Dear NaturalNews readers,

Some doctors are so greedy, they'll recruit patients to be diagnosed with fictional diseases, then they'll forge paperwork to bill Medicare for millions of dollars worth of treatments that were never even provided.

Such is the case with two American doctors busted this week in Miami, where they bilked taxpayers for $20 million in fraudulent fees for "HIV infusion" services they never performed.

But this is no aberration: Read my story today to learn why there is a culture of crime and fraud that permeates western medicine today:

http://www.naturalnews.com/026531_doctors_health_medicine.html

And did you know that the water supply is contaminated with artificial sweetener chemicals? It turns out that water treatment facilities do not remove such chemicals during processing! Read up on that shocking story here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/026527_water_sweeteners_artificial_sweeteners.html

SOURCE:  http://www.naturalnews.com/

A Real Chance to Defeat the War Funding Bill in the House.

Because of the inclusion of billions of dollars earmarked for the IMF to bail-out European banks, there is a real chance that the 2009 Supplemental War Appropriations bill can be defeated in the House of Representatives.

But, it will require you to again contact your Representative to tell them: "Vote NO on the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations."

After the House and Senate approval of their versions of the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations bill, last month, the total funding measure has now grown to $100 billion!

The House will vote on a compromised war funding bill, next week.

We are asking you to do the following to help defeat the war funding bill:

1. Please read the Robert Naiman article and the Action Alert from Just Foreign Policy below. The article contains valuable talking points for getting your message across.
   
   
2. E-mail your Representative this weekend. Use your Rep's website e-mail form.
   
   
3. Then make a phone call to your Representative's office on Monday.
   

Your message can be as simple as: "I'm writing/ calling to tell Representative ______  to 'Vote NO on the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations.'"

Various Toys Recalled by CBB Group Due to Choking Hazard and Violation of Lead Paint Standard

Name of product: Fishing Games, Rattles, Pull-A-Long Cars, Mini Pull Back Cars, and Cartoon Bubble Guns

Units: About 39,000

Importer/Distributor: CBB Group Inc., City of Commerce, Calif.

Hazard: The fishing games, baby rattles and pull-a-long cars contain small parts, which can detach and pose a choking hazard to children. The mini pull back cars and bubble guns have surface paints which contain excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The recalled toys are described in the chart below:

Sold at: Dollar stores and toy stores nationwide from July 2007 through December 2008 for between $1 and $5.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should take the recalled products away from young children immediately and return them to the place where purchased for a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact CBB Group, Inc. toll-free at (866) 628-6238 anytime, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.cbbgroup.com

Last week, when President Obama heard that some Wall Street banks that have been propped up with taxpayer funds might be using the bailout money to pay executive bonuses, he called it "shameful."

Shameful is right, but most of these executives have no shame. So while being called out by the president might make them uncomfortable, it's not going to stop them.

That's why, next week, our staff and members from across the country will be meeting with dozens of members of Congress to ask them to hold banks and their regulators accountable and to pass measures to prevent the need for future bailouts.

Click here to add your voice to our call.

President Obama is right. The banks aren't making loans and the economy is getting worse, but the banks will continue to pay million-dollar bonuses with taxpayer money as long as they can get away with it.

Next week, U.S. PIRG's Ed Mierzwinski -- a veteran of numerous campaigns, including the Savings and Loan Bailout of 1989 and the Enron reforms of 2002 -- will lead a team of our staff and members from all across the country to meet with members of Congress and urge them to pass tough legislation to hold banks and regulators accountable to taxpayers, homeowners and consumers.

When we go to Capitol Hill, our experience and our work in the states get us in the door. But we also need legislators to know that their constituents are paying attention and calling for action.

Use the link below to send a message to your member of Congress, urging them to hold banks and their regulators accountable.

http://www.uspirg.org/action/financial-security/petition

Other Actions

"Bush, Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell should all be wearing orange jumpsuits."

The soon to be former first lady, Laura Bush, was ridiculed when she recently asserted that history would judge her husband's presidency a great success. It is easy to laugh when she claimed that an Iraqi journalist's shoe attack against George W. Bush was an indication of freedom and happiness resulting from American occupation. 

Muntader al-Zaidi, the shoe assailant, isn't free at all. He sits in prison with a badly beaten body but it turns out that Laura Bush was absolutely right. Bush will leave office with an abysmally low approval rating of just 27%, but with a long list of checked off items on his agenda. Bush succeeded in radically changing nearly every facet of government, and always with the help of the Democratic Party. Foolish liberals sneer at Bush and think themselves triumphant when the November 2008 electoral victory is a hollow one at best.

Even as he entered his last few months in office, Bush did not stop to smell the roses and reminisce about the bygone days of 90% approval and an aura of invincibility. The implosion of the financial markets enabled him to strike gold when the Democrats in Congress handed over $700 billion to Wall Street and the financial services industry. The highway robbery was one of the biggest thefts ever committed in history and was carried out without resistance of any kind. Just three months later, half of that money is gone and unaccounted for, making the Bush desire to turn over public funds to wealthy individuals and corporations a dream come true.

"The implosion of the financial markets enabled Bush to strike gold."

Bush has every reason to spend his final days in the White House gloating. He can gloat because his Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, will keep his job in the Obama White House. Karl Rove, chief Bush henchman and architect of election theft, declared Obama's economic team to be "reassuring" while Joe Lieberman called the Obama cabinet "just about perfect."

In all likelihood, Bush wanted John McCain to prevail against Obama, but it just doesn't seem to matter that he didn't. Liberal bloggers snicker because Republican strategists don't know how to attack Barack Obama effectively. They can't attack him because they don't really have any reason to. Obama blessed the Wall Street giveaway and put the deregulation foxes like Larry Summers back in charge of the hen house. He is planning to enact bigger tax cuts than the Bush administration did. He promises an expanded war in Afghanistan and despite his anti-war image, always promised to keep American troops in Iraq.

Bush can be happy about his foreign policy piece de resistance. Israel first starved the people of Gaza and prevented them from escaping or receiving humanitarian aid and now bombs their cities and kills hundreds of civilians. The United States prevents the United Nations from even discussing the issue of Gaza and the American people are once again complicit in yet another violation of the Geneva conventions and international law.

"Obama blessed the Wall Street giveaway and put the deregulation foxes like Larry Summers back in charge of the hen house."

Barack Obama says nothing about Gaza, using the "only one president at a time" excuse to give permission for the carnage to continue into his presidency. Israel knows that when it comes to foreign policy, there is only one party in the United States. That party is joined at the hip with Israel, its partner in crime from one administration to the next.

Speaking of crime, it remains to be seen what form of pardon Bush will give himself, Dick Cheney and the rest of his top aides. Cheney's bold admission that he approved torture is a sign that a pardon is in the works and that no Obama administration investigation is forthcoming. Bush, Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell should all be wearing orange jumpsuits.

They aren't because the Democrats are their willing accomplices. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table because she should have been on trial alongside Bush. She and other top party leaders were briefed on torture and enthusiastically went along when these violations of human rights and the constitution took place. It is hard to see how Bush can be considered a failure when the so-called opposition aided him every step of the way.

If Bush seems nonplussed these days, it is because he has every reason to be relaxed and cheerful. He can go back to Texas and oversee his presidential library with a feeling of ease and great success. George W. Bush, who lost the popular vote in the 2000 election, is leaving office a very big winner with a successor he can trust to keep his most important policy priorities firmly in place.

MORE HERE:   http://www.opednews.com/articles/Freedom-Rider-Bush-Goes-O-by-Margaret-Kimberley-090107-41.html

The news about the attacks in Gaza is beyond words. "Appalling" doesn't even come close.

U.S.-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters have fired missiles and dropped over 100 tons of bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip.  Over 300 people are dead and at least 1,400 more are injured. Many if not most of them are civilians.  Food and medicine were already in short supply in Gaza and all medical facilities have been completely overwhelmed by this onslaught. Access to Gaza has been cut off by Israel.

This is the most violent and heartbreaking situation that has happened to the Palestinians in recent history, and it must stop. In addition to calling for protests at Israeli consulates and federal buildings, as well as letters to the U.S. and Israeli governments, Jewish Voice for Peace staff and members are already putting together an aggressive campaign focused on Gaza. And, without a moment to waste, we call for an immediate end to attacks on all civilians.

I am Stephanie Roth and I've been an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace for many years, including serving on the board of directors. I've been involved with social justice issues my entire adult life - both in my professional life as an editor and fundraiser, and as a volunteer and activist. There is no issue I find more important or compelling than my work to end the Israeli Occupation. I am particularly saddened by this weekend's tragedy, occurring just a week after the uplifting days when the Shministim - the young Israeli conscientious objectors - caught the world's attention with their courage to say no to violence on December 18. I know that people in Gaza will stop dying when Israeli soldiers, like the Shministim, have the courage to say NO. NO, we will not target civilians; NO, we will not follow immoral orders; NO, we will not contribute to the destruction of Palestinian society.

Together with the Shministim, and with the 1,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv and thousands of others around the world who have already come out to protest the Gaza onslaught, we say YES. YES, stepping up to speak for justice and peace makes a difference; YES, we stand with the people of Gaza, of the West Bank, of Sderot in Israel and the innocent civilians everywhere whose lives are destroyed by cynical politicians and warmakers; YES, our voices together are stronger than the voice of any one of us alone; and YES, we are committed to the longterm goal of ending the Occupation and working for justice, peace and life.

Jewish Voice for Peace's goal - MY goal - of ending the Occupation is a long-term one.  Today, I will be giving the biggest gift I can to insure that they have the resources for a swift and sustained response to this most recent atrocity.

"If not us, who? If not now, when?"

From the Free Gaza Movement:

"This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq!"

Sign-up below to support Muntadar al-Zaidi! Your signatures will be delivered to the Iraqi Embassy this week!

We, the undersigned, understand and sympathize with the sentiment expressed in the action of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at President Bush, shouting, "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." We, too, feel for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq, thanks to the policies of the Bush administration.

It's outrageous that al-Zaidi could get two years in prison for insulting George Bush, who is directly responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million Iraqis and 4,200 U.S. troops, and for the displacement of 5 million Iraqis. The one who should be in jail is Bush, not Muntadar al-Zaidi.

We call on the Iraqi government to immediately release al-Zaidi without charges.

SIGN HERE:  http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/signUp.jsp?key=3909

1. Contact the White House to protest the attack and demand an immediate cease-fire. Call 202-456-1111 or send an email to comments@whitehouse.gov.

2. Contact the State Department at 202-647-6575 or send an email by clicking here.

3. Contact your Representative and Senators in Congress at 202-224-3121 or find contact info for your Members of Congress by clicking here.

4. Contact your local media by phoning into a talk show or writing a letter to the editor. To find contact info for your local media, click here.

5. Organize a local protest or vigil and tell us about it by clicking here.

6. Sign our open letter to President-Elect Obama calling for a new U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine and find out other steps you can take to influence the incoming Administration by clicking here.

A Hospital Germ on the Warpath

You can take some simple steps to avoid infection

Grace Voros was 85 and enjoying life, watching her family grow and taking romantic walks with the man she fell in love with 61 years ago, when she took a minor fall. She went to the hospital for an x-ray, where tests confirmed she had no broken bones. But while there, she contracted an infection no one in the family had ever heard about, “C. diff,” and died.

C. diff, short for Clostridium difficile, is raging through hospitals, infecting hundreds of thousands of patients a year. The bacteria contaminate every surface, including bed rails, bed tables, nurses’ uniforms, privacy curtains, faucets and call buttons. When patients touch these surfaces and then pick up food without washing their hands, they ingest the germ. Any patient taking antibiotics who ingests C. diff is in danger of developing severe diarrhea, leading to dehydration, inflammation of the colon and even death.

Routine cleaning isn’t enough to protect you from C. diff. Researchers at Case Western Reserve and the Cleveland VA Medical Center found that after routine cleaning at a hospital, 78 percent of surfaces were still contaminated. To kill the germ, you need to use bleach.

When surfaces are not properly disinfected, the results can be deadly. At Thomas Jefferson Medical Center in Philadelphia, three consecutive patients occupying the same room came down with C. diff. One died.

Staffs at many U.S. hospitals are woefully uninformed about what to do. One study reported that 39 percent of medical personnel didn’t know that C. diff could be spread on stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and other equipment. About two-thirds of medical staff were unaware they should clean their hands with soap and water, because alcohol sanitizers don’t kill this superbug.

What can you do to protect yourself? Insist that everyone treating you clean their hands before touching you.

Clean your own hands thoroughly before eating. Do not touch your hands to your lips. Do not place your food or utensils on any surface except your plate. Ask family to bring wipes containing bleach to clean the items around your bed.

When you leave the hospital, assume any belongings you bring home are contaminated. Do not mix clothes from the hospital with the family wash; wash with bleach. Regular laundry detergents do not kill C. diff.

If you are visiting someone in the hospital, be careful about eating in the cafeteria or a restaurant where the staff go in their scrubs or uniforms. These uniforms could be covered in invisible superbugs. More than 20 percent of nurses’ uniforms had C. diff on them at the end of a workday, according to one study. Imagine sliding into a restaurant booth after a nurse has left the germ on the table or the seat. You could easily pick it up on your hands and then ingest it with your sandwich.

Poor hospital hygiene and lax practices such as wearing scrubs in public are putting all of us at risk. That’s why I founded RID, the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, so that other families won’t have to go through what Grace Voros’ family suffered.

SOURCE:  http://bulletin.aarp.org/opinions/othervoices/articles/a_hospital_germ_on_the_warpath_.html

Take Action NOW >> The need is dire, and a vote may come as early as tomorrow!

Alaska's Bering Sea

We've been warning for years that the Bering Sea's pollock fishery - the world's largest - is suffering from overfishing.  We've been called everything from crazy to exaggerating for making this claim about a fishery that has been held up as a model of sustainability.  But news this month confirms our worst fears.  The pollock population has plummeted by almost 50% in just one year.  Pollock is the very foundation of the Bering Sea's food chain, feeding everything from the endangered Steller Sea Lion to fur seals.  In fact, baby fur seals are already washing up dead in the Pribilof Islands, and scientists hypothesize that their deaths are caused by starvation.

Take Action >> The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council will vote this month to set fishing limits on pollock!

I'll be writing you over the coming month with more ways that you can help us save these amazing places for the wildlife and people who rely on them for survival.  I hope I can depend on you during this crisis.