South Africa’s ''Dr. Death'' Again Evades Sentencing

Janet Phelan

In a last minute strategic move by counsel, Dr. Wouter Basson’s sentencing by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has again been delayed. 

Basson, who was found guilty by the HPCSA in 2013 of acting unprofessionally as the director of the apartheid government’s biological and chemical warfare unit, Project Coast, may have had one of the longest running trials in history. The initial complaints against him were filed with the medical board in 2000, only to be delayed until the conclusion of his criminal trial in Pretoria High Court. 

As director of Project Coast in the eighties and early nineties, Basson allegedly provided assassination chemicals to members of the South African Defence Force, and, according to testimony heard in the criminal case, was involved in 229 murders. In addition, he was charged with embezzlement, drug trafficking and possession of illegal drugs. When he was arrested in 1997, he had more than 1000 Ecstasy tablets in his possession. 

US Throws up Roadblocks for Those Wishing to Leave

Janet Phelan

The word is out. People are leaving the US in droves. 

The latest FBI NICS list of American citizens who have expatriated shows a spike in individuals who have renounced their US citizenship. 

The list, published quarterly, provides a grand total of 2,193 such renunciants since the end of last year. 2013 resulted in a total of 2,999 renunciants, which constituted a 221% increase over those who left in 2012. And we are just half way through 2014. 

The NICS list, however, appears to be incomplete. For starters, NICS only lists renunciants, not relinquishers. And yes, there is a difference. Renouncing requires swearing an oath in front of an official of the US government and now has a $2,350 fee attached to it, a recent increase of 422%. Relinquishing does not require the involvement of a US government official but instead involves making one of a number of acts which result in forfeiting one’s US citizenship. 

ITHACA Report to the UN on US Human Rights

Anthony Freda Art

ITHACA submitted a report in 2010 to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) concerning the human rights record of the United States and focused on two issues. The first issue concerned the revocation of rights taking place in state superior courts under the mantle of adult guardianships, impacting the elderly and disabled.

The second issue we covered concerned attacks by the US government on human rights defenders.

This report for the 2015 UPR of the human rights record of the United States will focus on the progress of these two issues.

NSA: There’s a Spy in my Soup!

Janet Phelan

Okay, we now know that our phone calls are being monitored. Snowden has made it clear that none of our electronically conveyed communications are secure from NSA snooping. But to find that they are now listening to our potato chips? 

As revealed recently in an article in MIT News, technology has been developed which would allow our relentlessly nosy government to pick up voice prints from a bag of potato chips, a glass of water, a window or potted plant. 

This is how it works: 

Is an Airborne Biological Weapons Release Imminent?

Janet Phelan

A surprise drill in New York City has the authorities scrambling to address an anthrax attack. MERS is reported to have mutated and is now airborne. Ebola is now being discussed as a major airborne threat to the US population

These stories hit the news during the past week. All three issues highlight enhanced structured and established concerns about the possibility for an airborne pandemic—launched either through a natural occurring disease agent or a biological weapons attack.

But are these concerns realistic?

South Africa’s “Dr. Death” Again Evades Sentencing

Janet Phelan

Dr. Wouter Basson, whose work as head of the South African apartheid government’s biological and chemical warfare unit earned him the nickname “Dr. Death,” has again evaded sentencing. 

Basson was first arrested in 1997, following the dissolution of the apartheid government. His much publicized trial in Pretoria High Court in the years 1999-2002 produced outcries of judicial bias by his prosecutors. With 200 witnesses against him, who testified to his involvement in multiple assassinations as well as fraud and embezzlement during his tenure as head of Project Coast, Dr. Basson was the sole witness in his defense. He was acquitted of all sixty seven charges against him. The legal contortions executed by the Judge Hartzenberg—all resulting in Basson’s acquittal—eventuated in the State moving to have the judge recused. Hartzenberg, however, refused to step down from the case. 

Smallpox: A Deadly Shell Game

Janet Phelan

The recent announcement by the WHO that it was postponing a decision on destroying the remaining smallpox depositories—one allegedly in Russia at VECTOR and the other in the United States at the CDC—may not have been prompted by what the press has termed a difference of opinion between research groups. In fact, the WHO may have no idea how many labs actually possess the deadly variola virus. 

As widely reported, WHO's advisory committee on variola virus research (ACVVR), felt that the stocks should be maintained, as the live virus was still needed to develop antiviral drugs. 

On the opposing side, the WHO's advisory group of independent experts to review the smallpox research programme (AGIES) was reported as believing that there was no research justification for holding on to the stocks. 

Trapped in a Killing Field: MIT study suggests travel restrictions in the event of an epidemic

Janet Phelan

A study published in The Royal Society Interface by researchers at MIT may influence policy as to potential travel restrictions in an epidemic.

The study suggests that such restrictions will slow the progress of a pandemic. What is implicit in the paper's recommendations is that people may be confined—quarantined in fact—to a heavily affected area, thus reducing their individual chances to survive but also mitigating the spread of the contagion.

As reported in Bioprepwatch, the study “compared contagion rates in two scenarios, one with travel restrictions and one without the restrictions. Previous research showed that individuals who become aware of an epidemic travel by taking the shortest route to avoid infected areas, even if they are already infected. The behavior, known as selfish behavior in game theory, exposes people in uninfected areas to disease.” Using computer modeling, the study tracked a hypothetical infectious disease as it advanced through commuting networks in the contiguous U.S.A.

The study failed, however, to account for or mention the fact that the U.S. has been mined—booby trapped—with bio/chem warfare delivery systems.

Questions Arise as to Coroner's Cover up in Sudden Death

image source

Janet Phelan

Six months after Charles Castle suddenly and inexplicably died, the San Bernardino County Coroner has still not come up with a stated cause of death. And according to a Deputy in that office, a critical report is “missing” from Charlie Castle's file.

I had spoken with Charlie Castle on the evening of January 15 at around 8 pm. He was frustrated with how long he had been deprived of his freedom and specifically dismayed at the fact that his long awaited trial on his mental health detention had been delayed just the week before.

“They can't hold you much longer,” I told him. “The accumulated evidence of fraud in your case is overwhelming, Charlie.” I then made a bold promise to him. “You will be free soon.”

Two hours later, Charlie Castle was pronounced dead.

Russian official accuses U.S. of Biological Weapons Violations

Janet C. Phelan

A Senior Russian official has leveled charges that the United States is violating the Biological Weapons Convention and doing so too close for comfort to the Russian border.

As quoted in The Moscow Times, July 20, 2013, Russia's chief sanitary inspector, Gennady Onishchenko, has accused the U.S. of producing biological weapons in Georgia at a U.S. Navy facility that is run in concert with the Georgian government.

The facility, the Center Public Health Reference Laboratory (CPHR), is situated on a former Soviet military base and is located on the outskirts of Tbilisi. Here, the U.S. government is conducting activities in violation of the 1975 Biological Weapons Convention, Onischenko told Interfax on Saturday.

California’s Public Guardians: Eager to Lock You Up and Steal Your Money

Ruth Hull

You've spent your life building up some assets and you think they are secure. Or you got an inheritance and you think it’s yours. Where there is money, there are vultures ready to steal it. Among the most dangerous vultures are Public Guardians and conservators, who are willing to lock you away to steal your money. Judges simply look the other way and give them carte blanche to do as they please with your life, your property and your future. With a stroke of the pen and the elimination of one dangerous government office, Jerry Brown could save the people of California, hundreds of millions of dollars and protect the state’s seniors, their heirs and their assets. 

In Orange County, California, we have had a changing of the guard. That’s because John Williams, the last Public Guardian and Peggy Buff, his second in command, lost their positions after they got caught ripping off Orange County residents. Since Peggy Buff was the District Attorney’s fiancée, seniors were powerless to protect themselves. Williams apparently thought his sole responsibility was to grab the assets of senior citizens to help with his department’s budget shortfall. When this was exposed, the public thought they could do better.

The Politics of the Human Heart

Image

Janet C. Phelan

When I was in grade school, the alarms would begin and, whether we were in instruction or at lunch or recess, we knew what those sirens meant. We would put down whatever was in our hands -- pencils, forks, a softball -- and file into the auditorium. There we would put our heads between our knees, cover our little necks with our forearms and wait for either doomsday or the all clear.

Some little girls would always begin to sob. We never knew whether it was a drill or not until the all clear sounded.

Unlike so many of my classmates, I was never worried. A small voice inside me told me there was no real danger from Soviet missiles and, bolstered by this, I remained aloof, calm.

But the small still voice told me something else. Later, it told me. The danger will come later.

We are no longer children, those of us who lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Red Threat. We have accumulated layers of knowledge, wisdom and, unlike seven year olds unable to quite stifle their terror, we have learned methods to deal with a sense of imminent threat.

Or have we?

Genetic Weapons--Can Your DNA Kill You?

Janet C. Phelan
Activist Post

It is a scene out of a futuristic political thriller—the Secretary of State issues secret orders for embassy officials to collect the DNA of foreign heads of state while the President, speaking at a $1000 a plate dinner, is surrounded by a contingent of Secret Service agents wiping clean his drinking glasses and picking up stray hair follicles. They are not just protecting the President—they are protecting the President's DNA.

If this sounds like a script treatment for a Hollywood version of a Philip K. Dick novel, consider this: The Secretary of State's name is Hillary Clinton and her directives to embassies were uncovered in a 2010 WikiLeaks cable release. The President in this scenario is Barack Obama and the Secret Service unit pledged to protect his DNA is a group of Navy stewards, as revealed in the 2009 book by Ronald Kessler, entitled In the President's Secret Service.

Our government's DNA obsession was again in the news this week as the Supreme Court handed down a decision, worthy of penning by George Orwell, that law enforcement collection of arrestees' DNA is not an invasion of privacy. The decision likened DNA to fingerprints, neatly sidestepping the fact that a person's complete genetic makeup is contained in those drops of blood that the police can now collect with impunity and without fear of a civil rights lawsuit.

Beyond the obvious surface concerns that this decision violates both the Fourth Amendment and the subsequent exclusionary rule, there are further, deeper concerns as to why our government is so keen on collecting our DNA.

There's a Reason They are Called “Courts....”

Dees Illustration

Janet C. Phelan

Walking into any “court” of late one might have a distinct impression that one has walked into a monarch's domain. In our post- 911 America, it is becoming increasingly clear that the rule of law only applies at the discretion of the monarch. And that would be the judge sitting in that particular court.

Unlike removing a President, it is nearly impossible to remove a judge. Lifetime appointments in many cases coupled with laws prohibiting suing a judge (even for “malicious and corrupt practices”) have given the judiciary a nearly godly form of immunity.

A recent attempt in one of these courts...well, you can't really call them courts of law at this juncture, so let's call them courts of judicial privilege...to recuse the sitting probate judge in San Bernardino County could be seen as an example of the futility of exerting the rule of law today.

Reuters Spins Flu Story

Janet C. Phelan

In an article entitled, "Flu reaches epidemic level in U.S., says CDC", reporter Sharon Begley pumps up alarm concerning the virulent and epidemic nature of the current flu sweeping the country. However, the report admits it lacks documentation of the very numbers it purports to use to buttress its claims.

While the Reuters article, published on January 11, solemnly announces that a pandemic is officially at play when the flu achieves a rate of 7.2 % of deaths during a time period, it also earnestly states that there is no definitive count of the total deaths caused by the flu.

Wait a minute here. The lead paragraph of this story stated: “Influenza has officially reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with 7.3 percent of deaths last week caused by pneumonia and the flu, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.”

So the exact percentage of deaths caused by flu is known but the number of flu deaths is not?

Things that go bump in the night: Keeping Skippy safe from the Terr'ists

Janet Phelan

According to Randall Larsen, Executive Director of the WMD Center in Washington, DC, the terrorists’ next target may be your peanuts.

Yep, Larsen is staying up at night with the worry beads due to the fact that all the nation's peanuts are processed at one plant, in North or South Carolina . . . he can't remember which. According to Larsen, the centralization of this facility provides an easy target for terrorists wielding chemical or biological weapons.

Larsen is a former Colonel in the United States Air Force and is a decorated Vietnam vet.  He is a founding member of the WMD center, a not-for- profit research organization, along with former Senators Bob Graham (D-FL) and Jim Talent (R-MO). Larsen is also the national security advisor at the Center for Biosecurity, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and is a senior fellow at the Homeland Security Policy institute at George Washington University.

In a recent telephone interview, Larsen opined that food terrorism is one the most significant threats faced by the nation.

DA Asks for Investigation in Detention of Charlie Castle

Janet C. Phelan

San Bernardino Assistant District Attorney Tristan Svare has requested that the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department initiate an investigation concerning allegations of fraud surrounding the conservatorship and sixteen-month-long psychiatric detention of a Redlands man, Charlie Castle.

Castle was placed under a conservatorship by San Bernardino Court in June of 2011 and has allegedly never had a trial or seen a judge, both potential violations of conservatorship laws.

During a conversation with this reporter last week, Svare stated concern that Castle might be the victim of multiple acts of fraud.  Svare requested that another report be initiated with the Yucca Valley police, which contracts with the San Bernardino Sheriff’s department, so that these concerns can be properly investigated. 

Man held in mental health detention to finally get a trial — or will he?

image source

Janet Phelan

Charlie Castle, who has been battling to get his day in court since he was grabbed off the street by two workers from the San Bernardino mental health court over a year ago, may finally get to see a judge today.  

Charlie’s plight has raised disturbing questions as to the reasons for the zealousness with which he was systematically robbed of all of his rights, including his right to have a jury trial on his alleged mental health issues.  Speculations have run the gamut—from rumors of enormous wealth inherited by Castle, who has been homeless for over a decade, to speculations that his detention augurs further sweeps to detain the homeless.

Whatever the rationale behind Charlie Castle’s detention, one thing is certain. Government agencies are bending over backwards to ignore their mandates to investigate his allegations of deprivation of rights. San Bernardino Adult Protective Services and the California Long Term Care Ombudsman's offices were recently added to the list of those who are pledged to protect the vulnerable elderly and have, in fact, refused to do their job -- as far as Charlie Castle goes.

Streamlining the Process to Split Your Mind

image source

Janet Phelan

The recent Colorado shootings have raised concerns as to the possibility that James Holmes may be the latest in a series of Manchurian candidate-type experiments. The techniques to create a person acting unconsciously under the orders of others have been greatly streamlined in recent years.

The MK ULTRA programs intended to create the “perfect spy,” according to many pundits. MK ULTRA was purportedly abandoned in the late 1970s after the Church hearings, when the widespread nature of these human experimentation programs was brought to Congressional attention. Many of the programs, as revealed during these hearings, utilized drugs and other chemical agents.

The 1996 publication of the book, The Illuminati Formula to Create an Undetectable Mind Controlled Slave, by Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler, reawakened widespread concerns that the MK ULTRA programs had not been terminated. The book detailed a system of trauma-based mind control, harkening back to the human experiments done in Nazi Germany as the genesis for the recent efforts to create a crop of “mind controlled slaves.” The book became a cult sensation and in his introduction to the book, Springmeier alleged there were over 40,000 such “mind-controlled” individuals within the borders of the United States.

The Law. Vs. The Law: Is Another Murder Taking Place Now in San Bernardino County?

Dees Illustration

Janet Phelan

Actually, in the doublespeak of conservatorship lingo, the conservator doesn’t actually “kill” or “murder” the conservatee. What she does is make an “end of life decision” for her ward.

Such a decision may involve the disallowal of medicine for a ward who is ill with a treatable disease. When Elizabeth Fairbanks fell ill with pneumonia,conservator Melodie Scott made an “end of life decision” and ordered the withholding of antibiotics and, just to give that little extra push into the grave, okayed that the elderly woman be dosed with morphine. Morphine retards respiration and may, in fact, stop a person's breathing.

Helpless and without legal standing to intervene, Fairbanks’ children watched in horror as their mother struggled to breathe, then stopped breathing forever.