Sunday, November 16, 2014

U.S. hospital says Sierra Leone doctor with Ebola extremely critical

Dr. Martin Salia is placed on a stretcher upon his arrival at the Nebraska Medical Center Biocontainment Unit in Omaha, Nebraska, November 15, 2014.

BY KATIE KNAPP SCHUBERT-OMAHA Neb. Sun Nov 16, 2014

(Reuters) - A surgeon from Sierra Leone being treated for Ebola in a Nebraska hospital on Saturday was critically ill after being airlifted back from Africa, medical officials said.

Dr. Martin Salia, 44, a permanent U.S. resident, caught the disease while working as a surgeon in a Freetown hospital, according to his family.

Doctors at the Nebraska hospital said his condition was extremely critical. He had been stable enough to take a flight from West Africa to Omaha but was too sick to walk off the plane, medical officials said.

"We will do everything humanly possible to help him fight this disease," Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at Nebraska Medical Center, said in a statement. "This is an hour-by-hour situation."

Upon arrival Salia was transferred to a waiting ambulance in an isolation unit called an ISOPOD, a device used in the transportation of a potentially infectious patient, a hospital official said.

Salia is the third patient to be treated for Ebola in the hospital's Biocontainment Unit since the virus broke out in West Africa earlier this year.

He was chief medical officer at the United Methodist Church's Kissy Hospital when he was confirmed on Tuesday to have contracted Ebola.

His evacuation was at the request of his wife, a U.S. citizen who lives in Maryland, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

The current outbreak of Ebola is the worst on record. According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, it has killed at least 5,177 people.

Most of the victims have been in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, where already weak healthcare systems have been overrun. Some 570 local health workers have been infected, with 324 dying.

Salia would be the 10th known case of Ebola in the United States. All but one case was treated successfully.

The Nebraska clinic is one of four American hospitals approved by the federal government to treat Ebola.

(Reporting by Katie Knapp Schubert and Umaru Fofana; Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Chris Michaud in New York; Writing by David Lewis and Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Andre Grenon and John Stonestreet)

The Most Popular Drug in America Is an Antipsychotic and No One Really Knows How It Works

The pharmaceutical industry has flooded America with antipsychotics.

-By Martha Rosenberg

November 13, 2014 |

Does anyone remember Thorazine? It was an antipsychotic given to mentally ill people, often in institutions, that was so sedating, it gave rise to the term "Thorazine shuffle." Ads for Thorazine in medical journals, before drugs were advertised directly to patients, showed Aunt Hattie in a hospital gown, zoned out but causing no trouble to herself or anyone else. No wonder Thorazine and related drugs Haldol, Mellaril and Stelazine were called chemical straitjackets.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Seven Reasons Why We Cannot

Trust MR

| by A Special Correspondent

( November 15, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There are hundreds of reasons why we cannot trust MR and co any more. I will briefly outline some of these reasons in seven points.

1) Nepotism: unlike previous presidents MR has introduced a new kind of nepotism into politics in Sri Lanka.

Seven Reasons Why We Cannot by Thavam Ratna

UNP Urges Rambukwella To Unblock Colombo Telegraph

November 15, 2014

A key member of the Opposition United National Party on Friday urged Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwellato unblock Colombo Telegraph, claiming that it gives views of a broad section of society and not news.

UNP MP Dr Harsha de Silva has made this request during his speech in parliament on the budget. He said that the curb on media freedom has resulted in several websites being used to promote news and views.

Earlier in the day, Media Minister Rambukwella denied there were attempts by the government to curb media freedom in Sri Lanka. Another UNP MP Sujeewa Senasinghe said that several journalists have been forced to flee the country out of fear.

Related posts;

TNA questions UPFA

By Gagani Weerakoon and Skandha Gunasekara-November 15, 2014

TNA Leader R. Sampanthan questioned as to why the government was aligning itself so heavily on the side of China when the island had a foreign policy history of non-alignment.
MP Sampanthan said that since the government had changed to the Rajapaksa regime, Chinese influence on Sri Lanka had grown exponentially.

"Sri Lanka has followed a foreign policy of non-alignment for decades. However, the Rajapaksa Government has changed all that and has sought tremendous support and financial assistance from China"

He questioned as to why China was given prominence over India with regards to financial assistance adding that during the period 1971 to 2012 a total of USD 5,056 billion was extended as financial assistance to the island from China, of which USD 4,761, roughly 94%, was extended between 2005 and 2012, during the term of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"The funding promised by China in the period 2012 to 2014 is said to be around US Dollars 2.18 billion, the majority as a loan; of the total funding in the period 2005 to 2013, only 2% is grant while 98% is loan.

In contrast, I would like to look at Indian assistance to Sri Lanka, it is approximately US Dollars 1.3 billion, 1/3rd of that amount is by way of grant."
Sampanthan observed that as a result of Sri Lanka's growing ties with China, relations between the islands closes neighbour India have been strained in recent times.

"Is this a clear indication of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's insensitivity to the concerns of neighbouring India, recognized as the regional power in South Asia, or is it the pursuit of a deliberate, pre-determined programme to undermine Indian interests and thereby isolate India so as to free itself from obligations and commitments made to India not only in the interests of reconciliation, peace and harmony within Sri Lanka but also in the region? No country has greater links with Sri Lanka politically, economically, socially and culturally than India. Are these actions intended to undermine all these linkages which have their roots in both geography and history?" Sampanthan queried.

Thereafter MP Sampanthan stressed on the possibility that the very large loans given by China to the country would be turned into equity, adding that it was a grave concern for many Lankans who worried about its impact on the islands independence and sovereignty.

"Sri Lanka claims that it will have operational control over many projects executed by China. To what extent this will be possible is questionable. The extent of indebtedness of Sri Lanka to China would result in Sri Lanka being denied the opportunity to exercise any such operational control" the MP remarked.

With regard to geopolitical security, Sampanthan noted that Sri Lanka's increasing defence ties with China is perceived by India as a possible threat which would leave the island estranged from its oldest and closest ally.
"A Chinese submarine along with a Chinese warship docked in the Colombo Port in September 2014. It docked again in the Colombo Port on its return. Though various assurances are given by Sri Lanka - when things that did not happen earlier happen now, they cause concern and raise the question of whether there is new thinking, whether it is sought to undermine and marginalize India by Chinese dominance - the million-dollar question being with what consequences eventually, both for India and Sri Lanka" Sampanthan said.

MP Sampanthan asserted that defence co-operations between Sri Lanka and China has received prominence recent times and that the reports mid this year of the establishment of a Maintenance Facility in Trincomalee by China, which had gained Cabinet approval, would have been in contravention of the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement.

மன்னாரில் முன்னாள் போராளி சுட்டுக்கொலை! பொய்யான தகவலை வெளியிடும் பொலிஸ்: பொதுமக்கள் ஆதங்கம்

[ சனிக்கிழமை, 15 நவம்பர் 2014, 04:53.08 PM GMT ]

மன்னார் வேள்ளாங்குளத்தில் சுட்டுக்கொல்லப்பட்ட விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் முன்னாள் போராளி நகுலேஸ்வரனின் கொலை தொடர்பில் பொலிஸாரினால் சோடிக்கப்பட்ட தகவலை பொதுமக்கள் மறுத்துள்ளனர்.

கடந்த புதன்கிழமை சுட்டுக்கொல்லப்பட்ட நகுலேஸ்வரன் தொடர்பில் உண்மை தகவல்களை மறைக்க இலங்கையின் படையினரும் பொலிஸாரும் முயற்சித்து வருகின்றனர்.

SL military fabricates evidences to distort Mannaar assassination, say residents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 November 2014, 08:20 GMT]
Ve’l’laangku’lam residents on Saturday denied Sri Lankan police reports that sought to fabricate evidence and distort the facts about Nakuleswaran, who was assassinated on Wednesday. The Sri Lankan military intelligence and the SL police have been trying to fabricate a story that the ex-LTTE member and former Tamil Eelam policeman Nakuleswaran was slain due to personal grudges, the residents said. On Friday, the Sri Lankan police claimed that two T-56 rifles had been located and four persons involved in a gang had been detained. In the meantime, Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) youth wing secretary S.V. Sivakaran in Mannaar told TamilNet that Mr Nakuleswaran was not an active supporter or member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

மன்னாரில் முன்னாள் போராளி சுட்டுக்கொலை! பொய்யான தகவலை வெளியிடும் பொலிஸ் பொதுமக்கள் ஆதங்கம் by Thavam Ratna

Over 400,000 persons might lose opportunity to vote

Saturday, 15 November 2014

It is learnt that over 400,000 persons island wide could lose the opportunity to lose their chance to exercise their franchise at the next national election.

The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) says that there are hundreds of thousands of people island wide without a valid ID.

CaFFE Executive Director, Keerthi Tennakoon said people could therefore lose the chance to vote at the next national election.

He observed that a mobile programme will be held on the 29th of this month to issue national ID cards to people who do not have them.

Timing Is Everything: A Look At The

Executive Presidency

| by Ven. Dr. Agamaha Pandita Walpola Piyananda

Chief Sangha Nayaka of America

( November 15, 2014, California, Sri Lanka Guardian ) There has been a great deal of discussion in Sri Lanka recently about abolishing the Executive Presidency. When the new constitution was adopted during the presidency of J. R. Jayawardane, it created the Provincial System of governance and the position of the Executive President; both have their inherent merits and flaws, many of which have been revealed as we have lived with the new system over time. Most people agree that many aspects of our current system need to be reviewed and ultimately fixed, but I contend that the fixing can only be done at the right time. This is simply the way life works: to attempt a fix at the wrong time – even if it is for the right reasons – will only produce wrong results.

Timing is Everything a Look at the by Thavam Ratna

The South Asia nuclear threat and the Sirimavo Doctrine

By Izeth Hussain-November 14, 2014, 9:13 pm

One of the most momentous developments of recent times, perhaps the most fateful in the long run, has been passed over with scant attention paid to it by the Sri Lankan public. It could be the most fateful because it carries the potential to lead not just to the breakup of Sri Lanka but to its extinction as habitable territory.

The South Asia Nuclear Threat and the Sirimavo Doctrine by Thavam Ratna

Rajapaksa Third Term SC Opinion: Judges’ Dissents Not Recorded And Forced To Sign

November 15, 2014

Few days after the secretive ‘Opinion’ obtained by the President, the Supreme Court sources disclosed internal clashes over the intemperate and political language used by the De facto Chief Justice Mohan Pieristo write the “Opinion”, Colombo Telegraph reliably learnt. The judges were told by Pieris that this opinion will not be known to the public, and therefore judges are free to write any opinion to the President. Among the questionable paragraphs the following shocking statement is also included;

De facto Chief Justice Mohan Pieris

“It would appear that having regard to the fact that a two time victor at a presidential election has garnered the popular support of the majority of the people as a political leader at successive elections, such a mandate holder should not be fettered with the sanction of a bar for a third time in accordance with the vision of that time. The imposition of such a disqualification is anathema to popular sovereignty as recognised in the determinations of 18th Amendment. It would appear that is was in these circumstances that the legislature thought it fit to remove such a bar in a manifestation of its commitment to take the nation to great heights on the anvil of reconciliation and reconstruction.”

Mohan Pieris has throughout the ‘Opinion’ criticized the critics and the academics who advocated against the President’s third term. He said they were “public debaters and self appointed educators and intellectuals living in ivory towers”. Several legal experts who have had an opportunity to look at the opinion, have expressed their dismay over the language used by the judges, and have confronted few of the judges who have signed the ‘Opinion’. Many of them have disassociated themselves with such parts of the ‘Opinion’. It is now learnt that the request of 4 judges, who wanted to have an open and oral hearing were ignored sarcastically, pretending that he (Pieris) the only constitutional expert in the country. He has also not given time for Judges to discuss the written submissions filed before the Supreme Court. On 10th November, when the judges met for a few minutes, the De facto Chief Justice had started to dictate the order, which appeared to have been prepared a few days ago and judges were given a print-out to sign a few hours later, a judge told Colombo Telegraph.

Related posts;

Rajapaksa Is A Henahura (Harbinger Of Evil) And A Hora (Thief): Ex CJ Silva

SC Process Shows The Pathetic Situation Sri Lankan Citizens Are Placed: BASL

Rajapaksa Wins Third Term Battle

Mohan Pieris And Nihal Jayamanne Draft MR Questions For SC Opinion

No “In Camera” Need An Oral Hearing: Full Text Of The Bar Letter To De Facto CJ

Mahinda Was Lying In Wait, I Was Waiting For The Opportune Moment: Ex-CJ Sarath Silva

Eligibility For A Third Term: From The Horse’s Mouth

President’s Reference To The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Cannot Become A Party To A Political Trick: AHRC

Mahinda Rajapaksa Cannot Succeed President Rajapaksa

Imagining That Third-Term

US-trained commander of SL military steps up surveillance on Jaffna University

Major General Udaya Perera with US Army War College award in 2012 [Photo courtesy: defence.lk]

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 November 2014, 09:37 GMT]
The commander of the occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka in Jaffna, Major General Udaya Perera, who was trained and awarded in the US Army War College in 2012, after his role in the genocidal onslaught in 2009 followed by counter-insurgency foreign service, is engaged in creating fear psychosis among the Tamil youth, ex-LTTE members and the civil society in North before Tamil Heroes Day, Tamil activists in Jaffna say. Two ‘surveillance centers’ have been created near the University of Jaffna in recent days at Naachchimaar koayil and at Kaladdi Junction, obtaining civilian houses within 500 meters and one km from the university premises. The primary task given to the intelligence operatives is to block activists and students from marking Tamil Heroes Day on November 27.

Udaya Perera had summoned all intelligence officers from various parts of the Jaffna peninsula last week to Palaali military base. Specific instructions were given to the intelligence operatives on how to create fear psychosis among the public to block any attempt to mark the Tamil Heroes Day in Jaffna.

Armed SL military soldiers have been posted every 10 feet along the streets in the vicinity of the University since Friday.

Informed sources told TamilNet Saturday that the Vice Chancellor Vasanthy Arasaratnam has been reluctant this year to shut down the university, citing possible protests from the administration, teachers and the students.

Last year, the University administration in Jaffna was under criticism for obeying to the instructions by the SL military to shut down the university during the Heroes Day week.

However, a final decision has not been made. But, the SL military, by deploying military personnel, is exerting pressure on the administration of the university, the sources further said.

The normalcy required for the education activities at the University of Jaffna has been seriously compromised by the increased deployment of Sri Lankan military personnel in the vicinity, including the main entrance of the university, said Amirthalingam Rajakumaran, the president of the Jaffna University Teachers Association (JUTA), who met the press at the University premises on Friday.

“The entire university community has come under harassment by the deployment of SL military personnel in the vicinity of the University of Jaffna,” he said.

Welfare Education?

| by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

( November 15, 2014, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Discussions over the Jaffna Name Board being in Sinhala first led to the following comments from a Sinhalese:

Welfare Education by Thavam Ratna

We hear the ‘swan song’ of capitalism, let’s get ready to sing the ‘song of victory’

FRIDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2014

Capitalist rulers have discarded all ‘patriotic’ garbs and have started dancing in the nude. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa is attempting to contest for a third term in stark nakedness. He has no clothes of patriotism or democracy and the Constitution or the laws of the country are not relevant to him. All institutions have been made submissive to get the verdict he wants. What are being displayed are not victories of capitalism but its crisis. What we hear is the ‘swan song’ of capitalism. Let’s get ready to sing the ‘song of victory,’ said the General Secretary of the JVP Tilvin Silva addressing the 25th Commemoration of ‘November Heroes’ held at Viharamahadevi Park yesterday (13th).

We Hear the ‘Swan Song’ of Capitalism, Let’s Get Ready to Sing the ‘Song of Victory’ by Thavam Ratna

Opinions Galore! – A Dime For 3 Dozen!

By Elmore Perera -November 15, 2014

Elmore Perera

Since Independence in 1948, Constitution making and amendment, of same in Sri Lanka have de facto been the exclusive preserve of politicians. Invariably therefore, they were designed to suit the whims of scheming politicians to safeguard and further their own selfish interests. The only exception to this was perhaps the 17^th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution. Civic minded professionals who placed country before self, laboured for eleven months to have this passed in Parliament, without a single dissenting vote, to amend the Constitution in October 2001.

Regrettably however, it did not take long for scheming politicians to restore to themselves those lost powers. Commencing in 2005, the Executive initially disregarded, and subsequently blatantly violated the mandatory constitutional provisions – an impeachable offence, under the same constitution!

Having tasted blood, the Executive went the 2^nd mile in October 2010. The 17^th Amendment, commonly described as the ‘Good Governance Amendment’, was repealed and replaced with the draconian 18^thAmendment. In double quick time all institutions were totally politicised. The last bastion, the Judiciary, fell in January 2013 with the wholly unlawful impeachment of its Head, the Chief Justice. The rule of Law was rapidly replaced by the Law of the Jungle. The predators devoured all that they chose to.

Unwilling to remain as passive observers of this carnage and impending doom, the National Movement for Social Justice, spearheaded by the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero was formed about two years ago. Since then, a relentless campaign has been carried out in an attempt to restore the rule of Law and establish a “Just Society” in Sri Lanka.

The root cause for this unprecedented degradation was soon identified as the patronage extended to a host of Criminals, bootleggers and hooligans of all sorts, by the patent abuse of the unlimited powers of the Executive President. The abolition of the Executive Presidency and the restoration of the 17^th Amendment became the key issues pursued by this movement.

The mere abolition of the Executive Presidency will not instantly solve all our problems. However, without first abolishing the Executive Presidency, Sri Lanka cannot be saved from the imminent destruction of every semblance of civilisation.

Far from honouring the solemn pledges, repeatedly made by him to abolish the Executive Presidency, the Incumbent President is rapidly arrogating to himself all conceivable power and authority, and ruthlessly exercising them as he pleases, to crush or suppress any opposition.

Though clearly prohibited, by prevailing law, from seeking a third term as President, he seems hell bent on achieving that objective. It is reported that “his Judiciary” has, for what it is worth, opined that there is no legal barrier to his seeking a third term. The purported opinion is no more than the mere opinion of a collection of individuals. If nothing else, it is an expression of their personal biases. It is said that “man (including woman according to the current provisions of the much maligned Interpretation Ordinance) is Master (or Mistress) of the unspoken word (or opinion) which when spoken (or opined) becomes the Master (or mistress) of him (or her). This expression of an opinion they have formed, clearly disentitles them from thereafter adjudicating on the same matter. At most, such opinion is only persuasive to the extent of the credibility, if any, of the individuals expressing it.

All national assets re being flagrantly exploited by the Executive to achieve its goal. The most ominous is the establishment of Army Camps throughout the length and breadth of Sri Lanka, which is the electorate for the impending Presidential election. The possibility of a military coup (by those who claim to have defeated terrorism) cannot be ruled out.

The President has decreed that there shall be no “Arab Spring” in Sri Lanka. The question is “Then what it will it be?

Que Sera Sera! Whatever will be, will be!

The Sovereign People will then deliver their verdict!

*Elmore Perera, Attorney-at-Law - Founder CIMOGG and Past President OPA