Anonymous takes down ‘God Hates Fags’ church websites

Anonymous, the online activist movement, has taken down the website of the Westboro Baptist Church, home of the ‘God Hates Fags’ campaign group that pickets the funerals of US soldiers whose death the group blames on an acceptance of homosexuality by the USA.

It is alleged that the church made up previous threats to crash their websites by the group.

Anonymous has taken down the main website of the church together with their other websites, including the charmingly named PriestsRapeBoys.com as well as GodHatesAmerica.com, GodHatesTheWorld.com, JewsKilledJesus.com and AmericaIsDoomed.com.

The one page of the website that does resolve contains a letter from the Anonymous group that says the church’s website has been “seized by Anonymous under section #14 of the rules of the Internet.”

The church had begun a hate campaign against Anonymous and claimed that it was under threat, something that Anonymous said was a lie and a publicity stunt.

In their posting announcing the hack, Anonymous said: “Your continued biting of the Anonymous hand, however, has earned you a swift and emotionless bitchslap, in the form of this very message. Despite having had the capability to hack your sites previously, we chose not to and instead responded maturely to your threats, but you have not respected this.

“For this unremitting display of overzealousness, we award you no points. Take this defacement as a simple

warning: go away. The world (including Anonymous) disagrees with your hateful messages, but you have the right to voice them. This does not mean you can jump onto Anonymous for attention.”

The message ends with the statement: “God hates fags: assumption. Anonymous hates leeches: fact.”

via Anonymous takes down ‘God Hates Fags’ church websites – PinkNews.co.uk.

Gulf spill sickness wrecking lives

National health crisis 

 

Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal function, and irritation of the digestive tract. They have also caused lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time and memory difficulties.

Further health problems include stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, hematological disorders, and death. Pathways of exposure to the chemicals are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact.

Al Jazeera has talked with scores of sick people across the Gulf Coast who attribute their illnesses to chemicals from BP’s oil disaster.

Paul Doom, 22, from Navarre, Florida, was training in preparation to join the US Marines, until he became extremely ill from swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I stopped swimming in July because I started having severe headaches that wouldn’t go away,” Doom told Al Jazeera. “But each time I went to the doctor they dismissed it.”

In October, Doom began to have internal bleeding, but this too was dismissed by doctors. In November, when it worsened, he was given pain medications in the Emergency Room and was told it would pass. Less then three weeks after that, Doom collapsed with a seizure.

“Since then, I’ve had two blood tests for Volatile Organic Compounds [VOC's] which are in BP’s oil and dispersants, and they both came back with alarmingly high levels,” he said.

Children playing in the surf at Orange Beach, Alabama, despite independent scientists’ warnings of toxins in the water, air, and seafood [Erika Blumenfeld/AJE]

Since the onset of his symptoms, Doom has been dealing with ongoing internal bleeding, nose bleeds, bleeding from his ears, blood in his stool, headaches, severe diarrhea, two to five seizures per day, paralysis in his left leg and arm, and failing vision.

“A toxicologist that interpreted my blood VOC results told me they didn’t know how I was alive,” Doom explained. “My Hexane was off the charts, and I have 2 and 3 Methylpentane, Iso-octane, Ethylbenze, and mp-Xylene.”

via Gulf spill sickness wrecking lives – Features – Al Jazeera English.

Health Crisis in the Gulf, a year after deepwater horizon disaster

Doctor fears a ‘disease cluster’ is being ignored on Gulf Coast one year after the BP Gulf oil spill

On March 3, 2011, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, in partnership with researchers from Tulane University, released the results of a health and economic impact survey of 954 people in coastal Louisiana gathered in interviews as researchers went door-to-door or met people in places like grocery stores between the end of July and the end of September 2010. The findings of this survey describe communities struggling with the impacts of the BP oil spill disaster.

Almost three-quarters (72%) of respondents who reported that they were exposed to oil or dispersant reported experiencing an abnormal increase in at least one symptom;

The most common symptoms included:

• Cough (27%),
• eye irritation (23%),
• headache (26%), and
• sinus irritation (27%);

Almost half of the respondents (46%) reported that they do not have health insurance.

NRDC also released an issue paper last week on 42 communities across the country affected by confirmed disease clusters. But there are hundred more communities that have reported high rates of health problems and don’t qualify’ as officially confirmed disease clusters. Trevor Schaefer, the 21 year old man who survived brain cancer at age 13 and who also testified in the Senate last Tuesday, talked about how upsetting it was when his small community was told by the Idaho health department that they “are statistically insignificant.” The other time when community concerns sometimes get dismissed is when people are sick from a variety of illnesses, and especially from illnesses that don’t necessarily allow for a clear diagnosis. It is really important that we not let this happen on the Gulf Coast.

There is currently no active government agency investigation of the Gulf Coast health concerns, or programs to help individuals get needed healthcare. The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, which collected reports of health problems during the height of the spill, stopped publishing reports at the end of September. The result is that there are a lot of sick people, and people feel abandoned and overlooked in the rush to declare the oil spill over.
Severe headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, burning eyes and throat, earache and chest pains — and that’s just the beginning.

BP’s stock has already bounced back. The media has mostly moved on. But the long-term health impacts on Gulf Coast residents from the catastrophic oil spill are only beginning.

Exhibit A, says chemist Wilma Subra of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, is a recent evaluation she performed of blood sample analyses from eight BP cleanup workers and residents in Alabama and Florida.

Contrary to rosy statements by BP and Obama administration officials about the Gulf’s swift restoration, her prognosis for those sickened by the oil spill is grim.

“The people that are sick are going to be sick for the rest of their lives,” Subra said. “This isn’t just a short time that they’re sick and then they’ll get well. These issues are long-term chronic health impacts that will linger.”

She pointed out that 21 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, people in Alaska are still experiencing related health issues today. BP has seen all of Subra’s findings but hasn’t responded.

“I’ve sent them the data,” she said, “but I didn’t really expect them to respond.”

How They Got Sick

In her meetings with coastal residents, cleanup workers and volunteer health care providers, Subra has seen firsthand the devastating effects of the mix of oil and dispersants on the health of vulnerable populations.

She explained that many people have become sick through contact with these chemicals while working to clean up the oil spill and blames BP directly for not only failing to provide proper protective gear, such as respirators, but also threatening to fire cleanup workers if they wore them.

“The Louisiana Environmental Network [LEAN] actually provided protective gear and respirators,” said Subra. “But the fishing community was told, ‘If you wear the respirator, you’re fired.” The workers, many of whom were fishermen who had joined the cleanup to earn money after the waters were despoiled and closed by the spill, had to choose between supporting their families or protecting themselves from chemicals found in the oil and dispersants.