Mike Skinner is the Webinar presenter on Saturday, February 6. “Hope, Healing and Help through Music and Advocacy.” If you would like to attend this Webinar, please register by the evening of Thursday, February 4, as registration closes then.
Mike played in 2003 at the first East Coast Conference at the Friends Meeting House in Cambridge MA and he was great. We have been in e-touch ever since. Because of his wonderful, large, open heart and the quality of his music, he is one of the very, very few people I know who has been able to support himself by speaking out about his abuse. It's a privilege to count him among my companions on the healing journey.
Articles of his have been published in Survivorship. Many Voices, Male Survivor, and many other places. You can listen to nineteen tracks of his music at http://www.mskinnermusic.com/mskinner.html
Registration:
The cost of the Webinar is $20.00, plus the cost of your telephone call. There are a limited number of full and partial scholarships available. To reserve a space in the Webinar, e-mail Jeannie at shamai@survivorship.org and give her this information:
1.Your name
2. The Webinar you wish to attend: “Hope, Healing and Help through Music and Advocacy” on February 6 from noon to 2 P.M. Pacific time -- and/or one of the Webinars listed below
3. Whether you need a full or partial scholarship and the method of payment (PayPal or check) PayPal button is at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
4. Your preferred e-mail address and your time zone if you have moved
Other upcoming Webinars in the series are:
March 13 Lynn Schirmer
“Art and Activism: What the Public Sees.”
April 17 Kitty Downey
"Healthy Supportive Relationships – What They Are, How to Make One."
May 15 Celestial
"Riding off into the Sunrise."
More information about the Webinars is at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
There are also two workshops planned in the space at the Family Justice Center in Oakland, CA.
February 13
"Writing Ourselves Whole." with Jen Cross
March 6
"Sharing Difficult Truths" with Mary Ciofalo
More information about workshops is at http://www.survivorship.org/workshops.html
Jeannie Riseman
Webinar Coordinator
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Survivorship Writing Workshop February 13, 2010
Writing Ourselves Whole
A writing workshop with Survivorship
Some Survivorship folks did this workshop with Jen in November and it was wonderful. The writing exercises will be different and so if you came to the last workshop, you are welcome to come to this workshop as well. You do not have to be "a writer" to have a good and healing experience at this workshop.
WHERE: Family Justice Center COST:$50
470 27th St
Oakland, Ca
TIME:12:30 -4pm
WHO: Jen Cross : transformative writing workshops
http://www.writingourselveswhole.org
Support person: Dvora Gordon
Many of us who are survivors of sexual trauma feel fragmented or disjointed and have come to believe we must always live our lives this way. Transforming our language is one way we transform our lives; we can create new art and new beauty out of the difficult and complicated realities of our lives. During this 3.5-hour workshop, you'll write in response to exercises chosen to elicit deep-heart writing, engaging with such subjects as family/community, dreams, love, faith, and more.
Although the setting is a supportive one, this workshop is different from a therapy group, as the focus of the workshop itself will be on each person's writing. Also, even as we come together as survivors, we are never required to write any particular version of our "abuse story." In this space, you have the opportunity to write as you feel called to write, no matter what the subject. You'll leave this workshop with: a renewed sense of yourself as resiliently creative, a rich body of new creative writing, feedback from your peers about what's already strong in your new writing, and connection with a new writing community.
Your facilitator, Jen Cross, is a writer who has facilitated survivors writing workshops since 2002. I spent several years working with survivors of domestic violence and other traumas, individually and in groups, before I began leading writing workshops through which trauma survivors and others could initiate deep and abiding change for themselves and their communities. I hold an MA in Transformative Language Arts, am an experienced group facilitator, and am certified to facilitate Amherst Writers and Artists workshops.
Dvora Gordon has been a member of Survivorship for over 10 years and is currently on the Board of Directors. She is trained as a peer counselor and did grief support for many years. " I love Survivorship and I feel honored to be giving back to this organization that has given me so much over the years."
REGISTRATION
To reserve a space at the workshop or to request a scholarship or work exchange, e-mail the information asked for in the form below to survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com.
You can pay by Pay Pal on our web site.
If you are paying by check or money order, copy, print out, and complete the form below and mail it, with your remittance, to:
SURVIVORSHIP Family Justice Center 470 27th Street Oakland CA 94612
Name ________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
City ________________________________________
State _________________________ Zip ____________
Phone _______________________________________
E-mail _________________________________________
Survivorship work shop March 6th, 9:30 to 4:30
SHARING DIFFICULT TRUTHS/" Nothing too Hard to Share"
WHO: Mary Ciofalo MFC
Support person: Dvora Gordon
WHERE: Family Justice Center
470 27th St
Oakland, CA
COST: $75-$100
(Scholarships and work exchange arrangements are available)
We are offering a day for survivors to share their difficult truths
with each other. We tried this out once before on an art day, and it
was both successful and welcomed. Participants said that they wanted
more. So we are offering this day for safely sharing our deepest
truths. Nothing too hard to share.
There will be two sessions of sharing. The schedule is below.
9:30 to 9:45 arriving and settling in
9:45 to 10:15 Checking in and Setting up Safe Space
10:15 to 11:45 Sharing Time
11:45 to 12:30 Checking in Again
12:30 to 1:30 LUNCH
1:30 to 2:00 Checking in
2:00 to 3:45 Sharing
3:45 to 4:30 Final Checking in
Because the sharing can be triggering and reactive, there will be
collage materials, the children's room and quiet spaces available
for calming and quieting if needed. You can choose where you want to
be at any moment. Both Dvora Gordan and Mary Ciofalo will be holding
safe space and tracking each participant.
Mary Ciofalo MFC has been a therapist in San Francisco for over twenty-five years, working with dissociation and multiples a good deal of that time. she is also an artist, focusing on painting and tile mosaics, and has written two books.
Dvora Gordon who has been a member of Survivorship for over 10 years and is currently on the Board of Directors. She is trained as a peer counselor and did grief support for many years. " I love Survivorship and I feel honored to be giving back to this organization that has given me so much over the years."
REGISTRATION
To reserve a space at the workshop or to request a scholarship or work exchange, e-mail the information asked for in the form below to survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com.
You can pay by Pay Pal on our web site.
If you are paying by check or money order, copy, print out, and complete the form below and mail it, with your remittance, to:
SURVIVORSHIP Family Justice Center 470 27th Street Oakland CA 94612
Name ________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
City ________________________________________
State _________________________ Zip ____________
Phone _______________________________________
E-mail _________________________________________
A writing workshop with Survivorship
Some Survivorship folks did this workshop with Jen in November and it was wonderful. The writing exercises will be different and so if you came to the last workshop, you are welcome to come to this workshop as well. You do not have to be "a writer" to have a good and healing experience at this workshop.
WHERE: Family Justice Center COST:$50
470 27th St
Oakland, Ca
TIME:12:30 -4pm
WHO: Jen Cross : transformative writing workshops
http://www.writingourselveswhole.org
Support person: Dvora Gordon
Many of us who are survivors of sexual trauma feel fragmented or disjointed and have come to believe we must always live our lives this way. Transforming our language is one way we transform our lives; we can create new art and new beauty out of the difficult and complicated realities of our lives. During this 3.5-hour workshop, you'll write in response to exercises chosen to elicit deep-heart writing, engaging with such subjects as family/community, dreams, love, faith, and more.
Although the setting is a supportive one, this workshop is different from a therapy group, as the focus of the workshop itself will be on each person's writing. Also, even as we come together as survivors, we are never required to write any particular version of our "abuse story." In this space, you have the opportunity to write as you feel called to write, no matter what the subject. You'll leave this workshop with: a renewed sense of yourself as resiliently creative, a rich body of new creative writing, feedback from your peers about what's already strong in your new writing, and connection with a new writing community.
Your facilitator, Jen Cross, is a writer who has facilitated survivors writing workshops since 2002. I spent several years working with survivors of domestic violence and other traumas, individually and in groups, before I began leading writing workshops through which trauma survivors and others could initiate deep and abiding change for themselves and their communities. I hold an MA in Transformative Language Arts, am an experienced group facilitator, and am certified to facilitate Amherst Writers and Artists workshops.
Dvora Gordon has been a member of Survivorship for over 10 years and is currently on the Board of Directors. She is trained as a peer counselor and did grief support for many years. " I love Survivorship and I feel honored to be giving back to this organization that has given me so much over the years."
REGISTRATION
To reserve a space at the workshop or to request a scholarship or work exchange, e-mail the information asked for in the form below to survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com.
You can pay by Pay Pal on our web site.
If you are paying by check or money order, copy, print out, and complete the form below and mail it, with your remittance, to:
SURVIVORSHIP Family Justice Center 470 27th Street Oakland CA 94612
Name ________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
City ________________________________________
State _________________________ Zip ____________
Phone _______________________________________
E-mail _________________________________________
Survivorship work shop March 6th, 9:30 to 4:30
SHARING DIFFICULT TRUTHS/" Nothing too Hard to Share"
WHO: Mary Ciofalo MFC
Support person: Dvora Gordon
WHERE: Family Justice Center
470 27th St
Oakland, CA
COST: $75-$100
(Scholarships and work exchange arrangements are available)
We are offering a day for survivors to share their difficult truths
with each other. We tried this out once before on an art day, and it
was both successful and welcomed. Participants said that they wanted
more. So we are offering this day for safely sharing our deepest
truths. Nothing too hard to share.
There will be two sessions of sharing. The schedule is below.
9:30 to 9:45 arriving and settling in
9:45 to 10:15 Checking in and Setting up Safe Space
10:15 to 11:45 Sharing Time
11:45 to 12:30 Checking in Again
12:30 to 1:30 LUNCH
1:30 to 2:00 Checking in
2:00 to 3:45 Sharing
3:45 to 4:30 Final Checking in
Because the sharing can be triggering and reactive, there will be
collage materials, the children's room and quiet spaces available
for calming and quieting if needed. You can choose where you want to
be at any moment. Both Dvora Gordan and Mary Ciofalo will be holding
safe space and tracking each participant.
Mary Ciofalo MFC has been a therapist in San Francisco for over twenty-five years, working with dissociation and multiples a good deal of that time. she is also an artist, focusing on painting and tile mosaics, and has written two books.
Dvora Gordon who has been a member of Survivorship for over 10 years and is currently on the Board of Directors. She is trained as a peer counselor and did grief support for many years. " I love Survivorship and I feel honored to be giving back to this organization that has given me so much over the years."
REGISTRATION
To reserve a space at the workshop or to request a scholarship or work exchange, e-mail the information asked for in the form below to survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com.
You can pay by Pay Pal on our web site.
If you are paying by check or money order, copy, print out, and complete the form below and mail it, with your remittance, to:
SURVIVORSHIP Family Justice Center 470 27th Street Oakland CA 94612
Name ________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
City ________________________________________
State _________________________ Zip ____________
Phone _______________________________________
E-mail _________________________________________
Friday, January 29, 2010
Nigeria - ritual crimes
describes graphic crimes
Ritual killing: A menace overlooked 1/15/10 As with countless incidents of ritual murder, predating the infamous Otokoto saga of 1996 and many others, the case of five people in Ibusa village, Oshimili Local Government Area of Delta State, recently killed on their farms is unlikely to elicit appropriate reaction from government and its law enforcement agencies....The Nigeria Police, State Security Service and other security agencies cannot claim to be unaware of the daily abduction and slaughter of innocent citizens for money-making rituals, appeasement of deities, and other purposes, ranging from electoral success and personal protection to magical powers. Perpetrators, abductors, witchdoctors and their patrons alike, have been emboldened by the indifference and inaction of the authorities. http://punchng.com/Article2Print.aspx?theartic=Art201001150445492
Ritual killing: A menace overlooked 1/15/10 As with countless incidents of ritual murder, predating the infamous Otokoto saga of 1996 and many others, the case of five people in Ibusa village, Oshimili Local Government Area of Delta State, recently killed on their farms is unlikely to elicit appropriate reaction from government and its law enforcement agencies....The Nigeria Police, State Security Service and other security agencies cannot claim to be unaware of the daily abduction and slaughter of innocent citizens for money-making rituals, appeasement of deities, and other purposes, ranging from electoral success and personal protection to magical powers. Perpetrators, abductors, witchdoctors and their patrons alike, have been emboldened by the indifference and inaction of the authorities. http://punchng.com/Article2Print.aspx?theartic=Art201001150445492
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Archdiocese: Abusive Priests With Ireland Ties Worked In Boston
Archdiocese: Abusive Priests With Ireland Ties Worked In Boston By DEBORAH BECKER 1/27/10 BOSTON — For the first time, the Boston Archdiocese has confirmed that some abusive priests with ties to Ireland worked in Boston. An Irish government report last year outlined rampant clergy sex abuse in Ireland, but the Boston Archdiocese has never before acknowledged that any of those priests worked here....Last month, BishopAccountability.org published a list of about 70 priests it said were either born in Ireland or are of Irish descent and who re-offended children in the U.S. The late priest Brendan Smyth was accused of molesting children in Ireland, Britain, North Dakota and Rhode Island. http://www.wbur.org/2010/01/27/irish-priests
Irish Priests Who Have Worked in the United States and Are Accused of Sexual Misconduct - The Catholic sexual abuse crises in the United States and Ireland are deeply connected. Priests who were trained in the Irish seminary system were crucial to the growth of the U.S. church. Many Irish-born priests, including one bishop, are sadly among the priests accused of abuse in the United States. Some priests who offended in Ireland were transferred to the United States, and priests accused of abuse in the United States have sometimes found shelter in Ireland. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/irish_priests_in_us/
Irish Priests Who Have Worked in the United States and Are Accused of Sexual Misconduct - The Catholic sexual abuse crises in the United States and Ireland are deeply connected. Priests who were trained in the Irish seminary system were crucial to the growth of the U.S. church. Many Irish-born priests, including one bishop, are sadly among the priests accused of abuse in the United States. Some priests who offended in Ireland were transferred to the United States, and priests accused of abuse in the United States have sometimes found shelter in Ireland. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/irish_priests_in_us/
Monday, January 25, 2010
Judge allows repressed memory evidence in sex case
AP 1/22/10 INDIANAPOLIS - A judge will allow a man to testify about the sexual abuse he claims a priest committed even though the man repressed the memories for decades. Marion Superior Court Judge David Dreyer has ordered the case to go forward against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Dreyer says expert testimony on repressed memory is reliable enough to let a jury decide its credibility. The plaintiff contends that, as a boy, he was repeatedly molested by former priest Harry Monroe at an Indianapolis parish. Plaintiff Attorney Pat Noaker (noh-AKE'-er) says the decision conforms with similar cases across the country. http://www.jconline.com/article/20100122/NEWS09/100122010/Judge-allows-repressed-memory-evidence-in-sex-case
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Shanley case Leadership Council Amicus Brief on recovered memory
Appellant ON APPEAL FROM A JUDGMENT OF THE SUPERIOR COURT BRIEF OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT SJC NO. 10382 AC NO. 2007-P-0886
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Appellee v. PAUL SHANLEY, LEADERSHIP COUNCIL AS AMICUS CURIAE
excerpts
This Brief explains why Appellant's position is wholly inaccurate regarding scientific acceptance of dissociative memory loss and why his Court's determination that testimony on dissociative memory loss and recovery, from an otherwise qualified expert, is admissible without a Lanigan hearing, is correct. See Commonwealth v. Frangipane, 433 Mass. 527, 537-538 (2001)....
This brief provides important updated scientific and legal support further strengthening the Leadership Council's position in that case. It should also be pointed out that the FMSF brief heavily relies on ad hominem arguments and false accusations of dishonesty and intentional misrepresentation....
That the brain can avoid conscious recall of traumatic information has long been recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and the professional mental health community. Indeed, it is explicitly described as a phenomenon in the 1994 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, the main diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists and psychologists....
The term "dissociative amnesia" appears as follows in section 300.12 of the DSM-IV: Dissociative amnesia is characterized by an inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. This definition, alone, demonstrates that the concept of recovered memory is generally accepted in the relevant scientific community....
Although some argue that inclusion of a diagnosis in the DSM-IV is not evidence of its scientific validity, the development of the manual was carefully planned and was based on rigorous scientific standards....
The DSM further notes that "[t]he reported duration of the events for which there is amnesia may be minutes to years. . . . Some individuals with chronic amnesia may gradually begin to recall dissociated memories."....
Dissociative amnesia is also recognized by the World Health
Organization in their inclusion of this disorder in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10, 2007). F44.0 Dissociative amnesia
The main feature is loss of memory, usually of important recent events, that is not due to organic mental disorder, and is too great to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness or fatigue. The amnesia is usually centred on traumatic events, such as accidents or unexpected bereavements, and is usually partial and selective.
The ICD-10 is the international standard diagnostic classification for all general epidemiological, many health management purposes, and clinical use....
Delayed recall of abuse memories was also recognized in the American Psychological Association's Final Report from the Working Group on Investigation of Memories of Childhood Abuse....
FMSF board member Elizabeth Loftus participated in the working group. As the judge in a past case noted:
. . . even Dr. Loftus conceded upon cross-examination that the APA policy which she helped to create notes that "it is possible for memories of abuse that have been forgotten for a long time to be remembered . . ." The language of the APA report indicates that the challenge to recovered memories which is included therein concerns
the mechanism by which the delayed recall occurs, rather than the fact of its occurrence . . . Furthermore, Dr. Loftus acknowledged that dissociation from a traumatic event is a recognized phenomenon....
The most thoughtful report on recovered memories was issued by the British Psychological Society. British Psychological Society, Report by the Working Group on Recovered Memories (1995). After an investigation of the effect of trauma on memory, the Society concluded that "forgetting of certain kinds of trauma is often reported" for very different kinds of trauma ranging from war trauma to childhood sexual abuse. The report further concluded that the available evidence suggests that between one third and two thirds of abuse victims have periods of time when they "totally or partially forgot the abuse."....
In summary, there is ample evidence that traumatic memory loss and recovery is accepted by the major scientific organizations representing mental health practitioners. This wealth of documentation and professional acknowledgment contrasts sharply with that for socalled "false memory syndrome," which, despite years of attention in the media, has failed to be supported by research and is not recognized as a valid diagnostic entity by any national or international health organization. Thus, those who argue against the mind's ability to dissociate and later recover memories are in the minority....
In summary, not only is there is ample evidence that traumatic amnesia and recovery of memories is accepted by major scientific organizations, there is also strong support for the conclusion that dissociative amnesia is generally accepted among mental health practitioners. Thus evidence regarding traumatic amnesia and/or recovered memory is reliable and admissible in judicial proceedings....
It is notable that every single one of the studies specifically addressing the issue of substantial forgetting of childhood sexual abuse, researchers found that some sub-group within the sample reported either full or partial substantial forgetting for the childhood sexual abuse. Moreover, in Dr. Loftus' own study of memories of sexual abuse, designed specifically to eliminate some of the flaws she identified in previous studies, 12% claimed to remember parts but not all of the abuse, while 19% claimed that they forgot the abuse for a period of time, and later the memory returned. Loftus, E. F., et al., Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Remembering and Repressing 18 Psychol. of Women Q. 67 (1994)....
see comments by FMSF advisory board member Hollida Wakefield in a journal that advocates for pedophiles. Wakefield, Interview: Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager, 3 Paidika: J. Paedophilia 12 (1993) ("It would be nice if someone could get some kind of big research grant to do a longitudinal study of let's say, a hundred twelveyear-old boys in relationships with loving paedophiles")....
Researchers are also beginning to study dissociative amnesia with sophisticated neuroimaging equipment. A recent study shows persuasive evidence that dissociative amnesia is associated with an altered pattern of neural activity which reverses with memory recovery. Kikuchi, H., Fujii, T., Abe, N., et al., Memory Repression: Brain Mechanisms Underlying Dissociative Amnesia, J Cogn Neurosci. (March 20, 2009) [Epub ahead of print]....
The researchers concluded, "Our findings provide direct evidence that memory repression in dissociative amnesia is associated with an altered pattern of neural activity, and they suggest the possibility that the pFC has an important role in inhibiting the activity of the hippocampus in memory repression." Id. This study is particularly important as it provides significant biological proof of the existence of dissociative amnesia, thereby taking the debate out of the realm of pure psychological theory....
In summary, numerous studies looking at whether the brain can suffer dissociative memory loss regarding childhood sexual abuse have found that some sub-group within the sample reported either full or partial substantial forgetting for the events. No study that has specifically examined for evidence of memory loss in traumatized population samples has failed to sustain this finding, which has been confirmed by neuroimaging research and laboratory studies that show how people are able to suppress other types of unwanted information from entering their conscious mind. Simply put, the science is clear and overwhelming that dissociative amnesia is a recognized reaction to childhood sexual abuse and other traumas....
Research Indicates that Recovered Memories and Continuous Memories are of Equal Accuracy
The reliability of the information recalled after a period of forgetting has been documented in a number of carefully performed studies. These studies have found that, when subjected to independent corroboration, continuous memories and spontaneously recovered memories (like those recovered by the plaintiff in the current case) are of similar accuracy....
Even Elizabeth Loftus, outspoken advocate for defendants in cases involving traumatic memories, has opined that the Williams study validates the experience of child sexual abuse victims who report an inability to recall memories of the abuse until years after the abuse has ended. Bass, A., Study Finds Traumatic Memories Can Be Recovered, The Boston Globe (January 26, 1995)....
In another study, Elke Geraerts, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, examined the validity of recovered memories by attempting to corroborate the memories through outside sources. Geraerts, E., Schooler, J.W., Merckelbach, H., et al., The Reality of Recovered Memories: Corroborating Continuous and Discontinuous Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Psychological Science 564-568 (2007)....The researchers concluded that abuse memories that are spontaneously recovered may indeed be just as accurate as memories that have persisted since the time the incident took place....
Moreover, and contrary to claims that recovered memories are primarily the result of suggestive psychotherapy, most recovery of traumatic memories have been found to occur outside of therapy. In Wilsnack, S. C., et al.'s study of over 700 women, less than 2% of women with delayed recall reported remembering the abuse with the help of a therapist or other professional person. The vast majority of memories were recovered spontaneously in other contexts....
For example, after reviewing the literature, cognitive psychologists Lindsay and Read concluded: In our reading, scientific evidence has clear implications . . . . there are few grounds to doubt spontaneously recovered memories of common forms of CSA or recovered memories of details of never-forgotten abuse. Lindsay, D. S., & Read, J. D., "Memory Work" and Recovered Memories of Childhood
Sexual Abuse: Scientific Evidence and Public, Professional and Personal Issues, 1 Psychol., Public Policy & L. 846, 894 (1995)....
.
Testimony based on dissociative amnesia has gained widespread acceptance in courts across the United States. Many state and federal courts have addressed the reliability of delayed memory and related issues involving the statute of limitations. The majority of
reported cases directly addressing this issue recognize the existence of the phenomenon of dissociative/traumatic amnesia and the related experience of delayed recovery of traumatic memories.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/docs/ShanleyBrief.pdf
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Appellee v. PAUL SHANLEY, LEADERSHIP COUNCIL AS AMICUS CURIAE
excerpts
This Brief explains why Appellant's position is wholly inaccurate regarding scientific acceptance of dissociative memory loss and why his Court's determination that testimony on dissociative memory loss and recovery, from an otherwise qualified expert, is admissible without a Lanigan hearing, is correct. See Commonwealth v. Frangipane, 433 Mass. 527, 537-538 (2001)....
This brief provides important updated scientific and legal support further strengthening the Leadership Council's position in that case. It should also be pointed out that the FMSF brief heavily relies on ad hominem arguments and false accusations of dishonesty and intentional misrepresentation....
That the brain can avoid conscious recall of traumatic information has long been recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and the professional mental health community. Indeed, it is explicitly described as a phenomenon in the 1994 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, the main diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists and psychologists....
The term "dissociative amnesia" appears as follows in section 300.12 of the DSM-IV: Dissociative amnesia is characterized by an inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. This definition, alone, demonstrates that the concept of recovered memory is generally accepted in the relevant scientific community....
Although some argue that inclusion of a diagnosis in the DSM-IV is not evidence of its scientific validity, the development of the manual was carefully planned and was based on rigorous scientific standards....
The DSM further notes that "[t]he reported duration of the events for which there is amnesia may be minutes to years. . . . Some individuals with chronic amnesia may gradually begin to recall dissociated memories."....
Dissociative amnesia is also recognized by the World Health
Organization in their inclusion of this disorder in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10, 2007). F44.0 Dissociative amnesia
The main feature is loss of memory, usually of important recent events, that is not due to organic mental disorder, and is too great to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness or fatigue. The amnesia is usually centred on traumatic events, such as accidents or unexpected bereavements, and is usually partial and selective.
The ICD-10 is the international standard diagnostic classification for all general epidemiological, many health management purposes, and clinical use....
Delayed recall of abuse memories was also recognized in the American Psychological Association's Final Report from the Working Group on Investigation of Memories of Childhood Abuse....
FMSF board member Elizabeth Loftus participated in the working group. As the judge in a past case noted:
. . . even Dr. Loftus conceded upon cross-examination that the APA policy which she helped to create notes that "it is possible for memories of abuse that have been forgotten for a long time to be remembered . . ." The language of the APA report indicates that the challenge to recovered memories which is included therein concerns
the mechanism by which the delayed recall occurs, rather than the fact of its occurrence . . . Furthermore, Dr. Loftus acknowledged that dissociation from a traumatic event is a recognized phenomenon....
The most thoughtful report on recovered memories was issued by the British Psychological Society. British Psychological Society, Report by the Working Group on Recovered Memories (1995). After an investigation of the effect of trauma on memory, the Society concluded that "forgetting of certain kinds of trauma is often reported" for very different kinds of trauma ranging from war trauma to childhood sexual abuse. The report further concluded that the available evidence suggests that between one third and two thirds of abuse victims have periods of time when they "totally or partially forgot the abuse."....
In summary, there is ample evidence that traumatic memory loss and recovery is accepted by the major scientific organizations representing mental health practitioners. This wealth of documentation and professional acknowledgment contrasts sharply with that for socalled "false memory syndrome," which, despite years of attention in the media, has failed to be supported by research and is not recognized as a valid diagnostic entity by any national or international health organization. Thus, those who argue against the mind's ability to dissociate and later recover memories are in the minority....
In summary, not only is there is ample evidence that traumatic amnesia and recovery of memories is accepted by major scientific organizations, there is also strong support for the conclusion that dissociative amnesia is generally accepted among mental health practitioners. Thus evidence regarding traumatic amnesia and/or recovered memory is reliable and admissible in judicial proceedings....
It is notable that every single one of the studies specifically addressing the issue of substantial forgetting of childhood sexual abuse, researchers found that some sub-group within the sample reported either full or partial substantial forgetting for the childhood sexual abuse. Moreover, in Dr. Loftus' own study of memories of sexual abuse, designed specifically to eliminate some of the flaws she identified in previous studies, 12% claimed to remember parts but not all of the abuse, while 19% claimed that they forgot the abuse for a period of time, and later the memory returned. Loftus, E. F., et al., Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Remembering and Repressing 18 Psychol. of Women Q. 67 (1994)....
see comments by FMSF advisory board member Hollida Wakefield in a journal that advocates for pedophiles. Wakefield, Interview: Hollida Wakefield and Ralph Underwager, 3 Paidika: J. Paedophilia 12 (1993) ("It would be nice if someone could get some kind of big research grant to do a longitudinal study of let's say, a hundred twelveyear-old boys in relationships with loving paedophiles")....
Researchers are also beginning to study dissociative amnesia with sophisticated neuroimaging equipment. A recent study shows persuasive evidence that dissociative amnesia is associated with an altered pattern of neural activity which reverses with memory recovery. Kikuchi, H., Fujii, T., Abe, N., et al., Memory Repression: Brain Mechanisms Underlying Dissociative Amnesia, J Cogn Neurosci. (March 20, 2009) [Epub ahead of print]....
The researchers concluded, "Our findings provide direct evidence that memory repression in dissociative amnesia is associated with an altered pattern of neural activity, and they suggest the possibility that the pFC has an important role in inhibiting the activity of the hippocampus in memory repression." Id. This study is particularly important as it provides significant biological proof of the existence of dissociative amnesia, thereby taking the debate out of the realm of pure psychological theory....
In summary, numerous studies looking at whether the brain can suffer dissociative memory loss regarding childhood sexual abuse have found that some sub-group within the sample reported either full or partial substantial forgetting for the events. No study that has specifically examined for evidence of memory loss in traumatized population samples has failed to sustain this finding, which has been confirmed by neuroimaging research and laboratory studies that show how people are able to suppress other types of unwanted information from entering their conscious mind. Simply put, the science is clear and overwhelming that dissociative amnesia is a recognized reaction to childhood sexual abuse and other traumas....
Research Indicates that Recovered Memories and Continuous Memories are of Equal Accuracy
The reliability of the information recalled after a period of forgetting has been documented in a number of carefully performed studies. These studies have found that, when subjected to independent corroboration, continuous memories and spontaneously recovered memories (like those recovered by the plaintiff in the current case) are of similar accuracy....
Even Elizabeth Loftus, outspoken advocate for defendants in cases involving traumatic memories, has opined that the Williams study validates the experience of child sexual abuse victims who report an inability to recall memories of the abuse until years after the abuse has ended. Bass, A., Study Finds Traumatic Memories Can Be Recovered, The Boston Globe (January 26, 1995)....
In another study, Elke Geraerts, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, examined the validity of recovered memories by attempting to corroborate the memories through outside sources. Geraerts, E., Schooler, J.W., Merckelbach, H., et al., The Reality of Recovered Memories: Corroborating Continuous and Discontinuous Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Psychological Science 564-568 (2007)....The researchers concluded that abuse memories that are spontaneously recovered may indeed be just as accurate as memories that have persisted since the time the incident took place....
Moreover, and contrary to claims that recovered memories are primarily the result of suggestive psychotherapy, most recovery of traumatic memories have been found to occur outside of therapy. In Wilsnack, S. C., et al.'s study of over 700 women, less than 2% of women with delayed recall reported remembering the abuse with the help of a therapist or other professional person. The vast majority of memories were recovered spontaneously in other contexts....
For example, after reviewing the literature, cognitive psychologists Lindsay and Read concluded: In our reading, scientific evidence has clear implications . . . . there are few grounds to doubt spontaneously recovered memories of common forms of CSA or recovered memories of details of never-forgotten abuse. Lindsay, D. S., & Read, J. D., "Memory Work" and Recovered Memories of Childhood
Sexual Abuse: Scientific Evidence and Public, Professional and Personal Issues, 1 Psychol., Public Policy & L. 846, 894 (1995)....
.
Testimony based on dissociative amnesia has gained widespread acceptance in courts across the United States. Many state and federal courts have addressed the reliability of delayed memory and related issues involving the statute of limitations. The majority of
reported cases directly addressing this issue recognize the existence of the phenomenon of dissociative/traumatic amnesia and the related experience of delayed recovery of traumatic memories.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/docs/ShanleyBrief.pdf
Prevalence of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Timing of Disclosure
Prevalence of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Timing of Disclosure in a Representative Sample of Adults From Quebec - Martine Hébert, PhD; Marc Tourigny, PhD; Mireille Cyr, PhD; Pierre McDuff, MS; Jacques Joly, PhD
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 54, No 9, September 2009
Objective: Our study sought to explore patterns of disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA) in a sample of adult men and women.
Method: A telephone survey conducted with a representative sample of adults (n = 804) from Quebec assessed the prevalence of CSA and disclosure patterns. Analyses were carried out to determine whether disclosure groups differed in terms of psychological distress and symptoms of posttraumatic stress, and a logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with prompt disclosure. Results: Prevalence of CSA was 22.1% for women and 9.7% for men. About 1 survivor out of 5 had never disclosed the abuse, with men more likely not to have told anyone, than women. Only 21.2% of adults reported prompt disclosure (within a month of the first abusive event), while 57.5% delayed disclosure (more than 5 years after the first episode).
CSA victims who never disclosed the abuse and those who delayed disclosure were more likely to obtain scores of psychological distress and posttraumatic stress achieving clinical levels, compared with adults without a history of CSA. In the multivariate analysis, experiencing CSA involving a perpetrator outside the immediate family and being female were factors independently associated with prompt disclosure. Conclusion: A significant number of adult women and men reported experiencing CSA, and most victims attested to either not disclosing or significantly delaying abuse disclosure.
Can J Psychiatry. 2009;54(9):631–636.
http://publications.cpa-apc.org/media.php?mid=840&xwm=true
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 54, No 9, September 2009
Objective: Our study sought to explore patterns of disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA) in a sample of adult men and women.
Method: A telephone survey conducted with a representative sample of adults (n = 804) from Quebec assessed the prevalence of CSA and disclosure patterns. Analyses were carried out to determine whether disclosure groups differed in terms of psychological distress and symptoms of posttraumatic stress, and a logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with prompt disclosure. Results: Prevalence of CSA was 22.1% for women and 9.7% for men. About 1 survivor out of 5 had never disclosed the abuse, with men more likely not to have told anyone, than women. Only 21.2% of adults reported prompt disclosure (within a month of the first abusive event), while 57.5% delayed disclosure (more than 5 years after the first episode).
CSA victims who never disclosed the abuse and those who delayed disclosure were more likely to obtain scores of psychological distress and posttraumatic stress achieving clinical levels, compared with adults without a history of CSA. In the multivariate analysis, experiencing CSA involving a perpetrator outside the immediate family and being female were factors independently associated with prompt disclosure. Conclusion: A significant number of adult women and men reported experiencing CSA, and most victims attested to either not disclosing or significantly delaying abuse disclosure.
Can J Psychiatry. 2009;54(9):631–636.
http://publications.cpa-apc.org/media.php?mid=840&xwm=true
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Vietnam Vets Case Over CIA Testing of Electronic Implants, Mind Control
Vietnam Vets Can Proceed with Case Over CIA Testing of Electronic Implants, Mind Control by Jamie Ross 1/20/10 (CN)
http://ritualabuse.us
A federal judge in San Francisco has given the green light to an action by Vietnam vets saying the CIA prevented roughly 7,000 human subjects from getting medical care after they were subjected to experiments on mind control, implantation of electronics and the effects of exotic drugs. Federal Judge Claudia Wilken allowed a challenge to the consent forms signed by individual plaintiffs involved in the experiments, to the extent that they required an oath of secrecy. At the same time, she dismissed the challenge to the legality of the CIA's human testing program of the 1950s and '60s....
The court also denied the CIA's motion for judgment that the plaintiffs' claims are time-barred and that the court lacks jurisdiction because the plaintiffs' medical care "has been wrongfully withheld," causing them injury due to the agency's failure to act. The CIA and the U.S. Army experimented on human subjects in the 1950s. The experiments included exposing subjects to "various chemicals, drugs and/or the implantation of electronic devices" and "developing mind-control methods."
About 7,800 armed services volunteers participated, but were not fully informed of the potential risks of the procedures. http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/01/20/23839.htm
http://ritualabuse.us
A federal judge in San Francisco has given the green light to an action by Vietnam vets saying the CIA prevented roughly 7,000 human subjects from getting medical care after they were subjected to experiments on mind control, implantation of electronics and the effects of exotic drugs. Federal Judge Claudia Wilken allowed a challenge to the consent forms signed by individual plaintiffs involved in the experiments, to the extent that they required an oath of secrecy. At the same time, she dismissed the challenge to the legality of the CIA's human testing program of the 1950s and '60s....
The court also denied the CIA's motion for judgment that the plaintiffs' claims are time-barred and that the court lacks jurisdiction because the plaintiffs' medical care "has been wrongfully withheld," causing them injury due to the agency's failure to act. The CIA and the U.S. Army experimented on human subjects in the 1950s. The experiments included exposing subjects to "various chemicals, drugs and/or the implantation of electronic devices" and "developing mind-control methods."
About 7,800 armed services volunteers participated, but were not fully informed of the potential risks of the procedures. http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/01/20/23839.htm
Monday, January 18, 2010
Fells Acres - Amirault evidence of guilt
COMMONWEALTH vs. VIOLET AMIRAULT (and eleven companion cases [Note 1]). COMMONWEALTH vs. GERALD AMIRAULT. 424 Mass. 618 October 9, 1996 - March 24, 1997 Middlesex County
" All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way. [Note 6] The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse. Parents and relatives of the children testified and related the circumstances in which the children's disclosures of abuse took place. These parents also testified to instances of extremely sexualized behavior on the part of the children including masturbation, sexualized play with dolls, boys sticking their tongues in the mouths of their mothers, and the simulation of sexual acts. Many of the children also developed generalized symptoms indicative of trauma such as bedwetting, baby talk, pain in their genital areas, headaches and stomach aches, and fearfulness. The Commonwealth presented a child psychiatrist who testified as to three major points....The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified against Gerald. She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls....The parents of several children testified that their children developed pronounced sexual behavior and regressed to infantile behaviors such as bedwetting and baby talk. The same child psychiatrist who appeared at Gerald's trial testified that these behaviors were commonly indicative of sexual abuse.
COMMONWEALTH vs. GERALD AMIRAULT. 404 Mass. 221 December 6, 1988 - March 6, 1989 Middlesex County
During field trips, children sometimes remained at the school with Miss Cheryl, Miss Vi, or Tooky, due to ill health, bad behavior, late arrival, or early departure. Four of the children who testified in this case were occasionally left behind on field trips.
There was a regular nap time at Fells Acres after lunch, between 12:30 P.M. and 2:30 P.M. The children slept on cots set up in the classrooms. Because of overcrowding, children were often removed from their classroom and sent to another less crowded room during nap time. Generally, those children were called away by Miss Vi or Miss Cheryl....The children's descriptions of the sexual abuse varied in some details but were similar over-all. Each of the children stated that he or she was forced to touch the defendant's penis, to lick food from his penis, or that the defendant touched or put his penis in the child's vagina or rectum. Some of the boys stated that the defendant had touched or kissed their penises. Some children testified that Tooky inserted various objects into their vaginas or rectums....
The children stated that they were threatened by Tooky or Miss Vi that if they told anyone about the incidents, that their parents, or family, would be killed, or cut up in pieces, or that the children would be sent away....The parents of the child witnesses testified about their children's behavior while, or shortly after, attending Fells Acres. The children complained and cried about the school; they complained of stomachaches, headaches, pain in their genital areas, and bowel problems. They began bedwetting, lost their appetites, had nightmares, used baby talk, became fearful of lights, of men, and of being left alone. The children also displayed sexually explicit behavior; some began masturbating. Two of the boys tried to stick their tongues into their mothers' mouths, and one tried to kiss his mother's chest.
" All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way. [Note 6] The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse. Parents and relatives of the children testified and related the circumstances in which the children's disclosures of abuse took place. These parents also testified to instances of extremely sexualized behavior on the part of the children including masturbation, sexualized play with dolls, boys sticking their tongues in the mouths of their mothers, and the simulation of sexual acts. Many of the children also developed generalized symptoms indicative of trauma such as bedwetting, baby talk, pain in their genital areas, headaches and stomach aches, and fearfulness. The Commonwealth presented a child psychiatrist who testified as to three major points....The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified against Gerald. She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls....The parents of several children testified that their children developed pronounced sexual behavior and regressed to infantile behaviors such as bedwetting and baby talk. The same child psychiatrist who appeared at Gerald's trial testified that these behaviors were commonly indicative of sexual abuse.
COMMONWEALTH vs. GERALD AMIRAULT. 404 Mass. 221 December 6, 1988 - March 6, 1989 Middlesex County
During field trips, children sometimes remained at the school with Miss Cheryl, Miss Vi, or Tooky, due to ill health, bad behavior, late arrival, or early departure. Four of the children who testified in this case were occasionally left behind on field trips.
There was a regular nap time at Fells Acres after lunch, between 12:30 P.M. and 2:30 P.M. The children slept on cots set up in the classrooms. Because of overcrowding, children were often removed from their classroom and sent to another less crowded room during nap time. Generally, those children were called away by Miss Vi or Miss Cheryl....The children's descriptions of the sexual abuse varied in some details but were similar over-all. Each of the children stated that he or she was forced to touch the defendant's penis, to lick food from his penis, or that the defendant touched or put his penis in the child's vagina or rectum. Some of the boys stated that the defendant had touched or kissed their penises. Some children testified that Tooky inserted various objects into their vaginas or rectums....
The children stated that they were threatened by Tooky or Miss Vi that if they told anyone about the incidents, that their parents, or family, would be killed, or cut up in pieces, or that the children would be sent away....The parents of the child witnesses testified about their children's behavior while, or shortly after, attending Fells Acres. The children complained and cried about the school; they complained of stomachaches, headaches, pain in their genital areas, and bowel problems. They began bedwetting, lost their appetites, had nightmares, used baby talk, became fearful of lights, of men, and of being left alone. The children also displayed sexually explicit behavior; some began masturbating. Two of the boys tried to stick their tongues into their mothers' mouths, and one tried to kiss his mother's chest.
How Childhood Trauma Can Cause Adult Obesity
How Childhood Trauma Can Cause Adult Obesity By Maia Szalavitz Tuesday, Jan. 05, 2010
Felitti wondered if there was something similar barring weight loss in other patients - or causing obesity itself. In the late '80s, he began a systematic study of 286 obese people, and discovered that 50% had been sexually abused as children. That rate is more than 50% higher than the rate normally reported by women, and more than triple the average rate in men. Indeed, the average rates of sexual abuse are themselves unsettling: according to a large 2003 study conducted by John Briere and Diana Elliott of the University of Southern California, 14% of men and 32% of women said they were molested at least once as children.
In recent years, studies by both Felitti and others have largely confirmed the association between sexual abuse - as well as other types of traumatic childhood experience - and eating disorders or obesity. A 2007 study of more than 11,000 California women found that those who had been abused as children were 27% more likely to be obese as adults, compared with those who had not, after adjusting for other factors. A 2009 study of more than 15,000 adolescents found that sexual abuse in childhood raised the risk of obesity 66% in males in adulthood. That study found no such effect in women, but did find a higher risk of eating disorders in sexually abused girls.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1951240,00.html
Felitti wondered if there was something similar barring weight loss in other patients - or causing obesity itself. In the late '80s, he began a systematic study of 286 obese people, and discovered that 50% had been sexually abused as children. That rate is more than 50% higher than the rate normally reported by women, and more than triple the average rate in men. Indeed, the average rates of sexual abuse are themselves unsettling: according to a large 2003 study conducted by John Briere and Diana Elliott of the University of Southern California, 14% of men and 32% of women said they were molested at least once as children.
In recent years, studies by both Felitti and others have largely confirmed the association between sexual abuse - as well as other types of traumatic childhood experience - and eating disorders or obesity. A 2007 study of more than 11,000 California women found that those who had been abused as children were 27% more likely to be obese as adults, compared with those who had not, after adjusting for other factors. A 2009 study of more than 15,000 adolescents found that sexual abuse in childhood raised the risk of obesity 66% in males in adulthood. That study found no such effect in women, but did find a higher risk of eating disorders in sexually abused girls.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1951240,00.html
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Shanley recovered memory case Mass. Court Denies Ex-Priest's Bid for New Trial
Shanley recovered memory case
Mass. Court Denies Ex-Priest's Bid for New Trial 1/15/10 BOSTON (AP) The victim, now in his 30s, claimed Shanley raped him repeatedly when he was a child attending catechism classes at a church in Newton. He said he repressed memory of the abuse for two decades until he saw media coverage of the clergy scandal in 2002.
The Supreme Judicial Court agreed with a Superior Court judge who ruled earlier that repressed memory theory, or ''dissociative amnesia,'' is controversial, but generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. The high court said the theory is supported by ''a wide collection of clinical observations and a survey of academic literature.''....
''Repressed memories of abuse is a legitimate phenomenon and provided a valid basis for the jury to find that the victim, a child at the time of the assaults, repressed memories of the years of abuse he suffered at the hands of Paul Shanley, someone who was in a significant position of authority and trust,'' Leone said in a statement....During Shanley's trial, the victim tearfully described how the popular priest used to pull him out of classes and rape him, beginning when he was just 6 years old and continuing until he was 12.
Shanley, now 78, was known in the 1960s and 1970s as a ''street priest'' who reached out to Boston's troubled youth. Internal records showed that church officials were aware of sexual abuse complaints against him as early as 1967. The clergy sex abuse crisis erupted in Boston in 2002 after church records were made public showing that church officials had reports of priests molesting children, but kept the complaints secret and shuffled some priests from parish to parish rather than remove them. The crisis, which led to the resignation of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, spread as similar sexual abuse complaints were uncovered in dioceses across the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/15/us/AP-US-Priest-Abuse-Memories.html
describes crimes
COMMONWEALTH vs. PAUL SHANLEY DOCKET SJC-10382 Dates: September 10, 2009 - January 15, 2010
CORDY, J. On February 7, 2005, Paul Shanley was convicted of sexual abuse of a child: two indictments charging rape, in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 23; and two indictments charging indecent assault and battery on a person under the age of fourteen years, in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 13B. The abuse occurred between 1983 and 1989 when the victim was attending Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes at the church where the defendant served as a Catholic priest. The victim testified that he did not remember being abused by the defendant until nearly twenty years later, when he learned that other individuals had publicly made allegations that the defendant had sexually abused them when they were children. The victim's testimony about what he remembered of that abuse constituted the core of the evidence against the defendant at trial....
Setting aside the victim's testimony regarding the alleged sexual abuse, and the testimony of the Commonwealth's expert, the jury could have found the following facts. The defendant was a priest at St. Jean's Church in Newton during the years when the victim was enrolled in CCD classes there. He would often check on the children while they were in their CCD classes on Sundays. Children ranging from the ages of six to fourteen, including the victim, attended these classes.
The victim was born on September 9, 1977, and grew up in Newton with two siblings. His parents separated when he was four years of age and, after a short stay with his mother, he lived primarily with his father in his paternal grandmother's house. The victim attended CCD classes with the same group of children at St. Jean's Church from first grade (in 1983) until he reached eighth grade. During the years the victim attended CCD classes, some of the children became quite boisterous and periodically were required to leave the classroom. The victim and two of his friends in particular were disciplined often, both in the lower grades and when they were in fourth or fifth grade. On occasion, the defendant admonished those who were required to leave the classroom for misbehavior, and the victim was observed leaving the classroom with the defendant on several occasions....
The defendant began sexually abusing him when he was approximately six years of age and first began attending CCD classes. The defendant would take the victim out of his CCD class, bring him to the bathroom in the basement, unzip the victim's pants watch him urinate, and then touch the victim's penis with his hand and mouth.
The defendant also sexually assaulted the victim in the pews of the church after the victim put pamphlets in the pews for the upcoming Mass. He would do so by sitting next to the victim, putting his right arm around the victim, touching the victim's penis through his clothes, and grabbing the victim's hand and putting it on his own penis over his clothing. The defendant would also bring the victim into the confessional room which was located "off the side of the pews," where the defendant would undress them both and place his finger in the victim's anus....
The abuse of the victim continued until the defendant left the Newton church in 1990 when the victim was approximately thirteen years of age. The defendant told the victim that no one would ever believe him if he disclosed the abuse....
In describing how dissociative amnesia works, Dr. Chu testified that it is possible for a person to forget something and remember it later. Dr. Chu observed the phenomenon in his own clinical practice with adults who had been traumatized as children and explained that while it was not common in that population, it was "not at all rare." He analogized dissociative amnesia to a type of forgetting, which "leads to people having really pervasive amnesia for not only [traumatic] events themselves, but [also] sometimes for neutral events or even good events." He explained that persons who have experienced repeated traumatization suffer from dissociative amnesia more often than those who experience a single traumatic event.
He went on to testify that when a person remembers "so- called forgotten memories," it is usually the result of a "trigger of some kind" which reminds that person of the traumatic experience.(10) While there was no typical pattern for the subsequent reaction of a traumatized person once there has been a trigger, the person may experience memory flashes or "body sensations." More specifically, a person might experience physical sensations that mirror the sensations he or she incurred from the trauma itself (for example, genital pain where a person had suffered sexual abuse); or have a subsequent reaction to a trigger, become overwhelmed by the sudden onset of traumatic memories and experience "people panic," that is, agitation, crying, and increased adrenaline....
Dr. Chu concluded by estimating that dissociative amnesia occurs in approximately twenty per cent of the seriously traumatized population....
Dr. Brown testified that based on his clinical experience, his review of thousands of studies regarding various aspects of memory, and his analysis of eighty-five studies focused on amnesia in childhood sexual abuse cases, many of which were subject to peer review, it was his opinion that dissociative amnesia exists for a clinically significant minority of traumatized individuals, including children subjected to sexual abuse. He also testified about the evolution of the use of dissociative amnesia as a diagnosis in the DSM, which has been revised several times. He opined that this diagnosis is generally accepted in the field and cited six surveys of psychology professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and clinicians working with war veterans to that effect. According to those surveys (taken collectively), eighty- nine per cent of those surveyed accepted the validity or possible validity of dissociative amnesia....
The judge denied the defendant's motion to exclude expert testimony on dissociative amnesia and recovered memory, concluding that the diagnosis and theories behind it were generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. In doing so, the judge recognized the significance of its listing as a diagnosis in DSM-IV, and credited the testimony of Dr. Brown that "clinically significant minorities of [victims of child sexual abuse] experience amnesia," testimony that was buttressed by the studies cited to and relied on by Dr. Brown which "reflect[ed] a broad-based acceptance of dissociative amnesia and recovery."....
In her closing, the prosecutor stated:
"[The victim] is a twenty-seven year old man. He's recently married. He has a job that he loves . . . . He has half a million dollars in his pocket. So why, ladies and gentlemen, did he come in here and tell you what happened to him? Why? What does your common sense tell you?
"You saw him on that stand for almost 14 hours day after day, hour after hour, he willed himself through that testimony. You saw it. What does your common sense tell you?
"He came in here and he told you what happened because that man, that defendant, that priest, raped him and molested him when he was a little boy over and over again. The defendant would have you believe it is all a lie. It's for the money; that people don't forget about things that happen to them and then later remember them. . . .
"Was it all a lie? Was it made up? Did [the victim] come in here and just lie about it? Was it for the money? He has the money. He got the money over nine months ago. No strings attached. What did he get from coming in here? The opportunity to be on the stand? He sustained long, painful questioning, and what did he get from it?
http://www.socialaw.com/slip.htm?cid=19624&sid=120
Cover up: Documents: Archdiocese knew priest was a rapist - by Tom Mashberg and Robin Washington - 4/9/02 Boston Herald
http://web.archive.org/web/20020602180710/http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/shan04092002.htm
Paul Shanley - Summary of Case
http://www.projecttruth2.com/Paul%20Richard%20Shanley.htm
Websites citing journal articles proving the veracity of recovered memory include :
http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/index.html
http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/tm.html
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/abuse/a/cooroborate.htm
Mass. Court Denies Ex-Priest's Bid for New Trial 1/15/10 BOSTON (AP) The victim, now in his 30s, claimed Shanley raped him repeatedly when he was a child attending catechism classes at a church in Newton. He said he repressed memory of the abuse for two decades until he saw media coverage of the clergy scandal in 2002.
The Supreme Judicial Court agreed with a Superior Court judge who ruled earlier that repressed memory theory, or ''dissociative amnesia,'' is controversial, but generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. The high court said the theory is supported by ''a wide collection of clinical observations and a survey of academic literature.''....
''Repressed memories of abuse is a legitimate phenomenon and provided a valid basis for the jury to find that the victim, a child at the time of the assaults, repressed memories of the years of abuse he suffered at the hands of Paul Shanley, someone who was in a significant position of authority and trust,'' Leone said in a statement....During Shanley's trial, the victim tearfully described how the popular priest used to pull him out of classes and rape him, beginning when he was just 6 years old and continuing until he was 12.
Shanley, now 78, was known in the 1960s and 1970s as a ''street priest'' who reached out to Boston's troubled youth. Internal records showed that church officials were aware of sexual abuse complaints against him as early as 1967. The clergy sex abuse crisis erupted in Boston in 2002 after church records were made public showing that church officials had reports of priests molesting children, but kept the complaints secret and shuffled some priests from parish to parish rather than remove them. The crisis, which led to the resignation of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, spread as similar sexual abuse complaints were uncovered in dioceses across the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/15/us/AP-US-Priest-Abuse-Memories.html
describes crimes
COMMONWEALTH vs. PAUL SHANLEY DOCKET SJC-10382 Dates: September 10, 2009 - January 15, 2010
CORDY, J. On February 7, 2005, Paul Shanley was convicted of sexual abuse of a child: two indictments charging rape, in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 23; and two indictments charging indecent assault and battery on a person under the age of fourteen years, in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 13B. The abuse occurred between 1983 and 1989 when the victim was attending Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes at the church where the defendant served as a Catholic priest. The victim testified that he did not remember being abused by the defendant until nearly twenty years later, when he learned that other individuals had publicly made allegations that the defendant had sexually abused them when they were children. The victim's testimony about what he remembered of that abuse constituted the core of the evidence against the defendant at trial....
Setting aside the victim's testimony regarding the alleged sexual abuse, and the testimony of the Commonwealth's expert, the jury could have found the following facts. The defendant was a priest at St. Jean's Church in Newton during the years when the victim was enrolled in CCD classes there. He would often check on the children while they were in their CCD classes on Sundays. Children ranging from the ages of six to fourteen, including the victim, attended these classes.
The victim was born on September 9, 1977, and grew up in Newton with two siblings. His parents separated when he was four years of age and, after a short stay with his mother, he lived primarily with his father in his paternal grandmother's house. The victim attended CCD classes with the same group of children at St. Jean's Church from first grade (in 1983) until he reached eighth grade. During the years the victim attended CCD classes, some of the children became quite boisterous and periodically were required to leave the classroom. The victim and two of his friends in particular were disciplined often, both in the lower grades and when they were in fourth or fifth grade. On occasion, the defendant admonished those who were required to leave the classroom for misbehavior, and the victim was observed leaving the classroom with the defendant on several occasions....
The defendant began sexually abusing him when he was approximately six years of age and first began attending CCD classes. The defendant would take the victim out of his CCD class, bring him to the bathroom in the basement, unzip the victim's pants watch him urinate, and then touch the victim's penis with his hand and mouth.
The defendant also sexually assaulted the victim in the pews of the church after the victim put pamphlets in the pews for the upcoming Mass. He would do so by sitting next to the victim, putting his right arm around the victim, touching the victim's penis through his clothes, and grabbing the victim's hand and putting it on his own penis over his clothing. The defendant would also bring the victim into the confessional room which was located "off the side of the pews," where the defendant would undress them both and place his finger in the victim's anus....
The abuse of the victim continued until the defendant left the Newton church in 1990 when the victim was approximately thirteen years of age. The defendant told the victim that no one would ever believe him if he disclosed the abuse....
In describing how dissociative amnesia works, Dr. Chu testified that it is possible for a person to forget something and remember it later. Dr. Chu observed the phenomenon in his own clinical practice with adults who had been traumatized as children and explained that while it was not common in that population, it was "not at all rare." He analogized dissociative amnesia to a type of forgetting, which "leads to people having really pervasive amnesia for not only [traumatic] events themselves, but [also] sometimes for neutral events or even good events." He explained that persons who have experienced repeated traumatization suffer from dissociative amnesia more often than those who experience a single traumatic event.
He went on to testify that when a person remembers "so- called forgotten memories," it is usually the result of a "trigger of some kind" which reminds that person of the traumatic experience.(10) While there was no typical pattern for the subsequent reaction of a traumatized person once there has been a trigger, the person may experience memory flashes or "body sensations." More specifically, a person might experience physical sensations that mirror the sensations he or she incurred from the trauma itself (for example, genital pain where a person had suffered sexual abuse); or have a subsequent reaction to a trigger, become overwhelmed by the sudden onset of traumatic memories and experience "people panic," that is, agitation, crying, and increased adrenaline....
Dr. Chu concluded by estimating that dissociative amnesia occurs in approximately twenty per cent of the seriously traumatized population....
Dr. Brown testified that based on his clinical experience, his review of thousands of studies regarding various aspects of memory, and his analysis of eighty-five studies focused on amnesia in childhood sexual abuse cases, many of which were subject to peer review, it was his opinion that dissociative amnesia exists for a clinically significant minority of traumatized individuals, including children subjected to sexual abuse. He also testified about the evolution of the use of dissociative amnesia as a diagnosis in the DSM, which has been revised several times. He opined that this diagnosis is generally accepted in the field and cited six surveys of psychology professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and clinicians working with war veterans to that effect. According to those surveys (taken collectively), eighty- nine per cent of those surveyed accepted the validity or possible validity of dissociative amnesia....
The judge denied the defendant's motion to exclude expert testimony on dissociative amnesia and recovered memory, concluding that the diagnosis and theories behind it were generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. In doing so, the judge recognized the significance of its listing as a diagnosis in DSM-IV, and credited the testimony of Dr. Brown that "clinically significant minorities of [victims of child sexual abuse] experience amnesia," testimony that was buttressed by the studies cited to and relied on by Dr. Brown which "reflect[ed] a broad-based acceptance of dissociative amnesia and recovery."....
In her closing, the prosecutor stated:
"[The victim] is a twenty-seven year old man. He's recently married. He has a job that he loves . . . . He has half a million dollars in his pocket. So why, ladies and gentlemen, did he come in here and tell you what happened to him? Why? What does your common sense tell you?
"You saw him on that stand for almost 14 hours day after day, hour after hour, he willed himself through that testimony. You saw it. What does your common sense tell you?
"He came in here and he told you what happened because that man, that defendant, that priest, raped him and molested him when he was a little boy over and over again. The defendant would have you believe it is all a lie. It's for the money; that people don't forget about things that happen to them and then later remember them. . . .
"Was it all a lie? Was it made up? Did [the victim] come in here and just lie about it? Was it for the money? He has the money. He got the money over nine months ago. No strings attached. What did he get from coming in here? The opportunity to be on the stand? He sustained long, painful questioning, and what did he get from it?
http://www.socialaw.com/slip.htm?cid=19624&sid=120
Cover up: Documents: Archdiocese knew priest was a rapist - by Tom Mashberg and Robin Washington - 4/9/02 Boston Herald
http://web.archive.org/web/20020602180710/http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/shan04092002.htm
Paul Shanley - Summary of Case
http://www.projecttruth2.com/Paul%20Richard%20Shanley.htm
Websites citing journal articles proving the veracity of recovered memory include :
http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/index.html
http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/tm.html
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/abuse/a/cooroborate.htm
Friday, January 15, 2010
Shanley conviction upheld by Mass Supreme Judicial Court
Shanley conviction upheld by Mass Supreme Judicial Court
Defrocked priest Shanley is a victim of 'injustice,' his attorney says By John R. Ellement and Jonathan Saltzman, Globe staff 1/15/10 The state's highest court today upheld the sexual assault convictions of defrocked Roman Catholic priest Paul M. Shanley, who claimed he was wrongly accused by a man who fabricated memories of being abused as a child. Shanley was a key figure in the priest abuse scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese....In its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court said a Superior Court judge made the right decision when he allowed repressed memory evidence to be used against Shanley during his 2005 trial.
"In sum, the judge's finding that the lack of scientific testing did not make unreliable the theory that an individual may experience dissociative amnesia was supported in the record, not only by expert testimony but by a wide collection of clinical observations and a survey of academic literature,'' Justice Robert Cordy wrote for the SJC
Shanley was prosecuted by Martha Coakley, who is now attorney general and a Democratic candidate for US Senate. Her successor, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.,whose prosecutors defended the conviction before the SJC, applauded the ruling.
"As the SJC recognized, repressed memories of abuse is a legitimate phenomenon and provided a valid basis for the jury to find that the victim, a child at the time of the assaults, repressed memories of the years of abuse he suffered at the hands of Paul Shanley, someone who was in a significant position of authority and trust.''....
But Wendy Murphy, who wrote a brief on behalf of victims rights, applauded the court in a statement. She said the ruling means "that the inability of a child to remember will never be used as a reason to deny a victim access to justice.''
Shanley's convictions for two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery obtained by Middlesex prosecutors in 2005. The victim first made his accusations against Shanley in 2002, some 20 years after the abuse took place at St. Jean's Church in Newton when the boy was between the ages of 6 and 11....During the trial, prosecutors had argued that the victim should be believed because the emotional trauma he suffered created a "dissociative amnesia,'' which is recognized by the mental health profession as a legitimate psychiatric disorder.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/sjc_rules_in_sh.html
additional information on Shanley
"Damning internal church documents on the Rev. Paul R. Shanley make clear that the Archdiocese of Boston knew the priest was a child rapist yet devoted large sums of money and decades of personnel resources to cover up his crimes." "The documents also show that Shanley spoke in favor of sex between men and boys at a formative 1978 meeting in Boston of the "Man Boy Lovers of North America," a precursor of the North American Man-Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA." "Shanley admitted openly to raping and sodomizing minors when confronted by church investigators under Boston's two past archbishops, Humberto Cardinal Medeiros and Law." from Cover up: Documents: Archdiocese knew priest was a rapist - by Tom Mashberg and Robin Washington - 4/9/02 Boston Herald
http://web.archive.org/web/20020602180710/http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/shan04092002.htm
Paul Shanley - Summary of Case: Shanley's career had four stages. He spent the 1960s as a junior parish priest at St. Patrick's in Stoneham (a suburb north of Boston) and at St. Francis of Assisi in Braintree (a working class suburb south of Boston). In the 1970s he was a "street priest" designated as the Boston archdiocese's minister to "alienated youth." In the 1980s he was a priest and pastor at St. Jean's in the working class Nonantum section of Newton, west of Boston. And in the 1990s he was a fill-in priest in the San Bernardino diocese and an acting director of Leo House, a Catholic hostel in the New York archdiocese. He is accused of sexual abuse in each decade. His alleged victims were mostly male, but some women have come forward. Ages of the alleged victims at the time of the abuse range from 6 to 26, and the alleged offenses range from fondling to forced oral sex and anal rape. http://www.projecttruth2.com/Paul%20Richard%20Shanley.htm
Websites citing journal articles proving the veracity of recovered memory include :
http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/index.html
http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/tm.html
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/abuse/a/cooroborate.htm
Defrocked priest Shanley is a victim of 'injustice,' his attorney says By John R. Ellement and Jonathan Saltzman, Globe staff 1/15/10 The state's highest court today upheld the sexual assault convictions of defrocked Roman Catholic priest Paul M. Shanley, who claimed he was wrongly accused by a man who fabricated memories of being abused as a child. Shanley was a key figure in the priest abuse scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese....In its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court said a Superior Court judge made the right decision when he allowed repressed memory evidence to be used against Shanley during his 2005 trial.
"In sum, the judge's finding that the lack of scientific testing did not make unreliable the theory that an individual may experience dissociative amnesia was supported in the record, not only by expert testimony but by a wide collection of clinical observations and a survey of academic literature,'' Justice Robert Cordy wrote for the SJC
Shanley was prosecuted by Martha Coakley, who is now attorney general and a Democratic candidate for US Senate. Her successor, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.,whose prosecutors defended the conviction before the SJC, applauded the ruling.
"As the SJC recognized, repressed memories of abuse is a legitimate phenomenon and provided a valid basis for the jury to find that the victim, a child at the time of the assaults, repressed memories of the years of abuse he suffered at the hands of Paul Shanley, someone who was in a significant position of authority and trust.''....
But Wendy Murphy, who wrote a brief on behalf of victims rights, applauded the court in a statement. She said the ruling means "that the inability of a child to remember will never be used as a reason to deny a victim access to justice.''
Shanley's convictions for two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery obtained by Middlesex prosecutors in 2005. The victim first made his accusations against Shanley in 2002, some 20 years after the abuse took place at St. Jean's Church in Newton when the boy was between the ages of 6 and 11....During the trial, prosecutors had argued that the victim should be believed because the emotional trauma he suffered created a "dissociative amnesia,'' which is recognized by the mental health profession as a legitimate psychiatric disorder.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/sjc_rules_in_sh.html
additional information on Shanley
"Damning internal church documents on the Rev. Paul R. Shanley make clear that the Archdiocese of Boston knew the priest was a child rapist yet devoted large sums of money and decades of personnel resources to cover up his crimes." "The documents also show that Shanley spoke in favor of sex between men and boys at a formative 1978 meeting in Boston of the "Man Boy Lovers of North America," a precursor of the North American Man-Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA." "Shanley admitted openly to raping and sodomizing minors when confronted by church investigators under Boston's two past archbishops, Humberto Cardinal Medeiros and Law." from Cover up: Documents: Archdiocese knew priest was a rapist - by Tom Mashberg and Robin Washington - 4/9/02 Boston Herald
http://web.archive.org/web/20020602180710/http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/shan04092002.htm
Paul Shanley - Summary of Case: Shanley's career had four stages. He spent the 1960s as a junior parish priest at St. Patrick's in Stoneham (a suburb north of Boston) and at St. Francis of Assisi in Braintree (a working class suburb south of Boston). In the 1970s he was a "street priest" designated as the Boston archdiocese's minister to "alienated youth." In the 1980s he was a priest and pastor at St. Jean's in the working class Nonantum section of Newton, west of Boston. And in the 1990s he was a fill-in priest in the San Bernardino diocese and an acting director of Leo House, a Catholic hostel in the New York archdiocese. He is accused of sexual abuse in each decade. His alleged victims were mostly male, but some women have come forward. Ages of the alleged victims at the time of the abuse range from 6 to 26, and the alleged offenses range from fondling to forced oral sex and anal rape. http://www.projecttruth2.com/Paul%20Richard%20Shanley.htm
Websites citing journal articles proving the veracity of recovered memory include :
http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Recovered_Memories
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/index.html
http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/tm.html
http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/abuse/a/cooroborate.htm
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Israeli living with 17 women arrested for enslavement, rape
describes crimes
Israel police nab man suspected of enslaving women, children 1/15/10 ISRAELI police said they have arrested a sect leader suspected of enslaving and sexually abusing 17 women and the 40 children he had with them....Mr Ratzon has been known for several years to head a sect of women who were said to adulate him, have sex with him and raise his children. Police suspect that Mr Ratzon also raped and impregnated his own daughters. The grey-bearded, long-haired man, who was arrested on Monday following a lengthy undercover investigation, held the women under his strict control, enforcing a draconian book of rules that specified behaviour and punishments. http://www.news.com.au/world/israel-police-nab-man-suspected-of-enslaving-women-children/story-e6frfkzi-1225819849037
Israeli living with 17 women arrested for enslavement, rape By Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz Correspondent 1/14/10 A Tel Aviv man who has been living with 17 women with whom he fathered 38 children was arrested on Monday on suspicion of enslavement, rape, extortion by threat and sexual assault of minors, among other charges, police said after a gag order was lifted on the case....Police confiscated a rule book by which Ratzon forced his family to abide. The women were forbidden to communicate with men, be in physical contact with their biological family, eat meat, smoke, drink alcohol or dress immodestly. Ratzon is considered by his companions to be the savior (Goel in Hebrew) of the universe, and is attributed godly and supernatural abilities. Many of the women have tattooed his name and portrait to several parts of their bodies. The names of every one of Ratzon's children include his own first name. For instance, one of his sons is called Avinu Ha-Goel (our father the savior) and he has a daughter named Tehilat Ha-Goel (glory of the savior). http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142653.html
Israel police nab man suspected of enslaving women, children 1/15/10 ISRAELI police said they have arrested a sect leader suspected of enslaving and sexually abusing 17 women and the 40 children he had with them....Mr Ratzon has been known for several years to head a sect of women who were said to adulate him, have sex with him and raise his children. Police suspect that Mr Ratzon also raped and impregnated his own daughters. The grey-bearded, long-haired man, who was arrested on Monday following a lengthy undercover investigation, held the women under his strict control, enforcing a draconian book of rules that specified behaviour and punishments. http://www.news.com.au/world/israel-police-nab-man-suspected-of-enslaving-women-children/story-e6frfkzi-1225819849037
Israeli living with 17 women arrested for enslavement, rape By Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz Correspondent 1/14/10 A Tel Aviv man who has been living with 17 women with whom he fathered 38 children was arrested on Monday on suspicion of enslavement, rape, extortion by threat and sexual assault of minors, among other charges, police said after a gag order was lifted on the case....Police confiscated a rule book by which Ratzon forced his family to abide. The women were forbidden to communicate with men, be in physical contact with their biological family, eat meat, smoke, drink alcohol or dress immodestly. Ratzon is considered by his companions to be the savior (Goel in Hebrew) of the universe, and is attributed godly and supernatural abilities. Many of the women have tattooed his name and portrait to several parts of their bodies. The names of every one of Ratzon's children include his own first name. For instance, one of his sons is called Avinu Ha-Goel (our father the savior) and he has a daughter named Tehilat Ha-Goel (glory of the savior). http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142653.html
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995 Remarks on Accepting the Report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments October 3, 1995 P. 1351 "Thousands of Government-sponsored experiments did take place at hospitals, universities, and military bases around our Nation. The goal was to understand the effects of radiation exposure on the human body. While most of the tests were ethical by any standards, some were unethical, not only by today's standards but by the standards of the time in which they were conducted. They failed both the test of our national values and the test of humanity. In one experience, scientists—experiment— scientists injected plutonium into 18 patients without their knowledge. In another, doctors exposed indigent cancer patients to excessive doses of radiation, a treatment from which it is virtually impossible that they could ever benefit....Informed consent means your doctor tells you the risk of the treatment you are about to undergo. In too many cases, informed consent was withheld. Americans were kept in the dark about the effects of what was being done to them. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?position=all&page=1530&dbname=1995_public_papers_vol2_misc
Monday, January 11, 2010
20,000 young women and children trafficked yearly - Mexico, Annett attacked
http://ritualabuse.us
describes graphic crimes
Mexican woman tells of ordeal with cross-border child traffickers - In interview with Channel 4 News, young woman says babies and young children are 'sold to order' to US nationals Nick Martin in Ciudad Juárez, guardian.co.uk, 11 January 2010
A young Mexican woman who escaped from human traffickers has told US special agents how she witnessed babies and children being "sold to order" to US citizens. America's Department of Homeland Security in Washington says the girl, known only as Maria, had "significant ~information" and possessed a "remarkable memory" of her experiences inside the gang. In an interview with Channel 4 News, to be broadcast tonight, the teenager tells of a cross-border trade in babies and young children, where Mexican and US gangs worked together to supply a demand in the United States. As a result of the interview, US officials and Mexican authorities have begun an investigation into the alleged trafficking....
Since the 1990s, thousands of women have disappeared from the town. Hundreds of bodies bearing signs of rape and sexual mutilation have been dumped on waste ground in the city; thousands more have never returned. In 2009, 55 teenage girls vanished in the town, which has been gripped by violence as two drug cartels fight a lethal turf war over cocaine smuggling routes into the US....The US state department estimates that more than 20,000 young women and children are trafficked across the border from Mexico each year. But conviction rates remain low. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/11/mexican-woman-border-child-traffic
Kevin Annett, beaten, exposes role of Canada's police and churches in sex crimes and child trafficking Brenda Norrell 1/11/10
Kevin Annett, human rights activist beaten in Vancouver on Wednesday, released a new article today exposing the role of Canada's police and churches in sex crimes and child trafficking, including the abuse of Native women and children.
Kevin Annett, a community minister, was assaulted by two men in Vancouver's downtown eastside on Wednesday, Jan. Jan. 6, 2010, just two days after he published an article on church and government complicity in child trafficking on Canada's west coast.
Annett suffered cuts, bruises, and at least one broken rib as a result of the unprovoked beating by two men, one of whom is linked to a downtown church agency.
Today, after being beaten, Annett released a new article on the role of Vancouver police in sex crimes http://www.censored-news.blogspot.com/
....Annett has exposed the rape, torture and murder of Native children in Canada's residential schools, through church documents and interviews. In one case, a Native girl was raped and the infant she gave birth to was thrown into the furnace. The abuse of Native children in Canada's residential schools mirrored the abuse in aboriginal boarding schools in Australia and BIA boarding schools in the United States.
Annett is now exposing the role of the church and Canadian government in sex crimes, including the disappearance of Native children in child trafficking and murder of Native women.
Annett, who for fifteen years has led the campaign to bring to justice the churches and government responsible for genocide in Canada's Indian Residential Schools, made international news in October 2009 when he held the first memorial service for missing native children outside the Vatican in Rome.
Rev. Annett, school survivors and native elders have also led high profile protests and occupations of churches in Vancouver and Toronto since 2005, and on many occasions Annett has been threatened by church officials and police, according to a statement from Hidden From History. http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2010/01/kevin-annett-beaten-exposes-role-canadas-police-and-churches-sex-cri#new
Annett's site http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/
describes graphic crimes
Mexican woman tells of ordeal with cross-border child traffickers - In interview with Channel 4 News, young woman says babies and young children are 'sold to order' to US nationals Nick Martin in Ciudad Juárez, guardian.co.uk, 11 January 2010
A young Mexican woman who escaped from human traffickers has told US special agents how she witnessed babies and children being "sold to order" to US citizens. America's Department of Homeland Security in Washington says the girl, known only as Maria, had "significant ~information" and possessed a "remarkable memory" of her experiences inside the gang. In an interview with Channel 4 News, to be broadcast tonight, the teenager tells of a cross-border trade in babies and young children, where Mexican and US gangs worked together to supply a demand in the United States. As a result of the interview, US officials and Mexican authorities have begun an investigation into the alleged trafficking....
Since the 1990s, thousands of women have disappeared from the town. Hundreds of bodies bearing signs of rape and sexual mutilation have been dumped on waste ground in the city; thousands more have never returned. In 2009, 55 teenage girls vanished in the town, which has been gripped by violence as two drug cartels fight a lethal turf war over cocaine smuggling routes into the US....The US state department estimates that more than 20,000 young women and children are trafficked across the border from Mexico each year. But conviction rates remain low. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/11/mexican-woman-border-child-traffic
Kevin Annett, beaten, exposes role of Canada's police and churches in sex crimes and child trafficking Brenda Norrell 1/11/10
Kevin Annett, human rights activist beaten in Vancouver on Wednesday, released a new article today exposing the role of Canada's police and churches in sex crimes and child trafficking, including the abuse of Native women and children.
Kevin Annett, a community minister, was assaulted by two men in Vancouver's downtown eastside on Wednesday, Jan. Jan. 6, 2010, just two days after he published an article on church and government complicity in child trafficking on Canada's west coast.
Annett suffered cuts, bruises, and at least one broken rib as a result of the unprovoked beating by two men, one of whom is linked to a downtown church agency.
Today, after being beaten, Annett released a new article on the role of Vancouver police in sex crimes http://www.censored-news.blogspot.com/
....Annett has exposed the rape, torture and murder of Native children in Canada's residential schools, through church documents and interviews. In one case, a Native girl was raped and the infant she gave birth to was thrown into the furnace. The abuse of Native children in Canada's residential schools mirrored the abuse in aboriginal boarding schools in Australia and BIA boarding schools in the United States.
Annett is now exposing the role of the church and Canadian government in sex crimes, including the disappearance of Native children in child trafficking and murder of Native women.
Annett, who for fifteen years has led the campaign to bring to justice the churches and government responsible for genocide in Canada's Indian Residential Schools, made international news in October 2009 when he held the first memorial service for missing native children outside the Vatican in Rome.
Rev. Annett, school survivors and native elders have also led high profile protests and occupations of churches in Vancouver and Toronto since 2005, and on many occasions Annett has been threatened by church officials and police, according to a statement from Hidden From History. http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2010/01/kevin-annett-beaten-exposes-role-canadas-police-and-churches-sex-cri#new
Annett's site http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/
Sunday, January 10, 2010
COVERT AND DECEPTIVE AMERICAN MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION
Chapter 17 THE COLD WAR AND BEYOND: COVERT AND DECEPTIVE AMERICAN MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION - SUSAN E. LEDERER, PHD - Military Medical Ethics, Volume 2
HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION DURING THE COLD WAR ERA
The Nuremberg Code and the United States Government
The Human Radiation Experiments
The Central Intelligence Agency and "Mind-Altering" Substances
The US Army and Biological Warfare Tests in America
"During the last decade Americans have increasingly confronted the tragic record of clandestine and deceptive human experimentation in the 20th century. Expert commissions have issued reports, the injured have sought and received financial compensation, and the government has apologized to citizen subjects of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the human radiation experiments. Lawsuits brought by veterans of biological, chemical, and atomic warfare studies continue to wend their way through the courts. These lawsuits permit a financial accounting of loss of life, liberty, and mental distress. They do not take into account the corrosion of trust in American researchers and the American government. Even more disturbing is the fear that thesethings could happen again unless adequate safeguards remain in effect and the lessons of the past are learned." http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/published_volumes/ethicsVol2/Ethics-ch-17.pdf
from the book online
Military Medical Ethics Volume 2 - Section IV: Medical Ethics in the Military http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/published_volumes/ethicsVol2/ethicsVol2.html
HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION DURING THE COLD WAR ERA
The Nuremberg Code and the United States Government
The Human Radiation Experiments
The Central Intelligence Agency and "Mind-Altering" Substances
The US Army and Biological Warfare Tests in America
"During the last decade Americans have increasingly confronted the tragic record of clandestine and deceptive human experimentation in the 20th century. Expert commissions have issued reports, the injured have sought and received financial compensation, and the government has apologized to citizen subjects of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the human radiation experiments. Lawsuits brought by veterans of biological, chemical, and atomic warfare studies continue to wend their way through the courts. These lawsuits permit a financial accounting of loss of life, liberty, and mental distress. They do not take into account the corrosion of trust in American researchers and the American government. Even more disturbing is the fear that thesethings could happen again unless adequate safeguards remain in effect and the lessons of the past are learned." http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/published_volumes/ethicsVol2/Ethics-ch-17.pdf
from the book online
Military Medical Ethics Volume 2 - Section IV: Medical Ethics in the Military http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/published_volumes/ethicsVol2/ethicsVol2.html
Fells Acres – Amirault Case
for information on more cases, see http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/
Letters to the Editor: The Real Darkness Is Child Abuse WALL STREET JOURNAL (J) 02/24/95 Hardoon
The three Amiraults — Gerald, Violet and Cheryl – were convicted after two trials before different judges and juries almost one year apart. They were represented by able and well-known defense counsel. The convictions were upheld after review by state and federal appellate courts....in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in avery small percentage of non-sexually abused children....The victims and their families in these cases have been irrevocably harmed by what was done to them by the Amiraults. Every argument raised by Ms. Rabinowitz was ably presented by the defense at the trials. The juries, by their verdicts, rejected these arguments. Justice was done.
http://web.archive.org/web/20010719201703/http://www.vocal-nasvo.org/hardoon.htm
see for actual case evidence http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/category/commonwealth-vs-amirault/
http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/common-vs-amirault-424-mass-618-page-624.jpg
http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/common-vs-amirault-424-mass-618-page-622.jpg
“All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”
Mass. Victims Fight Commutation Plea By Leslie Miller, Associated Press Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) – Victims in the Fells Acres child abuse case broke down Thursday as they described their pain publicly for the first time in hopes of keeping the last person convicted in the case behind bars. Victims urged her to keep Amirault in prison. “During counseling meetings as a child, I would speak of a tall man touching me and taking pictures of me,” Phaedra Hopkins, 20, said at an emotional news conference. “So many times, Mr. Amirault hovered over me, touched me and hurt me and committed many disgusting acts of abuse.” Those children, now adults, stood by their testimony Thursday.
“This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,’’said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres. “We weren’t coaxed. We weren’t lying. We’re telling the truth and we always will,” said Bennett, 22. “I was there. None of you were there. We weren’t coaxed, nor were we ever ever ever brainwashed.”Brian Martinello, 21, said he was sexually abused by Amirault. His mother, Barbara Standke, claims her son came home from the day care with sores on his genitals and other people’s underwear. “I think it’s an absolute disgrace to let anyone out of prison for such a disgusting crime,” Martinello said.
http://web.archive.org/web/20010807011330/http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010802/us/preschool_abuse_3.html
Governor explains Amirault decision Says she needed to ‘live with myself’ By Douglas Belkin and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff, 2/21/2002
In her announcement, Swift said her first consideration was whether there was ”overwhelming evidence” to contradict the jury conviction and two decisions by the Supreme Judicial Court upholding the verdict.
”I concluded there was not,” she said. Swift said that she also considered the two guidelines for a commutation: that the sentence is too severe and that the person had made ”exceptional strides in self-development.” ”Again, my answer was no,” Swift said. ”I concluded after that review that the jury and the Supreme [Court] decisions should be upheld and that under the commutation guidelines commutation was not warranted,” Swift said….But ultimately, she said, she concluded that the sentence was appropriate and consistent with other cases. Pressed on how she could come up with a far different judgment than the five members of the Parole Board, Swift said her staff conducted ”a more exhaustive review of all of the legal aspects” than the board did. http://web.archive.org/web/20020221235441/http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/052/metro/Governor_explains_Amirault_decision+.shtml
Witness praises Amirault decision By John Ellement, Globe Staff, 2/23/2002 CAMBRIDGE – Jen Bennett wants to give Acting Governor Jane Swift a bear hug in appreciation, and she wants Gerald Amirault to admit he sexually abused her when she attended the Fells Acres Day Care Center in Malden in the 1980s. Bennett was one of nine children who testified against Amirault during his three-month trial in 1986, which ended with his conviction on multiple rape and molestation charges. He was sentenced to 30 to 40 years in prison….As for Amirault, ”I want to say to Mr. Amirault: Admit your guilt, you did this. He is where he is supposed to be. I will fight against you to the end. He destroyed my childhood.” Harriett Dell’Anno, whose daughter was one of the victims, echoed Bennett’s insistence that children were sexually violated and also thanked Swift for keeping Amirault in prison….Hardoon also said the quality of the investigation and the actions of prosecutors, police, and social workers working with the children were all scrutinized intensely during Gerald Amirault’s trial – and still the jury convicted.
He said Amirault supporters are focusing on 2 percent of the children’s claims that ‘’seem inexplicable and they are conveniently ignoring the 98 percent of the case that was overwhelming” against Amirault.…Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley, who inherited the case from former district attorneys Scott Harshbarger and Thomas F. Reilly, said Amirault’s insistence that he is innocent does not make it true. She drew a parallel between John Geoghan, the former Catholic priest sentenced to 9 to 10 years in prison Thursday for molesting a child. Like Amirault, Geoghan insisted that he, too, was innocent, she said. ”Admitting to child abuse is a very difficult and often, a never-seen thing,” she said. Coakley said it was time for Amirault and his supporters to end their pursuit of an early release from prison so that the victims can finally begin to fully heal from the trauma he caused them as children. http://web.archive.org/web/20020224045327/http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/054/metro/Witness_praises_Amirault_decision+.shtml
Swift won’t free Tooky by David R. Guarino and Elisabeth J. Beardsley Wednesday, February 20, 2002 Convicted child molester Gerald “Tooky” Amirault lost his best shot at freedom yesterday, denied commutation of his sentence by acting Gov. Jane M. Swift in another stunning turn to the roller coaster abuse case. Swift rejected the unanimous July Parole Board recommendation that there was “real and substantial doubt” of Amirault’s guilt. Taking sides in a highly charged case as she drops in election-year polls, Swift said Amirault should be jailed at least until he’s up for parole in 2004 on his 30- to 40-year sentence. ``She carefully analyzed every bit of information generated through the investigation and came to her decision that the verdict was just and the sentence was appropriate,” said Swift spokesman James Borghesani….victims rejoiced last night, praising the acting governor for standing up to the Parole Board and claiming vindication after years of doubts about the case. “All along, they’ve always told the truth,” said Harriet Dell’Anno of Lynn, whose daughter, Jamie, remains in therapy over the incidents. Barbara Standke of Tewksbury, whose son, Brian Martinello, was molested when he was 4, said, “He may be doing 20 years, but my son’s doing life.” Amirault, his sister, Cheryl LeFave, and their mother, Violet, were convicted after a parade of children told horror stories about being fondled, raped.
http://web.archive.org/web/20020305205020/http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/swif02202002.htm
Letters to the Editor: The Real Darkness Is Child Abuse WALL STREET JOURNAL (J) 02/24/95 Hardoon
The three Amiraults — Gerald, Violet and Cheryl – were convicted after two trials before different judges and juries almost one year apart. They were represented by able and well-known defense counsel. The convictions were upheld after review by state and federal appellate courts....in Amirault, the majority of the female children who testified had some relevant physical findings, as did several female children involved in the investigation who did not participate in the trial. The findings included labial adhesions and hymenal scarring of the sort present in avery small percentage of non-sexually abused children....The victims and their families in these cases have been irrevocably harmed by what was done to them by the Amiraults. Every argument raised by Ms. Rabinowitz was ably presented by the defense at the trials. The juries, by their verdicts, rejected these arguments. Justice was done.
http://web.archive.org/web/20010719201703/http://www.vocal-nasvo.org/hardoon.htm
see for actual case evidence http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/category/commonwealth-vs-amirault/
http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/common-vs-amirault-424-mass-618-page-624.jpg
http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/common-vs-amirault-424-mass-618-page-622.jpg
“All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”
Mass. Victims Fight Commutation Plea By Leslie Miller, Associated Press Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) – Victims in the Fells Acres child abuse case broke down Thursday as they described their pain publicly for the first time in hopes of keeping the last person convicted in the case behind bars. Victims urged her to keep Amirault in prison. “During counseling meetings as a child, I would speak of a tall man touching me and taking pictures of me,” Phaedra Hopkins, 20, said at an emotional news conference. “So many times, Mr. Amirault hovered over me, touched me and hurt me and committed many disgusting acts of abuse.” Those children, now adults, stood by their testimony Thursday.
“This family raped me, molested me and totally ruined my life,’’said Jennifer Bennett, who was 3 1/2 years old when she started at Fells Acres. “We weren’t coaxed. We weren’t lying. We’re telling the truth and we always will,” said Bennett, 22. “I was there. None of you were there. We weren’t coaxed, nor were we ever ever ever brainwashed.”Brian Martinello, 21, said he was sexually abused by Amirault. His mother, Barbara Standke, claims her son came home from the day care with sores on his genitals and other people’s underwear. “I think it’s an absolute disgrace to let anyone out of prison for such a disgusting crime,” Martinello said.
http://web.archive.org/web/20010807011330/http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010802/us/preschool_abuse_3.html
Governor explains Amirault decision Says she needed to ‘live with myself’ By Douglas Belkin and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff, 2/21/2002
In her announcement, Swift said her first consideration was whether there was ”overwhelming evidence” to contradict the jury conviction and two decisions by the Supreme Judicial Court upholding the verdict.
”I concluded there was not,” she said. Swift said that she also considered the two guidelines for a commutation: that the sentence is too severe and that the person had made ”exceptional strides in self-development.” ”Again, my answer was no,” Swift said. ”I concluded after that review that the jury and the Supreme [Court] decisions should be upheld and that under the commutation guidelines commutation was not warranted,” Swift said….But ultimately, she said, she concluded that the sentence was appropriate and consistent with other cases. Pressed on how she could come up with a far different judgment than the five members of the Parole Board, Swift said her staff conducted ”a more exhaustive review of all of the legal aspects” than the board did. http://web.archive.org/web/20020221235441/http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/052/metro/Governor_explains_Amirault_decision+.shtml
Witness praises Amirault decision By John Ellement, Globe Staff, 2/23/2002 CAMBRIDGE – Jen Bennett wants to give Acting Governor Jane Swift a bear hug in appreciation, and she wants Gerald Amirault to admit he sexually abused her when she attended the Fells Acres Day Care Center in Malden in the 1980s. Bennett was one of nine children who testified against Amirault during his three-month trial in 1986, which ended with his conviction on multiple rape and molestation charges. He was sentenced to 30 to 40 years in prison….As for Amirault, ”I want to say to Mr. Amirault: Admit your guilt, you did this. He is where he is supposed to be. I will fight against you to the end. He destroyed my childhood.” Harriett Dell’Anno, whose daughter was one of the victims, echoed Bennett’s insistence that children were sexually violated and also thanked Swift for keeping Amirault in prison….Hardoon also said the quality of the investigation and the actions of prosecutors, police, and social workers working with the children were all scrutinized intensely during Gerald Amirault’s trial – and still the jury convicted.
He said Amirault supporters are focusing on 2 percent of the children’s claims that ‘’seem inexplicable and they are conveniently ignoring the 98 percent of the case that was overwhelming” against Amirault.…Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley, who inherited the case from former district attorneys Scott Harshbarger and Thomas F. Reilly, said Amirault’s insistence that he is innocent does not make it true. She drew a parallel between John Geoghan, the former Catholic priest sentenced to 9 to 10 years in prison Thursday for molesting a child. Like Amirault, Geoghan insisted that he, too, was innocent, she said. ”Admitting to child abuse is a very difficult and often, a never-seen thing,” she said. Coakley said it was time for Amirault and his supporters to end their pursuit of an early release from prison so that the victims can finally begin to fully heal from the trauma he caused them as children. http://web.archive.org/web/20020224045327/http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/054/metro/Witness_praises_Amirault_decision+.shtml
Swift won’t free Tooky by David R. Guarino and Elisabeth J. Beardsley Wednesday, February 20, 2002 Convicted child molester Gerald “Tooky” Amirault lost his best shot at freedom yesterday, denied commutation of his sentence by acting Gov. Jane M. Swift in another stunning turn to the roller coaster abuse case. Swift rejected the unanimous July Parole Board recommendation that there was “real and substantial doubt” of Amirault’s guilt. Taking sides in a highly charged case as she drops in election-year polls, Swift said Amirault should be jailed at least until he’s up for parole in 2004 on his 30- to 40-year sentence. ``She carefully analyzed every bit of information generated through the investigation and came to her decision that the verdict was just and the sentence was appropriate,” said Swift spokesman James Borghesani….victims rejoiced last night, praising the acting governor for standing up to the Parole Board and claiming vindication after years of doubts about the case. “All along, they’ve always told the truth,” said Harriet Dell’Anno of Lynn, whose daughter, Jamie, remains in therapy over the incidents. Barbara Standke of Tewksbury, whose son, Brian Martinello, was molested when he was 4, said, “He may be doing 20 years, but my son’s doing life.” Amirault, his sister, Cheryl LeFave, and their mother, Violet, were convicted after a parade of children told horror stories about being fondled, raped.
http://web.archive.org/web/20020305205020/http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/swif02202002.htm
Friday, January 8, 2010
syphilis and human experimentation, Hell Minus One ritual abuse confessions
http://ritualabuse.us
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present January 19, 2007
Medical scholar Harriet Washington joins us to talk about her new book, "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present." The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today....HARRIET WASHINGTON: ...Tuskegee is, you know, the icon of abusive experimentation of black people, but it's true, many people still don't know what happened, and there are a lot of misconceptions floating about, as well....What happened was that about 400 black men in Macon County, Alabama, with syphilis-who had been diagnosed with syphilis, at least-were studied over a period of forty years by the United States Public Health Service. There were 200 men who were not infected who were held as a control group, also black men. Over the course of forty years, these men were duped into thinking that they were in a treatment program. But they weren't. They were given pain pills, which, as it transpired, were simply aspirin. They were given spinal taps, which, as it transpired, were not for the good of their health or to monitor their health, but rather to ensure a supply of sera for the development of a syphilis test. So they were used over forty years, even after the advent of penicillin. When penicillin was recognized as a cure, it was withheld from these men.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And this was between-what was the forty-year span?
HARRIET WASHINGTON: 1932 to 1972.
AMY GOODMAN: How many people knew about this at the time? How did it stop?
HARRIET WASHINGTON: Hundreds of people knew about it, because there were regular reports in the medical journals, and it was actually presented at an American Medical Association meeting in 1965. There were also numerous meetings of governmental agencies, where they periodically would ask, "Should we continue the experiment or not?" And the decision was always, "Yes, we should continue the experiment." It's worth noting that the surgeon general, Thomas Parran, had taken on syphilis eradication as his mission, and yet when penicillin was devised and he had the cure, he made the decision to continue the experiment, because he said they represent an opportunity that will never come again.
AMY GOODMAN: What happened to the untreated men?
HARRIET WASHINGTON: The untreated men, as you can well imagine, many of them died horrible deaths. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/19/medical_apartheid_the_dark_history_of
President Clinton's public apology to U.S. survivors of human experimentation - The following is a portion of a speech given on 10/3/95 by President William C. Clinton concerning Executive Order 12975 - Protection of Human Research Subjects and Creation of National Bioethics Advisory Commission: "Thousands of government-sponsored experiments did take place at hospitals, universities, and military bases around our nation. Some were unethical, not only by today's standards, but by the standards of the time in which they were conducted. They failed both the test of our national values, and the test of humanity. The United States of America offers a sincere apology to those of our citizens who were subjected to these experiments, to their families, and to their communities. When the government does wrong, we have a moral responsibility to admit it." http://naffoundation.org/Pres%20Clinton%27s%20Apology.htm
describes abuse
Anne's Story of Deliverance From Satanic Ritual Abuse and her Journey to Freedom - When Anne A Johnson Davis was just three years old, her mother and stepfather began to physically, sexually and mentally abuse her—in the name of Satan. Until she ran away from home at 17, her parents and other cult members subjected her to satanic ritual abuse, a criminally inhumane and bizarre form of devil worship. In the middle of the night, Anne would be drugged and forced to endure hours of ritualistic torture as a symbolic sacrifice. The horrors Anne experienced, the astounding miracles that helped her to survive, and the heal-or-die choices she made as an adult to triumph over her tragic past, are revealed in her new book Hell Minus One: My Story of Deliverance From Satanic Ritual Abuse and My Journey to Freedom. http://hellminus1.com/
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present January 19, 2007
Medical scholar Harriet Washington joins us to talk about her new book, "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present." The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today....HARRIET WASHINGTON: ...Tuskegee is, you know, the icon of abusive experimentation of black people, but it's true, many people still don't know what happened, and there are a lot of misconceptions floating about, as well....What happened was that about 400 black men in Macon County, Alabama, with syphilis-who had been diagnosed with syphilis, at least-were studied over a period of forty years by the United States Public Health Service. There were 200 men who were not infected who were held as a control group, also black men. Over the course of forty years, these men were duped into thinking that they were in a treatment program. But they weren't. They were given pain pills, which, as it transpired, were simply aspirin. They were given spinal taps, which, as it transpired, were not for the good of their health or to monitor their health, but rather to ensure a supply of sera for the development of a syphilis test. So they were used over forty years, even after the advent of penicillin. When penicillin was recognized as a cure, it was withheld from these men.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And this was between-what was the forty-year span?
HARRIET WASHINGTON: 1932 to 1972.
AMY GOODMAN: How many people knew about this at the time? How did it stop?
HARRIET WASHINGTON: Hundreds of people knew about it, because there were regular reports in the medical journals, and it was actually presented at an American Medical Association meeting in 1965. There were also numerous meetings of governmental agencies, where they periodically would ask, "Should we continue the experiment or not?" And the decision was always, "Yes, we should continue the experiment." It's worth noting that the surgeon general, Thomas Parran, had taken on syphilis eradication as his mission, and yet when penicillin was devised and he had the cure, he made the decision to continue the experiment, because he said they represent an opportunity that will never come again.
AMY GOODMAN: What happened to the untreated men?
HARRIET WASHINGTON: The untreated men, as you can well imagine, many of them died horrible deaths. http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/19/medical_apartheid_the_dark_history_of
President Clinton's public apology to U.S. survivors of human experimentation - The following is a portion of a speech given on 10/3/95 by President William C. Clinton concerning Executive Order 12975 - Protection of Human Research Subjects and Creation of National Bioethics Advisory Commission: "Thousands of government-sponsored experiments did take place at hospitals, universities, and military bases around our nation. Some were unethical, not only by today's standards, but by the standards of the time in which they were conducted. They failed both the test of our national values, and the test of humanity. The United States of America offers a sincere apology to those of our citizens who were subjected to these experiments, to their families, and to their communities. When the government does wrong, we have a moral responsibility to admit it." http://naffoundation.org/Pres%20Clinton%27s%20Apology.htm
describes abuse
Anne's Story of Deliverance From Satanic Ritual Abuse and her Journey to Freedom - When Anne A Johnson Davis was just three years old, her mother and stepfather began to physically, sexually and mentally abuse her—in the name of Satan. Until she ran away from home at 17, her parents and other cult members subjected her to satanic ritual abuse, a criminally inhumane and bizarre form of devil worship. In the middle of the night, Anne would be drugged and forced to endure hours of ritualistic torture as a symbolic sacrifice. The horrors Anne experienced, the astounding miracles that helped her to survive, and the heal-or-die choices she made as an adult to triumph over her tragic past, are revealed in her new book Hell Minus One: My Story of Deliverance From Satanic Ritual Abuse and My Journey to Freedom. http://hellminus1.com/
Sunday, January 3, 2010
updated urls on DID MPD
Braun, B.G. (1989). Dissociation Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 066-069: Iatrophilia and Iatrophobia in the diagnosis and treatment of MPD http://hdl.handle.net/1794/1425
Kluft, R.P. (1989). Iatrogenic creation of new alter personalities Dissociation 2 (2): 83-91
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/1428
The official journal of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD) published between 1988 and 1997 https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/1129
Dissociation and Trauma Archives - Full text searchable articles and case studies published in the 1800s and early 1900s. http://boundless.uoregon.edu/digcol/diss/
C. Ross, G. Norton, G. Fraser (1989) Evidence against the iatrogenesis of multiple personality disorder - Dissociation volume 2, issue 2, pages 61-65 https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/1424
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