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ARCHIVES 2009
Week of 30th of August to 5th of September 2009
UN Boss Visits Globalist Seed Vault [AJ]
Aimed at safeguarding biodiversity in the face of climate change, wars and other natural and man-made disasters, the seed bank has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds, or twice the number of crop varieties believed to exist in the world today.
PAM COMMENTARY: It�ll take more than that to reverse the takeover by GMO crops.
Also, sorry for all of the AJ links this week -- for some reason Jones� articles were particularly good during the past few days, couldn�t ignore many of them.
IT departments have a deadly new weapon in their war on workers [AJ]
The fact is that while the internet has been a boon to humanity in general, it has been a particular blessing to those elements of it that spend their lives behind a desk. The web offers endless avenues for dithering and timewasting � much to the displeasure of management. A few weeks ago, it was revealed that the number of firms banning Facebook et al has increased by 20 per cent over six months. At least one Government department even resorts to "whitelisting" � allowing access only to websites for which a business case can be made (in other words, yes to BBC News, no to Cats That Look Like Hitler).
Yet now there is a deadly new weapon in the war between workers and IT departments. As Michael Agger points out at Slate, an American company called Cataphora has developed software that "encompasses a large number of advanced techniques for analysing emotive tone in electronic communications� to provide unprecedented insight into behaviour patterns of individuals and organisations".
In other words, it builds up a model of how the office works, by studying the pattern of emails fired back and forth, and then scans for deviations from it. Suddenly WRITING IN CAPITALS? That's a sign of high emotion (not to mention base illiteracy). Switching from English into another language for greater security, or breaking off an email discussion to continue via phone? Again, a possible sign that something's up.
PAM COMMENTARY: I�ve seen companies chase out some of their best employees by going petty on them like that. Some people would rather browse the news than step out for a smoke or wander around the office gossiping -- it�s usually a sign of intelligence, and anyway, at least internet usage usually means they can read and work a computer.
Planet found that defies the laws of physics
British astronomers say they have made a highly unusual planetary discovery in finding WASP-18b. Either they just happened to have witnessed an exceptionally rare event that they have likened to winning the lottery, or they do not understand the tidal forces affecting distant planets beyond our own solar system.
"The problem with this planet is that it's very massive and very close to its star. It should be creating tidal bulging that makes it spiral into its star," said Professor Andrew Collier Cameron of St Andrew's University.
The planet is at least one billion years old, yet at this rate it should have no more than half a million years left before it crashes into its own star. The chances of finding it at this point in its life cycle is about 1 in 2,000.
Professor Cameron said: "This is another bizarre planet discovery. The situation is analogous to the way tidal friction is gradually causing the Earth's spin to slow down, and the Moon to spiral away from the Earth," he said. "In this case, however, the spin of the star is slower than the orbit of the planet, so the star should be spinning up, and the planet spiralling in," he said.
Psychology Today Hit Piece Labels Conspiracy Thinking A Psychotic Illness [AJ]
In an article entitled Dark Minds: When does incredulity become paranoia, Psychology Today writer John Gartner attempts to make the case that the concerns of �conspiracy theorists� are not based in reality but are a product of mental instability, while himself fulfilling every criteria for what he claims classifies such people as psychotics � ignoring evidence that contradicts his preconceptions while embracing the ludicrous �conspiracy theory� that powerful men and governments do not conspire to advance their power.
Probably somewhat upset about how our coverage of the dangers associated with the swine flu vaccine has contributed to a global revolt against mass vaccination programs being readied, Psychology Today�s gravy train of big pharma advertisers will no doubt be pleased to see the publication wastes no time in savagely attacking radio host and film maker Alex Jones, dispensing with any notion of fairness and zealously going after him as early as the second paragraph.
The nature of this vicious hit piece ( PDF link) is confirmed when Gartner laments that Jones refused to provide him with phone numbers for friends he grew up with, presumably frustrated that he couldn't dig up some dirt from an old girlfriend to throw into the mix of what is nothing more than a personal attack on Jones' character, and a complete departure from any debate about the issues Jones covers on his radio show, which is the phony pretext that Gartner used in order to secure the interview in the first place.
PAM COMMENTARY: The government propaganda machinery will always have its whores . . . "It's a PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS to question the government's story! Because I, Dr. Big Ego Whores-a-lot, say so!"
Psychiatric Insanity [AJ]
On the other hand, your psychiatrist will have more power than you. He or she can prescribe drugs or shock, lock you up against your will, talk behind your back with your husband, wife, or parents and make plans for your future without consulting you. There are numerous cases of individuals who sought psychiatric help for routine problems in living, such as sadness over the loss of a loved one, only to find themselves swept along the path of biopsychiatry, ending up with permanent brain dysfunction and damage from drugs and shock treatment.
Many people don�t know the difference between psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychology, and psychoanalysis. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who specialize in treating people defined as having psychiatric problems. As physicians, psychiatrists have the right to prescribe drugs or electroshock, to hospitalize patients, and to treat people against their will. They are the only mental health professionals who routinely exercise these powers. Psychiatry sets the tone and direction for the field of mental health and has been rapidly pushing it toward a more biological or medical viewpoint. Psychotherapists are a very broad group, which includes anyone helping people with problems by talking with them. Not all psychiatrists are psychotherapists or "talking doctors." Many psychiatrists have little or no training in how to communicate with people about their problems. Instead they are trained in making "medical" diagnoses and giving drugs and electroshock. Psychologists are educated in graduate schools of psychology, rather than in medical schools, and they receive a Ph.D. rather than an M.D. Clinical psychologists are given training that overlaps with psychiatrists, and they often receive much more intensive training in psychotherapy than do psychiatrists. Sometimes they work side-by-side with psychiatrists in mental health facilities, but they usually exercise much less authority. In addition to psychiatrists and psychologists, many other professionals also offer psychotherapy, including clinical social workers, counselors, family therapists, some nurses, some ministers, and a variety of lay people.
Psychoanalysis is the form of psychotherapy founded and developed by Sigmund Freud and taught in his independently franchised psychoanalytic institutes. In the public's mind, psychoanalysis is correctly associated with the couch, the note pad, and the silent listener. But psychoanalysis is often incorrectly equated with psychiatry. Contrary to popular belief, Freud was not the father of psychiatry. Psychiatry existed long before Freud, and had been and has been largely hostile to his teachings. Freud did not become a psychiatrist, and he warned his colleagues to beware of the medical profession. Nonetheless, psychiatry took over and overwhelmed psychoanalysis in the United States. Very few psychiatrists have become psychoanalysts, and psychoanalysis has very little influence in modern psychiatry.
PAM COMMENTARY: And psychiatry is the reason psychiatric drugs are so over-prescribed these days.
The Connections of Blackwater�s Erik Prince [AJ]
PAM COMMENTARY: This article is just a graphic, but interesting. Jones left out the connection to Prince's sister, who was mentioned in Scahill's book as a big fundraiser for George W. Bush. That connection has been brought up even in Congress, because it looks like Prince's sister is a major reason why Bush tossed so much money Blackwater's way (using public funds as a reward for political fundraising, in other words). I had to laugh about how this came up at a hearing with Prince appearing before the Oversight and Government Reform committee in Congress during October of 2007. Congressman Kucinich brought up Prince's sister, and later Congressman Issa decided to clarify why Kucinich had asked that question -- all with Prince appearing to be incredulous as his family secrets were aired by fellow Republican Issa for the Congressional record and C-Span's national audience.
Yeah, there's a story to Congressman Issa. The Republican Party was happy to let Issa think that he�d be their candidate, as Issa paid $2 million to help gather signatures for a recall election of then Democratic Governor Gray Davis in California. (See Wikipedia's entry on this -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gubernatorial_recall_election,_2003 ). Davis was having problems at the time, not the least of which was California's energy crisis, largely brought on by fraud at Enron. Well, when the recall was a done deal, the GOP announced its new star candidate -- Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now wasn't that nice of them, letting Issa pay for it all and then handing the spot to someone else? So now Issa is occasionally willing to even the score a little. Not much, just a little payback here and there . . .
Independent Investigation Into Pentagon Attack Yields Alarming Information [AJ]
A three year independent investigation into the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon has yielded new eyewitness evidence which, according to the Southern California-based researchers who conducted the investigation, �conclusively (and unfortunately) establishes as a historical fact that the violence which took place in Arlington that day was not the result of a surprise attack by suicide hijackers, but rather a military black operation involving a carefully planned and skillfully executed deception.�
They have compiled the most pertinent testimony into an 81 minute video presentation entitled National Security Alert, which has earned the respect and praise of a growing number of distinguished academics, journalists, writers, entertainers, pilots, and military personnel.
The investigation involved multiple trips to the scene of the crime in Arlington, Virginia, close scrutiny of all official and unofficial data related to the event, and, most importantly, first-person interviews with dozens of eyewitnesses, many of which were conducted and filmed in the exact locations from which they witnessed the plane that allegedly struck the building that day. It was primarily conducted by two men named Craig Ranke and Aldo Marquis, also known as Citizen Investigation Team, or CIT.
Blackwater used recruits on secret CIA program; Up to a dozen �surrogates� joined the death squad program, later canceled
But the CIA's use of the private contractor as part of its now-abandoned plan to dispatch death squads skirted concerns now re-emerging with recent disclosures about Blackwater's role.
Did recruits have the skills?
The former senior CIA official said he had doubts during his tenure about whether Blackwater's foreign recruits had mastered the necessary skills to pull off such a high-stakes operation.
While Blackwater won the government's confidence by handling security and training operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2004 decision by the CIA to entrust the North Carolina-based company with such a sensitive overseas operation struck some former agency officials as highly unusual.
"The question remains: Why do we need Blackwater?" said Charles Faddis, a former department chief at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center who retired in 2008 and was not involved in the secret program.
PAM COMMENTARY: WHAAAT?!? I'd say the REAL question is why the CIA is allowed to continue with its death squad programs at all. And why did Democrats continue renewing Blackwater's contracts? Blackwater has renamed itself as "Xe," by the way -- it's kind of like an airline that has too many crashes, changing its name when it becomes too infamous. But who'd name their company "blackwater," anyway? The name supposedly has some association with the Great Dismal Swamp, which has coffee-colored BROWN water by the way. But as boaters know, the term "gray water" refers to wastewater from the boat's sink, and then there's "black water," RAW SEWAGE from the ship's "head"/toilet.
Kennedy laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery
The last of a band of brothers whose father prepped them for political power and whose tragedies and triumphs are intertwined with five decades of the nation's history, Kennedy never became president but he is exiting the national stage as one.
Drug giant Pfizer to pay record $2.3B fine
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed to pay a record $2.3 billion settlement to resolve criminal and civil liability for illegally promoting certain pharmaceuticals, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
Officials from the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services said the world's largest drug company promoted four drugs for use on certain ailments or at dosages that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
One of those drugs was the anti-inflammatory medication Bextra, which Pfizer pulled off the market in 2005 after it was linked to increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
"Pfizer promoted the sale of Bextra for several uses and dosages that the FDA specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns," the Justice Department said in a news release.
A Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, agreed to plead guilty to a felony violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for "misbranding Bextra with the intent to defraud or mislead."
PAM COMMENTARY: Why is the government finally doing its job? Does this mean that Obama really IS making a difference?
CDC Warns Neurologists To Watch For Nerve Disease Following Swine Flu Shots [AJ]
The CDC has followed in the footsteps of British health authorities by warning neurologists to look out for cases of the nerve disease Guillain-Barre syndrome caused by the swine flu vaccine.
Doctors in Britain were advised last month by the government to carefully track cases of the disease and report each one to the Health Protection Agency. A letter sent by 600 neurologists indicated that �there is concern at the highest levels that the vaccine itself could cause serious complications,� according to a Daily Mail report.
During the 1976 swine flu scare in the U.S., which prompted the government to order a mass vaccination program to cover the entire population, the vaccine caused more deaths than the actual virus, prompting a public backlash that cost the then director of the CDC his job.
Similar concerns about the vaccine are now being replicated over 30 years later.
PAM COMMENTARY: The vaccine isn't even out yet, and they're already admitting nerve damage, or basically paralysis as Guillain-Barre is famous for causing. I already suspected how this vaccine was going to turn out, but now it's verified.
Fracking and the Environment: Natural Gas Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Contamination [DN]
AMY GOODMAN: The latest Wyoming EPA study?
ABRAHM LUSTGARTEN: In Pavilion, Wyoming, where some of these earliest complaints originated, the EPA has just earlier this year undertaken, for the first time, a real investigation into what�s happening with the water there. They didn�t go in to investigate the gas industry or hydraulic fracturing, but it is the first time that they�ve actually decided that they would test water in response to complaints about water. And they�ve gone in and tested for the broadest array of pollutants with as much objectivity as they could muster. They�ve looked for pesticides and agricultural influences and any other influence on the water supply.
And EPA folks tell me that they�re quite surprised, but what they found in their preliminary reports�and they�re not finished with this study, but they found a couple substances that seem to be linked to gas drilling, and one of them is a substance called 2-butoxyethanol that is used�not exclusively, but is used�in hydraulic fracturing. And it�s also found in some cleaning supplies and some things we use around the house. But it appears to be, at this point, a strong circumstantial link to hydraulic fracturing.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And what are the main companies that are involved in this drilling?
ABRAHM LUSTGARTEN: Well, the industry works in a funny kind of way, depending on multiple tiers of contractors. So it�s all the big oil companies, whether it�s Chesapeake or Shell or Chevron. And then they rely on service companies to do the hydraulic fracturing itself, and that industry is controlled by three large players: Halliburton is one, BJ Services and Schlumberger, the French giant.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about how the energy industry swayed Congress, and the Safe Drinking [Water] Act, how fracking got exempted?
ABRAHM LUSTGARTEN: Yeah, this is politically the most controversial point. In the early days of the George W. Bush administration, Dick Cheney�s energy task force identified hydraulic fracturing as a very important part of the natural gas industry and the ability to develop that industry. And within a year or two after that, there was a proposal put forth to exempt the hydraulic fracturing process from the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is the nation�s premier, you know, water protection law.
It�s not clear that, before that, the EPA was enforcing hydraulic fracturing or was looking at it under this act. And in some cases they weren�t, but they clearly had the authority to do so. And this law took away their opportunity to even decide that this was an issue worthy of EPA investigation.
PAM COMMENTARY: As usual with environmental catastrophes, the friends of corrupt politicians MAKE the money, and then taxpayers SPEND on cleaning up after the big corporations.
Physicians for Human Rights: Doctors� Role in CIA Waterboarding �May Amount to Human Experimentation� [DN]
DR. STEVEN REISNER: Well, a number of them have been identified. The two psychologists that created the CIA�s torture program, oversaw it, implemented the waterboarding with a number of high-value detainees, Mitchell and Jessen, these were private contractors who had their own corporation. On the board of that corporation was a former president of the American Psychological Association. The Obama administration has terminated their contract, but so far there have been no ethical investigations. There have been no conclusions drawn for any of the psychologists or health professionals that were involved.
AMY GOODMAN: In your report with Physicians for Human Rights, the group is calling for health professionals who have violated ethical standards or the law to be held accountable through criminal prosecution, loss of license and loss of professional society membership. Do you see that happening right now?
DR. STEVEN REISNER: I don�t see it actually yet happening. And we�ve been pushing state licensing boards. We�ve been pushing the professional associations. And the way to really hold the professional associations to their own standards is to see whether they successfully investigate the ethical violations of their members. And so far, they have not.
PAM COMMENTARY: Just goes to show, if there's money involved, you can always find a few dirtbags willing to do anything to anybody. Of course the real crime here is that so far they haven't been punished in any way, they can basically go out and continue to impersonate Dr. Mengele.
Controversy Around Massive Swine Flu Vaccination Plan at NY Elementary Schools [DN]
Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez discusses the massive swine flu vaccination plan at New York City elementary schools. �The city is depending on public school nurses to spearhead its massive swine flu vaccination plan at elementary schools this fall,� writes Gonzalez. �But the nurses are balking at some aspects of Mayor Bloomberg�s proposal, including whether they should be the ones giving the nasal spray and shots to students.�
. . . AMY GOODMAN: And if parents say no to their kids being vaccinated?
JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, then they won�t be vaccinated, obviously. But President Obama himself is recommending vaccinations for all Americans.
But obviously the problem is the vaccine is being rushed in to use. The clinical trials are still going on.
AMY GOODMAN: Who makes it? Do you know?
JUAN GONZALEZ: It�s a variety of firms that are making it. But the problem is, it won�t be ready, even the first batches, until mid-October. And the President�s council says that the flu is expected to spread much more rapidly than that before that, as early as the first weeks of September in the North. It�s already beginning to surge again in the South, in Georgia and other places, where public schools started much earlier. And they�re already seeing a surge in cases in the South.
PAM COMMENTARY: I've heard it both ways -- that the latest swine flu is milder than a regular flu, AND that it's worse. So far the flu has come and gone for a lot of people without incident. Why some people died remains to be seen, although the regular flu kills many people each year, without all the hype of this year's. Personally, I wouldn't make myself a lab rat for a new vaccine, and it looks as though the school nurses don't want to be exposed to it either, even indirectly. Any pharmaceutical product carries risks, and sometimes new products are yanked from the market because they start killing people.
'89 Thesis A Different Side of McDonnell; Va. GOP Candidate Wrote on Women, Marriage and Gays
At age 34, two years before his first election and two decades before he would run for governor of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell submitted a master's thesis to the evangelical school he was attending in Virginia Beach in which he described working women and feminists as "detrimental" to the family. He said government policy should favor married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." He described as "illogical" a 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing the use of contraception by unmarried couples.
The 93-page document, which is publicly available at the Regent University library, culminates with a 15-point action plan that McDonnell said the Republican Party should follow to protect American families -- a vision that he started to put into action soon after he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.
During his 14 years in the General Assembly, McDonnell pursued at least 10 of the policy goals he laid out in that research paper, including abortion restrictions, covenant marriage, school vouchers and tax policies to favor his view of the traditional family. In 2001, he voted against a resolution in support of ending wage discrimination between men and women.
PAM COMMENTARY: Note that this article links to his original thesis in pdf form.
You know, I don't mind it when people want to give women the CHOICE of staying home to raise their kids. That's actually kind of nice, a lot of women would willingly choose that option if they could afford to stay home. But the decision should be between a woman and her family, not made by some dopey politician.
And then, when you're talking about Republicans, since about the time of Reagan they've been openly encouraging GOOD jobs -- paying enough to allow a man to support a family on his own -- to be moved overseas. (To be fair, some Democrats are OK with "free trade" without labor regulations, but not as many.) They always claim to be on the side of "business," and in their minds, that appears to mean having Asians or Mexicans do the job for pennies on the dollar.
Thesis Thrusts Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate's Past Views into Spotlight
In the thesis, "The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade," McDonnell described working women as "detrimental" to the traditional family. He criticized a U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing contraception for unmarried couples and decried the "purging" of religion from schools. He advocated character education programs in public schools to teach "traditional Judeo-Christian values," and he criticized federal tax credits for child care expenditures because they encouraged women to enter the workforce.
PAM COMMENTARY: See earlier post on this -- of course his views change conveniently when he runs for office. Sounds like the typical fanatic trying to cover up his real views, because if people knew what he REALLY wanted, they wouldn't vote for him! I linked to this additional article (note that it's 2 pages long) because it has good additional links near the top of the page. In fact, I'll post one of them next, just above this article.
Cindy Sheehan: America needs to wake up [R]
PAM COMMENTARY: Great interview with Cindy Sheehan, stating the obvious -- the wars need to end. But the Democrats don�t seem to be much different than Bush at this particular moment. Hopefully everyone will keep reminding them of their mandate frequently!
Raging California Fire Threatens Famous Observatory, Communications on Mount Wilson
The telescopes at the 105-year-old Mount Wilson Observatory were the premier instruments in astronomy in the first half of the 20th century, and the first to show earth its place in its universe.
There are far more modern telescopes, but the observatory is still being used to make discoveries.
Just a couple months ago, a Nobel Prize-winning astronomer used Mount Wilson to discover that the star Betelgeuse appears to be shrinking. In 1920, Betelgeuse was the first star to be measured � and it was done at Mount Wilson.
"Emergency Control" of the Internet [R]
While the details are unknown, credible evidence indicates that billions of everyday communications of ordinary Americans are swept up by government computers and run through a process that includes both data-mining and review of content, to try to figure out whether any of us were involved in illegal or terrorist-related activity. That means that even the most personal and private of our electronic communications--between doctors and patients, between husbands and wives, or between children and parents--are subject to review by computer algorithms programmed by government bureaucrats or by the bureaucrats themselves. (Cindy Cohn, "Lawless Surveillance, Warrantless Rationales," American Constitution Society, August 17, 2009)
Both Rockefeller and Snowe are representative of the state's "bipartisan consensus" when it comes to increasing the power of the intelligence and security apparatus and were instrumental in ramming through retroactive immunity for telecoms who illegally spy on the American people. If last year's "debate" over the grotesque FISA Amendments Act (FAA) is an indication of how things will go after Congress' summer recess, despite hand-wringing by congressional "liberals," S.773 seems destined for passage. CNET revealed:
When Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Commerce committee, and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the original bill in April, they claimed it was vital to protect national cybersecurity. "We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs--from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records," Rockefeller said. (Declan McCullagh, "Bill Would Give President Emergency Control of Internet," CNET News, August 28, 2009)
But as we witness practically on a daily basis, hysterical demands for "protection" from various "dark actors" inevitably invokes an aggressive response from militarized state security apparatchiks and their private partners.
(FLASHBACK) JUSTICE SCANDAL: DOJ's War on Non-Partisan Law Enforcement
PAM COMMENTARY: Video of Goodling barely willing to admit, despite immunity, that she broke the law.
(FLASHBACK) Monica Goodling, One of 150 Pat Robertson Cadres in the Bush Administration
Josh Marshall writes that Goodling may be "afraid of indictment for perjury because she has to go up to Congress and testify under oath before the White House has decided what its story is."
Goodling's involvement in Attorneygate is not the only aspect of her role in the Bush administration that bears examination. Her membership in a cadre of 150 graduates of Pat Robertson's Regent University currently serving in the administration is another, equally revealing component of the White House's political program.
Goodling earned her law degree from Regent, an institution founded by Robertson "to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world." Helping to purge politically disloyal federal prosecutors is just one way Goodling has helped fulfill Robertson's revolutionary goals.
Regent has assiduously cultivated close ties to the administration and its Republican outriders. Gonzales's predecessor, John Ashcroft, is currently cooling his heels at Regent as the school's "Distinguished Professor of Law and Government." Christian right super-lawyer Jay Sekulow, who also teaches at Regent and shares a Washington office with Ashcroft, participated in regular briefings with the White House on court appointments. In 1998, he leased a private jet through Regent to fly Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to speak at the school's 20th anniversary (Though Sekulow regularly argues cases before the Supreme Court, he apparently did not view hobnobbing with Scalia as an ethical breach).
When the Bush administration came into power, it looked to Regent for a reliable pool of well-groomed Republican ideologues eager to wage the culture war from the inside. The former dean of Regent's Robertson School of Government, Kay Coles James, was promptly installed as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
According to her bio, from 2001 to 2005, James was "President Bush's principal advisor in matters of personnel administration for the 1.8 million members of the Federal civil service." In that role, James rolled back the power of unions in the federal sector. Now that she's out of government, James is back among her Christian right allies, appearing frequently as a guest on James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio show.
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate preferred women as barefoot & pregnant
The paper, submitted in 1989, shows McDonnell's thoughts at the time about the harmful social impact of working women, feminists and nontraditional families; the flaws of public education; and his disagreement with a federal court decision allowing the use of contraceptives by unmarried couples.
The contents of the thesis were first reported Sunday in The Washington Post. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, wrote it at age 34 as a candidate for law and master's degrees at what is now Regent University in Virginia Beach.
PAM COMMENTARY: He doesn�t even want contraception? That�s what I�d call an extremist. One of the man�s political ads featured a commitment by him to make Virginia the �energy capital of the east coast,� promising to bring offshore drilling, �clean� coal, and nuclear power plants to the state. Again, that�s pretty extreme, and nothing that the tourism industry of the state (which is substantial, with its historical sites, beaches, and scenery) has ever wanted.
Note that the �college� he went to was Pat Robertson�s school, considered by many to be little more than a religious extremists� training camp. The school was openly discussed by Robertson as meant to encourage people with that particular religious profile to try for public office. If you�ll recall, Monica Goodling graduated from there, and was hauled before Congress for breaking laws that she claimed she didn�t even know were there. Her law school was referred to in the press as �tenth rate.�
NBC hires one of George W. Bush daughters as a reporter
NBC's TODAY has hired someone with White House experience as a new correspondent � Jenna Hager, the daughter of former President George W. Bush.
Hager, a 27-year-old teacher in Baltimore, will contribute stories about once a month on issues like education to television's top-rated morning news show, said Jim Bell, its executive producer.
PAM COMMENTARY: Ugh! Can�t the mainstream media find anyone with TALENT and INTELLIGENCE for a change? Like there weren�t enough reasons to change the channel already!
Kennedy�s brain cancer started in the �left parietal lobe� -- was this where his cell phone antenna was held?
Kennedy suffered a seizure May 17, 2008, while walking his dogs at his home in Hyannis Port. Three days later, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said a brain biopsy revealed a tumor, known as a malignant glioma, in the left parietal lobe.
Malignant gliomas are the second-most common cause of death from cancer for people 15 to 44 years old, according to a 2005 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The causes of glioma tumors are mysterious. Many patients do not have genetic risk factors, and any connections with lifestyle are not clear, said Dr. Larry Junck, head of the Neuro-Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Junck was not involved in the senator's treatment.
Gliomas do not often spread to other parts of the body, but grow into the brain at their site of origin, Junck said.
PAM COMMENTARY: Notice that the �left parietal lobe� is located where a person might hold the cell phone in his left hand (if he�s trying to keep his right hand free, like a right-handed person would do). According to the CNN article, this type of cancer strikes an age group likely to be cell phone users, and the tumor grows in that area instead of spreading -- sounds about right, doesn�t it? I also seem to recall an article mentioning in passing that Kennedy loved his iPhone. In other words, in the debate of whether aspartame or cell phones were the most likely cause of Kennedy�s cancer, it looks like the phone wins.
Doctors had 'central role' in CIA abuse: rights group [WRH]
Interrogators are alleged to have used a range of techniques on suspected Al Qaeda members, including physical threats, mock executions, choking to the point where detainees lost consciousness and even using a stiff brush to scrub a detainee's skin raw.
PHR warned that such spy agency techniques -- and monitoring by doctors to gauge their effectiveness -- "approaches unlawful experimentation" on human subjects.
The report's lead author, PHR medical advisor Scott Allen, pulled no punches in a statement on the organization's website, saying "medical doctors and psychologists colluded with the CIA to keep observational records about waterboarding, which approaches unethical and unlawful human experimentation."
By standing by to monitor the effects of acts such as waterboarding on detainees, the health professionals were "laying a foundation for US government lawyers to rationalize the CIA's illegal torture program."
PHR urged a separate investigation of the medical experts involved to determine whether "criminal and unprofessional conduct" took place, and said those who violated medical ethics rules should lose their license.
PAM COMMENTARY: Well, it�s about time someone started yanking licenses! Mike Rivera of WhatReallyHappened.com rightly compared these doctors to Mengele, and we don�t need more Mengeles in the medical profession.
Blackwater used recruits on secret CIA program; Up to a dozen �surrogates� joined the death squad program, later canceled
While Blackwater won the government's confidence by handling security and training operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2004 decision by the CIA to entrust the North Carolina-based company with such a sensitive overseas operation struck some former agency officials as highly unusual.
"The question remains: Why do we need Blackwater?" said Charles Faddis, a former department chief at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center who retired in 2008 and was not involved in the secret program.
The former senior CIA official who had knowledge of the program explained that "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."
The former official and several other current and former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information remains classified.
A message left with Xe spokeswoman Stacy DeLuke was not returned. Blackwater changed its corporate name to Xe Services after a series of controversies, including a September 2007 shooting in Baghdad by five company security guards that left 17 civilians dead.
The former senior CIA official said that close to a dozen Blackwater "surrogates" were recruited to join the death squad program. The recruits, the former official said, were not told they were working for the CIA. The official did not know how Blackwater found them.
PAM COMMENTARY: Oh look, the CIA is outsourcing its �death squads� now.
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Sources (if found on major news boards):
[AJ] - InfoWars.com, PrisonPlanet.com, or other Alex Jones-affiliated sites
[BF] - BuzzFlash.com
[DN] - DemocracyNow.org
[R] - Rense.com
[WRH] - WhatReallyHappened.com
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All original content including photographs © 2009 by Pam Rotella. (News excerpts copyright by their corresponding authors, news organizations, or other copyright holders, and quoted here typically as "fair use" or "teaser" paragraphs to generate interest in the full articles.)