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Yemen Protest Today Friday (With Update/ Follow-up)

By John Ballard

There are many You Tube videos coming from just about everywhere except Syria, some of which are too gruesome to watch. This one from today is impressive because of the spirit of unity and discipline it shows. By most accounts Yemen is made up of no less than four or five groups, all seeking a strong measure of control. Of all the countries of the Middle East, Absent a unified government authority replacing Saleh,Yemen is talked about most often as a candidate for civil war..But nothing in this video betrays any hint of division.

 

I don't feel adequate to comment. We are too far away and the situation is much too complex for anything from me to have meaning.

But I can report what I find and pass it along in the hope that someone, somewhere will be moved to take steps to avert even more conflict.

Yemeni cameraman for Iraq TV killed in Sanaa September 24, 2011

A Yemeni cameraman working for Iraq's state broadcaster died on Saturday after being shot days earlier while covering protests in Sanaa's Change Square, the channel's news director told AFP.

Hussein Yahya al-Wadhaf, 25, had been working with Al-Iraqiya TV for a year, according to Abdul Karim Hammadi. He was shot on Monday, Hammadi said.

"He was covering the demonstrations which saw a heavy reaction from the authorities against the protesters," Hammadi said. "He was shot in his head, went into a coma, and died at 5:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) today."

Hammadi said a funeral was to be held for Wadhaf in Sanaa following afternoon prayers on Saturday.

At least 40 people, among them dissident soldiers, were killed in violence that rocked Yemen's capital on Saturday, according to an activist from the protest organizing committee.

Fierce fighting between Yemeni security forces and dissident troops has rocked Sanaa since last week, killing 173 people.

Seventy-eight people have been killed since President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned on Friday after three months in Saudi Arabia, despite his call for peace in the restive country.

And here is a farewell message Tom Finn RT from Laura Kasinof, a NY Times stringer...

My only memory from the field
hospital on March 18 is Hassan crying
while filming the bodies. RIP ya Hasan
#Yemen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

► It's now Sunday Morning where I am and here are Tom Finn's last few Twitter messages.
The time there is early afternoon and the first of these messages was sent about four hours ago.

Another journalist asks "Some observers have charged Mohsen w/ using young protesters as cannon fodder (urging them to pres.palace). What do you think?" and Finn replies "Personally I think that accusation is better made of certain opposition politicians/leaders than Ali Mohsen."

[An hour later] They're kissing Mohsin's soldiers on the foreheads. [Mohsin -- see interview snip below]
Ambulances wailing, rushing back to the field hospital, must be clashes taking place near Saba roundabout.
In field hospital, man with blood pouring profusely from his neck, 8 others with bullet wounds, they say gov troops shot them from point [blank?]
Same prof: "One of my friends was shot in the chest, blood was pouring out of his nose and mouth"
Mass prayer ceremony outside the hospital, thousands of men praying amongst the corpses of those killed on Friday.
The muezzin is weeping.
After Saleh's Surprise Return, Fighting Continues in Yemen ti.me/nqPp7V
Field hospital in Sana'a: 18 injured, 2 in critical condition, all suffering from bullet wounds.

From the Time link above.

In less than a week, a large area in the heart of the capital — dubbed Change Square by the thousands of dissidents who had been camping out there in tents — has been transformed from a pro-democracy hub to one of chaos and despair. Blood-splattered tents have been ripped open by mortar shells. Protesters are distributing plastic helmets in a desperate attempt to protect themselves from the bullets of plain-clothed pro-government snipers prowling the nearby rooftops. Meanwhile, the camp's field hospital arranges mangled corpses in neat rows, arms, legs, even faces missing, their gaping wounds shocking evidence of the rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns now being used against activists by pro-regime forces.

[snip]

As Saleh dithers, time is running out for Yemen. Ali Mohsin, the wayward general whose troops are currently fighting loyalists, lashed out at Saleh in a statement on Saturday calling him a "sick, vengeful soul" and comparing him to the Roman emperor Nero, wasting time as his city burns. Mohsin, who once served as the president's iron fist and controls more than half of the country's military resources and assets, defected to the opposition in March after 52 protesters were shot dead in a coordinated sniper attack. However, he shouldn't be seen as a champion of democracy, having crushed an uprising in northern Yemen, a brutal act that also displaced millions of people.

Perhaps the biggest fear the country faces is that Saleh's reappearance may draw Yemen's powerful tribal leaders back into fray. When Saleh was airlifted to Saudi Arabia in June after a booby trap exploded in the mosque in his compound, Sadeq Al-Ahmar, the grizzled sheikh at the head of Yemen's most influential tribe, the Hashed, swore "by God that he would never let Saleh rule again." Sadeq, one of the wealthiest and most outspoken figures in Yemen, had been allied with Saleh until March when he announced his support for the "peaceful youth movement." Now he's being looked on as the power that might unsettle Saleh from his perch. The last time hostilities between his family and Saleh's turned violent was in May when a week's worth of mortar battles erupted, killing hundreds and flattening an entire neighborhood in Sana'a where Sadeq's home was located. Heavy explosions ripped through the same neighborhood on Friday night.

►The journalist mentioned above is Laura Kasinof. Here is the link to her NY Times report, with a moving photo.  

►And here is the link to Tom Finn's report in The Guardian. 

►This snip from an NPR interview last week helps me keep what's unfolding into focus.

INSKEEP: And it's two armed groups at this point that are going after each other?
CAMPBELL: Well, it's at least two in the capital. You have two very well-armed groups. The president's son Ahmed Ali, his nephew, who also controls large numbers of forces, what I think we'll call security forces for short, and then Ali Mohsen, a commander, a general who commands a large military camp and many thousands of soldiers. They have trenches right in the middle of the city. And they have positions in the middle of the city.
INSKEEP: Does the second guy, Ali Mohsen, count as a protest leader then or is a defector from the ranks? What do you call him?
CAMPBELL: The president calls him a defector. He has said that he's neutral and he's sworn to protect the protesters. You know, the approximate cause of this week's problems were that the protesters picked up from their square. They in a sense were allowed to stay in a certain place in Sanaa, near the university. They picked up and started to march toward the president's son's sort of holdout. This is what the, I think, what the government would say. And so they opened fire in a defensive fashion. What Ali Mohsen, the rebel commander, would say is that the security forces opened fire on the protesters and he's protecting them. In the end, there's no - there aren't two sides in Yemen. There're probably five sides, and it's almost impossible to tell who's who.
INSKEEP: Five sides and does that reflect divisions in the society? There are a lot of different interest groups that could come down in different places and who fear that their interests could be affected here.
CAMPBELL: It's always been a difficult country to govern. Almost impossible. And you have a secessionist movement. You have a political opposition. You have Arab Spring protesters who simply want to move on and have a new government and a new future. And it's - they're not fighting each other. But the president, who's been there for a long time, is refusing to step down. But more importantly, he's refusing to allow a transition to something new. And what Yemen desperately needs is something new.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as I posted this last update I received response from Diane Al-Habeili, someone whom I have been following for some time via Twitter.

Here via Chirpstory is our exchange.

Diane wrote: Huge Yemen protest demands Saleh trial http://t.co/dFkveRu9 

Me: Just posted: "Yemen Protest Followup"( http://t.co/YtvLsc8G ) Trying to follow the Yemen struggle this weekend Tragedy unfolding, with hope still in the distance. 

Diane: have you read wikileaks on Hamid al-Ahmar? also I disagree with Finn about the cannon fodder as before march deaths

Me: No. And thanks for reading. Have you a link to the Wikileaks item? 

Diane: I'd have to dig it up but in general Hamid went to US embassy a few years ago saying he can get crowds Indonesia style to overthrow Saleh. Most of protesters of other parties have left the square what is left is Islah youth and perhaps some independent youth. Hamid had been feeding them. It is NOT a revolution but jockeying for power among the elite in Yemen  much more complicated than that but there are a group of Yemen tweets who claim to be independent but as I watched am sure they when Arab Spring came some independent youth did start peaceful protest but it was taken over by Islah. work for Islah and are connected to PR person in Canada who denies involvement but having watched for months I do not believe  My husband is Yemeni and family has long history in Yemen so I have spent as you have noticed HOURS watching all this pie but I feel as happened with Falklands sooner rather than later large quantities of black gold will come to light

Me: So tell me, who is Ali Mohsen and how does he fit into this picture?

Diane: Ali Muhsin was with the President but at the beginning of the protests he took his troops and went over to opposition to "protect" the protesters. Opposition needs to keep the protesters there to use to put pressure on Saleh and then to march  I came across someone pushing for march to palace precisely to get a body count to run to the press with when need be...and occasionally when needed Muhsin will allow them to march out of protective area which they know will cause reaction. If you send thousands of protesters rushing toward the palace and across a known line not to cross....u KNOW result I call it manufactured killing. I am so upset about the abuse of protesters by the elite power players Ali Muhsin I have seen some say here is now negotiating his place for after these events including his $. Ali Muhsin needs to keep the protesters there to keep pressure on the President. He may at some point change sides again though.

Me: So Muhsin (Mohsen) is for the moment the military tool of Hamid al-Ahmar? Do I have that right?

Diane: I rely on @bafana3 and @malanesi

Me: That's consistent with the NPR take of multiple sides to the conflict.  

Diane: I no longer follow NPR. I look at multiple sources and follow twitter v. closely

Diane: behind the scenes not sure how closely they agree on things. for now a common interest to keep protesters. tomorrow maybe not... if you have followed Nexen not happy about their contract ending soon and maybe will not be renewed... 

Me: Thanks. I have added them to my already too-long list of those I follow. Hope they're not too loquacious. 

Diane: my son sat me down and tried to reason with me...but still a little hot under the collar....unreasonable of me maybe but .... west was told to follow certain people to really be in the know...I found the list useless 

Me: No problem. BTW, may I use our Twitter conversation in a blog post?

Diane: its public...so why not...I tried at beginning to keep low profile but at this point...I just cannot stay silent anymore 

Me:  Very generous of you. I hope there is no chance your husband or you will be in danger as a result. I want to be careful. 

Diane: I am independent...I speak only for myself. Let us be clear - husband and I are each our own person.

Diane: many of the experts on Yemen fm the west look at Yemen in my opinion like a person in a fish bowl...not fish...do not live there.  @bafana3 @malanesi intelligent- they are intelligent and say what they mean and mean what they say

Diane: Emotionally they [NPR] lost me because I felt carvin not doing a very good job on twitter. once I cool off...I will go back 

Me: I don't follow NPR either via Twitter but I routinely listen on radio.

Me: Got it. Just checking. Thanks. I'll probably curate via Chirpstory then harvest a conversation for the blog. Gotta go now. 

Diane: I want Yemen to stay whole-no division of country and I want to see focus on development. Much discontent from Shabwa that goes way back to when the British were there I want to add...discontents must be addressed. [The] area has asked for decades for healthcare and education and now with oil there has been bad pollution from sloppy extraction, increased illness and cancer...these issues need to be addressed

Strange But True

John Ballard thinks something is wrong with this picture.
Not the photography, the message. 
But unfortunately it's factual.  

Bi-partisan Ignorance on Display

By John Ballard

I have to agree with Dave and Steve about swmming in an ocean of stupidity. It does make blogging seem like banging your head on the wall.
If I had a sharper sense of humor I would try to be funny but that takes gifts I don't have. Writers like Art Buchwald and Molly Ivins are treasures at times like these.
If either of them were alive they would jump at a story like this. 

Congress Moves To Punish Palestinians, But Even Israel Objects
Lawmakers Falling Over One Another to Prove Pro-Israel Credentials

WASHINGTON — A congressional drive to punish the Palestinian Authority for its statehood bid by cutting American aid is being greeted with enthusiasm by lawmakers of both parties.

But the White House is giving the move a cold shoulder, and even Israel itself and its strongest supporters have serious reservations. The legislation being discussed in Congress would cut all or part of the nearly $600 million annual aid package if Palestinians move ahead with their plan to seek statehood at the United Nations.

Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are falling over one another to show their support for Israel. Most observers, however, believe the move is more about political grandstanding than serious policymaking.

“Everybody knows the U.S. Congress is the most pro-Israel parliamentary body in the world,” former president Bill Clinton told ABC News. “They don’t have to demonstrate that.”

In a remarkable incident, The New York Times reported that the White House even turned to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help keep aid flowing to the Palestinians.

Netanyahu, described by the newspaper as a “singularly influential lobbyist,” recently interceded with one pro-Israel representative to convince Congress to complete a $50 million aid transfer to the Palestinian Authority, the Times reported.

I can't count the number of times I have posted about Palestinian issues, but nearly every time I have included a sad aside that most Americans haven't a clue about the facts or personalities involved. 

Former NY Mayor Ed Koch put his finger exactly on the challenge...

“Jews are only 2 percent of the American population,” Koch acknowledged (warned?), “but God put them in Florida and Pennsylvania…where their votes are extremely important.”

When the Prime Minister of Israel lobbies for the Palestinian Authority you can be sure something important is happening and Congress hasn't a clue.

Anyone who has followed the president since his campaign is not shocked. He has been diplomatically cool toward Israel while remaining within the bounds of protocol. And by finding a way to justify a US veto of a Palestinian effort for official recognition at the United Nations (it would mean one member state occupying another sovereign member state, or some such nonsense...nothing like having Libya chair the human rights council, though) the president is once more trying to thread a diplomatic needle.

One would think he could expect the support of Congress in this international matter, at least the support of his own party, but one would be wrong.

Dumbocracy

By Steve Hynd.

You know what's wrong with this country? Every day I get sent foreign and domestic news and analysis by bright people who avidly follow such things. I read dozens of other articles and news reports in an attempt to keep myself informed about all the many things I should be informed about.

We are in a tiny minority.

Here's my Yahoo! front page's news ticker a moment ago:

 

You cannot have a participatory democracy if the majority prefer to rot their brains and not participate. And yes, corporate media has gleefully enabled that situation, because while the plebes aren't watching the corporatist rich elite can steal everything that isn't nailed down - then start on prying some of the nails loose. But each individual is still responsible for their own actions.

I've been poliblogging since 2004 and to be honest I'm sick and tired of our dumbocracy. This presidential election cycle  already looks set to be the greatest victory for dumbocracy and corporate campaign finance EVAH! The bipartisanly partisan bullshit has already exceeded my gag-meter. I'm going to go take a few weeks break and decide whether to continue rolling the stone uphill.

In Which I Had a Facepalm Moment

By John Ballard

Last night's PBS News aired this segment pointing out a source of national wealth that I have never seen represented in the popular charts.

 

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

I'm not posting this to announce becoming a wealth-gap denier. But in the interest of reality, this guy has a valid point. In the end, as the saying goes, the rich really are different from you and I -- they have money. And plenty of it.

This video makes a good starting point for a rational discussion of how tax policy should be revised. Loopholes, targeted credits and other special treatments have proliferated to the point that few filers, even with the assistance of software programs, can properly do the necessary paperwork to itemize deductions.

About two-thirds of filers take the standard deduction. So the majority of taxpayers already are out of the loop. For that group, tweaking the standard deduction will result in huge tax revenue changes up or down. 

There is still plenty of reason to return to more progressive income tax rates, including a surcharge for the super-rich. Lost in most discussions are two items from the past that have been forgotten.

1. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 under Ronald Reagan "simplified" the rates to four (if we overlook an avalanche of exceptions, loopholes and other tax-avoidance devices under the IRS radar) but the capital gains tax and the top income tax rate were the same, 28 percent. I'm not interesting in discovering how that rate got reduced to fifteen percent. My guess is that members of both parties had a hand in it. It's time at least to put it back to the same rate put into effect in Reagan's day. 
2. Income Averaging was another feature of the tax code eliminated in 1986. The purpose of income averaging was to take a bit of the sting of income tax affecting those who suddenly find themselves pushed into a higher bracket by increased taxable income. 

In the well-known illustration of the disparity between Warrn Buffet and his secretary, a return to the day of Ronald Reagan would be a step in the right direction. As most people know by now, his income, like that of most very rich people, is from capital gains, not earnings, so under current rate he pays a lower percentage in taxes.

That still makes him and his peers exempt from the payroll taxes (for which there is no deduction, incidentally) that ordinary people pay starting with their first dollar. But that is small potatoes since the annual cap on high earners vanishes as their earnings pass a certain point. 

I was fortunate to benefit from income averaging when I got a promotion in 1982 which resulted in my income's nearly doubling. As I recall, by using income averaging I saved a significant amount that year by averating my taxable earnings together with the previous few years of near-poverty wages. I was honored to be paying more in taxes but the memory of hard times saved me from pangs of guilt for paying less in taxes than others inelligible for income averaging.

Income averating is a fair way to tax those who have become for whatever reason "temporarily rich." I'm thinking here of lottery winners, entertainers, sports stars or others with a windfall not likely to continue. Should the taxable revenue sream continue, income averaging will become a vanishing advantage. And for the first year or two a lower tax rate may often ameliorate the preceding years of personal sacrifice, debt or other price paid climbing the income ladder. 

As the video reminds us, Social Security and Medicare represent a large and important reserve of "wealth" from which most people benefit. i would add, however, that a means test for both is not an altogether crazy idea. As the video also points out, the very rich will always be able to afford the best of everything and those for whom Social Security and Medicare are the only programs standing between them and utter destitution have no other place to catch their fall.  

I, for one, would be honored to pay over a hundred thousand dollars in taxes but that is not a problem I expect to face. Likewise, I am more than willing to submit to a means test for Social Security and/or Medicare because I feel confident that in both cases the threat of  losing either or having to pay more is as remote as being assessed a hundred thousand dollars in taxes by the IRS.

Thanks for listening.

2001 to 2017 --- 16 years of Stupid

By Dave Anderson:

As you have noticed, our writing pace has declined dramatically over the past couple of years.  For me, I have cut back becuase I am seeing the same Stupid repeated over and over again. 

Barry Ritholtz looks at the economic policy Stupid and I am convinced that we are stuck with that until President Perry loses in 2017 for all today's failure has proven is that we have not inflicted enough pain on the lucky duckies (of which I am one):

I suspect the Fed’s blunt language was telegraphing a message to Congress. Rates are at zero, mortgages are at 60 year loans, and yet demand simply is not there. The Fed has done pretty much all it can do. As we noted yesterday, responding to the weak economy at this point requires fiscal policy, rather than further monetary approach. “The Twist” and purchases of mortgage-backed paper is an attempt to rates down even further. It is hard to see how that can be effective in the current environment.

Don;t expect a policy response from the Austerians. These misguided politicos are in charge in D.C., despite having gotten the past few economic cycles precisely backwards. During the last expansion (2003-07), instead of raising taxes and cutting spending — managing the deficit, creating a better private/government spending ratio — the hypocritical deficit peacocks in the USA did the exact opposite. We cut taxes during (2) wartime, created yet another entitlement program, and raised yet other government spending during private sector economic expansion.

That approach makes much more sense in the current environment of consumer de-leveraging, weak private sector job creation, modest capex investment, and low growth. Instead, we suffer from the opposite:

Based upon a fundamental misunderstanding of the works of John Maynard Keynes, they are once again out of phase. Now, the same crowd is looking at raising taxes and reducing government spending when an already frail economy cannot support it. Hence, the Austerians and a complicit White House are all but guaranteeing a 1937 like recession will be increasingly likely.

Excess government stimulus during expansions and austerity during (or immediately after) contractions is simply misguided economics, bad politics and awful poilicy.

Thomas W. Benton - Artist/Activist

Commentary By Ron Beasley

There are many ways to study history. We have written history but that always reflects the philosophy of the individual writing it and that history will change over time. Even the memories of those who lived the history changes over time. There is one thing that is constant – the art that was created in response to the world as the present became history. Thanks to Daniel Joseph Watkins we have the opportunity to see the art of Artist/Activist Thomas W. Benton. Benton's poster art documents the political issues of his home in Aspen Colorado and the United States beginning in the turbulent 60's.

 

Thomas Benton was born in Oakland California on November 16, 1930. Before enlisting in the Navy during the Korean War he attended Glendale Junior College. Following his time in the Navy he studied architecture at the University of Southern California and practiced architecture in the LA area for several years. In 1962 he moved to Aspen Colorado where he built a studio and taught himself the art of silkscreen. His studio became the meeting place for local intellectuals and Benton became a local activist. Like many during that period the Vietnam war shaped his politics but his fear that the commercialization of the Aspen area would destroy the paradise was also influential. In the late 60s he first met “gonzo journalist” Hunter S. Thomson and his career as a political poster artist took off.

In addition to 150 posters, both political and artistic, this beautiful coffee-table book contains several of the Aspen Wallposters which were a collaboration of Benton's art and Hunter S. Thompson's writing.

Hunter walked into my studio one day and said, “we should do an Aspen wallposter.” I said, “what the hell is that?” He said, “It's gonna be a single sheet thing, and it'll have your graphics on one side and my writing on the other.” He would write about local politics and other things. We would get together at night in my studio and I'd work on the graphics while he would write the whole damn back page in one night. Of course, that night might take a day and a half.

~Tom Benton

For those interested in the politics of late 60's and early 70's this book is truly a visual treat.

You can find more examples here.

Corporate Personhood Comment

This is going around.
John Ballard wants you to see it here and pass it on...

HCR -- Vaccinations, a History Footnote

By John Ballard

By now everyone knows about the Perry-Bachmann vaccine exhibition.
This excerpt from a piece by Lindsay Beyerstein  in The Nation is therefore more interesting...

If it hadn’t been for mandatory smallpox inoculation, the Republic might never have survived. General George Washington ordered the Continental Army inoculated against smallpox in 1777, the first large scale inoculation of an army in history. Washington was supported in this effort by Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence and the chair of the Continental Congress’ Medical Department.

Inoculation was a precursor to vaccination which induced a milder case of smallpox by scratching the skin and rubbing in pus from a smallpox lesion. Cleric and amateur scientist Cotton Mather provided a dramatic proof of concept for inoculation when he inoculated 287 people during a smallpox epidemic in Boston in 1721. Only six of the inoculated individuals died, a much lower death rate than for natural smallpox. Mather gets credit for introducing smallpox inoculation to North America, but he learned about it from Onesimus, a slave who had undergone inoculation in Africa.

Despite the success of his experiment, Mather was widely vilified for mocking the will of God. At the time, many believed that smallpox was a divine punishment for sins and that trying to evade the consequences of sinning by getting inoculated was a sin in itself. That argument sounds ridiculous to modern ears, but that same logic still prevails in some quarters when discussing sexually transmitted diseases.

Someone threw a small bomb through Mather’s window with a note that said, roughly, “Inoculate this, Mather.”

Inoculation was dangerous both for the patient for others because the inoculated person remained contagious. Nearly all colonies passed laws to restrict inoculation. George Washington vehemently disagreed. He inoculated his entire household. If he had his way, inoculation against smallpox would have been mandatory.

“Surely that Impolitic Act, restraining Inoculation in Virginia, can never be continued. If I was a Member of that Assembly, I would rather move for a Law to compell the Masters of Families to inoculate every Child born within a certain limitted time under severe Penalties," George Washington wrote to one his brothers in 1777.

Despite Washington’s confidence in the procedure, the decision to mandate inoculation of the Continental Army was not an easy one. The Continental Congress debated for a year over whether compulsory inoculation of troops was an overreach of central authority. The delegates worried about whether the troops would accept the inoculation.

Benjamin Rush argued persuasively that without mandatory inoculation of troops the Republic might not survive. Washington, who had survived a bout of smallpox as a teenager, argued that the threat of disease was more dreadful than the sword of the enemy. In May of 1776, smallpox killed 1800 out of 7000 American troops in Montreal in just two weeks.

In the spring of 1777, Alexander Hamilton, then Washington's aide-de-camp, wrote up a memo ordering all regimental colonels to divide their men into two groups, those who had already had smallpox or smallpox inoculation, and those who hadn't. The non-inoculated were sent to Philadelphia to be dosed.

The military stakes were high. Most of the British troops were immune to the disease because they'd survived it in childhood or because they'd been inoculated; but most of the colonial troops were susceptible. Despite their celebrated independence of spirit, there is no record that the Continental troops objected to being inoculated.

A number of historians credit Washington’s decisive action on smallpox as a major contributor to the success of the revolution.

Among his many achievements, which included writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson was a pioneer of smallpox prevention. He was a proponent of smallpox inoculation. As a young lawyer he acted on behalf of doctors who were persecuted for performing inoculations, including one physician whose house was burned to the ground by a mob during an anti-inoculation riot.

Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, a Harvard professor and doctor and who was trying to use Edward Jenner’s cowpox vaccine in America, contacted then-vice president Jefferson. Jenner’s treatment, which he first tested successfully in 1796, was revolutionary because it was a true vaccine, not a milder case of smallpox.

To say Jefferson was enthusiastic about the project would be an understatement. Jefferson invented an insulated vial that allowed Waterhouse to ship samples of cowpox to Virginia where Jefferson tested the vaccine.

Jefferson foresaw the power of Jenner’s vaccine to conquer the smallpox, 175 years before it was eradicated. In 1806, during his second term as president, Jefferson wrote Jenner, "You have erased from the calendar of human afflictions one of its greatest. Yours is the comfortable reflection that mankind can never forget that you have lived.”

The first mandatory smallpox vaccination law was passed in Massachusetts in 1809. Far from being an anomalous usurpation of government power, Perry’s executive order would have been a routine exercise of state power. Mandatory vaccination policies have always been controlled at the state and local level in the United States. A landmark 1905 Supreme Court case established the power of the states to impose mandatory vaccinations.

Michele Bachmann and the Tea Party routinely abuse science and history. The Founding Fathers were inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment. Unlike many self-proclaimed conservatives today who elevate, they believed in the power of science and reason to improve human life.

Zbigniew Brzezinski Interview

By John Ballard

Like him or not, this is a very sharp eighty-three year old guy. I don't agree with him on several points but I can't argue that he is guilty of muddy thinking. 

 

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