Cover-Up: Mexican Government Lying About Swine Flu

by Fintan Dunne, BreakForNews.com, 

29th April, 2009, 07:00 EST

Amid a growing international focus on a suspicious mass flu outbreak around intensive pig production facilities in Mexico, government officials there have resorted to lying about the type of flu which struck hundreds of locals. 

At a press conference on Monday, Mexican Health Minister José Ángel Córdova assured the media that a flu outbreak in the town of La Gloria was not Swine Flu, but an already-known and different flu strain. The town is set among 72 industrial pig production facilities part-owned by the multinational Smithfield Foods, 

He said that of 35 mucous samples taken from flu victims, only one sample matched the Swine Flu strain which is causing international concern. That sample was taken from Edgar Hernandez Hernandez, a 4-year-old local boy who fell ill and has now recovered.

Local Veracruz governor Fidel Herrera echoed his Health Minister's comments on Tuesday, stating that: "there is not a single indicator" to suggest La Gloria was the epicenter of Mexico's Swine Flu outbreak.

The government position is that barring this single boy, the rest of the samples indicate locals fell foul of the known flu strain H2N3, not the new variant A/H1N1 strain.

AGAINST THE ODDS

But there is a serious flaw in the Mexican government's public position. After hundreds of mucous samples had been collected from flu victims across Mexico, health officials took a small subset of those samples and in mid-April sent them out of Mexico to US laboratories for further scientific analysis. Of the 35 samples they had secured from the inhabitants of La Gloria, only one sample was included in that smaller subset sent to the US. That sample was the one taken from 4-year-old EdgarHernandez Hernandez.

So the Mexican Government wants us to believe that by sheer chance they happened to pick the only A/H1N1 sample in La Gloria, and that the other 34 samples still in the custody of Mexican health authorities are the knownH2N3 strain!

A trivial calculation show that the odds of that serendipitous sample selection are 35 to 1. 

Those odds against the Mexican government increase when we consider that residents of La Gloria say that they had symptoms which were identical to those reported by Swine Flu victims across Mexico.

La Gloria resident Jose Luis Martinez, told Associated Press that he heard a description of the symptoms of other Mexican victims on television: fever, coughing, joint aches, severe headache, vomiting and diarrhea. "..We said to ourselves, 'This is what we had. The symptoms they are suffering are the same that we had here."

Writing from La Gloria for the London Guardian, Jo Tuckman recounts the experience of another local:

"I watch what is going on in Mexico City and we say to each other that is exactly what happened to us," says Rosa Jimenez, as she walks down the road holding her toddler's hand with a filthy mask around her neck. She notes that many families in La Gloria have relatives who work in Mexico City but came back to the village for the Easter week celebrations. "Could that be how it spread to the capital?" she asks.

Reporting from Mexico City for the London Independent, Ioan Grillo heard similar stories:

"We have been fighting this disease for months now and complaining about the pig waste for years," said La Gloria resident Erasto Bautista, 45, talking by telephone from the state capital Veracruz. "We are glad to see that the world is finally listening to us." 

Like many other residents, Mr Bautista often works on building sites in Mexico City, explaining how the flu could have quickly spread here and make it the world epicenter in the virus. Mr Bautista said he himself fell sick from the flu in January, keeping him bed ridden for a week. 

"My head was so painful it almost exploded. The body aches were so strong that I couldn't move," he said, describing symptoms strikingly similar to those plaguing swine flu sufferers in Mexico City hospital beds."

When residents of La Gloria began to get seriously ill from as far back as mid-February, health officials astonishingly downplayed their severe symptoms as merely atypical colds. Nevertheless locals say they were told the 'cold' was probably caused by the flies from the pig farms, and fumigation teams were sent to get rid of the flies.

The official line rubbishing any possible link between the Swine Flu outbreak and the wealthy multinational Smithfield Foods will hardly come as a surprise to La Gloria locals. In previous years, some of them have been jailed for protesting the effect of the company's million-pig-per-annum operations on them and their environment. A resident speaking anonymously to the London Guardian said: "This is a company with lots of power and lots of dollars. They have always been protected by the government and there is not much we can do about it."

The Mexican government's handling of the flu outbreak hasn't impressed people outside of La Gloria either. One Mexican told Associated Press: "Nobody believes the government anymore."

But the officials are nothing but insistent in their claims "This virus did not start in this area. It originated in Asia and spread into Mexico via the United States," said Veracruz governor Fidel Herrera when visiting La Gloria. 

Considering the odds against their public claims, if Mexican officials were to repeat their position in court, a judge might well warn them that lying under oath is a serious business. And if they persisted they could face prosecution for perjury and even jail.

What are the odds of that happening?

About the same odds as the odds of Smithfield Foods owner Joseph Luter III, described as the world's richest "pig baron", giving up his vast fortune; starting a sustainable farm; and befriending some of the 27 million pigs his company slaughters every year.

Read Discussion in BreakForNews Forum:
http://breakfornews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=56162#56162 

Page URL:
http://BreakForNews.com/Mexican-Government-Lying-About-Swine-Flu.htm

REFERENCES:
http://www.independent.co.uk/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/
http://money.cnn.com/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/
http://www.wtop.com/
http://www.chron.com/
http://www.redorbit.com/

Original article content Copyright © BreakForNews.com, 2009

Katrina Levee Bomb Is More Fake Politics

by Fintan Dunne

Katrina survivors giving testimony to a House committee, investigating the government's preparations and response, have alleged that there are numerous witnesses to explosion sounds and that divers have found a 30-foot crater at the bottom of the 17th St. Levee that flooded the 9th Ward.

The hearing was requested by Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Oh! Was it really! Hmmm......
Ok, let's connect the dots.....

The bombshell claims will be skipped over by the mainstream media and likely aired only at C-Span and left blogs, etc. This segmentation of media means that such stories can be floated to specific sectors of the public well used to so-called "conspiracy theories" --without ever becoming a mainstream political issue.

Except of course, these claims will get a more widespread audience in the black community in the U.S.

And this hearing was all "Black Caucus" McKinney's idea.

Now, some very important dots:

Recall that, as we reported (Cynthia's Big LIHOP Day Out), McKinney held hearings in July, 2005 on whether the Bush administration was involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Yep, like levee bombs, that was a previous "conspiracy theory" event from the same McKinney.

At that 9/11 hearing --just to help Cynthia out-- were such luminaries such as:

--Melvin Goodman, a former CIA official
--Robert Baer, author, former CIA official
--Melvin Goodman, Fellow, Center for International Policy, former CIA official
--John Newman, Ph.D., professor University of West Virginia, former NSA analyst
--Nafeez Ahmed, author of The War on Truth,
--Paul Thompson, author of The Terror Timeline
--Peter Dale Scott, Ph.D., author of Drugs, Oil and War

In other words, a tired old crew of well-worn CIA hacks.

Now KcKinney is back with the "Levee Bomb". So what's up?

Is the CIA keen for word to get out that the bad guys blew the levee; ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of blacks; and drowned those who did not make it out??

What kind of a CIA is that, you ask? They are supposed to keep that kind of stuff hushed up --not helping to have it all broadcast on C-Span??

Well, the answer to this apparently bizarre behaviour from the agency and their stooges is that the CIA are prepared to mentally club the black vote into the waiting arms of the Democratic(Corporate) Party and away from the Republican(Corporate) Party.

Why?

Because Hillary NEEDS their Votes !!!

I mean, what do they have to do the alienate blacks from the Repugnicans?? Drown 'em? Abandon 'em? Have the Bushies publicly insult 'em? They've done all that already.

Wait.... I know. This will seal the black vote, for sure.

Have Bill Clinton 'black-up' and do Ole Man River while campaigning with Hillary in 2008.

That oughta do it.

If you are still being sucked into this 'engineered' fake politics by these slimeballs, you need to listen to our special show:

Exit Bush -Enter the Dragon
Listen DSL or 56K

So, leaving aside the staged political gymnastics, did they really blow the levee?

The survivors panel said that historically, towns have blown levees upstream to prevent their own town from flooding, so blowing up levees was nothing new for Louisiana.

Here's what happened in 1927:

When the rains broke records in April 1927, the Gulf of Mexico was full and worked as a stopper to the Mississippi. The Mississippi was full, too, pushing its own waters up tributaries, breaking levees and causing flooding as far as Ohio and Texas. All that water had to go somewhere.

It couldn't go to New Orleans, panicky city fathers told the Army Corps of Engineers; it would devastate the regional economy.

To save New Orleans, the leaders proposed a radical plan. South of the city, the population was mostly rural and poor. The leaders appealed to the federal government to essentially sacrifice those parishes by blowing up an earthen levee and diverting the water to marshland. They promised restitution to people who would lose their homes. Government officials, including Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, signed off.

On April 29, the levee at Caernarvon, 13 miles south of New Orleans, succumbed to 39 tons of dynamite. The river rushed through at 250,000 cubic feet per second. New Orleans was saved, but the misery of the flooded parishes had only started. The city fathers took years to make good on their promises, and very few residents ever saw any compensation at all. Link

So, yeah they blew the levee. Not just to get votes for Hillary though.

It was also a very timely and effective Psyop on the American people.


Katrina Victims Testify About Levee Bomb!
Link Video at http://www.c-span.org See Part 1

Berlusconi steps down in bid to avoid voters

Silvio Berlusconi is resigning as head of the Italian Government in a technical move to launder the image of a regime now clearly rejected by Italian voters. The aim is to avoid an election which would see the government parties hammered by voters.

The second- and third-biggest parties in Berlusconi's four- way coalition, the Union of Christian Democrats and the National Alliance, both want to try mark a clean break with the previous four years of government and are set to try revamp the Cabinet and focus economic policy on low-income households and Italy's depressed south.

Rebellion escalating again across Iraq

Attacks by resistance fighters are escalating again across Iraq, as violence returns to the levels seen before January, 2005.

Two US soldiers were killed Tuesday evening in a sucicide car bomb attack in Baghdad, the military said. Six died and 44 were wounded outside an Iraqi army recruitment center. Four Iraqi soldiers were also killed in an attack Tuesday against an army patrol in Khalidiyah, west of the capital. At least two Iraqis were killed in three more blasts in the capital on Wednesday.

Rebels are mounting large scale raids against police stations, such as one in the northern city of Mosul on Monday when a 50-strong group unsuccessfully tried to overrun local police.

Marines in Husaybah, Western Iraq have been forced to hunker down in defensive positions. They primarily mount counterattacks after assaults on the camp.

"We're facing a well-developed, mature insurgency with the support of the local population" of about 100,000 townspeople, Marine Maj. John Reed says. "There is no Iraqi security force here. They are not effective. There are no police. They are dead or doing something else."

Ricin: The plot that never was

A deadly poison said to be at the heart of a terrorist conspiracy against Britain led to a dire warning of another al-Qa'ida attack in the West. The Government was swift to act on the fear that such a find generated. But, as Severin Carrell and Raymond Whitaker report, far from being a major threat, the real danger existed only in the mind of a misguided individual living in a dingy north London bedsit.

It was a weapon of mass destruction, a warning that we all needed to be 'vigilant and alert'. Weeks before the invasion of Iraq, the 'ricin plot' was used by Tony Blair as evidence of the danger from weapons of mass destruction, and by Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State, before the UN Security Council as proof that Iraq was aiding al-Qa'ida terrorism.

But there was no ricin - a fact suppressed for more than two years. There was no terrorist cell, just one deluded and dangerous man who killed a police officer during a bungled immigration raid. Despite more than 100 arrests and months of investigation which took detectives to 16 countries, no al-Qa'ida plot ever materialised.

Last week at the Old Bailey, the Algerian was convicted and sentenced to 17 years for 'conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by the use of poisons and/or explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury'. Four other alleged co-conspirators were acquitted, and charges against four lesser figures, whose trial was due to start tomorrow, were dropped.

Yet the authorities remained undaunted. Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan police commissioner said it supported the argument for compulsory identity cards, echoing the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke. Mr Clarke's immediate predecessor, David Blunkett, claimed that the case showed the need for more anti-terrorism laws.

A terrorism trial which was spun from start to finish, abetted by many senior elements of the security establishment and much hysterical coverage in the media, is still being manipulated, regardless of the evidence in court.

America's Undeclared Arms Race for Global Military Power

The Pentagon has released the summary of a top secret Pentagon document, which sketches America's agenda for global military domination. How does Washington intend to reach its goal of global military hegemony? Essentially through a new undeclared arms race, requiring a massive shift out of the production of civilian goods and services, with vast amounts of public money channeled to America's major weapons producers.

G.W.'s Holy Warrior - General 'Jerry' Boykin

Who is General William "Jerry" Boykin? His anti-Muslim and Christian fascist remarks caused an uproar when they were reported in the major media in October 2003. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld nominated him for a third star and named him to a new position as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. Boykin also played a key role in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. And he's been put in charge of secret covert commando operations not subject to Congressional oversight. It is lunacy backed up by, and serving, imperialism.

The New BreakForNews.com Flyer is Out !

Here's a terrific new BreakForNews.com flyer, thanks to an inspired listener. A great piece of agit-prop art for handing out or posting on your bedroom wall (, or wherever). As usual, should you or any of your BFN agent colleagues be caught or killed, this website will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck Jim.

Lorraine Bracco Lands New Role As Pharma Prostitute

Lorraine Bracco, who plays psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi on HBO's "The Sopranos," has teamed up with drug manufacturer Pfizer to "get the word out about depression, with a Web site (DepressionHelp.com) and a series of commercials.

Yeah, Lorraine just figured: "Hey, I'll call Pfizer and maybe together we can beat depression." And Pfizer said "Wow, what a great idea Lorraine. Now, why didn't we think of that? Soooo glad you called." Really? Just how stupid do these people think we are?

Media Shy to Report Virtual Collapse of Jackson Case

The case against Michael Jackson has suffered likely terminal blow after the boy at the center of the case descredited himself on the witness stand over the last few days. But admitting that would mean less public interest in the case; less viewers and readers of media coverage of the case; and thus less profit for the major media. The impact of his testimony is a nettle only AFP's reporter Patrick Moser has fully grasped: "Over the past few days, lead attorney Thomas Mesereau tore to shreds not only the testimony of the accuser but also the claims made his mother, brother and sister."

Shi'ite: Even Surrender Is Not An Option

"The USA oppressors have left us with no choice but to fight them. Even surrender is not an option. We did not want to fight. We are a peaceful people. But when the USA is starving children all over the world, by putting countries into huge debt and then giving back in charity only a fraction of what they stole, and when the USA is bombing people all over the world, and killing innocent people with sanctions and depleted uranium, then they have pushed us into a corner and we must defend the world and its children from USA oppression.

Feds Demand Life Term for Pain Doctor

Federal prosecutors have urged a judge send Dr. William Hurwitz to prison for life, following his controversial conviction for narcotics-trafficking last year. Hurwitz's attorney, Marvin D. Miller, called the government request for a life sentence "absolutely insane." Hurwitz is to many a heroic figure who helped patients nobody else would treat. See BreakForNews Audio Interview with Ken Hurwitz, Friday 11th March

The Sgrena Hit : How They Did It

by Fintan Dunne - By combining photo evidence and eyewitness accounts of the Baghdad airport shooting in which Giuliana Sgrena was wounded and Nicola Calipari killed, a compelling picture of a precision ambush emerges.

The photos of the car taken from Italian television confirm this analysis. The driver's side tyre has clearly been shot out from the side. It has been pierced in the sidewall by a single shot. Nervous GI's in Iraq do not fire single shots at tyres. They fire fusilades. The same observation can be made about the overall lack of bullet damage to the car bodywork. This is inconsistent with a typical US military attack on a vehicle perceived to be a threat - no matter how many rounds were fired.

Dramatic Collapse in US Support for Iraq War

There has been a dramatic collapse in support by US voters for the Iraq War. A new poll by Zogby shows a fall of 13% in support for the war -over only ten days! This is hugely significant. A shift of this magnitude over as short as ten days unquestionably indicates a broad ongoing collapse among previous war supporters.

Right-Wing Bloggers' Fake Sgrena Car Photo

by Fintan Dunne - Right-wing bloggers are circulating a photo purportedly showing the car in which Giuliana Sgrena was wounded and her rescuer Nicola Calipari was fatally shot. The photo is being used to discredit Sgrena's account of the shooting. At first glance the picture seems legitimate. But on the Yahoo News Photo site -I quickly found the same vehicle photographed from another angle. This time with an Iraqi man standing beside the vehicle.

Giuliana Sgrena : Means, Motive and Murder

by Fintan Dunne - The official US cover-story of the events at Baghdad airport, when their forces fired at a car carrying Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena is now completely discredited. Now that we know more, the incident at the airport looks at least as consistent with an ambush as it is with a "mishap." This kidnapping fits a pattern of previous suspicious hostage-taking, consistent with a psychological warfare program in support of US war objectives in Iraq. The objective is to emotionally involve ordinary American, Britons and Italians in support of the war, by enmeshing ordinary middle-class citizens in the war - as victims.

Reporter survives likely assassination bid by US

by Kathy McMahon - U.S. forces have fired at a car carrying Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena shortly after her liberation, killing one Italian intelligence agent and wounding two others. If the Italian intelligence agent who died shielding Sgrena had not courageously given his life, the outcome would have made it look like she had been the primary target of a planned ambush. Which is precisely the conclusion many will reach. Especially those skeptical of mainstream media coverage on this spate of suspicious kidnappings in Iraq.

Victory in Rumsfeld Suit Could End Torture -Lawyer

A victory for eight former US military detainees in a federal lawsuit against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could bring a legal halt to abusive detention practices by the United States says a senior lawyer connected with the case. In an interview with BreakForNews.com, Eric Biel, Senior Counsel in Human Rights First's Washington D. C. office, said that a primary objective of the case was to secure a judicial ruling that the objectionable actions 'cease and desist'.

A Psychoanalysis of Republicans and Bush

BuzzFlash: How would you define "anxious masculinity?"
Stephen J. Ducat: "It's a culture based on male domination... in which most things feminine tend to be devalued, even if they are secretly envied. In such a culture, the most important thing about being a man is not being a woman... This makes disavowing the feminine in oneself and projecting it onto one’s opponent to be especially important."

Fourteen Words Never To Use --when conning the US public

Frank Luntz, pollster, Republican political consultant, and CEO of Luntz Research is an expert at the politics of Orwell: how to manipulate the people’s opinions through nothing more than the words he tells politicians to use. His latest release is a 160 page briefing book on how the Republicans should be framing the arguments to selectively deceive the American people.

Iraq Car Bomb Kills 125, with death toll stil rising

A suicide bomb in a crowded marketplace near Baghdad killed 115 people and wounded 148. Reuters TV showed a pile of bloodied bodies outside the building. Smoke rose from the wreckage of burned-out market stalls as bystanders loaded mangled corpses on to wooden carts, usually used to carry fruit and vegetables.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man [Video Rplayer]

John Perkins [Confessions of an Economic Hit Man] describes how he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay and then take over their economies.

14 Ways to Eternal Fascism -Umberto Eco

I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Eternal Fascism. It would be so much easier for us if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, "I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Blackshirts to parade again in the Italian squares." Life is not that simple.

Air Jesus -With The Evangelical Air Force

As leading lights gathered at the National Religious Broadcasters' convention, it might seem ironic to hear about persecution at the convention of a group that represents 1700 broadcasters and which enjoys unfettered access to congressional Republicans and the White House. New CEO, Frank Wright, describing a recent lobbying excursion to Capitol Hill, said, "We got into rooms we've never been in before. We got down on the floor of the Senate and prayed over Hillary Clinton's desk."

The Meta-Theory of Conspiracy Theories

" One is apt to be labeled a conspiracy theorist for merely suggesting that there is a ruling class that seeks to maintain hegemony, to say nothing of the idea that the ruling class occasionally uses conspiratorial methods. Rather than conspiracy theory, most media and intellectual gatekeepers prefer to view elite behavior through the lens of "somnambulist theory," "coincidence theory," "incompetence theory," or "spontaneity theory." "

Woof, Woof

It's a dog's life.
Or, more specifically:
It's a world of Wag the Dog mass media manipulations.

In this blog you will find many revealing tails.
Wag, wag, wag.