tagged w/ Torture
-
With the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a month away, former CIA Director George Tenet and two former top aides are fighting back hard against allegations that they engaged in a massive cover-up in 2000 and 2001 to hide intelligence from the White House and the FBI that might have prevented the attacks. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28814.htmWith the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a month away, former CIA Director... more
-
-
In Plane Site, the Power Hour documentary, Complete in it's Entirety, that was on the air in Canada in 2004!
When most of the world knows the truth about 911 it's a shame that American citizens are left in the dark. The military-industrial coalition has a vested interested in promoting discontent and war around the world. It's done at your expense and at the cost of your sons and daughters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsRFGn_9Vw0&feature=player_embeddedIn Plane Site, the Power Hour documentary, Complete in it's Entirety, that was on... more
-
-
The military industrial prison complex have been preparing for a breakdown of civil society for decades.
*****
From microwave energy blasters and blinding laser beams, to chemical agents and deafening sonic blasters, these weapons are at the cutting edge of crowd control, and look and sound like they belong in a Hollywood science fiction thriller.
The Pentagon's approved term for these weapons is "non-lethal" or "less-lethal" and they are intended for use against the unarmed. Designed to control crowds, clear streets, subdue and restrain individuals and secure borders, they are the 21st century's version of the police baton, pepper spray and tear gas.
1. The Invisible Pain Ray: The 'Holy Grail of Crowd Control'
Works like an open-air microwave oven, projecting a focused beam of electromagnetic radiation to heat the skin of its targets to 130 degrees. This creates an intolerable burning sensation forcing those in its path to instinctively flee
" ... the ADS provides the technical possibility to produce burns of second and third degree. Because the beam of diameter 2 m and above is wider than human size, such burns would occur over considerable parts of the body, up to 50% of its surface. Second- and third-degree burns covering more than 20% of the body surface are potentially life-threatening"
2. The Laser Blinding 'Dazzler'
The Personal Halting and Stimulation Response rifle, or PHaSR, is a massive laser shooter. It won't kill you, but it will temporarily blind you — or as the NIJ prefers to say, it will "dazzle" you into disorientation — by shooting you with two low-power diode-pumped lasers.
3. The Taser on Steroids
Taser has developed the Taser X12, a 12-gauge shotgun that instead of firing lethal bullet rounds, is designed to fire Taser projectile rounds. Known as Extended Range Electronic Projectiles (XREP), the XREP cartridge is a self-contained, wireless projectile that delivers the same neuro-muscular incapacitation bio-effect (a fancy way of saying electric shock) as the handheld Taser, but up to 100 feet.
4. Calmative Agents for Riot Control
Calmatives are chemical or biological agents with sedative, sleep-inducing or similar psychoactive effects.
Penn State’s College of Medicine researchers agreed that “the development and use of non-lethal calmative techniques is both achievable and desirable,” and identified a large number of promising drug candidates, including benzodiazepines like Valium, serotonin-reuptake inhibitors like Prozac, and opiate derivatives like morphine, fentanyl, and carfentanyl, the last commonly used by veterinarians to sedate large animals. The only problems they saw were in developing effective delivery vehicles and regulating dosages, but these problems could be solved readily, they recommended, through strategic partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry.
5. Screaming Microwaves That Pierce the Skull
Researchers are in the process of developing the Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio or MEDUSA, which uses a beam of microwaves to induce uncomfortable auditory sensations in the skull. The device exploits the microwave audio effect, in which short microwave pulses rapidly heat tissue, causing a shockwave inside the skull that can be detected by the ears. MEDUSA’s audio effect is loud enough to cause discomfort or even incapacitation. It may also cause a little brain damage from the high-intensity shockwave created by the microwave pulse.
6. Ear-Splitting Siren
It works using gas from a cylinder of domestic liquid petroleum, which is mixed with air and then detonated, producing a series of high-intensity blasts. Patented “pulse detonation” technology ensures high-decibel blasts. With an effective range of up to 50 meters, the makers say it is extremely loud but will not do any lasting damage. They warn, however, that within 10 meters the Thunder Generator could cause permanent damage or even death.
The Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, built by American Technology Corporation, focuses and broadcasts sound over ranges of up to hundreds of yards. LRAD has been around for years, but Americans first took notice when police used it in Pittsburgh to ward off protesters at the 2009 G-20 summitThe military industrial prison complex have been preparing for a breakdown of civil... more
-
-
CNN...
.
August 9th, 2011
08:00 AM ET
Should bullfighting be banned?
By Stephanie Garlow, GlobalPost
.
First Catalonia outlawed bullfighting, which the Economist likened it to a German state banning wurst or a French region condemning berets.
Now Peru's minister of culture has said the sport is "terrible" and that it causes excessive suffering for the animals.
So is bullfighting on the way out? Is it a "tradition of tragedy," as PETA claims, that kills 250,000 bulls annually?
Activists who gathered in Lima last week to protest the mistreatment of bulls would seem to agree. "Bullfighting promotes violence, torture and cruelty to animals for no reason," William Soberon, of the Anti-Bullfighting Front of Peru, told La Republica. "We're not in the colonial era."
Peru's newly appointed minister of culture, Susana Baca, said she felt sorry for the animals and that she cried when she once attended a cockfight. "I've never been to a bullfight but from the little I've seen in the media, I know it's terrible and I had to close my eyes," she said on the program "Buenos Dias, Peru."
But protests against bullfighting are nothing new in Peru. And comments by Baca that she would analyze the practice during her tenure quickly sparked controversy.
Bullfighter Fernando Roca Rey told La Republica that bullfighting should be seen as a cultural event and that "the minister can give her opinion, but that cannot be applied to the whole country." Bullfighting celebrations have been held in Peru since 1766 and the Plaza de Toros de Acho bullring is the oldest in the Americas and second-oldest in the world, reports AFP.
And the Spanish government recently dealt a blow to efforts to outlaw the sport when it ruled that bullfighting is an "artistic discipline and cultural product." The country's Ministry of Culture will now be responsible for the "development and protection" of bullfighting, a move that supporters hope is a step toward protecting the tradition from further regional bans.
Bullfighting is also practiced in Portugal and the south of France and is widespread in Latin America. Mexico City's Plaza Mexico arena is the biggest in the world with seats for up to 55,000.
And while public opinion might be swinging away from bullfighting — a poll last year for El Pais found 60 percent of Spaniards did not enjoy bullfighting — the sport still has big-name supporters. Peruvian novelist and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa campaigned to convince UNESCO to classify bullfighting as part of Spain's national heritage.
And in novelist Ernest Hemingway, the sport found one of its most enduring voices of support. The art of the bullfighting, Hemingway wrote in "Death in the Afternoon," "is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honor."
.CNN...
.
August 9th, 2011
08:00 AM ET
Should bullfighting be banned?... more
-
-
-
Humanity is at a crossroads in Libya. It has been coming for a long time and in Libya, it has arrived. Finally, the greyish mists which have been clouding our skies have lifted and what is happening is crystal clear…and humankind has a decision to make, and fast. The situation demands not voyeurism and comments, but action. Now! http://nwoobserver.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/libya-and-universal-human-rights/Humanity is at a crossroads in Libya. It has been coming for a long time and in Libya,... more
-
-
-
The solution is simple: we tell the truth. The Orwellian bumper sticker tells us: "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." Whenever we encounter a lie, we respond with the truth. From local neighborhoods to the White House, in the coffee shop or City Council chambers, we never let a lie pass unchallenged. This accomplishes two goals: we raise the consciousness of all within reach, and we challenge those who lie to us and expect to get away with it. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28784.htmThe solution is simple: we tell the truth. The Orwellian bumper sticker tells us:... more
-
-
The wiping out of 30 US special forces in the Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan comes at a time when Washington’s official version of how it carried out the assassination of Osama bin Laden was falling apart from incredulity.
Among the 38 dead in the helicopter disaster – the biggest single loss of American lives in the 10-year Afghanistan war of occupation – are believed to have been 17 US Navy Seals. The dead also include other members of US special forces and Afghan commandos. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25923The wiping out of 30 US special forces in the Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan... more
-
-
-
-
-
-
Twice in the last two decades, significant cuts in U.S. and western military spending were foreseen: first after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But both times military spending soon increased, and among the factors contributing to the increase were America’s interventions in new areas: the Balkans in the 1990s, and Libya today.1 Hidden from public view in both cases was the extent to which al-Qaeda was a covert U.S. ally in both interventions, rather than its foe. http://www.truth-out.org/bosnia-kosovo-and-now-libya-human-costs-washington%E2%80%99s-going-collusion-terrorists/1312724637Twice in the last two decades, significant cuts in U.S. and western military spending... more
-
-
In Budapest, Hungary, on June 30, 2011, Hillary Clinton announced that the Obama administration welcomed “dialogue with those Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members who wish to talk with us.” Responding to this, Mahmoud Ghozlan, a spokesman for the MB, told CNN: “The U.S. administration has supported dictators for decades and authorized torture, repression and colonization. The U.S. is hated in the Middle East region more than any other country according to polls published in the U.S. If the U.S. is serious in opening an dialogue, they must first respect the people’s choices for a true democracy, independence and respect their choice of leaders.” http://www.newswithviews.com/Cuddy/dennis213.htmIn Budapest, Hungary, on June 30, 2011, Hillary Clinton announced that the Obama... more
-
-
What is a known fact is that Osama Bin Laden was not killed earlier this year during the hyped-Pakistan raid, but rather died nearly a decade ago due to health problems. This means that whoever landed in Pakistan and murdered the people occupying the alleged "Bin Laden" compound, just a stone's throw away from a nearby CIA safe house, killed someone else. It is quite clear that these people, alleged to have been members of the ultra-secret SEAL Team 6, would then be liabilities to whoever attempted to foist this hoax upon the world.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/08/infowars-ireland-predicted-seal-team-6.htmlWhat is a known fact is that Osama Bin Laden was not killed earlier this year during... more
-
-
We live in a time of great destruction and grand economic opportunities and Latin America is no exception. In the global context, the US Empire is engaged in destructive wars (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Haiti). In contrast China, India, Brazil, Argentina and other “emerging economies” are expanding trade, investments and reducing poverty. The European Union (EU) and the United States (USA) are in deep economic crises. The EU “periphery” (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain) are totally bankrupt. The US “dependencies” in North America (Mexico), Central America and the Caribbean are virtual narco-states plagued by mass poverty, astronomical crime rates and economic stagnation. The US dependencies are plundered by foreign multi-nationals, local oligarchs and corrupt politicians. http://www.countercurrents.org/petras070811.htmWe live in a time of great destruction and grand economic opportunities and Latin... more
-
-
-
Adding to the painful death toll in America’s seemingly endless war in Afghanistan, 30 U.S. soldiers were killed on Saturday when their helicopter was shot down. The deaths provoked predictable comments about how they didn’t die in vain, but ex- CIA analyst Ray McGovern says the hard truth is that they did. http://consortiumnews.com/2011/08/07/more-us-soldiers-die-in-vain/Adding to the painful death toll in America’s seemingly endless war in... more
-
-
Having just lived through one of the more bizarre months in the history of the former republic -- what I recently termed “a psychotic spectacle of American decline” -- it seemed to me that Johnson’s “dismantling” essay couldn’t be more timely, and so on this quiet Sunday in August, on the weekend the author of Blowback would have turned 80, I’m bringing it back from the TomDispatch archives. It was first posted on July 30, 2009, and it has only gained in relevance from the two years of debacle that have followed. If only I could bring Chalmers back as well. This country could use him right now. http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175427/best_of_tomdispatch%3A_chalmers_johnson%2C_dismantling_the_empire/#moreHaving just lived through one of the more bizarre months in the history of the former... more
-
