Free Republic

Occupy New Hampshire protesters plan to march in Manchester in support of gay rights and family pride... They said a majority of the Republican candidates do not recognize gay rights and the equality of all citizens. Protesters said political ideologies should not be permitted to define what constitutes a family. Occupy groups are protesting what they see as income inequality and corporate greed.

(CNSNews.com) – On Jan. 1, the California Department of Education started implementing a new law that requires all children in the state’s public schools to study the “role and contributions” of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans” to the “development of California and the United States of America.” This law, according to the pro-family group SaveCalifornia.com, will require the schools to promote “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans as role models” and mandate that “children as young as kindergarten must be taught to admire persons who engage in homosexuality.”

Navy Times is reporting that besides screwing over retirees in the 2012 Defense budget, Congress approved Fags marrying on base. We were busying arguing over who one the budget battle and our Tea Party Consrvative Congress slip us one in the rear. If this were a war heterosexuals have lost, defeated by our own Quislings in Congress. Every day in the military we are bombarded with gay love stories. How in Gods name did we ever win a war without the butt pirates and carpet munchers. There are no conservatives left in American politics. They give fags whatever they want....

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Administrators at a Utah middle school outed a gay teenage boy to his parents because they feared he would be bullied, but the move has outraged civil rights groups that claim the student's privacy was violated. Alpine School District took the unusual step after the 14-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, created an advertisement about himself and his sexual orientation during a class project.

An additional $50 million is going toward treatment and medical facilities across the United States to help combat the AIDS virus, President Barack Obama announced Thursday during a Washington event marking World AIDS day. "We are going to win this fight," Obama said. "But the fight's not over, not by a long shot."

A gay couple who adopted nine boys have been accused of sexually assaulting two of the children.But another adopted son of George Harasz and Doug Wirth insists his two fathers are innocent, and says his siblings have a disorder in which troubled foster children lash out at adults who try to connect with them.  Married 'fathers' Harasz and Wirth, who say they consider caring for hard-to-place children a personal challenge, adopted three sets of siblings, all boys, since 2000. George's two biological children and their mother also live at the large Victorian home in Glastonbury, Connecticut.       Accused: George Harasz,...

David Codrea published an article today about an interesting letter one law abiding silencer owner received from the ATF. The silencer owner in question owns an AWC .22lr silencer that uses a material made of tangled copper ropes to slow down the expanding gasses, a material not unlike the common Brillo pad or Chore Boy Pot Scrubber. He wanted to know whether it would be legal to replace the worn out material in his legally owned silencer with some pot scrubber material, an act which seems pretty innocuous to the impartial observer. The ATF, on the other hand… From the...

PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday said homosexuals and lesbians will be punished severely for their behaviour which is inconsistent with African and Christian values. He made the remarks at the launch of the Tongogara Community Share Ownership Tru-st at Unki Mine. Zimbabweans told Copac during the outreach programme that they want homosexuality outlawed. Said the President: "Do not get tempted into that (homosexuality). You are young people. Mukaenda ikoko we will punish you severely." He took a swipe at recent utterances by British Prime Minister David Cameron that London will not aid countries that do not respect gay rights. Mr Cameron said...

<p>RUSH: From the Los Angeles Times: "A teenager who fatally shot a gay classmate in the back of the head during an Oxnard middle school computer lab will spend 21 years in prison under a plea deal reached Monday, closing the books on a case that drew international headlines and ignited debate on how schools should handle sexual identity issues.</p>

For Immediate Release: Friday, November 4, 2011 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John Kerry today introduced the Viral Hepatitis Testing Act of 2011 to create a national strategy to fight – and ultimately eradicate – Hepatitis B and C in America. Representatives Michael Honda and Bill Cassidy are introducing the companion legislation in the House of Representatives.  “Viral hepatitis is a silent killer,” said Sen. Kerry. “Many people don’t even know they have hepatitis B or C until it causes liver damage or even cancer years after the initial infection. Today as many as 5.3 million Americans are battling this disease,...

Washington D.C., Oct 31, 2011 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- Marriage advocates are warning that a repeal of the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act could have disastrous consequences for the nation, including the further erosion of religious liberty and a continued effort to legalize multiple-partner relationships.“Marriage is critically important because the marriage-based family is the original and best Department of Health, Education and Welfare,” said Robert P. George, law professor at Princeton University.George told CNA that a healthy marriage culture is “crucial to the overall success of any society.”In an Oct. 28 interview, George responded to reports that the Senate Judiciary...

THIS is the moment a group of chimpanzees sees daylight for the first time in 30 years — after being locked in cages for medical testing. The animals hugged each other in delight before they took their first steps outside. Emotional footage, below, shows how they reacted to their new surroundings. The outing marked the end of a 14-year bid to re-integrate the 38 primates after they spent most of their lives cooped up inside. One commentator said: "They hugged as if saying, 'We're finally free'. And then they laughed." The chimpanzees were taken from their mothers shortly after their...

Should we be screening blood for hepatisi G?Hepatitis G virus was identified in 1995. Some little research was carried out on the virus and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared it a non-harmful virus in 1997. Researchers in Saudi Arabia, writing in the International Journal of Immunological Studies present evidence to suggest that this may have been the wrong decision. They claim that transmission of the virus through donated blood that was not screened for the virus as well as infection through other routes has led to an increase in cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. Hepatitis...

Contact: Daniela Hernandez dfh2101@columbia.edu 310-991-2391 Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health In a study to be published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report the discovery of a novel hepatitis C-like virus in dogs. The identification and characterization of this virus gives scientists new insights into how hepatitis C in humans may have evolved and provides scientists renewed hope to develop a model system to study how it causes disease. The research was conducted at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the University...

A former supervisor in the Dayton VA Medical Center’s dental clinic blamed intervention by the NAACP for foiling his efforts in the early 1990s to remove a dentist whose lax infection control practices put patients’ safety at risk. Dr. Dwight M. Pemberton continued to practice dentistry at the Dayton VA, often failing to change latex gloves and sterilize dental instruments between patients...Between 1992 and July 2010, 535 patients who had invasive dental work by Pemberton may have been exposed to bloodborne pathogens, the VA said. Nine have preliminary positive results for hepatitis B or hepatitis C. In the early 1990s,...

Peshawar 15 March 2011, according to recently survey of provincial health ministry Hepatitis C rising in fata, currently 200000 people affected from hepatitis c in fata and the patient of Hepatitis B are 139000 registered in tribal belt. More then 900000 patient of Hepatitis c and 500000 of Hepatitis B, registered in Khyber pukhtoon khawa province. According to health official hepatitis control program start in 2006 in 24 different districts of province and till now 700000 patients received free immunization. Health officials blame the dirty water of drinking, that people using in different parts of the province.

Legal immigrants are required to have medical screening to ensure that they do not bring any contagious diseases into the United States. Illegal aliens are not screened and many are carrying horrific third world diseases that do not belong in the USA. Many of these diseases are highly contagious and will infect citizens that come in contact with an infected illegal alien. This has already happened in restaurants, schools, and police forces. Malaria was eradicated from the USA in the 1940s but recently there were outbreaks in southern California, New Jersey, New York City, and Houston. Additionally, Malaria tainted blood...

Allman Brothers Band cofounder Gregg Allman underwent successful liver transplant surgery this morning, forcing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band to cancel its performance at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival at Chicago's Toyota Park on Saturday. The Derek Trucks Band will replace the Allmans on the lineup, which also includes Jeff Beck, John Mayer, B.B. King and Buddy Guy. Check out Rolling Stone's rundown of the Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Allman is being treated at Jacksonville, Florida's Mayo Clinic after battling Hepatitis C for several years. In 2007, the singer was advised that the damage to his...

Melbourne, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- An Australia abortion facility worker is facing more accusations that he infected dozens of women with hepatitis C during abortions. The heath chief of the Australian state of Victoria released the accusations against the abortion practitioner in April. Since then, the number of potential victims has jumped form 12 to 44 as the outbreak at the Croydon Day Surgery abortion business appears worse than earlier reports as the probe continues. The Herald Sun newspaper indicates the health department investigation into the abortion operation where James Latham Peters was the anesthesiologist will expand -- potentially to as...

Institute of Medicine makes recommendations to prevent HBV and HCV infectionsA recent report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) confirmed that 3.5 to 5.3 million people (1-2 % of the U.S. population) have chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Despite efforts by federal, state and local government agencies to control and prevent these diseases, they remain a serious public health concern. The major factor impeding efforts to control HBV and HCV is lack of knowledge and awareness among health care providers, social service professionals, members of the public, and policy-makers. The full IOM report is...

The Associated Press is reporting today that surgical technician Kristen Diane Parker, who has been charged with switching used syringes for those filled with the painkiller fentanyl while working at two different healthcare facilities in Colorado, has pleaded guilty. As many as 36 patients have contracted hepatis C and many others may have been exposed to the virus via the contaminated syringes. Authorities say she is expected to receive a sentence of 20 years in prison. At a hearing, Parker described for prosecutors how she evaded a hospital's drug screening process and began stealing drugs as she coped with a...

Researchers have come up with a completely new way to thwart hepatitis C: Go after the host, not the virus. Genetically silencing a small piece of RNA in chimpanzees effectively suppresses the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a new study shows--and the virus appears unable to become resistant to the treatment. But experts caution that the approach needs to be scrutinized carefully for side effects. New drugs against HCV are badly needed. More than 170 million people worldwide have contracted the virus, which is transmitted primarily via injection drug use and through the transfusion of blood and blood products. The virus...

VICTORIAN health authorities have renewed their warnings over links between semi-dried tomatoes and an outbreak of hepatitis A ... "Because the incubation period for hepatitis A could be as long as two months, trying to get people who fell ill to accurately pin down what and where they actually ate this product can be difficult," Dr Carnie said. Bottled semi-dried tomatoes in supermarkets were pasteurised and considered safe along with any of the cooked product such as in pizzas or quiches. The greatest risk would appear to be at restaurants and cafes, where semi-dried tomatoes are served in foods such...

It is a health crisis of alarming proportions. Up to nine million Egyptians have been exposed to hepatitis C, and tens of thousands will die each year unless they receive a liver transplant. Health authorities are taking steps to stop the spread of the blood-borne virus, but must also contend with higher liver failure mortality rates as the disease advances in those infected decades ago. "The prevalence of hepatitis C is not growing, but the impact of an outbreak in the 1960s and 70s is appearing now as a clinical outcome," says Dr. Mostafa Kamal Mohamed, professor of community medicine...

For years, the use of unscreened blood transfusions exposed severely wounded servicemembers and other trauma patients in Iraq and Afghanistan to the inherent risk of diseases such as HIV, hepatitis and malaria, according to medical experts who advise the secretary of defense. Battlefield attacks that resulted in mass casualties or severe injuries often overtaxed the military’s blood supply system until 2007, meaning medics collected fresh blood from those on site for emergency treatment of the wounded, the Defense Health Board wrote in a June 2008 report. The unscreened blood transfusions, however, did not meet federal safety standards required of all...

EL PASO, Texas — Sixteen patients exposed to a mismanaged insulin needle program have tested positive for hepatitis C, Army officials said Tuesday. The William Beaumont Army Medical Center patients were among more than 2,000 diabetics who may have been exposed to blood-borne illnesses between August 2007 and January 2009 because of the program that systematically gave multiple patients injections from the same insulin pen. Lt. Col. Sandy LaFon, the hospital's chief of preventive medicine, said it's unclear if the infections came from the improper insulin injections or were previously undiagnosed infections. Either way, the 16 patients are being treated...

Two former Philadelphia funeral directors on Tuesday admitted to selling cadavers to a ring that cut them up and sold the body parts to hospitals for implants. Gerald Garzone and his brother Louis Garzone pleaded guilty to charges that they conspired with others to take bones, skin and organs from 244 bodies in their funeral homes between February 2004 and September 2005. They were part of a scheme that plundered 1,077 bodies in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania without the permission of relatives in an operation that netted the conspirators $3.8 million. One of the bodies belonged to Alistair...

Predator missile strike? Delta Force hit-and-run deep behind enemy lines? Nope. Better: The senior al Qaida operative who helped direct the 2005 London subway bombings and a plot to blow up commercial airliners over the Atlantic Ocean has died in Pakistan’s tribal region, U.S. counter terrorism officials said Tuesday.The senior militant, an Egyptian who used the nom de guerre Abu Ubaida al-Masri, recently succumbed to hepatitis, they said. Never heard of him? Most people haven’t. The Times devoted a few paragraphs to him in a story last May about the next generation of Al Qaeda leadership, but I can’t even...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists in Japan have designed artificial molecules that when used with rats successfully reversed liver cirrhosis, a serious chronic disease in humans that until now can only be cured by transplants. Cirrhosis is the hardening or scarring of the liver, and is caused by factors such as heavy drinking and Hepatitis B and C. The disease is especially serious in parts of Asia, including China. Cirrhosis occurs when a class of liver cells starts producing collagen, a fibrous material that toughens skin and tendons. Such damage cannot be reversed although steps can be taken to prevent...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Virginia hospital has asked more than 300 former patients to come in for blood tests because a nurse suspected of infecting patients with hepatitis in Texas worked there last year. Retired Army Capt. Jon Dale Jones, 45, was arrested this month in Miami on federal charges of assaulting three patients and possession of a controlled substance by fraud. Federal prosecutors said they believe Jones spread hepatitis in 2004 at an El Paso military hospital by diverting fentanyl -- a powerful painkiller often used for anesthesia -- from patients to himself. At least 15 military service...

MANHEIM TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A man running around a Lancaster County Chuck E. Cheese restaurant on Thursday evening was spitting and yelling "I have hepatitis C," police said. Manheim Township police said they arrived at the Chuck E. Cheese of Fruitville Pike around 7:45 p.m. and found David Ecenrode, 45, of Ephrata outside the restaurant. He was taken to a local hospital. Police said they have not confirmed whether he has hepatitis C. "He was running around acting crazy and spitting, which I think that was probably most significant cause for concern because you're in an eating establishment and this...

More Nevada surgery clinics to be cited By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 8, 5:09 AM ET A statewide inspection of outpatient surgery centers like the one believed to have spread hepatitis C to its patients has uncovered dangerous practices at four other clinics, a health official said Friday.The state swore to quickly inspect all 50 Nevada outpatient surgery centers after it was discovered the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada spread the blood-borne virus to at least six patients by reusing syringes and sharing vials of medication.Of the 18 clinics inspected by Friday, three in northern Nevada...

Vegas hepatitis exposure list incomplete By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago Health officials used an incomplete patient list to notify people exposed to hepatitis and HIV at a Las Vegas clinic, an epidemiologist testified Thursday."We know of patients who had been there whose names were not on the list," Southern Nevada Health District epidemiologist Brian Labus told a state legislative committee on health care.The public hearing was the first investigating the spread of hepatitis C from unsafe practices at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. An outbreak of six cases of acute hepatitis C was made...

CDC Says Problems with Hepatitis C at Clinic Could Be 'Tip of an Iceberg' Posted: 11:10 AM Mar 4, 2008 Last Updated: 2:44 PM Mar 4, 2008 Washington (AP) The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an outbreak of Hepatitis C at a Nevada clinic may represent “the tip of an iceberg” of safety problems at clinics around the country. The City of Las Vegas shut down the Endoscopy center of Southern Nevada last Friday after state health officials determined that six patients had contracted Hepatitis C because of unsafe practices including clinic staff reusing syringes...

LOS ANGELES — The city of Las Vegas has shut down a clinic where up to 40,000 people may have been exposed to hepatitis C and the HIV virus through the reuse of syringes and vials, officials said on Sunday. The clinic at the heart of the scandal, the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, "was served with an emergency suspension of its business license," city authorities said in a statement. Officials are asking about 40,000 people to be tested for hepatitis B and C and HIV because of unsafe medical practices at the clinic. Health authorities launched an investigation into...

One Sunday after church, Rich Miller headed to a local Chi-Chi's restaurant in Beaver, Pa., where he dipped into the house salsa that came with the meal. That simple act in 2003 changed his life forever. What Miller didn't know was that imported Mexican green onions in the salsa carried a deadly passenger: hepatitis A. A few days later, as Miller recalled recently, "I couldn't even get out of bed. It was like the worst case of flu that you could ever imagine." His health quickly deteriorating, the 57-year-old railroad superintendent was diagnosed with rare fulminant hepatitis A disease --...

A U.S. Coast Guard officer and devout Catholic has filed suit to prevent being forced to receive a vaccination derived from the lung of an aborted child after a higher ranking officer disputed his understanding of Church theology. The Alliance Defense Fund filed a complaint last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Healy, charging the government with using its own arbitrary judgment of what constitutes Catholic theology while permitting religious exemptions to others, effectively discriminating against Healy's sincerely held religious beliefs. Healy's request for religious exemption cited a 2005...

New evidence shows that the drug makers Merck and Schering-Plough have conducted several studies of their popular cholesterol medicine Zetia that raise questions about its risks to the liver, but the companies have never published those results. Partial results of the studies, alluded to in documents on the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site, raise questions about whether Zetia can cause liver damage when used long term with other cholesterol drugs called statins. Most of the millions of people who use Zetia take it along with a statin like Lipitor, Crestor or Zocor. Or they take it in a single...

Governor Spitzer said that the NY State Department of Health's response regarding the Nassau County doctor exposed over 600 patients to hepatitis C and HIV was "unacceptably slow" and ordered an investigation. Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist, reused syringes and multiple-dose medicine vials between January 2000 and January 2005; some patients learned they had contracted hepatitis in 2005, but the state and Nassau County officials waited 34 months to contact other patients. It turns out that it took health officials so long to let patients know because of , per the NY Times, "prolonged negotiations between the doctor and Health...

CHICAGO - A woman in her 30s who is one of the four organ transplant patients infected with HIV and hepatitis was not told that the infected donor was high risk, and had previously rejected another donor "because of his lifestyle," her attorney said. Attorney Thomas Demetrio filed a petition Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of the woman, asking officials to keep a hospital and an organ procurement center from destroying or altering any records involving the donation. "She's really a mess right now," Demetrio said of the Chicago-area woman. "She's still in shock." The patient, identified...

Over the years, I have thought about getting a tattoo. Surprising considering my fear of needles! lol I see them everywhere on every classs of person, I see the artwork vary from onr body to another.What causes someone to decide to have a tattoo. Is it cultural? Is it a fad? I am seriously thinking about it now. Any stories, suggestions? Thank you!

MADRID, Spain — A Spanish anesthesiologist with hepatitis C was sentenced to 1,933 years in prison Tuesday for infecting 275 people with the virus by injecting them with morphine from the same needles he used to feed his addiction to that drug. The Valencia Provincial Court said Juan Maeso, 65, tainted the patients by first giving himself a portion of morphine shots meant for them, then shooting the rest into them without changing the syringes. Maeso worked in four hospitals in the coastal city of Valencia when he infected the people from 1988-1997, the court said. Four of the patients...

Stores in question are in Harlingen and Raymondville An employee who worked at two Rio Grande Valley Whataburger restaurants may have exposed customers to hepatitis A at specific periods in March, according to state health officials. The Texas Department of State Health Services issued a warning Tuesday to anyone who ate at the Harlingen restaurant at 1605 W. Harrison St. between March 1 and 12 and its Raymondville restaurant at 1007 E. Hidalgo Ave. between March 13 and March 31 to seek medical treatment for hepatitis A if experiencing symptoms. An employee working at both restaurants was diagnosed with the...

CBS) LOS ANGELES An employee of Wolfgang Puck Catering in Hollywood has been diagnosed with acute hepatitis A, according to the county Department of Public Health. Attendees of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue party at the Pacific Design Center on Feb. 14 may have been exposed and should receive an immune globulin shot by Wednesday to prevent illness, health officials said. There is no risk to any one who ate food prepared after Feb. 20. Attendees at the post-Academy Awards Governors Ball, which was catered by Wolfgang Puck, are not at risk for contracting hepatitis A, public health officials said

Hundreds Line Up for Hepatitis A ShotsThousands may have been exposed recently to hepatitis A at a Pappasito's Cantina on Houston's north side, and shots are being offered to those who may have been infected.By KTRH News StaffTuesday, February 20, 2007Because hepatitis is contagious, the Harris County Department of Public Health is offering free shots of "immune globulin." However health officials say the shot only works for those who've come in contact with hepatitis within the previous two weeks. After that, anyone possibly exposed should watch for symptoms of fever, nausea, vomiting, exhaustion. Anyone who experiences such symptoms should see...

Recent diners at Pappasito's on I-45 North were possibly exposed, may need shots The health department will offer free shots of immune globulin antibodies for those who dined at the restaurant Feb. 7, 8 and 9: • When: 8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday • Where: Mangum-Howell Center, formerly the Doss Community Center, 2500 Frick • Information: 713-212-0200 or www.hcphes.org Health officials say that anyone who ate at a north Houston Pappasito's Cantina in late January or earlier this month may have been exposed to hepatitis A by an infected member of the waitstaff. A health advisory was issued Sunday...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

According to the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, tattooing has been practiced since the days of the ancient Egyptians, although the pharaohs and their gang must have called it some other word. Tatau is a Tahitian word, and ta-tu the Marquesan word that Captain Cook's sailors brought back from their 18th-century travels to Polynesia, where tattooing held great cultural significance on most of the far flung islands of the South Pacific. Sailors became the first segment of western populations to go for tattoos in a big way. Veterans of overseas wars and convicts followed.

Biggest concern is human and dog waste contained in a trench, Forest Service says... Between 300 and 500 people remain in Big Red Park this week after the mass exodus of people from the Rainbow Gathering in Medicine Bow/Routt County National Forest. The Forest Service is working with these people this week to develop the environmental rehabilitation process, after an estimated 15,000 people attended the annual event. So far, approximately 600 citations have been distributed by the Forest Service for camping and parking violations. The Forest Service’s biggest concern regarding the rehabilitation is the human and dog waste, which is...

(snip) From Mexico's perspective, the border encompasses some of the country's most economically prosperous states. In contrast, the U.S. border region is among the poorest areas in the United States, with >30% of families living at or below the poverty level[8]. Along the Texas border, an estimated 350,000 or more people live in 1,450 unincorporated areas known as colonias, which lack adequate sanitation infrastructure[8]. The large population movement, limited public health infrastructure, and poor environmental conditions contribute to increased incidence of certain infectious diseases[8-11] Analysis of data from the U.S. National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for 1990 through 1998 showed...