American Psychology Association Caves To Bush..Interrogations Continue

Dr. Josef Mengele, pictured above, the infamous doctor who perfected “enhanced interrogation techniques” ….for Adolf Hitler.

Well they stood for a moment on the brink of sending a great message…a stern rebuke of Bush torture policy…and then someone caved. I hope someone will piss in their wheaties over this.

Full NewsDay Article Here

SAN FRANCISCO – The nation’s largest group of psychologists scrapped a measure Sunday that would have prohibited members from assisting interrogators at Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. military detention centers.

The American Psychological Association’s policy-making council voted against a proposal to ban psychologists from taking part in any interrogations at U.S. military prisons “in which detainees are deprived of adequate protection of their human rights.”

Instead, the group approved a resolution that reaffirmed the association’s opposition to torture and restricted members from taking part in interrogations that involved any of more than a dozen specific practices, including sleep deprivation and forced nakedness. Violators could be expelled and lose their state licenses to practice. Critics of the proposed ban who spoke before the vote at the 148,000-member organization’s annual meeting said the presence of psychologists would help insure interrogators did not abuse prisoners.

“If we remove psychologists from these facilities, people are going to die,” said Army Col. Larry James, who serves as a psychologist at Guantanamo Bay.

Supporters argued that psychologists should not be working at detention centers where prisoners are detained indefinitely without being charged.

“If psychologists have to be there so detainees don’t get killed, those conditions are so horrendous that the only moral and ethical thing is to leave,” said Laurie Wagner, a psychologist from Dallas.

The association’s vote follows reports that mental health specialists were involved in prisoner abuse scandals at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

US Forestry Service Screws Up Royally

From the same folks that brought us all the good times at the Rainbow Gathering…SCANDAL…using harmful chemicals to put out fires that killed THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of fish…and then trying to avoid scrutiny and legal process to boot…why are these criminals in charge of our national parks? Is there ANY cabinet level post that Bush has filled that is NOT inhabited by a criminal? I’m really losing faith now…not that I had any before. Read on, brave souls: (reposted from Raw Story)

As if it wasn’t bad enough for the Bush Administration already, contempt charges are flying in Montana.

The Administration’s top forestry official has been ordered to explain why the US Forest Service failed to analyze the environmental impact of dropping a fish-killing flame retardant on wildfires — or face contempt of court.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey would then face jail unless the Forest Service assented to a court order enjoining the environmental review.

“Noting that Rey had blocked implementation of an earlier review, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Malloy ordered Rey to appear in his court Oct. 15 unless the Forest Service completes the analysis before that time,” Associated Press reporter Jeff Barnard wrote.

Forest Service spokesman Joe Walsh told AP the agency was working on the analysis, but couldn’t say if the Secretary would meet the deadline; Rey did not respond to requests for comment.

An environmental group, “Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics,” filed the lawsuit in 2003, after Forestry Service chemicals killed more than 20,000 fish in central Oregon.

Adds Barnard, “In 2005, Malloy ruled that the Forest Service violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act when it failed to go through a public process to analyze the potential environmental harm of using ammonium phosphate, a fertilizer that kills fish, as the primary ingredient in fire retardant dropped on wildfires.”

“It seems as if the government is playing a not too funny game, betting that the court will be forced to grant the additional time and hoping the irony of the timing will be overlooked,” the judge wrote, according to Barnard.

RFID Satellite Tracking…For Kids Sake!

As I’ve been saying all along …even longer than I’ve been on the damned blogosphere…WAY over ten years now, and people thought I was CRAZY lolz…this is a SOFT SELL. I don’t just make shit up for the fun of it. We WILL HAVE RFID monitoring devices…they are just testing the waters right now. Note the obligatory OPINION POLL that claims that we’re all just DYING to be watched INCESSANTLY. THANKS BIG BROTHER!

PUPILS FACE TRACKING DEVICE IN SCHOOL TIES (BLAZERS)

A school uniform maker said yesterday it was “seriously considering” adding tracking devices to its clothes after a survey found many parents would be interested in knowing where their offspring were.Trutex would not say whether it was studying a spy in the waistband or a bug in the blazer but admitted teenagers were less keen than younger children on the “big brother” idea.

The Lancashire company, which sells 1m blouses, 1.1m shirts, 250,000 pairs of trousers, 200,000 blazers, 60,000 skirts and 110,000 pieces of knitwear each year, commissioned an online survey for 809 parents and 444 children aged between nine and 16. It said 44% of the adults were worried about the safety of pre-teen children and 59% would be interested in satellite tracking systems being incorporated in schoolwear. While nearly four in 10 pupils aged 12 and under were prepared to go along with the idea, teenagers were more wary of “spying”.

Clare Rix, the marketing director, said: “As well as being a safety net for parents, there could be real benefits for schools who could keep a closer track on the whereabouts of their pupils, potentially reducing truancy levels.’

The announcement follows news that an Essex firm, BladeRunner, used Kevlar, a synthetic fibre used in body armour, to line school uniforms sent in by parents anxious about knife culture. Barry Samms, a director, said the company was concentrating on its line of stab-proof hooded tops, having sold about 1,500 of the £65 garment, mainly to over-30s, since launch earlier this year. The company was now selling £120 tops to walkers and mountain-bikers worried about barbed-wire snags.