"Issues of World War III" Survey

The answers to last week's survey question, "What measures should be taken to deal with the possibility of an avian flu epidemic?", were unanimously against taking the so-called "bird flu" seriously — including one "other" response along the same vein. Here are a couple of excerpted comments:

• "It is all hype but a marvelous way for the pharmaceutical companies to get some free marketing.… propaganda machines need to stop terrorizing the public into believing they need to inject themselves with poison.…"
• "…there is nothing to worry about, since the WHO and other health agencies are always screaming fire when there is no fire…"

Factual Background:
Every year, nearly 2.5 million Americans die. Most of these deaths are from diseases of older age, primarily heart disease and various types of cancer. Included in the total are deaths from accidents, crime, and a wide variety of diseases; tens of thousands die each year from pneumonia alone. An average of 36,000 of all deaths are from influenza — barely 1.5% of the total. Worldwide, this undoubtedly means hundreds of thousands of flu-triggered deaths.

Each year, tens of millions of Americans (if not hundreds of millions) are infected by the flu virus, yet the vast majority develop either mild symptoms or none at all; many people never even realize they were infected. Of those who do become noticeably ill, only a small fraction — 200,000 — are hospitalized, and as already noted, only a small fraction of those end up dying from the disease. In other words, the effect of the virus is not because of the virus itself (since everyone, sick or healthy, is infected by the exact same virus), but rather because some people have greater health, a stronger immune resistance, against viruses than do other people.

There has been much debate over what makes some people healthier than others in the face of germs, but the best answer, to our knowledge, is in enormous numbers of studies that consistently point to one factor more than anything else: mental attitude. Those who handle stress well simply stay healthier than those who are emotionally distressed (for a good, though incomplete, review of this topic, see Leonard Sagan's 1987 book, The Health of Nations). Stressed or depressed people are far more susceptible to flu and all other germs. This is the primary reason Americans and other residents of industrial nations have a much greater resistance to infectious diseases than do impoverished members of the Third World — even when the underdeveloped populations receive full vaccinations and medical treatments through various programs. People who live in the desperate poverty and harsh lives of much of the world lack the immunity to fight off germs as effectively as confident industrial-world populations with high standards of living.

Periodically, conditions exist that weaken resistance to disease, and larger-than-normal flu epidemics are one of the more obvious manifestations. The most spectacular example in modern history was the flu epidemic of 1918, which killed hundreds of thousands in the U.S. and millions worldwide (although the estimates have recently been grossly exaggerated by those who are trying to panic us about the flu). The epidemic took place late in World War I, as the war's destructive chaos hit its peak and was soon to force the Entente surrender. Exhausted soldiers, having lived for months in trenches under horrifying conditions, began streaming home to societies and economies that suddenly had to make drastic adjustments. It was the epitome of exactly the kind of conditions that increase stress and flu susceptibility.

Yet the Public Health movement is today using that 1918 epidemic as "proof" that a similarly large flu epidemic could wipe out millions today — under peacetime conditions, under nearly the highest standard of living in world history. Public Health activists insist, contrary to any reasonable analysis of the scientific evidence, that the virus itself, by mutating, is the cause of such epidemics, rather than the stress-inducing conditions of the time.

The repeated attempts of Public Health radicals at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), and other agencies to frighten the public over flu have led to repeated embarrassments when those disasters failed to arrive. The "Swine Flu" epidemic of the late 1970s — which never materialized at all, while numerous people died or were permanently crippled by the flu vaccine — was one of the more notorious incidents (the story is told in my 1994 book, Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS).

Now the panic-mongers are claiming that a deadly bird flu is (for no apparent reason, except coincidentally to support the Public Health agenda of the moment) spreading in recent years, and that it might mutate to infect humans. Even if this "epidemic" truly existed, the reports place it entirely amongst birds farmed under poorer conditions in the Third World. But it is eye-opening to note that the vast majority of "bird flu" reports, including of human infection, are limited to Communist Bloc nations (primarily Red China and Vietnam) — with closed, police-state societies where no information can be confirmed. The Public Health movement is itself closely aligned with Communism, which has always been the main force pushing for a "Public Health" state throughout the world. In effect, we are being told to trust the Communists (the world's most notorious liars) that a medically-impossible epidemic is really, truly taking place where we can't see it ourselves. And now other Communist regimes (Cambodia, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Croatia/Yugoslavia) are claiming the "bird flu" is spreading amongst their feathered friends, headed straight toward — yes, you guessed it, Europe and the U.S. (just in time to justify the Public Health drive for mass flu vaccination)!

Even the (largely) Communist claims of human victims of "bird flu" number only about 120 over several years — undoubtedly the tiniest "flu epidemic" in world history. Yet the drive is on to promote mass vaccination with flu vaccines that have never been proven to work (and which, anecdotally, appear to increase the likelihood of flu-related illness), as well as useless or dangerous drugs such as the widely-promoted Tamiflu, which may interfere with the body's necessary protein activities (thus accounting for reports of nausea and vomiting, bronchitis, rashes, hepatitis and liver dysfunction, arrhythmic heartbeats, and aggravated diabetes by users of the drug). To add to the atmosphere of hysteria, President Bush is drawing up plans for martial law and deployment of military troops to quarantine and forcibly "treat" flu-infected populations — which, in any typical year, would be most Americans (though many show no symptoms).

Relevant Torah Principles:
1) The Torah does instruct us to avoid unnecessary practices which clearly lead directly to illness, and to seek reasonable medical treatment when truly needed (and effective). This does not include hysterically anticipating future illnesses, nor pursuing anything that might be slightly helpful against the tiniest disease symptoms. It is only an injunction not to be unduly reckless with one's health, nor to neglect important medical treatment when available and needed.

2) The Torah's de-emphasis of medicine flows from its teaching that that primary reasons for illness are spiritual, not physical. Disease, and plagues or epidemics in particular, are the result of individual and collective moral failings. When people are sick, it is time for prayer, introspection, and teshuva (repentance) more than medical treatment. The Torah only advocates medical treatment because any spiritual effect must be linked to a physical practice; in other words, medical practice is only necessary as a conduit for the healing that comes for spiritual reasons, not physical reasons.

3) And most importantly, health in general is a low priority in Torah. In his work of hasidic philosphy, the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe pointedly remarks that every person should disregard his health in carrying out a mitzvah (Torah commandment) or any part of G-d's mission for us, for our service to G-d should be done with self-sacrifice. The Alter Rebbe strongly chastises those who spend any time or energy thinking about their health when they need to be doing their Divine service.

Analysis:
"Public Health" is a Marxist-inspired, Communist-driven movement that seeks to invert morality. Its weapon is health, wielding it as a club to try to override the religious foundations of morality in favor of a new health-worshipping moral code defined by politicized "scientists" whose "medical" conclusions will shift as quickly and drastically as the political party line requires.

The decades-long drive to panic the public over flu and other non-epidemics seeks, among other objectives, (1) to make health an ever-higher priority in people's lives, gradually pushing aside higher moral duties and responsibilities; (2) to ingrain the attitude in people that disease emanates from purely physical, random causes over which G-d supposedly has no control, and which are therefore not linked to any religious moral issues; (3) to mobilize the population at large to participate in mass-treatment programs that do not work, thus heightening the sense that G-d seemingly cannot help us and that ever more drastic emergency measures are required; (4) to use the growing hysteria to justify morally evil measures as morally good and necessary, such as exterminating sick patients to prevent the spread of disease; (5) to expand these measures into a general program of genocide and mass murder, war against religious practice, and other counter-moral revolution.

This is no exaggeration or speculation; it actually happened in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s, when Public Health measures were the justification and beginning of the Holocaust itself. Every one of the above steps actually took place — and the Communists have used parallel programs in their own countries.

The solutions? Politically, all Public Health agencies must be abolished, and their officers investigated and prosecutied for subversive ties to Communism; needless to say, all emergency measures for the flu must be dismantled and forbidden. Personally, one should avoid flu vaccines or drugs. Drinking fluids, getting rest, and taking vitamins are still the best medical solutions for flu sickness, especially when combined with spiritual measures such as re-evaluating one's priorities and activities in life.

And now for this week's survey question:

Recently the Pope joined many other voices in opposing the death penalty, sparked by the execution of Crips gang founder Stanley Williams. Should the death penalty be used? (1) Yes; in fact, it should be used more often. (2) Yes, but only sparingly. (3) No, killing a second person won't bring back the first one. (4) Other

Only one answer per e-mail address will be accepted; only e-mail addresses on our subscription list are eligible. Please send your input by Tuesday, December 27, 2005, 12pm PST.

THE HALL OF SHAME…
Have Some Chabad Shluchim Betrayed Their Rebbe?

This week's example:
Rabbi Nissen Mangel, author and lecturer, Brooklyn, NY

A JAHG-USA volunteer showed Rabbi Mangel our Proclamation (declaring the Torah duty for everyone to help defund the PLO) on April 5th. We truly thought Rabbi Mangel would be one of the first to endorse, since he had previously approved one of the main materials written by me for our PLO-defunding campaign; in fact, he had read and approved several items I wrote for the Noahide Laws campaign, and we had talked personally regarding those materials.

So it was a complete shock when he not only refused, but angrily and viciously started calling me names — particularly meshugge (crazy). Rabbi Mangel has served at times on the Beis Din (Jewish court) for the Crown Heights community in Brooklyn, so he of all people should know well the strict Torah rules against lashon hara (slanderous speech). Yet, without any explanation at all, he turned abruptly irrational and began screaming at our JAHG-USA volunteer.

We couldn't quite believe what had happened, so we tried again recently, on December 8th. Again Rabbi Mangel adamantly refused to sign, but when reminded of his previous slanders against me, he denied doing so — and then promptly hurled more insults against me (perhaps because I wasn't present either time). The rabbi even admitted that he probably would endorse the JAHG-USA campaign, but was refusing only because I am running it. And no, he still gave no explanation for his bizarre hysteria.

We can only conclude that Rabbi Mangel is, unfortunately, morally spineless and folds like a cheap polyester suit in the face of any whiff of controversy. Yes, I am controversial for taking clear positions for truth on many issues and against subversive influences that try to hide amongst us. That is no reason not to participate in saving lives by defunding the PLO; on the contrary, that should make any person more enthusiastic. Rabbi Mangel disgraces Jews everywhere (never mind helping to murder them by refusing to help save lives) and he desecrates G-d's Name — a sin with very, very serious consequences.

…AND THE HALL OF FAME
Some Chabad Shluchim Are Helping the JAHG-USA Campaign

This week's example:
Rabbi Avrohom Osdoba, Crown Heights Beis Din, Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Osdoba previously refused to endorse the Proclamation when approached in April, at a time when almost no rabbis had yet signed on and it appeared our campaign might face more opposition. But now that the endorsements for JAHG-USA have surged well past 100 rabbis (many of them in leading positions), we decided to ask the rabbi again. He was approached by a volunteer on December 8th; he asked to look it over and consider it for a few days. When the volunteer returned on December 12th, Rabbi Osdoba signed the Proclamation without fuss.

This is one of the most spectacular defections from the "refusenik" camp to date. Rabbi Osdoba is the permanent head of the official Beis Din (Jewish court) for the Crown Heights community of Lubavitchers in Brooklyn. He remembered us well, and after carefully reconsidering his position, unequivocally endorsed the full content of the Proclamation. In other words, the head rabbi of Crown Heights now agrees publicly that every single Jew must get involved in the JAHG-USA PLO-defunding campaign. As the Proclamation says, this is not an optional activity; it overrides almost everything else, so no one has an excuse not to get involved now.

Rabbi Mangel needs to pay attention to the example set by his superior, Rabbi Osdoba, in turning around and endorsing our campaign.

What do you think about Jewish leadership on PLO defunding? Send us your comments at newsletter@noahide.com.

For a complete listing of all rabbis who have received our proclamation, the up-to-date status of their responses, and how you can get help the campaign, visit ATTAC Report at http://www.attacreport.com/plo/.

Letters to the Editor

• (In response to last week's issue, in which we recommended impeachment of certain U.S. leaders for assisting the Kurdish Communists):
"[The last newsletter states] 'The Senate must begin impeachment proceedings…'. Correction: It is the House, not the Senate, that impeaches; the Senate then tries the impeachment." — TE.

Our response: We stand corrected, and this only emphasizes the importance of lobbying for impeachment of President Bush and his main cabinet members who are responsible for treasonous aid to the enemies of the United States, including the Kurdish Communist revolutionary groups, the PLO, Red China, and others. That's because each member of the House of Representatives represents one district of about half a million people, so our representatives are easier to influence than Senators, who often represent large states of millions of people. Each representative is much more sensitive to the opinions of even a small number of voters.

Send your letter to the editor to newsletter@noahide.com.

Be sure to visit our Web site, Noahide.com.