tagged w/ Intimidation
-
-
The former United States ambassador to France suggested "moving to retaliation" against France and the European Union (EU) in late 2007 to fight a French ban on Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) corn and changes in European policy toward biotech crops, according to a cable released by WikiLeaks on Sunday.
Former Ambassador Craig Stapleton was concerned about France's decision to suspend cultivation of Monsanto's MON-810 corn and warned that a new French environmental review standard could spread anti-biotech policy across the EU.
"Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits," Stapleton wrote to diplomatic colleagues.
President George W. Bush appointed Stapleton as ambassador to France in 2005, and in 2009, Stapleton left the office and became an owner of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. Bush and Stapleton co-owned the Texas Rangers during the 1990s.
Monsanto is based in St. Louis.
The EU's 1998 approval of MON-810 corn has since expired. In recent years, several European countries joined France in banning MON-810 and similar biotech crops while the products are reassessed in light of research showing they could harm the environment and human health.
It is not clear if Stapleton's retaliation scheme was ever implemented.
"In our view, Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the Commission ... Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices," Stapleton wrote.
MON-810 is engineered to excrete the Bt toxin, which is poisonous to some insect pests. A stacked version of MON-810 is also engineered to be resistant to glyphosate, a herbicide first popularized by Monsanto under the brand name Roundup.
The debate in France over Monsanto's GM products has grown ugly in recent years.
A recent Truthout report detailed the story of Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini, a scientist at the University of Caen in France. Seralini's supporters claim the scientist has faced intimidation from within the French scientific community after he published several studies showing Monsanto GM corn and glyphosate posed risks to human health.The former United States ambassador to France suggested "moving to... more
-
-
Almost overnight, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has gone from national joke to national nightmare. Passengers used to laugh when screeners so inept they missed 60-75% of the fake bombs undercover investigators smuggled past them nonetheless proclaimed themselves gods. No one's laughing now, though, as the TSA ogles us with carcinogenic technology and sexually assaults anyone who objects.
Over 300 of the agency's "naked" scanners lurk in 60-some airports nationwide, with more on the way; eventually, the agency will irradiate every passenger on every flight. These gizmos peer through clothing to photograph bodies in graphic detail. The TSA makes much of offering a "choice": if you dislike posing nude for the government, its perverts will grope you instead -- "prob[ing]," "prodding" and pushing "up your thighs and between your legs until we meet resistance" (and they don't mean a slap in the face). You also suffer this indignity, even if you submit to the scan, should it reveal "anomalies" such as piercings or prostheses.
Are you still flying? Why? For your own protection and that of your children, for liberty's sake, stay on the ground until Congress abolishes the TSA. No destination on earth or convenience in reaching it, no vacation, Thanksgiving dinner, meeting or sales trip, is worth the degradation the TSA is dishing out.
Its new "pat down procedures ... allow security officers to touch passengers of the same gender in sensitive areas such as the breasts and genitals..." These attacks have been "likened to ‘foreplay' pat-downs ... [screeners are] using the new front-of-the-hand, slide-down screening technique for ... over-the-clothes searches of passengers' breast and genital areas."
Such mass mauling is unprecedented. No regime anywhere at any time, however totalitarian or brutal, has ever routinely denuded and molested citizens.
Don't underestimate the trauma of such aggression nor succumb to the TSA's bland assurances that a screener "of the same gender" will paw you. We're talking sexual assault here, not a few moments of discomfort you'll quickly forget. Feelings of rage and helplessness, depression and worthlessness, can plague victims for months.
Most pilots are veterans of the Air Force; they're pretty tough cookies who may even have survived combat. Yet one of them "experienced a frisking [from the TSA] that has left him unable to function as a crewmember. Words used to describe the incident include ‘rape' and ‘sexual molestation,' and in the aftermath of trying to recover this pilot has literally vomited in his own driveway while contemplating going back to work and facing the possibility of a similar encounter with the TSA."
It's one thing for a predator to force your submission at gunpoint; it's another to voluntarily enter an airport and endure the TSA's onslaught. Knowing that you could have avoided it entirely but instead cooperated with your assailants and even paid them to violate you will cripple you with despair.
Meanwhile, a former cop points out that the TSA no longer inflicts "pat-downs" but something far worse: "A ‘pat-down' search by definition is ‘a frisk or external feeling of the outer garments of an individual for weapons only. ... anyone who watches cop shows knows what a pat-down search is. The words are part of the American lexicon, and the public's image of a pat-down search by police is something that isn't all that bad." Shame on us that we didn't consider it "all that bad" for the TSA to defy the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on "unreasonable," warrantless searches, though previously with the "backs of their hands." The cop continues: "... In police work, [the TSA's current method is] called a custody search [and] includes everything short of a cavity search. The TSA needs to be honest about what they're doing. It's not nice to lie to the American people."
Ah, but lying is the TSA's forte. Despite the hundreds of passengers wailing about molestation, despite the videotapes popping up on the internet to document their stories, despite infuriated pilots' unions and flight attendants' lawsuits, the agency blithely denies what millions have witnessed: "there is no fondling, squeezing, groping, or any sort of sexual assault taking place at airports," asserts its website. "You have a professional workforce carrying out procedures they were trained to perform to keep aviation security safe." Imagine if they trying to keep aviation security dangerous.
The TSA lies about everything, all the time. But it surpasses even its own astounding record of deception when it comes to naked scanners. For starters, it implies it foisted them on us to counteract the Underwear Bomber. Yet it was already testing them years before Umar Farouk Abdullmutallab oh-so-conveniently emasculated himself. Indeed, as long ago as 2006, the agency was touting porno-scanners as "likely future replacements for the metal detectors now in use." Nor will these contraptions stay in airports. Cops may already be peering through your curtains and bathrobe with portable versions.
But perhaps the TSA's biggest whoppers whitewash the hazards to our health from the two technologies with which it strips us. Experts in medicine, biochemistry, and biophysics warn that one, backscatter X-ray, concentrates in the skin rather than diffusing through the body as medical radiation does; therefore, the dose you receive is shockingly high -- far higher than the government admits. Dr. Jeff Zervas, a surgeon in Montevideo, Minnesota, told me, "As far as living tissue is concerned, the less exposure to ionizing radiation, the better. Zero is best." Dr. Zervas also worried about the TSA's legendary incompetence: "What happens, for example, if some clown leaves the machine on, and a passenger's standing in the field? And who calibrates these things? I wouldn't trust a bureaucrat or anyone else without a stake in its safety to do it properly."
Dr. David Caskey, a cardiologist who was also teaching at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans when we spoke, seconded that: "In the medical industry we try as hard as possible to avoid even the smallest dose of radiation. Here you will be subjected to a rather significant amount. The result can and will be an increase in cataract formation, thyroid cancer, bone marrow suppression, etc." He was especially concerned for female passengers. "Even low level radiation can adversely affect a woman's ovaries. There's the potential for later birth defects. That risk increases if the woman is pregnant in the first trimester when she would likely be unaware of the pregnancy."
READ MORE: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/standing-up-to-tsa.htmlAlmost overnight, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has gone from... more
-
-
URGENT: YOUR SUPPORT NEEDED for Professor G-E Séralini and colleagues
Court case coming up in Paris, 23 November 2010
GMWatch is joining French activists in appealing for your support for Professor G-E Séralini and his research colleagues, who are based at Criigen, la Fondation Sciences Citoyennes (FSC) and ENSSER (European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility). The public interest research of Séralini and colleagues on GMOs and pesticide/glyphosate toxicity has international significance, especially in India, where it helped in achieving the moratorium for the Bt brinjal, but also in Canada, Europe and the USA.
Now, Séralini and colleagues find themselves under concerted attack from GM promoters, who have resorted to defamation and flawed logic in an attempt to discredit the scientists. Séralini and colleagues have decided that the only way forward is to go to court to defend their professional reputations and their ability to continue to do public interest research.
Please voice your support for Séralini and colleagues and for the cause of open scientific discourse by signing this on-line petition:
http://sciencescitoyennes.org/spip.php?article1807
Background about Séralini and colleagues' work
Séralini and his colleagues have undertaken reviews of data provided by Monsanto in order to justify the commercialization of three of its GM maize lines (MON 863, MON 810, NK603). The re-analyses by Professor Seralini and colleagues question the reliability of Monsanto's data to formally prove the safety of these three GM maize lines (inadequacies in methodology, lack of robustness in statistical analysis). Unlike the research performed by the company, the work of Professor Séralini and colleagues has been subject to rigorous evaluation by peers before being published in the scientific literature in 2007 and 2009.
The findings by Professor Seralini’s research team question the validity of approvals granted by the European Commission, given on the advice of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) for human and animal consumption of these three maize varieties.
Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini and his team have repeatedly been subjected to defamatory attacks extending far beyond any scientific discourse and without any scientifically supported justification or merit. Such attacks fundamentally undermine the principles of due scientific discourse and the fairness of an open society and need to be robustly repulsed once and for all.
The professor of molecular biology based at Caen University has been able to identify the person attempting to destroy his good name as a scientist: namely Professor Marc Fellous and indirectly the AFBV (French Association of Plant Biotechnology), chaired by Marc Fellous, Professor of Genetics and former president of the Biomolecular Engineering Commission (a governmental commission to assess agricultural GMOs, of which Professor Séralini was a member from 1998 to 2007). He therefore feels morally obliged to go to court to defend his team's professional reputation against threats to the livelihood of all scientists who seek funding for public interest research.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION in defence of the principles of respectful scientific criticism and the use of diverse expertise on issues as sensitive, complex and potentially irreversible as the effects of growing GM crops.
The petition condemns the approach of researchers, who use defamation and flawed/biased logic rather than credible scientific grounds, to unfairly and unjustly argue their case. The petition calls for open and transparent scientific discourse, subject to assessment by peers.
http://sciencescitoyennes.org/spip.php?article1807URGENT: YOUR SUPPORT NEEDED for Professor G-E Séralini and colleagues
Court... more
-
-
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- The front-page newspaper story featured a list of Uganda's 100 "top" homosexuals, with a bright yellow banner across it that read: "Hang Them." Alongside their photos were the men's names and addresses.
In the days since it was published, at least four gay Ugandans on the list have been attacked and many others are in hiding, according to rights activist Julian Onziema. One person named in the story had stones thrown at his house by neighbors.
A lawmaker in this conservative African country introduced a bill a year ago that would have imposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts and life in prison for others. An international uproar ensued, and the bill was quietly shelved.
But gays in Uganda say they have faced a year of harassment and attacks since the bill's introduction.
The legislation was drawn up following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy they say allows gays to become heterosexual.
"Before the introduction of the bill in parliament most people did not mind about our activities. But since then, we are harassed by many people who hate homosexuality," said Patrick Ndede, 27. "The publicity the bill got made many people come to know about us and they started mistreating us."
More than 20 homosexuals have been attacked over the last year in Uganda, and an additional 17 have been arrested and are in prison, said Frank Mugisha, the chairman of Sexual Minorities Uganda. Those numbers are up from the same period two years ago, when about 10 homosexuals were attacked, he said.
The bill became political poison after the international condemnation. Many Christian leaders have denounced it, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signaled to legislators that they should not take it up.
Four members of parliament contacted by The Associated Press for this article declined to comment, and instead referred queries to David Bahati, the parliamentarian who introduced the bill. Bahati did not answer repeated calls Tuesday.
Homophobia is rife in many African countries. Homosexuality is punishable by death or imprisonment in Nigeria. In South Africa, the only African nation to recognize gay marriage, gangs carry out so-called "corrective" rapes on lesbians.
Solomon Male, a pastor and the head of a group of clergy in Uganda, said he is glad the anti-homosexual bill has not yet passed, but said there needs to be an investigation to find out "why homosexuality is increasing in the country."
The Oct. 9 article in a Ugandan newspaper called Rolling Stone - not the American magazine - came out five days before the one-year anniversary of the controversial legislation. The article claimed that an unknown but deadly disease was attacking homosexuals in Uganda, and said that gays were recruiting 1 million children by raiding schools, a common smear used in Uganda.
After the newspaper hit the streets, the government Media Council ordered the newspaper to cease publishing - not because of the newspaper's content, but rather that the newspaper had not registered with the government. After it completes the paperwork, Rolling Stone will be free to publish again, said Paul Mukasa, secretary of the Media Council.
That decision has angered the gay community further. Onziema said a lawsuit against Rolling Stone is in the works, and that she believes the publication has submitted its registration and plans to publish again.
"Such kind of media should not be allowed in Uganda. It is creating violence and calling for genocide of sex minorities," said Mugisha. "The law enforcers and government should come out and protect sex minorities from such media."
Rolling Stone does not have a large following in Uganda, a country of 32 million where about 85 percent of people are Christian and 12 percent are Muslim. The newspaper published its first edition on Aug. 23. It publishes about 2,000 copies, but a single newspaper in Uganda is often read by 10 more people.
The paper's managing editor, Giles Muhame, said the article was "in the public interest."
"We felt there was need for society to know that such characters exist amongst them. Some of them recruit young children into homosexuality, which is bad and need to be exposed," he said. "They take advantage of poverty to recruit Ugandans. In brief we did so because homosexuality is illegal, unacceptable and insults our traditional lifestyle.'
Members of the gay community named in the article faced harassment from friends and neighbors. Onziema said the proposed bill already has led to evictions from apartments, intimidation on the street, unlawful arrests and physical assault.
"We are an endangered species within our country," said Nelly Kabali, 31. "We are looked at as if we are outcasts. One time I was in a night club with a friend when someone who knew me pointed at me shouting 'There is a gay!' People wanted to beat me up but I was saved by a bouncer who led me out."KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- The front-page newspaper story featured a list of... more
-
-
Billed as "a political thriller on GMOs and freedom of speech", this film by the German film-maker Bertram Verhaag tells the stories of two scientists, Dr Arpad Pusztai and Dr Ignacio Chapela, whose research showed negative findings on GM foods and crops. Both suffered the fate of those who challenge the powerful vested interests that dominate agribusiness and scientific research. They were vilified and intimidated, attempts were made to suppress and discredit their research, and their careers were derailed.
Pusztai found that the internal organs of rats fed GM insecticidal potatoes either increased in size or did not develop properly compared with controls. His experiments turned up no less than 36 significant differences between GM-fed and non-GM-fed animals. Pusztai, encouraged by his research institute, gave a 150-second interview on British TV in which he summarised his findings and said it was unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs for GM foods.
For two days, Pusztai was treated as a hero by his institute. But following a phone call from UK prime minister Tony Blair to the institute's head, Pusztai was fired and gagged under threat of a lawsuit. His research team was disbanded and his data were confiscated. Lies were circulated about his research that he could not counter due to the gagging order, lifted only later when he was due to appear before a Parliamentary Committee. For Pusztai’s co-researchers, the gagging order remains in place for life.
Pusztai's results threatened the GM industry because they showed that it wasn't the insecticide engineered into the potatoes that damaged the rats, but the genetic engineering process itself. So the problem wasn't just with these GM potatoes but potentially with all GM foods on the market. The only solution for the industry and its friends in government was to shoot the messenger.
Traumatic though this was for Pusztai, it wasn't the biggest shock he had to face regarding GM foods. That came when he was asked to review safety submissions from the GM industry for crops we were already eating – and found that they were scientifically flimsy. "That was a turning point in my life," said Pusztai. "I was doing safety studies; they were doing as little as possible [in terms of safety testing] to get their foods on the market as quickly as they could."
Another scientist whose run-in with the GM industry is featured in the film is Ignacio Chapela, a molecular geneticist at UC Berkeley. His research, co-authored with David Quist and published in the journal Nature, revealed that Mexican maize had been contaminated with GM genes. The finding was explosive because Mexico is the centre of origin for maize and the planting of GM maize there was illegal.
Chapela found himself the target of a vicious internet campaign condemning him as more of an activist than a scientist and claiming that his paper was false. Nature's editor published a partial retraction of the paper. As Chapela points out in the film, the editor's action flew in the face of scientific method. In the normal way of things, a journal editor publishes a study that he and peer reviewers judge to be sound. It is for subsequent published studies to confirm or correct the findings. It is not for the editor to state that he would not have published a study had he known then what he knows now – without the benefit of further peer reviewed scientific input. The editor's move showed how the GM industry is rewriting the rules of science for its own ends.
To add insult to injury, the internet campaign against Chapela turned out not to have been initiated and fuelled not by his scientific peers but by fake citizens, "sockpuppets" invented by the Bivings Group, a public relations firm contracted by Monsanto.
Scientists Under Attack goes on to show how the GM industry has blocked the evolution of scientific knowledge. When Russian scientist Irina Ermakova's study found high mortality rates and low body weight in rats fed GM soy, and when Austrian government research found that decreased fertility in mice fed GM maize, the industry carried out its usual campaign of vilification. If the industry were interested in scientific truth, it would push for studies to be repeated with the alleged "flaws" corrected. But this never happens. Instead, GM companies use their patent-based ownership of GM crops to deny scientists access to research materials – the GM crop and the non-GM parent line control. So the original research showing problems with GM crops is buried under a deluge of smears and follow up studies are not done. For the public, the difficulty and expense involved in accessing full research papers makes it hard to find where the truth lies.
The film also highlights an extreme example of the corporate takeover of science – at University of California, Berkeley (UCB), where Chapela is a professor. In 1998, UCB entered into a $25 million research partnership with biotech company Novartis (now Syngenta). The deal provoked angry debate on campus and was criticized by a number of faculty members, including Chapela. Then in 2007, UCB entered into a $500 million research deal with oil giant BP. The partnership was negotiated in secret, without consultation even within the university. In return for its money, BP gained access to UCB’s researchers, control over the research agenda, and co-ownership of commercial rights over inventions. Chapela says of BP, "They decide what is called science."Billed as "a political thriller on GMOs and freedom of speech", this film by... more
-
-
After protests in Cairo, Alexandria and London over the death of Khaled Mohammed Said, this webclip highlights the Police culture of torture and intimidation in Egypt.
Amnesty International urges the Egyptian authorities to immediately put in place measures to protect witnesses of the death of Khaled and suspend the officers believed to be responsible, pending a comprehensive investigation into their conduct.After protests in Cairo, Alexandria and London over the death of Khaled Mohammed Said,... more
-
-
Whether he's threatening prison guards or terrifying Antonio Banderas, Danny Trejo has always been the guy to call when you want to strike fear in a character. The Rotten Tomatoes Show gives him the Lifetime Achievement Award in Intimidation for being so dang good at scaring people into submission.
The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a movie review show that airs on Thursday nights at 10:30 e/p on Current TV. From reviews of the newest releases to commentary on cult favorites and movie trends, each episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a fast-paced, comedic journey through the week in cinema.
For more from the Rotten Tomatoes Show: http://rottentomatoesshow.comWhether he's threatening prison guards or terrifying Antonio Banderas, Danny... more
-
-
mganek
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
NOTE: For more about Professor Andrés Carrasco and his research, which found that glyphosate caused birth defects in frogs even in very low concentrations:
http://bit.ly/ZsLBV
---
---
Argentina: Threats deny community access to research
Amnesty International
12 August 2010
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR13/005/2010/en/303e9ee6-9138-405f-97fc-ed58965b76d0/amr130052010en.html
On 7 August, violence and threats in the remote northern Argentinian town of La Leonesa stopped community activists hearing a talk by a renowned scientist about his findings of the health impact of chemicals sprayed on rice and soya crops.
On Saturday 7 August, community activists from La Leonesa, a small town located within an area of large scale rice production in the Argentinian Chaco Department, went to attend a talk that was to be given by Professor Andres Carrasco, a scientist and doctor from the Buenos Aires University Medical School. A delegation of two provincial deputies, a former public official and members of the neighbouring community of Resistencia also came to La Leonesa to hear the talk. Professor Andres Carrasco's research, concluded in 2009, highlighted the negative effects of glyphosate, a commonly-used agro-chemical, on embryos.
On arrival in La Leonesa at around 4pm, the delegation headed for the school where the talk was due to take place. However, the talk was suspended because the delegation was attacked by a group of around 100 people who threatened them and beat them. One person has since suffered from lower body paralysis after being hit on his spine, and another is undergoing neurological examinations after receiving blows to the head. The former provincial Sub-Secretary of Human Rights, Marcelo Salgado, was struck in the face and left unconscious. Dr Carrasco and his colleague shut themselves in a car, and were surrounded by people making violent threats and beating the car for two hours. Members of the community were injured and a journalist's camera equipment was damaged.
Members of the community who witnessed the incident have implicated local officials in the attack, as well as a local rice-producer and his workers and security guards. They strongly believe that the violence was promoted by them, and motivated by the powerful economic interests behind local agro-industry. Despite calls to local authorities asking for help, the police were slow to respond and failed to send sufficient reinforcements to stop the violence.
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Spanish or your own language:
*Call for an impartial investigation of the violence in La Leonesa on 7 August and prosecution of all those responsible, with particular focus on the possible involvement of local authorities in instigating or encouraging the violence and/or failing to prevent or halt violence by third parties;
*Call for swift action to ensure the safety and security of the residents of La Leonesa and neighbouring communities;
*Urge local authorities to protect the right to freedom of information and expression in order to allow the communities living in agro-industrial areas to seek, receive and disseminate information, including in public forums, around the possible effects of widespread spraying of crops;
*Where credible evidence regarding the negative health impact of spraying of agro-chemicals exists, health authorities must carry out monitoring and investigations in line with their responsibility to respect the right to health.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 22 SEPTEMBER 2010 TO:
Sr. Gobernador
Jorge Milton Capitanich
Gobierno del Pueblo de la Provincia del Chaco, Marcelo T. Alvear 145
Resistencia, Chaco
CP3500, Argentina
Fax: +54 9 3722 434 202
Email: diego.bernachea@chaco.gov.arThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Salutation: Sr. Gobernador
Minister of Interior
Cdr. Aníbal Florencio Randazzo
25 de Mayo 101/145
C1002ABC – Buenos Aires
Argentina
Fax: +54 11 4345 3336
Email: info@mininterior.gov.arThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Salutation: Sr. Ministro
And copies to:
Dr Juan Luis Manzar
Ministro de Salud
Av. 9 de Julio 1925
Cdad. Aut. de Buenos Aires
C1073ABA
Fax: 00 54 11 4381 6075
Email: consultas@msal.gov.arThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Salutation: Sr. Ministro
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
THREATS DENY COMMUNITY ACCESS TO RESEARCH
ADditional Information
In April 2009, Dr Andres Carrasco finalised his 15-month study into the impact of glyphosate, a herbicide commonly used on soya and rice crops. His findings pointed at the negative effects of glyphosate- in doses much lower than those used in agro-industry- on the morphology of embryos. His findings provoked a hostile media campaign aimed at undermining the legitimacy of his findings, and he received anonymous threats.
Activists, lawyers and health workers in areas of Argentina where agro-industry and glyphosate spraying are widespread have started to conduct their own studies, registering cases of foetal malformations and increased cancer rates in local hospitals. To date, no systematic epidemiological study of these reported phenomena has been carried out by State authorities.NOTE: For more about Professor Andrés Carrasco and his research, which found... more
-
-
Interviews with witnesses who reported other gunmen at the Columbine shooting.
http://www.evanlong.net/columbine-shooting-witnesses-speak-out/
As you can see in this media interview from 20 April 1999 with Columbine High School sophomore Chris Wisher, some witnesses to the Columbine shootings reported gunmen other than seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as having been involved as active participants in the now-famous massacre we all know as "Columbine."
I've documented some of the many, and by many, I mean, in some cases, dozens of witnesses who independently corroborated specific witness reports of other gunmen at Columbine, many of whom named the non-Harris/non-Klebold suspects by name, in a 2007 video called "The Columbine Cause" and subsequent pieces. These other suspects included current and former CHS students Chris Morris, Robert Perry and Brian Sargent, as well as at least one unidentified adult who was reportedly witnessed prowling the science areas with a sawed-off shotgun.
I recently managed to get in touch of with some of the witnesses who had reported some of this information to ask them what they had to say about the way that the "investigation" ultimately turned out and how they felt about the overall state of the history of Columbine, since, in their police interviews, it seemed that many of them had indicated that they were very sure based on their own observations that others had been involved, others who, in some cases, were known to the witnesses on a personal basis. Six of the witnesses responded to my inquiry and none of them gave me permission to identify them so I will not disclose any personal information about them. You can find my full report on what they told me at http://www.EvanLong.net, and I will give a brief summary with some additional information here.
Two of witnesses did not answer any questions. One turned silent immediately after I explained what my interest was and the other told me that he would only comment for money. I didn't take him up on this offer because I did not believe that I would necessarily be getting accurate information.
The next two witnesses were more open but explained that the shooting had really bothered them and that it had taken a long time for them to feel at all normal again even years after the fact. One said he would watch "The Columbine Cause," think about my questions and then reply. He didn't reply, and follow-up questions went unanswered. The fourth witness told me that he had blocked out a lot of memories, was still shaky when recalling the shooting and probably wouldn't be able to answer any questions, even though he had no ideological opposition to doing so. I thanked him and suggested that if he ever did feel like talking about it, there are people who are interested in listening.
The fifth witness agreed to speak with me on the phone, telling me that he was, quote, "willing to talk." Once on the phone, the witness turned combative and heavily critical almost immediately, but continued to talk for about fifteen minutes. our conversation is too long to share in this video, but you can read the full transcript at http://www.EvanLong.net.
The sixth and last witness was, by far, the most forthcoming. He, too, had suffered emotional trauma but this did not hinder from from making a statement. He told me that he had definitely seen at least one non-Harris/non-Klebold gunman and had been put under a lot of pressure to change his story and back the official version of events which held that a pair of "lone nuts" perpetrated the shooting on their own, completely unaided in any way and without the foreknowledge of anyone else at all. The witness told me, quote:
"I have a hard time watching your entire video. I watched 5 min. I saw too much that day, plain and simple. I have been told I could and would easily disappear if I tried to expose what happened that day. I was locked inside that building [for hours] with the teacher [Dave Sanders] that died, risked my life to save him and he still died. I lost [...] friends [...] and had many friends seriously injured. [...] I was O. C. D. trying to save myself from death at [such a young age]. I was also told by the police and investigators that I [...] was the most credible witness that day: However, I did not see [...] this and [...] that! [...] Everything I said happened in those 4 hours, the police have evidence of happening within 2 minutes of when I say it happened. They only denied my credibility after celebrating my accounts as true and belittling me and my mother to our faces! My mom taught me to “Pay attention to time, location, and description.” She taught me that it pays to pay attention. This time it didn’t pay it cost me. I am a potential threat to those guilty and still living. They cannot make up their minds of what is right and wrong, they’ve been sucked into to the evil [...]. I want to write a book, and have since it happened, but know too many reasons not to [publish it], like my family saying it risks my life. It still plagues me that my friends were forced to leave me while those sickened minds who killed them still walk [among] us. I want peace without being a martyr! I love and so I am lovable! What makes that so hard?!!! My protectors betrayed me, deeply. Would die for the truth, but want to live for the beauty of my lost friends memory and most important power of LOVE!”"
Returning to Chris Wisher with whom this video opened, this last witness' statement to me echoes almost exactly the sentiments that independent reporter John Quinn conveyed in a series of articles from 1999 in which he interviewed Wisher and Wisher's parents over the telephone in the weeks following the shooting. Quinn wrote that Mrs. Wisher, quote,
"told me that so many Columbine students know of other assailants being involved that she sees no way the truth about this could be covered up. [...] In my conversation with Mrs. Wisher I brought up the fact that Chris said he knew personally a girl who was coerced into changing her testimony by Sheriffs investigators, and made to say that she had only seen Harris and Klebold. Mrs. Wisher replied: “Oh, I know the girl. She was over here right after...” (the questioning). She told us all about it, but you know, this was right after the massacre....”
There is really no telling at this point exactly how much of the official story of Columbine and the background surrounding it is myth and misdirection. However, there is some precedent for the staging of mass shootings like Columbine by groups based within the State for political ends, the Gladio shootings in Western Europe being a prime example.
You can find out more about this and other shootings through materials on my web site, http://www.EvanLong.net, which is also accessible by the shortcuts, http://www.EvanLong.tk and http://www.TheColumbineCause.tk.Interviews with witnesses who reported other gunmen at the Columbine shooting.... more
-
-
As many of us have read, on Current and elswhere, British Petroleum thugs and local law enforcement are now working together to suppress news coming from the Gulf region.
These cover-ups and the intimidation, threats of arrests, etc. can easily fall under the Patriot Act as it is written.
Is it that easy to get local law enforcement to abide by a rule or an order they KNOW is against the BIll of Rights and our Constitution?
That is scary. But the question is...Why?As many of us have read, on Current and elswhere, British Petroleum thugs and local... more
-
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU
Dept. Of Justice Drops New Black Panthers Case
Obama Administration Abandons Voter Intimidation Lawsuit
By MICHAEL P. TREMOGLIE, The Bulletin
Friday, May 29, 2009
Comments (19)Sources told The Bulletin that there is internal dissension in the Department of Justice (DOJ) about a voter intimidation case from last year’s presidential election. Obama appointees did not want to proceed with the case, while the career prosecutors did. The incident occurred in Philadelphia and involved the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (NBPPSD).
The DOJ filed a lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act against the NBPPSD and three of its members alleging the defendants intimidated Philadelphia voters during the Nov. 4, 2008 general election. The action was filed in January before President George W. Bush left office.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court in Philadelphia, alleged that on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008 in Philadelphia, NBPPSD members Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were stationed at the entrance to a polling location at 1221 Fairmount Avenue, wearing the uniform of the organization. It also states Mr. Shabazz repeatedly brandished a “police-style baton weapon.”
The complaint said NBPPSD Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz confirmed that the placement of Messrs. Shabazz and Jackson was part of a nationwide effort to deploy NBPPSD members at polling locations on Election Day. The Justice Department sought an injunction to prevent any similar future actions by NBPPSD members at polling locations.
“Intimidation outside of a polling place is contrary to the democratic process,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker at the time. “The Department takes allegations of voter intimidation seriously.”
None of the defendants responded to the lawsuit. Instead of immediately filing for a default judgment as is the normal procedure, sources told The Bulletin the DOJ asked for and received an order from the court providing an extension of time to file. Specifically, they asked the court to give them until May 15.
But on May 15, DOJ changed its mind again. Rather than a default judgment, the DOJ filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit for two of the defendants. This included Mr. Jackson, who identified himself to police as a member of the Democratic Committee in the 14th Ward. He also produced credentials to that effect.
DOJ only asked for a default judgment against one defendant, Samir Shabazz, which was granted on May 18. But sources say the proposed order for the default judgment asks for none of the usual conditions the Justice Department would want, such as keeping Mr. Shabazz away from any polling locations for a set number of years into the future.
Hans von Spakovsky is a former career Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. He thinks the inaction by the Justice Department is unprecedented. He told The Bulletin that the dismissal by Justice, with no notice on the Justice Department press site, particularly against an organization listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a horrible miscarriage of justice. He said DOJ has failed in its duty to enforce voting laws. He is outraged by the action.
“It is absolutely unprecedented for the Justice Department to dismiss a lawsuit after the defendants failed to answer the suit and are thus in default," he said.
Mr. von Spakovsky said that the NBPPSD's lack of response was the legal equivalent of an admission of all theallegations made about the defendants’ organized effort to threaten and intimidate voters.
"And dismissing an individual who was a local Democratic party official who defaulted by not answering the complaint smacks of the worst sort of political partisanship," he said. "It is completely contrary to all of the promises that Eric Holder made when he was confirmed to be Attorney General.”
Vito F. Canuso, chairman of the Philadelphia Republican City Committee, said that what the Justice Department did is tantamount to filing a lawsuit for $100,000. Then when they win the suit for $100,000 they ask for $10,000.
Neither the Justice Department nor the Republican National Committee responded to requests for comment.
Michael P. Tremoglie may be reached at mtremoglie@thebulletin.us
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/05/29/top_stories/doc4a1f42b32c161287079901.txt
___________________________________________________________
King Samir Shabazz
or
Maurice Heath said this:
Samir: We didn’t come out here to play.
There is to much serious business going
on in your black community to be sliding
through south street with white, dirty
cracker whores on your arms. What’s a
matter with you black man, you got a
doomsday with a white woman on your arm.
……
“We keep begging white people for
freedom. No wonder we’re not free. Your
enemy can not make you free fool. You
want freedom you’re going to have to
kill some crackers. You’re going to have
to kill some of their babies.
Let us get our act together. It’s time
to wake up, clean up, and stand up.”
“I can’t wait for the day that they’re
all dead. I won’t be completely happy
until I see our people free and Whitey
dead.”
“When you have 10 brothers in uniform,
suited and booted and ready for war,
white folks know these niggas ain’t
their niggas. We kick white folks asses.
We take it right to the cracker.”
“We’re going to keep putting our foot up
the white man’s ass until they
understand completely. We want freedom,
justice and mutha[expletive]‘ equality.
Period. If you ain’t gonna give it to
us, mutha[expletive], we’re gonna take
it, in the name of freedom.”
I can’t wait for the day
that they’re all dead.
I won’t be completely
happy until I see our people free and
Whitey dead.
Samir is the guy with the nightstick.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU
Dept. Of Justice Drops New Black... more
-
-
Tikkun Magazine has been a strong supporter of the Upper Peninsula of EarthKeepers.
And there's word tonight that it's editor's (Rabbi Michael lerner) home was attacked last night
Rabbi Lerner is rabbi of ThBeyt Tikkun and the editor of TIKKUN magazine: A Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture and Society.
See the press release below
You can easily find contact info for Rabbi Lerner at the magazine's website
http://www.tikkun.org/
Rabbi Lerner's Home Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists
Berkeley, Ca. May 3, 2010
Berkeley police today confirmed that the attack on Rabbi Lerner's home late Sunday, May 2nd or early morning Sunday May 3rd was in fact a crime and was being investigated.
The attackers used a powerful form of glue to attach posters to his door and around the property of his home attacking Lerner personally, and attacking liberals and progressives as being supporters of terrorism and "Islamo-fascism."
They posted a printed bumper sticker saying "fight terror--support Israel" next to a carcature of Judge Goldstone whose UN report on Israel's human rights violations in its attack on Gaza last year has been denounced as anti-Semitic and pro-terror by right wingers in Israel and the U.S.
The caricature has Goldstone talking about his being kept from his grandson's bar mitzvah, and the caricature of Rabbi Lerner responds by saying "any enemy of Israel is a friend of mine."
This attack and vandalism follows on a week filled with Lerner and Tikkun staff receiving hate mail, prompted apparently by Tikkun's announcement that in case the South African Zionists had succeeded in preventing Judge Goldstone from attending his grandson's bar mitzvah, as they threatened several weeks ago, that Rabbi Lerner would gladly hold the bar mitzvah in the SF Bay Area instead, and following Tikkun's announcement that in light of Goldstone's courageous willingness to stand up for human rights in Israel (his report called on the Israeli government to do its own independent, pulbic and credibly objective investigation, punish those responsible for the crimes or show that they didn't happen, and thereby show that these actions were not government policy but the mistakes or evil choices by people in the IDF who were acting as rogue elements and not as a manifestation of the people of Israel) that Tikkun will award our prestigious Tikkun Award to Judge Goldstone in 2011 at the event celebrating our 25th anniversary!
This story, which was prominent in Ha'aretz and many other Jewish magazines and websites, has intensified anger against Lerner and Tikkun among those who seek to perpetuate the Occupation, and great support among those who realize that the Occupation is really hurtful both to Israel and to the Jewish people world-wide.
In the 24 years of Tikkun's operation, we have received many death threats and vicious hate mail, including phone calls to our office announcing that "Rabbi Lerner is dead" and others saying "We will kill all of you."
This particular attack has two worrisome elements not previously there:
1. They attack Rabbi Lerner's home. As law enforcement people told us, this is a way of conveying the messaget to Lerner: "We know where you live, we know your house is vulnerable, so don't ignore our threats."
2. By linking Lerner to alleged terrorism, they provide for themselves and other extremists a "right-wing justification" to use violence against Lerner, even though Lerner has been a prominent advocate of non-violence.
He regularly critiques Palestinian acts of violence when they occur, including the shelling of Israeli towns by Hamas, just as he critiques the violence of the Israeli occupation, and as he critiques the US war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the occupation of Chechny by Russia, the occupation of Tibet by China, the human rights violations agaisnt their own people by the rulers of Iran, the acts of violence of those resisting the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the violence against women and homosexuals in many Arab and African countries (and in the US and Israel as well), the genocide in Darfur, the violence against Jews in some parts of Europe, and the list goes on.
Needless to say, this latest attack, on Lerner's home, has caused great concern to his family.
What can you do?
Let people know that this kind of thing is happening in the Jewish world to people who critique Israeli policies.
-Tikkun Magazine Press ReleaseTikkun Magazine has been a strong supporter of the Upper Peninsula of EarthKeepers.... more
-
-
Greenpeace To Global Warming Skeptics: “We Know Where You Live”
Will CNN and MSNBC devote weeks of endless coverage to the violent extremist threat posed by radical greenies?
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, April 5, 2010
An article carried by the official Greenpeace website written by a Greenpeace member urges climate activists to resort to criminal activity in an effort to reinvigorate momentum for their stalling global warming agenda, while ominously threatening climate skeptics, “we know where you live”.
Greenpeace Threatens Global Warming Doubters: “We Know Where You Live”…VIDEO...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/greenpeace-threatens-global-warming-doubters-%E2%80%9Cwe-know-where-you-live%E2%80%9D-video/Greenpeace To Global Warming Skeptics: “We Know Where You Live”
Will... more
-
-
Featuring America's Love Experts Matt Titus and Tamsen Fadal
YourTango is your source for smart talk about love, sex, dating and relationships. Whether you're married, single, taken, engaged or "it's complicated," check out our videos for the best love and relationship news, entertainment and advice. http://www.yourtango.com | Smart Talk About LoveFeaturing America's Love Experts Matt Titus and Tamsen Fadal
YourTango is your... more
-
-
KCKate
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
-
This is a short documentary about bullying in the NHS, taken from the full-length feature of the same title. Bullying in the workplace often goes unreported because of the risk of losing one's job or the stigma attached it. Here we are seeking to highlight the dilemma the victims face.This is a short documentary about bullying in the NHS, taken from the full-length feature of the same title. Bullying in the workplace often goes unreported because of the risk of losing one's job or the stigma attached it. Here we are seeking to highlight the dilemma the victims face. www.moffimedia.comThis is a short documentary about bullying in the NHS, taken from the full-length... more
-
-
The fight over land by campesinos because of increased land acquisition to grow GM soya has become violent. Land used to grow feed for animals in Europe and Asia to satisfy their appetite for meat has exacerbated a battle for food sovereignty and the livelihoods of peasant farmers. Industrial agriculture in this area is also poisoning the land and the people, and the deforestation exacerbating climate change. This is a recipe for environmental, economic, and social disaster as companies such as Monsanto expand their reach to satisfy their insatiable greed at the expense of biodiversity.
This must be stopped now.The fight over land by campesinos because of increased land acquisition to grow GM... more
-
-
There isn't a single category of journalist. There are two very different kinds of journalists: the real ones and the ones paid by their masters to make propaganda. This second category usurps the name of journalist without having the right to it, does a job in which doen't risk anything and earns a lot and often attracts the hatred and the disgust of citizens against this profession. But in the world there are many true journalists, even in places where it's almost impossible to be one of them.There isn't a single category of journalist. There are two very different kinds... more
-
-
The Virginia woman who was jailed after spending almost a year blogging about the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement (JADE) task force, taunting them as they continually warned her to stop, says she is hesitant about receiving legal help from the ACLU because she doesn’t want to make these cops mad.
It’s probably a little too late for that. And considering she is unemployed and was unable to pay for her bond at first, she should probably accept any help she can get.
But Elisha Strom obviously marches to the beat of her own drum.The Virginia woman who was jailed after spending almost a year blogging about the... more
-
-
This is an incredible story of intimidation, deception, and corporate espionage, and that description is not going too far. The story at this link is long and involved, but I ask you to read it from beginning to end. It describes the lengths Monsanto and their minions went to in order to silence the author of a study that showed that GM DNA was infecting the traditional corn vareties of Mexico and that the DNA was not even stable. We wonder where viruses like Swine flu originate. I am beginning to wonder if viruses are spread by the GM BT transgenic corn DNA blowing in the wind.
Also, in this article you will read about the deceptive and destructive PR Internet campaign Monsanto is waging in order to discredit those who criticize GMOS. If you were not convinced that GMOs are harmful to our environment and that their release into our environment was for profit alone and perhaps even criminal, this may change yoru mind. This needs to be seen and people need to know that in no uncertain terms GMOs must be pulled from our shelves.This is an incredible story of intimidation, deception, and corporate espionage, and... more
-
