Afghanistan Opium Harvest: Highest Levels Ever Recorded

“Afghanistan?s opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said Saturday in Kabul,” reports Carlotta Gall in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.”He described the figures as ‘alarming’ and ‘very bad news’ for the Afghan government and international donors who have poured millions of dollars into programs to reduce the poppy crop since 2001,” the article continues. … ?This year?s harvest will be around 6,100 metric tons of opium ? a staggering 92 percent of total world supply. It exceeds global consumption by 30 percent,? Mr. Costa said at a news briefing. - rawstory

Mike Ruppert, a conspiracy theoriest and former LAPD narcotics officer, says the US economy rests on the massive international drug trade controlled secretly by our government. That assertion makes it interesting that we invaded and continue our military presence in Afghanistan, yet drug output is at an all time high. Could we just destroy the fields? What is our stated mission over there? The DoD lists conternarcotics as one of several goals and says it is working with the Afghan government on this. Our military mission also includes farming:

“By supporting land titling efforts, development of irrigation and other infrastructure … we will help the Afghan agriculture sector raise its productivity and provide viable livelihoods to rural families.” - dodmission

Is some of our military help with agriculture accidentally benefiting the poppy crop? One wonders.

Up So Close

Here’s a closeup of my finger taken recently at an exhibit at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The faint round impressions on the flat raised parts are sweat glands.

Father with cancer just wanted to see daughter’s wedding, now he’s cured.

Is there a cure for cancer? You bet. This latest one enhances the body’s own immune system, and so far it gives a 2 in 17 chance of complete recovery. Scientists remove normal white blood cells, infect them with a retrovirus which delivers DNA to the cells. These genes enable the white blood cells to make T cell receptors which stick to the cancer cells. The white blood cells are reintroduced to the patient and they kill the cancer cells. One challenge is getting enough of these new cells to sick around in the patient’s body in order to kill the cancer. Difficult, but it has now worked and the methods can be improved. (See diagram).

“The NCI team managed to isolate T-cells produced by cancer patients that could recognize cancer. They extracted these special T-cells and enhanced their ability to find cancer cells through genetic manipulation.” - ctv

Mr Origer was diagnosed with melanoma ? the most aggressive form of skin cancer ? in 1999. A cyst which grew on the same area of his back in 2002 was found to have malignant cells and the cancer continued to spread until, in June 2004, it was found in his liver. He underwent various chemical and surgical treatments, but none was found to stop the spread of cancer.

In December 2004, he was given the gene therapy and was discharged the same month. By January 2005, his tumours had shrunk by half and by last September, when he attended his daughter Katie’s wedding, one small spot remained in his liver which surgeons removed.

Last week, doctors pronounced him completely clear of cancer cells.

Of the 17 patients with advanced skin cancer who underwent gene therapy, the treatment worked only on Mr Origer and “Thomas M”, aged 39, clearing the disease from liver, lymph node and lung.

But scientists believe they can improve the response and adapt it to fight other cancers, notably breast, colon and lung. The success using the patients’ genetically modified white blood cells is reported today in the journal Science by a team at the US National Cancer Institute led by Dr Steven Rosenberg, a pioneer in the field. He said: “Both patients are still free of the disease, after 18 months.”

One might look carefully at who is telling us not to believe this is a cure: “Don’t be deluded that this is the cancer breakthrough“. Don’t drug companies lose billions per year if cancer is cured with gene therapy? Don’t worry about the cure being surpressed for another 50 years. The unbiased experts at quackwatch tell us there IS no conspiracy. Whew! Glad to hear that.

Soldier Vs. Ram

While we are on the topic of heads, check out this funny video. No Rams or Soldiers were injured.

[googlevideo]7873314177109677533[/googlevideo]

Risking Paralysis for Life, Man Spins on Head 124 turns.

Amazing to watch, but don’t try this at home:

[googlevideo]246459498664593769[/googlevideo]

“In the worst injury reported, Efrain Arreola, 25 years old, broke his neck trying a difficult stunt with no training, said Nadine Filipiak, a spokesman for St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago. Mr. Arreola was left paralyzed after attempting a flip to a handstand, followed by a headspin.” - nyt