Friday, October 28, 2005

Wheels fall off the Scooter


First blood.

You're doing a heckuva job, Fitzie!

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Pot not a major cancer risk

Another nail in the coffin of prohibitionists, and yet more reason to stop denying sick people an effective medicine.

--

Although both marijuana and tobacco smoke are packed with cancer-causing chemicals, other qualities of marijuana seem to keep it from promoting lung cancer, according to a new report.

The difference rests in the often opposing actions of the nicotine in tobacco and the active ingredient, THC, in marijuana, says Dr. Robert Melamede of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

He reviewed the scientific evidence supporting this contention in a recent issue of Harm Reduction Journal.

Whereas nicotine has several effects that promote lung and other types of cancer, THC acts in ways that counter the cancer-causing chemicals in marijuana smoke, Melamede explained in an interview with Reuters Health.

"THC turns down the carcinogenic potential," he said.

For example, lab research indicates that nicotine activates a body enzyme that converts certain chemicals in both tobacco and marijuana smoke into cancer-promoting form. In contrast, studies in mice suggest that THC blocks this enzyme activity.

Another key difference, Melamede said, is in the immune system effects of tobacco and marijuana. Smoke sends irritants into the respiratory system that trigger an immune-regulated inflammatory response, which involves the generation of potentially cell-damaging substances called free radicals. These particles are believed to contribute to a range of diseases, including cancer.

But cannabinoids -- both those found in marijuana and the versions found naturally in the body -- have been shown to dial down this inflammatory response, Melamede explained.

Another difference between tobacco and marijuana smoking, he said, has to do with cells that line the respiratory tract. While these cells have receptors that act as docks for nicotine, similar receptors for THC and other cannabinoids have not been found.

Nicotine, Melamede said, appears to keep these cells from committing "suicide" when they are genetically damaged, by smoking, for instance. When such cells do not kill themselves off, they are free to progress into tumors.

THC, however, does not appear to act this way in the respiratory tract -- though, in the brain, where there are cannabinoid receptors, it may have the beneficial effect of protecting cells from death when they are damaged from an injury or stroke, according to Melamede.

All of this, he said, fits in with population studies that have failed to link marijuana smoking with a higher risk of lung cancer -- though there is evidence that pot users have more respiratory problems, such as chronic cough and frequent respiratory infections.

If marijuana does not promote lung cancer, that could factor into the ongoing debate over so-called medical marijuana. Melamede said he believes "marijuana has loads of medicinal value," for everything from multiple sclerosis, to the chronic pain of arthritis, to nausea caused by cancer treatment.

U.S. government officials, however, maintain that the evidence for medical marijuana is not there. Ten states allow people to use marijuana with a doctor's prescription, but the Supreme Court has ruled that federal law trumps state law.

SOURCE: Harm Reduction Journal, October 18, 2005.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

More Sex and Torture revelations



Mr Al Dossary claims that in September 2002, he was taken to an interrogation room at close to midnight on a Saturday.

'There was a female interrogator and four MPs (military police) in the interrogation room. One of the MPs had a video camera," say the notes.

"The female interrogator told Mr Al Dossary it was his last chance to confess to being a terrorist and a member of Al Qaeda and of having been involved in the 9/11 attacks.

"She told Mr Al Dossary that nobody was around because it was a Saturday night and that he would see something that he had never seen before."

Mr Al Dossary was allegedly handcuffed and shackled by his hands and feet to the floor, after his arms were yanked violently above his head.

"The female interrogator then signalled to another guard to cut off Mr Al Dossary's clothes with scissors," say the notes.

"Mr Al Dossary tried to resist, but the MPs simply pulled the shackle on his handcuffs even harder. Eventually, the MPs removed all of Mr Al Dossary's clothing."

The female interrogator allegedly then stripped naked, while standing over Mr Al Dossary.

She then allegedly smeared her menstrual blood over various parts of his body.


And again we see the same bizarre, sexual tactics:

In another incident, in mid-2003, Mr Al Dossary was allegedly taken into an interrogation room, from which he could see a naked man and woman having sex on a table in an adjoining room.

Once they had finished, the man and woman got dressed and entered the interrogation room.


The man showed Mr Al Dossary pictures of men in traditional Arab dress and asked him to identify them, promising him he could have sex with the woman if he co-operated.

Mr Al Dossary refused and after half an hour, the man and woman left.


Okay, a couple of important points.

The sexual elements of prisoner torture have been widespread at both Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and are very likely to be occurring at other locations where the U.S. is holding detainees.

The sexual torture tactics have not emerged spontaneously -- they are elements of a coordinated, enforced policy. The policy was developed by U.S. military intelligence, as I have detailed in the reference articles listed below, with assistance from mental health professionals (Behavioral Science Consultation Teams -- BSCTs or "biscuits").

Another thing to ponder: U.S. intelligence agents and soldiers are being instructed to fuck each other in front of prisoners. Female agents or soldiers are being ordered to smear their menstrual blood on detainees.

As I've detailed in my article "Sex, Drugs, Mind Control, and Gitmo," this program is not designed to get information from detainees, although in some cases it may have that side effect. The chance of a frightened, humiliated, religious Muslim man saying "yes" to the offer of sex with a U.S. soldier is nil. The "live sex show" is not designed to tempt the prisoner -- it's designed to degrade and terrify him. The sexual tactics are used to break the minds of the prisoners -- to cause irreperable psychic damage.

And those damaged human beings are the future terrorists -- the violent, hate-filled enemy combatants required for the Bush Cult to continue its God-mandated "eternal" war.

References:

Sex, Drugs, Mind Control, and Gitmo

One Victim's Story of Torture

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Condracula



Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island were among several lawmakers who asked Rice whether the Bush administration was considering military action against Iran and Syria, and asked whether the president would circumvent congressional authorization if the White House chose that option.

"I will not say anything that constrains his authority as commander in chief," Rice said.

One Victim's Story of Torture



Have U.S. and British intelligence agents been watching too much BDSM porn? Or is the use of sexual elements key to the methodology of torture?

Since I raised this issue a few months ago, I've seen only more and more confirmation that sexual abuse is the key element of the U.S. and British torture program.

Excerpts:

On each stage of his journey, as he descended further and further into the gulags and torture chambers of the war on terror, Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi was shadowed by British intelligence. The British were there in Karachi when Americans interrogated him and Pakistanis tortured him; they were feeding questions to the Moroccan torturers who took a scalpel to his penis; they stood back and watched as he was dragged to an American torture chamber in Afghanistan and then to the gulag of Guantanamo, where he languishes to this day....

Al-Habashi was then confronted with the Moroccan torture team. With a macabre flourish, some even wore bondage-type masks to give the torment an added mediaeval flavour...

One guard told him how the torture would happen, saying: “They’ll come in wearing masks and beat you up. They’ll beat you with sticks. They’ll rape you first, then they’ll take a glass bottle, they break the top off and they make you sit on it.”

During his next torture session he was tied up again. His clothes were cut off with a scalpel and he was left naked in front of his captors. His torturer-in-chief told one of the guards: “Show him who’s a man.” The interrogator then began to slice his own chest with the scalpel.

The other forms of torture he was subjected to included prolonged sleep deprivation; being drugged; forced to listen to music by Meatloaf and Aerosmith non-stop; being made to watch pornographic films; having naked women paraded in front of him.

He was transferred after about four months to the US prison at Bagram air base in Afghanistan. While the prisoners showered, GIs talked about which of them “was worth penetrating.”


But the crucial element of the article is this:

He once asked a guard why they were doing this to him and was told: “It’s just to degrade you, so when you leave here you’ll have these scars and you’ll never forget. So you’ll always fear doing anything but what the U.S. wants.”

I suggest it's exactly the opposite. The logic is absurd -- torturing people, especially innocent people, does not make them afraid to go against their torturers. What the U.S. wants --and what they're creating -- is more terrorists.

Cabal

Man, when even Colin Powell's former chief of staff uses the word "cabal" to describe the Bush/Cheney cult, I think we really might be getting somewhere!

An excerpt:

Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday.

In a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Support the Troops!


Excerpt:

The Pentagon has reneged on its offer to pay a $15,000 bonus to members of the National Guard and Army Reserve who agree to extend their enlistments by six years, according to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Seattle).

The bonuses were offered in January to Active Guard and Reserve and military technician soldiers who were serving overseas. In April, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs ordered the bonuses stopped, Murray said.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Too close to the truth?

Excerpt:

A senior British military police officer in Iraq involved in the investigation of alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians by soldiers has been found dead at a camp in Basra.

The body of Captain Ken Masters, the commander of 61 Section of the Special Investigations Branch (SIB), was found in his bed at the airport at the weekend. The death is being investigated by the SIB.

Defence sources said the death was "not due to hostile action and also not due to natural causes".

However, it is believed that investigators have not found a suicide note, nor firearms related to the incident. Capt Masters was not receiving any medical or psychological treatment.

Friends and colleagues of Captain Masters, who was married with two children, said that his death had come as a "total surprise".

After his body was found early on Saturday evening a siren sounded over Basra camp, flares were fired in the air, and all military personnel were confined to barracks .

Despite being of middle-rank, Captain Masters was in charge of all serious incidents involving the British military in Iraq.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Blinky Bush

He's losing it. Big time.

Excerpt:

"The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was 'trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression,' Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt.When the questioning turned to Miers, Bush blinked 37 times in a single answer -- along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and some serious foot jiggling."

Reptiles eat their dead



Watch, in the coming days, as the reptiles - —the metaphorical lizards, a la Icke - feast on their dying. They can't resist the smell of fresh blood, even when it's one of their own that's hemorrhaging.

Think Ann Coulter, with Rove's innards dripping from her hideous, twitching maw.

You get the picture.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Cheney's Halliburton stock options rose 3,281% last year, senator finds




The obligatory, once-a-month Dylan "Masters of War" lyrics. Sorry, but there just isn't anything else appropriate to accompany this story (except, perhaps, Black Sabbath's "War Pigs").

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Witness to 1918 flu: 'Death was there all the time'


From the CNN story about a 98-year-old man who witnessed the 1918 flu epidemic:

...the climate of fear was brought on by a mistrust of government officials and the press.

"People could see while they were being told on the one hand that it's ordinary influenza, on the other hand they are seeing their spouse die in 24 hours or less, bleeding from their eyes, ears, nose and mouth, turning so dark that people thought it was the black death," Barry says said. "People knew that they were being lied to; they knew that this was not ordinary influenza."

Thursday, October 06, 2005

I ain't Nostradamus...



...But I have to say, within hours of posting my concerns about an imminent color-coded "incident" designed to ratchet up the fear levels, this "breaking news" hits:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/06/newyork.subways/index.html

New York subway system on alert

Same intelligence led to U.S. raid in Iraq, military source says

Mayor Bloomberg: "We ask that the public remain vigilant. If you see something, say something."

NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York City's subway system went under heightened alert Thursday after officials received information from the FBI about a "specific threat," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

A well-placed U.S. military official told CNN on Thursday that the same intelligence also led to a raid against suspected al Qaeda operatives in Iraq.

There were indications that a terrorist attack on New York's subway system is possible "in the coming days," said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.


Gee, the same day Bush gives a propaganda speech about the need to continue the war in Iraq, who on Earth could have imagined anything like this happening?!

Season of Fear



Watching the Bush cabal implode over the past few weeks has given me an immense amount of satisfaction, a gleeful, delicious schadenfreude. And it looks like I'll have more and more moments of pure joy as indictments and defeats continue to mount.

So why am I so frightened?

Maybe it's because I know how a terrified, desperate animal acts when it's cornered. And as the noose tightens around the criminals in this particular syndicate, I wonder -- with trepidation -- about their reaction.



They know one strategy works for them when all else fails.

Fear.





With Bush floating trial balloons about militarizing the U.S. in response to an outbreak of avian flu, the likelihood that antiwar protesters were dosed with a biowarfare agent, and the addition of pre-emptive nuclear strikes to official Pentagon policy. . .



Anyone who isn't terrified clearly isn't paying attention.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Pre-emptive nuclear strikes part of Pentagon plan

From the Greenpeace site:

What the document shows is how the threshold for actually using nuclear weapons has been lowered dramatically. For instance, the document seeks to justify pre-emptive nuclear strikes against nations (even those without nuclear weapons) which the US thinks might use chemical or biological weapons against US forces or allies. It also positions nuclear weapons as just another item in the military's box of tricks, even underscoring the importance of US troops being able to continue functioning in a highly irradiated battle zone.

In a chilling finale, "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" concludes that the United States is legally free to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively if it chooses, "no customary or conventional international law prohibits nations from employing nuclear weapons in armed conflict."


The document can be found here.

Will the Madness of King George turn the planet into an irradiated cinder? Stay tuned.

More "Captain Trips" Bird Flu


Excerpt:

Working on virus samples from the remains of victims of the 1918 pandemic, the researchers were able to piece together the entire genetic sequence of the virus.

They found the virus contained elements that were new to humans of the time - making it highly virulent.

And analysis of the final three pieces of the virus' genetic code has revealed mutations that have striking similarities to those found in flu viruses found only in birds, such as the H5N1 strain currently found in south east Asia.

This strain has so far killed at least 65 people.

Many experts believe it is only a matter of time before H5N1, or a similar strain, causes many deaths in humans - possibly after combining with a human flu strain.

Bush: Military may have to help if bird flu breaks out



If I wasn't already paranoid enough, this might really give me pause.

From the article:

President Bush says the possibility of an avian flu pandemic is among the reasons he wants Congress to give him the power to use the nation's military in law enforcement roles in the United States.

"I'm concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world," he told reporters during a Rose Garden news conference on Tuesday.

Such an deadly event would raise difficult questions, such as how a quarantine might be enforced, he said.

"One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move," he said. "So that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have."


Mother Abigail, here I come!

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Convicted US soldier speaks of worse abuse at Abu Ghraib

Lynndie England speaks of "worse things" happening at Abu Ghraib.

From the article:

England, appearing on NBC's "Dateline" program, said the pictures did not convey the full extent of the abuse that took place in the cell block.

"I know worse things were happening over there," admitted the 22-year-old convict.

She said one night she heard blood-curdling screams coming from the block's shower room, where non-military interrogators had taken an Arab detainee.

"They had the shower on to muffle it, but it wasn't helping," she recalled. "They never screamed like that when we were humiliating. But this guy was like screaming bloody murder. I mean it still haunts me I can still hear it just like it happened yesterday."

The interrogators were not identified, but several investigations into the abuse have disclosed that Central Intelligence Agency operatives worked at Abu Ghraib alongside US military intelligence, mining for useful information.


Maybe she's talking about this, or perhaps this?

Then again, maybe she meant this.

Poor Lynndie the scapegoat.

Monday, October 03, 2005

The Christian Mafia

More Christofascist revelations. For further analysis, see also:

Jesus Plus Nothing -- The Family.

No evidence backs up reports of rescue helicopters being fired upon

Another Katrina myth bites the dust. I guess we'll have to find another way to smear poor, black Americans as thieving, raping, cannibalistic savages.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Were the DC protesters victims of bio-terrorism?

Sept. 30, 2005 -- A relatively rare biological agent has been detected in air filters serving Washington D.C. in recent weeks, ABC News has learned -- but current evidence does not show any indication whatsoever of terrorism.

The federal government found six air filters around the nation's capital checked on Sept. 24 and 25 contained "trace amounts" of tularemia, a type of bacteria.

And more:

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=581709

WASHINGTON - Authorities are trying to determine whether homeland security was breeched during protests for and against the war in Iraq that took place downtown last weekend.
D.C. Health Director Dr. Gregg Pane tells WTOP Radio that bio-watch collectors, operated by the Department of Homeland Security, tested positive during demonstrations that took place downtown.

D.C. officials were notified of this on Friday.