Driver 23 Weird Magazine Interviews DRIVER 23 WEIRD: Welcome to Weird Magazine guys. It’s been a while. D23: Hey whats up glad to be back in the graces of weird magazine after all these years WEIRD: So tell me what’s new with the Band. The Line up has changed hasn’t it? D23 :Just evovling growing stronger and tighter,yeah the line up has changed we added our good friend Charlie to the mix on vocals so now its Danny ,Fernie,Thom,J.J and Charlie WEIRD: When is the new CD going to drop? And what is it called? D23:December 25th is the c.d. release party at Smokin aces its called Smokestacked WEIRD: So Smokin Aces is where to be later this month?
D23: Yup the guys there
have done soo much for us we wouldnt have it any other way. We also have local bad asses Grace of Terror opening up so it should be a christmas to remember WEIRD: Cool i hear a video is being filmed that night too? D23:Yeah we need everybody there to go wild because we are filming some footage for our press kit and the wilder the better
Local Rockers Still Cruising
WEIRD:How has the music of Driver 23 evolved over the years? D23: Musically were getting heavier mixing clean with metal more, also with the addition of charlie it has helped our sound be more radio friendly which is what we’ve been needing for some time, not too friendly but friendly none the less. WEIRD: Tell people why the name Driver 23? D23: It
was a old sundance documentry that i saw one night at like three in the morning about a guy in a metal band that kept striving for sucess even when his marriage ,band mates and society shot him down we were awed by the dedication of the guy so it just seemed right.
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Driver 23
WEIRD: How many years have Thom and Danny been together as Driver?
INTERVIEW
D23: 10 years now still going strong
other labels to shop the band around.
WEIRD: What’s on the Horizon for you guys? I hear you want to get the CD out to guys like “Big Vin” records and
D23:Well we will take a look into many labels, but; “Big Vin” would be amazing. We just want to put out our press kit and see who bites at this point. WEIRD: Where have you guys toured over the years? Are there plans for any new touring activity?
D23: We’ve
played just Texas so far. Dallas and S.A mostly but with this c.d. out we should be able to put something together. The guys at Aces namely Joe has been helping us with getting gigs out of town hes been a big help to Driver 23. WEIRD: Maybe we can help you guys get a gig in San Marcos since we have Weird Magazine
there now too. Interested? D23: Fo Sho we’ll rip it up! WEIRD: Weird Magazine and Driver have had a long history of working together. We wish you guys the best! D23:thanx brutha its always a pleasure WEIRD: How can readers or venues get in touch with the band to book a gig or hear the music online? D23: You can always
so if you have a band or you want to shoot the shit he’ll be there. WEIRD: Thanks guys! Keep Rocking! Final words to the Weird readers out there?
D23:Thanks for all the supoort over the years and thanx for every venue that has let us rock it out!
drop us a line on our myspace drivertwentythree/myspace.com or you can email thom at thomdriver23@ gmail.com Also danny does orignal nights at Newmans bar every Sunday night
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Top 10 Stoner Comedies
Top 10 Stoner Comedies (In recent years)
intercede with Washington on their behalf. Kumar still has a thing for Vanessa, the feds are in hot pursuit, and the legal weed of Amsterdam seems a long way away:
10 . Friday: Having just been 8. Knocked Up: When Alison Scott is promoted in E! Televicanned from his job on his day off, Craig and his best friend Smokey spend the day smoking up in their South Central neighborhood while dealing with a neighborhood bully, relationship troubles, an angry drug dealer, and a lot of other odd characters.
9
. Harold and Kumar 2 Escape to Guantanamo Bay: The morning they return from their White Castle road trip, Harold and Kumar decide to go to Amsterdam because Harold doesn’t want to wait ten days to see Maria again. On the plane, Kumar lights up his new bong, the air marshals think it’s a bomb, and Harold and Kumar are arrested as terrorists and sent to Guantanamo Bay. Ordered to fellate a guard, they manage to escape, make their way to Florida, and head for Texas to find Kumar’s exgirlfriend’s fiancé, the well-connected Colton, and get him to
sion, she goes to a night-club to celebrate with her older married sister Debbie. Alison meets the pothead reckless Ben Stone and while having a small talk with Ben, Debbie’s husband Pete calls her to tell that their daughter has chicken pots. Debbie leaves the place but Allison stays with Ben, drinking and dancing along all night; completely wasted, they end up having a one night stand. Ben does not use condom and eight weeks later, Allison discovers that she is pregnant. She calls Ben and they decide to try to stay together and have the baby. However, Ben needs to grow-up first to raise a family of his own.
7 . Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: An adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel of the same name. The film details a whacky search for the “American Dream”, by Thompson and
his crazed, Samoan lawyer. Fueled by the massive amount of drugs they purchased with an advance from a magazine to cover a sporting event in Vegas; they set out in the Red Shark. Encountering police, reporters, gamblers, racers, and hitchhikers; they search for some undefinable thing know only as the “American Dream” and find fear, loathing and hilarious adventures into the dementia of the modern American West.
Mary Jane, an anti-pot daughter of a dealer. What follows is typical pothead behaviour with a ton of cameos. Look carefully.
6 . How High: Drug enthusiast 4. Super Troopers: Thorny, and chemical master Silas and Mac, Rabbit, Foster and Farva his friend Jamal lose their best friend Ivory to a disturbing pot and dread-lock related fire. After Growing a pot plant in his ashes they use his heavenly connections to hook them up with all the knowledge they need to make it to Harvard... where they change the lives of the up-tight ivy league in the way only good stoner’s can.
5.
Half Baked: After Kenny accidentally kills a cop’s diabetic horse by feeding it the food he purchased from a munchie run, he is put in jail and is given a 1 million dollar bail. The rest of the group must bail Kenny out before Nasty Nate gets to him. The group decides to sell marijuana that Thurgood gets through his job as a janitor at a pharmaceutical lab. They become pals with rap star Sir Smoke-A-Lot and the rivals of dealer Samson Simpson. On the side, Thurgood seeks the love of
are Vermont state troopers out to have a good time. Stationed in a remote area near the Canadian border, the troopers, avid pranksters with an affinity for syrup, have a knack for screwing up on the job. But when budget cuts in the town of Spurbury threaten their livelihood and pit them against arch-rival Spurbury P.D., the five friends try to straighten up and fly right. That is, until a dead body is discovered and a possible drug ring is unearthed. The super troopers spring into action attempting to solve the crime, save their jobs, and outdo the local police department.
(meaning his grandmother and her two roommates).
2 . Pineapple Express: Lazy court-process clerk and stoner
Dale Denton has only one reason to visit his equally lazy dealer Saul Silver: to purchase weed, specifically, a rare new strain called Pineapple Express. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop and the city’s most dangerous drug lord, he panics and dumps his roach of Pineapple Express at the scene. Dale now has another reason to visit Saul: to find out if the weed is so rare that it can be traced back to him--and it is. As Dale and Saul run for their lives, they quickly discover that they’re not suffering from weed-fueled paranoia: incredibly, the bad guys really are hot on their trail and trying to figure out the fastest way to kill them both. All aboard the Pineapple Express.
1.
3 . Grandma’s Boy: When his roommate spends the rent
money on Filipino hookers. Alex, a 35 year video game tester has to find a new place to live. After a “encounter” with his friends mom, Alex is forced to move in with his grandmother. Trying to save face with his younger co-workers, Alex says that he is living “with three hot babes”
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle: Harold Lee and Kumar Patel are two stoners who end up getting the munchies. After seeing a television advertisement they develop a serious craving for White Castle. So from here, follows a journey for the burgers they require. On their way they will encounter many obstacles including a raccoon, a racist officer, and a horny Neil Patrick Harris.
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Shroud of Turin up for debate AGAIN ‘ fire. Rogers, who died shortly after publishing his findings, calculated it is 1,300 to 3,000 years old and could easily date from Jesus’ era.
Death Certificate is Imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican Scholar ROME - A Vatican researcher has rekindled the age-old debate over the Shroud of Turin, saying that faint writing on the linen proves it was the burial cloth of Jesus. Experts say the historian may be reading too much into the markings, and they stand by carbon-dating that points to the shroud being a medieval forgery. Barbara Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, says in a new book that she used computer-enhanced images of the shroud to decipher faintly written words in Greek, Latin and Aramaic scattered across the cloth. She asserts that the words include the name “(J)esu(s) Nazarene” — or Jesus of Nazareth — in Greek. That, she said, proves the text could not be of medieval origin because no Christian at the time, even a forger, would have mentioned Jesus without referring to his divinity. Failing to do so would risk being branded a heretic. “Even someone intent on forging a relic would have had all the reasons to place the signs of
divinity on this object,” Frale said Friday. “Had we found ‘Christ’ or the ‘Son of God’ we could have considered it a hoax, or a devotional inscription.” The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping from his hands and feet, and believers say Christ’s image was recorded on the linen’s fibers at the time of his resurrection. The fragile artifact, owned by the Vatican, is kept locked in a protective chamber in a Turin cathedral and is rarely shown. Measuring 13 feet (four meters) long and three feet (one meter) wide, the shroud has suffered severe damage through the centuries, including from fire. The Catholic Church makes no claims about the cloth’s authenticity, but says it is a powerful symbol of Christ’s suffering. There has been strong debate about it in the scientific community. Skeptics point out that radiocarbon dating conducted on the cloth in 1988 determined it was made in the 13th or 14th century. But Raymond Rogers of Los Alamos National Laboratory said in 2005 that the tested threads came from patches used to repair the shroud after a
Another study, by the Hebrew University, concluded that pollen and plant images on the shroud showed it originated in the area around Jerusalem sometime before the eighth century.While faint letters scattered around the face on the shroud were seen decades ago, serious researchers dismissed them, due to the results of the radiocarbon dating test, Frale told The Associated Press. But when she cut out the words from enhanced photos of the shroud and showed them to experts, they concurred the writing style was typical of the Middle East in the first century — Jesus’ time. She believes the text was written on a document by a clerk and glued to the shroud over the face so the body could be identified by relatives and buried properly. Metals in the ink used at the time may have allowed the writing to transfer to the linen, Frale said. She said she counted at least 11 words in her study of enhanced images produced by French scientists in a 1994 study. The words are fragmented and scattered on and around the image’s head, crisscrossing the cloth vertically and horizontally. One short sequence of Aramaic letters has not been fully translated.
Another fragment in Greek “iber” — may refer to Emperor Tiberius, who reigned at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, Frale said. She said the text also partially confirms the Gospels’ account of Jesus’ final moments. A fragment in Greek that can be read as “removed at the ninth hour”
may refer to Christ’s time of death reported in the holy texts, she said. In her book “The Shroud of Jesus Nazarene,” published in Italian, Frale reconstructs from the lettering on the shroud what she believes Jesus’ death certificate said:
“Jesus Nazarene. Found (guilty of inciting the people to revolt). Put to death in the year 16 of Tiberius. Taken down at the ninth hour.” She said the text then stipulates the body will returned to relatives after a year. Frale said her research was done without the support of the Vatican. “I tried to be objective and leave religious issues aside,” Frale told the AP. “What I studied was an ancient document that certifies the execution of a man, in a specific time and place.” Frale’s work usually focuses on medieval documents. She is noted for research on the order of the Knights Templar and her discovery of unpublished documents on the group in the Vatican’s archives. Earlier this year, she published a study saying the Templars once had the shroud in their possession. That raised eyebrows because the order was abolished in the early 14th century and the shroud is first recorded in history around 1360 in the hands of a French knight. Her latest book on the shroud raised even more doubts among some experts. On one hand, it is true that a medieval forger would label the object with Christ’s name, as were all relics produced at the time, said Antonio Lombatti, a church historian who has written about
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the shroud. The problem is that there are no inscriptions to be seen in the first place. “People work on grainy photos and think they see things,” Lombatti told the AP. “It’s all the result of imagination and computer software. ... If you look at a photo of the shroud, there’s a lot of contrast between light and dark, but there are no letters.” Further criticizing Frale’s work, Lombatti said that artifacts bearing Greek and Aramaic texts were found in Jewish burials from the first century, but the use of Latin is unheard of. He also rejected the idea that authorities would officially return the body of a crucified man to relatives after filling out some paperwork. Victims of that form of execution used by the Romans would usually be left on the cross or were disposed of in a dump to add to its deterrent. Lombatti said “the message was that you won’t even have a tomb to cry over.” Another shroud expert, Gian Marco Rinaldi, said that even scientists who believe in the relic’s authenticity have dismissed as unreliable the images on which Frale’s study was based. Source: The StarTribune/ Minneapolis-
Bar Profile: The
Gallery Bar WEIRD: HOW MANY ARTISTS ARE FEATURED ON THE WALL? GB:15 right now and more to come soon. The Gallery Bar welcomes all types of expression. Every 2nd Tuesday of the month we are doing Independent Film night BEST NIGHT TO COME TO VISIT THE GALLERY BAR? GB:Every night we are open WED-SAT. WEIRD: HOW CAN PEOPLE GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU GUYS TO CHECK YOU OUT?
WEIRD: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN OPEN?
WEIRD: WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC DO YOU FEATURE?
GB: 7
weeks and some change. allready feels like always.
GB: Mostly local acts and very often little known live performers doinf Folk, Jazz,, Soft Rock, and Original Music.
WEIRD: DESCRIBE YOUR VENUE
WEIRD: WHAT MAKES THE GALLERY BAR UNIQUE?
GB: Electric and original with appeal to everyone. Furnished on the cheap, but fit for royalty. Artistic and Bohemian but, regular folk are at home here.
GB:It’s showcase of Art and Music and the coffehouse/ funky bar atmosphere we have here where anyone can feel welcome and comfortable.
WEIRD: WHAT ARE THE BEER/ WINE SPECIALS? GB: The beer and wine here are always special.
GB:Check us out online at FACEBOOK or on MYSPACE. Or email us at the_gallery_bar@ yahoo.com Or if you like, you can always leave a note on the door.
Furnished on the
cheap, but fiFIt for royalty. Artistic and Bohemian but, regular folk are at home here. WEIRD: Thanks guys. Weird Magazine loves The Gallery BAr. GB:Thanks, Weird Magazine rocks!
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911 TRUTH: MORE THAN YOU THINK had been the pole would Despite the differ- have bent ence of opinion and fell sidebetween those who blame the ways, not immehijackers and those who blame diately turned their own govern- to liquid and fall ment, the real straight down. to understand why, from JFKs assassination to the moon landing to 9/11, a culture of conspiracy springs up around certain historic events.
CBC’s The Fifth Estate: The Unofficial Story November 29, 2009 On September 11, 2001 the world watched in shock and disbelief as planes flew in to New Yorks World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, and Americans realized they were under attack. But by whom? What really happened? In The Unofficial Story, the fifth estates Bob McKeown introduces us to people who believe the real force behind the attacks was not Osama Bin Laden, but the U.S. government itself. Emerging from the dust and debris that day was a movement, known these days as 9/11 Truth or truthers people who believe that 9/11 was part of a vast conspiracy and cover-up by a criminal faction within the U.S. government. As the fifth estate reports, public opinion polls now
show that the majority of Americans believe the Bush Administration had advance knowledge of those attacks and somehow allowed them to happen and that one-third of Canadians share the same belief. In The Unofficial Story, Bob McKeown explores why these questions and theories are growing in popularity. Youll meet some of the leading proponents of truther theories: Richard Gage, an American architect, explains how the WTC twin towers and the lesser known Tower #7 could only have crumbled as they did due to explosive charges placed inside the buildings. Others, including Canadian professor Kee Dewdney, insist that the story of the brave fight by the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 must have been a hoax. But, youll also hear from others who dispel truther theories and try
importance of the fight over 9/11 truth is that it may have less to do with the past than the future. ON A SIDE NOTE _________________________ The other day this conspiracy theorist and I were watching a lumberjack chop down a tree. “Timber!” the guy yells, and then he swings his ax at the tree for the last time. The tree turned almost completely into sawdust as it collapsed down in a cloud landing in a small pile just a little bit wider than the base of the tree. “How did that happen?” the conspiracy loon asked. “It was hit by an ax, duh!” I properly scolded him.
He says the only time ANYTHING does this is through the use of explosives. Where do these conspiracy theorists get these crazy ideas? I mean we see things like this happen all the time! TO WATCH THE CBC VIDEO VISIT THESE LINKS BELOW. Full Length and Interviews Here: http://www.cbc.ca/ fifth/2009-2010/the… unofficial_story/ RESOURCES: Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth http://www.ae911truth.org/ NYC Coalition For Accountability Now http://nyccan.org/index.php
Last month I was with this same guy when we saw some kids hold up a lighter to a metal lamp post. Of course, the entire lamp post melted instantly, falling into a puddle a little wider than the original base where it remained glowing white hot for weeks. He actually thinks the fire didn’t cause that to happen! Can you believe it?
He said that the lighter was nowhere near hot enough to melt the pole, and even if it Page 12 • weirdmagazine.com
Baloos Baloo’s
1900 S 77 Sunshine Strip
Harlingen, TX 78550 (956) 428-2300 Yvonne & Heather
The girls wouldn’t say; what is in thedrinks. Both were great! Go on down to Baloos and meet these Y: The awsome fine young l adies and people. Our Staff & ask for a shot and a the Music. H: Interacting with cold beer! the customers W: Best part about being a bartender at Baloos?
“So which one of you is Single again?”
W: Any Tattoos?
Y: Yes. 3 H: Yes! 5 W: Favorite Local band?
Y: Sons of the “Quotes of the Beach H: Sons of the Beach Night”
W: AGE?
Y: 23 H: 22
W: Are either of you single?
W: Years Bartending?
Y: No H: Yes
Y: 1 H: 1 W: Favorite Night to work?
Y: Friday H: Friday
W: Sexy Santa or Horny Hippo?
Y: Horny Hippo H: Sexy Santa
W: What is your Specialty Shot/drink?
W: Contents of Pocket?
Y: Barkey & Lighter H: Bartool - Lip Gloss- Matches
Y: Starfucker H: Blond Headed Slut CONTENTS OF DRINK:
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“Amil, check this taste please” yummy.” “I am glad “a couple you two more of girls get these and i’m along so going swim- well” ming”
Paranormal Monsters of Texas been brought to my attention – encounters that strongly suggest we should carefully reconsider the notion that Bigfoot is simply an unknown form of ape or ape-man, even.
Paranormal Monsters of Texas Paranormal Monsters of Texas By Nick Redfern
Two extremely similar cases in particular which stand out both occurred during the late 1970s in the huge, dense area of forest in southeast Texas called the Big Thicket. Weirdly, both incidents involved Bigfoot having the apparent ability to adversely affect the electrical systems and engines of automobiles – which is highly odd, to say the very least.
Although many mainstream cryptozoologists (those dedicated souls who pursue Bigfoot, Nessie and the many and varied other beasts that are said to haunt our planet) are reluctant to admit it, the fact is that there are a considerable number of reports on record in which the critters in question seem to be far more (or, paradoxically, much less) than mere flesh-and-blood animals of unknown origin. Indeed, there are many cases on file in which Bigfoot, in particular, seem to possess skills, talents and senses that practically border upon the supernatural. I have no real idea why this should be the case. What I can tell you, however, is that witness testimony relative to Bigfoot has taken some very strange twists and turns over the decades – something that leads me to believe we still have yet to successfully scratch the surface of what lies at the heart of all-things of a definitively Sasquatch nature. For the last decade or so I have made my home in the Lone Star State: Texas (on the fringes of the city of Dallas). And, it is from within this huge state that more than a few encounters of the monstrous kind have
Consider the evidence: Gerald told me that his sighting in the Big Thicket took place in the summer of 1977 – and just about as midnight was looming, too, somewhat appropriately. The location was right around the Old Hardin Cemetery, which can be found near the town of Kountze. Without warning, the engine of his vehicle spluttered and its headlights began to dim – something ominous was most assuredly afoot. As he pulled the vehicle to the safety of the side of the road, and at around twenty yards from him, Gerald told me, he saw what he described as a seven-foot tall, incredibly thin creature covered in dark hair. It walked like a man, Gerald
added, but was “leaning forward and swinging [its] arms.” The encounter barely lasted mere moments, Gerald explained, and the beast disappeared into the shadowy woods.
But, perhaps, most intriguing of all was the next development: only seconds afterwards, a basketball-sized ball of light came floating through the trees at a level above the road of about fifty or sixty feet, and from the same, precise location where the hairy man-beast had entered the trees. The aerial intruder maneuvered at a very slow pace; until it was ultimately lost from view amid the dense woods on the opposite side of the road. Notably, after both the creature and the ghostly-light disappeared, Gerald was able to restart his vehicle with absolutely no problems at all; strange, indeed.
arms as it did so, but did not appear fazed or at all concerned by the fact that the headlights of Dwight’s car illuminated its face. Interestingly, and in a situation that very eerily paralleled the story of Gerald, when Dwight came within around fifty feet of the creature, the engine and headlights on his car both failed. It was only when the creature had departed into the woods that Dwight was able to re-start his vehicle again. And, as a result, he has, today, become a solid adherent of the theory that the Big Thicket Bigfoot is some form of paranormal creature, rather than merely a beast of a
conventional, flesh-and-blood nature. Some might, of course, relegate such tales to the world of fantasy or hoaxing; and, perhaps, in some cases they might be correct to do so. But, when tales of very high-strangeness can be found in the files of numerous Bigfoot researchers here, there and practically everywhere, it’s time – in my view, at least – to reevaluate our views and opinions on just what the beast may be – or may not be. Bigfoot & Aliens are NOT Jewish
Very similarly, there is the tale of an elderly man named Dwight, who resides in the relatively-nearby Texas town of Nederland, and who personally saw a large and lumbering apelike creature crossing a road close to the Big Thicket’s Bragg Road late at night in the winter of 1978/1979. Dwight described the beast as being around seven feet in height, jet-black in color, and with a head that sat squarely on its wide shoulders. He added that the creature moved slowly across the road, and swung its
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SWINE FLU TOTAL HYPE FOR BIG PHARMA: MAINSTREAM MEDIA TAKES
ADVERTISING DOLLARS AND SPINS THE HYPE Were Swine Flu Death Projections Hyped? Adam Murdock, M.D. Infowars November 22, 2009 The 2009 H1N1 swine flu “pandemic” may turn out to be one of the most overblown and expensive medical crises in modern history. Indeed, this particular swine flu may be one of the weakest in history. The most recent figures show that the number of flu cases are already dropping in the U.S., England, and elsewhere.
According to the UK Independent, “Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, published a worst-case scenario suggesting the country should plan for up to 65,000 deaths. That planning assumption has since been revised downwards twice.
In September the ‘worst case’ was cut
A similar revisionist trend has occurred in the United States. As a result of the original nightmare “pandemic” scenarios, governments around the world have spent billions of dollars to stockpile antivirals (ie. Tamiflu) and to propagandize, produce, and distribute H1N1 vaccinations. The most notable change
It is a mild illness in most but occasionally can lead to severe complications due to bacterial superinfections. In the UK, under 200 people have died from the virus and in the US a debatable 4 thousand people have died. The number of deaths in the US greatly expanded from 1,200 to 4,000 after the CDC recently decided to lump in bacterial infections and “flulike illnesses” with confirmed swine-flu related deaths. Even with these inflated numbers, in comparison to previous pandemics or even compared to seasonal flu epidemics, this has been a relatively mild illness. The Spanish H1N1 flu of 1918 was estimated to have killed up to 50 million people. In 195758, the Asian HN2 flu caused the death of 1.5 million to 2 million people. Only a decade later, this was followed by the Hong Kong H3N2 in 1968-69 which is thought to be responsible for one million deaths. So far the 2009 H1N1 flu has only been implicated as the cause of death for a few thousand people.
What is striking is that just six months ago, officials in the US and UK were predicting tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of deaths from this swine flu. Since that time officials have had to revise their numbers downward on many occasions.
to 19,000 deaths, and in October it was cut again to 1,000 deaths. This compares with an average annual toll of 4,000 to 8,000 deaths from seasonal winter flFLu.”
in how government has tackled this flu emergency has been how they have used the media to spread panic amongst the citizens of the world. Just take the example of Kathleen Sebelius who is the US Health and Human Services (HHS) director. She has publicly gloated over the US Federal Government’s campaign to spread H1N1 flu information on children’s television programming. This has included putting flu messages and even creating whole television shows devoted to government flu propaganda on programs such as Elmo’s World on Sesame Street, Sid the Science Kid, and ESPN. They have also spread their reach into internet social networks like Facebook. In her testimony before Congress, she remarked that she is particularly proud of hearing stories of children that are now correcting their misinformed parents after they had watched the government programming. This propaganda campaign is in addition to direct advertising and almost continuous hysteria from supposed health experts on prime time television. The advice from these individuals is sometimes so obviously biased that it can be nauseating.
Unfortunately, it all comes down to power, money, and prestige. In order to get to the bottom of why swine flu hysteria was so overblown one has to simply ask: Who is prof-
iting from the whole swine flu hysteria?
In answer to that question one has to look no further than the drug companies and the medical research establishment. As I have reported previously, drug companies are in line to make billions of dollars over this pandemic and are preparing to expand vaccinations for years to come. As drug companies have already produced vaccinations for most of the other infectious diseases that cause significant mortality in the western world, they are now looking for a new crop of diseases that could become potential vaccine candidates. In fact, facing the prospect of curtailed drug spending, pharmaceutical companies foresee vaccination expansion as one of their greatest areas of focus and future profit.
According to the Associated Press (AP), “vaccines are seen as a critical path to growth for drugmakers, as slowing prescription medicine sales and intensifying generic competition put pressure on company bottom lines.”
In addition to drug companies, as reported in Reuters, medical researchers have had to respond to “accusations” that the “pandemic has been ‘hyped’ by medical researchers to further their own cause, boost research grants and line the pockets of drug companies.” In response to this, researchers have maintained that “we need to know a lot more to conquer the virus, and funding for new research and drugs is vital to be equipped for future pandemics.” Where this comes full circle is with the government. The great majority of medical research spending is sponsored by government. It is well known that funding from the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and other international governmental bodies favors “pertinent” or as I like to call it “trendy” research. This funding favoritism is especially true of research that can be used to support government policy positions. Most recently, this has been seen in the great expansion of government sponsored global warming research. Now, vaccine experts and their infectious disease cohorts are likely to profit greatly in terms of research grants for preparing for “future pandemics.” One only has to hope that those future pandemics will actually deserve all the attention and expense that this one has. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE.
How could the estimates have been so wildly exaggerated?
Page 18 • weirdmagazine.com
Were Swine Flu Death Projections Hyped? Finally,
central governments profit greatly from supposed pandemics such as this one. It permits them to try to justify their existence as our “great guarantors” of health and safety. It also allows them to continue to expand their tentacles of influence and power to an even greater extent in individual lives as they try to remove our medical freedom by making health care decisions for us. Remember that the government, as President Obama’s top economic advisor Rahm Emanuel puts it, “never” likes to “waste a good crisis” by not effecting a change that they would ordinarily not be able to accomplish. In this case, governments are trying to expand their mandate as the sole provider of health care because they were the only ones able to protect us from a supposedly horrific swine flu pandemic. Even if the truth has been that their efforts have been largely fruitless, the vast majority of people will remain oblivious to this fact. In the future the government will never cease to congratulate itself for coming to our rescue. The way government has reacted to this flu reminds me greatly of Orwell’s “double-
freedoms if realistic swine flu death projections were used from the beginning?
think” as employed by the totalitarian government in his book Nineteen eighty-four. In terms of the swine flu, the H1N1 “doublethink” means that government says one thing but the reality is the exact opposite. This “doublethink” says that freedom from death from the swine flu means surrendering your medical freedom to a government health bureaucracy. The reality is that government intervention will have proven to do little more then spend our tax dollars and come at the expense of our health care freedom. This is evidenced by the fact the gov-
ernments have used this mild flu and hysteria surrounding it to create medical emergency acts that would grant powers to forcibly vaccination citizens despite their objections.
One has to ask the question – would government, researchers, and drug companies been able to justify billions of dollars of expenditures and encroachments on our
In addition, would the public have been so eager to tune into government and media flu propaganda, or support totalitarian pandemic emergency power bills, or shown up for mass vaccinations if they knew the truth and not the worst? Would they have done any of these things if they had known from the beginning that this pandemic would amount to a few hundred deaths? Surely, the answer would be no. Many health professionals agree that the original estimates were unreasonably high. According to the UK Independent, “Dr Steven Field, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘I thought the original predictions for the number of deaths were incredibly high.’”
As with the avian flu scare before it, these groups have great incentive to inflate worst case scenarios because they have the most to profit from the hysteria. There is really no reason why this inflationary pattern will not continue so long as government can use the hysteria to justify increased expansion, drug companies can produce the needed pandemic vaccines, and researchers need a reason to justify massive pandemic research grants.
In the end, I urge you to resist the temptation to sacrifice any of your freedoms for any ounce of government “well-meaning” slavery, especially over a contrived “pandemic’ such as with the 2009 H1N1 swine flu. Adam Murdock, M.D. is founder of The Freemen Institute, www. freemeninstitute.com.
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Vaccines: A Bullet to the Head Dr Sherri Tenpenny Infowars November 22, 2009 Vaccines: A Bullet to the Head
It seems people often need to experience a bullet to the head before they will believe bullets can be deadly…and then they rue the day they ignored warnings about playing with loaded guns.f Vaccination seems to hold a similar place. People ignore words of caution and roll up their sleeves to get a flu shot. It seems they think getting a vaccine is the same as taking a multivitamin, and equally as benign. But when serious adverse events occur, such as Guillain-Barre paralysis, a seizure disorder or even a death, a jolt of reality lays bare just how damaging a “simple vaccine” can be. The stranglehold of fear, perpetrated by those in white coats and by the medical bureaucrats in Washington DC who take their marching orders from pharma, is working hard to choke rationally thinking adults into submission. I get emails almost every day that say something like, “I bought your DVDs and your books…but I have a question: Should I get a flu shot?” WHAT?@!>! My mouth drops. I have to clear my head and find a way to say, “No, you should not get the flu shot”, being cautious to keep my tone void of sarcasm. That may seem harsh, but in very turbulent times. Soft language and hand holding until people “get it” is becoming increasingly more difficult.
Being in the business of waking people up to the hazards of vaccines certainly has its ups and downs. A recent “up” was the public policy debate held on November 10 at the University of Texas in Austin. Sponsored by the Libertarian Longhorns, the Texas College Republicans and a few other Texas health freedom groups, the discussion called, “Are
Vaccine Mandates Good or Bad for Public Health?” was open to the
general public. Interest in this timely topic was reflected by the standing-room only attendance of the meeting. Speaking in support of vaccination and school mandates was Tom Betz, MD, MPH, Director of Region 7 for the Texas Department of Health Services. Several of his health department colleagues joined him in the audience but chose not to join him on the stage. I had the pleasure of being teamed with Dawn Richardson, President and Co-founder of PROVE (Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education) in Austin, Texas and the Directory of State Advocacy for the National Vaccine Information Center in Vienna, Virginia. Our presentation was mostly about opposition to vaccine mandates but we were able to address our opposition to vaccines in general. Based on the hundreds of comments we received, the debate (found all on YouTube) was well received and enlightening for all. All three participants were given the questions to review prior to the debate. There is so much to
say about vaccines that preparation was important to cover key points, almost as sound bites; only three short minutes were allowed for each answer. Our very professional moderator, Dr. Donna Campbell, allowed equal time for each side. During the personal introductions, Dr. Campbell informed the audience that the plan was to have two persons on each panel; but that Dr. Betz was the only person from the Health Department who would agree to participate. Prior to settling in on the stage, I had learned the reason why. Shaking Dr. Betz’ hand, I thanked him for joining the discussion. He returned the niceties with a slight shrug, confessing that, “No one else wanted to do it.” Surprised, I queried, “Why not? This is a great way to tell everyone your message about vaccines.”
My unspoken question was, “Why didn’t the Health Department want to jump on the opportunity to bury anti-vaccination ‘pseudo-science’, as you call it, once and for all, in front of everyone?” He quietly replied, “We’ve done these types of programs before; they never go well.”
It seems pro-vaccine arguments are being soundly defeated, time after time. And the real vaccine “pseudo-science” is being exposed for the rhetoric it is: factoids crafted by public health officials from the WHO and the CDC, and then regurgitated by underinformed medical professionals to a naïve public. Funny how medical bureaucrats and doctors are considered the “experts” when it is strangely obvious they don’t understand – and probably don’t even read – their own medical literature. The Austin debate was the next important step in exposing that the “science of vaccination” isn’t so scientific after all. Vaccination has been accepted as safe, effective and protective. The shots can be described as a medical sacred cow, defined as “a medical procedure that is unreasonably immune to criticism.” Doctors and patients who question vaccines are ridiculed and marginalized. It is heresy to suggest that the status quo is wrong. Vaccine adverse events are considered “rare,” so when reactions occur, steps are taken to negate the association to the vaccine. Patients are discredited, parents are dismissed. Doctors subject very ill persons to thousands of dollars of inconclusive medical tests, rather than to simply acknowledge – and rightfully assign causality – to the vaccine. When a person reacts to penicillin or Paxil or any other drug, it’s it is blamed on the drug? Not so with vaccines. Going to Austin was an upbeat offset to other particularly disturbing news reported over the last few weeks about the H1N1, swine flu vaccine: • Several schools have vaccinated children without parental consent. • The growing list of reported miscarriages. • A teen athlete who is now
crippled. • Two students and a teacher in China who died hours after getting the shot. • Children having hallucinations, and then committing suicide, after taking Tamiflu. • The strange and virulent outbreak in the Ukraine, where the WHO has been deafeningly silent about its findings – but knows that whatever is the cause, vaccination is the answer. We seem to regard germs the same way we think about terrorism: Random attacks that can be deadly. All parties who promote vaccination hawk this view, particularly those pushing both types of flu shots. Tens of millions have been spent in the US on national advertising campaigns, and even Sesame Street merchandising, to convince us that flu shots are necessary to keep us well – and keep us alive. But perhaps we have it backwards. Bugs can cause random, mostly benign attacks, particularly among the healthy. But random, “deadly” attacks, with health consequences that can show up years later? I’d worry more about the vaccines. After 200 years, with our many advances in science and medicine, you would think that someone could develop a method to protect babies and adults from infectious disease other than injecting them with animal cells, stray viruses, heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Why do we call this health and protection? Until my dying breath I will never understand why people resolutely defend – and demand – the right to inject themselves and their children with these risky potients. For those who meet resistance when trying to warn family and friends of vaccine risks, the only thing to do, really, is to keep spreading the word. Don’t be discouraged. You never know who is listening and you never know when the seeds will sprout. Focus on those who are waking up and gratefully support them. The rest, well sadly, they may have to find out the hard way what it feels like to get hit by that stray bullet.
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An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore invade China. “You’re fired!,” said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in’ hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).
To Mr. Obama, Monday, November 30th, 2009 Dear President Obama, Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so. It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That’s the way General Washington insisted it must be. That’s what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to
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So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- “Let’s invade Afghanistan!” Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin. There’s a reason they don’t call Afghanistan the “Garden State” (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan’s nickname is the “Graveyard of Empires.” If you don’t believe it, give the British a call. I’d have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev’s number though. It’s + 41 22 789 1662. I’m sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you’re about to commit. With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the “war president.” Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works.
The heathens usually tear them to shreds. Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn’t have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones. I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush’s Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.
Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you’re doing it so you can “end the war”) will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you’ve said and done in your first year.
One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout “tea bag!” Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a oneterm president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning. We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can’t take it anymore. We can’t take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big,
wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of “landslide victory” don’t you understand? Don’t be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn’t be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can’t change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.
The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can’t be won over by abandoning the rest of us. President Obama, it’s time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, “No, we don’t need health care, we don’t need jobs, we don’t need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, ‘cause we don’t need them, either.” What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that’s what they’d do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines. All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of
crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam “might” be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know. When we elected you we didn’t expect miracles. We didn’t even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn’t even function as a nation and never, ever has. Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God’s sake, stop. Tonight we still have hope. Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON’T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother’s son. We’re counting on you. Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com MichaelMoore.com P.S. There’s still time to have your voice heard. Call the White House at 202-4561111 or email the President.
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Climategate spells end to the false science of climate change Anthony Gucciardi Infowars November 28, 2009 With the release of over 60 megabytes worth of incriminating emails, and the world getting a glimpse into the world of fanatical pseudo-science, there is little that can be done by the professors who are now on intellectual trial. Whether the emails were leaked or hacked, the people responsible for getting the information out have helped uncover the truth about “climate change” like no news story before it. While there have been piles of evidence to expose the global warming fraud in the past, a written exchange in their very own words is the ultimate proof. With Lord Christopher Monckton making an appearance on the Alex Jones show on Friday to
discuss the Climategate story, it is evident that even top political figures are speaking out against phony “climate change”. The very premise that carbon dioxide is bad for the environment goes against the basic fundamentals of science. While it is absurd to think the public would fall for something so outlandish as to say that one of the building blocks of life is a poison, you must remember that many agreed to ban water under it’s scientific name dihydrogen monoxide.
One would believe that the day the groundbreaking emails surfaced would be the last for global warming propagandists, yet the professors still attempt to lie their way out of the issue. Some
CLIMATE GATE: The Global Warming Hypocrisy so-called environmentalists even went into a state of hysteria upon finding out about the leaked emails. The professors can dance around on television all day, but the truth cannot be silenced by a thousand lies. When looking at the history of the climate change scandal, you will find that the alarmist terminology shifts repeatedly. First they warned against global cooling, warning of a new ice age. Shortly after the warning of a new ice age, global warming was toted as the new killer. The mainstream media picked up global warming as the story of the generation, claiming it was the inevitable killer of humanity. As more and more evidence surfaces, they are now forced to admit that we are entering a cooling trend. As more and more saw this repeti-
tious cycle for what it is, phony scientists toting global warming were forced to change their wording. “Climate change” emerged as the new word used in order to accommodate any environmental change. The ludicrous claims made by pushers of the global warm-
ing scam have been thoroughly debunked, and those in charge of creating false numbers have been exposed. It is time to inform everyone you know about these recent findings. Don’t let false science dictate the actions that you make in your life.