Swine flu pandemic: loudmouth Azad needs to shut up and do some work for a change!

With the H1N1 swine flu pandemic sweeping across India and leaving 48 people dead (as on August 21, 2009) and infecting thousands more in its wake, one would expect the health minister of the government of India (Ghulam Nabi Azad) to be working furiously, co-ordinating and taking steps to contain its spread and treating sick people. Sadly, work is not something that politicians like Mr. Azad are fond of. Unfortunately, but expectedly, he has chosen a novel strategy of fighting the swine flu virus.

It’s physically impossible for a pig to look at the sky. A swine can only look at the ground beneath its feet in order to keep munching rotten things with its big mouth. The brilliant Mr. Azad has chosen to replicate the strategy of the swine to fight the swine flu virus. Mr. Azad hopes that he can contain the H1N1 pandemic by opening his big mouth!

A couple wear face masks as they travel on a motocycle in Pune, one of the cities worst affected by the swine flu…

Image: Associated Press

Health is a state subject in India and the state governments (along with local government authorities) have the responsibility of ensuring the health and well-being of their citizens. The role of the central government is to co-ordinate things and take measures to do things that the states cannot do. But the loudmouthed Azad wants to enjoy power without taking any responsibility and has kept spewing out nonsensical stuff to draw attention to himself. Such is the low nature of India’s worthless, crooked politicians that they don’t think of gaining political mileage out of dozens of swine flu deaths.

In a meeting of a rural health mission with state health ministers, the loudmouthed central health minister chose to flay the efforts of states in combating the swine flu pandemic. Though Mr. Azad’s utter incompetence has actually aided in the flu spreading rapidly across several cities, he decided to put the blame on the state health ministers saying “he could do only so much” and that “one should not expect him to go beyond a point”. Thankfully, the health minister of the state of Gujarat, JN Vyas, had the guts to tell the loudmouth to stop the nonsense. He reportedly told Mr. Azad, “We are not here to listen to these words. You are a federal minister and we look forward to your co-operation.” Three cheers for the Gujarat health minister JN Vyas!

It seems Mr. Azad simply cannot keep his big mouth shut. Like an empty vessel that is devoid of any stuff, he keeps making the maximum possible noise and the notorious Indian “mainstream media” that is eagerly waiting for stupid things to keep dishing out around the clock, lap up Mr. Azad’s ridiculous statements. It should be noted that Mr. Azad has no kind of experience whatsoever in the medical field and like many others, he became a minister only because of his ability to faithfully lick the boots of a certain lady who controls all her puppets, including the blue-turbaned one, by means of iron strings. As soon as he assumed charge, Mr. Azad immediately did great damage to the health of millions of Indian citizens. Paid by the notorious tobacco lobby       that also has some prominent film “stars” from one particular regional film industry (Bollywood) on its payroll, Mr. Azad virtually overturned the ban on on-screen smoking that was put in place against all odds by his predecessor – a trained physician who dared to take on this dangerous lobby and their cronies in the “mainstream media”. The tobacco lobby rejoiced since they could now go back to spreading the curse called tobacco to harm India’s youth and children, not to mention millions who suffer because of the ill effects of second hand smoke.

When the swine flu virus began killing people, affecting some cities so badly that schools had to be shut down for a week, Mr. Azad once again found it impossible to restrain his big mouth. In a shocking incidence of insensitivity, the health minister insulted an unfortunate little girl who had died of swine flu complications.     He blamed the dead girl for “spreading the virus”. Understandably, 14-year old Reeda Shaik’s parents were outraged and demanded his resignation. Mr. Azad was forced to apologise for his callous remarks.

Now, what has Mr. Azad actually done to stop the spread of swine flu? Very little! In fact, his ignorance of the dangerous nature of the flu and his incompetence actually helped in spreading the virus to all parts of the country. Unlike Mexico, the United States and many other countries that reported the outbreak of swine flu months ago, India was free from this scourge. Instead of taking measures to stop the virus before it affected people, Mr. Azad chose to play the fiddle. He neither co-ordinated the establishment of a sound response system nor did he take measures to increase the screening and testing facilities. On the contrary, he made sure that the one could not access the common drugs to treat swine flu, Tamiflu and Relenza, because the government was hoarding them. He took no measures to increase the production of either these drugs or face masks. The sale of face masks has degenerated into a racket with unscrupulous traders hoarding them, creating an artificial shortage and selling the masks at inflated prices. Screening systems were not put in place at airports to detect people who were infected. All airports are managed by the incompetent central government and even a few days back, my friend told me that he was not screened when he landed here. So much for the loudmouthed minister’s proclamation that “he could only do so much”!

I guess if Mr. Azad chose to put in even a fraction of the effort in his work as he does in opening his big mouth, the H1N1 swine flu would not have infected and killed so many people.      

(P.S.: My “next post” – A tale of two teens has been delayed by this important post)

Towards a New World Order?

If you thought world events just happen at random, that’s probably because you have been deceived by the “mainstream media” that is owned and controlled by the governments and corporations. There are things that the “mainstream media” don’t know themselves and there are things that were deliberately withheld from you. In some cases, the truth was deliberately covered up and lies were dished out to the gullible public. Even the history that you learnt in school is a ridiculously dumbed down version which merely describes the chronology of events and not the true causes behind world events. The less said about current affairs, the better.

Previously, one had no chance to learn the truth because everything that you knew was through the “mainstream media”, unless one had access to inside sources. Now, thanks to the nature and reach of the interent, the truth is available to anyone who cares to look around a bit. It’s not a surprise then, that governments and corporations are desperate to censor and control the internet by any means possible. Remember, the truth sets you free! And free thinking men and women are the kind of people that big capital and governments of every kind, be they communist regimes/dictatorships/democracies/theocracies/monarchies/kleptocracies despise.

The powers that be want total control over your lives. They want to turn free men and women into neo-serfs, ever willing to carry out the agenda of their masters in a global neo-feudal New World Order. More and more people are becoming aware of the agenda of these NWO globalists. There are simply too many things to explain by means of blog posts. One nice lady has done a wonderful job of making some self-explanatory videos about the secret rulers of the world and has posted them on YouTube. You need not take every word of what she says as the gospel truth. You may find that some are theories to connect the missing links. But if you care to do some research of your own, to your great shock and horror, you will find out that most of what she says is chillingly true. There are 29 videos in all and each one is about 10 minutes in length. You can watch the entire series on YouTube. In this post, I’ve included only those videos that are relevant to our times. Once you watch these videos that bring out a lot of hidden truths that you may never have known, your idea of recent history will never remain the same. These videos explain the causes of several wars including the two World Wars, revolutions, terrorism, drugs and peak oil. And yes, economic booms, recessions and depressions too. Most of what you need to know about the New World Order is contained in these videos. Enjoy this amazingly different movie!

The next few parts deal with research into ancient history and theories to connect the dots. Watch them here: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Watch the next two videos in the series here: 25 and 26.

Grace Powers, the producer of these videos, has done a remarkable job in exposing the secret rulers of the world. Click here to go to her website. Thank you, Grace!

Do you have any questions or comments, my friends?

Related post:

A sign of things to come?

A sign of things to come?

If you believe everything the “mainstream media” keeps dishing out to you, then probably you are living in a fool’s paradise. The media is supposed to be “free” and act as the “fourth pillar” in a democracy, exposing, naming and shaming the powers that be when they act against the people. In reality, the “mainstream media” are nothing but paid agents of the very same powers. The “mainstream media” are nothing but a bunch of propaganda agents, owned, paid for and controlled by big government and big corporations. Learning the truth from the “mainstream media” is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

That brings us to independent journalism. Thanks to the growth of the internet, many people now have access to some real independent journalists who bring to one’s notice things that are never reported by the “mainstream media”. Despite the efforts of big government and big money to censor and control the internet, one still has access to these sources and they should be applauded for the work they are doing.

Then there are other folks who expose the powers that be. Their reports may seem outlandish at first and it easy to dismiss them as conspiracy theorists or plain nut cases. But a little research would inform you that most of what they say is shockingly true. Sure, some of them have a tendency to exaggerate stuff, but it would be foolish to dismiss them without examining things oneself. The deeper one gets into things, the more credible their reports seem and the “mainstream media” looks more like the joke that they actually are.

Image: http://www.reason.com

In case you thought all events just happen without some force behind them all, then think again. Living in a Third World country can open your eyes to things that you would never know if you live in a First World country. In a typical Third World country (like the one where I live), one learns that the elite class that has all the power (the big money players and the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats who are either inextricably linked with and/or paid for by the elite) hate the masses and are not interested in their well-being. Instead, they would love to impoverish the middle class and suck the life out of the poor and treat them as serfs to enrich themselves. However, in order to maintain a facade of democracy, elections are organised regularly. The votes deprive the ruling classes of some, but only some, of their greed. They still control everything. The police in the Third World, more often than not, does not act like a true police force. They are there only to protect the ruling classes and to prevent crimes against the ruling classes and the establishment. The army, more often than not, does not act like a true army. The troops are used for “internal security duties”, in other words, they are used by the establishment as paid mercenaries to fight and oppress their own fellow citizens whom they are supposed to protect from external enemies. A Third World pseudo-democracy has all of the above features. That’s because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And money and power are inextricably linked.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. – Thomas Jefferson

It seems the global elite are planning to transform the entire world into a global Third World society. The signs are all there. They have always been there. False flag terrorist attacks, manufactured wars, a corporate and government controlled “mainstream media”, manipulated “free markets” that go into predictable cycles of boom and bust, rising economic inequality, growing crime and corruption, a police state, civil unrest, martial law and armed troops on the streets fighting their own citizens. All to usher in a “New World Order” and to transform the entire world into a typical Third World pseudo-democracy in which a small cabal of filthy rich elite (and the politicians and bureaucrats in their pay) run the world, treating all others as neo-serfs in a system of global neo-feudalism.

Make no mistake, there are powerful forces that control the world behind the scenes. They will go to any extent to concentrate more and more wealth and power in themselves – like committing mass murder, imprisoning people in concentration camps, assassinating true leaders who oppose their vile policies, organising false flag terror attacks, causing totally avoidable wars, utilising nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction on innocent people and blaming it on small or virutally non-existent enemies, causing mass starvation or even driving the world to a catastrophic nuclear World War III, the casualties of which will make the first two World Wars seem like small wars fought with axes, swords and spears.

Don’t tell me you weren’t warned! Take a look at the following videos to get an idea:

Is there any hope left for humanity then? Of course, there is! History has shown us that whenever society has degraded to the point where a small cabal of filthy rich elite impoverish and exploit the masses, the result has been an event like the French Revolution. And the French people have reminded us of exactly that today:

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it. – Abraham Lincoln

If you tremble indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine. – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. – George Orwell

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. – Thomas Jefferson

(To be continued)

Africa, awake, arise and act! (Part 1)

African leaders have warned that the lingering global financial crisis coupled with the collapse of talks on a world trade agreement could hinder the United Nations’ campaign to improve life for hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest.

Africa, despite being rich in natural resources, is the least developed continent in the world . . .

Africa is believed to be the place where modern humans originated from. The continent was home to the ancient Egyptian civilisation along the banks of the Nile as well as prosperous kingdoms and city-states later on. The decline of these African states coincided with the rise of the Arab empire. Africa has suffered ever since.

Africa was exploited and its people were sold as slaves by the local chieftains, first to the Arabs and later to the European powers, led by Portugal, who transported them across the Atlantic to the New World. After slavery was abolished in the Americas, the mad scramble for Africa’s natural resources led to the colonisation of almost the entire continent by the European powers – France, Britain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Spain and Italy. They required raw materials for their industries as well as markets for their finished products. The continent became a colony of Europe and boundaries were decided by the foreigners. The disastrous effects of political colonisation can be felt to this day. Many of Africa’s civil wars can be traced to the redrawing of boundaries by the colonisers.

After the Second World War, African countries gradually became independent. The initial hope that Africa would get out of the mess with political independence was short lived as the continent was affected by civil wars, droughts, famines and disease.

Africa became dependent on external borrowings and foreign aid. The economic colonisation of Africa began. Organisations like the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank that were controlled solely by the developed countries led by the United States imposed economic measures as conditions for the delivery of loans and aid. These measures are nothing but plans of the multinational corporations headquartered in the developed countries to exploit the natural resources of Africa. The exploitation of Africa’s mineral wealth by foreign corporations has completely ravaged Africa. Aided by corrupt dictators and inefficient leaders who stash away their ill-gotten wealth in secret foreign (especially Swiss) bank acounts, the people of Africa are being robbed of their natural resources. In 1970, one in ten of the world’s poor lived in Africa. That figure has now risen to 50%.

60% of Africans work in the agricultural sector with a majority of them being subsistence farmers. Globalisation has pushed Africa to the brink of disaster. The loathsome policies of the WTO have increased the misery in Africa. While the African countries have opened up their markets as well as mining and petroleum sectors to foreign corporations, the U.S., the E.U. and Japan protect their farmers with massive agricultural subsidies and high import tariffs. This keeps the price of farm produce artificially low in the developed countries making African exports uncompetitive. Thus, African farmers are forced to grow cash crops for export instead of food crops. Combined with the vagaries of the climate as well as desertification of vast tracts of land bordering the Sahara desert, starvation and severe malnutrition are common in Africa, especially countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Horn of Africa.

While farmers in a country like India are also at the receiving end of the vile policies of organisations like the IMF that are stridently supported by their shameless stooges within the country (read this post about farmers’ suicides), India’s service sector and to a lesser extent, the manufacturing sector have managed to take globalisation in their stride and have even managed to emerge stronger. As a result, India’s growing economic clout has enabled it to successfully oppose moves by the developed countries to suggest outrageously unfair trade practices at the WTO in the name of “free trade”. India must not sacrifice the lives and livelihoods of millions of its farmers as well as its food security for the sake of a few tuxedoed thugs who belong to predatory multinational corporations!

What about the Dragon? China has taken full advantage of globalisation and has virtually become “the factory of the world”. Cheap Chinese products have wiped out the few manufacturing industries in the African countries. China has also begun to take part in the economic exploitation of Africa. The Dragon wants to import raw materials from Africa, turn them into cheap manufactured goods and dump them back on the African countries. The low quality Chinese goods are suspected throughout the world and the poor standards in China have even led to the deaths of infants due to contaminated dairy products.

Promises of aid are not going to develop Africa. Certainly not! Africans should not trust the rich countries (as well as countries like China and India) as the vile policies of organisations like the IMF, World Bank and WTO will drive Africa to complete destitution. Even if Africa gets some paltry aid, the strings attached to it are meant to favour the economic terrorists who seek to exploit Africa’s natural resources with the help of Africa’s corrupt dictators.

(To be continued)

The law is an ass!

The Bombay (Mumbai) High Court has declined a plea by a 25-weeks pregnant woman to allow her to abort her unborn child as the foetus was believed to have a congenital heart problem. Read the latest news articles about this in this link. Read about the abortion law in India in this link. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act forbids abortions after the 20th week unless there is a serious risk to the life of the mother.

The Bombay (Mumbai) High Court . . .

Image: Wikimedia Commons

What is sad about this case is that a court has to decide the fate of an unborn child, instead of its mother. What is worse is that the law has no provision to provide an exception in such scenarios, though this case and the medical, legal and ethical debate it has triggered may lead to the law being amended to provide for exceptions in the future.

About the case itself, the doctors of the couple say that the child would find it difficult to survive and even if it does, it will have to be fitted with a pacemaker that has to be replaced every four years. The mother does not want her child to suffer, even if the government takes care of the medical expenses of the child. The couple have even rejected an offer by an NGO to help raise the child. The court had appointed an “expert team” of doctors to look into the details of the case and based on the team’s report, has concluded that there are “least chances” that the foetus would be born with an abnormality.

Did the court take the correct decision in passing the verdict? Should the mother appeal the decision of the Bombay (Mumbai) High Court in the Supreme Court of India? Should India’s abortion law be amended? Have your say in this tough ethical, medical and legal debate by posting a comment below, even if you are not from India.

An important post update (August 7, 2008):

The “expert team” appointed by the court made an “error” that decided the court’s verdict. Read this news report. According to the team of doctors, “The committee is of the opinion that there are very fair chances that child will be born incapacitated and handicapped to survive.”

But according to the official report presented to the court, “The committee is of the opinion that there are very least chances that child will be born incapacitated and handicapped to survive.”

Very fair chances got replaced by very least chances in the official report of the “expert team” and the court’s decision was based on the “official report” of the “expert team”. Did I not say the law is an ass? We have proof now! I don’t know if the verdict would have been different if the “error” had not happened.

An update (August 31, 2008):

I’m sorry for this late update. This sad chapter is now closed as the unfortunate woman suffered a miscarriage. Read this news report if you want more information. The husband has blamed the media for unnecessarily hyping up the issue which led to hypertension (high blood pressure) that caused the miscarriage. I tend to agree with him.

Related post:

Abortion – women’s rights or human rights?

Three cheers for Swapnil Asnodkar!!!

Swapnil Asnodkar (read his profile on Cricinfo), a young, talented and promising cricketer from Porvorim, Goa who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been appointed as the brand ambassador for the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) to spread the word against smoking!

Swapnil Asnodkar in action . . .

Image: The Hindu (Rajeev Bhatt)

It is great to learn that the 24-year old Swapnil has signed up for NOTE. This is in sharp contrast to a few top actors in one regional film industry (Bollywood) who take huge amounts of money from tobacco companies to promote the habit of smoking among the youth of the country and promote tobacco addiction among youth and children. Shame on people with such vile intentions!

It is heartening to know that there are youth like Swapnil who want to spread the word against smoking. Swapnil symbolises the new Indian youth – very talented, courageous, progressive and unafraid to lash out against anything that they feel is unjust. India is not short of people with backward, regressive mindsets who want to ruin the country by taking it back to the Stone Age. That is why folks like Swapnil come as a breath of fresh air!

Three cheers for Swapnil Asnodkar!!!

Patents versus Patients! (Part 2)

I am writing the second part of one of my previous posts titled Patents versus Patients! after a long time. The Indian courtrooms are witnessing a series of battles that are going to determine the fate of millions of Earthlings around the world. It is a war between those who want to kill millions of people by denying them life-saving medicines and those who want to save millions of lives. It is a war between the greed of a few and the lives of millions of Earthlings. In short, it is a war between evil and good! Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind about which side I support in this war that may lead to more deaths than the Second World War if the killers win.

The right to life is a fundamental Human Right . . . so is the right to access life-saving medicines . . .

Image: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

First, I shall include a press release from the team of noble international life-savers, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors without Borders) below:

The Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+), and the Lawyers’ Collective HIV/AIDS Unit officially submitted their opposition to a patent application filed in the Kolkata patent office by Glaxo Group Limited for Combivir, a fixed-dose combination of two AIDS drugs (zidovudine/lamivudine, or AZT/3TC). The opposition is based on technical and health grounds. If India grants a patent on this AIDS drug, it will set a precedent that will hamper access to affordable AIDS medicines worldwide.

“Affordable generic AIDS medicines have been one of the cornerstones of our ability to keep more people alive, including here in India where we began treating people with AIDS this year,” said Dr. Pehrolov Pehrson, of MSF’s treatment project in Manipur, where all patients on antiretrovirals receive generics produced in India. “Without a reliable supply of low cost AIDS drugs – made possible because medicines patents did not exist in India for many years – national governments and treatment providers alike will be faced with an uphill battle, and patients risk having vital treatment interrupted or priced out of their reach.”

Of the over 60,000 patients in nearly 30 countries in MSF projects, 84% receive generic AIDS medicines made in India. Over 90% of all patients using AZT/3TC in MSF projects are on generic versions of the drug. National treatment programmes in India, Burkina Faso, Mongolia, Central African Republic, Malawi, Peru, the Republic of Kyrgizstan, Cambodia, Ukraine and Swaziland heavily rely on generic AZT/3TC. The availability of affordable quality generic versions of Combivir (AZT/3TC) and other anti-retroviral medicines has allowed developing countries to put more people on treatment and thus extend their lives.

The Indian groups opposing the patent are arguing that Glaxo’s Combivir (AZT/3TC) is not a new invention but simply the combination of two existing drugs. They say the granting of such a patent risks increasing the cost of anti-retroviral treatment for many people living with HIV/AIDS, thereby further increasing the burden on developing countries already struggling to treat patients.

“Universal Access to AIDS medicines will remain an elusive goal if there isn’t a steady supply of affordable medicines. Decisions made by Indian patent offices are a question of life or death for people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide who rely on the availability of these drugs made in India,” said Ellen ‘t Hoen, Director of Policy Advocacy at MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.

Last year, India changed its patent law to comply with the World Trade Organization’s patent rules. Three weeks ago, India granted its first ever patent to Roche for a hepatitis C treatment.

However, the Indian Patent law allows oppositions to a patent application before it is granted. Indian cancer patients and generic drug manufacturers recently opposed a Novartis patent application for Gleevec (Imatinib Mesylate), an anti-cancer drug, on the grounds that the application claimed a new form of an old drug. The patent was subsequently rejected by the patent office. Petitioners are now demanding that the Combivir patent application be rejected on similar grounds.

Here is a part of another press release that shows how people are being blinded by denying them access to affordable medicines:

Many patients with advanced HIV/AIDS can fall prey to the infection, cytomegalovirus (CMV) which will if untreated, lead to total and irreversible blindness in a very short space of time – sometimes just weeks.Blindness caused by CMV is preventable, but the most available treatments are invasive and far from ideal – injections directly into the affected eye or intravenous, twice-daily treatment requiring a long stay in hospital.There is a better medicine available – an oral medication, valganciclovir, produced by Roche. This drug is patented in China and the company charges US$ 10,000 for a four-month supply – simply too expensive for the vast majority of people most at risk of going blind. It’s a similar situation in both India and Thailand – both middle- income countries where the product is patented. While the manufacturer offers discounts to the poorest countries – mainly in sub-Saharan Africa – middle-income countries including China are offered no such discount and are charged the same as wealthy countries.Dr. Peter Saranchuk has worked in China in both of MSF’s HIV projects – in Nanning and the recently closed XiangFan project treating patients with HIV/AIDS. He describes his experiences in treating CMV and the frustration of seeing patients suffer because the best medicines are unaffordable.

My previous post Patients versus Patients! focussed on one Swiss company Novartis. Here is another Swiss company, F Hoffman-La Roche that seems to have been involved in a shady deal to obtain a patent in India. A case is going to be filed in the Madras(Chennai) High Court against the violation of fundamental rights as well as the weakened patent law.

Here is the link to another battle that is taking place in the Indian courtrooms, this time between the Brazilian AIDS advocacy group ABIA (Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association) and the Indian NGO SAHARA (Centre for Residential Care & Rehabilitation) on one side and the American firm Gilead Sciences on the other.

Also, take a look at this link to an interesting discussion from the XVI International AIDS Conference.

It is clear from all these links that the Indian courts have become the battleground in a war which will determine the fate of millions of humans around the world. The evil forces will use the dirtiest tricks to succeed in their nefarious designs of killing people by denying them access to life-saving medicines and deriving pleasure in watching them suffer and die. They are true sadists! Shame on them!

(To be continued)

Related post:

Patents versus Patients! (Part 1)