Immunity

Positive Energy and Immunity: Ayurvedic Concept of Mind-Body Relationship By: Dev Sri Strong positive mental energy can act towards physical immunity. This is a well known fact proved by many experiences where people have returned from serious physical conditions solely because of their strong willpower. Ayurveda considers strong positive energy an essential requirement of building immunity. Nega

Barack Obama issued a statement in support of the House’s update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but said he would try to strip a provision granting immunity to telecommunication companies when the bill comes to a vote in the Senate next week.read more | digg story

by Dave MindemanBarack Obama is in kind of an awkward position. The Congressional House has sent a FISA bill to the Senate that also grants telecom immunity. To indicate how bad this bill is...President Bush is heaping praise on it. Yes, it's that bad.Democrats in the House capitulated. They caved. They raised the white flag. This is getting painful to watch.MoveOn is attempting to push Bara

The IndependentPatrick Cockburn18 June 2008 The US has accepted that foreign contractors in Iraq will no longer have immunity from Iraqi law under a new security agreement now under negotiation, says the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari. Mr Zebari, speaking to The Independent in Washington, said that if there was a further incident like the one in [...]

There were some primaries while I was away and there’s one winning Blue America candidate I especially want to call to your attention, Martin Heinrich (NM-01). While some Democrats– like David Boren (OK), John Barrow (GA), Chris Carney (PA), Melissa Bean (IL), Jim Cooper (TN), Tim Holden (PA), Nick Lampson (TX) and Heath Shuler (NC)– [...]

From Michelle Malkin You know what I have to say about Barack Obama calling the Tennessee GOP “low-class” and “unacceptable” on Good Morning America because of its ad answering Michelle Obama’s lack of pride in her country?Barack, sweetie, your conversation with ABC News’s Robin Roberts insisting that your wife’s public remarks on the campaign trail be [...]

Antidepressants may help body fight HIV and cancer" was the headline in The Independent today. The newspaper article was on research that suggests that antidepressant drugs may help the immune system to fight off serious infection. The newspaper says the drugs could increase the activity of Natural Killer (NK) cells, a part of the immune system that targets cancerous and infected cells and induces

Description: Postdoctoral Position in Innate Immunity. A postdoctoral position funded by A-star is available for up to 3 years in a project to investigate the role of NK cells in chemotherapy in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

In response to Andrew Cochran's latest post "No FISA? No Problem," the reason why no one has come up with a concrete example of an intelligence investigation suffering due to Congress' unwillingness to enact FISA reform is simple: this information - who the U.S. is currently targeting its FISA methods on - is classified, and therefore not subject to public discussion. The bill is hung up for one reason: disagreements over whether it should include retroactive immunity for telecoms. If telecoms that...(read more)

Glenn Greenwald Reports that The Hill is reporting the following: I'm still traveling and so have only a little bit of time to comment, but The Hill is reporting that the GOP is de-prioritizing their efforts to enact the Rockefeller/Cheney FISA bill: "House Republicans are poised to shift their focus from national security to the economy, hoping to rally opposition to what they claim are Democratic plans to raise taxes amid the economic downturn.   Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to announce Thursday that the House GOP floor emphasis will transition away from passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and earmark reform to "stop the tax hike."" I tend to think that the Republicans, at least the ones in t

I know that telecom immunity is less than a hot topic right now, but I think this is worth a post anyways.The issue at the center of the telecom lawsuits is access to so-called "national security letters" (NSLs) that may or may not have been provided to the telecoms as justification for the Administration's warrantless wiretapping program. It is access to these letters, rather than any claim for monetary damages, that is the motivation behind the lawsuits.In lobbying intensely for telecom immunity from these lawsuits, the Administration has repeatedly advanced two fundamental arguments. The first is that immunity is required because the telecoms acted in good faith and should not be punished for cooperating with the government on an issue of national security. This argument is absurd and a

Your natural immunity is lowered by emotional or physical stress, poor diet, smoking cigarettes and drinking too much alcohol. Of course, laughter and positive imagery can boost your immunity. Be on an immune alert when the chances of getting sick are high—say, when the kids go back to school or when you visit a foreign [...]

The case of Daniel Gross that was filed to hold the judge, the conservator, the court appointed attorney, the ombudsman, and the state responsible for their actions, was turned down in federal court even though Gross was held a prisoner, locked up, denied all rights, isolated, and drugged against his will. See: From Hospital, to Locked Ward, to Civil Action (pdf) The case was turned down on "

Ashley Alexandra Dupre The New York Daily News is reporting that the classy hooker whose fling with Governor Eliot Spitzer that brought down the horny governor has been given immunity to testify in the investigation of the worldwide prostitution ring run by Emperors Club VIP escort service . Word that Manhattan federal prosecutors have [...]

US President George Bush used a Thursday White House press conference to issue a belligerent demand that Congress pass a bill effectively gutting Constitutional protections against government spying while granting immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the administration break the law.The bullying tone of the president, who repeatedly banged the podium while warning of supposed imminent dangers posed by the Congressional delay in renewing the administration’s unfettered power to conduct domestic wiretapping, stood in sharp contradiction with the overwhelming popular hostility towards Bush, whose standing in the polls has fallen to record lows. Despite his deepening political isolation, the Republican president is justifiably confident that the Democratic majority in Congres

With the state of today’s media, I think it’s important to circulate the few bits of cold, hard truth that are available. One such example of a straightforward presentation of the facts was the explanation of the FISA controversy given by Air America radio show host Randi Rhodes on Valentine’s Day. (I have a subscription to Air America Premium, which allows me to listen to their broadcasts commercial free on my IPod, which is something I highly recommend for anyone who is looking for a source of news that doesn’t involve staring at a computer screen.) The following is a portion of Randi Rhodes’ February 14th show which will explain the entire FISA/telecom immunity situation in a way that will make perfect sense to anyone that is currently confused. To put the following in context

  Echinacea, which is highly regarded as the most important immune stimulant, has been used for over a century as a treatment for a wide variety of problems.  In the early 1900’s, Echinacea attracted even more attention and has become a popular treatment for colds and flu.  The interesting thing about this herb is that it does not simply attack the infection that has invaded your body.  Echinacea contains a substance that prevents the infection from invading the cells.  In other words, Echinacea helps your body fight the infection on its own – it stimulates your immune system.

Flower essences are the blossoms of the plant. It can also be defined as an herbal infusions or decoctions of the flower part of the plant. These are prepared from sun infusions in a bowl of water, then further diluted, potentized and preserved in an airtight container. Flower essence treatment is a drug-free, natural or [...]

One of the biggest risk factors associated with the incidence of prostate cancer is diet. The Westernized diet of red meat and saturated fat is thought to significantly contribute to the probability of an individual developing prostate cancer and so a prostate cancer diet should be started as early on in life as possible. Men living in Eastern countries and especially Asia have a much lower incidence rate of prostate cancer than American men for example. This is possibly because Asian men eat... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Bush's phone immunity demand wins initial Senate vote (From Reuters)Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:51pm ESTBy Thomas FerraroWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's demand for immunity for telephone companies that participated in his warrantless domestic spying program won an initial victory on Monday in the U.S. Senate.On a vote of 76-10, far more than the 60 needed, the Democratic-led Senate cleared a procedural hurdle and began considering a bill to increase congressional and judicial oversight of electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists.It includes a provision to grant retroactive immunity to any telecommunications company that took part in Bush's spying program -- surveillance without court warrants of e-mails and telephone calls of people in the United States -- begun shortly after the September 11 attacks.Nearly 40 lawsuits have been filed accusing AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel Corp. of violating U.S. privacy rights.Backers of immunity, who include some Democrats as

The most fascinating thing about hearings like the one about FISA yesterday in the Senate Judiciary Committee is watching Senators discuss issues amongst themselves. The reality these people live in is so different from ours. Sometimes it’s the arguments they use to comfort each other that freak me out the most. Here’s Arlen Specter arguing that giving retro-active immunity to corporations, like AT&T and Verizon who were the ones who physically tapped our phones and data-mined our calls and emails without warrants, isn’t a bad thing because, I don’t see, as I sit here, how anyone can prove their privacy was invaded. That they know what was done here. There’s one case under the Terrorist Surveillance Act where there was an inadvertent disclosure by the Federal government and somebody was able to show that they were subject to the program. But unless there would be something like that, I don’t see who’s going to be able to prove anything whether it’s against th

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) will offer an amendment in the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow to "strike retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies alleged to have assisted with the President’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program."read more | digg story

At least from the Senate. They passed it this evening without any provisions for immunity. Congrats folks! Thanks for the pressure! Now go ahead and revel in your brief moment of victory….because the House is taking up FISA tomorrow. Email this post...

Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician and the wiretapping whistle-blower, whose allegations that his former employer wiretapped the internet on behalf of the government, largely holing up the the lawsuit against AT&T have visited Washington to persuade Lawmakers not to deliver a blow to the law suite.The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the surveillance bill today.But according to TPM Muckraker's Spencer Ackerman, Klein is finally getting the media and other attesion that have evaded him for last two years, ever since he revealed the new about the secret room 641A. The New York Times also carries an articleHere is a Video of Mark Klein outs the NSA on Olbermann;Tags: NSA, wiretapping, whistle-blower, AT&T, Mark Klein, Olbermann, youtube

There is talk about the possibility of high-end immunity in real estate - that is to say, more expensive properties (usually either on the coast or in a prestigious area) can get the best of both worlds: They appreciate along with traditionally less-expensive areas during bull markets, but when the inevitable correction comes, they don't seem to fall much in value at all (or even show gains). Perhaps it's because "land is scarce," or that "there is never-ending demand for these exclusive places."This demand, some would even argue, means escalating prices of luxury homes are of little concern to those with excess cash who want to buy coastal properties and don't care how much more they have to pay for the privilege. In that scenario, these types of properties really could go up in value perpetually, assuming more people with huge cash reserves are ready to step in and continue to bid prices up.We will use Laguna Beach as a case study of what can happen to prices in a luxury market be

ABC News has learned the exact wording of the immunity deal the State Department granted Blackwater security guards involved in a September shooting incident that left 17 Iraqis dead. The security guards were given a limited immunity called "use immunity" in exchange for giving sworn statements.read more | digg story

With Chris Dodd promising to filibuster any FISA bill with retroactive immunity in it, it’s time to tell Harry Reid to oppose immunity as well. A large group of bloggers and activist have written an open letter to Reid, telling him: Providing amnesty to lawbreaking corporations is a complete assault on the rule of law and on the basic fairness of our political system. When ordinary American citizens are accused of breaking the law, they are forced to go to court and, if the accusations are proven, they suffer the consequences. If the telecoms really did nothing wrong, they should prove that in court, like all Americans must do. The original signers of this letter are: American Civil Liberties Union ColorOfChange.org Electronic Frontier Foundation Moveon.org Political Action Working Assets Wireless Glenn Greenwald, Salon Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, Dailykos Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake Matt Stoller, OpenLeft Digby, Hullabaloo Duncan Black, Atrios John

Executives at the two biggest phone companies contributed more than $42,000 in political donations to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV this year while seeking his support for legal immunity for businesses participating in National Security Agency eavesdropping.read more | digg storyLiberty Central- Conservatism's Blog of Choice

Last week Chris Dodd received a tremendous amount of favorable comments in the blogosphere after stating his intention to filibuster the telecommunications immunity bill. There’s been a lot of pressure being placed on Obama and Clinton, and both have now announced they will support the filibuster. From Obama: “Senator Obama has serious concerns about many provisions in this bill, especially the provision on giving retroactive immunity to the telephone companies. He is hopeful that this bill can be improved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. But if the bill comes to the Senate floor in its current form, he would support a filibuster of it.” From Clinton: Q: Can you discuss your position on the reauthorization of the FISA bill? HRC: I am troubled by the concerns that have been raised by the recent legislation reported out of the Intelligence Committee. I haven’t seen it so I can’t express an opinion about it. But I don’t trust the Bush Administration w

On Thursday, out of the Democratic dung heap, emerged a person with courage and conviction.The Democrats in Congress were about to cave in once again, when Senator Christopher Dodd said enough is enough and put a hold on a bill that would have granted immunity to the telecommunications companies which assisted the White House in committing illegal and unconstitutional wiretaps.So despite the efforts of the Democratic pussies to appease our dear President, the bill is now stalled. In 2001 Bush authorized the NSA to secretly wiretap Americans without a court order, which happened to be illegal. Telecommunication companies jumped at the chance to give away private citizens' records and Comcast even charged the government a thousand dollars for each record.Now please don't comment that the poor telecoms were just following orders. That issue was settled a long time ago at Nuremberg. And it is not like these guys are wanting for legal representation, which is quite capable of evaluat

TPM Election Central reports that Chris Dodd is placing a hold on the telecommunications immunity bill. Glenn Greenwald provided background: Let’s just describe very factually and dispassionately what has happened here. Congress — led by Senators, such as Jay Rockefeller, who have received huge payments from the telecom industry, and by privatized intelligence pioneer Mike McConnell, former Chairman of the secretive intelligence industry association that has been demanding telecom amnesty — is going to intervene directly in the pending lawsuits against AT&T and other telecoms and declare them the winners on the ground that they did nothing wrong. Because of their vast ties to the telecoms, neither Rockefeller nor McConnell could ever appropriately serve as an actual judge in those lawsuits. Yet here they are, meeting and reviewing secret documents and deciding amongst themselves to end all pending lawsuits in favor of their benefactors — AT&T, Verizon an

Even some expensive South OC areas like Laguna Beach are finally seeing declines in selling activity and median price (though it may be a better indicator to compare the price of individual houses over time). Here's an example of one neighborhood with a few sellers who refuse to think the real estate party might be over.Hillcrest Estates in Laguna Niguel is a gated community of 2-5 bedroom homes located near the intersection of Highlands Ave. and Niguel Rd. Since this development is only a few years old, many of the current owners either bought just as the market began to take off, or at the peak. There are currently 10 properties in this neighborhood that are active on the MLS, ranging in asking price from $1,175,000 to $1,975,000. Here are the properties for sale with past sale history available on Redfin:23632 Marin Way5 beds, 4.5 bathsAsking price: $1,550,000Asking price/sq ft: $403Previous sales price: $1,248,500Previous sales date: 10/15/2004Potential profit before selling cost

IMMUNITY – body’s reaction to any foreign body that might enter our tissues2 types:NON SPECIFIC/ CELLULAR / Innate immunity present in our body since we were bornSPECIFICMediators (non specific)1. MECHANICAL BARRIERSSkin (keratinized)Body secretions ( sweat, oil)Cilia (transports)Mucus (traps organism entering the Respiratory tract)2. CHEMICAL BARRIERSEnzymes (lysozymes)Acids ( kills bacteria by denaturation)Fatty acids – skinGastric acids – stomachComplement system – becomes activated in cascade fashion 1,2,3…..Activated Complements System – presents antigen to the bacteria; once activated, has to be removed from the body3. INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE Presents the 5 Cardinal signs which is chemically mediated that can come from:Damaged tissuesInflammatory cellsEven from the bacteria itself5 Cardinal signs & symptoms of inflammation:1. redness (rubor)2. swelling (tumor)3. pain (dolor)4. heat (calor)5. loss of function (functiolaesa)FXN:forms a barrier to confine infectiontr

As I said in the last post , we have to take care of our vitaminization now for being strong all the autumn and winter.Choosing a vitamin complexIn Autumn, first of all are needed vitamins which enhance our immunity. This is all well-known vitamin C (ascorbic acid), as well as vitamins A (retinol), E (tocopherol) and B6 (pyridoxine). They increase the body's resistance to viral and bacterial infections, and help cope with colds and flu. Immunity and micro elements can be strengthen with: zinc, selenium, copper. These vitamins and trace elements are needed to all: from babies to the elderly.Pharmacies offer a wide range of effective vitamin complexes. They typically need to be taken only once a day. For pregnant women there are special vitamin complexes, but anyway before taking them consult your doctor. Vitamins for children usually have bright attractive package, and the drops (or pastilles) can have a funny shape. Most of the complexes are extracts of natural or infusions of immune-

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the balance yin and yang can help people keep younger and anti-age, Liu Wei Di Huang Wan are extracted by several Chinese herbs, it can balance yin and yang in your body. It is special pills that can help people anti-age, also keep water of your body at sufficient level. Main [...]

Low immunity problems can be serious to your health, and a regular vitamin regimen can frequently help.The function of your immune system is to protect your body from foreign invaders such as viruses, bacteria, rogue cells such as cancer cells and anything else the body is led to believe is not normal. It will even attack healthy cells if the cell messaging system is disrupted by a lack of the glyconutrients that inform the immune system of their identity.There are two arrows to the human immune system's bow: specific and non-specific defense mechanisms. The non-specific mechanism is exemplified by the hairs in our nostrils that trap large particles before they get into the trachea, the mucus in our respiratory tract that clears out unwanted debris, the fever that increases the body temperature above that safe for bacteria and other nasties to thrive and tears that wash out debris from the eyeball.The specific defense mechanism is more sophisticated and complex, and consists of leukoc

The immune system is filled with protective cells called white blood cells. There are many types and all work to kill bacteria, pathogens, eat harmful cells, and neutralize toxins including metabolic waste. Some even make antibodies. Our bodies must constantly regenerate and build new white blood cells, especially when harmful toxins enter.If we want to truly defend ourselves, there are nutrients from foods that you certainly don't want to miss out on. Eating healthy will keep your body ready to defend itself anytime the "bad guys" come to visit.First of all, it is a good idea to know that white, refined sugar has an adverse effect on the immune system. It can literally stop your immune system from working. Junk foods and processed foods are not much better as they contain no natural nutrients that your body can use to make the white blood cells when needed. In addition, they are full of the harmful toxins that your immune system will want to defend you against.Fresh Whole Vegetables

I’m constantly amazed that so many people in the business of sales, have no sales pitch immunity. I went to a Tom Hopkins seminar yesterday, and yes it was pretty good. I did learn a good number of things and generally pleased with it. However I did find the push to buy the $800 O… M… G… special for today for $295 package of DVD’s and Books somewhat in your face. I mean I just get the “Danger Will Robinson, You Are Being Sold” alert ringing in my head for that sort of thing. Holy Convention Center Bleating Sheep Batman… half the people here brought the package. Even after Tom Hopkins explained it was a sales pitch to them all. If you’re in the business of sales yourself, and someone spells out they are making a sales pitch to you, asks for your money, and you automatically fish out your credit card… …wake up to yourself. I picked up a third of the package for sale used off Amazon for around $12 including

A pentesting company called Immunity has released an amazing debugging application that is totally free of charge.  Supposedly it will cut down the time it takes to find an exploit in any given application by %50.  I don’t know if that is true, but it certainly has all the bells and whistles of a non-free debugger like IDA Pro. Here’s the Download Link: IMMUNITY : Debugger Dan Goodin had this to say in “The Register“, about my new favorite app: The folks at Immunity, a company specializing in tools for penetration testing, have released a free application advertised to streamline the development of software exploits. Immunity Debugger, as the app is called, will cut exploit development time by half, according to this product announcement. The debugger is designed with malware writers in mind, providing a rich GUI, powerful scripting language and connectivity to fuzzers and exploit development tools. The program gives developers the option of using command lin

In February 2007, researchers at Appalachian State University announced the results of a clinical study on the flavonoid quercetin at the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, held in Charlotte, N.C. Their results showed that quercetin may help reduce illness and maintain mental performance in physcially stressed test subjects. I’ve written about the antioxidant quercetin in a previous article as an alternative to dichloroacetate (DCA), a chemotherapeutic agent that was recently shown to selectively inhibit cancer cell growth in lung, breast and brain tumor cells grown in culture and lung tumors grown in immunocompromisted rats. In December 2005, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Appalachian State University 1.1 million to fund a two-year study of the effects of quercetin (1). DARPA is seeking ways to maintain troop immune systems during times of physical and cognitive stress. Dr. David Nieman is the principal invest

Vice-Preside nt Dick Cheney’s attorneys told a federal judge Thursday that the Cheney is legally akin to the president because of his unique government role and has absolute immunity from any lawsuit. But U.S. District Judge Bates interjected that only the President has the “unique” immunities. And by ‘president’ one must assume he means the Decider, [...]

Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese form of exercise, may help older adults avoid getting shingles by increasing immunity to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and boosting the immune response to varicella vaccine in older adults, according to a new study publishsed in print this week in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. This National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study is the first rigorous clinical trial to suggest that a behavioral intervention, alone or in combination with a vaccine, can help protect older adults from VZV, which causes both chickenpox and shingles. The research was supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), both components of NIH. The study’s print publication follows its online release in March. The research was conducted by Michael R. Irwin, M.D., and Richard Olmstead, Ph.D., of the University of California at Los Angeles, and Michael N. Oxman, M.D., of the University