am, Thu May 24, 2012.

Republican Jesse Kelly and Democrat Ron Barber clashed on Social Security, the health care overhaul and taxes during a Wednesday evening debate in the race for a U.S. House seat formerly held by Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.
The major party nominees and Green Party nominee Charlie Manolakis, who also participated in the debate sponsored by The Arizona Daily Star, are running in a June 12 special election....

"...no net new job in ten years..." and Romney states 6% unemployment in four years.



Six percent is going to happen even without Romney in the White House. All the rhetoric in his speech is simply Republican mind speak, there is nothing new here.


President Obama is pro-business, too. The difference between President Obama and Romney is; President Obama doesn't only count on Wall Street and Big Box Supply Chain stores to participate in the American economy. President Obama believes in "Made in America" and that has been the slogan of unions for decades.



New home sales are up. (click here) The unemployment rate is falling. Companies are buying one another, signaling confidence in the economy.
But investors are turning their back on positive economic signs, looking nervously at Europe's seemingly never-ending debt troubles and Facebook's flat IPO, wondering whether the global economy is beginning yet another deep dive....

Wall Street is leaving the American job market. They aren't interested and haven't been interested in investments where a labor force is necessary. They are playing with commodities, currency and futures; they don't make rock solid investments anymore. They like the adrenalin rush of 'money now' too much. They are even laying new Trans-Atlantic cable to play that game. Romney can't do anything here, his methodologies are old and out dated. President Obama is on the ground with people that have been stalled in the economic platform for so long their trades were picked up by China. Romney's ideas won't work and he is not willing to move the needle for new business opportunities that come with paradigm shifts. 

President Obama is doing a great job. He is even covering the hole left where one was not believed to exist when the final numbers were in on the global economic collapse from 2008. He is incredible for what he preserved of our culture and where it is headed. I honestly believe there isn't anyone else with the 'city kid' diligence that would have reached as far and took the risks to keep the USA stable and growing. I might have the 'city kid' philosophy wrong, but, I've never seen him on a horse or milking a cow, so I think I am right about that.

The President needs to talk about his record, too.

I remember this moment. How could anyone forget? Dignity and grace all in one moment and a testament to American exceptionalism.


I sincerely believe President Obama is one of the most genuine and qualified Presidents of our time. He is correct to seek to define the To Be Candidate of the Republican Party, Mitt Romney, in the light portraying him as qualified for the job. I sincerely believe Mitt Romney is not. 


People like to portray President Obama, even with all the successes he has enjoyed while in office, as unqualified. I would like people to be confident of their President as I am confident of him. He and Biden make a great team. Joe doesn't let anyone forget what the Middle Class is all about and he is exactly where he needs to be at this time in our history.


The First Lady has taken on what I consider the most difficult topic next to healthcare and that is insuring our nation's children are healthier than their parents and able to meet the challenge of tomorrow. She along with Second Lady Jill Biden have moved opportunity for our returning military forward while protecting and supporting their families at home. I was sincerely touched by the effort they put forward on Mother's Day. That was more than compassionate, that was pure dedication to some of our most brave women.


I am proud of the people of the Executive Branch. The cabinet has been consistently working hard to improve the nation's recovery and there are no slackers.


I want them to talk about their record. I want them to prove to the people of this country they are admirable, steadfast, trustworthy and doing the absolute best of any to return sustainable prosperity to the USA. I don't know that I have ever witnessed a team as committed to the best outcomes to this country in a nearly impossible fiscal and financial environment.


The nation wants to address the deficit. The President had a resolution by Simpson-Bowles, but, it wasn't ready to hear it and there was no sense to push it when all other venues of expenditures by the federal government hadn't been exhausted. The entitlements are important to protect and support, the tax structure needs to have the reset button pushed and our children need to have a secure future, both in their health, their dreams and their fiscal viability on a global scale. The nation is ready to do some of the tough stuff and we need to begin the conversation, too. President Obama is capable of leading that conversation and he should. I am quite confident he sees the way forward, but, he needs to share it along with defining his unqualified opponent.

Sex parties with gangster at the Vatican? WHAT!

Italian teenager Emanuela Orlandi is believe to have been kidnapped after a music lesson in Rome on June 22, 1983 when she was 15 (AP)


Thursday, 24 May 2012



A Catholic priest has claimed a missing schoolgirl was kidnapped for Vatican sex parties and has implicated diplomatic staff and members of the Holy See.
Italian priest Gabriel Amorth, 85, said girls were recruited for parties at the Vatican and said the death of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, last seen alive in 1983, “was a crime with a sexual motive”.
The priest spoke out last week as investigators broke into the grave of a known gang boss in Rome following an anonymous tip that the key to Emanuala’s disappearance would be “found there”.
But so far bones which do not belong to mobster Enrico De Pedis, have not be positively identified as the girl’s....


It is more than interesting how New York has started an amazing trend. Police Commissioner Kelly deserves a lot praise for his focus and efforts. This is not only important, but, these cases give police insight to such criminals.



Etan Patz case: NYPD says New Jersey man implicated self in 6-year-old’s ‘disappearance and death’ (click here)

Commissioner Kelly says ‘further details’ to come later today

Updated: Thursday, May 24, 2012, 7:12 AM

The NYPD may have solved the heartrending mystery of little Etan Patz’ disappearance 33 years ago, police brass said Thursday morning.
"An individual now in custody has made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. “We expect to provide further details later today."
The man is from New Jersey and was picked up Wednesday, a source told the Daily News....

Second day of extradition hearing for Assange.


Extradition showdown: UK Supreme Court to rule on Assange (click here)

Published: 23 May, 2012, 18:08

Julian Assange’s legal battle in the UK may be close to its end. Next week the country’s Supreme Court will decide whether the scandal-stirring whistleblower is to be extradited to Sweden, where he faces several sex crime allegations.
A panel of seven Supreme Court judges will make their decision next Wednesday, May 30. 
Assange’s lawyers are calling on judges to block the extradition. They say that the initial European warrant that put Assange under house arrest in Britain over 500 days ago was “invalid and unenforceable” and that Swedish prosecutor had no authority to issue it....

A Los Angles Class Submarine is destroyed?

This is the Wiki (click here).

US nuclear sub ablaze in Portsmouth shipyard (click here)

Published: 24 May, 2012, 10:52
Edited: 24 May, 2012, 14:46
...Crews from at least three states worked for six hours at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, but only just managed to stop the fire from spreading.
Workers from the dry docks where the submarine was maintained, had to be evacuated when its living quarters turned into a scorching inferno on Wednesday evening.
Four of the six firefighters injured have received treatment, shipyard officials reported.
The fire broke out in the forward compartment of the submarine, where the ship’s living quarters and command and control center are located....

Who do these arrogant idiots think they are?


This very brief article appeared in Reuters today and when I looked up the name on the net I found the resume below. Evidently, the real power in Pakistan is influenced heavily by USA investment and wealth. 


If this is correct, then the Taliban have control over an entire Plutocratic network in that country. The CIA would know, I would hope they would know if this is accurate, because, having one person control this much wealth in Pakistan is dangerous to the country's sovereignty and to the security of the international security.


The article by Reuters was very odd to me and I didn't take it for face value. It was short and the person in the article wasn't identified, except, for the name. If this person holds this much power in Pakistan then it is easy to control the country.

U.S. should respect decision to imprison doctor who helped CIA find bin Laden: Pakistan (click here)

ISLAMABAD | Thu May 24, 2012 5:39am EDT

(Reuters) - The United States should respect a Pakistan court's decision to imprison a doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden, the Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

"I think as far as the case of Mr. Afridi is concerned, it was in accordance with Pakistani laws and by the Pakistani courts, and we need to respect each other's legal processes," Moazzam Ali Khan told reporters.

(Reporting by Rebecca Conway; Writing by Qasim Nauman)

The picture above came compliments of "Linked in". This is the resume (click here). The resume states Kahn is a power broker. By every estimate, Kahn is a very powerful man and pulls many strings in Pakistan. I am sure Kahn receives many perks in life for the role played in that country.


This is the logo for Unilever Pakistan. 

Below is an article explaining how networking works well in Pakistan for the supply chain.
...Using a systematic approach (click here)  to networking – a social activity where the implicit objective is to form professional relationships that may increase one’s future business and employment prospects – each participant was made to interact with at least five supply chain professionals he or she did not know before.
“I ran out of my business cards today during the networking session,” a chemical engineer working in the supply chain of ICI Pakistan toldThe Express Tribune. “That was the most orderly and useful networking opportunity I’ve ever had.”...


This is a link to a Supply Chain Conference (click here). It is on Facebook. Somehow having Facebook become an IPO makes sense if one wants to control the viability of connectedness. I am sure that is what Morgan Stanley was thinking when underwriting it.


Regardless, this level of connectedness in the supply system of Pakistan has to dictate, the Taliban are involved. They have expanded their reach to major cities of commerce in Pakistan. If USA intelligence is expecting to find drug trades and monies as the only source of income to these criminal networks, they aren't looking hard enough. If what I am looking at is correct; then the Taliban not only have the potential to intimidate a government, but, control its wealth as well.