Extreme rehab: Inside the world’s most radical drug clinic
Dr Andre Waismann is rewriting the rulebook for rehab, with incredible success. So why is the medical establishment ignoring his work? Nick Harding investigates
Thursday, 2 October 2008,
Dr Andre Waismann looks out of the window towards the Gaza Strip. Speaking in a medical centre in the Israeli town of Ashkelon, a few miles north of the heavily fortified border and constantly under threat from Kassam rocket attack, he explains his vision. “My goal,” he says, “is that any drug addict in the world will one day be able to turn up at their local general hospital and say, ‘good evening, I am hooked on opiates’. They will then lie down on a treatment table and be cured quickly before going home healthy. It will be as simple as taking a trip to the dentist.”
Waismann’s clinic, based in Barzilai Medical Centre in the south of Israel, offers a controversial solution for drug addicts dependent on opiates such as heroin and morphine, as well as people hooked on painkillers containing the opiate codeine, such as Vicodin. Waismann and his team “clean” them of their addiction. The vomiting, nausea, stomach cramps and fever associated with opiate withdrawal are bypassed and the patient, who is sedated during the process, awakes with no cravings, having gone through detoxification. For the next 10 months to a year they take regular pills to counteract the effects of any heroin or opiate they may take and, according to Waismann, become fully functioning members of society again. He says he has successfully treated 11,000 patients over 14 years, and refers to his technique as ANR, or accelerated neuro-regulation. He says it reverses both the physical and the psychological dependency on the drug. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Mental Health, Recent Posts on October 3, 2008 - ד' תשרי תשס"ט at 5:15 pm
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Amnesty’s Obsession with Israel
Amnesty persistently condemns Israel while ignoring suffering elsewhere
Even in a month when war raged in Georgia, Amnesty International continued to focus on the Gaza Strip, persistently blaming Israel for ongoing Palestinian hardship.
Amnesty, in fact, issued harsher condemnations of Israel than of any party to the Georgian conflict. With a ceasefire holding between Israel and Hamas, resulting in a period of calm, Amnesty stubbornly continued to spew hollow publications repeating outdated allegations.
Moreover, Amnesty took pride in its relentless criticism of Israel, while the rest of the world rightly concerned itself with the unfolding crisis in Georgia. In a press release, the organization boasted: “With the ceasefire holding, the suffering in Gaza has fallen off the international news agenda. However, Amnesty International members continue to campaign.” This “explanation” merely highlights Amnesty’s obsession with Israel, regardless of the reality on the ground. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on October 3, 2008 - ד' תשרי תשס"ט at 6:46 am
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Israeli Jews and Arabs find hope in microfinance fund
By Karin Kloosterman, Israel 21C, October 02, 2008
The cost of housing in Israel’s capital city Jerusalem is soaring, the disparity between rich and poor is growing wider, while the trust between Arabs and Jews remains thin.
The issue of poverty is especially dire for Jerusalem’s poorer Orthodox Jews and religious Muslims who are gearing up for major holidays at this time of the year. The Jews are already making advance preparations for the Jewish New Year in late September, while the month-long half day of fasting - and then feasting - for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan is underway.
Like in America during Thanksgiving and Christmas time, it’s easy to see in Israel how the poor suffer during holiday time. There are reports of food insecurity in the local newspapers and food banks beg for donations. Charitable acts take on a deeper meaning for those that have the means to give - and they do give. But what about the rest of the year? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Business and Commerce, Islam, Judaism, Middle East Report, Monotheistic Religions, Recent Posts on October 2, 2008 - ג' תשרי תשס"ט at 9:50 am
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The Spreading Global Banking Crisis and Its International Ramifications
By William R. Thomson, 321Gold, Oct 1, 2008
The United States prides itself on being the home of free market capitalism, governed by the rule of law. However, the rapidly developing capital market crisis demonstrates once again that, faced with a systemic crisis, rules and ideology take second place to pragmatism. A similar incident happened on 15 August 1971 when Nixon arbitrarily ditched the solemn US international pledge to honour the Bretton Woods Agreements making the dollar convertible into gold at US$35 an ounce. Cynics might say that the US lives by the Gold Rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.
Hence, the unprecedented developments in which the free market took second place to untrammelled state socialism as the national debt was effectively doubled in the blink of an eye as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with their $5 trillion indebtedness were nationalised, to be followed in rapid succession by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the nationalisation of the world’s largest insurance company AIG at a cost of $85 billion. Merrill Lynch was forced into a shotgun marriage and the last two major investment banks were forced to convert to commercial banks to stay in business and get the support of the Federal Reserve Board. Then Washington Mutual, the fourth largest bank was closed down and Wachovia, that two weeks earlier was touted as the saviour of Merrill Lynch, was folded into Citicorp. Finally, in an effort to solve a systemic crisis, there is the unprecedented proposal to use $700 billion of taxpayer funds to buy the toxic debt of a banking system bordering on bankruptcy. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Business and Commerce, Opinion, Recent Posts on October 2, 2008 - ג' תשרי תשס"ט at 7:03 am
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Open Letter to Mahmoud Abbas From Palestinian Organizations
Party for Socialism and Liberation
http://www.pslweb.org/
Right of return is inalienable, indivisible right of all Palestian refugees
The following letter was presented to the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on behalf of 78 Palestinian organizations on Wednesday, Sept. 22.
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To: President Mahmoud Abbas
Chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee
President of the Palestinian National Authority
CC:
League of Arab States
Non-Aligned Movement
Organization of the Islamic Conference
Re: The Rights of Palestinian Refugees and the Final Status Negotiations
Dear Mr. President,
Greetings of Return
We, the undersigned Palestinian refugee organizations, civil society movements and institutions in the Palestinian homeland and in exile are national organizations working to defend the right of return. We appeal to you now because we are convinced that the alignment of the official Palestinian position and the position of the Palestinian people with regards to the final status negotiation issues is of the highest priority. Foremost among these issues is the cause of the Palestinian refugees. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on October 1, 2008 - ב' תשרי תשס"ט at 9:19 pm
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Understanding Obama: The Cult of Personality
By Ali Sina, Faithfreedom.org, September 22, 2008
A cult of personality is excessive adulation, admiration and exaltation of a charismatic leader, often with unproven merits or achievements. It is similar to hero worship except that it is created specifically for political leaders.
I must confess I was not impressed by Sen. Barack Obama from the first time I saw him. At first I was excited to see a black candidate. He looked youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident – a wholesome presidential package. It is so instinctive for most people to want to see blacks succeed. It is as if all humanity is carrying a collective guilt for what the ancestors of blacks endured. However, despite my initial interest in him, I was put off soon, not just because of his shallowness but also because there was an air of haughtiness in his demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and his body language were louder than his empty words.
It is surreal to see the level of hysteria in his admirers. This phenomenon is unprecedented in American politics. Women scream and swoon during his speeches. They yell and shout to Obama, “I love you.” Never did George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt. Martin Luther King Jr. or Ronald Reagan arouse so much raw emotion. Despite their achievements, none of them was raised to the rank of Messiah. The Illinois senator has no history of service to the country. He has done nothing outstanding except giving promises of change and hyping his audience with hope. It’s only his words, not his achievements that is causing this much uproar.
When cheering for someone turns into adulation, something is wrong. Excessive adulation is indicative of a personality cult. The cult of personality is often created when the general population is discontent. A charismatic leader can seize the opportunity and project himself as an agent of change and a revolutionary leader. Often, people, tired of the status quo, do not have the patience to examine the nature of the proposed change. All they want is change. During 1979, when the Iranians were tired of the dictatorial regime of the late Shah, they embraced Khomeini, not because they wanted Islam, but because he promised them change. The word in the street was, “anything is better than the Shah.” They found their error when it was too late. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education Report, Mental Health, Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on September 28, 2008 - כ"ח אלול תשס"ח at 5:58 am
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Quartet Statement
The following statement was issued today by the Middle East Quartet (United Nations, European Union, Russian Federation, and the United States):
Begin Text:
Representatives of the Quartet - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner - met today in New York to discuss the situation in the Middle East. They were joined by Quartet Representative Tony Blair.
The Quartet reaffirmed its support for the bilateral and comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and commended the parties for their serious and continuous efforts since the Annapolis Conference. The Quartet recognized that a meaningful and results-oriented process is underway and called upon the parties to continue to make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008. It noted the significance of this process and the importance of confidentiality in order to preserve its integrity. The Quartet underlined its commitment to the irreversibility of the negotiations; to the creation of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, living in peace and security alongside Israel; and to an end to the conflict. The Quartet expressed its desire to see the continuation of the solid negotiating structure, involving substantive discussions on all issues, including core issues without exception, in order to ensure the fulfillment of the Annapolis goals. The Quartet reiterated its previous call for all Palestinians to commit themselves to non-violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations. Restoring Palestinian unity based on the PLO commitments would be an important factor in this process. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on September 27, 2008 - כ"ז אלול תשס"ח at 10:49 pm
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In praise of a brave woman
Nadia Hilou is a lone Arab-Israeli Christian voice for families and children
By Ray Hanania , YNet News, September 25, 2008
In the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that dominates everyone’s attention and the news, another fight for the protection of children, families and Christian education is taking place in the Middle East.
It is being waged by an Arab-Israeli woman named Nadia Hilou who has bucked the systems in Israel and in the Palestinian community to do what some thought impossible.
A long time advocate of children and family rights, Hilou is a citizen of Israel and ran for the Israeli Knesset so she could advocate for the rights of all people in Israel, Arab and Jewish.
Instead of running on one of the Arab Israeli party lists only to see her message drown in the “us against them” fight for Palestinian rights, Hilou ran on a mainstream list with the Israeli Labor Party. This way she would make sure her message reached everyone and change would follow.
The only Arab Christian Woman in the Knesset - one of 17 women and one of only two Christians - Hilou will not stop fighting for family services and the rights of children even when everyone else has. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Christianity, Islam, Middle East Report, Monotheistic Religions, News Articles, Recent Posts on September 25, 2008 - כ"ה אלול תשס"ח at 12:12 pm
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Conference on State-Sanctioned Incitement to Genocide: What Can Be Done?
(Conference of Presidents-Genocide Watch-Jerusalem Center)From an international conference in Washington on Tuesday:
- Amb. Richard Holbrooke, Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Architect of the Dayton Agreement on Bosnia
The full title of the 1948 Genocide Convention is the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.” We must focus on prevention. Ahmadinejad is at the UN - we can’t stop him from speaking there - but we should never invite him to speak anywhere else. He uses these forums to legitimize himself in Iran. - Prof. Gregory Gordon, Former Legal Officer, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
The origins of the legal definition of incitement to genocide are with the case against Nazi Julius Streicher, publisher of Der Stuermer. In 1946 the Nuremberg Court found his incitement to kill Jews constituted a crime against humanity. Genocide does not take place without incitement. - Dr. Dore Gold, Former Israeli Ambassador to the UN
The international community is engaged in a struggle to understand who Ahmadinejad is and what his role is. He’s trying to become a legitimate world leader, but he should be in the box of a war criminal. - Esther Mujawayo, Survivor of the Rwanda Genocide in 1994
At the time of the Rwanda Genocide in 1994, the official propaganda of the government prior to and during the genocide, via newspapers and radio, was to promote hatred of the Tutsis. Hearing Ahmadinejad in the UN makes me doubt that the international community has learned its lesson. - Salih Mahmoud Osman, Member of Parliament in Sudan, Human Rights Actvist-Darfur
Why is the situation in Darfur happening after the Rwanda genocide? It is largely caused by government incitement of racial hatred, denying peoples’ identity. - Prof. Irwin Cotler, Member of Parliament, Canada, Former Attorney General and Justice Minister
States that are parties to the Convention against Genocide ignore that they have not only a right but a responsibility to prevent incitement to genocide. The failure of state parties and the UN to act is a fatal blow to the corpus of international law and to the UN, especially to the Genocide Convention. The international community must promote preventative action.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Recent Posts on September 24, 2008 - כ"ד אלול תשס"ח at 11:55 am
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