Peanut Butter and other Peanut Containing Products Recall List

Getting Beyond Getting Ready for Bird Flu

The message from the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security is: Let’s quit trying to get ready, and just get ready, already.

We are not ready for a pandemic, the report says.

Areas of weakness include:

• Failure to uniformly collect information
• Early warning biosurveillance
• Biosurveillance integration (agencies talking to agencies)

Hospitals are unprepared for the pandemic surge:

Hospital pandemic plans need to take into account current situations and characteristics in order to be realistic. For example, most hospitals141 in the country do not have the capacity to surge their operations to any great extent, 142 so planners should not pretend that surge can occur easily.

Green Eye Technology agrees that hospitals are ill-equpped to handle contagious pandemic. We propose that Homeland Security agencies be ready for the pandemic threat by building underground Emergency Treatment Centers.

See also: US Unprepared for Bird Flu, Part I.

The Terrorists’ Checklist:

1. Bombing the Cole: Check
2. Knocking down the World Trade Center? Check
3. Poisoning the food supply: Check

As of January 26, 2009, eight people have died and 493 people have been sickened by Salmonella infections contracted from Peanut Butter Corporation of America’s (PCA) product.

Last year PCA plant inspectors found mildew, dust buildup and metal flakes.

PCA found Salmonella in its product and shipped it anyway.

What is the difference between this and bioterrorism?

If PCA knowingly  killed and sickened hundreds, is it even criminal?

A domestic terrorist has threatened several Seattle, WA establishments with a chemical weapon ricin attack.

The Seattle Times reports that the terrorist plans to kill approximately 55 people.

Ricin is most dangerous when inhaled or ingested. It is derived from castor beans and has no known antidote.

Algeria and Pakistan

At first we weren’t sure this was true, but now the Washington Times is reporting that in the first week of January 2009 Al Qaeda Algeria sent Al Qaeda Pakistan an urgent communication.

The communication suggested that an area sealed to prevent leakage of a biological or chemical substance had been breached, according to the official.

The story we weren’t sure to believe came from The Sun (we’d post a proper link but this public cafe internet router apparently believes The Sun’s website is dangerous).

The original report suggested that 40 Al Qaeda members gave themselves the Black Plague.

It’s not the plague, according to the Times. But, they say, something chemical or biological — and deadly — did leak out of a sealed area in Algeria.

A big thank you to riverScrap for clarifications.

We don’t ask these questions for political reasons. We ask for the same reason football has rules against “unnecessary roughness.”

The rules that keep the civilian population safe are crumbling.

One day we use the use of chemical weapons as an excuse to go to war, the next America’s ally uses chemical weapons in the 2009 Gaza war.

[White phosphorus] ignites when it strikes the skin and burns straight through or until it is cut off from oxygen. It can cause horrific injuries.

At Green Eye Technology, our job is to protect the civilian population. In the Emergency Preparedness world, we need to know which threats are likely. Chemical weapon use is becoming more likely.

Every time the rules of war and terrorism change, our emergency preparedness rules must change with them. What was once “unnecessary roughness” and “against Geneva Conventions” becomes our next threat.

Phosphorus melts the skin and lungs. The only real treatment is prevention.

See also Associated Press story: Rights group: Israel uses white phosphorus in Gaza

In just 24 hours since our announcement:

• 20,480 websites have shown our headline (How To Rescue A 60-Year-Old Turtle: Military-Grade Underground Shelter Company Green Eye Technology Upgrades “Duck And Cover”; Launches Website) through RSS feeds
• 1,782 people have pulled up the entire release to read
• Statistics show a great interest coming from Herndon, VA (we hope no one is surprised)

Thank you for the generous reception. As Americans, our biggest concern is homeland defense. At Green Eye Technology, we’re focusing like a laser beam on America’s safety.

(PRWEB) January 15, 2009 — Before “Mutually Assured Destruction” was even a concept, Bert the turtle was teaching school children how to survive a nuclear war. In the U.S. government’s 1951 animation, Bert hides under his shell when confronted with danger. A stick of dynamite represents a nuclear bomb. A monkey represents nuclear-armed Russia. The message is: If you see a bright flash, duck on the ground in a ball, face down, and cover your head.

Launching his company’s new bomb shelter website GreenEyeTech.com in 2009, Green Eye Technology’s owner and president George Welhaf said: “We can do better than duck and cover. Today’s threat is nuclear, biological, chemical and conventional weapon terrorism. We re-wrote our website to reflect our sharpened concentration on protecting people from terrorism.

Osama bin Laden and dirty bombs have replaced Russia and its nukes. Modern acts of terrorism are America’s greatest threat. Nuclear, chemical, biological and conventional terrorism are now an every-day possibility.

Today, the U.S. government no longer teaches civil defense in the schools. While the Department of Homeland Security checks our borders, planes and ports, alert citizens know that only one terrorist has to get through that net to create a deadly threat to the United States.

In 2006, George Welhaf was looking for an underground shelter to protect his family from the terrorist threat. He looked at bomb shelter after bomb shelter. But as a seasoned construction expert, he could see the flaws in these plans.

Then in 2006 (on September 11), George met Walton McCarthy, author of “Principles of Protection: U.S. Handbook of Weapon Fundamentals and Shelter Engineering Design Standards”. McCarthy had been designing and building underground bomb shelter protection for over 20 years. Inventor and manufacturer of the P10, CAT15 and CAT25 shelters, McCarthy had the product Welhaf sought.

Welhaf teamed with McCarthy to market and distribute the shelters. He made underground shelters the focus of his Green Eye Technology company. In 2008, Welhaf hired Bogart Computing, LLC to build a website to educate customers about state-of-the-art shelter technology. GreenEyeTech.com was completely re-designed and re-launched in December, 2008.

The military-grade line of bomb shelters protects shelterists from nuclear fallout, chemical weapons, biological weapons, conventional blasts, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods and fires. The shelters have air sterilization units that kill or eliminate all nuclear, biological and chemical agents. Green Eye Technology now features underground shelters at the core of its business.

“Many people have misconceptions about nuclear terrorism,” Welhaf said. “In a worst case scenario, radiation disperses to healthy levels within 28 days. Of course, there might be other issues at hand that would require the shelterists to remain in the shelter for a significantly longer period of time.”

Some people worry that sheltering would feel claustrophobic. “They can be claustrophobic,” Welhaf said. “Especially concrete shelters which hold moisture and absorb light. Our shelters are impervious to water. The interior feels expansive and bright. The walls actually reflect light, creating almost a sunny feeling.”

The company markets it bomb shelter product line to families, associations and businesses. Parents buy them to protect their children. Associations have been purchasing “group shelters” chained together underground to create completely self-contained underground communities. Corporations use underground shelters for business continuity and data protection.

“We outfit our customers’ shelters with every conceivable necessity and option,” Welhaf said. “Not just showers and stoves, but also quality-of-life products such as gym equipment. Our job is to protect people while offering a higher level of comfort,” Welhaf said. “Our underground shelters are the only complete protection from man-made and natural disasters. Families ask if they can bring their pets to the shelter. I answer ‘yes, of course.’ Any household pet can shelter with its family. Dogs, cats… even turtles,” Welhaf said.

For more information about Green Eye Technology and its bomb shelter products, contact George Welhaf at (610) 203-6214.

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Dr. Paul McDonald’s recent article “Bird Flu: Why Modern Medicine Won’t Save Us,” explains why everything we think we know about bird flu is wrong. The ignorant are unprepared; the unprepared are unprotected. To prepare for the ever-threatening bird flu pandemic, McDonald offers seven myths we should examine:

Myth #1: We have anti-viral agents that cure the flu.

Actually, there are only four antiviral agents. Two are not working well on bird flu, and two are in short supply.

Myth #2: We have antibiotics that cure the flu.

Antibiotics treat infections, not viruses.

Myth #3: We have optimal equipment to treat the flu.

The Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome that accompanies flu is treated with mechanical respiration. During a normal flu season almost all U.S. respiratory machines are in use. During a pandemic the machines would be in short supply.

Myth #4: We have enough protective equipment for hospital personnel.

“[D]isposable gloves, N95 face masks, gowns, face shields or goggles, head caps, and shoe covers” are in short supply due to foreign manufacture and just-in-time delivery.

Myth #5: We have optimal hospital space to treat the flu.

Flu pandemics create hospital surges. Flu treatment requires isolation. Picture a functioning hospital on a normal, non-pandemic day. There’s not enough space to give each patient an isolated room.

During the coming pandemic, there won’t be enough beds in hospitals for all the sick people with bird flu.

Makeshift “hospitals” will have to be established outside of existing hospitals to care for all the ill patients.

Myth #6: We will invent a vaccine to prevent bird flu.

The vaccines under development that come closest to being effective require two shots, making an already iffy compliance profile that much sketchier.

Myth #7: Medical personnel will volunteer to help.

Medical personnel will stay home. We already have a nursing shortage. During the SARS outbreak in Toronto health care workers resigned rather than be exposed to that disease.

McDonald says:

In a sense, the next pandemic could very well be analogous to the Hurricane Katrina situation, with mass confusion, lack of resources, visible dead bodies, acts of cowardice and acts of heroism, financial disaster, panic, and every emotion possible–nothing like we are used to witnessing in America; shocking.

Read the full text here: Bird Flu: Why Modern Medicine Won’t Save Us

If you’re looking for a new career, First Responder jobs and job training opportunities are showing up everywhere.  NewsDay reports:

…[T]here will be a growth in specialized areas related to border and transportation security, emergency preparedness, public health and information analysis.

The San Marcos, California Community Emergency Response Team provides free training at local Palomar College.

San Marcos CERT offers Preparedness Training

FEMA offers a slew of emergency management courses.

To learn more about First Responder and CERT (Community Emergency Response Training), contact CERT at https://www.citizencorps.gov/cert.

In its November/December 2008 newsletter, the privately-funded Center for Defense Information (CDI) argues that our military budget has never been so large while our actual strength is so weak.

…[O]ur Army has fewer combat divisions than at any point in that period; our Navy has fewer combat ships, and the Air Force has fewer combat aircraft. The graphs below show this grisly, decades-old deterioration and the increasing cost.

CDI’s pulls-no-punches thesis is that the defense business gets fat while America gets weak.

As we’ve pointed out before (Madoff Pyramid Scheme: One for bin Laden), greed weakens our national defense.

Defense based on “dubious pork projects” drain America’s strength. Like a building constructed with cheap cement, our weakened defenses will crumble.

Chapter 11, “Understand, then contain America’s Out-of-Control Defense Budget” (Winslow T. Wheeler) is a detailed breakdown of the “real” national defense budget.

Members of Congress who argue that their earmarks are good ideas should have no problem with competent, independent evaluation of their proposals and a good government process for implementing them…. This proposal will be vehemently opposed by the vast majority of today’s Congress. Members will insist on controlling the evaluation of any earmarks and where the contracts for them are awarded. After all, the whole idea is to send the money to a pre-designated client. To affect real reform, Congress needs – and currently lacks – an uncompromising and uncompromised reformer to make the existing system too painful and politically costly to continue further.

This is no time for complacency and greed. The enemy will use our weaknesses against us.

The full text of the report is here: http://www.cdi.org/pdfs/AmericasDefenseMeltdownFullText.pdf

Tornado alley descriptions usually don't include Kentucky.

According to a report on Kentucky’s ABC affiliate WCPO, Maxwell, Kentucky is that state’s most tornado-prone town.

Tornado chaser has a broader definition of "tornado alley."

That conclusion comes from VorTek, LLC, maker of SATT 3.0, a tornado early-warning system. As shown by their drawing below, the system uses seismic readings to detect tornado activity.

VorTek SATT Tornado Detector

Farther up in the state, the Northern Kentucky Emergency Planning Committee is using bus advertising to remind residents to plan for the worst. The committee and the local Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (”TANK”) have wrapped the bus in emergency warnings:

“Shelter in Place during a chemical emergency.”
What is it? What do I do? What do I need? Turn to Cincinnati Bell phone book p. 37

The bus also carries Shelter In Place pamphlets.

The all-consuming focus leads to exhaustion and a constant state of fear. Terrorism is inflicting Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome on an entire population.

Random bolts of fear shut down the victims’ minds. Sadness replaces humor. Helplessness pairs with hyper-vigilance.

Calling it “paranoia” would be unfair: the terrorists really are out to get you. Distrust accompanies every perception and decision. Terrorism conquers the mind. Decisions are made based on the possibility of terrorism. Safety concerns become paramount. Emergency preparedness is the only logical path.

If only.

According to The Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson report “Ready or Not, 2008?” report, we’re not ready. The report (Protecting the Public’s Health from Disease, Disasters, and Bioterrorism) states (emphasis added):

[P]rogress made to better protect the country from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis.

In addition, the report concludes that major gaps remain in many critical areas of preparedness, including surge capacity, rapid disease detection, and food safety.

On a 10-point preparedness scale, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Montana, and Nebraska scored a 5. We are particularly poorly-prepared at rapid disease detection; food safety; surge capacity (large hospital inflows); and vaccine and medication supplies and distribution.

A 3-part South Park movie Imagination Land suggested that the terrorist had captured our imaginations, crippling us without any more attacks since 9/11.

If terrorist have captured our imaginations, then why aren’t we ready?

So while this bomb shelter picture is not one of ours, it does convey the one thing we’re always trying to show our customers: bomb shelter life is not cramped, crowded and scary.

While it is true that smaller or concrete shelters can create psychological problems, our shelters are naturally bright and give a feeling of spaciousness.

On top of being some of the largest pre-fabricated underground shelters on the market, Green Eye Technology shelters are white fiberglass, which reflects light. So the interiors are brighter. Concrete walls hold moisture and absorb light. Those are two reasons we won’t sell concrete shelters. Fiberglass is impervious to water and reflects interior lighting.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website is one of the best emergency preparedness websites, private or public.

The CDC’s Emergency Preparedness and Response pages include truly credible resources on bioterrorism, mass casualties, chemical emergencies, natural disasters and severe weather, radiation emergencies and recent outbreaks and incidents.

While the CDC’s “Preparing for a Terrorist Bombing: A Common Sense Approach” is realistic for large populations, it does not describe true emergency preparedness.

The CDC recommends following emergency personnel and going to the hospital when injured. To a shelter owner, this advice is obvious and inadequate.  But what would we have them recommend? To immediately enter an imaginary shelter?

America doesn’t have enough shelters. Only private groups, families and corporations who prepare for terrorism will have an underground safe haven when terrorists bomb American soil.

When war or terrorism is inevitable, bomb shelter regulations get tighter.

The Israeli military has banned Gaza gatherings if the bomb shelter capacity is too small.

The Israeli military has ordered all reception halls within rocket range of Gaza to call off gatherings of more than 100 people. Halls must close down completely if they do not have a fortified roof or cannot usher all guests into shelters within 30 seconds.

A missile destroyed one above ground school. Classes are cancelled indefinitely. Even Israel, where bombs can be expected on any day, the underground shelter capacity is inadequate for the population.

But Roger Hatav said he would never shut his coffee shop. He said he was one of the last havens for people looking to escape their homes for a brief respite. “People need their coffee, their espresso, in the morning,” he said. “They can’t stay inside all day long.”

Of course, if Hatav’s coffee shop were already underground, his coffee-drinking demographic might feel more like dropping by.

But war and terrorism still include plenty of conventional weapons. If the hospital is hit, victims have nowhere to get help.

Emergency Treatment Centers (ETC) located on your site are safer and more likely to do the job. The ETC is an isolated underground hospital. Victims have immediate access to antibiotics and disinfection showers.

Emergency preparedness planners have to plan for prevention of and mitigation of terrorist attacks. Underground Emergency Treatment Centers protect shelterist owners when hospitals are overwhelmed or disabled.

Even large hospitals can go underground. The Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, Israel is operating a fortified underground emergency room.

The largest hospital on Israel’s southern coast has gone underground. Wary of a missile strike against it from the Gaza Strip, Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital has moved its most essential departments into an underground bomb shelter.

Emergency preparers can network underground emergency treatment centers in expectation that some attacks will not be prevented and will hit above ground hospitals.

The FBI announced this week it will reduce terror threat investigations to focus on financial crimes. Bloomberg’s Patricia Hurtado reports:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was forced to reallocate its manpower in New York to deal with recent frauds involving subprime mortgages, auction-rate securities and Madoff…

Financial crimes are now taking precedence over terror prevention and protection.  bin Laden’s attack created homeland security awareness. Seven years later, Wall Street crimes are diluting national security investigations.

Madoff is playing for bin Laden’s team.

Residents exposed to the largest coal spill disaster in history think otherwise. One resident was about to sell his house.

“When people are bad, they get coal from Santa,” he said. “We didn’t get the coal, we got the ash.”

In his 2008 report “Marrying Prevention and Resiliency: Balancing Approaches to an Uncertain Terrorist Threat,” Rand Corporation author Brian A. Jackson suggests that the best defense includes accepting that defensive measures might fail.

Jackson suggests supplementing attack prevention measures with resiliency procedures.

“Mitigation and resiliency measures are designed to reduce the impact of a damaging event when it occurs and to make it possible for key infrastructures, economic activities, and other parts of society to rapidly bounce back.”

Some attacks will succeed, he says. The best response to this reality is to soften the consequences. Rather than investing Dept. Homeland Security funds completely in prevention, the idea is to dampen the blow and ensure facilities, supply chains and economic institutions “bounce back.”