While indiscriminate spraying of DDT is obviously stupid and dangerous, the rise in worldwide malaria rates in response to the restrictions on DDTs use have killed hundreds of thousands to millions of humans.

Now, unfortunately, it's too late. Like not using all of one's prescribed antibiotics, we allowed mosquitoes to develop a resistance to DDT when we stopped using it and it doesn't work anymore (at least not as well).

By the early 1960s we had malaria cases in India down to almost zero from 75 Million in 1947. Sri Lanka went from 2.8 million cases in 1946 to 17 cases in 1963. Malaria was on the verge of extinction in these places.

Then we lost DDT thanks to Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring". By 1976 there were 6.4 million cases in India. Today it sits between 2 and 3 million cases a year and India is one of the luckier ones. Throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa more than 50% of all children are infected. In Zambia, in 2005, there were 1353 cases for every 1000 children under 5 years old. That means a huge percent of the children are infected more than once a year.

Was DDT dangerous to spray indiscriminately? Absolutely. Was it saving millions of lives? Without a doubt.

Here are a few more links relating to the poll if you want to look over the numbers yourself.

Nice pie charts - LiveScience

Official Harris Interactive site (most detail)


Text of the LiveScience article

I have always been a doubter-I throw these posts into the mix from time to time to reinforce the spirit of the questioning voice within.

Two times in the history of the United States there have been attempts by presidents to issue currencies that had nothing to do with the federal reserve. President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve. Using the power he had as president, about 4.8 billion in U.S. Notes backed by silver were put into circulation. June 4, 1963-(my birthday)

February 25, 1863-The National Banking Act-Lincoln did the same thing. Issuance of currencies backed by bank holdings.

No mystery as to why these guys were fucking shot in the head considering how far the world has come with regard to currencies.....

We are headed for one. One currency backed by nothing at all but fart-gas and blood of folks like us.

You wonder why someone with their head extricated through many an hour of mentation from their own asshole, has a problem with official stories, considering the history of power and control?

If the civil war had not been resolved, by a president later shot in the head, the fucking Brits in Canada at the time, and the fucking French army in Mexico, would have been able to march right the fuck up and down, and secure the states-What would a bunch of morphine addicts and women and children have done about it??

Fast-forward to the now, and we are on the verge AS A WORLD, of handing this power over to the fucking wankers who are behind the shit spoken of above. Not by killing off the men brother by brother with gunpowder....but by killing them with blind, fucking, obedient servitude-that and a piss-poor education, shitty food grown by corporate farms..etc etc etc OH, and by turning a few generations into video game playing ineffectual girly-men!!
^Not the government of the United States, ya pusillanimous bunch of crotch-scratching nose-pickers, the motherfucking cocksuckers who lead entire countries around like puppy dogs and kitty cats, to build fucking empire!

This history lesson brought to you by someone who could give a fuck about the most widely accepted opinions, commentaries, or editorials.

Related & required viewing:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Alchemists-of-Sound-The-Radiophonic-Workshop
http://www.videosift.com/video/Delia-Derbyshire-Mother-of-Electronic-Music
http://www.videosift.com/video/Doctor-Who-Original-1963-Opening-Title-Sequence-Classic

*british

>> ^rougy:
>> ^csnel3:
Yes, rougy, I think I get it.
Fair enough. But you have to admit, it's two different worlds.


Yes, two very different world indeed. I saw the famous picture of the protesting monk when I was a kid, when it was big news. It made a big impact on me. I never forgot the image and I have seen it many times in the 40 years since. Its a very powerfull image, As you say the dedication to the cause is unimaginable for me. I am now disturbed that he didnt light himself on fire, someone else lit him on fire while everyone watched. That is a very different action in my mind. Maybe he was all drugged up and they sacrificed him? I will never see that picture the same again.

I don't think it's necessary to modify the details beyond possibly adding "This video may be of a later demonstration, as there were several."

>> ^Fade:
You didn't see the police man prostrating himself in front of the burning man?

Toward the end of the video, I do see a pair of men with the white straps apparently bowing in the background. I had missed that before. The individual that features more prominently in the foreground I believe is another monk, though the color makes it difficult to say for certain.

I'll admit that nitpicking about it seems frivolous, as all of the monks made the same sacrifice.

>> ^ReverendTed:
I don't think this is Thích Quảng Đức. The accounts of Đức's self-immolation differ from what's shown in the video, and photos purported to be of that event also show a slightly different arrangement of people and the gas can with respect to the car in the background - which, strangely, does show up with the same raised hood.
Aside from the aforementioned arrangement issues, Đức was said to have struck a match and dropped it on himself, while here a fellow monk places a trail of fuel as a fuse. Accounts also describe policemen attempting to reach Đức but being unable to penetrate the throng of monks - here they are at the front of the crowd, pushing them back and watching. (I disagree with the assessment that these cops were "shocked" - to me they seemed to possess a familiarity with the proceedings.) Đức's body is said to have slumped forward after "around 10 minutes," while here the body falls back and to the left. (No irony intended.) There's also mention of a policeman prostrating himself in reverence before Đức; while that may simply have been missed by the camera, I suspect this is actually video of a later demonstration, as there were several.


I think you're right. Did a bit of digging around myself and yeah I come to the same conclusion. This must be another immolation that occurred at the time. Hmm, should I modify all the video details accordingly?

>> ^csnel3:
Yes, rougy, I think I get it.

Fair enough. But you have to admit, it's two different worlds. I'm in Roswell, NM. Aside from the celestial alien problem, we have a crime rate that is disturbingly high, and cops who are sometimes not very thoughtful, because they're underpaid and overworked. Hate to say it, but true.

Ace up there noted that I noticed, as did millions of other people, that a man set himself afire in order to draw attention to an injustice...so I guess his effort was a success...in as much as it drew attention. Did it solve the problem that he gave his life to protest against? Probably not.

That's a pretty big deal, to have that kind of dedication, to believe in something so strongly that you would voluntarily suffer one of the most cruelest fates known to man.

I'm not being cheeky, but the closest thing I can think of is when Data gave his life for Picard.

Vietnam was the prototype to Iraq and Afghanistan. And our country, the USA, is in a lot of trouble because we are watching people rob us blind and we are powerless to stop it because our government is inept and corrupt beyond remediation.

The war machine learned quickly, while the best that we can do is sit around and bitch.

>> ^csnel3:
Looks like he was murdered to me, but he took it well.


You just don't get it, do you?

>>
>> ^Enzoblue:
Did it do any good, make any difference?



You noticed, so therefore.

>> ^Enzoblue:
Even the cops were shocked did you see?

Yes, I saw.

I'm not sure if this was the same monk who set himself afire that I saw in Life magazine when I was about six years old...I think a few Vietnamese monks immolated themselves in that era...but it brings to bear many questions.

Could I do that? Would I do that? Did it do any good, make any difference?

Yes and no. I don't know.

With my newly earned Gold Star Sift Superpowers, I am about to invoke my first ever *promote with the hopes that Obi Wan Sift Bot will not regretfully tell me I have failed.

The full interview was sifted here:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Malcolm-X-on-City-Desk-1963-2836

Tags for this video have been changed from 'beatles, 50s, music' to 'beatles, music, with the beatles, 60s, 1963' - edited by rasch187

http://lyrics.wikia.com/lyrics/The_Weakerthans:Tournament_Of_Hearts

Now the lounge is full of farmers for the 7:30 draw
Teammates all left before they had to buy a round
When they pull the 50/50 and I've lost again, I'll go
Maybe have one more brown one for the snowy road

All the championship banners going yellow on the wall
Add my name when it gets closer to last call

So Elvira brings my bottle, hold it up and let it bend
Figures of two rinks battling an extra end
And I'm peeling off the label as they peel a corner guard
Dance down the sheet to the tune of "Hurry, Hurry Hard"

And my popcorn squeaks a question
Wonders why I'm not at home
Where you wait beside a silent telephone
Doodle circles within circles all alone

Have to stop myself from climbing
On the table full of empties to yell why

Why, why can't I draw right up to what I want to say?
Why can't I ever stop where I want to stay?
I slide right through the days
I'm always throwing hack weight

Right off, no never never ever ever
Right off, no never never ever never
Right off, no never never never ever
Right off, no never ever never ever

Now the senior Bonspiel winners, circa 1963
Are all staring, glaring disapprovingly
From their frame in that old photograph at me

And I know you're out there waiting
For an answer I can't give you
So tell me why

Why, why can't I draw right up to what I want to say?
Why can't I ever stop when I want to stay?
We roll right through our years, we drip right through our months
We slide right through our days, I'm always throwing hack weight

Right off, no never never ever ever
Right off, no never never ever never
Right off, no never ever never ever
Right off

>> ^IronDwarf:
The answer to nearly all of those questions would be something to the effect of that day was utterly chaotic and the US was grossly unprepared for an attack of that kind. Other questions like "Why did Flight 77 hit a part of the building opposite from the high command and mostly empty and under renovation, with majority of victims being civilian accountants?" don't even make sense to ask after the fact. The things that happened that day happened because the people flying those planes made it happen that way.
I'm sorry, but anyone who actually buys into any of this conspiracy bullshit is not looking at all of the material available and is either purposefully or unknowingly keeping themselves ignorant. I know these videos can be persuasive, but they are not giving you all the information; they are picking and choosing what fits their particular theory. For example, I felt like I knew for a certainty what had happened on November 22, 1963 after watching Oliver Stone's "JFK", but after reading more about it I realized the theory was complete shit, no matter how well made and persuasive the movie was.


You clearly didn't read my post. The site I listed discredits the video. All I'm saying is that I wouldn't hold it past Dick Cheney to knowingly allow this to happen. The flight hit the pentagon almost an hour after the flights hit the towers. Protocol is to scramble and shoot down any civilian flight off its flight path and that isn't responding to hails, particularly if it is headed towards a high valued military target. For Dick Cheney that should be an easy call. If it wasn't, I seriously question whether he was qualified to be in that position.

At the very least, the south side of the building should have been evacuated as the target was moving in, not after.

I agree the question you pulled out is bullshit, but questions about exactly what orders were given to whom, when, are not unreasonable questions. These are even more relevant if what we'd like to understand how to avoid this sort of thing in the future.

I'm not willfully ignorant as you imply. I won't entertain fantastic stories about fly overs, or detonation squads. I just wouldn't hold it past these particular assholes to allow something like this to happen. They didn't need to do anything active, just don't give the order to fire.

In my mind... the "truthers" are getting paid/encouraged/coverage in order to keep the heat off the real question of was the negligence criminal or plain vanilla incompetence?

FDNY and all that... but the chickenhawk, neocons can go to hell. The fact of the matter is we've spent more money investigating Bill Clinton's blow job than we have the largest attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor, accusations of human rights abuses, and unconstitutional expansions of executive power by the previous administration.

I ask you sir...
srsly?