Archive for the 'Human Rights Violations' Category

French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment

Published
by
billycuts
on March 12, 2010
in Big Brother, Consciousness/Psych/Brain, Entheogens/Psychedelics, Health/Bio-Tech and Human Rights Violations
. 0 Comments

In 1951, a quiet, picturesque village in southern France was suddenly and mysteriously struck down with mass insanity and hallucinations. At least five people died, dozens were interned in asylums and hundreds afflicted.

For decades it was assumed that the local bread had been unwittingly poisoned with a psychedelic mould. Now, however, an American investigative journalist has uncovered evidence suggesting the CIA peppered local food with the hallucinogenic drug LSD as part of a mind control experiment at the height of the Cold War.

[...]

On August 16, 1951, the inhabitants were suddenly racked with frightful hallucinations of terrifying beasts and fire.

One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: “I am a plane”, before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for 50 yards. Another saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets.

Telegraph.Co.Uk

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In Myanmar Today

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on September 27, 2007
in Activism, Big Brother, Civil Rights, Human Rights Violations and Military
. 0 Comments

myanmar protest monk

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Iraqi Gov’t Takes A Stand Against US Contracted Mercenaries

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on September 17, 2007
in Human Rights Violations, Iraq, Military and Neoliberal Globalization
. 0 Comments

The Iraqi government said Monday that it was pulling the license of an American security firm allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of civilians during an attack on a U.S. State Department motorcade in Baghdad.

The Interior Ministry said it would prosecute any foreign contractors found to have used excessive force in the Sunday shooting. It was latest accusation against the U.S.-contracted firms that operate with little or no supervision and are widely disliked by Iraqis who resent their speeding motorcades and forceful behavior.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said eight civilians were killed and 13 were wounded when security contractors believed to be working for Blackwater USA opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad.

“We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory. We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities,” Khalaf said.

Yahoo!
Word up to MBG at MostlySemantics for this one.

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World Biggest Problem: Organized Crime

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on September 13, 2007
in Activism, Big Brother, Economics, Energy/Fuel, Environmental/Nature, Freedom of Information, Green Meme / Sustainability, Health/Bio-Tech, Human Rights Violations, Inc. Shenanigans, Military, Neoliberal Globalization, Other Drugs, Political, Society/Social Systems and Technology
. 0 Comments

cocain cartel
Organized crime may have brought in more than $2 trillion in revenue last year, about twice all the military budgets in the world combined, according to the “2007 State of the Future” report, published by the Millennium Project of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, by Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon.

The report called organized crime one of the most pressing global issues that needs to be addressed in the next 10 years, along with global warming, terrorism, corruption, unemployment, and income disparities.

But the report noted success in tackling other issues, saying the world has made progress on ending poverty, improving access to education and settling conflicts. It also says the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa has begun to level off.

KurzweilAI

Vast Forests With Trees Each Worth £4,000 Sold For a Few Bags of Sugar

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on April 20, 2007
in Environmental/Nature, Human Rights Violations, Inc. Shenanigans and Neoliberal Globalization
. 0 Comments

lamokoLamoko, 150 miles down the Maringa river, sits on the edge of a massive stretch of virgin rainforest in central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). On February 8 2005, representatives of a major timber firm arrived to negotiate a contract with the traditional landowners.

Few in the village realised that the talks would transform all their lives, but in just a few hours, the chief, who had received no legal advice and did not realise that just one tree might be worth more than £4,000 in Europe, had signed away his community’s rights in the forest for 25 years.

In return for his signed permission to log thousands of hectares for exotic woods such as Afromosia (African teak) and sapele, the company promised to build Lamoko and other communities in the area three simple village schools and pharmacies. In addition, the firm said it would give the chief 20 sacks of sugar, 200 bags of salt, some machetes and a few hoes. In all, it was estimated that the gifts would cost the company £10,000.

It was the kind of “social responsibility” agreement that is encouraged by the World Bank, but when the villagers found out that their forest had been “sold” so cheaply, they were furious.

guardian uk

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The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism by Hakim Bey

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on April 12, 2007
in Activism, Anthropology, Art, Books / E-Books, Civil Rights, Consciousness/Psych/Brain, Freedom of Information, Futurism/Transhumanism, Hacks, Help Yourself, Human Rights Violations, Inc. Shenanigans, Language, Literature/Poetry, Media, Memetics, Mind/Body/Spirit, Mindhacks, Nature of Reality, Occulture, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Religion, Resistance, Sexuality and Society/Social Systems
. 1 Comment

taz

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‘Hate Crimes’ Bill Reintroduced

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on March 21, 2007
in Civil Rights, Human Rights Violations, Law, Political, Religion and Sexuality
. 0 Comments

Liberals call it a “hate crimes prevention” bill, but conservatives denounce it as “anti-Christian” legislation.

Whatever you call it, the bill is back—reintroduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) on Tuesday. Liberals are pressing for passage, and conservatives are pressing President Bush to veto the bill if it reaches his desk.

“If there was ever a bill which needed to be vetoed—this is it,” said Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director Andrea Lafferty.

“Most Christians might as well rip the pages which condemn homosexuality right out of their Bibles because this bill will make it illegal to publicly express the dictates of their religious beliefs.”

Lafferty and other conservatives argue that the bill will “elevate homosexuality”—a type of behavior, they stipulate—to the same level as race and other characteristics that can’t be changed.

CNS News

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Landmark Ruling Celebrated as a Victory for Religious Freedom, Environmental Justice & Cultural Survival

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on March 15, 2007
in Activism, Anthropology, Economics, Environmental/Nature, Human Rights Violations, Inc. Shenanigans, Law and Religion
. 0 Comments

Flagstaff, AZ—On Monday, March 12th the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling to protect a mountain held holy by more than 13 Native American Nations. The slopes of the San Francisco Peaks, located in Northern Arizona, have been at the center of a historical and lengthy battle that has pitted economic interests on public lands against environmental integrity, public health and cultural survival..A local ski resort planned to expand and use treated waste effluent to make snow.

Yesterday, a federal court appeals panel issued the unanimous decision written by Judge William A. Fletcher. “We reverse the decision of the district court in part. We hold that the Forest Service’s approval of the Snowbowl’s use of recycled sewage effluent to make artificial snow on the San Francisco Peaks violates [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] RFRA, and that in one respect the Final Environmental Impact Statement prepared in this case does not comply with NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act].”

More than 100 supporters gathered at an afternoon press conference near the base of the Sacred Peaks to celebrate. Tribal Leaders, Environmental Groups and representatives of the community based group the Save the Peaks Coalition spoke of the victory.

“This is a very important decision that sets great precedent for people who are concerned with Native American rights and religious freedom” said Howard Shanker, of the Shanker Law Firm, PLC, representing the Navajo Nation, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, the Yavapai-Apache Tribe, the Havasupai Tribe, Rex Tilousi, Dianna Uqualla, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Flagstaff Activist Network.

“Because of this decision in the 9th circuit, other tribes throughout the nation could have the ability to rely on this case to help protect sites that are sacred to them and culturally and religiously important” Mr. Shanker said.

Read the full post "Landmark Ruling Celebrated as a Victory for Religious Freedom, Environmental Justice & Cultural Survival" (1143 words, estimated 4:34 mins reading time)

Botswana Bushmen Win Ancestral Land Back in Court Ruling

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on December 13, 2006
in Activism, Anthropology, Human Rights Violations and Political
. 0 Comments

Bushmen from the Kalahari desert have won a court case in which they accused Botswana’s government of illegally moving them from their land.

The court said the bushmen – or San people – were wrongly evicted from their ancestral homeland in 2002.

A panel of three judges ruled by two-to-one in their favour in the major issues in the case.

It is seen as a wider test of whether governments can legally move people from their tribal and ancestral lands.

The leader of the bushmen, Roy Sesana, emerged from court wearing traditional headdress and smiling broadly.

bbc

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Study: 655,000 Iraqis Have Died As A Result of War

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on October 11, 2006
in Human Rights Violations, Iraq, Military and Political
. 0 Comments

George W. Bush made news last year when he said that 30,000 Iraqis—“more or less”—have died as a result of the U.S. war and ongoing violence in Iraq.

Try “more.”

A study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and published in the British medical journal the Lancet concludes that 655,000 more Iraqis have died since March 2003 than would have died if the United States had not invaded their country. The researchers, working with funding from MIT’s Center for International Studies, say that about 600,000 of these deaths were the result of violence. The remaining 55,000 were the result of disease or other nonviolent causes.

How large a number is 655,000? It’s equal to about 2.5 percent of Iraq’s total population. If 2.5 percent of Americans were killed in a war here, the death toll would be an unimaginable 7.4 million.
salon (secret salon cookie for full access)

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Congress Legalizes Torture

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on September 22, 2006
in Big Brother, Civil Rights, Human Rights Violations, Law, Military and Political
. 0 Comments

Defiant GOP senators and the White House ended a standoff Thursday over legislation authorizing the CIA’s tough interrogations and military tribunals for terrorism suspects.Both sides appeared to bend some to reach an arrangement that would allow the CIA program to go forward while ensuring that accused terrorists would not be convicted in tribunals with evidence they could not see or challenge.

Under the bill, high-value detainees could face interrogations using methods that fall somewhere between simple assault and torture, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., but would exclude waterboarding, or simulated drowning.

newsobserver

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The CIA’s ‘Black Sites’

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on February 27, 2006
in Big Brother, Human Rights Violations, Law and Military
. 0 Comments

The CIA’s top counterterrorism official [Robert Grenier] was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation, and using forms of torture such as “waterboarding,” [making a prisoner believe he is about to be drowned] intelligence sources have claimed. The Sunday Times, London, February 12

For more than three years, I’ve been reporting on what has been increasingly, but fragmentarily, revealed about secret CIA prisons around the world. On September 17, 2001, the president, in a classified order, gave the CIA these “special powers” (as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed during his confirmation hearings).

These “black sites”—as they are called in CIA, White House, and Justice Department files— escaped attempted congressional oversight until December 2005. But in the National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate finally called for regular reports on where those prisons are, what plans there are for the ultimate release of their prisoners, and “a description of the interrogation procedures used.” Ted Kennedy and John Kerry introduced the resolution.

Village Voice

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Gore Lays The Smack Down

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on January 17, 2006
in Big Brother, Freedom of Information, Human Rights Violations, Inc. Shenanigans, Law, Neoliberal Globalization and Political
. 0 Comments

Today, Al Gore delivered one of the great speeches in American history, in which, in decrying the dire Constitutional crisis created in the US by President George W. Bush, he often quoted the founders of our country.

One day, we will all look back to Mr. Gore’s speech, and either be proud that we listened and understood and fought for the sanctity of the US Constitution…..or be embarrassed and shocked that we didn’t comprehend the utter seriousness of the predicament of the United States of America in 2006.

Al Gore’s lengthy, blunt-spoken plea for our American democracy was orated in the Daughters of the American Revolution Hall in Washington DC, before a standing-room-only crowd that gave Mr. Gore numerous standing ovations. It was attended by both Democrats and Republicans, and was specifically endorsed by Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), who was quoted in Gore’s speech.

In his speech, Mr. Gore articulated to thunderous applause and cheering, ”...the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and presistently. A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government….Once violated, the rule of law is in danger. Unless stopped, lawlessness grows.”

Mr. Gore continued, ”...the President has also declared that he has a heretofore unrecognized inherent power to seize and imprison any American citizen that he alone determines to be a threat to our nation, and… the person imprisoned has no right to talk with a lawyer-even to argue that the President or his appointees have made a mistake and imprisoned the wrong person.

The President claims that he can imprison American citizens indefinitely for the rest of their lives without an arrest warrant, without notifying them about what charges have been filed against them, and without informing their families that they have been imprisoned.”

Mr. Gore concluded by calling for six immediate reform steps to be taken, including comprehensive “hearings into these serious allegations of criminal behavior on the part of the President.”

Video on c-span
With transcript below.

Read the full post "Gore Lays The Smack Down" (7385 words, estimated 29:32 mins reading time)

One-Fifth of Human Genes Have Been Patented, Study Reveals

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on November 30, 2005
in Biology, Genetics, Health/Bio-Tech, Human Rights Violations and Inc. Shenanigans
. 0 Comments

A new study shows that 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States, primarily by private firms and universities.

The study, which is reported this week in the journal Science, is the first time that a detailed map has been created to match patents to specific physical locations on the human genome.

Researchers can patent genes because they are potentially valuable research tools, useful in diagnostic tests or to discover and produce new drugs.

“It might come as a surprise to many people that in the U.S. patent system human DNA is treated like other natural chemical products,” said Fiona Murray, a business and science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and a co-author of the study.

“An isolated DNA sequence can be patented in the same manner that a new medicine, purified from a plant, could be patented if an inventor identifies a [new] application.”

National Geographic

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The Man Who Sold the War

Published
by
DrQuickbeam
on November 30, 2005
in Big Brother, Human Rights Violations, Inc. Shenanigans, Iraq, Military, Neoliberal Globalization and Political
. 0 Comments

John Rendon is a man who fills a need that few people even know exists. The Pentagon secretly awarded him a $16 million contract to target Iraq and other adversaries with propaganda. He is a leader in the strategic field known as “perception management,” manipulating information—and, by extension, the news media.

Rolling Stone

Read the full post "The Man Who Sold the War" (6596 words, estimated 26:23 mins reading time)