Censored 2014 Read Online Free
Author: Mickey Huff
The US Has Left Iraq with an Epidemic of Cancers and Birth Defects
High levels of lead, mercury, and depleted uranium are believed to be causing birth defects, miscarriages, and cancer for people living in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Fallujah. Researchers have claimed that the United States bombings of Basra and Fallujah are to blame for this rapidly increasing health crisis.
A recent study showed more than 50 percent of babies born in Fallujah have a birth defect, while one in six pregnancies ends in a miscarriage. While there is no conclusive evidence to show that US military attacks directly caused these health problems among Iraqi citizens, the immense increase of birth defects and miscarriages after the attacks has been enough to concern a number of researchers.
Military officials continue to dodge questions about the attacks, and about use of depleted uranium in particular, while maintainingsilence about the health crisis. Instead, the US government has dismissed the reports as controversial and baseless.
For sources and further analysis, see page 113 and the âTechnologies and Ecologies of Warâ News Cluster.
13. A Fifth of Americans Go Hungry
An August 2012 Gallup poll showed that 18.2 percent of Americans lacked sufficient money for needed food at least once over the previous year. To make matters worse, the worst drought in half a century impacted 80 percent of agricultural lands in the country, increasing food prices. Despite this, in 2012, Congress considered cutting support for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)â the official name of its food stamp programâas part of the 2013 Farm Bill.
Proposed Senate cuts would cost approximately 500,000 households about ninety dollars a month in nutritional assistance. Proposed cuts in the House of Representatives would go much further than the ones in the Senate, and would have removed at least 1.8 million people from SNAP. Republicans controlling the House have been eager to cut spending and were the primary supporters of food stamp cuts.
Opponents have expressed concern over the harm the cuts would cause to societyâs more vulnerable members, including seniors, children, and working families. Rising food prices would hit Southern states the hardest, while Mountain-Plains and Midwest states would be least affected. Despite all the food hardship, the National Resources Defense Council reported that 40 percent of food in the country goes to waste.
For sources and further analysis, see page 86 and the âPlutocracy, Poverty, and Prosperityâ News Cluster.
14. Wireless Technology a Looming Health Crisis
As a multitude of hazardous wireless technologies are deployed in homes, schools, and workplaces, government officials and industry representatives continue to insist on their safety despite growing evidence to the contrary. Extensive deployment of âsmart gridâ technology hastens this looming health crisis.
By now many residents in the United States and Canada have smart metersâwhich transfer detailed information on residentsâ electrical usage back to the utility every few minutesâinstalled on their dwellings. Each meter has an electronic cellular transmitter that uses powerful bursts of electromagnetic radio frequency (RF) radiation to communicate with nearby meters, which together form an interlocking network. Such information can easily be used to determine individual patterns of behavior based on power consumption.
Utilities sell smart grid technology to the public as a way to âempowerâ individual energy consumers, allowing them to access information on their energy usage so that they may eventually save money by programming âsmartâ (i.e., wireless-enabled) home appliances and equipment to run when electrical rates are lowest. In other words, a broader plan behind smart grid technology involves a tieredrate system for electricity consumption that will be set by the utility,
High levels of lead, mercury, and depleted uranium are believed to be causing birth defects, miscarriages, and cancer for people living in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Fallujah. Researchers have claimed that the United States bombings of Basra and Fallujah are to blame for this rapidly increasing health crisis.
A recent study showed more than 50 percent of babies born in Fallujah have a birth defect, while one in six pregnancies ends in a miscarriage. While there is no conclusive evidence to show that US military attacks directly caused these health problems among Iraqi citizens, the immense increase of birth defects and miscarriages after the attacks has been enough to concern a number of researchers.
Military officials continue to dodge questions about the attacks, and about use of depleted uranium in particular, while maintainingsilence about the health crisis. Instead, the US government has dismissed the reports as controversial and baseless.
For sources and further analysis, see page 113 and the âTechnologies and Ecologies of Warâ News Cluster.
13. A Fifth of Americans Go Hungry
An August 2012 Gallup poll showed that 18.2 percent of Americans lacked sufficient money for needed food at least once over the previous year. To make matters worse, the worst drought in half a century impacted 80 percent of agricultural lands in the country, increasing food prices. Despite this, in 2012, Congress considered cutting support for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)â the official name of its food stamp programâas part of the 2013 Farm Bill.
Proposed Senate cuts would cost approximately 500,000 households about ninety dollars a month in nutritional assistance. Proposed cuts in the House of Representatives would go much further than the ones in the Senate, and would have removed at least 1.8 million people from SNAP. Republicans controlling the House have been eager to cut spending and were the primary supporters of food stamp cuts.
Opponents have expressed concern over the harm the cuts would cause to societyâs more vulnerable members, including seniors, children, and working families. Rising food prices would hit Southern states the hardest, while Mountain-Plains and Midwest states would be least affected. Despite all the food hardship, the National Resources Defense Council reported that 40 percent of food in the country goes to waste.
For sources and further analysis, see page 86 and the âPlutocracy, Poverty, and Prosperityâ News Cluster.
14. Wireless Technology a Looming Health Crisis
As a multitude of hazardous wireless technologies are deployed in homes, schools, and workplaces, government officials and industry representatives continue to insist on their safety despite growing evidence to the contrary. Extensive deployment of âsmart gridâ technology hastens this looming health crisis.
By now many residents in the United States and Canada have smart metersâwhich transfer detailed information on residentsâ electrical usage back to the utility every few minutesâinstalled on their dwellings. Each meter has an electronic cellular transmitter that uses powerful bursts of electromagnetic radio frequency (RF) radiation to communicate with nearby meters, which together form an interlocking network. Such information can easily be used to determine individual patterns of behavior based on power consumption.
Utilities sell smart grid technology to the public as a way to âempowerâ individual energy consumers, allowing them to access information on their energy usage so that they may eventually save money by programming âsmartâ (i.e., wireless-enabled) home appliances and equipment to run when electrical rates are lowest. In other words, a broader plan behind smart grid technology involves a tieredrate system for electricity consumption that will be set by the utility,
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