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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

30 June - The Torturer's Mask Has Slipped

A torture rack, photographed in the Tower of L...Image via Wikipedia



Tuesday has been a curious day for the UK’s secret torture state, it began unpromisingly for the razor to genitals loving torturers but has ended with victory snatched from the jaws of defeat,
http://www.tenpercent.org.uk/2010/06/29/torture-cover-up-disguised-as-torture-inquiry
On Monday with this ruling hanging over the ConDems another case where Reprieve had challenged the guidelines was resolved very sneakily, they tell the court they are issuing new guidelines so the High Court ruled the issue of the old ones as moot (fall for that and check out my ebay page for the Tower of London)-

    The British government promised Monday to quickly issue its spies a fresh set of guidelines on how to avoid being complicit in torture.

    The announcement addresses a legal challenge to the existing guidelines, which human rights group Reprieve said allowed British intelligence agents to gather information extracted through torture — even if they weren’t directly involved in the mistreatment.

    The group had sued the government in an effort to overturn the current rules, claiming there was compelling evidence to show that the U.K. had been ”reaping the fruits” of torture since at least 2002.

Proof of Complicity in Torture
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/06/proof_of_compli.html
I have now obtained under the Freedom of Information Act the final documents in the Tashkent series. These show beyond doubt that there was an official policy of obtaining intelligence through torture. I was, to the best of my knowledge, the only senior civil servant to enter a written objection to the policy of complicity with torture.
The picture built up by these documents is overwhelming and undeniable evidence of a policy of complicity in torture, even despite the censorship by government. The censorship has removed all mentions of the role of the CIA in procuring the torture intelligence from the Uzbek security services, and passing it on to MI6. Protection of the CIA appears to be the primary aim of the censor.
I set out below transcripts of the documents with a link to each document beneath.

Real Tyranny: Was Canada ever the Country we thought it was? 

Mysterious new crop circles at UFO capital of Britain in Wiltshire

Nearly 200 crop circles have appeared in just one formation not far from Warminster, Wiltshire, known as the UFO capital of Britain.


http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/833112-mysterious-new-crop-circles-at-ufo-capital-of-britain
( Does the illustration resemble a snowflake ? )

French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment

A 50-year mystery over the 'cursed bread' of Pont-Saint-Esprit, which left residents suffering hallucinations, has been solved after a writer discovered the US had spiked the bread with LSD as part of an experiment.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7415082/French-bread-spiked-with-LSD-in-CIA-experiment.html

Russian 'spy ring' labelled nutty and feckless by former CIA agents

Current and former US intelligence officials have expressed their bemusement at details of an alleged Russian spy ring uncovered by the FBI.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7862527/Russian-spy-ring-labelled-nutty-and-feckless-by-former-CIA-agents.html "It sounds preposterous to me," Mikhail Lyubimov, a writer and former member of the SVR, told the paper. "We've never used illegals like this," he said, referring to spies posing as ordinary citizens instead of diplomats. "And it's a comedy to have 10 of them connected."

Honda Fit to Become the Cheapest Hybrid on Market
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/06/honda-fit-hybrid-pricing-japan.php

Air pollution leads to premature deaths of more than 4,000 Londoners a year

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/30/london-air-quality-premature-deaths Airborne pollution in the form of fine particulate matter emanates mostly from combustion sources, including transport, domestic and industrial sources, and aggravates respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. PM2.5 refers to particles of less than 2.5 micrometres.

Research shows these particles are likely to be inhaled deep into the respiratory tract and have a disproportionate impact on children due to their smaller lung capacity.

Poor air quality is considered to be one of the biggest public health issues now facing the UK. A report by the House of Commons environmental audit committee included evidence that showed pollution could be contributing to 50,000 deaths in the UK each year.

New Immune System Clue to Low Back Pain

Researchers Identify Substance That May Trigger Inflammatory Process for Herniated, Degenerated Discs

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/20100629/new-immune-system-clue-low-back-pain?src=RSS_PUBLIC
The substance, interleukin-17 or IL-17, was found in more than 70% of surgical tissue samples taken from patients with degenerated or herniated disc disease, but rarely in healthy disc tissue samples, the researchers found.

The discovery is believed to be a first.


Native American health news channel available
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/article_133ac88e-83f1-11df-960a-001cc4c03286.html

Military restricts use of vehicles vulnerable to IEDs
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-06-29-IED_N.htm?csp=netvibes
Attacks from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have spiked to record levels and insurgents create ever more lethal bombs.

The new requirement for a colonel's authorization is an overreaction to tragic events, said Dakota Wood, a military analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He noted that a lieutenant colonel has about 20 years of experience.

Sergeants and junior officers often have the most relevant experience in combat, Wood said. Top officers should rely on their subordinates' judgment about the danger on roads and the vehicles required for Afghanistan's rugged terrain, he said.

"Out of concern for high casualty levels because of roadside bombs, senior leaders appear to be taking decisions out of the hands of subordinates,"



Dazed And Confused: Why Young Jews Are Joining Al Qaeda
http://inteltrends.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/gordon-duff-dazed-and-confused-why-young-jews-are-joining-al-qaeda
eports have been received that many of the Communist led PKK terrorists, currently attacking Turkey from safe havens along the Iraqi border have been tied to Israel since the 1960s and a number of their members are still actively following the Judean practices though part of Islamic terrorist groups actively at war against a country, until recently, closely allied to Israel, one of Israel’s several Islamic allies.

Chechen fighters active, not only against Russia but long inside Pakistan and Afghanistan, are said to be supported by Israel but many may be themselves Jews by birth, converts to Islam. These represent the groups most active against the United States and NATO activities to stabilize Afghanistan. Many of these units of “foreign fighters,” not only aren’t entirely Muslim but are known to include significant numbers of Kashmiri Hindus, involved in a 60 year dispute with Pakistan. These groups cross between Afghanistan and Pakistan continually, rumored to receive logistical and financial support from non-regional intelligence services who have become involved in the massive heroin trade as a way of rewarding operatives and funding “rogue” covert operations such as those described recently by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren when speaking of Israel’s unfortunate intelligence attack on the United States or the “accidental” killing or wounding of 208 American military personnel during the Six Day War. 

Canadian economic growth stalls in April
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100630/national/statscan_gdp

Recession cut into employment for half of working adults, study says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/30/AR2010063000022.html?nav=igoogle 
The economic shock has jolted many Americans into a new, more austere reality, which is likely to have lasting consequences for an economy fueled mostly by consumer spending. Nearly half of the survey's respondents say they are in worse financial shape as a result of the downturn, which destroyed 20 percent of Americans' wealth.
Among adults 62 and older who are still working, 35 percent say they have postponed retirement. Six in 10 working adults between ages 50 and 61 say they may be forced to do the same. Meanwhile, half of the survey respondents say they have whittled down their mortgages, credit card balances, car loans and other borrowing.

Four in 10 adults say they have tapped savings and retirement accounts to make ends meet.

Ocean Plastic That Will Suck
http://news.discovery.com/tech/ocean-plastic-that-will-suck.html
The Vac from the Sea project aims to pull plastic debris from the garbage patch areas in several major areas. Using plastic gathered, the company will make six concept vacuum cleaners to bring attention to this enormous environmental problem.


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