French Fried Spirit

Welcome to Survivor Island:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/why-are-so-many-france-telecom-workers-dying-1795171.html

Some employees defend their company and suggest that publicity about a "suicide epidemic" has been generated by trades unions in an attempt to de-rail the company's restructuring programme. "These people should try working in a computer start-up company," said Michel, a France Telecom employee since 1998. 

"France Telecom is idyllic by comparison. To suggest that the work conditions incite people to commit suicide verges on the indecent. Hundreds of thousands of people on the dole would love to have such jobs."

You're Next

ROBOCOPS COME TO PITTSBURGH

…and bring the latest weaponry with them

by Mike Ferner

September 28, 2009

No longer the stuff of disturbing futuristic fantasies, an arsenal of “crowd control munitions,” including one that reportedly made its debut in the U.S., was deployed with a massive, overpowering police presence in Pittsburgh during last week’s G-20 protests. 

Nearly 200 arrests were made and civil liberties groups charged the many thousands of police (transported on Port Authority buses displaying “PITTSBURGH WELCOMES THE WORLD”), from as far away as Arizona and Florida with overreacting…and they had plenty of weaponry with which to do it.

Bean bags fired from shotguns, CS (tear) gas, OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) spray, flash-bang grenades, batons and, according to local news reports, for the first time on the streets of America , the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). 

Mounted in the turret of an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), I saw the LRAD in action twice in the area of 25th, Penn and Liberty Streets of Lawrenceville, an old Pittsburgh neighborhood. Blasting a shrill, piercing noise like a high-pitched police siren on steroids, it quickly swept streets and sidewalks of pedestrians, merchants, journalists, and drove residents into their homes, but in neither case were any demonstrators present. The APC, oversized and sinister for a city street, together with lines of police in full riot gear looking like darkly threatening Michelin Men, made for a scene out of a movie you didn’t want to be in.

As intimidating as this massive show of armed force and technology was, the good burghers of Pittsburgh and their fellow citizens in the Land of the Brave and Home of the Free ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Tear gas and pepper spray are nothing to sniff at and, indeed, have proven fatal a surprising number of times, but they have now become the old standbys compared to the list below that’s already at or coming soon to a police station or National Guard headquarters near you. Proving that “what goes around, comes around,” some of the new Property Protection Devices were developed by a network of federally-funded, university-based research institutes like one in Pittsburgh itself, Penn State ’s Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies. 

· Raytheon Corp.'s Active Denial System, designed for crowd control in combat zones, uses an energy beam to induce an intolerable heating sensation, like a hot iron placed on the skin. It is effective beyond the range of small arms, in excess of 400 meters. Company officials have been advised they could expand the market by selling a smaller, tripod-mounted version for police forces.

· M5 Modular Crowd Control Munition, with a range of 30 meters "is similar in operation to a claymore mine, but it delivers...a strong, nonpenetrating blow to the body with multiple sub-munitions (600 rubber balls)."

· Long Range Acoustic Device or "The Scream," is a powerful megaphone the size of a satellite dish that can emit sound "50 times greater than the human threshold for pain" at close range, causing permanent hearing damage. The L.A. Times wrote U.S. Marines in Iraq used it in 2004. It can deliver recorded warnings in Arabic and, on command, emit a piercing tone..."[For] most people, even if they plug their ears, [the device] will produce the equivalent of an instant migraine," says Woody Norris, chairman of American Technology Corp., the San Diego firm that produces the weapon. "It will knock [some people] on their knees." CBS News reported in 2005 that the Israeli Army first used the device in the field to break up a protest against Israel's separation wall. "Protesters covered their ears and grabbed their heads, overcome by dizziness and nausea, after the vehicle-mounted device began sending out bursts of audible, but not loud, sound at intervals of about 10 seconds...A military official said the device emits a special frequency that targets the inner ear."

· In "Non-lethal Technologies: An Overview," Lewer and Davison describe a lengthy catalog of new weaponry including the "Directed Stick Radiator," a hand-held system based on the same technology as The Scream. "It fires high intensity ‘sonic bullets' or pulses of sound between 125-150db for a second or two. Such a weapon could, when fully developed, have the capacity to knock people off their feet."

· The Penn State facility is testing a "Distributed Sound and Light Array Debilitator" a.k.a. the "puke ray." The colors and rhythm of light are absorbed by the retina and disorient the brain, blinding the victim for several seconds. In conjunction with disturbing sounds it can make the person stumble or feel nauseated. Foreign Policy in Focus reports that the Department of Homeland Security, with $1 million invested for testing the device, hopes to see it "in the hands of thousands of policemen, border agents and National Guardsmen" by 2010.

· Spider silk is cited in the University of Bradford ’s Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project, Report #4 (pg. 20) as an up-and-comer. “A research collaboration between the University of New Hampshire and the U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center is looking into the use of spider silk as a non-lethal ‘entanglement’ material for disabling people. They have developed a method for producing recombinant spider silk protein using E. coli and are trying to develop methods to produce large quantities of these fibres.”

· New Scientist reports that the (I'm not making this up) Inertial Capacitive Incapacitator (ICI), developed by the Physical Optics Corporation of Torrance , California , uses a thin-film storage device charged during manufacture that only discharges when it strikes the target. It can be incorporated into a ring-shaped aerofoil and fired from a standard grenade launcher at low velocity, while still maintaining a flat trajectory for maximum accuracy.

· Aiming beyond Tasers, the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, (FY 2009 budget: $1B) the domestic equivalent of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), plans to develop wireless weapons effective over greater distances, such as in an auditorium or sports stadium, or on a city street. One such device, the Piezer, uses piezoelectric crystals that produce voltage when they are compressed. A 12-gauge shotgun fires the crystals, stunning the target with an electric shock on impact. Lynntech of College Station, Texas, is developing a projectile Taser that can be fired from a shotgun or 40-mm grenade launcher to increase greatly the weapon's current range of seven meters.

· "Off the Rocker and On the Floor: Continued Development of Biochemical Incapacitating Weapons," a report by the Bradford Disarmament Research Centre revealed that in 1992, the National Institute of Justice contracted with Lawrence Livermore National Lab to review clinical anesthetics for use by special ops military forces and police. LLNL concluded the best option was an opioid, like fentanyl, effective at very low doses compared to morphine. Combined with a patch soaked in DMSO (dimethylsufoxide, a solvent) and fired from an air rifle, fentanyl could be delivered to the skin even through light clothing. Another recommended application for the drug was mixed with fine powder and dispersed as smoke.

· After upgrades, the infamous "Puff the Magic Dragon" gunship from the Vietnam War is now the AC-130. "Non-Lethal Weaponry: Applications to AC-130 Gunships," observes that "With the increasing involvement of US military in operations other than war..." the AC-130 "would provide commanders a full range of non-lethal weaponry from an airborne platform which was not previously available to them." The paper concludes in part that "As the use of non-lethal weapons increases and it becomes valid and acceptable, more options will become available."

· Prozac and Zoloft are two of over 100 pharmaceuticals identified by the Penn State College of Medicine and the university's Applied Research Lab for further study as "non-lethal calmatives." These Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), noted the Penn State study, "...are found to be highly effective for numerous behavioral disturbances encountered in situations where a deployment of a non-lethal technique must be considered. This class of pharmaceutical agents also continues to be under intense development by the pharmaceutical industry...New compounds under development (WO 09500194) are being designed with a faster onset of action. Drug development is continuing at a rapid rate in this area due to the large market for the treatment of depression (15 million individuals in North America)...It is likely that an SSRI agent can be identified in the near future that will feature a rapid rate of onset."

In Pittsburgh last week, an enormously expensive show of police and weaponry, intended for “security” of the G20 delegates, simultaneously shut workers out of downtown jobs for two days, forced gasping students and residents back into their dormitories and homes, and turned journalists’ press passes into quaint, obsolete reminders of a bygone time.

Most significant of all, however, was what Witold Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania ACLU, told the Associated Press: “It's not just intimidation, it's disruption and in some cases outright prevention of peaceful protesters being able to get their message out.”

#########

Mike Ferner is a writer from Ohio and President of Veterans For Peace.

I Don't Like Mondays

Nothing Unusual Here, Move Along:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/24083

... it's no coincidence that a brand new crime of desperation appeared with the Reagan Revolution: the worker who "goes postal." The first massacres began in the mid-late 1980s, and the shootings have repeated with such regularity that it seems we've got to the point where we almost accept them as part of the landscape, as if they're inevitable and they've always been with us, and always will.

...hmmm, very interesting...

This Is Getting Stickier Than Flypaper:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_Awareness_Network

In December 1997, 60 Minutes profiled the new management of the Cult Awareness Network, in a piece hosted by Lesley Stahl, entitled: "CAN: The Cult Awareness Network". 60 Minutes referred to the (Old) Cult Awareness Network as a comprehensive resource, stating it was "for 20 years the nation's best-known resource for information and advice about groups it considered dangerous. " The current influence by the Church of Scientology was investigated, and Stahl commented in a voice-over: "Now, when you call looking for information about a cult, chances are the person you're talking to is a Scientologist

War Is Killing Us

Mr Okada - Stand Firm! Save the Dugong! :

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2955eab6-a3a7-11de-9fed-00144feabdc0.html?catid=4&SID=google&nclick_check=1

The [realignment] road map is not a menu from which either side can pick and choose what it wants to implement," Lt Gen Edward Rice, the top US commander in Japan, said in July, adding that the deal should be "fully implemented".

Another Heartwarmer from the VA:

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1415095.html

Lopez suffered a rare reaction to the smallpox vaccine. The vaccine is not mandatory, but the military strongly encourages troops to take it.

The Military Must Stop Its Own Madness:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1214060/Dear-Gordon-Brown-killed-son-Family-dead-soldier-Paul-McAleese-send-devastating-letter-PM.html

The family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan have released a letter blaming the Prime Minister for his death.

Sickening Thinkening

Know Thyself:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-09/uow-fvd091409.php

Researchers at the University of Warwick have found that fake video evidence can dramatically alter people's perceptions of events, even convincing them to testify as an eyewitness to an event that never happened.

This One Is For You, Bob:

http://www.caic.org.au/psyther/lgat/singer.htm

Many people of goodwill, with a desire to improve the lot of humankind, have explored and continue to explore how our thinking influences how we conceptualize the world. There has been an effort, under the New Age umbrella, to introduce the notion that the thought models we use now widely called paradigms should be examined to see if advances can come from our taking new vantage points from which to look at both our daily life and our world of work. Unfortunately, much of the writing and discussion about New Age ideas is put into esoteric, hard-to-follow language, which has made it possible for con artists and cult leaders to latch onto the phrases and concepts for their own purposes.

Weekend with the Wrights*

We Are All Fragile Beings:

http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?4,15161,page=1

Has anyone here heard of the Wright Institute? I have been trying to find good material about this group, which we both believe to be a cult, but ...

I spent two days in a room of mind controllers and left intact. I guess they didn't have much to work with in my case. Let me explain...

I discussed with my doctor how getting my blood pressure under control, I've been reading quite a few books on dealing with stress, psychology, changing damaging thought patterns through emotional intelligence and meditation. He recommended I check out the Wright Institute in Chicago. (He will not be my doctor tomorrow.)

Bob and Judith Wright run a cult. It was very apparent to me. They use techniques to discover peoples' soft spots, twist their emotions into pain, then capitalize by hard selling their program to the marks. I found it interesting that the Curriculum Director, Dr Mike, introduced as from Yale University never took the microphone, had nothing to say but lurked in the back of the room seated and watching everything. (He wasn't the only spooky vibe I got.)

When Bob tells you he is full of shit, believe him. When he tells you you are full of shit, have some self respect and defend yourself. Judith is simply the Center of the Universe and her favorite time was telling the "Judith Wright Life Story". They never stayed on stage together for long because the room could only hold one over-inflated ego at a time.

People are searching for comfort. There were many sincere, nice men and women there on their life's journey of seeking a better life and expanding their human potential and I wish them well. But this place isn't going to help them on that endeavour. It could hurt their souls tremendously. I can honestly say, I left without feeling I wanted to see any of the participants again except to hear their thoughts about what a frightening scenario the whole thing is.

Never write down your innermost thoughts and vulnerabilities on a piece of paper and hand it to strangers for them to plan through the night how to manipulate you. You don't need to win the raffle. Cherish your private self and share it with people you trust.

Don't ever work for free like all the "students" of the "school". They were sad pathetic people, there by personal choice, so I have no pity. Like many soulless and totally focused bright intellects, no one ever mentioned what a beautiful day it was outside. These people never smelled a rose.

I would suggest we all take Bob's advice and "invest in yourself" but I will not recommend the Year of MORE as the vehicle. Saunter down to you local library, get a library card and take out a stack of books addressing the personal issue you feel exists in you and read them to understand and help yourself. Not a finer investment in yourself than a library card. And free.

Judith talked several hours on Emotional Intelligence, but never a mention of the work of Daniel Goleman, former Science writer of the New York Times and leading developer of this type of study. I found that very strange. Her presentation was shallow, at times wrong by what I have learned. I think EmoIntell is an important concept deserves better than to shill her books of pop mindpulp.

Clearly, Bob Wright is an ass, but he's awfully proud of that fact. He is a mind controller of huge proportions, a bully and cold. He has those poor sap "students" in fear of his presence and it shows. Thinking that help is at the Wright Institute is a lose/lose situation (your mind and your bank account). It's a "double flip" (in WI speak) or some other such hooey they promote.

Sitting in a crowded, uncomfortable, and oppressive atmosphere for too long for little reason except to see and hear sick people getting sicker, my thoughts and desires kept drifting back to wishing I was on my yoga mat and how the people I meet at the studio, by and large, are personable, together, relaxed and pleasant to work together with on mental health issues. Deep breathing and a smattering of Buddhist concepts will work for me for now. One of my very first classes, the teacher ended with a short soliloquy on the importance of having compassion for yourself. It touched me deeply then and applies so well to all the misguided souls that end up in front of Bob and Judith to exploit.

I'll be back on my mat in the morning. It's a soft addiction doing me good.

****************************************

Who Knew? - EWS

America's Most Stressful Cities

http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/15/stress-cities-ten-forbeslife-cx_md_0915cities.html

When you are feeling anxious, Hallowell recommends reaching out to friends and family because “maintaining these strong relationships is key in our very crazy-busy disconnected society.” 

Hypocrisy, Inc:

http://www.infowars.com/u-s-hypocrisy-astonishes-the-world/

Americans have lost their ability for introspection, thereby revealing their astounding hypocrisy to the world. 

Comments don't lie:

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/09/chicago-aldermen-embrace-olympics-plans.html

Chicago aldermen approve Daley Olympics financial guarantee without dissent

Tuesday Terrors

Good Reporting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34jPNN0qdF8 TRT: 4:38

Israeli soldiers fire on Al Jazeera correspondent - 04 Sep 09

War and Homosexual Warrior Cults:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8474937

Whistleblower Says Bosses Required Sex Acts for Guards Seeking Best shift, Promotion

Does This Describe You?

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/generalized_anxiety_disorder.htm

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) involves anxiety and worry that is excessive and unrelenting. This high-level anxiety makes normal life difficult and relaxation impossible

Insert Salami Into Top Hole

Everyday Is Labor Day:

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/92981?fp=1

For most of us, Labor Day means backyard barbecues, weekend sales, and a last carefree day before school starts. But the laid-back holiday has some seriously sad history, including chaos, riots, and even death. 

Worried About The Fat and Rich:

http://www.sinkers.org/posters/feelingstressed/index.html

So, anyway, there's been a lot of yammering in the press lately about President Obullshit giving a "stress test" to all the banks.

"Labor-ynth"

Labor-ynth

Enter the mysterious , nether regions of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.... peer ,

if you dare,

through this cloudy portal at the still beating heart of the organized worker;

the phantasmic dimension where debt ridden and free mingle and slither about from 9 - to - 5 ,

bound & strangled in the tangled knot of wagism;

stepping lively to commerce's pacemaking drum rattle;

... straining to survive amidst the competing cries of solidarity and hucksterism,

pitching hither and fro,

lurching spasmodically to Mammon's hellbound trumpet call and by fingerholds and sheer luck gripping the slippery face of dignity

..... holding on in the teeth of the gale force winds of surrender,

propagated Hollywood style,

in the hack- ridden back lots of labor's insane aristocracy

.... where addled ex- clock punchers with thumbworn expense - account logs & hyperlinks to multiple pension plans string defective extension cords to the castaway hot air machines discarded on the cheap by generations of genuine all-American accumulators;

the plutocrat bunko artists dressed to kill by Brooks Brothers ,

perched & preening like dry-cleaned vultures on the living soul of throbbing dreams ;

pitchmen by trade , robots by avocation, the worn out flim flam men's deadly cornball routines re-cycled now by the pale betrayer's of Lucy Parson's ghost ,

arrayed by morning's light in stagnant formation ,

seated in their cubicles ;

row on row of idea - shorn men,

barbered smooth as eggs in the office building incubators of Sweeney's apprentice bagmen;

dining on dues near Dupont Circle until dusk and by the winking light of the sly Potomac moon ,

filling the dumpsters with the untraceable residue of overheated shredding machines ;

making mincemeat of the ancient bannered slogans they hunt like fugitives:

" An Injury to One is An Injury to All "

....for one illustrious example ....

churning out the clanking , clunking ,

cinder -bound journals of Trumka's memorized chanting on their adjacent page makers;

destroying honest words and cloning fatuous confections with both hands tied behind their backs ,

smiling with Andy Stern dummy like into their digital mirrors ,

cleverly arrayed to amplify the grinning reflections of the carefully glued smile masks;

plastic faces & shrunken pin-point pupils leering from the empty,

hollow, underpinnings of that old reliable greed.....

( the end)

"Labor-ynth" 

by John Joslin,

 JW IBEW 58, Detroit, MI

**** Republish from 09/06/09 EWS*******

Message From WIthin*

Couldn't Hurt:

http://www.richardccook.com/2009/09/02/magnesium-the-miracle-mineral/

I have a friend who is a doctor who is researching the possibility of treating numerous chronic illnesses, cancer included, with large doses of magnesium sulphate. His idea is that the cause of many illnesses is hyperactivity of the body’s stress reaction and that magnesium can slow this reaction when it has gotten out of control.

***************

Message from Within

Your anger empowers other people. Handling a situation with any of the other myriad ways available empowers you.

Anger is not an inherent human trait. All the people that surround you - family, friends, co-workers - are angry because they let the frustrations outside themselves in to their thoughts and are unable to diffuse it out with ease - a confrontation begets a confrontation, name calling leads to name calling and hard feelings leads to pain. It is truly a well trained individual that can turn an unpleasant situation into one of love and connectedness. Fighting back is the easy way out.

I am not advocating being rolled over on or taken advantage of. I certainly want to correct the bullies and their god-awful behavior. I'm concentrating now on how to focus the frame and accept completely what comes into the viewfinder without judgement. If it is an unpleasant picture, look with empathy which leads to active compassion, then resolution and the easing of pain. It's hard not to soak the entire scene into your consciousness with all the disturbing imaging it entails, but to see more than the eye offers, an understanding above and beyond immediate reaction. See its nature, and allow your own to shine forth, not follow it into the dark abyss.

So much stress out here in the world today. People pass it back and forth, try to lay it on you maybe thinking it will relieve their suffering. You don't have to accept it. It's not yours unless you want it. You can take care of your loved ones best when you take care of yourself first. Clear the distractions out of your mind, clean the body of toxicants and study ways of improving relationship will lead to a better, more fulfilling and satisfying life.

C'mon People!

"The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed..."

- Steve Biko

Utah - That Bastion of Progressiveism (Organized Labor, Where For Art Thou?):

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1919162,00.html?iid=digg_share

After 12 months, Utah's experiment has been deemed so successful that a new acronym could catch on: TGIT (thank God it's Thursday). The state found that its compressed workweek resulted in a 13% reduction in energy use and estimated that employees saved as much as $6 million in gasoline costs. Altogether, the initiative will cut the state's greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 12,000 metric tons a year. And perhaps not surprisingly, 82% of state workers say they want to keep the new schedule. "It's beneficial for the environment and beneficial for workers," says Lori Wadsworth, a professor at Brigham Young University who helped survey state employees. "People loved it." Those who didn't tended to have young children and difficulty finding extended day care.

Trust Your Government or Your Gut

Get Off Your Ass and Help Stop the Madness, Puh-leaze:

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/08/30/is-the-antiwar-movement-waking-up/

I should point out, however, that it isn’t just the president who makes our wrong-headed foreign policy, it’s the Democratic Party establishment, in coalition with its Republican equivalent. The entire apparatus of the party machinery, its leaders, and a great many of its most active foot-soldiers – including those in the media – are beholden to the War Party and amenable to its decisive influence in the world of Washington politics. As long as the "official" antiwar movement is merely the tail on the Democratic donkey, there will be no effective opposition to our war-crazed foreign policy, at least not in this country.

Gotta Trust a Man Named "Rockefeller". More lovely bi-partisanship:

http://rense.com/general87/emerg.htm

But as we witness practically on a daily basis, hysterical demands for "protection" from various "dark actors" inevitably invokes an aggressive response from militarized state security apparatchiks and their private partners.

WooWoo for JoJo:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/wellbeing/6110544/Can-psychics-be-good-for-your-health.html

A phenomenon known as remote viewing, which claims to use psychic powers to 'see' what is invisible to the naked eye, may have an intriguing role to play in healthcare