When Rachel Ehrenfeld learned about the platforms of George Soros

Ehrenfeld, who once wrote about Islamic finance of terrorism, was one of the first people to be aware of the bad platforms advocated by millionaire George Soros in the 1990s, one of which was to get drugs legalized in the USA, if anywhere:

Ehrenfeld first became aware of Soros’s plans in the 1990s due to her research on drug addiction and drug trafficking (Soros’s first foray into American public policy was drug legalization). “I knew that drug legalization would cause a massive increase in the number of drug addicts,” writes Ehrenfeld.

“Moreover, I recalled that enabling easy access to narcotics was mentioned in the ‘Soviet Military Encyclopedia’ as an important weapon during so-called peacetime. It was recommended because when easily accessible, narcotic use spreads like fire, undermining the targeted country’s society, economy, and political integrity,” she continues.

In February 1995, as result of her expertise on drug issues, Ehrenfeld found herself invited to a dinner at Soros’s home in New York City. He posed as open-minded and prepared to debate the drug issue, so she decided to correct him when he praised the Swiss. (Ehrenfeld had just returned from Switzerland, where she met with experts involved in a government-sponsored project to supply addicts with heroin, morphine and free needles—an experiment which proved a disaster.)

“[P]olitely, I interrupted Soros, pointing out he was ill-informed. He seemed stunned that I dared contradict him and forcefully repeated his praise of the Swiss. When I insisted he was wrong, the angry Soros turned around and left the big living room. The other guests, who until then stood around us, listening, moved very fast away from me. The scene reminded me of something Woody Allen would have created,” she writes.

Well those other guests were clearly as much a disgrace as Soros himself was being. But if you think that was bad:

Ehrenfeld recognized that Soros was determined to change America’s drug policy. In a Feb. 7, 1996 Wall Street Journal op-ed, she cautioned that Soros’s “sponsorship unified the movement to legalize drugs and gave it the respectability and credibility it lacked.” She also warned that if Soros went unchallenged, he would alter the political landscape in America. She even visited senators and Republican mega-donors to tell them Soros must be countered. Nobody took action, she said.

Not even Newt Gingrich, who if memory serves, once met with Yasir Arafat? Again, we have an example of how RINOs impeccably managed to lead to a most dire situation via ignorance. And, in case you're wondering, yes, Soros bankrolled Israel's enemies:

Q: Do you agree with comments by people like attorney Alan Dershowitz, who has said that George Soros has done more than anyone to turn Americans against Israel?

A: [Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel] David Friedman also has said that nobody has done more damage to Israel than George Soros. He’s funded the New Israel Fund, the Palestinians, Birzeit University, anti-Israel organizations in Israel. I quote Soros saying tribalism is not for him. So he doesn’t live in Israel. But he did everything in order to destabilize the place.

Q: Soros always cries antisemitism when he’s attacked. What’s the best way to undermine such a defense?

A: When people like Benjamin Netanyahu, David Friedman, Dershowitz and myself keep telling people this is not antisemitism. Unless you say that he’s Jewish and this is why he’s doing it. The religion he was born into has nothing to do with it. Soros says he’s agnostic.

Since the book came out, several Jewish publications have refused to publish either excerpts from the book or review the book. I’ve received hate mail following interviews, many from Jews. It’s worrisome.

The situation she describes is very much like how ultra-Orthodox clans rallied round abusive figures like Nechemya Weberman and Malka Leifer. So the leftists who're bound to be those ostracizing anything to do with her book better not claim they're any better than the Haredi extremists.

Q: Are you worried for Israel given that his son, Alexander, who’s slated to take over, has expressed more interest in Israel and Judaism than his father?

A: Alex is a big supporter of Jewish causes if by Jewish causes you mean anti-Israeli organizations.

It was interesting to see in the Wall Street Journal announcement with Alex Soros in June—I wouldn’t call it an interview, it was more a glorified PR ad—it showed a picture of Alex with his father at his bar mitzvah. I saw that as really a threat: “You criticize what I do, you will be accused of antisemitism.”

Alex has been trying to increase the division between the observant Orthodox and the … secular in Israel. He’s said that Jews in America are still conveying their support to Israel no matter what, and they don’t understand when they are supporting Israel, they are supporting apartheid. Soros, his father, was the first one to support the apartheid conference in South Africa.

Why they are so bent on hating Israel and trying to destabilize the Jewish state is beyond me. They are not the first self-hating Jews. Unfortunately, they have a lot of influence.

That's what makes them such a bad lot. If Soros Sr. was bad, we can only guess just how much Soros Jr. will be, especially now that he's using the antisemitism card just as much. This is practically why I'm furious at Haredi extremists, since they've used similar tactics, and it's only undermined the ability to combat self-haters properly.

It's good Ehrenfeld's shed light on what's wrong with Soros and company. But bad there's so many far-left Jewish Americans who're turning their back on her research.

The Pain In The Brain

I just learned something new today about pain. What I learned is that Arthritis pain is processed in the brain's 'fear center'.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have discovered that arthritis pain, unlike that induced as part of an experiment, is processed in the parts of the brain concerned with emotions and fear.

So repeated pain trains you. It causes your experience of pain to be more painful. Which is a good thing since it will tend to reduce the stress on the areas in pain. The more it hurts the less you use it.

"We thought that arthritic and acute experimental pain would be processed within the same areas of the pain matrix," Dr Kulkarni continued. "But, although both activated both the medial and lateral pain systems, arthritic pain prompted increased activity in the cingulate cortex, thalamus and amygdale within the medial system - the areas concerned with processing fear, emotions and aversive conditioning.

"This suggests that arthritic pain has more emotional salience than experimental pain for these patients, which is consistent with the unpleasantness scores they themselves gave. The increased activity in the areas associated with aversive conditioning, reward and fear, which are less commonly activated during experimental pain, suggests they might be processing fear of further injury and disability associated with the arthritic pain."

This I is very important because I think fear, if it reaches a high enough level, is experienced as pain. On top of that it is likely that extreme fear memories can be experienced as pain as well.

Which points out something another study looks at. Fear memories are at the heart of PTSD as I discussed in PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System. One of the keys tying this all together is this study: Fear memories, the amygdala, and the CB1 receptor. It turns out that cannabinoids are a part of this signaling mechanism and that the strength of the signal is in part genetically determined.

All this corroborates what I have been saying for years. The idea that "drugs cause addiction" is superstition. People in chronic pain chronically take drugs for pain relief. It doesn't matter if the pain is from a broken bone or rape memories. The same drugs work to provide relief.

The drug war is a persecution of people in pain.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values

LONG TERM CANNABIS USE MAY CAUSE SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESSES

LONDON TIMES/ (VIA NRO-THE CORNER):

By the end of the decade one in four new cases of schizophrenia could be triggered by smoking cannabis, scientists say. Research has suggested that regular users of the drug are up to six times more likely to develop schizophrenia, although whether the drug is the direct cause remains disputed.

The Department of Health says it is now generally agreed among doctors that cannabis is an “important causal factor” in mental illness. A study published in the journal Addiction predicts that, if the causal link between cannabis use and schizophrenia is accepted, rates of the illness will increase substantially by 2010, especially among young men.

AND CANNABIS IS NOT CONSIDERED AN ADDICTIVE NARCOTIC.

IMHO: THIS IS A GOOD REASON TO KEEP IT ILLEGAL. LONG-TERM RECREATIONAL USE IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS. THE STATE HAS AN ADDED INTEREST IN REGULATING ITS USE: SCHIZOPHRENICS CAN BE A DANGER AND BURDEN TO THE COMMUNITY.

[ASIDE: I WONDER IF A HIGH PERCENTAGE (NO PUN INTENDED) OF THE TRUTHERS AND BDS AFFLICTED LEFTIES ARE POTHEADS?]

More HERE at NEWS-MEDICAL.NET.

PROOF THAT MEXICO HAS FINALLY JOINED THE WAR ON NARCOTICS SMUGGLING:

BBC:

The number of police deaths in Mexico in incidents involving organised crime has jumped 50% this year, according to official statistics. At least 61 police officers have been killed in Mexico since the year began. The increase in police deaths follows a crackdown on drug-related violence by the Mexican government.

THIS INCREASE IS BECAUSE THE MEXICAN GOV'T IS FINALLY COUNTER-ATTACKING.

Addiction might have a genetic component, but it can no more excuse bad behavior than a diathesis for rape can excuse rape; (we would never make rape legal because most who commit it have a genetic diathesis for sexual aggression/predation. Nor would we legalize serial murder if we found a gene for a predisposition for psychopathic/sociopathological multiple homicide).

Genetic diatheses can only serve as a basis for treatment, and cannot logically argue for legalization - in my opinion. M. Friedman and M. Simon disagree - maybe one of them will weigh in...

Childhood Trauma Leads To Depression

Anxiety Insights has a post up about childhood trauma and its relation to depression.

Childhood trauma, but not adult trauma, is strongly associated with depression and coronary heart disease in adulthood, say Emory University researchers and colleagues presenting at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting, being held March 7-10 in Budapest, Hungary.

"Little is known about the long-term emotional and physical consequences of childhood trauma and whether it poses greater long-term health risks than other types of stressors," says study leader Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD, professor of medicine (cardiology) at Emory University School of Medicine and professor of epidemiology at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health.

"Trauma occurring earlier in life is particularly harmful because it may disrupt the development of adaptive responses to stress. Future research on stress and disease should focus on early life stress," says Dr. Vaccarino.

Child abuse is one of the most pressing problems we have in the world brcause it leads to all kinds of maladaptive behavior and can also lead to illegal drug use as a form of self medication.

According to the study results, twins in the highest quartile of the Early Trauma Inventory were twice as likely to have major depressive disorder than other twins. Of the childhood traumas, emotional trauma was the most strongly associated with major depressive disorder.

Study participants with childhood trauma were also more likely to be exposed to trauma as adults and to develop post traumatic stress disorder. After adjusting for smoking, twins in the highest group on the inventory were two to three times more likely to have a previous diagnosis of coronary heart disease, including previous myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization and hospitalizations for coronary heart disease.

In contrast, no significant associations were found for adult general trauma and combat trauma with either major depressive disorder or coronary heart disease, notes Dr. Vaccarino.

Tobacco is an anti-depressant. So is cannabis.

We are wasting untold billions every year fighting drugs when we should be dealing with the root cause - child abuse.

Cross Posted at Power and Control and at Classical Values