Issue 60 – January 2005

S M A R T
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com

The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.

Important: The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have valuable information on the Masons and other organizations, but have triggers or be somewhat sympathetic to those organizations. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc. and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor.

SMART wants to thank all those that have contributed resource information to the newsletter.

Next year’s conference information is available at http://members.aol.com/smartnews/smart-2005-conference.htm or by requesting it at the address above by regular mail or E-mail.

Use of Psychochemicals on Military Personnel by Carol Rutz. In May 1954 the leading psychochemical medical researchers presented the results of experiments they had conducted on their own and under Army contract. Their recommendations were to conduct “Field Trials” to include the effectiveness of performance of soldiers subjected to psychochemicals in the execution of war games all the way from desk levels to field levels.

In 1955 the Wolff Report (“Ad Hoc Study Group on Psychochemical Agents, November 19, 1955) recommended small-unit experiments. Tests began at Edgewood Arsenal in 1956 and continued through 1975. 6992 volunteers participated while 3,425 of them were used in agent tests. Field testing took place at Fort Bragg, NC involving the XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery and were recorded by both silent and sound movie cameras to record actual reactions during the tests. Additional field tests were conducted at Fort McClellan, AL, Fort Benning, GA, and Dugway Proving Ground, UT. From 1958-1964 these tests involving LSD and BZ used 319 military personnel.

Details of these and other tests can be found in the report on “Use of Volunteers in Chemical Agent Research by the Inspector General Department of the Army DAIG-IN 21-75” dated March 1975.

Two additional reports of the Army’s use of LSD in experiments are available at http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/mil_lsd_reports/

One of these reports documents the use of 60 military personnel who tested LSD through inhalation at Edgewood Arsenal, MD in 1963 and 1964. Some subjects inhaled 10 liters of the agent in droplets of water through a mask and some were given intravenous doses, while others were given both.

The second report is on the study of the effects of LSD on personality and these tests were done on 52 Army volunteers between 1962-1966. The LSD was administered orally. These pictures may be heavy for survivors. http://www.parascope.com/gallery/galleryitems/edgewood/edgewood01.htm

Carol Rutz is a survivor of SRA and Government Mind Control Experiments. Her book “A Nation Betrayed” http://my.dmci.net/~casey/ tells the chilling true story of secret Cold War experiments performed on innocent children and unsuspecting adults. She continues to work at endeavors which help to provide validation and healing for the survivor community.

Resources and Information

Please note: Listing of these resources does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors to read. Some of the conferences listed may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends always bringing a support person to all conferences. If you are a survivor of mind control and/or ritual abuse, S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques. LMS: article from ACHES-MC (Advocacy Committee for Human Experimentation Survivors – Mind Control) for unconsentually federally funded mind control as children or adults Canada contact Lynne Moss-Sharman, 230 Miles St. E. #3, Thunder Bay, Ont. P7C 1J6, lsharman@shaw.ca

Legal Information

Six Pitcairn men found guilty of sex attacks By Patrick Sawer, Evening Standard 10/25/04 “Six Pitcairn islanders were today found guilty of raping and indecently assaulting girls as young as 12 after a trial on the South Pacific island. But their victims, who testified via video from New Zealand, said they were treated as “sex things” as girls and raped at will. The men were tried for 55 sex attacks, stretching back 40 years, on women and girls on the island which has a permanent population of only 47.” http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/14256663?source=Evening%20Standard

also see http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1335865,00.html

from LMS Return to horror hospital 11/13/04 By Martin Johnston “For Hake Halo, Lake Alice Hospital was a place of terror which overshadowed the rest of his life….in the 1970s it was the place where the then teenaged Hake says he was punished with electric shocks and painful injections by nurses and doctors trying to alter youngsters’ behaviour. He blames the electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) for the return of his epilepsy and damaging his short-term memory. His long-term memories of the hospital remain sharp and painful. He vividly describes his body straining under ECT without anaesthetic or muscle relaxant….This letter was the first link in a chain that led to the closure of the hospital’s child and adolescent unit and the Government much later apologising and paying $10.7 million compensation to 183 former patients who were mistreated….But he said closure would be incomplete until psychiatrist Dr Selwyn Leeks, who until 1977 ran the unit, which operated from 1972 to 1978, was held to account. The police are investigating criminal complaints against Dr Leeks, who lives in Melbourne, but have yet to decide whether to lay charges and seek his extradition to New Zealand….. Former Lake Alice Hospital patients were given electric-shock therapy without anaesthetic as a punishment, youngsters were locked away with insane adults and the drug paraldehyde was injected as a punishment. The Government has paid $10.7 million to 183 former patients abused between 1972 and 1977. Patients are still waiting for police to decide whether to prosecute former staff.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3609757&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

Air Force Academy Implicated in Sex Abuse by John J. Lumpkin, AP Washington “Last year, nearly 150 women came forward with accusations that they had been sexually assaulted by fellow cadets between 1993 and 2003. Many alleged they were punished, ignored or ostracized by commanders for speaking out.” http://www.comcast.net/News/DOMESTIC//XML/1152_Cabinet/b77727be-1807-474e-b266-cd5fcbb33320.html

Report Slams Air Force on Academy Assaults 12/8/04 by Andrea Shalal-Esa Washington (Reuters) “The Pentagon’s inspector general on Tuesday blamed leadership failures by top Air Force officials for a decade of sexual assaults against female cadets at the elite Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The earlier report said allegations of 142 sex assaults against women had been made at the school over 10 years and little had been done to halt the pattern or punish those responsible until the issue became public in January 2003. The Air Force Inspector General released a separate report, which concluded that 56 investigations into alleged sexual assaults were handled appropriately by academy investigators. In four cases, certain policies were violated, but there was “no evidence of “intentional mishandling or willful neglect.” ” http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=4&u=/nm/20041208/ts_nm/arms_academy_dc

Amnesty: 40,000 rapes in Congo – Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) “Fighters in Congo have raped at least 40,000 women and girls over the past six years yet the health system in the central African country can offer the victims little help, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.” http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/10/26/congo.rape.reut/index.html

U.N. Sexual Abuse Alleged in Congo Peacekeepers Accused in Draft Report By Colum Lynch 12/16/04 “U.N. peacekeepers threatened U.N. investigators investigating allegations of sexual misconduct in Congo and sought to bribe witnesses to change incriminating testimony, a confidential U.N. draft report says. The 34-page report, which was obtained by The Washington Post, accuses U.N. peacekeepers from Morocco, Pakistan and Nepal of seeking to obstruct U.N. efforts to investigate a sexual abuse scandal that has damaged the United Nations’ standing in Congo. The report documents 68 cases of alleged rape, prostitution and pedophilia by U.N. peacekeepers from Pakistan, Uruguay, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Nepal. U.N. officials say they have uncovered more than 150 allegations of sexual misconduct throughout the country as part of a widening investigation into sexual abuse by U.N. personnel that has plagued the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping mission, U.N. officials said. “Sexual exploitation and abuse, particularly prostitution of minors, is widespread and long-standing,” says a draft of the internal July report, which has not previously been made public. “Moreover, all of the major contingents appear to be implicated.”” http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A3145-2004Dec15?language=printer

Call to act over sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers By Mark Turner at the United Nations 11/18/04 “Jean-Marie Guehenno, head of United Nations peacekeeping, has called for a system-wide overhaul of staff discipline amid mounting revelations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In early November, the UN revealed that a French civilian in its Congo mission (Monuc) had been arrested and sent home in connection with paedophilia. Two Tunisian soldiers had earlier been sent home for sexual abuse against women in Kinshasa. After further investigations, an additional three civilians are now being suspended. The UN’s internal oversight arm will shortly release findings of widespread sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the town of Bunia. And the UN is sending a countrywide assessment team to examine reports of other incidents.” http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c042759e-3907-11d9-bc76-00000e2511c8.html

also see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4027319.stm

Annan admits UN DR Congo abuses “United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has said there is clear evidence that UN staff sexually abused refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

UN in abuse probe 11/24/04 “The UN is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by its civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape. The accusations include pedophilia, rape and prostitution, said Jane Holl Lute, a peacekeeping department assistant secretary-general. Ms Lute said there was photographic and video evidence for some claims. “We are shining a light on this problem in order to determine its scope, and we will not stop there,” Ms Lute said. She did not say if 150 different people were involved but indicated some suspects are accused of committing more than one offence.” http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11478731%5E663,00.html

also see UN: 150 Sex Abuse Charges in Congo Peacekeeping 11/22/04 By Evelyn Leopold United Nations (Reuters) “The United Nations is investigating about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. civilian staff and soldiers in the Congo, some of them recorded on videotape” http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=721&e=2&u=/nm/20041123/wl_nm/congo_un_sex_dc

UN abuse in Congo ‘caught on film’ By Meera Selva 11/24/04 “Some United Nations staff who sexually abused girls and women in the Democratic Republic of Congo have had their activities caught on film. Refugees in Congo have made more than 150 allegations against UN staff, including accusations of paedophilia, rape and prostitution. Now, the UN says it has photographic and video evidence to back up the allegations.” http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=586040

Children of war: Africa’s civil conflicts harm 100,000 young lives By Meera Selva in Nairobi 11/18/04 “More than 100,000 children have been abducted, tortured and sexually abused before being recruited to fight in Africa’s long-running civil wars in the past three years, a report revealed yesterday. Teenage boys and girls forced to join militias are being subjected to psychological torture so that they can be indoctrinated. The Democratic Republic of Congo has more than 30,000 child soldiers fighting in militias and acting as bodyguards for government army commanders.” http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=583993

Uganda’s Children of War “It is difficult to understand how a war targeting children has been allowed to go on for more than 18 years. But that is what’s been happening in Northern Uganda – where 25,000 boys and girls have been taken hostage during a violent and bloody civil war. Many have been killed – others have been forced to fight for a brutal rebel movement called the Lord’s Resistance Army, writes Sky News reporter Eve Richings.” http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1163126,00.html

Amnesty: Two-thirds of Liberians suffered sexual violence during ’99-’03 war 12/1/404 Monrovia, Liberia (AP) “Some two-thirds of Liberia’s population may have suffered sexual abuse during the west African nation’s 1999-2003 civil war, with women and girls the main targets but men and boys also falling prey, a human rights group said Tuesday. Fighters often drugged by their commanders used sexual violence to shame and subjugate communities in Liberia, where rape carries a deep stigma, and Amnesty International estimated that 60 to 70 per cent of Liberia’s three million people suffered sexual abuse during the war.” http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1856&ncid=723&e=4&u=/cpress/20041214/ca_pr_on_wo/liberia_sexual_violence

Martyn Vs Goliath “He fights big business and bad governments – and wins. Now Martyn Day, Britain’s leading human-rights lawyer, has a new target: the Army. Here he talks to Steve Bloomfield about the 1,000 Kenyans allegedly raped by UK servicemen 11/14/04 “The British Army has been using Kenya as a training base since the end of the Second World War. But until 2001, its presence went almost unnoticed. Any news report of Army activity was rare. There was never any public scrutiny of its role there. Which is, perhaps, why the Army is in the position it is now – investigating more than 1,000 claims of rape by British soldiers over a 25-year period.” http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=582377

Minister orders new Deepcut review Mark Oliver 11/30/04 “The armed forces minister, Adam Ingram, today announced an independent review into allegations of ritual humiliation, bullying and sexual abuse at the army’s notorious Deepcut training barracks. Mr Ingram stopped short of announcing a full public inquiry, which had been called for by the families of the four young recruits who died from gunshot wounds at the barracks, in Surrey, between 1995 and 2002.” Http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,11816,1362960,00.html

Police list 100 Deepcut abuse claims Richard Norton-Taylor 11/30/04 “Detailed allegations of ritual humiliation and sexual abuse of women soldiers at the army’s most notorious training camp, the Deepcut barracks, are disclosed in confidential documents leaked yesterday. The documents describe how one female private recalled “how she was made to run around the parade ground naked whilst wearing a belt with mess tins attached to it”. Another soldier said she was forced to get out of the shower “naked and wet” and made to go on parade with other soldiers in mid-January. More than 100 allegations, which also include rape, indecent assault and degrading treatment, are listed in a report drawn up by Surrey police during their investigation into the deaths of four recruits at the training camp.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,11816,1362600,00.html

Families outraged as Government refuses public inquiry into Deepcut By Terri Judd and Colin Brown 12/01/04 “The families of teenage soldiers who died at Deepcut barracks accused the Government of a cover-up last night after ministers refused to order a public inquiry, despite an overwhelming number of claims of bullying and abuse. Adam Ingram, the Armed Forces minister, conceded yesterday that an independent review was needed after a leaked report revealed a catalogue of alleged sexual and violent abuse as well as degrading treatment inflicted on Army trainees but defied mounting calls for an inquiry.” http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=588486

Sex Abuse Case Shocks Amish Community 12/12/04 “Had she not reported them, the crimes may never have come to light. In the Amish culture, punishment — even for serious crimes — is determined by the church. “If they have a choice, they are going to handle it within the church,” said Ruth Irene Garrett, author of “Born Amish.” “It is supposed to be forgiven by the church, and you move on. You forgive and you forget and that’s it.” Dan Miller, a local Amish bishop, told ABC News that the Byler brothers received the most severe punishment under Amish tradition. Both were banned from church activity for several weeks and made to publicly ask for forgiveness ….At the request of the police, Mary Byler agreed to visit her family once more, wearing a concealed microphone. Mary can be heard on tape asking Johnny, “Would you define what you did as sexual abuse?” He responded, “Yes, I think it was.” Police arrested Johnny and Eli Byler the next day. Eli Byler — who does not have a family to support — was later sentenced to eight years in prison.” http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=189191&page=2

article describes abuse – Abuse alleged in Mormon lawsuit – Man says the church shielded his attacker By Claudia Rowe “A Kent man who says he was the victim of sexual abuse more than 20 years ago has filed a lawsuit against the Mormon church, alleging that church officials shielded the abuser for more than a decade, effectively allowing him to molest at least five other local children. Ken Fleming, 42, said he brought the case against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because he wanted to hold officials accountable for turning a blind eye as family after family reported that Jack Loholt, the leader of a church-sponsored Boy Scout troop, had molested their children.” http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/197155_mormons28.html

Judge trying to track down FLDS leader – “A Utah judge has ordered notices placed in four newspapers to compel Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to respond to a lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing his nephew about 20 years ago. Third District Judge Stephen L. Henriod ordered the notices published in The Spectrum, Washington County, Utah; the Eldorado Success in Eldorado, Texas; the Cortez Journal in Cortez, Colo.; and the Creston Valley Advance in Bountiful, British Columbia. In the July 29 lawsuit, Brent Jeffs accuses Jeffs and two of his brothers of sexually assaulting him when he was a child. The suit also names the FLDS church as a defendant. Jeffs is considered a prophet by his 12,000 followers, most of whom live in the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. Other FLDS communities are in Creston, British Columbia; Eldorado, Texas; and most recently in Mancos, Colo. In the notice, Henriod wrote that Jeffs’ whereabouts could not be determined and that there is “good cause to believe that [Jeffs] is avoiding service of process….” http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2481291

from LMS Bakker’s sex-crime trial draws closer as lawyers appear in court Tuesday – Defence wants separate trials on B.C., foreign charges Canadian Press 12/14/04 Vancouver – “Lawyers return to court next month to argue over applications as the trial of a man accused of sex-torture crimes draws nearer….The former hotel worker has been committed to stand trial for 38 sex crimes — 22 sexual assaults involving adult prostitutes and 16 charges related to Asian children in a foreign country. Bakker, 40, a former banquet worker at the elegant Pan Pacific Hotel, will be the first person tried under federal “sex tourism” legislation.” http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ddde9ced-fcf4-4d21-99bb-b10b111a1ec4

Taking cover under the red, white and blue – Canada lets 4 accused of child molestation call U.S. home 12/6/04 By Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin / The Dallas Morning News “Catholic workers accused of sexual abuse sometimes start over in the United States after getting special treatment from justice officials abroad. Four religious brothers from one rural Canadian province, for instance, are living free in this country. Two of the men are fugitives whom Canadian prosecutors have never tried to bring back for trial. A prosecutor who opposed one man’s extradition became his attorney in a lawsuit over the alleged abuse. The other two are convicts. One was let out of prison unusually early. The other was sentenced to house arrest but allowed to move to New York – where no one has the authority to supervise him – and is working in lay ministry.” http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/dmn/stories/120704dnprocanada.33a33.html

Journalist probes the dark side of the Catholic Church New Orleans – “The book, “Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children,” broke new ground, estimating that between 1984 and 1992 about 400 priests in North America were accused of molesting children. Today, studies estimate that since 1950 about 4 percent of American clerics _ 4,392 of them _ have been accused of abuse. And only 2 percent of abusers went to prison, according to a recent church report.” http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2617056

“In the Name of God” an article on clergy abuse by Christine Dolan is at http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/religion.htm

from LMS Cardinal Mahony accused of perjury in sex abuse case Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer 12/11/04 “One of California’s leading sexual abuse lawyers said Friday that newly released court documents show that Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony committed perjury during a 1998 trial in Stockton. The accusation by Stockton attorney Larry Drivon came one day after a transcript of a deposition Mahony gave in Los Angeles on Nov. 23. was made public.” http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/12/11/BAG70AA8UR1.DTL

In first for Ireland, pope dismisses two priests convicted of molesting Boys Shawn Pogatchnik, 12/16/04 Dublin, Ireland (AP) “Pope John Paul II has defrocked two priests convicted of sexually abusing children in Ireland, an unprecedented move in this predominantly Catholic nation…” “Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in 2001 apologized on behalf of the state for its failure to oversee church-run institutions adequately and opened a system for victims to claim financial compensation. The Residential Institutions Redress Board, which is investigating claims of physical and sexual abuse from the 1940s to 1980s, said last month it has paid nearly 2,000 claimants an average of $105,000 each. The board estimated it could eventually face up to 7,000 claims and pay out $870 million. Under a 2001 deal, the church is paying a maximum of $170 million, much of it in properties donated to the state, while taxpayers pick up the bulk of the bill.” http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/12/16/international1233EST0533.DTL

Spokane Diocese Files for Chapter 11 Protection Over Clergy Abuse Cases By Nicholas K. Geranios 12/6/04 Spokane, Wash. (AP) “The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, saying it did not have the money to cover lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy. Spokane is the third Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy recently in the wake of the nationwide scandal involving sexual abuse by priests. Portland, Ore., and Tucson, Ariz., are the other two. The diocese faces claims that already total some $77 million, and Chapter 11 bankruptcy is the best way to ensure that all victims are treated fairly and that the church continues its mission, Bishop William Skylstad said. “Demands by plaintiffs continue to be beyond the ability of the diocese to meet,” said Skylstad, who was just elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In its filing, the diocese listed assets of $11.1 million and liabilities of $81.3 million – the vast majority being sexual abuse claims….According to court papers filed Monday, the diocese so far faces 19 lawsuits involving 58 alleged victims, dating from the 1950s to 1991. Nine priests and two other clergymen have been accused of sexual abuse in those lawsuits. More than two dozen sexual abuse claims involve former priest Patrick O’Donnell, 62, who served in Spokane and Seattle until he was removed from ministry in 1986. He has acknowledged he sexually abused boys from the time he was in the seminary.” http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB8KG3FF2E.html

Iowa Catholic Diocese to Pay $9 Million 10/28/04 By Todd Dvorak – Davenport, Iowa (AP) “The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport agreed to pay $9 million Thursday to settle 37 claims of sexual abuse by priests – a deal that could lift any immediate threat of bankruptcy. The settlement averts a potentially embarrassing series of trials over the church’s handling of abuse claims dating back 50 years or so.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4581900,00.html Ex-Cape pastor faces allegation of child porn By Sean Gonsalves and Eric Williams 11/2/04 New Bedford “The former pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis, the Rev. Stephen A. Fernandes, has been placed on administrative leave by the Fall River Diocese because “a credible allegation of illegal activity has been made against him,” according to a statement released by the diocese yesterday.” http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/expastor2.htm

Catholic Church fights for shield New Jersey – The Times 12/5/04 By Krystal Knapp “Leaders of the Catholic Church in New Jersey have been lobbying state legislators to amend a bill that would eliminate charitable immunity as a legal defense in cases where nonprofit organizations negligently employ child molesters. The New Jersey Catholic Conference (NJCC), the lobbying arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, is urging lawmakers to set time limits on how far back the legislation would apply retroactively. The church’s lobbying effort comes as the state Supreme Court is deciding whether John Hardwicke Jr., a graphic designer from Maryland who alleges he was sexually abused numerous times by several American Boychoir School employees, has a right to sue the nonprofit institution.” Http://www.ncrnews.org/abuse/

Residential school lawsuit gets boost – $2.3-billion class action can proceed as single trial, court rules – Claimants troubled by school experience are `aging, very poor’ Tracey Tyler “Deleary and 800 other former pupils have been told they can proceed with their $2.3-billion class-action lawsuit against the federal government, the Anglican Church of Canada and an English charitable organization devoted to spreading Christianity among native peoples. In a unanimous decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that the interests of judicial economy and access to justice favour a single trial. The former students, who attended the school between 1922 and 1969, when it closed, are also suing on behalf of their spouses, children and other family members. The number of claimants could reach 1,400.” http://www.thestar.com/

Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada “In addition to allegations of physical and sexual abuse, which are found in 90% of the legal claims, allegations relating to such things as cultural loss, breach of treaty, loss of education opportunity, forcible confinement and poor conditions at the schools are also alleged. Now over 5,000 cases representing nearly 12,000 individuals make claims against the Government. Seventy per cent of claimants themselves also name a church institution in addition to the Government. There have been over 630 settlements and 11 court judgements.” http://www.irsr-rqpa.gc.ca/english/history.html http://www.irsr-rqpa.gc.ca/english/who_we_are.html

describes crimes – from LMS Long before Abu Ghraib…Canadians wrote the book on cover-ups, official denials, and institutional complicity in crimes against humanity. A full accounting is still awaited by Kevin Annett of The Truth Commission into Genocide in Canada The following newspaper article was published in the Edmonton Journal on Tuesday, October 22, 1997 and passed along to the Republic by Kevin Annett. It is reprinted here in light of torture by Americans in Cuba and Iraq. The home-made electric chair used for years to punish aboriginal children at St Anne’s Residential School in this James Bay (Fort Albany, Ontario ) community has disappeared, but its memory endures. Hundreds of children who survived the horrors of the school have bitter memories of the chair-used as a means of forcing them to bend to the will of Roman Catholic missionaries who ran the school….”St Anne’s operated as a residential school from 1904 to 1973 in this isolated Cree community of 1400 about 1000 kms north of Toronto. A three year investigation by Ontario Provincial Police has found evidence of widespread sexual and physical abuse of students, hundreds of whom have been left with deep emotional scars…..Other students have told police investigators of heterosexual and homosexual rape, sexual fondling, forced masturbation and severe beatings. Students have complained of humiliating treatment, such as being forced to eat their food off the floor.” http://www.republic-news.org/archive/100-repub/100_annett.htm

Report: Nigeria priest wanted in Texas AP 12/5/04 Pharr, Texas “A priest accused of sexually abusing a mentally retarded girl in South Texas fled to his native Nigeria a few days before a warrant could be issued for his arrest and prosecutors have not tried to force him back to face charges, according to a published report. Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said he supports returning the Rev. Basil Onyia to the Rio Grande Valley to face the sexual assault and abuse charges against him, but added that he lacked the resources to find Onyia….The Morning News, which has conducted a year-long investigation of the international movement of accused priests, reported that Onyia’s bishop in Nigeria had put him back to work in parishes there upon his return from the diocese in Brownsville. The newspaper said Onyia had been named in July to a state government panel investigating misconduct allegations against a prominent politician….Onyia said he returned to Nigeria on the advice of Bishop Raymundo Pena, who heads the Brownsville diocese, and other Nigerian priests working in the United States.” http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Fugitive%20Priest

Texas Bishop Denies Telling Priest to Flee 12/8/04 Dallas (AP) “Brownsville Catholic Bishop Raymundo Pena denies that he ever advised a priest wanted on sexual assault and abuse charges to flee the country. The Rev. Basil Onyia fled to his native Nigeria in 2001, days before a warrant could be issued for his arrest stemming from allegations that he sexually abused a mentally retarded girl. Onyia claimed in a story in Monday’s editions of The Dallas Morning News that the Brownsville bishop advised him to leave the country. The bishop, who earlier would not confirm or deny Onyia’s claim, responded Monday in a statement posted on the diocese’s Web site. “Bishop Pena never advised Father Onyia to go back to Nigeria, and we are surprised that Father Onyia is working as a priest there,” the statement said. “It is unfortunate that he did not remain in this country to address the allegations made against him,” Pena is quoted saying in the statement.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4661708,00.html

Priest Sentenced for Raping Boy 12/1/04 Cambridge, MA “A Roman Catholic priest was sentenced on Wednesday to four to five years in prison for repeatedly raping an altar boy in the 1980’s. Reverend Robert Gale pleaded guilty on Tuesday to four counts of raping a child just as jury selection was set to begin for his trial….The sexual assaults took place at St Jude’s parish in Waltham between 1980 and 1985 when the victim was between 10 and 15 years old. Prosecutors said the boy was sexually abused by Gale about twice a month….Gale’s attorney had tried to get the charges dismissed, arguing that by the time the charges were filed in August 2002, the 15-year statute of limitations for rape had expired. Prosecutors said Gale had moved to New Hampshire, stopping the clock on the statute of limitations. Gale claimed he was just visiting his sister in New Hampshire and was actually living in Boston.” http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1629730,00.html also see http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/12/02/priest_gets_4_189_5_years/

Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Frankel Scheme AP 12/1/04 New Haven, Conn. “A former powerhouse fund-raiser for the Republican party and the Catholic church pleaded guilty Tuesday to taking part in financier Martin Frankel’s scheme to loot insurance companies in five states. Federal prosecutors said Thomas Bolan, 80, of New York City, introduced Frankel to high-ranking church officials and helped him run a phony Roman Catholic foundation used to hide the plot. Bolan appeared in federal court in New Haven on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to one count of misprision of a felony. The charge refers to someone who observes a felony and fails to prevent or report it to law enforcement authorities. A fervent Catholic and Roy Cohn’s ex-law partner, Bolan raised millions for Vatican charities and Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign. Bolan’s lawyer, Maurice Nessen, did not immediately return messages left at his office and home Tuesday night. Frankel, 50, has pleaded guilty to 24 counts of fraud and racketeering and is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10. He admitted plotting to loot seven insurance companies in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Missouri and Tennessee that mostly sold funeral policies to the poor.” http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/10308208.htm

28 men allege abuse by monk 1965 TO 1975: Western Alaska men sue Fairbanks Catholic Diocese, Jesuits. By Richard Mauer – Anchorage Daily News 11/12/04 “Twenty-eight Alaska men say that when they were children, a religious brother who served several Western Alaska villages bought sexual favors from them with candy, better grades, sacramental wine and coins from collection plates. The men, now mostly in their 40s, say in a lawsuit filed in Bethel that the former Trappist monk, Joseph Lundowski, abused their trust as deacon and religious instructor and engaged them in sexual misconduct, including oral sex. One man said he was also raped.” http://www.adn.com/front/story/5771234p-5705176c.html also see http://www.adn.com/alaska_ap/story/5768221p-5702274c.html

article describes crimes Former monk named in Fairbanks diocese sex abuse suit AP Fairbanks 11/11/04 “A lawsuit filed against the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese claims that a former Trappist monk sexually abused 28 boys in three western Alaska villages in the 1960s and 1970s. In a separate suit, two more men have come forward with allegations of abuse against a deceased priest who worked in the diocese, bringing the total in that case to 18. The 28 anonymous plaintiffs from Hooper Bay, Stebbins and St. Michael…The lawsuit says Lundowski was transferred instead dismissed when problems began to appear.”” http://www.adn.com/alaska_ap/story/5768221p-5702274c.html

Diocese sued in sex abuse cases By Mary Beth Smetzer, 11/6/04 “A civil lawsuit was filed Friday against the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska on behalf of 14 of 16 men, alleging sexual abuse by the Rev. Jules Convert. The number of complainants against Convert has steadily increased since June 2003, when the first four men, identified as John Does 1-4, filed suit against the Fairbanks-based diocese as well as the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, and the Society of Jesus, Alaska.” http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2517993,00.html

Oakland Seminary Housing Sex Offender Priests 11/28/04 “In all the controversy over child abuse by Catholic priests, one issue really has not been explored. What does the church do with priests who’ve molested children? Where do they go? The ABC7 I-Team has a disturbing answer for people living in an upscale Oakland neighborhood. The I-Team has learned that one order of priests has decided to place its sex offenders at a seminary in Oakland. And, church officials haven’t told the neighbors or the schools nearby. If you attend one of the daily services at St. Albert’s seminary in the Rockridge neighborhood, you probably wouldn’t expect to be sitting next to several sex offenders. But, that’s often the case. The Dominican Order of Catholic Priests has decided to send its members who’ve abused children across the western United States to live at St. Albert’s.” http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/iteam/112804_iteam_seminary.html

California Catholic Diocese settles abuse cases “The Roman Catholic Church in California has reached a deal with nearly one hundred people who say they were abused by priests and other church employees. It is expected to be a precedent for thousands more cases pending in Los Angeles and other parts of the US, which are threatening to bankrupt many dioceses. The settlement involves 87 parishioners in the Roman Catholic diocese of Orange. They levelled sexual misconduct charges against 30 priests, 11 lay personnel and two nuns. Some of the cases dated back as far as the 1930s, several involved a clergyman, who admitted sexually abusing more than 25 boys during his 10 years as a parish priest.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1257975.htm

Diocese’s Deal Raises the Bar Across U.S. – The Roman Catholic Church in O.C. will provide an average $1.1 million per alleged sexual abuse victim, a record that will influence talks nationwide. By William Lobdell and Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writers “The agreement by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange to pay $100 million to settle 87 sex-abuse claims against priests is likely to set a standard that will profoundly affect hundreds of cases in California and nationwide, lawyers familiar with the litigation said Friday. Although final terms of the settlement remain undisclosed under the terms of a gag order, sources on all sides of the complex case confirmed the overall settlement figure, which would be a record payment by a Catholic diocese in the United States. The Vatican-approved deal will provide, on average, $1.1 million to each of the 87 alleged victims of sexual abuse — considerably more than most previous settlements of multiple priest sex-abuse claims. The previous record settlement came last year when the Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million, divided among 552 victims.” http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-priest4dec04,0,2297246.story?coll=la-home-headlines

also see 100M Clergy Abuse Deal Brings Some Relief By Gillian Flaccus, AP – Los Angeles http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041204/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse

Nuns Protect List Of Members 12/12/04 By Kim Martineau “A national group of Catholic nuns will not turn over a list of members to an advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse by clergy, or allow the victims to speak at its upcoming conferences. The advocacy group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, made those demands to raise awareness about the problem of abusive nuns, at a time when news reports have focused heavily on abusive priests….Of the 5,000 people who belong to the Survivors Network, about 100 – or 2 percent – claim they were abused by nuns. A recent study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that more than 10,000 children were sexually abused by priests over the past 50 years. Nuns were not included in the study. Victim advocates asked to address the Leadership Conference, which claims 75,000 nuns as members, at its annual meeting in August. The request was denied but after two demonstrations and the news stories that followed, religious leaders agreed to an October meeting at a neutral location, an airport hotel.” http://www.ctnow.com/hc-nuns1212.artdec12,0,5582848.story

Judge allows 26 to sue, claiming clergy sex abuse by Wayne Parry AP Newark, N.J. “A judge allowed lawsuits on behalf of 26 men, most of whom claim they were abused by a former Catholic priest in northern New Jersey, to proceed. The Diocese of Paterson had sought to dismiss the two suits on the grounds that too much time had passed since the acts in question had occurred. But Superior Court Judge Deanne Wilson, sitting in Morristown, rejected the request Wednesday afternoon. In the lawsuits, 21 of the plaintiffs claim they were abused by the Rev. James Hanley, a former priest who served in Mendham, among other places. Four other priests accused of abusing the remaining plaintiffs are named as defendants, as is the diocese. The lawsuits include a transcript of an interview the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Greg Gianforcaro, conducted with Hanley last fall in which he admits having molested at least one young man.” http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/104-11032004-394776.html

N.J. Judge Allows Alleged Abuse Lawsuits By Wayne Parry 11/3/04 “Newark, N.J. (AP) – A judge allowed two lawsuits to proceed on behalf of 26 men, most of whom allege they were sexually abused as children by a former priest in northern New Jersey. The Diocese of Paterson had sought to dismiss the suits on the grounds that too much time had passed since the alleged abuse. Superior Court Judge Deanne Wilson rejected the request Wednesday. In the lawsuits, 21 plaintiffs claim they were abused by the former Rev. James Hanley. He was not criminally charged and was not named as a defendant because he is cooperating with plaintiffs, said their lawyer, Greg Gianforcaro. Four other priests accused of abuse involving the other plaintiffs and the diocese are named as defendants. No trial date has been set.” http://fsnews.findlaw.com/articles/ap_stories/other/1110/11-3-2004/20041103160006_17.html

from LMS Cornwall sex allegations to be subject of inquiry 11/18/04 “Toronto – There will be no Crown appeal in the last of a spate of cases alleging systemic sexual abuse and a cover-up in Cornwall, Ont., paving the way for a public inquiry, the province said yesterday. A provincial police investigation called Project Truth resulted in 114 charges against 15 men, including doctors, lawyers and Catholic priests, but only one person was convicted. The last case was dismissed in October after a judge ruled it had taken too long to come to trial. “I have always believed that the people of Cornwall deserved a public inquiry,” Premier Dalton McGuinty said in a release. “Now that all the criminal proceedings related to this case are over, residents in the area can be assured that steps are being taken to launch a public inquiry.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041118/NATSMET18-4/TPNational/Canada

from LMS Inquiry to probe pedophile ring allegations Canadian Press 11/4/04 “The Ontario government will launch an inquiry into long-standing allegations of a pedophile ring operating in Cornwall, Ont., and the way it was investigated, Premier Dalton McGuinty said today. McGuinty repeated the promise on a day when victims made an emotional plea for the province to shine the light of public inquiry on the eastern Ontario city, long haunted by the shadow of systemic sexual abuse. “We will, in fact and indeed, hold such an inquiry,” McGuinty told the legislature during question period. The inquiry won’t be launched until after the appeal period in the last remaining related criminal case, which was tossed out of court last month, elapses in 12 days, McGuinty said. “We also look forward to working with the community of Cornwall to ensure the appropriate terms of reference are drafted and guide that inquiry.” The border city an hour’s drive southeast of Ottawa has long been linked with allegations of a pedophile ring, comprised of high-profile local officials and clergy, that tormented the city’s children for decades….Abuse victim Alain Seguin, co-ordinator of the group Coalition for Action Cornwall, estimated more than 1,000 men between the ages of 30 and 60 currently live in Cornwall who were sexually abused as children.” http://www.thestar.com/

Abuse inquiry set Premier calls probe into Cornwall case By Antonella Artuso, Antonella.artuso@tor.sunpub.com Queen’s Park Bureau “Premier Dalton McGuinty yesterday announced a public inquiry into allegations that highly placed officials operated a pedophile ring in Cornwall for decades. Alain Seguin, of the Coalition for Action Cornwall, who was sexually abused as an 11- and 12-year-old, said the inquiry will finally allow the Eastern Ontario town to begin healing….Proponents of a public inquiry allege that officials in positions of trust abused up to 1,000 boys over three decades in an organized ring that saw the victims passed around like possessions. While OPP investigators laid 114 charges against 15 men, including doctors, lawyers and Catholic priests as part of an operation dubbed Project Truth, which began in the early 1990s, four of the accused died and most of the other cases were thrown out after delays in getting to trial. Only one person, who was not connected to the alleged sex ring, was ever convicted of sexual offences.” http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/News/2004/11/05/pf-700899.html

Portugal child sex trial begins 11/25/04 “The trial of seven people accused of forming a child sex ring in Portuguese care homes has begun in Lisbon. The accused include a TV presenter, a former top diplomat, and a former director of the Casa Pia children’s home network. Abuse at Casa Pia is said to have started in the mid-1970s, but was only discovered in 2002. About 700 witnesses and 32 alleged victims, some of them under 16 years old, are due to testify in the case.” “A former director of Casa Pia, Manuel Abrantes, is also on trial. A woman, Gertrudes Nunes, is accused of providing her house to be used for abuse. But a Portuguese judge threw out the cases against ex-government minister Paulo Pedroso, TV comedian Herman Jose and archaeologist Francisco Alves.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4040733.stm

Major paedophile trial opens By Levi Fernandes in Lisbon 11/26/04 “Seven people, including a popular TV star and a former diplomat, went on trial over a high-profile child abuse scandal in Portugal today, facing charges that include the sexual abuse of minors in a network of state-run children’s homes.” “”Among those standing trial are Jorge Ritto, a former Portuguese ambassador to South Africa; Carlos Cruz, a television presenter whose career spans over three decades; and a former director of Casa Pia, Manuel Abrantes. The seven, including one woman, face charges ranging from child sexual abuse to procurement and rape involving 32 victims, with the former driver of the childrens’ homes, Carlos Silvino, alone facing 600 different charges.” http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11504230%5E1702,00.html

Child rapist implicates six co-accused 12/18/04 Lisbon “The chief accused in a high-profile trial of seven people charged in Portugal with sexual abuse of minors from a state-run institution has admitted his guilt on the witness stand and confirmed the charges against his co-defendants. “I, along with the other defendants, am guilty of what is listed in the indictment,” said Carlos Silvino, 48, a former driver at Casa Pia, a 224-year-old network of 10 homes and schools that care for about 4000 children….”Rapes of younger children were frequent in all colleges of Casa Pia,” he said….The subsequent investigation uncovered claims of decades of sexual abuse at the Lisbon-based institution. Most of the abuse was alleged on boys aged between 12 and 16. A 62-year-old woman is also among the seven accused. She is has been charged with providing her home as a venue for some of the crimes. The case has shattered public trust in the authorities, especially after reports that children had been complaining of the abuse since the mid-1970s, but no action was taken. Silvino, who is charged with 634 offences, including 598 counts of sexual abuse of minors, is also accused of procuring children for wealthy child molesters for more than 20 years. “I took some boys to these homes. I have dates and addresses where they went to make movies, attend parties or sex orgies,” he said.” http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11720238%5E2703,00.html

Chat-show host goes on trial over ‘orphan sex ring’ By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid 11/25/04 “Spanish police arrested 90 people, including 21 minors, yesterday on suspicion of trading images and videos on the internet of children engaged in “all kinds of sexual acts”. http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=586434

A web page on Pedophiles, Pedarists, Sex Offenders, Sexual Criminals, & Suspects http://justicenetworkcanada.com/pedosexoffender.htm#General%20SEX%20OFFENDERS%20&%20Crimes

Top court to rule if choirboy may sue Courier News 11/29/04 Trenton “A man who claims he was repeatedly molested as a student at an internationally acclaimed Princeton music school has pushed his fight to sue the school to the state’s highest court. The Supreme Court today will consider whether American Boychoir School should be shielded from such suits by a law designed to protect nonprofits from being bankrupted by employee negligence, or whether John W. Hardwicke Jr.’s suit against the school should be allowed to continue under a newer victims’ rights law. A state appeals court in March ruled that Hardwicke could sue the boarding school he attended from 1969-1971. “The position of the Boychoir School as well as the Catholic church in the past has been that they are not liable for any childhood sexual abuse committed by their employees,” said Greg Gianforcaro, a Phillipsburg lawyer who has represented people in sexual abuse suits against priests. “Charitable immunity law, as it’s been used in the past in dealing with childhood sexual abuse, is a pedophile protection policy.” http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,1127392,00.html

from LMS Support for Suits Claiming Child Abuse by Charities By Laura Mansnerus Trenton 11/9/04 “John W. Hardwicke Jr. describes his two years at the American Boychoir School as a hellish series of encounters with pedophiles on the school’s staff, led by the choirmaster who was in charge of the boys 24 hours a day. For more than 30 years, Mr. Hardwicke says, the consequences have been devastating. In most states, Mr. Hardwicke would be free to sue the school for negligence in its hiring and oversight of the choirmaster. But New Jersey continues to provide a legal shield to negligence lawsuits against charitable institutions like the Boychoir School, the state’s Roman Catholic archdiocese, the Boy Scouts and other groups that work with children. That soon may change. On Monday, a General Assembly committee, after three hours of wrenching stories from more than a dozen victims, approved a measure that would allow many people sexually abused as children to go to court after years of silence. A favorable vote by the full Assembly, which is expected soon, would send the bill to the governor’s desk. And the State Supreme Court has agreed to reconsider its much-disputed decision in 1984 to bar a suit against the Archdiocese of Newark by the family of a boy who had been sexually abused by a priest. At the end of this month, the court will hear arguments in a new case, which was brought by Mr. Hardwicke.” http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/09/nyregion/09choir.html?oref=login&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position

Lawyer Alleges Abuse in N.J. School’s Past 11/29/04 By Angela Delli Santi, Trenton, N.J. “Child sex abuse was once so pervasive at a prestigious Princeton music school that administrators who raped and sodomized male boarding students thought the molestation was part of producing a world-class choir, a lawyer for one former student told the state Supreme Court Monday. American Boychoir School should be liable for the flagrant and unchecked abuse of boys entrusted to its care, attorney Lawrence Lessig said.” http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=720&e=10&u=/ap/20041130/ap_on_re_us/choir_school

article has graphic descriptions of crimes. Babysitting way to recruit victims, Montreal dad tells child-porn chat lines 11/30/04 Ross Marowits – Montreal (CP) – Babysitting can be used as an opportunity to lure young children into sex, a man accused of sexually assaulting his daughter and spreading juvenile pornography on the Internet bragged during chat room conversations….Provincial police arrested the father of four and another Montreal-area man on Dec. 9, 2002, as part of an international investigation launched by Swiss police. Charges were also laid against nearly 20 people in Norway, France and Belgium.” http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20041130/ca_pr_on_na/crime_child_porn

from LMS describes crimes Couple fights youth centre abuse suit By CP 11/10/04 Frederickton “Clifford and Mary Louise McCann say allegations that they were involved in the sexual abuse of boys at New Brunswick’s infamous Kingsclear youth training centre are false, malicious and scandalous. The husband and wife are being sued by four former residents of the now-closed reformatory near Fredericton, which has been the subject of investigations and inquiries into the abuse of children. The McCanns, who now live in Ontario, filed a statement of defence in a New Brunswick court yesterday denying all accusations contained in the lawsuit….The alleged sexual misconduct took place in 1982, when the four former residents were either 14 or 15 years of age and Clifford McCann was an RCMP staff sergeant who occasionally visited the training school. The McCann home was located near the school and the couple acknowledge in their statement that all four boys visited their home….The training school housed young offenders and boys who couldn’t fit into foster homes during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The four claimants in the lawsuit say that while they were at Kingsclear, McCann would take them on outings, ply them with cigarettes and liquor, and subject them to sexual touching, oral sex and anal sex. The four say in their statement of claim that they were also threatened by McCann. “He was threatened that he would never get out of the jail system if he did not submit to McCann’s sexual demands and that he would never get out of jail if he ever told anyone of these sexual events,” the statement of claim says, referring to former resident Jerry Dow, one of the four plaintiffs.” http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2004/11/10/pf-707802.html

Child abusers ‘escape punishment’ David Batty 11/15/04 “The vast majority of paedophiles continue to evade justice with conviction rates falling despite soaring levels of recorded child sex abuse, according to research published today. Thinktank the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) warned that the failure to improve the conviction rate for child sex offences meant that paedophiles were undeterred from applying to work with children.” http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,1074,1351600,00.html

Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws in Massachusetts “Massachusetts survivors and advocates working together to promote legislation that will enable victims of sexual crimes to assert their rights within our legal and criminal justice system take dangerous criminals out of circulation reduce the risk of future crimes. We are rallying Massachusetts citizens and legislators to support the repeal of civil and criminal statutes of limitations on crimes of sexual assault and abuse.” http://www.stopsexcrime.org/

A text and explanation of proposed legislation to promote justice for victims and to prevent sexual assault and abuse is at http://www.stopsexcrime.org/explanation.htm “This bill will not allow prosecutions in cases in which statutes of limitations have already expired. However, it will bring the laws of Massachusetts into line with mainstream legal and psychological research on delayed reporting of sexual abuse and molestation.”

from LMS Suit: Child-sex ring cover-up – Claims ex-trooper was 1 of 10 men who abused young girls in central Pa. school By Nicole Weisensee Egan weisenn@phillynews.com “The Parents of two 12-year-old girls, one of whom has Down syndrome, say a Pennsylvania State Trooper and other officials are covering up a former trooper’s involvement in a child-sex ring that operated out of Monroe Elementary School in Cumberland County. In a civil lawsuit filed late Monday in federal court in Harrisburg, and in interviews with the Daily News, John and Joanne Knowles of Mechanicsburg and Scott and Lisa Stanko of Carlisle said the ex-trooper, a janitor at the school, and 10 other people identified in the lawsuit as John Does sexually assaulted their daughters. They also allege that the girls were photographed in sexual acts by the janitor and others. The lawsuit claims the trooper wore his state police uniform while abusing the girls. Both girls have sexually transmitted diseases because of the abuse and have permanent mental and emotional damage, the lawsuit says.” “The state police conducted a 19-month investigation into the allegations, with support from the Cumberland County district attorney’s office. The agencies say they found insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges.” http://www.philly.com

Conferences

Solidarity in the fight against Ritual Abuse and Torture by Neil Brick, presented at the 2004 Association for Humanist Sociology Conference is now online at http://members.aol.com/smartnews/ahs_04.htm

Mind Control and Experimentation

from LMS Where’s all of Molly’s money? Bish dad can’t believe Masons only have $15G for kids’ charity By John Strahinich 12/1/04 “The secretive Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Masons is in turmoil over internal allegations that money raised in the name of slain teen Molly Bish has been misappropriated, the Herald has learned. A Milton dentist who directed a Mason-sponsored child identification program first raised questions about its funding about six weeks ago, sources said. Now members of the ancient fraternal order are scrambling to make sure the flap doesn’t hurt Mason finances. Legal entities that invest the Grand Lodge’s money control assets in excess of $100 million. “Holy Christ, you could pick me up off the floor,” said John Bish, whose 16-year-old daughter Molly’s body was found in 2003 – three years after she disappeared from a swimming hole in Warren. “This is unbelievable.” `If people give money, it’s supposed to be used for the protection of children,” Bish said. “The money shouldn’t be diverted. This is a big deal.” Bish and his wife Magi have spent four years raising money for the Masons’ child identification program (CHIP). CHIP volunteers give parents kits they can use to help identify missing children. A spokeswoman for the Masons, Kofi Jones, last night claimed the fraternal order received just $15,700 in contributions over the past three fiscal years ending Aug. 31, despite the Masons’ long-established prowess at fund-raising. “That doesn’t sound right,” John Bish said. “That doesn’t sound right at all. That can’t be. It doesn’t sound conceivable to me.” “The head of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Grand Master Donald G. Hicks, yesterday denied allegations that any funds had been misappropriated. “That is absolutely false,” he told the Herald. He estimated the Masons had put at least $500,000 into the CHIP program but did not specify the source of the money. The revelations come at a sensitive time for the Masons in Massachusetts – already rocked by losses totaling millions of dollars from the Brad Bleidt financial scandal. Bleidt, now facing criminal charges while undergoing a 30-day psychiatric examination, allegedly used his status as a long-time Mason to recruit investors for a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Individual members, as well as entire Masonic lodges, allegedly placed money with Bleidt’s financial services firm.” http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=56663&format=text

Website with pro-information on the Rainbow Girls. Please use caution at this website, as it may be heavy for survivors. http://www.iorg.org/geninfo.htm

Morning, Come Quickly by Wanda Karriker, Ph.D. “In Morning Come Quickly author Wanda Karriker has woven together the fictional story of therapist Emily Klein and her clients who have come to her with memories of incest, ritual abuse torture and government mind control. She finds herself not only trying to understand how humanity can sink to the depths of depravity that she is hearing her clients expose, but face her own flashbacks and memories of some of these same horrors. Morning Come Quickly is a must read by all survivors. Too many times the validity of our memories are not only questioned but attacked by those same people who have vested interests in keeping them condemned to the darkness. Karriker boldly weaves together a beautiful tapestry of a dissociative persons first awakenings from darkness through their long journey of healing. The beauty of her writing is evidenced in my inability to put this book down through the first 100 pages. It reads like a novel, but it speaks the truth! It is based on fact and includes Valerie Wolfe’s moving testimony before the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments on March 15, 1995. The reader comes away from this book with an in depth knowledge of the reality of recovered memories and the fight for justice that so many survivors now face. Give this book to a doubting Thomas and they will never again look at life in the same way. Once read, Morning Come Quickly changes your world view forever. review by Carol Rutz, Author of “A Nation Betrayed: Secret Cold War Experiments Performed on Our Children and Other Innocent People” http://www.morningcomequickly.com/ to order http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/01016.htm#order or 1-800-247-6553 pub. By Sandime, LTD ISBN: 0-9717171-0-9

Increasing awareness & understanding of Sadistic Ritual Abuse (SRA) website is at http://www.sospes.org.uk/

“World View Intelligence provides training and consultation on deviant religious groups, magico-religious (occult) groups, ritualistic crimes and terrorist movements. There are a broad range of misunderstood religious traditions that are practiced in the Western world. Some of these traditions include controversial issues such as the practice of animal sacrifice. The majority of practitioners of these belief systems are law-abiding citizens. However, there is a criminal element that uses these religions in concert with criminal activity. Police agencies are then faced with the dilemma of detecting criminal elements versus protecting the civil liberties of law abiding citizens.” World View Intelligence, 25G Stonebrook Place Suite 202, Jackson Tennesse 38305, Phone: (731) 217-7415, email: contact@cultcrime.org http://www.cultcrime.org

Police: Couple planned to sacrifice 3 children 11/14/04 Rochester, N.H. “A woman and her boyfriend are accused of plotting to sacrifice the woman’s three children on a church altar. Nicole Mancini, 29, and John Thurber, 35, were arrested at St. Mary Church on Wednesday after workers said they heard the woman say she wanted to sacrifice the boys. Mancini and Thurber were in jail Saturday on more than $25,000 bail. They were arraigned Friday on three counts each of misdemeanor child endangerment. Thurber was also charged with marijuana possession. The children, ages 9, 7 and 2, were placed in state custody.” http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/194603-2051-010.html

Police: Couple planned to ‘sacrifice’ children Rochester, New Hampshire (AP) “A woman and her boyfriend are accused of plotting to sacrifice the woman’s three children on a church altar. Nicole Mancini, 29, and John Thurber, 35, were arrested at St. Mary’s Church on Wednesday after workers said they heard the woman say she wanted to sacrifice the boys.” http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/13/children.sacrifice.ap/index.html

The Cold War Experiments – Radiation tests were only one small part of a vast research program that used thousands of Americans as guinea pigs. U.S News and World Report, January 24, 1994. By Stephen Budiansky, Erica E. Goode and Ted Gest “On June 1, 1951, top military and intelligence officials of the United States, Canada and Great Britain, alarmed by the frightening reports of communist success at “intervention in the individual mind,” summoned a small group of eminent psychologists to a secret meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal. The Soviets had gotten Hungary’s Joszef Cardinal Mindszenty, an outspoken anti-communist, to confess to espionage, and they also seemed to be able to indoctrinate political enemies and even control the thoughts of entire populations. the researchers were convinced that the communists’ success must be the fruit of some mysterious breakthroughs. By the following September, U.S. government scientists, spurred on by reports that American prisoners of war were being brainwashed in North Korea, were proposing an urgent, top-secret research program on behavior modification. Drugs, hypnosis, electroshock, lobotomy — all were to be studied as part of a vast U.S. effort to close the mind-control gap. New revelations that government cold war experiments exposed thousands of Americans to radiation have prompted fresh congressional inquiries, including a hearing last week on tests conducted on retarded children in Massachusetts. a Department of Energy hot line set to to handle calls from possible subjects of the tests has been swamped. But the radiation experiments are only one facet of a vast cold war research program that used thousands of Americans as guinea pigs. From the end of world War II well in to the 1970s, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Defense Department, the military services, the CIA and other agencies used prisoners, drug addicts, mental patients, college students, soldiers, even bar patrons, in a vast range of government-run experiments to test the effects of everything from radiation, LSD and nerve gas to intense electric shocks and prolonged “sensory deprivation.” Some of the human guinea pigs knew what they were getting into; many others did not even know they were being experimented on. But in the life-and-death struggle with communism, America could not afford to leave any scientific avenue unexplored.” http://www.datafilter.com/mc/coldWarExperiments.html

Britain: cover-up of chemical warfare tests on servicemen exposed By Harvey Thompson 12/11/04 “An inquest on November 15 returned a verdict of unlawful killing on the death of a young British airman who unsuspectingly underwent military nerve gas tests 51 years ago. Ronald Maddison, a Royal Air Force engineer from Consett, County Durham, died after having drops of the nerve agent Sarin dabbed on his arm at the Porton Down chemical warfare testing facility in Wiltshire in 1953, when he was 20-years old. After a hearing which lasted 64 days, the inquest jury ruled that Maddison had been unlawfully killed by the “application of a nerve agent in a non-therapeutic experiment.” The unanimous verdict, which came after years of pressure by campaigners, was greeted with cheers and tears of joy by veterans who had been subjected to similar experiments. Hundreds of Porton Down veterans believe their subsequent ill health may have been a result of their exposure in trials. Relatives of some who have since died believe the tests may have led to premature deaths.” http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/port-d11.shtml

Biotech & Creativity – Paraplegic fitted with brain sensor ushers in cybernetic age 12/5/04 “In June, surgeons implanted a sensor under the skull and directly into the brain of a 25-year-old Rhode Island paraplegic….That allowed him to control a computer and other machines using pure thought. Plugged into a computer with a fiber-optic cable attached to a node on his skull…can operate a computer by thinking.” http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/05/INDUNCAN05.DTL

‘Smart Dust’ may soon be watching you 11/21/04 By Elisa Hahn “It’s a project first dreamed up by the military to get information from the battlefield. They call it “Smart Dust” and it may soon make it possible to keep track of anything, anywhere, including you….At Crossbow Technology in Santa Clara, Calif, the next big thing is actually quite small. They are the world’s smallest wireless sensors. And at about the size of a wristwatch, the contain a battery powered microphone, an accelerometer, as well as temperature and humidity sensors, according to Sam Godwin, Vice President of Crossbow. Scatter them 250 feet apart and they will form their own wireless network similar to a spider’s web. Smart Dust was first designed for the military, enabling troops to crop dust enemy lines with of millions of networked wireless sensors too small to see and too numerous to destroy.” http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_111904SRKsmartdustJK.728df42d.html

Secret German Cult in Chile Breaks 43-Year Spell 11/8/04 By Fiona Ortiz Villa Baviera, Chile (Reuters) “A religious cult of German immigrants has broken decades of isolation from a world shocked by sex-abuse scandals in the group, the flight of its secretive leader and reports it once helped Chile’s military government torture political prisoners. In exclusive interviews, members of the 280-person sect ended decades of public silence to tell Reuters they had emerged from a long nightmare to the painful realization their God-like guru — a fugitive facing child-sex charges — had broken apart their families and fostered physical abuse. The sect came here in the 1960s following Paul Schaefer, a charismatic World War II German army nurse, who cult members thought was God on earth and who preached an unnamed religion that said harsh discipline would draw them closer to the supreme being. “Everyone saw him as a celestial being and no one dared doubt him. People were blind here. It was a huge shock to discover the truth,” said Michael Mueller, a 47-year-old member of the community’s newly elected reform committee…..The apocalyptic cult barred itself behind a perimeter fence guarded by cameras and motion detectors, and once even taunted police with Nazi salutes. A judge is probing reports it provided torture chambers for the secret police during Chile’s 1973-1990 military dictatorship. Schaefer came to Chile fleeing sex-abuse charges in Germany, and in 1961 founded Colonia Dignidad — later renamed Villa Baviera….Sect leaders cozied up to Augusto Pinochet’s military regime in the 1970s and 1980s, seeking protection from critics who wanted to break up what they saw as a state within a state. Schaefer disappeared in 1997, again fleeing child sex-abuse charges, this time filed by Chilean authorities after some two dozen children who went to the cult’s free clinic and school reported abuse.” http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6747918

from LMS Harvard’s stance on Nazis questioned – Historian calls ’30s record ‘shameful’ By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff 11/14/04 “Harvard University maintained friendly relations with Nazi Germany long after Americans became aware of the persecution of the Jews during the 1930s, and after some academic leaders had taken stands against the Nazis, according to a historian who will present his findings at a conference on the Holocaust at Boston University today. Despite the school’s portrayal of itself in official records as clearly anti-Nazi, a new paper by Stephen H. Norwood says Harvard had a much more ambiguous relationship with Adolf Hitler’s regime in the mid-1930s. Harvard welcomed one of Hitler’s closest deputies to campus for his reunion in 1934, sent delegates to celebrate the University of Heidelberg’s anniversary in 1936 – after the German university had purged all its Jewish professors and students – and passed up numerous opportunities to help Jewish refugee scholars, according to Norwood, a professor at the University of Oklahoma.” http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/11/14/harvards_stance_on_nazis_questioned?pg=full

CIA and the Nazis. – Aired 12/19/04 “Six months after Allied Forces liberated German concentration camps, a military tribunal formed at Nuremberg to prosecute Nazi war criminals. Some of the most dangerous were brought to justice–but not all. Over 4,000 former Nazis went to work for the U.S. government, without the public’s knowledge, to help fight the Soviet Union. Reinhard Gehlen, an intelligence officer for Hitler’s General Staff, was tapped to head the U.S. intelligence program in West Germany to spy on the Russians. At the same time, former Nazi scientists and engineers were welcomed onto American soil. In 1998, a bill was finally signed into law that mandated declassification of documents concerning recruitment of former Nazis.” http://www.historychannel.com/global/listings/upcomingepisodes.jsp?ACatId=11901512&CaseId=11967279&EGrpId=11732460

“If you are a survivor of ritual abuse and/or what you believe to have been torturous government-sponsored mind control experiments, and/or child pornography/prostitution, Wanda Karriker www.MorningComeQuickly.com) invites you to become part of a collective voice of those who have been unwitting initiates into organized evil. You may submit your story (anonymously) to Wanda at sandime@twave.net or 8313 Long Island Road, Catawba, NC, 28609. By responding, you give her permission to use brief passages (anonymously) in any publications or presentations she develops to help create awareness of these types of extreme child abuse and the resiliency of the human spirit.” As always, please use caution when contacting any resource in this newsletter

Mkzine has now changed its format to a Newsletter (6 issues per year). MKzine — An examination of coercive mind control, invasive human experimentation and other related abuses (www.mkzine.com). A 20 page newsletter. Subscription price for 2005: $15 US, $21 Canada and $27 International. Send check or money order to MKzine, PMB 175, 1910 East 4th Avenue, Olympia, WA 98506.

Journal Articles

Many of the journal abstract excerpts and quotes in this section of the newsletter came from the backlash_ology@yahoogroups.com listed as BO For info. write backlash_ology-owner@yahoogroups.com

four from BO The influence of childhood sexual abuse factors on women’s health. Lundqvist G, Hansson K, Svedin CG. Nord J Psychiatry 2004; 58(5):395-401. “A history of childhood sexual abuse has been shown to be common among adult women, 15-30% in prevalence studies….Two-thirds had been abused for more than 5 years and half through penetration. There was a statistical significance between age of onset (0-6 years) and psychiatric symptoms including eight of nine subscales, according to results from use of the questionnaire Symptom Check List (SCL-90). According to the same questionnaire, there also was a statistical significance between the perpetrator (male relative) and the subscale interpersonal sensitivity. According to the Interview Schedule of Social Interaction, there was a statistical significance between the abuse from penetration and the social integration in the subscale availability of attachment. Thirty-five women (78%) had not told anyone about the sexual abuse when it happened, and the most common reason for this was fear of not being believed.

Negative symptoms, trauma, and autobiographical memory: An investigation of individuals recovering from psychosis. Harrison CL, Fowler D. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2004 Nov; 192(11):745-753. “Negative symptoms were found to be significantly associated with avoidance of traumatic memories related to psychosis and hospitalization and with a lack of specificity in autobiographical recall. Further analysis showed that avoidance related to psychosis and low specificity in recall were significant predictors of negative symptoms. These data suggest that people who avoid traumatic memories of psychosis and hospitalization have more negative symptoms and retrieve fewer specific autobiographical memories. ” Department of Clinical Psychology, Older People’s Mental Services, The Bungalow, Peterborough, United Kingdom; and Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, U. of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

Adolescents who experienced sexual abuse: Fears, needs and impediments to disclosure. Crisma M, Bascelli E, Paci D, Romito P. Child Abuse Negl 2004 Oct; 28(10):1035-1048. “The main impediments to disclose to a family member were fear of not being believed, shame, and fear of causing trouble to the family. The main impediments for not seeking services were ignorance of the existence/functioning of protective agencies, wish to keep the secret, lack of awareness of being abused, mistrust of adults and professionals, and fear of the consequences of disclosure. When they did disclose to professionals, the teens received very limited support.” Faculty of Psychology, University of Trieste, Via S. Anastasio 12, 34142 Trieste, Italy.

Assessing the long-term effects of EMDR: Results from an 18-month follow-up study with adult female survivors of CSA. Edmond T, Rubin A. J Child Sex Abus 2004; 13(1):69-86. “The current study provides preliminary evidence that the therapeutic benefits of EMDR for adult female survivors of CSA can be maintained over an 18-month period. Furthermore, there is some support for the suggestion that EMDR did so more efficiently and provided a greater sense of trauma resolution than did routine individual therapy.” George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, Campus Box 1196, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. teel@gwbmail.wustl.edu

Psychiatric News November 5, 2004 Volume 39 Number 21 © 2004 American Psychiatric Association p. 37 Clinical & Research News – Suicide Risk May Remain Decades After Sexual Abuse by Mark Moran “Sexual abuse may amplify the desire for escape and cessation of psychic pain well into middle age and older adulthood. Time may not heal all wounds when it comes to childhood sexual abuse. Older depressed women who experienced childhood sexual abuse prior to the age of 18 appear more likely to contemplate suicide or to have attempted suicide than same-age depressed women who do not have a history of sexual abuse, according to a report in the October American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. “This study suggests that it is important for clinicians to think about and be aware of the value of asking older patients about a history of sexual abuse,” lead author Nancy Talbot, Ph.D., told Psychiatric News….In the study, Talbot and colleagues evaluated 127 women over the age of 50 who were admitted to a psychiatric unit with a diagnosis of major depression. Of those, 18 women reported having experienced sexual abuse in their youth, defined as “unwanted sexual contact before age 18.” Of the 18, 15 (83 percent) had attempted suicide in their lifetime, and 12 (67 percent) had made multiple attempts. By comparison, 58 percent of women with major depression who had not experienced childhood sexual abuse reported at least one attempt in their lifetime, and 27 percent reported multiple attempts. The abused women were also much more likely to have experienced suicidal ideation than those who had not been abused (67 percent versus 18 percent).” http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/21/37?etoc

The association between adverse childhood experiences and adolescent pregnancy, long-term psychosocial consequences, and fetal death Susan D. Hillis “Despite reductions in the rate of adolescent pregnancy and birthrates during the 1990s, adolescent pregnancy rates in the United States still exceed those of other developed countries by 2- to 15-fold. Four of 10 adolescent girls get pregnant before the age of 20 in the United States, leading to ~900 000 teenage pregnancies each year. Consequences frequently attributed to adolescent pregnancy include long-term psychosocial and economic disadvantages for the teen mother, as characterized by lower educational attainment, lower income, and a greater risk of being a single parent, The impact of adolescent pregnancy on the fetus or infant is multifaceted: many studies report an increased risk of fetal death, and infants born to teen mothers have an increased tendency to be low birth weight or premature and are apt to have poorer cognitive development, lower educational attainment, more frequent criminal activity, and higher risk of abuse, neglect, abandonment, and behavioral problems during childhood. Whether adolescent pregnancy itself leads to adverse reproductive outcomes or whether these outcomes are consequences of the same environment of adversity that led to the teen pregnancy has been the focus of debate. The association between adolescent pregnancy and long-term consequences seems to be attenuated when factors that precede and increase the risk of adolescent pregnancy are controlled.” http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0950/is_2_113/ai_113646336/print

The role of overgeneral autobiographical memory in the development of adult depression following childhood trauma. Burnside E, Startup M, Byatt M, Rollinson L, Hill J. Br J Clin Psychol 2004 Nov; 43(Pt 4):365-76. “Overgeneral autobiographical memory (AM) has been associated with episodes of clinical depression in adults and also with reported experience of childhood sexual abuse (CSA)….Women who reported episodes of depression recalled fewer categoric memories in response to cue words than those who reported no episodes of depression. Correlations indicated that the number of categoric memories recalled for all cue words was associated with early abuse and greater duration of abuse….Relationships between AM and the age, and duration of abuse are consistent with previous findings of a relationship between CSA and AM.” School of Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor, UK.

From LMS These Unseen Wounds Cut Deep- A mental health crisis is emerging, with one in six returning soldiers afflicted, experts say. By Esther Schrader – Washington 11/14/04 “A study by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research found that 15.6% of Marines and 17.1% of soldiers surveyed after they returned from Iraq suffered major depression, generalized anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder — a debilitating, sometimes lifelong change in the brain’s chemistry that can include flashbacks, sleep disorders, panic attacks, violent outbursts, acute anxiety and emotional numbness. Army and Veterans Administration mental health experts say there is reason to believe the war’s ultimate psychological fallout will worsen. The Army survey of 6,200 soldiers and Marines included only troops willing to report their problems. The study did not look at reservists, who tend to suffer a higher rate of psychological injury than career Marines and soldiers. And the soldiers in the study served in the early months of the war, when tours were shorter and before the Iraqi insurgency took shape.” “Last year, 1,100 troops who had fought in Iraq or Afghanistan came to VA clinics seeking help for symptoms of depression or post-traumatic stress; this year, the number grew tenfold. In all, 23% of Iraq veterans treated at VA facilities have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.” http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-trauma14nov14,0,2230913.story?coll=la-home-headlines

A Flood of Troubled Soldiers Is in the Offing, Experts Predict By Scott Shane – The New York Times 12/16/04 – Washington “The nation’s hard-pressed health care system for veterans is facing a potential deluge of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war, veterans’ advocates and military doctors say. An Army study shows that about one in six soldiers in Iraq report symptoms of major depression, serious anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, a proportion that some experts believe could eventually climb to one in three, the rate ultimately found in Vietnam veterans. Because about one million American troops have served so far in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Pentagon figures, some experts predict that the number eventually requiring mental health treatment could exceed 100,000.” http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121704X.shtml

Symptoms of Dissociation in Humans Experiencing Acute, Uncontrollable Stress: A Prospective Investigation – Charles A. Morgan, III, M.D., M.A., Gary Hazlett, Maj., Psy. D., Sheila Wang, Ph.D., E. Greer Richardson, Jr., M.D., Paula Schnurr, Ph.D., and Steven M. Southwick, M.D. Am J Psychiatry 158:1239-1247, August 2001 “”In study 1, 96% of subjects reported dissociative symptoms in response to acute stress. Total scores, as well as individual item scores, on the dissociation scale were significantly lower in Special Forces soldiers compared to general infantry troops. In study 2, 42% of subjects reported dissociative symptoms before stress and 96% reported them after acute stress. Dissociative symptoms before and after stress were significantly higher in individuals who reported a perceived threat to life in the past. Forty-one percent of the variance in reported health problems was accounted for by poststress dissociation scores….Symptoms of dissociation were prevalent in healthy subjects exposed to high stress. Stress-hardy individuals (Special Forces soldiers) experienced fewer symptoms of dissociation, compared to individuals who were less hardy. These data support the idea that the nature of response to previously experienced threatening events significantly determines the nature of psychological and somatic response to subsequent stress.” http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/158/8/1239

Child Abuse & Neglect: Dissociative Identity Disorder Author: Muhammad Waseem, MD, Coauthor(s): Richard M Switzer, Jr, MD “Research statistics have revealed an astonishing incidence of trauma, including childhood physical and sexual abuse, in the histories of both psychiatric patients and the general population. The deleterious effects of childhood abusive experiences on growth and development have been well documented and are associated with a variety of later mental health problems. Diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder is not usually made until adulthood, long after the extreme maltreatment thought to engender the condition has passed. Therefore, although a consensus exists that the most common cause of the disorder is early, ongoing, extreme physical and/or sexual abuse, accounts of such abuse are usually provided retrospectively by the patient and lack objective verification. Researchers have shown that, in many instances, borderline personality disorder, multiple personality disorder (MPD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood may be traced to childhood abuse.” http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2651.htm

Splitting in Normal and Pathological Populations from the Perspective of Predictive Control Theory – A Reconceptualization – Andy C. Dean Theory & Psychology 2004 Sage Publications. Vol. 14(1): 29-55 DOI: 10.1177/0959354304040197 www.sagepublications.com For the purpose of clarification, the defense mechanism of splitting is delimited into normal forms evident in healthy populations and pathological forms common to some psychopathological populations. Normal splitting is defined as a less extreme variant of pathological splitting which tends to evince more palpable splitting of the other-image compared to the self-image, largely as a result of the reasonably stable self concept typical of normal populations. Splitting is investigated within the evolutionary context and is presented as possessing adaptive antecedents which facilitate extrapsychic survival as it relates to intrapsychic survival. A new theory of splitting, entitled predictive control theory (PCT), is proposed which conceptualizes splitting as the facilitation of prediction and perceived control under threatening and/or stressful periods. This framework conceptualizes splitting as working with, rather than against, anxiety to facilitate rapid survival actions. The PCT model is examined in both normal and pathological development and adulthood. Article at http://tap.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/14/1/29.pdf

Dissociation and Violence – a Review of the Literature – Andrew Moskowitz – University of Auckland “Violent acts are sometimes committed by people who do not normally appear violent or aggressive. This simple observation and others have led some to speculate about a relationship between dissociation and violence. However, no systematic review of the literature has so far been published. To address this gap, studies assessing the prevalence of dissociation among violent individuals, and violence among highly dissociative persons, are reviewed. Possible links between dissociation and violent behavior are explored. It is concluded that dissociation predicts violence in a wide range of populations and may be crucial to an understanding of violent behavior.” http://tva.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/5/1/21

Abuse Victims’ Camp “In the nearly three years since the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal broke, hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid out to victims. But for many of those victims, cash settlements don’t erase the pain. Now, there is a national retreat center for those victims located on a farm near Louisville, Kentucky.” http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week813/cover.html

Child sexual abuse in China: A study of adolescents in four provinces. Chen J, Dunne MP, Han P. Child Abuse Negl 2004 Nov; 28(11):1171-86. “From a total enrolment of 3,261 students in the target classes in years 11 and 12, 2,300 (70.5%) returned valid questionnaires. Mean age was 17.2 years….Prevalence of any unwanted sexual experience before the age of 16 years was higher among females (16.7%) than males (10.5%). Sexual penetration was rarely reported (1%), while 7% reported at least one type of physical contact abuse (female 8.9%, male 5.0%)….Males and females with CSA were more depressed and suicidal, and drank alcohol more often, than unaffected adolescents. Contact CSA was strongly associated with sexual intercourse (ever) for both males and females. Females with CSA were more likely than others to engage in anorexic and bulimic behaviors, while males with CSA were often involved in violence.” Institute of Child and Adolescent Health, Peking University Health Science Centre, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.

Childhood abuse and neglect and adult intimate relationships: A prospective study. Colman RA, Widom CS. Child Abuse Negl 2004 Nov; 28(11):1133-51. “Between 1989 and 1995, 1,196 participants (676 abused and neglected and 520 controls) were administered a 2-hour in-person interview, including a psychiatric assessment and a variety of standardized rating scales. RESULTS: Male and female abuse and neglect victims reported higher rates of cohabitation, walking out, and divorce than controls. Abused and neglected females were also less likely than female controls to have positive perceptions of current romantic partners and to be sexually faithful.” The Research Foundation, The University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA.

Memory for child sexual abuse – Traumatic Impact Predicts Long-Term Memory for Documented Child Sexual Abuse Kristen Weede Alexander, Jodi A. Quas, Gail S. Goodman, Simona Ghetti, Robin S. Edelstein, Allison D. Redlich, Ingrid M. Cordon, and David P.H. Jones – Gail S. Goodman, Department of Psychology, One Shields Ave., University of California, Davis, CA 95616; e-mail: ggoodman@ucdavis.edu, or to Jodi Quas, Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697. “Prospective studies of adults’ memories of documented child sexual abuse (CSA) reveal that the majority of individuals remember their victimization. However, the accuracy of these memories has rarely been investigated scientifically. The present study examined predictors of memory accuracy and errors 12 to 21 years after abuse ended for individuals with legal experiences resulting from documented CSA. Severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology was associated with memory accuracy. However, individuals nominating CSA as their most traumatic life event exhibited relatively accurate memory regardless of indicators of PTSD. Predictors of memory errors were also identified (e.g., less maternal support). These results indicate that, in addition to understanding the role of traditional cognitive factors, understanding an event’s traumatic impact is important for predicting the accuracy of long-term memory for reported CSA.” http://www.psychologicalscience.org/members/journal_issues/psinpress/alexander.pdf

Are Allegations of Sexual Abuse That Arise During Child Custody Disputes More Likely to Be False? An Annotated Review of the Research Bala, N. & Schuman, J. (2000). Allegations of sexual abuse when parents have separated. Canadian Family Law Quarterly, 17, 191-241. Canadian Family Law “Judgments: Nicholas Bala and John Schuman, two Queen’s University law professors, reviewed judges’ written decisions in 196 cases between 1990 and 1998 where allegations of either physical or sexual abuse were raised in the context of parental separation. Only family law cases were considered; child protection and criminal decisions were excluded. The study showed that the judges felt that only a third of unproven cases of child abuse stemming from custody battles involve someone deliberately lying in court. In these cases, the judges found that fathers were more likely to fabricate the accusations than mothers. Of female-initiated allegations, just 1.3% were deemed intentionally false by civil courts, compared with 21% when the man in the failed relationship brought similar allegations. The cases involved 262 alleged child victims (74% of them alleged sexual abuse).”

Care for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Tidy H. Mod Midwife. 1996 Jul;6(7):17-9. Childhood sexual abuse affects at least 18% of British women but the true figure may be far higher. Repressed memories may resurface at childbirth. Midwives need to be aware of certain behavioural tendencies which may indicate childhood sexual abuse. There are four recognised labour styles which may be adopted by abuse survivors. Extra sensitivity should be used by midwives when caring for a possible abuse survivor. Disclosure of abuse must always come from the client.

Characteristics of adolescent street youth with a history of pregnancy. Haley N, Roy E, Leclerc P, Boudreau JF, Boivin JF. Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2004 Oct; 17(5):313-20. “Among the 225 participants, 41.8% were ever pregnant. Both groups were similar with respect to age (mean 17.8 years) and other socio-economic characteristics. However, AEP (ever pregnant) were more likely to have been kicked out of home and to have run away and were homeless younger and since a longer period. Both groups had problematic alcohol and drug use: 31.3% had a CAGE score >2; 72.2% had a DAST score >6. Almost half (44.0%) had ever injected drugs and AEP were younger at initiation into drug injection. More AEP had experienced intra-familial or extra-familial sexual abuse, and had had more than one abuser. Among those abused by family members, abuse occurred at an earlier age for AEP and more AEP reported severe abuse: vaginal penetration (62.2% vs. 26.7%, P=0.004) and anal penetration….Histories of severe sexual abuse and early injection drug use are extremely frequent in ever pregnant street adolescents.” Montreal Public Health Department, Infectious Diseases Unit, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Bernice Jepson, author of “I’m not that way anymore” (Publish America – 2004) is a writer for the Ohio Homicide Investigative Organization besides trying to get her message out against abuse. In her gritty no holds barred approach to abuse, someone else dealing with similar issues should find themselves in her story. To order her book, write support@publishamerica.com

Judge dismisses family’s claim in Wenatchee sex-rings case 12/10/04 Spokane, Wash. “A federal judge has dismissed a family’s claim that their constitutional rights were violated in the 1994-95 Wenatchee child sex-abuse investigations. U.S. District Judge Alan MacDonald called the Doggett family lawsuit “frivolous” and ordered their lawyer to pay the City of Wenatchee’s legal fees. In his ruling, issued Thursday in Spokane, MacDonald said there is no evidence that former Wenatchee police Detective Bob Perez knowingly conducted abusive interviews or fabricated evidence against the Doggetts. ” http://www.krem.com/news/local/stories/NW_112004WAKrem_sexringEL.781263f3.html

America high in child abuse deaths, new research shows By Zachary R. Dowdy – Newsday “The United States, Mexico and Portugal lead the world’s 27 richest nations in deaths stemming from child abuse, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations Children’s Fund. The report, whose authors claim they are the first to compare child maltreatment in the rich, industrialized nations, linked the levels of deaths from child abuse and the levels of violence in society as a whole. It also found that in 80 percent of cases worldwide, the child abusers are the child’s biological parents.” http://www.bupipedream.com/091903/wire/w4.htm

A History of Child Abuse, Neglect and Sexual Abuse-Assault Laws is at http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/HistoryChildAbuse.html

DePrince, A.P., Allard, C.B., Oh, H., & Freyd, J.J. (2004) What’s in a name for memory errors? Implications and ethical issues arising from the use of the label “false memory” for errors in memory for details. Ethics & Behavior, 14, 201-233. The term “false memories” has been used to refer to suggestibility experiments in which whole events are apparently confabulated and in media accounts of contested memories of childhood abuse. Since 1992 psychologists have increasingly used the term “false memory” when discussing memory errors for details, such as specific words within word lists. Use of the term to refer to errors in details is a shift in language away from other terms used historically (e.g., “memory intrusions”). We empirically examine this shift in language and discuss implications of the new use of the term “false memories.” Use of the term presents serious ethical challenges to the data-interpretation process by encouraging over-generalization and misapplication of research findings on word memory to social issues.” “Recent changes in language to use the term “false memories” may reflect the influence of a sociopolitical agenda on science. Though science is always necessarily affected by politics because of the biases we each bring to the research domain, the increase in inappropriate extensions of the term “false memory” to laboratory memory errors must be halted.” P.214 http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/articles/daof04.pdf

Traumatic amnesia, repression, and hippocampus injury due to emotional stress, corticosteroids and enkephalins. Joseph R. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 1998 Winter; 29(2):169-85. “Trauma-induced memory deficits appear to be secondary to abnormal neocortical and hippocampal arousal, and corticosteroid and enkephalin secretion which can induce atrophy or seizures within the hippocampus, suppress hippocampal theta activity and long term potentiation, as well as injure hippocampal pyramidal cells. Predisposing factors include individual, age, and sex differences in arousal, and previous emotional trauma or temporal lobe or hippocampal injury. However, as the amygdala processes and stores emotional experiences in memory, patients may also demonstrate trauma related symptoms, including flashbacks as well as shrinking retrograde amnesia.” Brain Research Laboratory, San Jose, CA 95126, USA.

October 13, 2008 · Filed Under Newsletter 2005 - Issues 60 - 65

Issue 60 – January 2005

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