Issue 95 – November 2010
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
Home page: http://ritualabuse.us/
Issue 95 – November 2010
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.
Copyright 2010 – All rights reserved. No reproduction of any material without written permission from the editor and individual authors.
SMART wants to thank all those that have contributed resource information to the newsletter.
A conference to help survivors of severe child abuse (ritual abuse) and torture will be held on August 5 – 7, 2011, between 8 – 5 PM Saturday and Sunday at the DoubleTree Hotel near Bradley International Airport, 16 Ella Grasso Turnpike, Windsor Locks, CT 06096 (between Hartford, CT and Springfield, MA). This conference will help educate survivors of this abuse and their helpers. Pre-registration is preferred. For information write S.M.A.R.T., P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 E-mail: smartnews@aol.com, conference information is at: http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
CD information on the 2010 ritual abuse conference information is at http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
This issue contains information on Casa Pia Portugal child abuse case, pedophile rings, human trafficking, Pentagon employees child porn purchases, clergy abuse, Pope visits UK, Vatican accountability, Boy Scout cases, Craigslist adult ads, Pedophiles – Facebook, Village Voice, prostitution rings, Wikipedia – pedophilia – pornography, West Memphis 3, human experimentation, US Guatemala STD experiments, recovered memory
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.
Ritual Abuse Conference Transcripts and Articles
Ritual Abuse Conference CDs http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
Neil Brick is a survivor of Masonic based Ritual Abuse and MK-ULTRA. He is the editor of S.M.A.R.T. – A Ritual Abuse Newsletter. Fighting the Spin – The Truth about Child Abuse Cases http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2010-conference/fighting-the-spin-the-truth-about-child-abuse-cases/
and The Move from Blame the Victim to Blame the Helper
Survivors of Extreme Abuse: The Awful Rowing Toward Social Emancipation Carmen Yana Holiday is a survivor of extreme domestic violence, human trafficking, child pornography, ritual abuse-torture and mind control. She has been an advocate for other survivors since 2001, developing and facilitating trauma recovery workshops and presenting as a survivor of RA-MC for several organizations.
Survivors of Extreme Abuse The Awful Rowing Toward Social Emancipation
Legal Information
Casa Pia case
Six men jailed for Portugal child sex abuse 9/3/10 Six Portuguese men have been jailed after they were found guilty of sexual abuse at a state-run children’s home. Carlos Silvino was given an 18-year sentence after confessing to 639 charges relating to the abuse of children or procuring them for others. His co-defendants, including the former TV presenter Carlos Cruz, were jailed for between five and seven years. The boys, now aged between 16 and 22, were all residents at the Casa Pia children’s home in the capital, Lisbon. The panel of three judges in the case spent most of the day reading the full verdict in each of the hundreds of sexual abuse accusations.
After ruling that the vast majority of the charges had been proven, they handed down guilty verdicts to six of the seven people on trial. Silvino, a 54-year-old former driver for Casa Pia who abused boys on hundreds of occasions and later offered them to other men for cash, was convicted on all charges.
Cruz and Joao Ferreira Diniz, a doctor, were each given seven-year sentences, while retired ambassador Jorge Ritto got six years and eight months.
Hugo Marcal, a lawyer, was sentenced to six years and two months, while former Casa Pia governor Manuel Abrantes was sentenced to five years and nine months.
But Gertrudes Nunes, a woman who was alleged to have allowed her house in Elvas to be used by the abusers, was acquitted on all charges….The case is one of the longest-running in Portuguese history, lasting more than five years, with testimony from more than 800 witnesses and experts.
During the trial, the 32 victims gave gruesome testimony about being raped by adults in dark cellars, cars and secluded houses….The abuse at Casa Pia is said to have started in the mid-1970s, but was not discovered until 2002, when the mother of a boy placed at a state-run home in Lisbon said he had been abused by staff there. Casa Pia, or Pious House, is a 230-year-old institution which cares for about 4,500 orphans and underprivileged children through a network of homes and schools. This case is not the only one spawned by the investigation that began in 2002. Seven other trials have already run their course, with some of those found guilty themselves former Casa Pia pupils. In March 2006, a court ordered the Portuguese government to pay 2m euros (£1.66m) in compensation to 44 former Casa Pia residents, saying it had failed in its duty to protect them. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11179026
7 defendants convicted in Portugal sex abuse trial By BARRY HATTON AP September 3, 2010 LISBON, Portugal — Seven people were convicted of child sex abuse in Portugal on Friday in a major trial that lasted nearly six years and shocked the country. The six men and one woman were found guilty of crimes including sexually abusing minors and adolescents, raping children and running a pedophile ring at a state-run children’s home in Lisbon during the 1990s. The six men were handed jail sentences of between six and 18 years for sexual abuse. The woman, whose house was used by the ring, was not given a custodial sentence because of a 2007 change in the law, the judge said in the televised ruling without elaborating.
The longest sentence was given to a 53-year-old former driver at the home, Carlos Silvino, who confessed to more than 600 crimes and gave evidence against the other defendants.
Others sent to prison were Carlos Cruz, a popular television presenter with a three-decade career in show business, who will serve seven years; and Jorge Ritto, a decorated career diplomat and former UNESCO ambassador, who was given six years, eight months in jail….The trial, believed to be Portugal’s longest, included testimony from more than 800 witnesses and experts, including 32 alleged victims. http://www.wtop.com/?nid=383&sid=2043069
Carlos Cruz jailed for seven years for paedophile offences Portuguese TV presenter among six convicted over child prostitution at Casa Pia state-run orphanages The Guardian 4 September 2010 One of Portugal’s most famous television presenters and a former ambassador were among six men found guilty yesterday of involvement with a paedophile prostitution ring that exploited children from state-run orphanages. The guilty verdicts handed down to TV presenter Carlos Cruz and the five others exposed the truth of more than three decades of rumours about systematic abuse of young boys at the 230-year-old Casa Pia network of orphanages. It was only when Joel, a former orphanage boy, came forward in 2002 and accused some of the country’s best-known names of being involved that Portugal woke up to full horror of the scandal. Members of Portugal’s media, civil service and professional elite were alleged to be regular abusers of the boys, some younger than 14. Even well-known politicians were involved, it was initially rumoured. A flood of accusations from boys who had passed through the Casa Pia system followed. Some 32 boys alleged at least 800 crimes.
The case pitted the orphanage boys against a group of well-educated, influential people – including a former ambassador to Unesco, a lawyer, a doctor and Cruz. Yesterday, eight years after they dared to speak out, the boys finally won their case. The four men and two former orphanage employees received sentences of between just under six years and 18 years. Carlos Silvino, a 53-year-old Casa Pia worker who confessed to 600 crimes and gave evidence against other defendants was sentenced to 18 years….Cruz, 68, who was once voted Portugal’s most popular man, had paid for sex with a 14-year-old, the judges declared. He also abused at least one other boy. The father of two was known as “Mr Television” after several decades as a national star. He was sentenced to seven years in jail. A doctor, Ferreira Diniz, was also sentenced to seven years and a former ambassador, Jorge Ritto, 74, to six years, and the former Casa Pia ombudsman, Manuel Abrantes, to five. They were found guilty of abusing several young boys. The court found that boys had been regularly taken to a house in the eastern town of Elvas during the 1990s to meet the paedophile clients. Abuse had also taken place in Lisbon. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/03/portugal-paedophile-ring
Police in Poland smash paedophile ring with over 100 arrests Sep 10, 2010 by Gemma Fox Warsaw – A massive criminal investigation in Poland has resulted in the arrests of more than 100 people as police smash a huge paedophile ring. In an operation called “Regina”, criminal investigators in Poland have arrested 102 men. The operation took two years and was supervised by the Human Trafficking Department at Police HQ in Warsaw….The 102 men arrested are accused of possession and distribution of pornographic photos and videos of children in the internet. Four of the men have already been charged and police believe that as investigations continue they will make more arrests. Raids that took place as part of the investigation led police to confiscate 133 computers, hard drives and laptops. They also confiscated 3,500 DVD’s and CD’s which contained images and video of child pornography. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297331
Human Trafficking
China’s crackdown on human trafficking frees 16,517 abducted women, children – English.news.cn 2010-09-20 BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) – Chinese police freed 10,621 women and 5,896 children who had been abducted for human trafficking as of September 6,since the Ministry of Public Security launched a crackdown on trafficking the crime in April last year. In the campaign, police nationwide apprehended 2,398 human trafficking gangs and handled 13,500 such cases, said the ministry in a statement on Sunday. Further, the police put 15,673 suspects under criminal detention and handed out administrative penalties on 1,518 people, it said. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-09/20/c_13520175.htm
A new slavery – Human Trafficking in America – For six months Kansas City Star reporters traveled the world, from Guatemalan migrant shelters to the deadly streets of Tijuana, investigating America’s war against human trafficking. They found that America is losing the battle — even in its own backyard. In fact, Kansas City is an emerging hub of human trafficking activity. http://www.kansascity.com/trafficking/
Congress Holds Hearing on Child Sex Trafficking By James R. Marsh on September 17, 2010 On Wednesday, the House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on DOMESTIC child sex trafficking. At the hearing, former Congresswoman Linda Smith testified that more than 100,000 children are exploited in the sex trade in the United States every year: “Domestic minor sex trafficking is the name we have given to the sexual exploitation of U.S. citizen children through prostitution, pornography and sexual entertainment,” she said. “The name reflects the fact that this exploitation is human trafficking as defined in the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. The crime therefore is a federal crime of trafficking and the victims should receive the full range of protections, services and rights outlined in the TVPA.” http://www.childlaw.us/2010/09/congress-holds-hearing-on-chil.html
H.R.3244 — Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (Enrolled Bill [Final as Passed Both House and Senate] – ENR) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c106:H.R.3244.ENR:
Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography by John Cook 9/3/10 A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department — including some with the highest available security clearance – who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show. The cases turned up during a 2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn payments. As part of the probe, ICE investigators gained access to the names and credit card information of more than 5,000 Americans who had subscribed to websites offering images of child pornography. Many of those individuals provided military email addresses or physical addresses with Army or fleet ZIP codes when they purchased the subscriptions….But the vast majority of those investigated, including an active-duty lieutenant colonel in the Army and an official in the office of the secretary of defense, were never charged. On top of that, 212 people on ICE’s list were never investigated ata all.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100903/us_yblog_upshot/pentagon-declined-to-investigate-hundreds-of-purchases-of-child-pornography
Pentagon to investigate hundreds of suspected child pornography fans in its ranks By John Cook Sep 15, 2010 In a reversal, the Pentagon says it will reopen hundreds of cases of alleged purchases of child pornography by Department of Defense employees that Pentagon officials previously declined to investigate, The Upshot has learned. Earlier this month, The Upshot reported exclusively that in 2007, investigators for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service obtained a list of 264 military service members, civilian employees and contractors for the Department of Defense who had used credit cards or PayPal to purchase access to a child pornography website. But the DCIS, citing scarce resources, pursued only 52 of the names before closing the project — known as Project Flicker — in 2008. Since no further public information on the cases was made available, it appears that the other people on the list of suspected child-pornography patrons were able to continue their careers without any interruption that stemmed from the investigation.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100915/ts_yblog_upshot/pentagon-to-investigate-hundreds-of-suspected-child-pornography-fans-in-its-ranks
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2010 (111th Congress (2009 – 2010) H.R.5575) – Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Attorney General should implement changes to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to identify endangered juveniles; (2) funds awarded under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program should be used to provide education, training, deterrence, and prevention programs relating to sex trafficking of minors; (3) states should treat minor victims of sex trafficking as crime victims rather than as criminal defendants or juvenile delinquents and adopt and amend laws to protect and provide compensation to such victims; and (4) demand for commercial sex with sex trafficking victims must be deterred through consistent law enforcement.
Authorizes the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs to award one-year block grants to up to six state or local governments in different regions of the United States that have significant sex trafficking to combat such trafficking. Requires grant funds to be used to provide shelter and services to minor victims of sex trafficking and for training for service providers.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR05575:@@@L&summ2=m&
‘Forgotten’ kids forced into prostitution By TAMARA CHERRY, QMI Agency TORONTO – Countless “forgotten” children are being trafficked within and across provincial borders and Canada has no clear plan to help them, says a new RCMP report obtained by QMI Agency….While Dalley’s report mostly refers to trafficked teens, it mentions children as young as six are forced into prostitution in Canada. Some mothers force or coerce their daughters into sex work so they can buy drugs or pay off drug debts, the report notes. “As well, some family members consciously force children as young as six years old into the sex trade. These children are given drugs to ease the pain and awkwardness of the situation – a practice that exposes them to drugs at an early age, and consequently may create an addiction situation,” Dalley writes. Sparse as information was in 2008, Dalley found more than 400 children, some as young as 11, were reported as working for pimps in Calgary. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2010/07/01/14580696.html
Clergy Abuse
Revealed, six decades of ‘ritual’ child abuse: Catholic schools and orphanages damned in report By Tom Kelly 21st May 2009
* Abuse was ‘endemic’ in childrens’ institutions
* Safety of children in general was not a consideration
* No abusers will be prosecuted
* Victims banned from launch of shocking report
Church leaders and government watchdogs covered up ‘endemic’ and ‘ritualised’ abuse of thousands of children in Roman Catholic schools and orphanages in the Irish Republic, a shocking report revealed yesterday. For six decades, priests and nuns terrorised boys and girls in the workhouse-style schools with sexual, physical and mental abuse. But officials in Ireland’s Catholic Church shielded paedophile staff from arrest to protect their own reputations despite knowing they were serial attackers, according to the 2,600-page report, which took nine years to complete. Irish government inspectors also failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation, it found. About 35,000 children and teenagers who were orphans, petty thieves, truants, unmarried mothers or from dysfunctional families were sent to Ireland’s network of 250 Church-run industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and hostels from the 1930s up until the early 1990s.
The report by Ireland’s Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse found ‘a climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions and all those run for boys’. It added: ‘Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from.’ Judge Sean Ryan, who chaired the commission, said that when confronted with evidence of sex abuse, religious authorities responded by moving the sex offenders to another location, where in many instances they were free to abuse again. ‘There was evidence that such men took up teaching positions sometimes within days of receiving dispensations because of serious allegations or admissions of sexual abuse,’ the report said. ‘The safety of children in general was not a consideration.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1184828/Revealed-decades-ritual-child-abuse-Catholic-schools-orphanages-damned-report.html
US Catholic Church tarred with new child sex abuse scandal (AFP) – 8/19/10 LOS ANGELES — The Roman Catholic Church in the United States has become embroiled in a new pedophilia scandal with six women and one man alleging sexual abuse by a priest over three decades. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Oakland, California accused Father Stephen Kiesle of acts of sexual abuse between 1972 and 2001, and alleged that Catholic Church officials knew of the crimes but did not stop them….”The Catholic bishops in the United States of America and the Holy See have long facilitated the sexual molestation of children by engaging in the harboring and protection of known child molesting priests,” read a copy of the latest lawsuit obtained by AFP. “The bishops and Catholic hierarchs have done so to prevent the priests from being prosecuted and to avoid scandal,” the lawsuit read.
It said church figures “have subjected Catholic families and children in these communities to known pedophiles, counting on the devotion and reverence in the communities to keep any further abuse by the priests secret.” The plaintiffs, six women and one man, said they were abused by Kiesle throughout childhood and adolescence, although one alleged victim, Teresa Rosson, 48, said she suffered abuse at the hand of the cleric until about a decade ago….The church paid out 436 million dollars in 2008 for sex abuse cases involving clergy members, according to an official report last year. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQBBSk_uYg4jA3-9tCdlGsxSDhnw
900 abuse cases in Dutch clergy 2010-08-25 The Hague – A Dutch commission set up five months ago to look into suspected sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in the Netherlands said on Wednesday it has received about 900 reports from alleged victims. “The 900 reports come mainly from victims but also from relatives of the victims who contacted us,” Gert Jan Verhoog, a spokesperson for the commission told AFP….Some members of the clergy accused of abuse gave themselves up to the commission, Verhoog said….At the same time, a Catholic Church committee called Hulp & Recht (Support and Right), tasked with collecting reports from alleged victims, has so far received about 1 600 statements, spokesperson Ben Spekman told AFP. http://www.news24.com/World/News/900-abuse-cases-in-Dutch-clergy-20100825
Belgian court bins church paedophile raids evidence Sep 9, 2010 BRUSSELS (AFP) – Belgian judges ruled invalid on Thursday truckloads of evidence seized by police in summer raids probing paedophile scandals within the country’s Roman Catholic Church. An appeals court deemed the raids, on the church headquarters in Brussels and at the home of its former top cardinal, disproportionate, and ordered that the material — on hundreds of individual investigations conducted by an internal church commission — be returned with prosecutors unable to use it. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100909/wl_afp/belgiumreligionchildabuse
Church abuse in Belgium detailed by Adriaenssens report 10 September 2010 Harrowing details of alleged sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clergy in Belgium have been released by an official Church investigator. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11260290
Belgian child abuse report exposes Catholic clergy – Paedophilia expert unveils harrowing testimony and documents cases in almost every diocese Ian Traynor in Brussels guardian.co.uk, Friday 10 September 2010 Some of the most damning evidence of systematic child abuse by the Roman Catholic clergy to come to light was unveiled today by Belgium’s leading authority on paedophilia, who published hundreds of pages of harrowing victim testimony detailing their traumas and suffering. The explosive report by Peter Adriaenssens in the town of Louvain, east of Brussels, lists evidence of 476 instances of child abuse by priests and bishops going back 50 years. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/belgium-child-abuse-catholic-church
describes abuse
Priest sex abuse linked to 13 suicides in Belgium Virginia Mayo – AP File Friday, Sept. 10, 2010 BRUSSELS — Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two, a special commission said Friday….Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who has worked with trauma victims for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories of abuse that blighted the lives of victims. “We don’t just talk about touching. We are talking about oral and anal abuse, forced masturbation and mutual masturbation. We talk about people who have gone through serious abuse,” Adriaenssens said. Most of the abuse happened during the 1960s and 1970s, he said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39093978
Ex-bishop in Belgian abuse scandal goes to hiding By RAF CASERT Associated Press Writer Sep 11, 2010 BRUSSELS (AP) – The former Belgian bishop who resigned in April after admitting he sexually abused a nephew for years said Friday he would go into hiding to assess his future, despite calls for him to leave the church immediately. Roger Vangheluwe said in a statement he would immediately leave an abbey in his bishopry of Bruges, where he has been staying since his April 23 resignation. His bishopry has urged him to seek another place to live, and several victims of sexual abuse by clergy as well as a prominent senator have called on him to leave the church as an institution. http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1738048.shtml
Belgian sex abuse tapes amplify Catholic scandals Sun Aug 29, 2010 PARIS (Reuters) – Leaked tapes of Belgium’s Cardinal Godfried Danneels urging a victim not to reveal he was sexually abused by a bishop are some of the most damaging documents to emerge in the scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church. The tapes, made secretly by the victim and published in two Belgian newspapers on Saturday, show the former primate of Belgium exhorting him to accept a private apology or wait one year until the bishop retired before making his case public.
Their meeting took place on April 8, at a time when the Vatican was under fire for allegedly covering up similar abuse cases by priests in other countries and shocking abuse claims dominated the news in several European states. A spokesman for Danneels denied the once popular archbishop of Brussels wanted to cover up the case, which led to the sudden resignation of Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, 73, later that month, but the tapes show him arguing firmly for silence. Belgian Church spokesman Jurgen Mettepenningen confirmed to Reuters that the transcripts in the Flemish dailies De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad were genuine. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67S11920100829
Pope’s Visit to the UK
Protest the Pope rally sees 10,000 march through London’s streets – Crowd carries messages condemning papal stance on condoms, homosexuality, women’s rights and child abuse scandal. Tracy Mcveigh guardian.co.uk September 2010 Day three of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain and it was a day for protests and anti-papists under bright blue skies in central London. Around 10,000 people took to the capital’s streets for a Protest the Pope rally and march against what the organisers called “papal intolerance” and to condemn the state funding of the visit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/18/pope-benedict-xvi-protest
Abuse victims call pope’s apology ‘PR, not penitence’ – Faith & Reason Sep 18, 2010
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/09/pope-sexual-abuse-scandal-apology/1
Victim’s message to pope: Our souls were ‘murdered’ – Americans travel to U.K. to demonstrate against abuse ‘cover-up’ Video By Ian Johnston msnbc.com 9/16/2010….Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) victims’ group, told msnbc.com that they wanted to see a publicly accessible, worldwide register of priests who were “credibly accused predators,” so parents could find out if their children were at risk. They also want the pope to hand over internal church documents about sex-abuse accusations to local police for investigation and bishops who were complicit in the “cover-up” of sexual abuse to be disciplined. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39207699/ns/world_news-europe
Pope faces protests and apathy on visit to Britain – Survey reveals that 77% of people questioned felt taxpayer should not contribute to cost of pontiff’s trip – Sam Jones, Riazat Butt, Stephen Bates and Kaamil Ahmed 10 September 2010 When Benedict XVI lands at Edinburgh airport on Thursday, he is unlikely to get the rapturous reception that greeted John Paul II on his visit to Britain in 1982. Over the coming days, the pope will be faced with protesters demanding action on clerical sexual abuse of children and voicing anger at the £20m cost of the state visit, and must also contend with public apathy. A recent survey revealed 77% of people questioned felt the taxpayer should not contribute to the cost of the visit, with 79% saying they had “no personal interest” in the pontifical trip.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/pope-faces-protests-british-visits
Church sex abuse victims call on Pope to take action 11 September 2010 Abuse survivors want to pass their testimonies to the Pope Campaigners who say they were sexually abused by Catholic priests as children have demanded “action not words” from the Pope. They plan to compile messages to the Pope in a book to give to him during his visit to Scotland and England. The campaigners want a statutory inquiry into clergy sex abuse, pastoral care and funding to support victims. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference said the church in England and Wales has put in place measures to protect children. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11267301
Pope’s visit: Catholic abuse survivors demand justice – Pope must hand over to authorities all information on abusive clergy, say survivor groups before Benedict’s arrival in UK Sam Jones guardian.co.uk, 15 September 2010 Survivors of abuse within the Roman Catholic church repeated their demand that the pope hand over all information on abusive clergy, in advance of his arrival in the UK tomorrow on a controversial state visit. They told a press conference in central London today that repeated apologies meant nothing and they wanted “truth, justice and accountability.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/15/pope-visit-catholic-abuse-justice
German Jesuits offer abuse victims compensation (AP) – 9/16/10 BERLIN — A spokesman for Germany’s Jesuits says they plan to pay the victims of sexual abuse in the order’s schools a “symbolic compensation” of at least euro5,000 ($6,500). Jesuit spokesman Thomas Busch said Thursday the order has not yet made a final decision on the amount that will be offered to about 200 victims who were abused decades ago. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hNOfSa1jBGKk_KjTBCQ6rTFoqJ7AD9I90ERO0
US judge asks Vatican to serve court paper to pope By DINESH RAMDE , Associated Press October 1, 2010 MILWAUKEE – A federal U.S. judge is asking the Vatican to cooperate in serving the pope and two other top officials with court papers that stem from decades-old allegations of sexual abuse by a priest in Wisconsin. The request is an incremental step in a lawsuit that accuses the officials of conspiring to keep the allegations against the Milwaukee priest quiet. The Vatican is not obliged to comply with the request. When faced with similar requests the Vatican has made service difficult, time-consuming and expensive by insisting, for example, that documentation be translated into Latin, one of the Vatican’s official languages. http://www.startribune.com/local/104159973.html
also at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101001/ap_on_re_us/us_church_abuse_vatican_lawsuit_3
The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuses by Geoffrey Robertson Terry Eagleton welcomes a coolly devastating inquiry into the Vatican’s handling of child abuse Terry Eagleton The Guardian, Saturday 11 September 2010 The first child sex scandal in the Catholic church took place in AD153, long before there was a “gay culture” or Jewish journalists for bishops to blame it on. By the 1960s, the problem had become so dire that a cleric responsible for the care of “erring” priests wrote to the Vatican suggesting that it acquire a Caribbean island to put them on. What has made a bad situation worse, as the eminent QC Geoffrey Robertson argues in this coolly devastating inquiry, is canon law – the church’s own arcane, highly secretive legal system, which deals with alleged child abusers in a dismayingly mild manner rather than handing them over to the police. Its “penalties” for raping children include such draconian measures as warnings, rebukes, extra prayers, counselling and a few months on retreat.
It is even possible to interpret canon law as claiming that a valid defence for paedophile offences is paedophilia. Since child abusers are supposedly incapable of controlling their sexual urges, this can be used in their defence. It is rather like pleading not guilty to stealing from Tesco’s on the grounds that one is a shoplifter. One blindingly simple reason for the huge amount of child abuse in the Catholic church (on one estimate, up to 9% of clerics are implicated) is that the perpetrators know they will almost certainly get away with it. For almost a quarter of a century, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the man who is now Pope, was in supreme command of this parallel system of justice – a system deliberately hidden from the public, police and parliaments and run, so Robertson maintains, in defiance of international law.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/11/pope-vatican-abuse-geoffrey-robertson
Should the Pope face charges? A renowned lawyer makes the case that the Pope should have his day in court for harbouring pedophiles by Brian Bethune September 11, 2010….British lawyer Geoffrey Robertson concedes in The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse, a book set to appear just one week before Benedict XVI makes the first-ever papal state visit to Britain. But, Robertson argues, the once unthinkable idea that Benedict or a successor could be charged with obstructing justice or for “harbouring pedophile priests” is now very thinkable, and—given evolving trends in international human rights law—may soon be practical….So many cases emerged that the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference commissioned an expert study, which concluded in 2004 that, since 1950, 10,667 individuals had made plausible allegations against 4,392 priests, 4.3 per cent of the entire body of clergy in that period. The total bill in settlements with victims is spiralling toward $2 billion and won’t stop, Forbes predicts, this side of $5 billion. Depressingly similar stories from other First World countries, including Canada, soon emerged; the situation in Latin America and Africa, where no investigations have ever been made, can only be imagined….in 1952 Gerald Fitzgerald, the American founder of the Paraclete order, which treats erring priests of all sorts, brought a specific warning to Rome. “Leaving pedophile priests on duty or wandering from diocese to diocese,” he said, was a moral evil and a scandal waiting to break. http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/09/11/should-the-pope-face-charges/
Call to treat Vatican as a rogue state September 9, 2010 Lawyer Geoffrey Robertson says the church must abandon canon law, writes Paola Totaro. THE Vatican should be treated as a kind of ”rogue state” by the rest of the world until it stops using statehood – and the ancient rules of the canon law – to protect paedophile priests.
So says Geoffrey Robertson, QC, the veteran human rights lawyer and United Nations judge, arguing that the Catholic Church is the only religion permitted under international law to claim the privileges of statehood and its leaders immunity from civil or criminal action.
In his new book, The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse published as a Penguin special in Britain – and in Australia at the weekend – Mr Robertson urges the world to press the Catholic Church into abandoning canon law, the ancient set of ecclesiastical rules that also define disciplinary provisions for offences ranging from sex crimes to ordaining women.
However, these punishments, sometimes meted out under mediaeval written procedures run by fellow priests, allow ”neither cross-examination and medical examination, nor DNA testing” and ”no punishment worthy of that name”, he says. ”The worst that can happen, other than an order to do penance, is ‘laicisation’; that is, defrocking, which permits the paedophile to leave the church and get a job in a state school or care home, without anyone knowing of this conviction. Canon law has no sex offenders registry. ”While there can be no objection to an organisation disciplining members for a breach of arcane rules, there is every objection when those breaches amount to serious crimes and the organisation claims the right to deal with them internally without reporting them to the police. ”And that is precisely what the Vatican has been doing: instead of reporting to law enforcement authorities those priests it knows to be guilty of raping children, and to be likely to rape more children in the future, it has been dealing with them under canon law, which demands utmost pontifical secrecy, moving them to other parishes and letting them off with admonitions and unenforceable penances … usually to say prayers for their victims.’ http://www.smh.com.au/world/call-to-treat-vatican-as-a-rogue-state-20100908-151cg.html
Deaf victim of sex abuse is suing pope, and going public with his story for the first time Editor’s note: A one-hour CNN special, “What the Pope Knew,” will air Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, 8pm and 11pm ET. This story is drawn from that exclusive report. By Scott Bronstein CNN Special Investigations Unit September 23rd, 2010 MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin – Terry Kohut has kept a dark secret for nearly 50 years. Now he is breaking his silence, becoming a key figure in the sex-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and the growing controversy over what Pope Benedict XVI did about it.
When Kohut was barely a teen, and for years afterward, he says, he was sexually molested and assaulted by the headmaster and priest of the school where he lived, St. John’s School for the Deaf, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. What occurred there is one of the most notorious cases of sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Kohut was not alone. From 1950 to 1974 the headmaster of St. Johns, Father Lawrence C. Murphy, raped and molested as many as 200 deaf boys, according to court and church documents. Kohut has now filed the first sex-abuse lawsuit against the Vatican actually naming Pope Benedict, previously known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as a defendant. Ratzinger was once head of the Vatican’s powerful CDF, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, charged in certain circumstances with investigating the sexual abuse of minors by priests. And though church records show the abuse by Father Murphy was brought to the attention of Ratzinger and the CDF years ago, a church trial against the headmaster was stopped and he was allowed to remain a priest.
The Vatican’s “policy of secrecy” in abuse cases, and its “directives to conceal the sexual abuse of children” by priests, the lawsuit says, helped bring about the abuse of Kohut and others by Father Murphy….Steven Geier and Carl Nelson were also deaf students who say Father Murphy sexually assaulted them repeatedly. They say Father Murphy would prowl the dorm at night, visiting boys in their beds, raping and sexually assaulting them. He would also routinely assault and molest his victims in one of the church’s most sacred places – the confessional – church documents show….Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson is the lead lawyer in Kohut’s lawsuit. Anderson has filed hundreds of lawsuits for sexual abuse victims of priests, and has obtained a massive trove of internal Vatican documents to build his case against the pope. He says numerous abuse cases show that Vatican officials all the way to the top, including then Cardinal Ratzinger, did little to help the victims, and were mostly interested in protecting the church from scandal….
Groups of boys tried to tell local police and even the local District Attorney in Milwaukee about what was being done to them, according to Kohut, Geier, Nelson and others CNN interviewed. But no one ever believed their story, and local police even drove them back to the school, returning the boys to Father Murphy. After years of allegations and reports of abuse, and threats of lawsuits, local bishops finally moved Father Murphy in 1974 to remote northern Wisconsin. There, more abuse allegations later surfaced.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/23/deaf-victim-of-sex-abuse-is-suing-pope-and-going-public-with-his-story-for-the-first-time/
“What the Pope Knew” Reported by CNN’s Gary Tuchman WEBWIRE – September 01, 2010 Investigative documentary exploring pope’s role in managing the child sexual abuse crisis – debuts Saturday, September 25at 8:00pm ET & PT on CNN/U.S. and CNN International During his first papal visit to the U.S., Pope Benedict XVI reached out to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, unprecedented for the Vatican. He became the first pope to directly and personally apologize to victims for their trauma. He was the first to acknowledge publicly that the Church had systemically erred in the way that it had transferred offending priests to new parishes, putting more children at risk, instead of reporting offenders to law enforcement. A new era of accountability seemed to have dawned. But Benedict’s role in managing the child sex abuse scandal while he was Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and as a powerful cardinal at the Vatican, has now come under scrutiny. CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman reports for What the Pope Knew, investigating some of the most notorious pedophile priest cases in the United States and finds that the pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, had direct responsibility for how they were handled. CNN’s investigation reveals that Ratzinger opposed or slowed down the defrocking of some priests, including convicted child molesters.
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=122331
Sex abuse victim learns of Pope’s role – Editor’s note: This story is drawn from CNN’s one-hour special, “What the Pope Knew,” which aired Sept. 25 and Sept. 26, at 8pm and 11pm ET. By Brian Rokus CNN Special Investigations Unit September 24th, 2010 MORRISONVILLE, Ill. – Matt McCormick was in the seventh grade when Father Alvin Campbell gave him a ride home from a baseball game. As they were driving along country roads, Campbell put his hand on McCormick’s thigh and “just left it there.” It was the first time the priest had touched him. During the next three years, McCormick says, the abuse would go much further. That was 25 years ago. Just three months ago, he learned that Pope Benedict XVI played a role in keeping his abuser in the church when CNN told him about a letter signed by the pontiff – then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – refusing to defrock the pedophile priest….The priest was convicted in 1985 on multiple charges of sexual assault and sentenced to a 14-year prison sentence. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/24/sex-abuse-victim-learns-of-pope%E2%80%99s-role/
Paedophile priests remain part of church – Channel 4 News report finds many of the Catholic clergy jailed in England and Wales remain in the priesthood – Riazat Butt The Guardian, 15 September 2010 More than half of the Catholic clergy jailed for paedophile activity in England and Wales remain in the priesthood – with several receiving financial support from church authorities, raising serious questions about depth of church commitment to child protection and overshadowing the start of the papal visit. There are also claims the church has breached guidelines it agreed to in 2001 by not punishing offenders appropriately and that it has even relaxed some of the rules on how to treat them….at least 14 of the 22 priests who have served a year or more behind bars are still members of the clergy and 10 of these appear in the most recent edition of the Catholic Directory, the official yearbook of the church. Only eight of the 22 men have been dismissed from their positions. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/15/paedophile-priests-active-church-role
6 Ore. men settle Boy Scout sex abuse cases – Tim Fought, AP – Sep 1, 2010 PORTLAND, Ore. – Six men who were sexually abused three decades ago by a leader of their Boy Scouts troop have settled lawsuits against the national organization dedicated to building character among youngsters. The settlement followed a trial in which the Scouts were accused of failing to act for decades on a growing trove of documents alleging sexual abuse — known in the organization as “the perversion files.” In April, an Oregon jury awarded the first of the six victims to go to trial nearly $20 million from the century-old, congressionally chartered organization….The jury found the Texas-based Boy Scouts of America negligent for allowing a former assistant scoutmaster, Timur Dykes, to associate with Scouts after he admitted to a Scouts official in 1983 that he had molested 17 boys….The Boy Scouts have settled sex abuse lawsuits out of court before, although the exact number is not known because not all are announced.
But an expert on the subject, Patrick Boyle, has said the Scouts were sued at least 60 times in 1984-92 for alleged sex abuse, with settlements and judgments totaling more than $16 million. The plaintiffs’ lawyers said they represent more than a dozen victims in similar sex abuse cases, mainly in the West and Florida. Given the evidence from two decades worth of Scouts documents, the number of instances of sexual abuse that go unreported and the number of victims that sexual predators typically have, the pending cases represent a sliver of what are likely tens of thousands of cases of abuse, said Paul Mones, another attorney for the six men. “During the trial we heard from men in their 60s and 70s who were molested in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s,” he said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100901/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_scouts_sex_abuse
Sex Trafficking
Half the Sky: how the trafficking of women today is on a par with genocide – The authors of a new book, Half the Sky, say the slavery and abuse of women is the greatest moral outrage of our century – Ed Pilkington The Guardian, 19 August 2010….The story of Neth and Momm is just a small indication of the lengths Kristof and WuDunn are prepared to go to expose the injustices that they see in the modern world. Buying up child prostitutes is pretty extreme, but no more than the message they are seeking to deliver in their groundbreaking book, Half the Sky.
In it, they argue that the world is in the grip of a massive moral outrage no less egregious in scale or in the intensity of despair than the African slave trade of the 18th and 19th centuries or the genocides of the 20th. They believe this outrage is a key factor behind many of the most pressing economic and political issues today, from famine in Africa to Islamist terrorism and climate change. Yet they say the phenomenon is largely hidden, invisible to most of us and passing relatively unreported. At worst it is actively tolerated; at best it is ignored….WuDunn chimes in: “When you hear that 60 to 100 million females are missing in the current population, we thought that number compares in the scope and size. And then you compare the slave trade at its peak in the 1780s, when there were 80,000 slaves transported from Africa to the New World, and you see there are now 10 times that amount of women trafficked across international borders, so you start to think you are talking about comparable weight.”….Half the Sky: How to Change the World by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is published by Virago http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/19/women-slavery-half-the-sky
Half the Sky: how the other half suffer – Half the Sky has been described as ‘a brutal awakening’ and is a bestseller in the US. But can its accounts of violence and injustice to women in the developing world really come as such a surprise? Germaine Greer The Guardian….The book lays out “an agenda for the world’s women focusing on three particular abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence, including honour killings and mass rape; and maternal mortality, which still needlessly claims one woman a minute”. Gender-based violence here includes wife-beating in Asia, but not wife-killing in Britain or America. “Rape has become endemic in South Africa” we learn – as if rape had not coexisted with apartheid. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/31/half-the-sky-germaine-greer
Up to 12,000 foreign ‘sex slaves’ work in British brothels – Up to 12,000 foreign women are being forced to work as “sex slaves” in British brothels by criminal gangmasters running multi-million pound rackets, police have disclosed. By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent 18 Aug 2010 A new report commissioned by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) revealed for the first time the true scale of immigration prostitution and trafficking. At least 2,600 women were confirmed as being trafficked into England and Wales and forced to work as prostitutes, it found. A further 9,200 sex workers at brothels and other premises were considered to be “vulnerable migrants” working unwillingly in the sex trade, but whom researchers could not be certain had been trafficked….Police involved in the two-year study, called Project Acumen, found a total of 17,000 of the 30,000 women involved in the off-street sex trade are foreign born. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7952200/Up-to-12000-foreign-sex-slaves-work-in-British-brothels.html
Human trafficking victims tell stories of modern-day slavery – Human Rights 23.08.2010 – An estimated 700,000 to 4 million people around the world are being trafficked for labor and sexual exploitation each year. Human trafficking is the fastest-growing source of profit for organized crime. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5935051,00.html
Craigslist – Adult Ads
Missouri AG asks Craigslist to remove adult ads AP August 24, 2010 Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has joined 16 other states’ attorneys general in asking Craigslist to drop its adult services section. The attorneys general on Tuesday announced that they sent a letter to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and founder Craig Newmark that says Craigslist has not kept a pledge to crack down on illegal sexual activity on the Internet. Koster said in May 2009 that investigators in his office found several Craigslist ads offering sex-for-money or seeking that type of relationship for the Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, Columbia and Jefferson City areas.
Craigslist pledged in 2008 to better police its site for illegal sex ads. But the letter says prostitution is a booming business on Craigslist and the company doesn’t seem inclined to screen the ads. Other states represented on the letter are Kansas, Connecticut, Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia. http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x1794936712/Missouri-AG-asks-Craigslist-to-remove-adult-ads
Attorneys general call for Craigslist to get rid of adult services ads By the CNN Wire Staff August 26, 2010 (CNN) — Attorneys general in 17 states have banded together to call on Craigslist, the online classified ad website, to discontinue its adult services section. “The increasingly sharp public criticism of Craigslist’s Adult Services section reflects a growing recognition that ads for prostitution — including ads trafficking children — are rampant on it,” the attorneys general said in a Tuesday letter to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and founder Craig Newmark. The letter continued: “We recognize that Craigslist may lose the considerable revenue generated by the Adult Services ads. No amount of money, however, can justify the scourge of illegal prostitution, and the suffering of the women and children who will continue to be victimized, in the market and trafficking provided by Craigslist.”
A Craigslist spokeswoman said Wednesday that the site agreed with at least some of the letter.
“We strongly support the attorneys general desire to end trafficking in children and women, through the Internet or by any other means,” Susan MacTavish Best, who handles media inquiries for Craigslist, told CNN Wednesday. http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/25/craigslist.adult.content/index.html
Adult services censored on Craigslist By the CNN Wire Staff September 4, 2010 (CNN) – (CNN) — Online classified service Craigslist’s decision to censor its adult services section could be a model for other websites, a leader in the fight against prostitution ads said Saturday….The embattled website has been under fire for allegations that it promotes prostitution….The section that usually reads “adult services” on Craigslist was replaced by the word “censored.” It was not immediately clear whether Craigslist removed the adult services and replaced them with the “censored” section, which had a link that was not active. But for users who accessed the account outside the U.S., the erotic services link was still active. Craigslist representatives told CNN on Saturday that they will release a statement at a later time. http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/04/craigslist.censored/index.html?hpt=T1
Craigslist faces new wave of political attacks by Declan McCullagh September 9, 2010 A year ago, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was busy touting e-government, promoting neighborhood social networks, and blogging about squirrel-proofing his bird feeder. But now the 57-year-old entrepreneur is spending his days in more nerve-wracking pursuits: responding to attacks from ambitious attorneys general, legal threats from antiprostitution advocacy groups that sometimes seem to be actually anti-Craigslist, and critical articles written by journalists employed by the same newspapers that his company is helping to slowly eviscerate. And now, two sources have told CNET, a congressional committee has asked Newmark to testify at a hearing in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday afternoon on the topic of “domestic minor sex trafficking.”….
Liability and the law
Then there’s the option of persuading Congress to rewrite Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which says: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” Translated, that means Craigslist isn’t generally liable for what its users do.
But the law that immunizes Craigslist from lawsuit also protects Facebook, Blogspot, Flickr, and innumerable other Web sites. It lets news organizations, including CNET publisher CBS Interactive, permit readers to post comments without prior approval by an editor. It’s probably no exaggeration to say that one sentence–inserted as part of negotiations over antiporn legislation–gave birth to Web 2.0 and modern social networks.
“Any attempt to reopen section 230 will inevitably invite a flurry of other proposals of how to deputize online intermediaries to handle any concern or pet grievance,” says Berin Szoka, a senior fellow at the free-market Progress and Freedom Foundation. “Just limiting it to adult services or prostitution is naive.” Andrea Powell, executive director of the FAIR Fund, is also weighing a class action lawsuit against Craigslist. “There are enough victims,” Powell said. “We were thinking about this one day and reached out and it turns out other groups were pondering it. I had a conversation with one woman who was victimized by Craigslist. By our records, our financial records, they owe her $60,000.” http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20015916-38.html
Facebook – NAMBLA and child porn allegations
EXCLUSIVE: Pedophiles Find a Home for Social Networking — on Facebook By Jana Winter September 28, 2010 FoxNews.com The world’s largest pro-pedophilia advocacy group uses Facebook to connect with its members throughout the world; to find and exchange photos of children; to hone its members’ predatory behavior; and to identify, target and reel in child victims, an investigation by FoxNews.com reveals.
Facebook says it has a strict policy against the posting of content that supports groups engaged in child exploitation, yet a simple, five-second search on Facebook, conducted on Sept. 23, yielded dozens of pages devoted to the infamous North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). Many of those pages featured numerous photos of unnamed boys, some of whom appeared to be too young for kindergarten.
The same day, FoxNews.com found hundreds of links to NAMBLA’s website on Facebook, which has more than half a billion users worldwide. And posts on known pedophile blogs and chat rooms show an organized effort by pedophiles to use the social networking site to prey on children….
a search for “North American Man/Boy Love Association” on Facebook on Sept. 23 produced 87 different groups. Some appear to have been created as a joke, or in protest, but there are others that appear nefarious. The page for “Greensburg group of the North American Man Boy Love Association,” in the category of “Common Interest-Philosophy,” features a photo of a child around 4 years old.
“N.A.M.B.L.A. (East Lansing Chapter) also has a photo of a child, who appears to be about 5 years old. Another, “NAMBLA” in the “Organizations-Advocacy Organizations” category, features a photo of a man being kissed on the cheek by a small child. Its description reads: “We are the North American Man/Boy Love Association. Our sole purpose is to push forward the concept that a consenting man (18+) and a consenting minor (-18) can have a sexual and loving relationship legally. Feel free to send your questions comments or constructive criticism to [redacted e-mail address]. Thank you for your time and support and remember keep fighting the good fight!”
The web address for NAMBLA’s Wikipedia page is provided in the contact information section…. Posts on the pedophile blog Boy Chat reveal a larger strategy for using Facebook. Users provide tips on using the site to assist others in having real-life conversations with children; share tips for evading the eye of law enforcement while trolling Facebook for victims; post changes in privacy policy of social media sites; and even suggest specific individuals to target. In one post, a Boy Chat user points out a specific Facebook user — a former child star — whose profile, they say, holds a trove of desired photos…..
James Marsh, an attorney who represents victims of child sexual exploitation, says Facebook must do more than just what is required by law. “Facebook has a moral and public duty to monitor and stop this activity on their site. Hiding behind legal technicalities is not enough to be a good corporate citizen in the digital age,” Marsh said. “Facebook needs to put children ahead of profits and do what Congress and the American people expect — protect our kids from criminals….” ….
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Sept. 29, following the publication of this article, NAMBLA spokesman Arnold Schoen replied to a request for comment that was emailed to him six days earlier. Schoen wrote: “If you really investigated, you would learn that actually we have never set up any pages on Facebook. And we certainly haven’t ever used facebook to connect with our members, to find or exchange photos, to “hone predatory behavior:, or to “identify, target and reel in child victims….”
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/09/28/pedophiles-find-home-social-networking-facebook/
Facebook fails to alert police on child porn Dylan Welch August 27, 2010 THE management of Facebook repeatedly failed to reveal the activity of an international child pornography syndicate operating on the social networking site and ignored continuing admissions by one of the ring’s Australian members. The failure was uncovered during an Australian Federal Police-led international investigation of the syndicate, which had operated via fake identities on the site.
”We are aware that Facebook knew of the existence of these pages and even went so far as to remove the profiles,” said the director of the AFP High Tech Crime Centre, Neil Gaughan. But despite closing down the men’s pages after finding illegal material, Facebook did not contact police, Mr Gaughan said. ”Facebook deactivated the online accounts of the initial suspects but there were indications that, within hours, the groups were re-forming again under new accounts,” he said. The taskforce, codenamed Project Ocean, was created by the AFP in March but quickly expanded to overseas agencies. By June it included the FBI, the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre in Britain, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and police in Germany, South Africa and Switzerland.
Officers believe there may have been dozens of people involved in the ring….Eleven men…have been arrested so far. All 11 are accused of creating Facebook pages under false identities and using the pages to distribute and view graphic sexual images of children.
After federal police arrested one of the Australian men, he stunned them by describing how he had sent up to 10 messages to Facebook, but the company failed to pass on the information to police…..Facebook has been criticised in the past for failing to address privacy and safety concerns held by its hundreds of millions of users….The latest scandal comes three months after the Facebook-associated murder of Sydney teenager Nona Belomesoff. Ms Belomesoff was allegedly murdered by a 20-year-old man who had befriended her on the site.
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/facebook-fails-to-alert-police-on-child-porn-20100826-13u5l.html
Mothers’ group outraged after their Facebook campaign to expose paedophiles is removed from the internet By Daily Mail Reporter 26th August 2010 Six mothers who set up a campaign group on Facebook to track down and expose online paedophiles have been given a warning and had their page removed from the internet. Leanne Moss, 33, set up the Mommies on a Mission group after claiming she stumbled across Facebook profile pages featuring images of child abuse. The mother-of-four said she created the campaign page to raise awareness and to ensure the offensive profiles were reported….’All we were doing was posting links of profiles which featured sick images.’
Group member Joanne Bell, 32, from Carlisle, claimed it didn’t make sense that Mommies on a Mission was removed when what they considered to be ‘sick’ profiles featuring child abuse were still on the site….’If they are monitoring us so closely, why can’t they monitor these people?’
The group aimed to prevent a repeat of the murder of Ashleigh Hall, 17, who was groomed online by killer Peter Chapman before she was lured to her death.
Chapman, a convicted sex offender, was jailed for a minimum of 35 years in March. Ashleigh’s mother Andrea said Facebook’s decision to shut down Mommies on a Mission was ‘shocking’.
‘They are very quick to shut down people who are trying to do some good for a change….”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1306286/Mothers-Facebook-campaign-expose-paedophiles-removed-internet.html
Paedophile postman groomed up to one THOUSAND children on Facebook and Bebo using fake profiles 25th September 2010 A postman who used social networking sites to groom up to 1,000 children – some of whom he sexually abused – was jailed for eight-and-a-half years yesterday. Michael Williams, 28, used different profiles to target children he met on his post round, while doing school runs as taxi driver, and as the secretary of a football club. He tricked his victims into performing sex acts on a webcam or to meet him in parks, beaches and at his home in Penryn, Cornwall, where he abused them….He also pleaded guilty to voyeurism and possessing indecent images. Devon and Cornwall Police have identified about 500 victims he groomed or abused but believe there could be up to 1,000 youngsters in total because hundreds are too scared to come forward. Williams, of Tresooth Lane, Penryn, worked as a postman in his home town, where he was regarded as cheerful and helpful….Police searched his flat and found 1,342 indecent images of children, 20 videos featuring children he met on the internet and 800 ‘chat logs’. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314900/Facebook-Bebo-used-paedophile-postman-groom-children.html
Facebook gives way after child porn bust Dylan Welch and Paola Totaro August 28, 2010 FACEBOOK has agreed to pass information about criminal activity on its site to Australian police, after revelations it had ignored repeated warnings about an international child pornography ring operating among its pages. The Herald yesterday revealed the web company’s management had repeatedly failed to disclose to police the activity of an international child pornography syndicate operating on its site and had ignored continuing admissions by one of the ring’s Australian members.
Facebook spent yesterday trying to contain the public damage caused by the revelations. It issued several statements, one from a Californian spokeswoman and another from its chief of security, Joe Sullivan. Mr Sullivan’s statement acknowledged Facebook could have responded to police requests faster.
“Facebook and the AFP are…working on protocols that will ensure activity of this nature is more rapidly reported to Australian law enforcement,” he said….
Ian Green, 45, was jailed for four years on Thursday after he admitted 24 charges of making, possessing and distributing images of abused children. Chichester Crown Court was told that the ring had swapped more than 100,000 pictures and videos of children being abused, and Green used 11 different Facebook accounts to distribute the images, along with indecent videos of children. He also shared the photographs, 724 of which were rated at the most extreme level of ”five”, using email and MSN.
He was arrested in May after investigators infiltrated the network and found that Green had enabled selected contacts to access the groups….”The fact that we have to send an email to get a hold of them, instead of a liaison officer who we can have direct contact with to explain the urgency or particular nature of our requests, is frustrating,” one senior NSW police officer said. “Instead [of the liaison officer] we have to take a number and line up in a queue.”
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/facebook-gives-way-after-child-porn-bust-20100827-13vz4.html
Move over Wikipedophilia, Facebook is in the house By James R. Marsh on September 3, 2010 It should come as no surprise that Facebook is now in the world-wide spotlight for harboring and tolerating child pornography and online child exploitation. Of a recent rash of articles about the popular site (none of them by the U.S. media), the following is the most serious: Facebook fails to alert police on child porn from The Age (Australia)
The management of Facebook repeatedly failed to reveal the activity of an international child pornography syndicate operating on the social networking site and ignored continuing admissions by one of the ring’s Australian members. The failure was uncovered during an Australian Federal Police-led international investigation of the syndicate, which had operated via fake identities on the site. ”We are aware that Facebook knew of the existence of these pages and even went so far as to remove the profiles,” said the director of the AFP High Tech Crime Centre, Neil Gaughan. But despite closing down the men’s pages after finding illegal material, Facebook did not contact police, Mr Gaughan said.
http://www.childlaw.us/2010/09/move-over-wikipedophilia-faceb.html
B.C. child porn suspect linked to global ring By QMI Agency August 28, 2010 A Vancouver high school teacher arrested in June for child. pornography charges has been linked to an alleged international child porn ring that was operating on popular social networking site Facebook….The investigation, dubbed Project Ocean, was launched by Australian Federal Police (AFP) in March, when an officer created a Facebook account and was approached by “numerous” users to become friends, Australian Federal Police said in a release.
By engaging with these Facebook users, police identified the network whose members they allege were exchanging “child exploiting material.” Police say the network used Facebook to host the images and shared images and videos through the use of private groups. AFP worked with the RCMP, the FBI and the U.K.’s Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre in the investigation. AFP assistant commissioner Neil Gaughan, who heads the force’s High Tech Crime Centre said in a release that Facebook took action immediately once it was alerted to the offensive activity.
“Facebook deactivated the online accounts of the initial suspects but there were indications that, within hours, the groups were re-forming again,” he said in a release. In a joint statement, Facebook and the AFP said they are working on “protocols that will ensure activity of this nature is more rapidly reported to Australian law enforcement.”….
Convicted sex offender Ian Green, 45, the alleged head of the network, has been sentenced in British court to four years in prison. The West Sussex man pleaded guilty to six counts of making, one count of possessing, seven counts of distributing and 10 counts view to distributing child porn. Court heard that Green used 11 different Facebook accounts to distribute indecent images of children, the BBC reported. Green was granting selected contacts access to private Facebook groups that contained the images. Five more suspects were arrested in the U.K. and three men were arrested in Australia, police said. http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/08/27/15159556.html
Child trafficking victim sues Village Voice over sex ads By Jacqui Cheng 9/19/10 A teenage child trafficking victim has filed a lawsuit against Village Voice Media, for knowingly allowing her pimp to post ads for her “services” on the popular backpage.com. The pimp, Latasha Jewell McFarland, has already pleaded guilty to prostitution charges, but the victim (going by M.A. in the complaint, as she is still a minor) says that Village Voice knew that the photos being posted of her were illegal but “failed to investigate for fear of what it would learn.”
M.A. says she was 14 when she was found as a runaway by McFarland, who began pimping out M.A. for $100 per sex act (McFarland took half the earnings). In order to advertise M.A.’s services, McFarland took pornographic photos of M.A. and posted them on backpage.com in the personals section for those seeking sex. McFarland pleaded guilty earlier this month to photographing M.A. in pornographic poses, posting child porn on backpage, paying the site for the postings, transporting M.A. for the purpose of pimping her out for sex, and collecting money for M.A.’s sexual services.
In the complaint, however, M.A. accuses Village Voice of having knowledge that the explicit photos were 1) of a minor, and 2) for prostitution services.
No evidence is outlined in the complaint that explicitly points to Village Voice having this knowledge, but M.A. says the company aided and abetted her pimp in facilitating prostitution and child pornography. She also argues that Village Voice should not be granted immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—a law that has historically protected websites from being held liable for the content posted by users.
“Defendant had a strong suspicion that the aforementioned crimes were being committed,” reads the complaint. “Defendant had a desire that these posters accomplished their nefarious illegal prostitution activities so that the posters would return to the website and pay for more posting.”
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/09/ex-child-prostitute-sues-village-voice-over-sex-ads.ars
PDF copy of complaint
http://ia700105.us.archive.org/3/items/gov.uscourts.moed.108973/gov.uscourts.moed.108973.1.0.pdf
Children among hundreds raped in Congo, U.N. says By the CNN Wire Staff September 4, 2010 (CNN) — More than two dozen children were among the hundreds raped by armed rebels in the war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said. Twenty-seven minors, including one boy, were among the victims, the U.N. said Friday. One attempted rape was also reported. The children were among 240 people raped by Rwandan and Congolese rebels who raided villages in North Kivu province between July 30 and August 3, aid groups said. Attackers blocked roads and prevented villagers from reaching outside communications. Many homes were also looted. Many of the victims were raped by two to six men, according to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). MONUSCO, the United Nations peacekeeping force in the country, raised the number of victims after earlier reports put it at 156. Since the rapes were first publicly reported on August 22, more victims have come forward, the force said. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/04/congo.rape.children/index.html
describes crimes – Violence spirals out of control in east Congo By MICHELLE FAUL (AP) 9/18/10 WALIKALE, Congo — First the rebel soldiers told residents of the villages in the mineral-rich eastern Congo not to worry. They were just there for a rest and would do no harm. But as dusk fell, the fighters encircled five villages simultaneously, and the gang rapes began. Six or seven men lined up to take their turn. The victims ranged from a month-old baby boy to a 110-year-old great-great-grandmother. They forced husbands and children to watch as they gang-raped the villagers for four days….News of the most brutal gang rapes in eastern Congo came in August, bringing international outrage. The U.N. said more than 500 women were raped in that period, and Buna Altunbas, a regional director for Doctors Without Borders, said some Congolese women have been raped repeatedly. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYkMnixep9EBya04kIxKO2bqet9QD9I9TT300
Pimp admits transporting minors for prostitution ring Saturday, August 21, 2010 By Jason Laday VINELAND – Javon Gordon, an alleged Atlantic City pimp from Vineland, admitted today in federal court to transporting two girls across state lines to support his prostitution ring, according to officials. Gordon, 28, who used the alias “Teflon,” pleaded guilty in Camden, before U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler, to two counts of a superseding indictment charging him with transporting minors across state lines to work as prostitutes for him in Atlantic City. Each count of transportation of minors for the purpose of prostitution carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. The mandatory minimum penalty is 10 years….
According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Gordon admitted that from September 2007 until July 2008, he ran a prostitution ring in and around Atlantic City, acting as a pimp and employing both minor girls and adult women to work for him as prostitutes. He admitted to controlling the activities of the women and girls working for him, including requiring them to give him any money they made from preforming sexual acts on customers. Three minor girls recruited by Gordon solicited prostitution clients on the streets and in various casinos in Atlantic City, as well as on the Internet. Gordon used a digital camera to take naked, partially-naked and sexually-suggestive pictures of the minor girls, then posted the images on various websites, including Craigslist, in an effort to advertise prostitution services. Gordon also used Craigslist to assist in his efforts to recruit girls to work for him as prostitutes. http://www.nj.com/bridgeton/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1282363819202000.xml&coll=10
Charges against B.C. teacher linked to global child-porn network By Allison Cross, Postmedia News August 27, 2010 One of the men arrested in Canada in relation to an international online child-exploitation network that used Facebook is a former Vancouver private school teacher, police say. Christopher Charles Ingvaldson was arrested in June and has been charged with four counts related to child exploitation, said Sgt. Tony Cavezza of the Vancouver Police Department….The Australian Federal Police announced Thursday a total of 11 people have been arrested as part of a co-ordinated operation across Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada….”(This kind of) activity is quite prolific. It also ties in with other websites, like Craigslist,” Cavezza said. “The number of people engaged in this activity is quite substantial. Sometimes we have trouble keeping up because there’s so much of it.”….The RCMP partnered with the Australian Federal Police and the FBI in March to begin the investigation, Australian Federal Police said in a news release. A member of the Australian police created an online identity on Facebook and was approached by a member of the network. Upon further investigation, the officer realized the network spanned several continents. “One of our most effective strategies against Internet-facilitated child sexual abuse is co-operation,” said RCMP Supt. John Bilinski, who heads the Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. http://www.canada.com/news/arrests+Canada+international+child+porn+network/3449854/story.html
Wikipedia has a long history of problems with accuracy, bias and allegations of connections to pedophilia and pornography.
1) The Bomis Connection
2) Pedophilia Allegations
3) Wikipedia Accuracy Problems
4) Summary of the problems with Wikipedia
5) Bias in child abuse articles – banning websites with information on child abuse crimes
HUGE child porn ring with Arizona link 09/21/2010 Katie Raml, Nicole Longhini PHOENIX – An international child porn ring with ties to Arizona has been shut down. For the first time, law enforcement officials are sharing the latest, inside details in a case involving 30,000 customers, 132 countries and more than 230 websites. Law enforcement officials from around the globe are calling it the most important child pornography bust in the history of the Internet. Matthew Allen is Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigation and Immigration Customs Enforcement in Arizona. He oversees any leads identified in Arizona by the international child pornography bust, otherwise known as Project Flicker. “If the average American were to see it they would be completely outraged at the kind of victimization that goes on,” Allen said. “[It] resulted in more than 5,000 leads in the United States involving individuals who have subscribed or downloaded child pornography from websites.”…Among those identified as customers were 10,000 Americans. Individuals who subscribed were given access to images and videos of sexually exploited boys and girls, some possibly as young as three-years old. “[Their ages] spanned from infancy all the way to adulthood,” Allen said. http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/child-porn-ring-with-a-link-to-arizona
D.A. Capeless decides not to continue prosecuting Baran – June 09, 2009 – For immediate release – Berkshire District Attorney David F. Capeless has decided not to continue prosecuting the criminal case against Bernard Baran.
At a Tuesday morning press conference, District Attorney Capeless gave the following statement: “After careful consideration, I have decided to no longer prosecute the case against Bernard Baran. My decision is not based upon any judgment that Baran did not do what he was convicted of by a jury twenty-four years ago. In fact, I remain convinced that those twelve jurors delivered a correct verdict.
I acknowledge that there were mistakes made back in 1984 and 1985. But the passage of twenty-four years has done more to damage any further prosecution of the case than anything that happened back then. The damage that has occurred to the memories of witnesses, and the damage that will occur from bringing forth the remaining memories of the victims compel me to realize that going forward is not in the interests of justice….Those decisions did lead me to pursue the available legal avenues to maintain the verdicts – in the Trial Court and the Appeals Court. That argument has not been successful, and I accept the decisions of the courts.
My decision today is made foremost in the best interests of the victims….I have legitimate concerns about their ability to accurately recall events of twenty-four years ago. But I have an even greater concern for the damage those recollections might cause. My conversations with them, during the past five years and most recently, have made clear to me that the pain they endured was real. For those who have been able to put the pain behind them, I do not want to bring it back. For those who could not put the pain behind them, I do not want to deepen the trauma….
They each know (the victims) that what happened to them twenty-four years ago was very real. They each also expressed an appreciation that the twenty-plus years Baran spent in prison were just as real. For them, there has been a real measure of justice. Now, it is time to put this behind us.”
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=berpressrelease&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Dber&b=pressrelease&f=20090609_baran_bernard&csid=Dber
Texas Teacher Accused of Taping Sex With as Many as 70 Children September 30, 2010 FoxNews.com An El Paso, Texas, high school dance teacher was jailed without bond Thursday on charges of sexual exploitation of minors and possessing child pornography, allegedly including 200 videotapes of himself having sex with as many as 70 children, some of whom were elementary school age. Federal agents testified that they found the videos in the home of 34-year-old Marco Alferez. The agents said the videos showed Alferez having sex with children as young as elementary school age, the El Paso Times reported. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Gilbert Campa testified he found 12 VHS tapes, each about four to six hours long, and 107 8-mm tapes of Alferez having sex with children. Campa said ICE agents have been able to identify 65 to 70 victims in the homemade videos, and it appeared that Alferez tried hide the camera during the sexual acts….Campa also testified Alferez admitted downloading child pornography, as well as making the videos of himself with children. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/30/texas-teacher-accused-taping-sex-children/
Ritual Abuse and Mind Control Information
West Memphis 3 Follow-Up – Larry King Live – September 2, 2010 During last nights show on the “West Memphis 3,” we shared statements from Diana Moore, mother of murder victim Michael Moore, and the Arkansas Attorney General, whose office will defend the conviction of Damien Echols before the Arkansas Supreme Court later this month.
Statement from Diana Moore, mother of murder victim Michael Moore:
In 1993, all I wanted was justice for Michael, Christopher, and Stevie, and closure for myself, and my family. 17 years later, still no justice, or closure. Since the convictions, the media has made it a point to make this case all about the convicted. I would like to take this opportunity to remind people that three innocent 8 year old children were brutally murdered, and these three men were convicted on the evidence presented to 24 , (in total), juror members that voted unanimously to convict.
Not one of the celebrities interviewed in this program has ever bothered to personally read the case file at West Memphis PD, or speak to anyone involved in prosecuting this case. My little boy died that day. I’m his mother, and wish to say that the public remains ignorant about what happened in court primarily as a result of the Paradise Lost films, and the writing of Mara Leveritt. My voice is small compared to theirs, but I believe more relevant. They weren’t there during the trials, and they didn’t lose anybody. I lost almost everything, and not a day goes by that I don’t mourn for Michael. The public should think about that before casting their lot in with Eddie Vedder and Natalie Maines… (Eddie Vedder and Natalie Maines replied to this statement.)
Statement from Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel:
Our office knows that there are concerns about this case, but be assured that we take the utmost care in handling the appeals of death sentences handed down by Arkansas jurors. Though some celebrities have brought more attention to this case than to the dozens of other pending death-row appeals in this state, every one is an extremely serious matter. We are committed to fairness and justice not just for the three inmates, but also for the three little boys who didn’t live to see middle school.
http://larrykinglive.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/07/west-memphis-3-follow-up/
The New United States Truth and Reconciliation Coalition (US TRC) August 24, 2010 We are pleased to announce our new human rights organization, the United States Truth and Reconciliation Coalition (US TRC). Using the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission as our model, we will focus on increasing public awareness of historical and present-day extreme abuse and human rights violations including human experimentation, human trafficking, organized ritual crime, and other forms of torture committed in the US and/or by representatives of the US government.
At this time, the US TRC consists of three volunteer groups:
Our coalition currently consists of sixteen members who contribute a rich blend of experience, knowledge, determination, and inspiration. They have backgrounds in advocacy, mediation, psychology, social work, and the raising of children.
Our large discussion group provides the coalition with practical support, ideas, feedback, and news.
Our update group distributes coalition news to advocacy and human rights organizations and coalitions and to other concerned groups and citizens through email, websites, media announcements, and social networking.
To learn more about the US TRC, to join one of our volunteer groups, or to learn of other ways that you can support our efforts, please Email us at ustrc@comcast.net. http://unitedstatestrc.com/
Leader of religious sect held for evaluation – Group found safe hours after going missing in Southern California Missing sect members found, but questions remain By JACOB ADELMAN 9/19/2010 PALMDALE, Calif. — The leader of a breakaway religious sect was hospitalized Sunday for a mental evaluation, after members of her group went missing and left behind evidence that they were awaiting the rapture or some catastrophic event. Reyna Marisol Chicas was placed under a 72-hour mandatory hold after it was determined she was not able to care for herself or others, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Kim. Chicas gave investigators a false name and was rambling during questioning, Kim said. She told deputies she had no children, even though her two kids were with her. Ending a frantic search, deputies found Chicas and 12 others just before noon at Jackie Robinson Park near Palmdale after getting a tip from a local resident, said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. He said all members are safe. ….The men told investigators they believe group members had been “brainwashed” by Chicas, and one expressed worries that they might harm themselves, Parker said. One of the children is 3, and the others range from 12 to 17. When deputies arrived at the park they found the children playing on swings and the adults on a blanket praying out loud in Spanish. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39255711
Nixon plot against newspaper columnist detailed – New book provides details of campaign to discredit — or even kill — Jack Anderson By Michael Isikoff National investigative correspondent NBC News 9/13/2010 ….The White House obsession with Anderson — whose “Washington Merry Go-Round” column was the WikiLeaks of its day — is detailed in a new book being published this month, “Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture,” by journalism professor Mark Feldstein. The book relies in part on newly unearthed tapes from the National Archives that document how Nixon’s aides plotted to destroy Anderson by planting forged evidence with him and spreading false rumors about his sex life and that of one of his associates.
Feldstein also has uncovered new evidence that documents one of the more outrageous schemes of the Nixon presidency: a plot to assassinate Anderson by either putting poison in his medicine cabinet or exposing him to a “massive dose” of LSD by smearing it on the steering wheel of his car. While the aborted scheme to murder Anderson has been reported — and disputed — before, Feldstein found new corroboration: A confession before his death by ex-White House “plumber” Howard Hunt. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39157420/
A Dreamy New Era For Fish – Experiments with LSD-25 and other hallucinogenic drugs indicate it may be possible to spook trash fish up—and out—of angling waters Robert H. Boyle March 30, 1964 Howard Loeb, senior aquatic biologist at the New York State Conservation Department Fish Laboratory in Livingston Manor, is feeding fish LSD-25 and other hallucinogenic drugs ordinarily used in treatment of the mentally disturbed, and if the experiments work out successfully—which they show promise of doing—their application will have a wholly revolutionary effect not only on angling but on commercial fishing as well.
….Several years ago Dr. Harold A. Abramson, Director of Psychiatric Research at South Oaks Psychiatric Hospital in Amityville, N.Y., chanced to read of Loeb’s work on carp poisons, and he offered a suggestion: use LSD-25, a hallucinogenic drug derived from d-lysergic acid, originally found in the ergot fungus that grows on rye. Discovered by a Swiss pharmaceutical firm nearly two decades ago and later patented, LSD-25 is a potent tool in mental-illness research. It enables patients to recall events that occurred in very early childhood and that may be at the root of their difficulties. The drug is perhaps best known to the general public because of the psychological effects it brings about. Colors take on great depth, music is physically felt rather than heard and happiness or frustration is often extreme. It produces in a normal person a state believed to be similar to schizophrenia.
That is why Dr. Abramson started experimenting with LSD. He is one of the supporters of the theory that schizophrenia is caused by a chemical imbalance in the body. If he could use LSD or another derivative of d-lysergic acid on a laboratory animal to bring about simulated schizophrenia, then find another chemical agent that could block this simulated case, he would have a strong clue to the mechanism involved in clinical schizophrenia….Loeb first began testing with LSD-25, then, with the help of an American pharmaceutical house, Eli Lilly and Co. of Indianapolis, started testing other compounds made from d-lysergic acid. So far Loeb has tested some 40 drugs supplied by Lilly on carp, goldfish, golden and common shiners, blacknose dace, yellow perch, pumpkinseed sun-fish, white suckers, bullheads, brook trout and brown trout. With the exception of the trout and the bullheads—which swim to the surface—the fish pop up to the top of the water, swim backward and often go into a stupor. Goodness knows what kinds of hallucinations carp have—perhaps they dream they are gefilte fish—but they become noticeably lighter in color. Transferred to a fresh tank, affected fish appear intoxicated up to several hours, then become darker in color and start to respond by sight to people and approaching nets. Left in the original test tank, the fish snap to after several days. “My idea in experimenting with these drugs,” says Loeb, “is to find out which ones bring the fish up the best with a modest dose and then become nontoxic the quickest.”….
“Loeb,” says Dr. Abramson, who marvels at the progress, “is doing real pioneering. He has the foresight to explore the unknown. He’s doing important work in experimental biology, and I wouldn’t be surprised if in studying fish he came up with a contribution of definite value for our work on mental illness.” http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1075800/index.htm
U.S. apologizes for Guatemala STD experiments – Government researchers infected patients with syphilis, gonorrhea without their consent in the 1940s By Robert Bazell Chief science and health correspondent NBC News 10/1/10 U.S. government medical researchers intentionally infected hundreds of people in Guatemala, including institutionalized mental patients, with gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge or permission more than 60 years ago. Many of those infected were encouraged to pass the infection onto others as part of the study. About one third of those who were infected never got adequate treatment. On Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius offered extensive apologies for actions taken by the U.S. Public Health Service….The episode raises inevitable comparisons to the infamous Tuskegee experiment, the Alabama study where hundreds of African-American men were told they were being treated for syphilis, but in fact were denied treatment. That U.S. government study lasted from 1932 until press reports revealed it in 1972. The Guatemala experiments, which were conducted between 1946 and 1948, never provided any useful information and the records were hidden. They were discovered by Susan Reverby, a professor of women’s studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and were posted on her website. http://www.wellesley.edu/WomenSt/fac_reverby.html
According to Reverby’s report, the Guatemalan project was co-sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service, the NIH, the Pan-American Health Sanitary Bureau (now the Pan American Health Organization) and the Guatemalan government. The experiments involved 696 subjects — male prisoners and female patients in the National Mental Health Hospital.
The researchers were trying to determine whether the antibiotic penicillin could prevent syphilis infection, not just cure it, Reverby writes. After the subjects were infected with the syphilis bacteria — through visits with prostitutes who had the disease and direct inoculations — it is unclear whether they were later cured or given proper medical care, Reverby notes. While most of the patients got treatment, experts estimate as many as a one-third, did not. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39456324/ns/health-sexual_health/
Journal articles and child abuse and trauma information
An Infinite Mind is proud to announce our first annual Healing Together Conference; an educational and support conference on DID. Healing Together will be held in beautiful Lake Buena Vista, FL on February 5-6, 2011. Registration opens Sept 15, 2010. Who should attend? Survivors with all types of dissociative disorders, especially those with DID. Supporters and loved ones of people with dissociative disorders and DID. Mental Health Professionals who currently treat dissociative clients or would like to learn more about treating dissociation and DID. For more information, visit: www.aninfinitemind.com
The Unspoken Crime By Cara Tabachnick September 13th, 2010 The U.S. justice system is failing victims of incest, a Crime Report investigation shows…. It is hard to find a more serious crime than the rape of a child; yet when a family member is the perpetrator, justice is sometimes hard to achieve. Child welfare advocates say that the safeguards in place to protect the child usually fail. Research suggests they are right….according to a 1990 study by University of South Florida criminologist Lorie Fridell, prosecutors tend to defer or divert complex incest cases to child protective services who can provide for an alternative, non-court resolution, such as therapy or community service, in an effort to keep the family together. Other research has drawn a similar conclusion. A 1993 report of the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, found that more than 90 percent of all child abuse cases do not go forward to prosecution. Moreover, the study showed many suspects are released without further intervention by law enforcement or the justice system….”If a kid is raped by a neighbor, people call police, but if the same person rapes their own child they call social services. What kind of justice is that?” said Grier Weeks, Executive Director of the National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT), a national organization based in Tennessee that works on lobbying for child abuse legislation. If a child accuses a caretaker of abuse, CPS has to be involved, but law enforcement does not. So, if a child is raped by his or her parent and goes to the police, CPS has to be notified in all states. But if CPS is notified, they are not required to tell law enforcement. And herein lies one of the largest conundrums of bringing these cases to justice: too often, experts say, social workers don’t have the training to investigate a sexual abuse allegation. http://thecrimereport.org/2010/09/13/the-unspoken-crime/
Promise to Protect Video: Oak Ridge Child Rescue Initiative (Fighting Child Pornography on the web) http://www.promisetoprotect.org/video
The new format of the Recovered Memory Project. This project began as an archive of corroborated cases of recovered memories of traumatic events. It grew from two dozen cases to over 100, and 5 new cases have just been added, for a total of 106 cases. The archive of corroborated cases of recovered memories is now located at the tab labeled “Case Archive.”
The project has expanded over time to include scholarly resources—abstracts and citations of scientific articles in support of the phenomenon of recovered memory (see the tab labeled “Scholarly Resources”). Thirty-one new resources have been added, including articles from the past three years. The section has been reorganized by topic and now includes sections on memory disturbances in survivors of childhood abuse, survivors of the Holocaust, and war veterans; the neurobiology of memory disturbances…. http://blogs.brown.edu/recoveredmemory/
Critiquing “Capturing the Friedmans” September 7, 2010 ….a careful examination of court records reveals that Capturing the Friedmans leaves out important evidence of guilt and distorts many facts in the case. Most pertinent to this blog is the assertion that the case may have been built on hypnosis. There is no credible evidence for this claim. Indeed, in an October 2007 hearing, Friedman’s own lawyer described the single excerpt in the movie about hypnosis as “reliable evidence of nothing” (p. 12). It is fair to characterize the movie, he went on, as “containing interviews, cut and spliced, and taken out of context.” Those problems and other inaccuracies are addressed in the video critique below. One might wonder why someone who failed two lie detector tests, pleaded guilty, told the judge he was “sorry for [his] actions,” asked for “assistance with [his] problem,” and then reaffirmed his guilty plea from prison would ever be embraced as innocent….Includes the video “What Was Left Out? A Critique of “Capturing the Friedmans.” http://blogs.brown.edu/recoveredmemory/2010/09/07/capturing-the-friedmans/
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Please use caution while reading all of these papers. Some of the information may be very heavy for survivors. If in doubt, download the page and wait to read it until you are with your therapist or a trusted support person.
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Related Sites
- Articles on “Capturing The Friedmans”
- Child Abuse Data - Child Abuse Data with Ritual Abuse and Satanic Ritual Abuse Information
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