June 28, 2007
In New Expose, Ken Silverstein of Harper’s Magazine Goes Undercover to Find Out What US Lobbyists Do for Dictators
EXCERPT:
AMY GOODMAN: Ken Silverstein, you also write about the companies that you didn’t get represented by or offers of representation. For example, you talk about Patton Boggs and Cameroon.
KEN SILVERSTEIN: Well, that was a—I mean, I talked about Patton Boggs as just being another lobbying firm around town. I didn’t approach Patton Boggs. I did approach several other firms. But Patton Boggs had in the past done some work for the government of Cameroon, where they sent a team of former members of Congress over to Cameroon, allegedly independent observers, to be there for a presidential election in which the longstanding ruler of Cameroon won 80% of the vote. So Patton Boggs—and its team incidentally was led by a former member of Congress, as well—goes over there, sets up the agenda for a group of members of Congress, former members, who go over and issue sort of uplifting statements about the election being democratic and a step forward, all the usual sort of boilerplate language that they could use to sell this sham election as legitimate. And I was able to discover that, in fact, the whole thing had been set up by Patton Boggs, and it was paid—you know, the expenses of the delegation were paid for by the government of Cameroon.
Afghan lobby scam
EXCERPT:
At the heart of the scandal is the Defense Department's $2.2 billion Host Nation Trucking contract, a military logistics operation launched with six major contractors, a number that has since risen to eight. One of the contractors under investigation is NCL Holdings, a US firm headed by Hamed Wardak, the Afghan-American son of Afghanistan's defense minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak. (NCL denies ever having made payments, directly or indirectly, to the Taliban.)
But it seems Hamed Wardak was more than just a defense contractor with a budding business. Parallel to his business ventures, he's been running an aggressive foreign policy campaign in Washington to keep the US heavily vested in Afghanistan. A confidential lobbying memo obtained by The Nation shows that Wardak commissioned a blue-chip lobbying firm to push for an extended US presence in Afghanistan--a potentially lucrative outcome for NCL.
Patton Boggs LLP
Patton Boggs Runs Pro-War Front Group for Hamed Wardak and NCL Holdings
Afghanistanastroturffront groupslobbying
Source: The Nation, December 22, 2009
The Campaign for a U.S.-Afghanistan Partnership is being exposed as an insidious pro-war front group. Aram Roston reports in the The Nation magazine that "As President Obama prepares a massive military buildup in Afghanistan, a House subcommittee has launched an investigation into whether Defense Department contractors are paying off the Taliban to protect American supply lines. ... One of the contractors under investigation is NCL Holdings, a U.S. firm headed by Hamed Wardak, the Afghan-American son of Afghanistan's defense minister, General Abdul Rahim Wardak. ... Parallel to his business ventures, he's been running an aggressive foreign policy campaign in Washington to keep the U.S. heavily vested in Afghanistan. A confidential lobbying memo obtained by The Nation shows that Wardak commissioned a blue-chip lobbying firm to push for an extended U.S. presence in Afghanistan -- a potentially lucrative outcome for NCL. Earlier this year Patton Boggs LLP, Washington's most monied lobbying firm, established a nonprofit front group (Campaign for a U.S. - Afghanistan Partnership) on Wardak's behalf to act as the 'face' of a campaign for increased US engagement in Afghanistan, according to confidential legal records." Blogger Steve Hynd first reported critically on this front group in a posting on October 29, 2009.
Patton Boggs buys lobbying firm of former Sens Lott and Breaux
EXCERPT:
Patton Boggs acquires lobbying firm of former Sens. Lott, Breaux
By Silla Brush - 07/01/10 04:21 PM ET
K Street’s biggest firm on Thursday acquired one of Washington’s fastest-growing lobbying shops.
Patton Boggs, the perennial lobbying powerhouse, acquired Breaux-Lott Leadership Group, the firm started in 2008 by former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) and ex-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.).
Halliburton hires Patton Boggs for BP fiasco
EXCERPT:
Transocean Ltd., which owned and leased to BP the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded and sank, recruited Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Halliburton Co. has hired Patton Boggs
Patton Boggs LLP pdf
There has never been a time in modern history when the distance between the activities in businesses,
the economy, and the financial markets have been more closely linked to the policies, decisions, and
deliberations in Washington. Now more than ever companies, industries, borrowers, and investors
throughout the US and the world need a clear and experienced voice in Washington to ensure informed
and practical decisions. Similarly, policymakers in Washington need a clear understanding of business
and economic conditions and useful information about how the financial markets work.
Patton Boggs LLP has always been at the crossroads where Main Street, Wall Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue
meet. This is a place where Patton Boggs, with its unparalleled presence in the public policy arena and its deep
understanding of business and financial markets through a broad array of business law and litigation practices,
calls home.
Widely-recognized as the nation’s number one public policy firm, Patton Boggs is at the intersection of
government and business. Our professionals are known for their skill in assessing how actions on Capitol Hill will
affect companies on Main Street and Wall Street. Our experience extends to the legislative and regulatory issues
that affect financial services businesses throughout the United States and the world—insight and “capitol
intelligence” that is critical in today’s tumultuous global marketplace. Our knowledge and experience working both
with (and within) various government agencies, as well as with other branches of government, enables us to seek
an array of policy solutions, particularly when the client requires more than conventional resolution strategies.
Our insight and depth of expertise are particularly valuable to clients affected by the economic crisis and resulting
government intervention. Our deep roster of professionals includes the former President and Co-CEO of the
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (who also served as President and CEO of the Bond
Market Association), the former National Finance Director for Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the former Executive
Director of the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (and a veteran of the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York), the former Chief Counsel to the Senate Finance Committee, senior staff to the House
Financial Services Committee, and women and men who served in senior legal and policy positions at the
Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the federal bank regulatory agencies,
and the US Congress.
Over
PATTON BOGGS LLP:
AT THE INTERSECTION OF WALL STREET AND PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
DECADES OF EXPERIENCE IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR
In addition to a renowned public policy practice, Patton Boggs has been nationally recognized as a
premier provider of legal representation to financial sector businesses across the country. We have
advised commercial banks, savings institutions, bank and thrift holding companies, mortgage companies,
real estate investment trusts (REITs), specialty finance companies, hedge funds, and private equity and
mezzanine funds for years. Our attorneys regularly advise clients on the full range of issues in dealings
with, and applications pending before, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and state
agencies that regulate financial services firms.
A LEADING GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATIONS TEAM
Companies and their executives now find themselves in an unprecedented atmosphere of corporate
investigations, prosecutions, Congressional and regulatory oversight, and individual criminal liability.
Patton Boggs has a long history of successfully representing clients in high-profile financial scandals such
as BCCI and the savings & loan crisis and others involving SEC, Federal Reserve, Congressional, and
federal and state grand jury investigations, as well as civil litigation
Our Government Investigations Practice boasts one of the most experienced groups of white-collar
litigators in the country. This group includes more than 100 attorneys who have served in senior
government positions at the White House, Congressional investigative committees, the U.S. Department
of Justice, the criminal and civil divisions of the U.S. Attorneys’ offices, federal agencies, and state
Attorneys’ General offices. As a result, we are able to combine an extensive knowledge of the relevant
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with the Congressional and regulatory oversight powers, procedures, and practices.
THE PREMIER PUBLIC POLICY PRACTICE
Clients turn to Patton Boggs for reliable and timely intelligence and a seasoned perspective on potential
policy decisions and actions by the U.S. Congress, the Executive Branch, and various independent
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the risk of public policy in any business decision or transaction has now become as essential as
managing any other business risk or exposure.
For More Information on the Firm’s Capabilities, Please Contact:
MICAH S. GREEN
Partner and Co-Chair of Tax and Financial Services Practice
Patton Boggs LLP
2550 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Tel: 202.457.5258 | E-mail: msgreen@pattonboggs.com
This is the accident my 3 g'kids were in about a month ago.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Karzai's mercenaries
EXCERPT:
Written by research analyst Carl Forsberg the study "Politics and Power in Kandahar" reported some astonishing things regarding the provision of security in Afghanistan. While this is not a secret in Afghanistan it is hardly ever talked about in the U.S. media
He writes that since 2006, the Karzai family has established its own major private security firms and private militias, which give them even greater influence over the commanders who have become their dependents.
Several of these firms have major interests across Afghanistan, not just in Kandahar. The largest Karzai family-controlled firm in southern Afghanistan is the Asia Security Group (ASG), run by Hashmat Karzai, the cousin of President Karzai.
Stanley McChrystal and Karzai's brother
EXCERPT:
Karzai's younger half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council, gave McChrystal a ringing endorsement, telling reporters in Kandahar that McChrystal's leadership would be sorely missed.
"If he is fired, it will disrupt the operation," Ahmad Wali Karzai said. "It definitely will affect it. He (McChrystal) started all this, and he has a good relationship with the people. The people trust him and we trust him. If we lose this important person, I don't think that this operation will work in a positive way."
Karzai Brother: Drug Lord, CIA Darling?
EXCERPT:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2009
Karzai Brother: Drug Lord, CIA Darling?
Alleged Reliance on Corrupt Brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai More Bad News for U.S. Campaign in Afghanistan
Ahmed Wali Karzai wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Ahmad Wali Karzai has survived a number of assassination attempts by Taliban militants[5] and at least two attacks against his office in Kandahar: one in November 2008[6] and the other in April 2009.[7] According to him, a total of nine suicide bombers lost their lives trying to kill him.
In August 2009, shortly before the presidential election took place, Wali Karzai and Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, former governor of the Helmand Province a member of the Upper House of the Afghan parliament, were are accused of vote rigging, as well as drug smuggling [8].
Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Bush Oil Team
EXCERPT:
by Wayne Madsen
January 2002
Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), globalresearch.ca, 23 January 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to Afghan, Iranian, and Turkish government sources, Hamid Karzai, the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, was a top adviser to the El Segundo, California-based UNOCAL Corporation which was negotiating with the Taliban to construct a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline from Turkmenistan through western Afghanistan to Pakistan.
UNOCAL courts the Taliban
EXCERPT:
It's also exciting to the Bush Administration. According to the authors of Bin Laden, the Hidden Truth, one of the FBI's leading counter terrorism agents, John O'Neill, resigned last year in protest over the Bush Administration's alleged obstruction of his investigation into bin Laden. (A similar complaint has been filed on behalf of another unidentified FBI Agent by the conservative Judicial Watch public interest group.) Supposedly the Bush Administration had been meeting since January 2001 with the Taliban, and was also reluctant to offend Saudi Arabians who O'Neill had linked to bin Laden. Mr. O'Neill, after leaving the FBI, assumed the position of security director at the World Trade Center, where he was killed in the 911 attacks.
UNOCAL Corporation wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Controversy
In March 2005, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) tried to acquire Unocal with a bid that valued Unocal at between $16 billion and $18 billion. Following a vote in the United States House of Representatives, the bid was referred to President George W. Bush, on the grounds that its implications for national security needed to be reviewed [7]. CNOOC withdrew its bid. Soon after, Unocal merged with Chevron.
The merger was seen as U.S. protectionism in the involvement of political interests where CNOOC was made aware of a "harsh political reaction" to a take over of American companies.[8] American congressment cites "national security" as a reason for being alarmed by the takeover option.[9]
Rashid Popal is cousin to Karzai
EXCERPT:
Watan’s president, Rashid Popal, strongly denied any suggestion that his men either colluded with insurgents or orchestrated attacks to emphasize the need for their services. Executives with Compass Security did not respond to questions.
But the episode, and others like it, has raised the suspicions of investigators here and in Washington, who are trying to track the tens of millions in taxpayer dollars paid to private security companies to move supplies to American and other NATO bases.
Karzai Krime Family
EXCERPT:
While the US pours marrow and money into the battle for drugs and rocks, the Karzai Krime Family become richer; is this the "credible partner" the Pentagon needs to "succeed"?
Watan Risk Management is run by President Karzai's cousins, Hashmat Karzai, another relative of the president runs the Asia Security Group and one security firm is controlled by the parliamentary speaker's son.
Watan Risk, the firm run by Ahmad Rateb Popal and Rashid Popal, Karzai family relatives and former drug dealers. Watan controls one key stretch of road that all the truckers use: the strategic route to Kandahar. Watan Risk has a monopoly on this vital route.
NCL Hamid Wardak
EXCERPT:
Executive Management
Mr. Hamed Rahim Wardak
Founder and CEO
Hamed Wardak, 34, is an Afghan-American and founder and CEO of NCL Holdings, LLC, a global professional services company that has been instrumental in projects generating local employment in Afghanistan. He is also a philanthropist and advocate for the future of Afghanistan.
EXCERPT:
Written by research analyst Carl Forsberg the study "Politics and Power in Kandahar" reported some astonishing things regarding the provision of security in Afghanistan. While this is not a secret in Afghanistan it is hardly ever talked about in the U.S. media
He writes that since 2006, the Karzai family has established its own major private security firms and private militias, which give them even greater influence over the commanders who have become their dependents.
Several of these firms have major interests across Afghanistan, not just in Kandahar. The largest Karzai family-controlled firm in southern Afghanistan is the Asia Security Group (ASG), run by Hashmat Karzai, the cousin of President Karzai.
Stanley McChrystal and Karzai's brother
EXCERPT:
Karzai's younger half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council, gave McChrystal a ringing endorsement, telling reporters in Kandahar that McChrystal's leadership would be sorely missed.
"If he is fired, it will disrupt the operation," Ahmad Wali Karzai said. "It definitely will affect it. He (McChrystal) started all this, and he has a good relationship with the people. The people trust him and we trust him. If we lose this important person, I don't think that this operation will work in a positive way."
Karzai Brother: Drug Lord, CIA Darling?
EXCERPT:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2009
Karzai Brother: Drug Lord, CIA Darling?
Alleged Reliance on Corrupt Brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai More Bad News for U.S. Campaign in Afghanistan
Ahmed Wali Karzai wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Ahmad Wali Karzai has survived a number of assassination attempts by Taliban militants[5] and at least two attacks against his office in Kandahar: one in November 2008[6] and the other in April 2009.[7] According to him, a total of nine suicide bombers lost their lives trying to kill him.
In August 2009, shortly before the presidential election took place, Wali Karzai and Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, former governor of the Helmand Province a member of the Upper House of the Afghan parliament, were are accused of vote rigging, as well as drug smuggling [8].
Afghanistan, the Taliban and the Bush Oil Team
EXCERPT:
by Wayne Madsen
January 2002
Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), globalresearch.ca, 23 January 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to Afghan, Iranian, and Turkish government sources, Hamid Karzai, the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, was a top adviser to the El Segundo, California-based UNOCAL Corporation which was negotiating with the Taliban to construct a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline from Turkmenistan through western Afghanistan to Pakistan.
UNOCAL courts the Taliban
EXCERPT:
It's also exciting to the Bush Administration. According to the authors of Bin Laden, the Hidden Truth, one of the FBI's leading counter terrorism agents, John O'Neill, resigned last year in protest over the Bush Administration's alleged obstruction of his investigation into bin Laden. (A similar complaint has been filed on behalf of another unidentified FBI Agent by the conservative Judicial Watch public interest group.) Supposedly the Bush Administration had been meeting since January 2001 with the Taliban, and was also reluctant to offend Saudi Arabians who O'Neill had linked to bin Laden. Mr. O'Neill, after leaving the FBI, assumed the position of security director at the World Trade Center, where he was killed in the 911 attacks.
UNOCAL Corporation wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Controversy
In March 2005, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) tried to acquire Unocal with a bid that valued Unocal at between $16 billion and $18 billion. Following a vote in the United States House of Representatives, the bid was referred to President George W. Bush, on the grounds that its implications for national security needed to be reviewed [7]. CNOOC withdrew its bid. Soon after, Unocal merged with Chevron.
The merger was seen as U.S. protectionism in the involvement of political interests where CNOOC was made aware of a "harsh political reaction" to a take over of American companies.[8] American congressment cites "national security" as a reason for being alarmed by the takeover option.[9]
Rashid Popal is cousin to Karzai
EXCERPT:
Watan’s president, Rashid Popal, strongly denied any suggestion that his men either colluded with insurgents or orchestrated attacks to emphasize the need for their services. Executives with Compass Security did not respond to questions.
But the episode, and others like it, has raised the suspicions of investigators here and in Washington, who are trying to track the tens of millions in taxpayer dollars paid to private security companies to move supplies to American and other NATO bases.
Karzai Krime Family
EXCERPT:
While the US pours marrow and money into the battle for drugs and rocks, the Karzai Krime Family become richer; is this the "credible partner" the Pentagon needs to "succeed"?
Watan Risk Management is run by President Karzai's cousins, Hashmat Karzai, another relative of the president runs the Asia Security Group and one security firm is controlled by the parliamentary speaker's son.
Watan Risk, the firm run by Ahmad Rateb Popal and Rashid Popal, Karzai family relatives and former drug dealers. Watan controls one key stretch of road that all the truckers use: the strategic route to Kandahar. Watan Risk has a monopoly on this vital route.
NCL Hamid Wardak
EXCERPT:
Executive Management
Mr. Hamed Rahim Wardak
Founder and CEO
Hamed Wardak, 34, is an Afghan-American and founder and CEO of NCL Holdings, LLC, a global professional services company that has been instrumental in projects generating local employment in Afghanistan. He is also a philanthropist and advocate for the future of Afghanistan.
Naked Truth, Fluoride Poison, 9/11 Responders Strike Back - Sunday Update youtube
Biosafety Level wikipedia
EXCERPT:
A biosafety level is the level of the biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 to the highest at level 4. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have specified these levels.[1] In the European Union, the same biosafety levels are defined in a directive.[2]
China and it's reaction to American Brand recalls
EXCERPT:
Many still remember some of the most severe cases. Last year DuPont faced the "Teflon-coated pan case," as a result of which, some large Chinese department stores removed non-stick pans that used DuPont's Teflon coating from their shelves (for relevant report see Beijing Review Issue No. 34, 2004). Then Proctor & Gamble was sued by a consumer who believed that its SK-II de-wrinkle cream contained caustic substance. Some U.S. brands, including Heinz and KFC, were stricken as their products were said to contain carcinogenic "Sudan 1." Later, Johnson & Johnson, Lipton, Colgate and Haagen-Dazs were involved in successive negative incidents.
Chinese consumers have always trusted foreign brands, which they believe adhere to strict production standards and thus have credible quality. But these negative incidents are damaging the trustworthiness of foreign brands.
KFC and Sudan 1 scandal
EXCERPT:
KFC diners seek advice over fear of Sudan I
Latest Updated by 2005-03-22 10:49:51
A rising number of KFC customers have begun seeking legal advice after the US fast food chain's Beijing restaurants suspended three more items from their menus over fears they may contain the carcinogenic food colouring Sudan I.
Last Saturday, 10 days after the restaurants' New Orleans range was discontinued because of Sudan 1 contamination, the illegal dye was found again in popcorn chicken, spicy chicken wings and hamburgers in one of the company's Beijing outlets.
Sudan 1 scandal
EXCERPT:
Unfortunately, this one crisis is unlikely to change the behaviour of either consumers or producers. There are too many barriers at present preventing this kind of systemic learning which has to happen at multiple levels. But as I wrote in Getting into the Dirt (which alludes to some of the multifaceted causes why the current system is so unsustainable) these kinds of food shocks and disruptions will increase in frequency and be those "inevitable surprises" we should have seen coming. Yes, a prediction of sorts because the pattern is becoming clear: like BSE, foot and mouth disease, and SARS (which was caused because of poor livestock practices in dense urban areas), this latest Sudan 1 crisis is the thunder signaling a much larger storm on the near horizon unless we make some big course corrections within our global food system.
There is poison in the tap water
WACYorkPA squads up and travels directly south of York to a forcibly poisoned town called Red Lion (Pop.15,000) with bright yellow “Poison in the Tap” Posters.
Join us for a full day of Truth Action on the Eleventh Day of Every Month at http://WeAreChangeYorkPA.com and please consider donating at http://wearechangeyorkpa.chipin.com/6…
Is YOUR Water Fluoridated (Poisoned) in Pennsylvania?
SEE HERE?
http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/map
Sodium Fluorosilicate [MSDS] (Material Safety Data Sheet)
http://www.fluoridealert.org/pesticid…
Paint The Town: Anti-Fluoridation Poster Campaign
http://www.facebook.com/DemandSafeWater
PDF Poster:
http://www.infowars.com/pdfs/tapwater…
http://www.infowars.com/poison-tap-water
Open Letter to City Concerning Water Fluoridation
(Print and Deliver to your elected public officials)
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note…
Articles:
Australian TV Runs Serious Report on Dangers of Fluoride
http://ur1.ca/117eo
Studies on Neurotoxic Effects of Fluoride
http://ur1.ca/117et
Studies on Fluoride Links to Cancer
http://ur1.ca/117ev
Studies on Fluoride and Bone Fractures
http://ur1.ca/117ez
Study on Fluoride’s Effects on Liver and Kidney
http://ur1.ca/117fb
Studies on Fluoride and the Thyroid
http://ur1.ca/04jsn
Studies on Fluoride and IQ reduction
http://ur1.ca/117fk
Studies on Fluoride and Dental Flourosis
http://ur1.ca/117fn
Studies on Fluoride and Tooth Decay
http://ur1.ca/117fo
Jacob Appel Calls for Spiking Public Water With Lithium and Other Drugs
http://ur1.ca/117ft
Biosafety Level wikipedia
EXCERPT:
A biosafety level is the level of the biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 to the highest at level 4. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have specified these levels.[1] In the European Union, the same biosafety levels are defined in a directive.[2]
China and it's reaction to American Brand recalls
EXCERPT:
Many still remember some of the most severe cases. Last year DuPont faced the "Teflon-coated pan case," as a result of which, some large Chinese department stores removed non-stick pans that used DuPont's Teflon coating from their shelves (for relevant report see Beijing Review Issue No. 34, 2004). Then Proctor & Gamble was sued by a consumer who believed that its SK-II de-wrinkle cream contained caustic substance. Some U.S. brands, including Heinz and KFC, were stricken as their products were said to contain carcinogenic "Sudan 1." Later, Johnson & Johnson, Lipton, Colgate and Haagen-Dazs were involved in successive negative incidents.
Chinese consumers have always trusted foreign brands, which they believe adhere to strict production standards and thus have credible quality. But these negative incidents are damaging the trustworthiness of foreign brands.
KFC and Sudan 1 scandal
EXCERPT:
KFC diners seek advice over fear of Sudan I
Latest Updated by 2005-03-22 10:49:51
A rising number of KFC customers have begun seeking legal advice after the US fast food chain's Beijing restaurants suspended three more items from their menus over fears they may contain the carcinogenic food colouring Sudan I.
Last Saturday, 10 days after the restaurants' New Orleans range was discontinued because of Sudan 1 contamination, the illegal dye was found again in popcorn chicken, spicy chicken wings and hamburgers in one of the company's Beijing outlets.
Sudan 1 scandal
EXCERPT:
Unfortunately, this one crisis is unlikely to change the behaviour of either consumers or producers. There are too many barriers at present preventing this kind of systemic learning which has to happen at multiple levels. But as I wrote in Getting into the Dirt (which alludes to some of the multifaceted causes why the current system is so unsustainable) these kinds of food shocks and disruptions will increase in frequency and be those "inevitable surprises" we should have seen coming. Yes, a prediction of sorts because the pattern is becoming clear: like BSE, foot and mouth disease, and SARS (which was caused because of poor livestock practices in dense urban areas), this latest Sudan 1 crisis is the thunder signaling a much larger storm on the near horizon unless we make some big course corrections within our global food system.
There is poison in the tap water
WACYorkPA squads up and travels directly south of York to a forcibly poisoned town called Red Lion (Pop.15,000) with bright yellow “Poison in the Tap” Posters.
Join us for a full day of Truth Action on the Eleventh Day of Every Month at http://WeAreChangeYorkPA.com and please consider donating at http://wearechangeyorkpa.chipin.com/6…
Is YOUR Water Fluoridated (Poisoned) in Pennsylvania?
SEE HERE?
http://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/map
Sodium Fluorosilicate [MSDS] (Material Safety Data Sheet)
http://www.fluoridealert.org/pesticid…
Paint The Town: Anti-Fluoridation Poster Campaign
http://www.facebook.com/DemandSafeWater
PDF Poster:
http://www.infowars.com/pdfs/tapwater…
http://www.infowars.com/poison-tap-water
Open Letter to City Concerning Water Fluoridation
(Print and Deliver to your elected public officials)
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note…
Articles:
Australian TV Runs Serious Report on Dangers of Fluoride
http://ur1.ca/117eo
Studies on Neurotoxic Effects of Fluoride
http://ur1.ca/117et
Studies on Fluoride Links to Cancer
http://ur1.ca/117ev
Studies on Fluoride and Bone Fractures
http://ur1.ca/117ez
Study on Fluoride’s Effects on Liver and Kidney
http://ur1.ca/117fb
Studies on Fluoride and the Thyroid
http://ur1.ca/04jsn
Studies on Fluoride and IQ reduction
http://ur1.ca/117fk
Studies on Fluoride and Dental Flourosis
http://ur1.ca/117fn
Studies on Fluoride and Tooth Decay
http://ur1.ca/117fo
Jacob Appel Calls for Spiking Public Water With Lithium and Other Drugs
http://ur1.ca/117ft
Animal cruelty and family violence making the connection
EXCERPT:
Pets are part of the family in the majority of American households, where nearly three-quarters of families with school-age children have at least one companion animal. These animals are often treated like members of the family, but if the family is experiencing violence they can become targets as well. Pets are often an important source of comfort and stability to the victims of abuse, particularly children. But abusive family members may threaten, injure, or kill pets, often as a way of threatening or controlling others in the family.
SWINE FLU WAS MAN MADE IN A USA LABORATORY WITH FBI DOCUMENT
Animal abuse causes recall youtube
Bear Baying in South Carolina w/video
HSUS investigators recently attended several bear baiting (also known as bear baying) events in South Carolina. What they found will shock you.
In each event, a captive bear—claws and many teeth cut down or removed—is tethered in an arena. Team after team of dogs is released into the arena to bark at, jump on, and bite the frightened, defenseless bear for hours at a time. These events are billed as training exercises for hounds but are nothing more than public spectacles.
Please sign the petition asking the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to prohibit bear baiting (which they call bear baying) and revoke the permits for people who torment bears so cruelly.
» South Carolina residents: your DNR needs to hear from you especially!
Your messageStop cruel bear baying
To: S.C. Department of Natural Resources
The undersigned ask the state of South Carolina to end the barbaric practice of bear baying. Captive bears, with claws and many teeth cut down or removed, should not be used as live bait for dogs in a cruel spectacle for human entertainment.
We ask that you 1) revoke possession permits from anyone who uses bears in these cruel spectacles, and 2) inspect all captive bears to ensure they are not used for bear baying.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
The Meatrix interactive (Teach and Learn)
Meet your meat video
Pig farm horrors exposed youtube
Cattle Abuse video and text (video doesn't work)
February 19, 2008
Recall Recoil
It was President's Day yesterday. But from my perspective, it was also a day of false assurances.
See the undercover video that led to the recall.
Arguably the top story across the country for the last two days has been the nation's largest ever recall of beef, prompted by The HSUS’s long-term undercover investigation at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. in Chino, Calif. A hidden camera investigation at the plant exposed downed dairy cows being struck with paddles, extensively prodded with electric shocks to the eyes and other highly sensitive areas, rammed with forklifts, and abused in other deplorable ways in order to get these animals to stand. The poor cows were bellowing in response to these assaults, but their cries generated not a hint of mercy from their abusers. They wanted to squeeze every last dime out of these ailing dairy cows, and they were ruthless in subjecting these creatures to an astonishing array of tools of torment.
The HSUS has been telling the story to America, with me and several other spokespersons appearing on many of the major media outlets. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association have been offering their own perspectives and also talking to the American people. There's no denying the cruelty, and spokespersons from the federal government and the Cattlemen's Association concur that the inhumane treatment of these “spent” dairy cows was unacceptable. Good for them, and let's hope that the USDA continues with a vigorous investigation and has more news for us. We at The HSUS are particularly pleased that the new Agriculture Secretary called in the USDA's Office of Inspector General—the agency's semi-independent law enforcement arm—to investigate, since it has been a powerful and positive force on a number of animal protection issues.
But what I can't agree with are the claims by the USDA and the Cattlemen's Association that this plant represents an isolated case and all else is well with the regulation of slaughter plants in America. In an interview with PBS yesterday, the USDA's Kenneth Petersen said the incident is "an aberration," while a Cattlemen's Association representative told the Associated Press that most cattle bound for slaughter are treated humanely and the documented abuse is "something we don't condone and don't tolerate."
Now, I presume that if the Cattlemen's Association knew about the abuses at the Chino plant, it would have spoken up about it. Right? But the leaders of the group didn't speak out, so we must assume they had no knowledge of what was occurring.
If they did not know what was happening at that plant, they probably also don't know what's happening at the 900 other cattle slaughter plants in the United States. Their statement that this is an isolated case is a statement of faith, not fact.
The USDA has been trotting out the same line of argument. But let's concede two related points: First, the abuses at the Chino plant would not have come to light without the undercover operation by The HSUS. And second, these abuses occurred, as U.S. Rep. George Miller told USA Today, "right under the USDA's nose." In fact, the USDA honored this company as its 2004-05 Supplier of the Year to the National School Lunch Program.
If the USDA could not see abuses occurring at a plant where it had its full force of inspectors, how can it assure us that these terrible abuses are not happening elsewhere?
What we do know is that in the limited number of slaughter plant investigations conducted by The HSUS, PETA, Farm Sanctuary, Humane Farming Association, Compassion Over Killing, Mercy for Animals, and other animal protection groups, we see time and again that there have been gross abuses. PETA found workers slamming chickens against the walls of a slaughter plant. Other groups found animals being dismembered alive.
In 2006, the USDA’s own Office of Inspector General found that downers were getting into the food supply. In one case in Iowa, a USDA inquiry found that inspectors were sleeping and playing computer games on the job, while cows were being abused. This past week, Tyson fired several plant employees who were implicated in a chicken abuse scandal. Are these all also isolated incidents?
So let's leave the false assurances aside. We'd be grateful just to have the federal government do its job, and for the Cattlemen's Association and other industry groups to hold its colleagues to a basic standard of decency and begin to police its ranks. Their spin may make a few people dizzy, but I find it hollow and entirely unconvincing.
Obsolete Americans and their dead dream
EXCERPT:
Paula Hay - Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Yes I know I said light posting for the next couple of weeks, but two articles have crossed my path which bear attention.
The first is an article from a couple weeks ago at Salon: Are The American People Obsolete? The author makes a compelling case that the elites have broken the social contract between themselves and the rest of us, and that they no longer need us:
Have the American people outlived their usefulness to the rich minority in the United States? A number of trends suggest that the answer may be yes.
In every industrial democracy since the end of World War II, there has been a social contract between the few and the many. In return for receiving a disproportionate amount of the gains from economic growth in a capitalist economy, the rich paid a disproportionate percentage of the taxes needed for public goods and a safety net for the majority.
In North America and Europe, the economic elite agreed to this bargain because they needed ordinary people as consumers and soldiers. Without mass consumption, the factories in which the rich invested would grind to a halt. Without universal conscription in the world wars, and selective conscription during the Cold War, the U.S. and its allies might have failed to defeat totalitarian empires that would have created a world order hostile to a market economy.
Globalization has eliminated the first reason for the rich to continue supporting this bargain at the nation-state level, while the privatization of the military threatens the other rationale.
The offshoring of industrial production means that many American investors and corporate managers no longer need an American workforce in order to prosper. They can enjoy their stream of profits from factories in China while shutting down factories in the U.S. And if Chinese workers have the impertinence to demand higher wages, American corporations can find low-wage labor in other countries.
This marks a historic change in the relationship between capital and labor in the U.S. The robber barons of the late 19th century generally lived near the American working class and could be threatened by strikes and frightened by the prospect of revolution. But rioting Chinese workers are not going to burn down New York City or march on the Hamptons.
What about markets? Many U.S. multinationals that have transferred production to other countries continue to depend on an American mass market. But that, too, may be changing. American consumers are tapped out, and as long as they are paying down their debts from the bubble years, private household demand for goods and services will grow slowly at best in the United States. In the long run, the fastest-growing consumer markets, like the fastest-growing labor markets, may be found in China, India and other developing countries.
This, too, marks a dramatic change. As bad as they were, the robber barons depended on the continental U.S. market for their incomes. The financier J.P. Morgan was not so much an international banker as a kind of industrial capitalist, organizing American industrial corporations that depended on predominantly domestic markets. He didn't make most of his money from investing in other countries.
In contrast, many of the highest-paid individuals on Wall Street have grown rich through activities that have little or no connection with the American economy. They can flourish even if the U.S. declines, as long as they can tap into growth in other regions of the world.
. . .
If much of America's investor class no longer needs Americans either as workers or consumers, elite Americans might still depend on ordinary Americans to protect them, by serving in the military or police forces. Increasingly, however, America's professional army is being supplemented by contractors — that is, mercenaries. And the elite press periodically publishes proposals to sell citizenship to foreigners who serve as soldiers in an American Foreign Legion. It is probably only a matter of time before some earnest pundit proposes to replace American police officers with foreign guest-worker mercenaries as well.
Offshoring and immigration, then, are severing the link between the fate of most Americans and the fate of the American rich. A member of the elite can make money from factories in China that sell to consumers in India, while relying entirely or almost entirely on immigrant servants at one of several homes around the country. With a foreign workforce for the corporations policed by brutal autocracies and non-voting immigrant servants in the U.S., the only thing missing is a non-voting immigrant mercenary army, whose legions can be deployed in foreign wars without creating grieving parents, widows and children who vote in American elections.
If the American rich increasingly do not depend for their wealth on American workers and American consumers or for their safety on American soldiers or police officers, then it is hardly surprising that so many of them should be so hostile to paying taxes to support the infrastructure and the social programs that help the majority of the American people. The rich don't need the rest anymore.
EXCERPT:
Pets are part of the family in the majority of American households, where nearly three-quarters of families with school-age children have at least one companion animal. These animals are often treated like members of the family, but if the family is experiencing violence they can become targets as well. Pets are often an important source of comfort and stability to the victims of abuse, particularly children. But abusive family members may threaten, injure, or kill pets, often as a way of threatening or controlling others in the family.
SWINE FLU WAS MAN MADE IN A USA LABORATORY WITH FBI DOCUMENT
Animal abuse causes recall youtube
Bear Baying in South Carolina w/video
HSUS investigators recently attended several bear baiting (also known as bear baying) events in South Carolina. What they found will shock you.
In each event, a captive bear—claws and many teeth cut down or removed—is tethered in an arena. Team after team of dogs is released into the arena to bark at, jump on, and bite the frightened, defenseless bear for hours at a time. These events are billed as training exercises for hounds but are nothing more than public spectacles.
Please sign the petition asking the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to prohibit bear baiting (which they call bear baying) and revoke the permits for people who torment bears so cruelly.
» South Carolina residents: your DNR needs to hear from you especially!
Your messageStop cruel bear baying
To: S.C. Department of Natural Resources
The undersigned ask the state of South Carolina to end the barbaric practice of bear baying. Captive bears, with claws and many teeth cut down or removed, should not be used as live bait for dogs in a cruel spectacle for human entertainment.
We ask that you 1) revoke possession permits from anyone who uses bears in these cruel spectacles, and 2) inspect all captive bears to ensure they are not used for bear baying.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
The Meatrix interactive (Teach and Learn)
Meet your meat video
Pig farm horrors exposed youtube
Cattle Abuse video and text (video doesn't work)
February 19, 2008
Recall Recoil
It was President's Day yesterday. But from my perspective, it was also a day of false assurances.
See the undercover video that led to the recall.
Arguably the top story across the country for the last two days has been the nation's largest ever recall of beef, prompted by The HSUS’s long-term undercover investigation at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co. in Chino, Calif. A hidden camera investigation at the plant exposed downed dairy cows being struck with paddles, extensively prodded with electric shocks to the eyes and other highly sensitive areas, rammed with forklifts, and abused in other deplorable ways in order to get these animals to stand. The poor cows were bellowing in response to these assaults, but their cries generated not a hint of mercy from their abusers. They wanted to squeeze every last dime out of these ailing dairy cows, and they were ruthless in subjecting these creatures to an astonishing array of tools of torment.
The HSUS has been telling the story to America, with me and several other spokespersons appearing on many of the major media outlets. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association have been offering their own perspectives and also talking to the American people. There's no denying the cruelty, and spokespersons from the federal government and the Cattlemen's Association concur that the inhumane treatment of these “spent” dairy cows was unacceptable. Good for them, and let's hope that the USDA continues with a vigorous investigation and has more news for us. We at The HSUS are particularly pleased that the new Agriculture Secretary called in the USDA's Office of Inspector General—the agency's semi-independent law enforcement arm—to investigate, since it has been a powerful and positive force on a number of animal protection issues.
But what I can't agree with are the claims by the USDA and the Cattlemen's Association that this plant represents an isolated case and all else is well with the regulation of slaughter plants in America. In an interview with PBS yesterday, the USDA's Kenneth Petersen said the incident is "an aberration," while a Cattlemen's Association representative told the Associated Press that most cattle bound for slaughter are treated humanely and the documented abuse is "something we don't condone and don't tolerate."
Now, I presume that if the Cattlemen's Association knew about the abuses at the Chino plant, it would have spoken up about it. Right? But the leaders of the group didn't speak out, so we must assume they had no knowledge of what was occurring.
If they did not know what was happening at that plant, they probably also don't know what's happening at the 900 other cattle slaughter plants in the United States. Their statement that this is an isolated case is a statement of faith, not fact.
The USDA has been trotting out the same line of argument. But let's concede two related points: First, the abuses at the Chino plant would not have come to light without the undercover operation by The HSUS. And second, these abuses occurred, as U.S. Rep. George Miller told USA Today, "right under the USDA's nose." In fact, the USDA honored this company as its 2004-05 Supplier of the Year to the National School Lunch Program.
If the USDA could not see abuses occurring at a plant where it had its full force of inspectors, how can it assure us that these terrible abuses are not happening elsewhere?
What we do know is that in the limited number of slaughter plant investigations conducted by The HSUS, PETA, Farm Sanctuary, Humane Farming Association, Compassion Over Killing, Mercy for Animals, and other animal protection groups, we see time and again that there have been gross abuses. PETA found workers slamming chickens against the walls of a slaughter plant. Other groups found animals being dismembered alive.
In 2006, the USDA’s own Office of Inspector General found that downers were getting into the food supply. In one case in Iowa, a USDA inquiry found that inspectors were sleeping and playing computer games on the job, while cows were being abused. This past week, Tyson fired several plant employees who were implicated in a chicken abuse scandal. Are these all also isolated incidents?
So let's leave the false assurances aside. We'd be grateful just to have the federal government do its job, and for the Cattlemen's Association and other industry groups to hold its colleagues to a basic standard of decency and begin to police its ranks. Their spin may make a few people dizzy, but I find it hollow and entirely unconvincing.
Obsolete Americans and their dead dream
EXCERPT:
Paula Hay - Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Yes I know I said light posting for the next couple of weeks, but two articles have crossed my path which bear attention.
The first is an article from a couple weeks ago at Salon: Are The American People Obsolete? The author makes a compelling case that the elites have broken the social contract between themselves and the rest of us, and that they no longer need us:
Have the American people outlived their usefulness to the rich minority in the United States? A number of trends suggest that the answer may be yes.
In every industrial democracy since the end of World War II, there has been a social contract between the few and the many. In return for receiving a disproportionate amount of the gains from economic growth in a capitalist economy, the rich paid a disproportionate percentage of the taxes needed for public goods and a safety net for the majority.
In North America and Europe, the economic elite agreed to this bargain because they needed ordinary people as consumers and soldiers. Without mass consumption, the factories in which the rich invested would grind to a halt. Without universal conscription in the world wars, and selective conscription during the Cold War, the U.S. and its allies might have failed to defeat totalitarian empires that would have created a world order hostile to a market economy.
Globalization has eliminated the first reason for the rich to continue supporting this bargain at the nation-state level, while the privatization of the military threatens the other rationale.
The offshoring of industrial production means that many American investors and corporate managers no longer need an American workforce in order to prosper. They can enjoy their stream of profits from factories in China while shutting down factories in the U.S. And if Chinese workers have the impertinence to demand higher wages, American corporations can find low-wage labor in other countries.
This marks a historic change in the relationship between capital and labor in the U.S. The robber barons of the late 19th century generally lived near the American working class and could be threatened by strikes and frightened by the prospect of revolution. But rioting Chinese workers are not going to burn down New York City or march on the Hamptons.
What about markets? Many U.S. multinationals that have transferred production to other countries continue to depend on an American mass market. But that, too, may be changing. American consumers are tapped out, and as long as they are paying down their debts from the bubble years, private household demand for goods and services will grow slowly at best in the United States. In the long run, the fastest-growing consumer markets, like the fastest-growing labor markets, may be found in China, India and other developing countries.
This, too, marks a dramatic change. As bad as they were, the robber barons depended on the continental U.S. market for their incomes. The financier J.P. Morgan was not so much an international banker as a kind of industrial capitalist, organizing American industrial corporations that depended on predominantly domestic markets. He didn't make most of his money from investing in other countries.
In contrast, many of the highest-paid individuals on Wall Street have grown rich through activities that have little or no connection with the American economy. They can flourish even if the U.S. declines, as long as they can tap into growth in other regions of the world.
. . .
If much of America's investor class no longer needs Americans either as workers or consumers, elite Americans might still depend on ordinary Americans to protect them, by serving in the military or police forces. Increasingly, however, America's professional army is being supplemented by contractors — that is, mercenaries. And the elite press periodically publishes proposals to sell citizenship to foreigners who serve as soldiers in an American Foreign Legion. It is probably only a matter of time before some earnest pundit proposes to replace American police officers with foreign guest-worker mercenaries as well.
Offshoring and immigration, then, are severing the link between the fate of most Americans and the fate of the American rich. A member of the elite can make money from factories in China that sell to consumers in India, while relying entirely or almost entirely on immigrant servants at one of several homes around the country. With a foreign workforce for the corporations policed by brutal autocracies and non-voting immigrant servants in the U.S., the only thing missing is a non-voting immigrant mercenary army, whose legions can be deployed in foreign wars without creating grieving parents, widows and children who vote in American elections.
If the American rich increasingly do not depend for their wealth on American workers and American consumers or for their safety on American soldiers or police officers, then it is hardly surprising that so many of them should be so hostile to paying taxes to support the infrastructure and the social programs that help the majority of the American people. The rich don't need the rest anymore.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Good onya Mia Farrow
.Farrow, Campbell draw spotlight to war-crime trial
Buzz up!64 votes Share
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EmailPrint.. AP – Actress Mia Farrow is seen in this image taken from TV at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone …
.Celebrity Video:Naomi's evidence contradicted Australia 7 News .
Play Video Celebrity Video:Jennifer Aniston talks motherhood AP .
Play Video Celebrity Video:Farrow: Campbell said gift was 'huge diamond' AP .
By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer Toby Sterling, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago
LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands – Naomi Campbell flirted with Liberia's former president across the dinner table at Nelson Mandela's presidential mansion in 1997 and boasted the following morning that Charles Taylor had given her a huge diamond during the night, Mia Farrow and another witness testified at Taylor's war crimes trial Monday.
Prosecutors hope testimony from the actress-turned-human rights activist and from Campbell's estranged former modeling agent will help tie Taylor to the illicit "blood diamond" trade that fueled Sierra Leone's civil war. Both contradicted Campbell's account from the witness stand last week that she did not know the nature or value of what she had received.
The episode was a surreal interlude of glamour in a grim case focused on murder and mutilation in the jungles of West Africa.
Taylor says he is innocent of 11 war-crimes charges linked to allegations he supported rebels during Sierra Leone's vicious 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002 with an estimated 100,000 dead.
He has dismissed suggestions he was involved in the diamond trade as "complete, complete nonsense."
Farrow, however, recounted what she called the "unforgettable" memory of an excited Campbell coming down for breakfast the morning after Mandela's dinner party, so excited she could hardly sit.
Click on image to see photos of Farrow testifying at tribunal
AP
"She said 'Oh my God, last night I was awakened by men knocking at the door and it was men sent by Charles Taylor and he sent me a huge diamond'," Farrow said.
Campbell, who resisted appearing before the war-crimes court for months, testified under subpoena Thursday that she was given several small "dirty-looking" stones by men she didn't know after the function in Pretoria.
The British model said she hadn't known they were diamonds, nor who had sent them, and said Farrow was the one who suggested the gift was from Taylor.
Defense lawyers accused the prosecution of calling the unlikely witnesses as a publicity stunt to raise the profile of the trial, which has gone on for more than two years. Taylor himself was on the stand for seven months, portraying himself as an African liberator and statesman who sought to bring stability and peace to his turbulent corner of the continent.
Taylor's chief counsel, Courtenay Griffiths, said Farrow was unlikely to accurately remember what happened at a breakfast 13 years ago. He noted that Campbell received three uncut diamonds — not the single diamond Farrow insisted she heard Campbell talk about.
The defense also suggested Farrow's credibility was tainted by her activism, particularly her campaigns for the victims of Africa's wars.
Farrow, 65, conceded she had never seen the diamond or diamonds herself, and that Campbell might not have used the word "huge." But she insisted remembering Campbell only mentioned a single diamond.
South African businessman Jeremy Ractliffe, the former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, confirmed last week he had three stones he had received from Campbell to donate to charity after the 1997 dinner. He said he hadn't done anything with them because he feared that a blood diamond scandal might attach to Mandela or Campbell as a result. He has now handed them over to South African authorities and they have been identified as uncut diamonds, but their origins are unknown.
In court, Judge Julia Sebutinde asked Farrow whether it was possible she might have seen the 2006 movie "Blood Diamond" and been influenced by its plot, which centers on a single large diamond.
But Farrow denied any suggestion that she was confusing reality with Hollywood.
Agent Carole White, who fell out with Campbell several years ago, told the court that Taylor and her then-client enjoyed each other's company at the dinner table.
"I think she was flirting with him and he was flirting back," she said.
At one point during the meal, White said, Campbell leaned back to speak to her. She "was very excited and she told me he was going to give her some diamonds," White told the court.
She said Campbell later appeared disappointed when she saw the uncut diamonds and they were "not very impressive and not enormously big."
But under cross examination, Griffiths strongly challenged White's testimony.
"You have a very powerful motive for lying," he said, noting that White is suing Campbell for millions of dollars over an alleged breach of contract.
Campbell has served community service twice after pleading guilty in minor assault cases. A few of her former aides and maids have sued her, accusing her of violent outbursts and usually settling on undisclosed terms.
Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook
.Farrow, Campbell draw spotlight to war-crime trial
Buzz up!64 votes Share
retweet
EmailPrint.. AP – Actress Mia Farrow is seen in this image taken from TV at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone …
.Celebrity Video:Naomi's evidence contradicted Australia 7 News .
Play Video Celebrity Video:Jennifer Aniston talks motherhood AP .
Play Video Celebrity Video:Farrow: Campbell said gift was 'huge diamond' AP .
By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer Toby Sterling, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago
LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands – Naomi Campbell flirted with Liberia's former president across the dinner table at Nelson Mandela's presidential mansion in 1997 and boasted the following morning that Charles Taylor had given her a huge diamond during the night, Mia Farrow and another witness testified at Taylor's war crimes trial Monday.
Prosecutors hope testimony from the actress-turned-human rights activist and from Campbell's estranged former modeling agent will help tie Taylor to the illicit "blood diamond" trade that fueled Sierra Leone's civil war. Both contradicted Campbell's account from the witness stand last week that she did not know the nature or value of what she had received.
The episode was a surreal interlude of glamour in a grim case focused on murder and mutilation in the jungles of West Africa.
Taylor says he is innocent of 11 war-crimes charges linked to allegations he supported rebels during Sierra Leone's vicious 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002 with an estimated 100,000 dead.
He has dismissed suggestions he was involved in the diamond trade as "complete, complete nonsense."
Farrow, however, recounted what she called the "unforgettable" memory of an excited Campbell coming down for breakfast the morning after Mandela's dinner party, so excited she could hardly sit.
Click on image to see photos of Farrow testifying at tribunal
AP
"She said 'Oh my God, last night I was awakened by men knocking at the door and it was men sent by Charles Taylor and he sent me a huge diamond'," Farrow said.
Campbell, who resisted appearing before the war-crimes court for months, testified under subpoena Thursday that she was given several small "dirty-looking" stones by men she didn't know after the function in Pretoria.
The British model said she hadn't known they were diamonds, nor who had sent them, and said Farrow was the one who suggested the gift was from Taylor.
Defense lawyers accused the prosecution of calling the unlikely witnesses as a publicity stunt to raise the profile of the trial, which has gone on for more than two years. Taylor himself was on the stand for seven months, portraying himself as an African liberator and statesman who sought to bring stability and peace to his turbulent corner of the continent.
Taylor's chief counsel, Courtenay Griffiths, said Farrow was unlikely to accurately remember what happened at a breakfast 13 years ago. He noted that Campbell received three uncut diamonds — not the single diamond Farrow insisted she heard Campbell talk about.
The defense also suggested Farrow's credibility was tainted by her activism, particularly her campaigns for the victims of Africa's wars.
Farrow, 65, conceded she had never seen the diamond or diamonds herself, and that Campbell might not have used the word "huge." But she insisted remembering Campbell only mentioned a single diamond.
South African businessman Jeremy Ractliffe, the former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, confirmed last week he had three stones he had received from Campbell to donate to charity after the 1997 dinner. He said he hadn't done anything with them because he feared that a blood diamond scandal might attach to Mandela or Campbell as a result. He has now handed them over to South African authorities and they have been identified as uncut diamonds, but their origins are unknown.
In court, Judge Julia Sebutinde asked Farrow whether it was possible she might have seen the 2006 movie "Blood Diamond" and been influenced by its plot, which centers on a single large diamond.
But Farrow denied any suggestion that she was confusing reality with Hollywood.
Agent Carole White, who fell out with Campbell several years ago, told the court that Taylor and her then-client enjoyed each other's company at the dinner table.
"I think she was flirting with him and he was flirting back," she said.
At one point during the meal, White said, Campbell leaned back to speak to her. She "was very excited and she told me he was going to give her some diamonds," White told the court.
She said Campbell later appeared disappointed when she saw the uncut diamonds and they were "not very impressive and not enormously big."
But under cross examination, Griffiths strongly challenged White's testimony.
"You have a very powerful motive for lying," he said, noting that White is suing Campbell for millions of dollars over an alleged breach of contract.
Campbell has served community service twice after pleading guilty in minor assault cases. A few of her former aides and maids have sued her, accusing her of violent outbursts and usually settling on undisclosed terms.
Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook
DEAR SORROW
There are no words to convey the sadness that leads my path...
Sorrow so pure it achingly clings to the shadows...
Honesty within that attracts the home of utter turmoil...
I’m unable to share or even allow for the mistake of vulnerability...
Stepping up to make the decision that changes all and nothing...
Understanding sure to collapse in the confusion of certainty lacked...
Feeling so alone in a crowd, struggling to breathe and make it thru...
A void so wide that nothing can lie in its wake...
A plea to stand by and assemble the sins incapable of forgiveness...
My anger so unsettling that it leaves no chance to be heard...
Carrying on my back the hopes of many and the failure of self...
Stepping aside to encounter that which can't be named...
Aligning such doubts that match the treks of my soulful tears...
Begging for the light to shine away from the mirrors reflection...
Who hears the toll that the bell illuminates as vibrations shatter silence...
No commitment is granted for the issues that continue to hold me a prisoner…
I am so tired...
Sincerely,
Hope
There are no words to convey the sadness that leads my path...
Sorrow so pure it achingly clings to the shadows...
Honesty within that attracts the home of utter turmoil...
I’m unable to share or even allow for the mistake of vulnerability...
Stepping up to make the decision that changes all and nothing...
Understanding sure to collapse in the confusion of certainty lacked...
Feeling so alone in a crowd, struggling to breathe and make it thru...
A void so wide that nothing can lie in its wake...
A plea to stand by and assemble the sins incapable of forgiveness...
My anger so unsettling that it leaves no chance to be heard...
Carrying on my back the hopes of many and the failure of self...
Stepping aside to encounter that which can't be named...
Aligning such doubts that match the treks of my soulful tears...
Begging for the light to shine away from the mirrors reflection...
Who hears the toll that the bell illuminates as vibrations shatter silence...
No commitment is granted for the issues that continue to hold me a prisoner…
I am so tired...
Sincerely,
Hope
License plate 187USA
Twilight Zone intro. youtube
Cassie just turned 18 yesterday and she just recently graduated from high school.
Cassie's dentist's appointment went great and now all she had to do was wait it out till next week and she could do her life's dream.
Cassie ran out to her new Prius and was all ready to go. She saw Amy's books in the back and thought she'd ask her little sister to ride along with her to Walgreens. She opened her door and honked her horn. Amy opened the door and shrugged as in 'What?' (aside in Cassie's brain; "Why is Amy's books still in my car?")
Cassie yelled at Amy to come over to the car. "Do you wanna ride along with me to the drugstore?"
Amy smiled, it wasn't often since her sister got her brand new Prius that she was asked to tag along and it delighted her to be asked.
Amy climbed in and away the two girls went to the store.
Cassie didn't take long making her purchases as she was anxious to get home to have a good look at the work the dentist had done today.
She paid the clerk and told Amy......."Let's go!"
The girls got in the car and headed to home.
About half-way to the house, Cassie noticed the lights behind her.
Cassie pulled over.
The police officer walked up to the car.
Cassie was surprised as she surely didn't know what she had done.
"Miss, may I see your license and registration please."
Cassie obliged and gave the paperwork to the officer.
"Miss, may I see that bag please?"
Cassie started to respond but decided it was best just to hand over her bag.
"Miss, I see on this receipt that there were 4 items purchased and there are only 3 here, where is the 4th item?"
Cassie looked at Amy and Amy handed over her Nestle's water bottle.
"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car."
Cassie opened the car door and stepped out.
The officer had called his partner out and handed over the items and the partner was bagging the four items.
"Miss Cassie Warden, you have the right to remain silent anything you say or do can and will be held against you, do you understand?"
Cassie was stunned and blinked back the tears and nodded yes.
The officer had handcuffed Cassie and was walking her back to the patrol car.
Amy was allowed to walk home.
"Now in looking at all of this, what do you think?"
Cassie had purchased Toothpaste, Mouthwash, dental floss and a bottle of Nestle's water.
The Flouride and Aluminium in each of these products is to be considered hazardous material.
California Hazardous Waste pdf
California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Section 66261.126 lists 791 chemicals as "Hazardous Waste" 39 of these are fluoride compounds.
Cassie would be charged with possession of a hazardous material, and contributing to the deliquency of a minor. (The water bottle would be used to test Amy's DNA and charted in the Department of Homeland Security's record books.)
Will Cassie's work record be impacted by these charges? Will her life be changed forever because of some law put in place before her birth? hmmmmmmmmmm Will Cassie be on 'the no fly lists at airports' and be considered a potential terrorist?
Do you think this can't happen, if the USA continues down the path it's going, I wouldn't be surprise.
Chemical company convicted of illegal dumping 1988
EXCERPT:
Chemical Company Convicted of Illegal Dumping
By ERIC SCHMITT, Special to the New York Times
Published: May 15, 1988
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GLEN COVE, L.I.— A chemical distribution company with a long record of pollution violations has been convicted on criminal charges of illegally storing and dumping hazardous wastes at its plant here.
The verdict Wednesday by a jury in Nassau County Court, after a three-week trial, ended years of litigation by the state against the company, Mattiace Industries Inc., which Attorney General Robert Abrams called ''one of the most notorious environmental scofflaws in the state.''
'This sends a signal ...........OBVIOUSLY NOT AS IT IS NOW 2010 ..... DUH ...cal
Why our children might be a little confused in today's world?
"Mommie, Mommie, why do you make me sit in a carseat when the food you're giving me as a snack for my ride contains toxics?"
The Willowbrook Experiment
US Government Experiments
On Children During
The Cold War
From Carol Rutz
From raven1@bestnet.org - Organization CAHRA
3-14-00
Preface Of Upcoming Book
This is the story of someone you know-your neighbor, your classmate, your brother or sister, your mother or father. It is the secret they have been holding within their hearts because they were afraid the American public could not believe their government would carry out human experimentation on children, in direct defiance of the Nuremberg Code, which has been official United States policy since 1946.
Some of the very same Nazi doctors who worked in mental institutions before WWII, deciding whether mentally deficient children should be sterilized or killed because of their defective genes, also perfomed horrendous experiments in the death camps. Their medical expertise, along with hundreds of Nazi scientists was considered so vital to the "Cold War" effort that they would be brought into the United States and Canada to work side by side with some of the greatest, but most perverse minds the 20th century would ever see. It is a story interwoven with incest and government mind control. It involves the use of drugs, sensory deprivation, hypnosis, and electric shock to gain control of these children's minds.
Impossible, you say. I wish it were. We live in such a sheltered little world. It's much easier to believe that incest and violence and mind control belong to the few; but they belong to the many. One in three girls faces some type of sexual abuse before they are eighteen years old. The statistics on men is one in seven, but that is debatable since it is so much more difficult for them to come forward. Dr. Alan W. Scheflin, Professor of law at Santa Clara University Law School, and a judicially recognized expert in mind and behavior control states in a letter dated March 9, 1995 that secret government mind control experimentation is ongoing and vastly more expansive than the government authorities are willing to admit. He also is co-author of a nonfiction book entitled The Mind Manipulators which was published in a dozen countries. He says that he has been studying these secret programs since 1975 and it is his conclusion that there are at minimum hundreds, and most likely thousands of American citizens who were used as guinea pigs against their will in government research projects. What he does not say is that most of the children used in these experiments were sold by one of their caretakers in the name of "National Security" and subjected to untold horrors at the hands of their government.
In light of so many abuses of power coming before the public in recent years, many adult survivors of these childhood experiments are stepping forward to be heard. The government has admitted wrong doing in the Tuskegee Experiments, where poor black man were allowed to go untreated for their syphilis so the government could study the effects. Best remembered are the atomic tests on 2584 military personnel in the Nevada desert in 1953. Less known were such experiments as the feeding of radioactive cereal in the 1940s and 1950s to young male science club members who were institutionalized at the Fernald School in Massachusetts. The researchers had little experience with radionuclides in humans; consequently this approach to medical investigation gave them that opportunity. The parents, as well as the children, were simply told they were being fed a diet rich in iron.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. Saul Krugman of New York University conducted studies of hepatitis at the Willowbrook State School, an institution for the severely mentally retarded. To study the natural history, effects, and progression of the disease, Krugman and his staff systematically infected newly arrived children with strains of the virus. In October 1995 the President's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments reported that secret radiation experiments on indigent patients and mentally retarded children were not only done, but that these people were deceived about the nature of their treatments. Dr. William Silverman asserted that performing nontherapeutic experiments on childrenn without authorization from parents was part of a broader "ethos of the time" in which "everyone was a draftee" in a national war on disease.
Then there is the case of the 12 human "guinea pigs" who were secretly injected with radioactive Plutonium 239 and uranium in government experiments in the 1940's. Energy Secretary Hazel Oleary in announcing the settlement of $4.8 million to be paid to their families said the government was "grateful" to the victims for "the tough lessons they have taught us about trust, responsibility, and accountability between the government and the people." In a Congressional subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC on September 28, 1994 it was revealed that up to 500,000 Americans were endangered by secret defense-related tests between 1940 and 1974 -- including covert experiments with radioactive materials, mustard gas, LSD, and biological agents. The General Accounting Office testified that between 1949 and 1969, the Army released radioactive compounds in 239 cities to study the effects.
In a decision dated April 16, 1985 Chief Justice Burger of the United States Court of Appeals delivered the opinion of the Court in the case of CIA v. SIMS, 471 U.S. 159. This case focused around the publics right under the Freedom of Information Act, to have declassified the grant proposals and contracts, and the names of the institutions and individuals who had performed research under the CIA financed research project, code-named MKULTRA. MKULTRA was established to counter soviet and Chinese advances in brainwashing and interrogation techniques and consisted of 149 subprojects contracted out to at least 80 institutions.
In 1977, Director of Intelligence, Stansfield Turner described in an affidavit that the program was initiated because the Agency was confronted with "learning the state of the art of behavioral modification at a time when the U.S. Government was concerned about inexplicable behavior of persons behind the 'iron curtain' and American prisoners of war who had been subjected to so called 'brainwashing'". It began with a proposal from Richard Helms, then the Agency's assistant Deputy Director for Plans. Helms outlined a special funding mechanism for highly sensitive Agency research and development projects that would study the use of biological and chemical materials in altering human behavior.
MKULTRA was approved by Allen Dulles, Director of Central Intelligence on April 13, 1953. Twenty years after the conception of the MKULTRA project, all known files pertaining to it were ordered destroyed by Richard Helms before he retired. In 1977 through a Freedom of Information Act request by John Marks, 16,000 pages of documents were found; held as part of the Agency's financial history. Thank God, for the bean counters. Further attempts at declassification resulted in the decision rendered by Chief Justice Burger that the "intelligence sources" who were guaranteed confidentiality at the time of these CIA funded research projects would continue to remain protected and classified.
To those of us who have survived these experiments, this decision means that our stories will continue to lie in the government vaults of classified materials. Most of the important details were conveniently destroyed under orders of Richard Helms, probably not unlike what took place when the concentration camps were liberated. If not for the survivors, their stories would never have been told and the disappearance of 6 million people could have remained a question mark in history. I have no other choice than to tell this story myself. My goal in writing this book is to expose the misuse of power that took place in this country during the Cold War due to fear. Thousands of innocent children, who have now grown into adults are silently suffering from the effects of the experiments that were done to them by their own government. Many have been diagnosed incorrectly and institutionalized. Some died because they knew too much. Others, like myself, were able to obtain competent medical help, and are struggling to heal from the physical and mental ravages upon our beings.
Will we let this story lay in the shadows forever, or do we have the courage to address these wrongs and give survivors back their voices? You be the judge.
FOR K A R E N #01182 who died fighting 4/23/99.
Twilight Zone intro. youtube
Cassie just turned 18 yesterday and she just recently graduated from high school.
Cassie's dentist's appointment went great and now all she had to do was wait it out till next week and she could do her life's dream.
Cassie ran out to her new Prius and was all ready to go. She saw Amy's books in the back and thought she'd ask her little sister to ride along with her to Walgreens. She opened her door and honked her horn. Amy opened the door and shrugged as in 'What?' (aside in Cassie's brain; "Why is Amy's books still in my car?")
Cassie yelled at Amy to come over to the car. "Do you wanna ride along with me to the drugstore?"
Amy smiled, it wasn't often since her sister got her brand new Prius that she was asked to tag along and it delighted her to be asked.
Amy climbed in and away the two girls went to the store.
Cassie didn't take long making her purchases as she was anxious to get home to have a good look at the work the dentist had done today.
She paid the clerk and told Amy......."Let's go!"
The girls got in the car and headed to home.
About half-way to the house, Cassie noticed the lights behind her.
Cassie pulled over.
The police officer walked up to the car.
Cassie was surprised as she surely didn't know what she had done.
"Miss, may I see your license and registration please."
Cassie obliged and gave the paperwork to the officer.
"Miss, may I see that bag please?"
Cassie started to respond but decided it was best just to hand over her bag.
"Miss, I see on this receipt that there were 4 items purchased and there are only 3 here, where is the 4th item?"
Cassie looked at Amy and Amy handed over her Nestle's water bottle.
"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car."
Cassie opened the car door and stepped out.
The officer had called his partner out and handed over the items and the partner was bagging the four items.
"Miss Cassie Warden, you have the right to remain silent anything you say or do can and will be held against you, do you understand?"
Cassie was stunned and blinked back the tears and nodded yes.
The officer had handcuffed Cassie and was walking her back to the patrol car.
Amy was allowed to walk home.
"Now in looking at all of this, what do you think?"
Cassie had purchased Toothpaste, Mouthwash, dental floss and a bottle of Nestle's water.
The Flouride and Aluminium in each of these products is to be considered hazardous material.
California Hazardous Waste pdf
California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Section 66261.126 lists 791 chemicals as "Hazardous Waste" 39 of these are fluoride compounds.
Cassie would be charged with possession of a hazardous material, and contributing to the deliquency of a minor. (The water bottle would be used to test Amy's DNA and charted in the Department of Homeland Security's record books.)
Will Cassie's work record be impacted by these charges? Will her life be changed forever because of some law put in place before her birth? hmmmmmmmmmm Will Cassie be on 'the no fly lists at airports' and be considered a potential terrorist?
Do you think this can't happen, if the USA continues down the path it's going, I wouldn't be surprise.
Chemical company convicted of illegal dumping 1988
EXCERPT:
Chemical Company Convicted of Illegal Dumping
By ERIC SCHMITT, Special to the New York Times
Published: May 15, 1988
Recommend
Sign In to E-Mail
GLEN COVE, L.I.— A chemical distribution company with a long record of pollution violations has been convicted on criminal charges of illegally storing and dumping hazardous wastes at its plant here.
The verdict Wednesday by a jury in Nassau County Court, after a three-week trial, ended years of litigation by the state against the company, Mattiace Industries Inc., which Attorney General Robert Abrams called ''one of the most notorious environmental scofflaws in the state.''
'This sends a signal ...........OBVIOUSLY NOT AS IT IS NOW 2010 ..... DUH ...cal
Why our children might be a little confused in today's world?
"Mommie, Mommie, why do you make me sit in a carseat when the food you're giving me as a snack for my ride contains toxics?"
The Willowbrook Experiment
US Government Experiments
On Children During
The Cold War
From Carol Rutz
From raven1@bestnet.org - Organization CAHRA
3-14-00
Preface Of Upcoming Book
This is the story of someone you know-your neighbor, your classmate, your brother or sister, your mother or father. It is the secret they have been holding within their hearts because they were afraid the American public could not believe their government would carry out human experimentation on children, in direct defiance of the Nuremberg Code, which has been official United States policy since 1946.
Some of the very same Nazi doctors who worked in mental institutions before WWII, deciding whether mentally deficient children should be sterilized or killed because of their defective genes, also perfomed horrendous experiments in the death camps. Their medical expertise, along with hundreds of Nazi scientists was considered so vital to the "Cold War" effort that they would be brought into the United States and Canada to work side by side with some of the greatest, but most perverse minds the 20th century would ever see. It is a story interwoven with incest and government mind control. It involves the use of drugs, sensory deprivation, hypnosis, and electric shock to gain control of these children's minds.
Impossible, you say. I wish it were. We live in such a sheltered little world. It's much easier to believe that incest and violence and mind control belong to the few; but they belong to the many. One in three girls faces some type of sexual abuse before they are eighteen years old. The statistics on men is one in seven, but that is debatable since it is so much more difficult for them to come forward. Dr. Alan W. Scheflin, Professor of law at Santa Clara University Law School, and a judicially recognized expert in mind and behavior control states in a letter dated March 9, 1995 that secret government mind control experimentation is ongoing and vastly more expansive than the government authorities are willing to admit. He also is co-author of a nonfiction book entitled The Mind Manipulators which was published in a dozen countries. He says that he has been studying these secret programs since 1975 and it is his conclusion that there are at minimum hundreds, and most likely thousands of American citizens who were used as guinea pigs against their will in government research projects. What he does not say is that most of the children used in these experiments were sold by one of their caretakers in the name of "National Security" and subjected to untold horrors at the hands of their government.
In light of so many abuses of power coming before the public in recent years, many adult survivors of these childhood experiments are stepping forward to be heard. The government has admitted wrong doing in the Tuskegee Experiments, where poor black man were allowed to go untreated for their syphilis so the government could study the effects. Best remembered are the atomic tests on 2584 military personnel in the Nevada desert in 1953. Less known were such experiments as the feeding of radioactive cereal in the 1940s and 1950s to young male science club members who were institutionalized at the Fernald School in Massachusetts. The researchers had little experience with radionuclides in humans; consequently this approach to medical investigation gave them that opportunity. The parents, as well as the children, were simply told they were being fed a diet rich in iron.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. Saul Krugman of New York University conducted studies of hepatitis at the Willowbrook State School, an institution for the severely mentally retarded. To study the natural history, effects, and progression of the disease, Krugman and his staff systematically infected newly arrived children with strains of the virus. In October 1995 the President's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments reported that secret radiation experiments on indigent patients and mentally retarded children were not only done, but that these people were deceived about the nature of their treatments. Dr. William Silverman asserted that performing nontherapeutic experiments on childrenn without authorization from parents was part of a broader "ethos of the time" in which "everyone was a draftee" in a national war on disease.
Then there is the case of the 12 human "guinea pigs" who were secretly injected with radioactive Plutonium 239 and uranium in government experiments in the 1940's. Energy Secretary Hazel Oleary in announcing the settlement of $4.8 million to be paid to their families said the government was "grateful" to the victims for "the tough lessons they have taught us about trust, responsibility, and accountability between the government and the people." In a Congressional subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC on September 28, 1994 it was revealed that up to 500,000 Americans were endangered by secret defense-related tests between 1940 and 1974 -- including covert experiments with radioactive materials, mustard gas, LSD, and biological agents. The General Accounting Office testified that between 1949 and 1969, the Army released radioactive compounds in 239 cities to study the effects.
In a decision dated April 16, 1985 Chief Justice Burger of the United States Court of Appeals delivered the opinion of the Court in the case of CIA v. SIMS, 471 U.S. 159. This case focused around the publics right under the Freedom of Information Act, to have declassified the grant proposals and contracts, and the names of the institutions and individuals who had performed research under the CIA financed research project, code-named MKULTRA. MKULTRA was established to counter soviet and Chinese advances in brainwashing and interrogation techniques and consisted of 149 subprojects contracted out to at least 80 institutions.
In 1977, Director of Intelligence, Stansfield Turner described in an affidavit that the program was initiated because the Agency was confronted with "learning the state of the art of behavioral modification at a time when the U.S. Government was concerned about inexplicable behavior of persons behind the 'iron curtain' and American prisoners of war who had been subjected to so called 'brainwashing'". It began with a proposal from Richard Helms, then the Agency's assistant Deputy Director for Plans. Helms outlined a special funding mechanism for highly sensitive Agency research and development projects that would study the use of biological and chemical materials in altering human behavior.
MKULTRA was approved by Allen Dulles, Director of Central Intelligence on April 13, 1953. Twenty years after the conception of the MKULTRA project, all known files pertaining to it were ordered destroyed by Richard Helms before he retired. In 1977 through a Freedom of Information Act request by John Marks, 16,000 pages of documents were found; held as part of the Agency's financial history. Thank God, for the bean counters. Further attempts at declassification resulted in the decision rendered by Chief Justice Burger that the "intelligence sources" who were guaranteed confidentiality at the time of these CIA funded research projects would continue to remain protected and classified.
To those of us who have survived these experiments, this decision means that our stories will continue to lie in the government vaults of classified materials. Most of the important details were conveniently destroyed under orders of Richard Helms, probably not unlike what took place when the concentration camps were liberated. If not for the survivors, their stories would never have been told and the disappearance of 6 million people could have remained a question mark in history. I have no other choice than to tell this story myself. My goal in writing this book is to expose the misuse of power that took place in this country during the Cold War due to fear. Thousands of innocent children, who have now grown into adults are silently suffering from the effects of the experiments that were done to them by their own government. Many have been diagnosed incorrectly and institutionalized. Some died because they knew too much. Others, like myself, were able to obtain competent medical help, and are struggling to heal from the physical and mental ravages upon our beings.
Will we let this story lay in the shadows forever, or do we have the courage to address these wrongs and give survivors back their voices? You be the judge.
FOR K A R E N #01182 who died fighting 4/23/99.
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