Friday, December 20, 2013

My Favorite Christmas Story: Nativity by Kevin Annett

I'm an atheist but this lovely Christmas Story touched me.

It was written and sent to me by a christian whom I like and respect, Kevin Annett.

I write christian and not Christian because his Christianity is non-denominational.

Kevin was a Reverend for the United Church in Canada and defrocked by the Church for exposing it's abuse of Aboriginal children in Residential Schools in Canada. After defrocking Kevin, the United Church went on a life long persecution campaign against him ensuring that he was unable to work and earn a living, organizing a personal smear campaign against him amongst other things.

Kevin describes himself as not being religious but still "walking with Christ".

This story is a bit long but I hope you'll take the time to read it. IMO, it's worth the time.

Merry Christmas/Happy Solstice/Happy Holidays!





Nativity

By Kevin D. Annett

The last Christmas we were all together hangs over memory like the fog did that year in the Alberni valley. It was a time of gathering, two years and more of labor summoning so many together where once there were but a few. And it was a time of ending.

The church stewards had warned me to expect an overflow crowd at the Christmas eve service, and like overgrown elves they had busied themselves around the building, stringing wires and sound systems in the cold auditorium kept that way to save money. The snows had come early, and our food bank was already depleted.

With my eldest daughter who was but five, I had walked to the church one morning in the week before yule, pondering the cold and the sermon, when I met the one who would pierce the fog that year for us. She stood patiently at the locked door, her brown eyes relaxing as we approached. Her bare hand gestured at me.

“You’re that minister, ain’t you?” she mumbled to me, as daughter Clare fell back and grabbed my hand.

Before I could answer, the stranger smiled and nodded, and uttered with noticeable pleasure at her double entendre,

“They say you give it out seven days a week!”.

 I smiled too, gripping Clare’s hand reassuringly and replying,

“If you mean food, we’re a bit short, but you’re welcome to whatever’s left.”

She nodded again, and waited while I unlocked the door and picked up Clare, who was clinging to me by then.

The basement was even more frigid than the outside, but the woman doffed her torn overcoat and sighed loudly as we approached the food bank locker.

“For all the good it’ll do …” she said, as I unlocked the pantry and surveyed the few cans and bags lying there.

I turned and really looked at her for the first time. She was younger than she had sounded, but a dark, cancerous growth marred her upper lip, and a deep scar ran down her face and neck. Her eyes were kindness, and in that way, very aboriginal.

 “I’m sorry there’s not more …” I began, since back then I still saw things in terms of giving. But she shook her head, and instead of saying anything, she looked at Clare, and the two of them exchanged a smile for the first time.

 I stared, confused, at the cupboard so bare, and heard her finally utter,

“Them people in church, you know what they need?”

I set Clare down and shook my head.

“They need Him. They sing about Him, and pretend they know Him, but hell, they wouldn’t spot Him even if He came and bit ‘em on their ass.”

I smiled at that one, and even dared a mild chuckle.

“You doin’ a Christmas play for the kids?” she continued.

“Yeah”.

 “I bet it’s the usual bullshit with angels and shepherds, right?”

 I nodded.

 “That don’t mean nuthin’ to those people. Why don’t you do a story about … well, like, if He came to Port Alberni to be born, right now.”

 I finally laughed, feeling very happy. She smiled too, walked over to the cupboard and picked up a small bag of rice. Donning her coat, she nodded her thanks, and said,

 “My bet is Him and Mary and Joseph, they’d end up in the Petrocan garage, down River road. The owner there lets us sleep in the back sometimes.”

And then she was gone.

I didn’t try explaining the stranger to anyone, ever, or what her words had done to me. All I did was lock the food cupboard and lead Clare up to my office, where I cranked up the heat and set her to drawing. And then I sat at my desk and I wrote for the rest of the day.

The kids in church were no problem at all. They got it, immediately. The Indians who dared to mingle in the pews that night with all the ponderous white people also took to the amateur performance like they had composed it themselves, and laughed with familiarity as the holy family was turned away first by the local cops, and then hotel owners, and finally by church after church after church.

 It was mostly the official Christians who were shocked into open-mouthed incredulity at the coming to life of something they thought they knew all about. As the children spoke their lines, I swear I saw parishioners jump and writhe like there were tacks scattered on the pews.

 “Joe, I’m getting ready to have this kid. You’d better find us a place real friggin' quick  …”

 I’m trying, Mary, but Jehovah! Nobody will answer their door! I guess it’s ‘cause we’re low lifes.”

 Look! There’s a church up ahead. I bet they’ll help us!”

 If you believe the Bible, whoever He was loved to poke fun at his listeners and shock them out of their fog, and our play would have made him proud. As the eight year old girl who played Mary pleaded fruitlessly for help from a kid adorned in oversized clerical garb, and was covered in scorn by the young “priest”, I heard a sad moan rise from the congregation.

 But things took a turn when Mary and Joe came upon an Indian, played by one of the aboriginal kids.

 Sir, will you help us? My wife’s going to have a baby …”

 Sure!” replied the native kid with gusto. “I got a spot in a shed behind the gas station down the road. The owner lets us all sleep in there!”

And in a contrived scene of boxes and cans scattered where our communion table normally stood, Mary had her baby, as erstwhile homeless men with fake beards and a stray rez dog looked on, and one of the witnesses urged Mary to keep her newborn quiet lest the Mounties hear his cries and bust everyone for vagrancy.

 Voices were subdued that night in the church hall over coffee, cookies and Christmas punch, and the normally dull gazes and banalities about the time of year were oddly absent. The Indians kept nodding and smiling at me, saying little, and not having to; and the kids were happy too, still in costume and playing with the local stray who had posed as the rez dog in the performance that would always be talked about. It was the white congregants who seemed most pregnant that night, but they couldn’t speak of it.

 It was one of my last services with them, and somehow they all knew it, since we had all entered the story by then. For a churchly Herod had already heard a rumor, and dispatched assassins to stop a birth, and me, even though it was already too late.

 My daughter Clare was not running and rolling with the other kids, but in her manner joined me quietly with her younger sister Elinor in tow. Our trio stood there, amidst the thoughtful looks and unspoken love, and person after person came to us and grasped our hands, or embraced us with glistening eyes. An aging Dutch woman named Omma van Beek struggled towards me in her walker and pressed her trembling lips on my cheek, and said something to me in her native tongue as the tears fell unashamedly from both of us.

 Later, when we were scattered and lost, I would remember that moment like no other, as if something in Omma’s tears washed away all the filth and loss that were to follow. And perhaps that looming nightfall touched my heart just then, for I gave a shudder as I looked at my children, almost glimpsing the coming divorce, and I held my daughters close as if that would keep them safe and near to me forever.

The snow was falling again as we left the darkened building, kissing us gently like it had done years before when as a baby, Clare had struggled with me on a toboggan through the deep drifts of my first charge in Pierson, Manitoba, on another Christmas eve. The quiet flakes blessed us with memory, and settled in love on the whole of creation, even on the unmarked graves of children up at the old Indian residential school.

The old Byzantine icon depicts Jesus as a baby, hugging his worried mother while she stares ahead into his bloody future: her eyes turned in grief to the viewer, yet his loving eyes seeking her, past the moment, past even his own death.

The image may still hang in the basement of my church, where I left it.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Legal Aid, Corruption, Access To Justice and Denial of Charter Rights

Justice Denied - Access To Legal Aid
Justice Denied - Access To Legal Aid
It really doesn't surprise me that Canadian's Charter Rights have become so eroded. This is inevitable when those most vulnerable to having their rights violated are actively denied access to the Justice system.

I live in Ontario. A province where access to Legal Aid is so restrictive that, frankly, despite the fact that I know many social activists, many poor, I don't know a single person who has been able to benefit from receiving Legal Aid to protect their rights. 

It doesn't matter whether they're dealing with criminal charges as a result of arrests during protests or whether they're dealing with petty government bureaucrats who over-extend the rights they have to intrude into the privacy of those needing to access the social safety net; make decisions about who does and doesn't get access to the social safety net; or how they interpret the rules regarding the type of access, etc.

I can also attest to the fact that despite the fact that I have been eligible for Legal Aid at different points in my life based on income, I have never, throughout my entire lifetime, been granted access to the benefit because of these extra-legal regulations that the Provincial governments of ALL political stripes have given themselves the right to impose.

It's important to remember here that Canada is constitutionally different from the US in that we don't have inviolable rights. We aren't a republic. 

As a result, what we have is privileges that are deceptively called 'rights' which are granted to us by the state and which can (and have been) taken away from us at the drop of a hat when the state deems that wish to withdraw the granting of the privileges they've given us. (eg. War Measures Act imposed in 1970, Ontario Legislation imposed during the G8/G20 in Toronto in 2008 - both were by Liberal governments and swept under the proverbial carpet).

Any excuse to do this can (and has been) used, whether it's 'terrorism' (Bill C-41: Anti-Terrorism Act) or 'financial' (Provincial Regulations controlling access to Legal Aid) or something else. 

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms grants Canadians the following privileges:

15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. (84) 
24. (1) Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this Charter, have been infringed or denied may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to obtain such remedy as the court considers appropriate and just in the circumstances.  
--Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Given that these are the privileges granted to Canadians by the State.

Given that Ontario Legal Aid (and that of other provinces) restricts who can access Legal Aid based on type of case and not just income.

Given that the Province is often the party that is likely to be challenged, sued in these cases.

When the Province restricts Access to Legal Aid in any way for any reason other than income ...

Are they not violating each and every Canadians' Charter Rights and Freedoms to Access to Justice and doing so in a manner which is not only self-serving (covering their own asses) but prejudicial and harmful to the citizens of that Province?

Isn't that Corruption?
cor·rup·tion kəˈrəpSHən noun noun: corruption; plural noun: corruptions
1. dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.
2. the action of making someone or something morally depraved or the state of being so.
I'm not a lawyer but it sure looks that way to me.

Apparently there are lawyers and others who agree that access is being restricted, and that it's a problem, if you read the following article written in 2007. However, note, that in 2007 things just got worse. It was bad before then too. And also note that these changes which reduced accessibility to justice occurred both at the Federal and Provincial levels which implicates ALL of the major Canadian political parties.


Has Corruption become so systemic that we don't recognize it anymore, even when it slaps us in the face?

Have Canadians really become such lazy, apathetic slobs that we've stopped caring about our own Civil Rights?

If not, then why the hell aren't we metaphorically storming the barricades over this one?

And where the hell is the Canadian Civil Liberties Association?


Saturday, October 05, 2013

Warning From #Anonymous - We Are Awake


There are numerous reforms that can be made both in the US and France which are Republics and where the Constitution protects the rights of the people as inviolable. There are also numerous reforms that can be made in Parliamentary democracies which grant the people their rights.

1. First and foremost we need to redefine what constitutes Treason. Treason, in reality is, and in law should be:

a. any act which undermines the democratic processes of a country such as election fraud, excessive payments to politicians who in turn advocate policies favorable to those who financed their campaigns, etc.
b. any act which undermines the local economy in favor of external or international interests,
c. any act such as lobbying which benefits a foreign power at the expense of the country.

2. The next critical change has to be establishing restrictions on Investment Capitalism and Banking as a system while allowing Productive Capitalism to flourish. Investment Capitalism and Banking is what's destroying our economy not Capitalism per se.

3. Then we need to evaluate our entire Justice system and establish laws that guarantee One Law For All including the wealthy elite and establish punishments for those who refuse to implement the law fairly and even handedly applying it to all.

4. Abuse of power and Corruption by any elected official or employee of the state, particularly when innocent citizens are the victims.

Those are just a few suggestions. I'm sure that given some thought others could come up with more.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Canada Day - A Time of Mourning for First Nations Across the Land - Wear Black Arm Bands

The following is a Note copied from The Four Elements of Change Facebook page.

For all who support the #IDLENOMORE movement as I do, this is a beautiful idea.


Let us unbind ourselves.

Let us unbind ourselves and turn to the world around us in a DAY OF MOURNING ON CANADA DAY.

This is an easy suggestion for all in Canada - All people supporting Idle No More. Lets wear a black arm band on Canada Day - in public. A big one, hanging down our arms. If anyone asks - educate them by saying they are celebrating "their country's National holiday" on the backs of First Nations. Canada Day in a country that has destroyed hundred of smaller Nations to call themselves Canada - is truly a day of Mourning - BLACK.


Remember the churches schools and the humiliation of racism - shame is a powerful tool when it speaks to the truth. Use it in an educational way as they are human beings and will feel their own shame - maybe enough to inform themselves what is truly happening inside First Nations. This also helps us to walk toward our true collective healing - which we are all going to have to do anyhow!

 When Canada celebrates a day that represents the loss of Sovereign rights for First Nations, it is truly a day of mourning for First Nations. Lets see how well our networking is and get this to go viral across the country. Buddy up with someone, bring your drum and invite people to sit with you and share why you wear black. Every immigrant to these lands will know what black means. This is our Summer of Sovereignty and what a fitting way to start - up front and in public. No more hiding! We will see who is an Ally then.


Saturday, June 22, 2013

Rise Up!

Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.
John Lennon




"Rise Up! Rise Up Canada! Rise Up! Rise Up! Why do we have to put up with this? Rise Up! Rise Up! Rise Up! This goes beyond Partisan Politics. This goes beyond the Liberal Party, this is about our Country, this is about our democracy! Rise Up! Rise Up! We have got to fight here! We have got to stand and fight! This is not about me, this is not about the Liberal Party, this is about the kind of democracy we hand to this child to this child. We gotta Rise Up! We got to stand! We gotta fight and we gotta win, this is not about the Liberal Party of Canada, this is about the country you love, so Rise Up Canada! " --Michael Ignatieff (Rise Up Speech - Full text)

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world."  --Jack Layton (Open Letter to Canadians two days before he died in office as NDP Leader of the Official Opposition)

 I ♥ my country and want to see it became a better place for all of us not one that is at the mercies of the wealthy elites of the world. If we don't take a stand now and start fighting to protect and expand our democracy and restrain the wealthy elites and the general systemic corruption that exists, I fear for the future of our world.


Sunday, June 09, 2013

Stalking As An Addiction

The following is an article by an online friend of mine known as Medawar, and author of the blog, Medawar's Cornflakes.

Republished post from November 23, 2011.

Once upon a time, Medawar described the whole nasty business of stalking and organized harassment to a psychiatrist, and asked him what might need to be wrong with someone before they would spend most of their time plotting to destroy an innocent person's happiness, freedom, livelihood, freedom, health, relationships and ultimately drive them out of life. The answer was startlingly immediate, crisp and precise: "they only need to enjoy doing it."

This doesn't deny or contradict any of the conspiracies behind stalking groups, gangs and cults. It just explains that participants in those groups, can both be more simple and more twisted than the group itself. The group may be motivated, controlled and manipulated in all sorts of directions, by all kinds of powerful people and forces. But never forget that a proportion of the "perps" are stalking and destroying people, because it gives them a fierce pleasure to so do.

This, in turn, gives anyone controlling or manipulating a stalking group another lever to pull, because they can use the most tempting victims as a way of recruiting stalkers. It can be an incentive: "drive this strong man to suicide, and I've got a single mother you can do what you like with." Of course, some sadists may have a more obscure definition of an ideal victim, but those in charge are presumably experienced and know what this might be. Still, many sadists are very, very attracted to the mother-child bond and the ways it can be used to inflict agony both ways.

Anything that a psychopathic personality enjoys, can easily prove addictive. And it's also worth noting that the worst sadists are usually also pathological liars.

So, amongst all the "perps" who are in the stalking group for gain, out of fear or because they have been lied to and manipulated by the pathological liars, will be the sadists and pathological liars themselves. And they will be enjoying every minute of every victim's despair and destruction. Though they may present themselves as ardent believers in and practitioners of whatever the group's ideology is supposed to be (and they may have invented much of it!) in reality they will care only about the process and not the cause.

And because that process of destroying people is addictive to them, they will join more than one stalking group in the course of their careers. Indeed, even if they start out by joining one group after another, sooner or later they will be in two groups at once, then three or four.

Now, if they are addicted to the sadistic process, these individuals may also have favourite victims. What happens when a sadist, addicted to the stalking process and a particular victim, compelled also to forcing people to accept impossible lies, moves from one stalking group to another?

Well, after they have inserted themselves into that group and become its most apparently reliable and conforming member, they will insert their favourite victim into that group's target list, along with a legend making that victim an ideal target within the group's ideology. And the group that sadist has left (assuming that they have indeed severed ties with their old group: not always the case) won't necessarily stop stalking that victim either.

It is not only possible that some stalking targets will end up being stalked by two, four, six or more different groups, for quite different ostensible reasons: given the nature of stalking and some of its most determined and remorseless participants, it's actually the most likely thing to happen to anyone who manages to survive being stalked for any length of time.

Don't be surprised, either, if the ostensible reasons for stalking of a single individual or household by different groups actually contradict each other. This, too, is the most likely state of affairs if the individuals driving the process are pathological liars, because they delight in tying people in contradictions. There is even an element of mental sadism in what is done to non-sadistic participants in stalking gangs, because invariably what is actually happening, will be the opposite of what they think is happening or what they want to happen.

A stalking gang is a subtle form of Hell let loose upon the Earth and the distinction between "perp" and "target" can easily blur,when someone in the group enjoys making his colleagues achieve the opposite of what they hope to achieve.

The stalking gang "SHAC" which was set up in 1999 with the aim of using stalking and direct violence to drive a company called "Huntingdon Life Sciences" out of business, has recently collapsed, whilst HLS (on the verge of closure in 1999) is a thriving company, going from strength to strength. Aggrieved former members of SHAC see this as a conspiracy by "Big Pharma", and while it's true that SHAC's heavy use of direct violence, arson, blackmail and grave-robbery (in Switzerland, Sweden, France Germany, the USA and Austria as well as the UK) prompted infiltration of the group by three undercover policemen of dubious reliability and competence, the fact that SHAC achieved the precise opposite of what its loyal supporters wanted, probably reflects that at some point, someone came to control SHAC who secretly took a perverse delight in making this happen.

It may have taken twelve years for SHAC to hit the Arctic Ocean, but the group and nearly all of its supporters were rushing over a cliff from the very beginning. Not because of government and business reaction to SHAC's campaign, but because the group contained at least one pathological liar who delighted in spending a decade manipulating SHAC's supporters into destroying their own dream.

A few years before SHAC was founded, the Dunblane massacre was immediately followed by the appearance of an anti-gun charity called "SAGE" which was run from Chelmsford, in Essex, which is hundreds of miles from Dunblane and not at all accessible to any of the parents of murdered children who were invited to act as figureheads for SAGE. Newspaper editors were bullied into giving SAGE free advertising space for fund-raising advertisements, and millions of pounds and dollars started to flow in, from all over the world.

SAGE was the invention of one man, whose real identity is still unknown, who had been released from Norwich jail two weeks before the charity appeared, having completed a sentence for fraud. SAGE was supposed to be a Swiss-based anti-gun charity, which is as likely as a Dutch campaign to ban pipes and clogs. Still, millions believed this contradiction in terms and sent their money. The charity's founder received a phone call from Chelmsford CID, politely asking him to be present at the SAGE office the next day so that detectives could ask him about the charitable registration and the handling of the charity's finances. By the next day, he wasn't there, and neither was any of the money. Amount unknown, but believed to be rather more than four million pounds.

By the time the hue and cry about SAGE had died away, SHAC was born. Had the detectives not taken an interest, SAGE might have started to persecute stalk gun-clubs and sporting shooters the way that SHAC stalked medical researchers: who can tell? But the adverts and the tone of all its material was headed in that direction from day one.

Medawar is struck by the equivalence of the twists and contra-logic, which supporters of both SAGE and SHAC were made to swallow.

Psychopaths destroy any enterprise in which they become engaged. They can build companies, but those companies collapse with unsecured debts and missing funds in all directions. They gain high political office: wars and economic collapse commence. They start a cause-stalking group, or take it over: its members spend years of their lives achieving the precise opposite of what they hoped for.

And they always walk away from the rubble and do the same thing again.

Kitty Hundal. June 9, 2013: It's standard practice for stalkers and organized stalking rings to falsely accuse their targets of stalking. This is actually part of the Profile of a Stalker. 

How does one tell the difference? 

Find out who initiated the campaign. That person is the stalker. However, keep in mind that stalkers are often psychopaths or sociopathic in nature which means that they go to great lengths to create false impressions including attempting to create the false impression that the target initiated the crime. 

In order to be certain one has to dig deep and verify everything. The liar is always the stalker. 

Most stalking victims either try to ignore the stalking (a huge mistake) or will respond with the truth (best approach).

Stalkers are also cowards as a result they hate to act alone and are constantly attempting to recruit support for their bullying campaigns of lies. This is usually not difficult to do since there are almost always ignoramuses available, who, for reasons of their own, love to jump into the trolling fray.

Or, in the case of wealthy stalkers are greedy and will do almost anything to avoid working as well as make some easy money.

Adults who condone and support this activity amongst teenagers are contributing to the delinquency of a minor and there are many who do including those who should know better (mothers and teachers).

Whether the stalker is some sleazeball, garden variety, criminal, a sleazeball, wealthy stalker with an organized stalking ring at his disposal, or a state-organized stalking ring, the strategies and tactics employed are always the same. The organized stalking ring just has more high level resources at their disposal.

The best overall strategy to fight back is: the more they persist, the more the target should stand up with the truth. This approach will eventually end or become a deterrent to these bullies who currently act with impunity because no-one, including the target, will stand up to them. 

Not standing up to them empowers, encourages and enables them.

Standing up to them and not backing down exposes them to everyone, reveals their true character,  protects others from getting caught up in their webs of deceit, and acts as a deterrent.

Yes they enjoy stalking, abusing and bullying others but they also hate being exposed as stalkers, abusers, and bullies. They hate having their mask of sanity ripped off and their real selves revealed to the world. 

And they always recognize themselves ;-D.

Who the following person is, isn't important (except in his own paranoid, narcissistic mind) but I'm not surprised that he recognized himself in that post despite the fact that post wasn't about him. It was written in 2007. Since he made his presence known on the Internet, as far as I can tell, he has done nothing but engage in cyberstalking and harassment and appears to take great pleasure in it.





Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Psychopaths In The Shadows Of Our Lives

Republished April, 2007 blog post.
 “Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.” – John Lennon, before his murder by Mark David Chapman
He appears to be gregarious and outgoing, full of confidence, strong, and knowledgeable.

Male or female, he makes you feel like you're the center of his universe.

On the job, in romance it seems that he will do anything for you. He will do anything you ask, and tells you everything you want to hear.


His apparent caring and concern for yours and others well-being knows no bounds. He seems to be the kindest man you have ever met.


He tells you in great detail how he has suffered, and risen above his suffering, struggled to get on with his life despite his past victimization by evil people, and how he dealt with those people. He brags about the terrible things he has had to do to defend and protect his honor, his integrity, his family and friends, and how he had no choice. They deserved what he did to them, they were evil.


He's the epitome of the bad boy doing good.


You're heart goes out to him and you want to help him ... poor soul.


His perfect wife stands by her man. She is quieter, let's him have the floor, but on a one to one, she is aggressive, almost hysterical in her defense of him. She idealizes him, idolizes him.


At work, if you're below him on the food chain, he helps you rise up the ladder, and covers your butt, and will expect you to cover his in return. If you're above him on the food chain, he keeps you informed of everything that's going on, offers suggestions and advice, and appears to contribute to the business. You cover for him because he's such a good guy.


He appears to be invincible ... he can do no wrong ... .


He tells you how important truth, morality, and ethics is to him ... he emphasizes this asset repeatedly. "What you see is what you get!" is his catch phrase. He wins prizes and awards for Honesty and Integrity.


His perfection knows no bounds, despite his apparent humility.


How did you get so lucky as to have this man in your life? He seems almost too good to be true.
 
That's because he IS too good to be true ... he's a Psychopath.

He has a strange almost piercing stare.

He misinterprets everything as an attack. He assumes that everyone is out to get him and he has to get them first.


He takes other peoples ideas and presents them as his own because he is incapable of imagination and creativity.


He constantly makes contradictory statements. He lies about everything and everyone. He wins people's trust then manipulates and plays them against each other.

His patrons and puppets are constantly covering for him.
He's just not that good at his job.

He's involved with several different women, all of whom seem to choose to be unaware of his other relationships. He is incapable of human emotions such as love or affection.


All relationships whether they be charitable, personal, professional and organizational exist solely for the purpose of being exploited and to establish an otherwise undeserved positive reputation. He extends favors and "helps" people for this purpose alone and expects the favor to be returned 10-fold, on demand, and whether it involves criminal acts or not.


All people in his circle must be malleable and under his control. He will not allow relationships to develop among them unless the relationships benefit him. When they no longer benefit him he moves in to destroy them.


Everything is about appearance, and deception. Creating the appearance that he is an emotional, caring man by mimicking those who are not psychopaths. Creating the appearance that he is competent and making a contribution by stealing other people's ideas. Scratch the surface, and it's all a carefully crafted illusion.


Everything that goes wrong is his Targets' fault. He will accuse his Targets of doing the very things that he is doing to them. He is incapable of showing maturity and taking responsibility for his actions.


Those who cannot be manipulated, exploited ... that is, those who see through his shady exterior, are, in his mind, enemies, and therefore his Targets.


Those who stand in the way of him accomplishing some task (he is incapable of looking to the future and establishing long term goals) are his enemies, and therefore his Targets.


Actions, that he interprets as harmful to him (innocent or not) result in his Retribution.


He will go to extreme and unimaginable (for the normal human being) lengths to destroy his Targets and anyone who defends them.

He lives to see the Target suffer and takes sadistic pleasure in watching the suffering. He is incapable of feeling empathy and compassion, of putting himself in someone else's shoes.


He 
will never act alone because he is a coward. He will manipulate and recruit his social circle on the basis of lies and his alleged victimhood. He needs others so that he can hide behind them and have them engage his targets on his behalf. 

If he is wealthy, he will bribe the corrupt, mentally ill and greedy to participate. If he isn't wealthy he'll recruit the mentally ill, unethical or corrupt amongst his social circle.

If he's exposed, he'll shift the blame to his recruits.

All problems are resolved by destroying the Target, in short, he is a predator and the Target is his prey. He is incapable of negotiating solutions.


If all else fails, those who are his Targets, who see his real face, understand who and what he is, will be accused of being mentally unstable.

Welcome to my world, one with psychopaths in the shadows of my life, and one's who have been targeting me since I was a 16 year old teenager.

Do you have a Psychopath in your life?
 
Internet References:The Psychopath Next Door


The following are excerpts from: www.cassiopaea.com
 
"He does this to create a false empathy with his victim. The psychopath will try to make you believe he has normal emotions by spinning some sad tale or professing profound, moving experiences; the truth is, most psychopaths go through life as in an incubator, touched by few and having no real compassion for others; but they will lie to convince you that they have normal emotions. The pity factor is one reason why victims often fall for these "poor" people."

"Lying, deceiving, and manipulation are natural talents for psychopaths...When caught in a lie or challenged with the truth, they are seldom perplexed or embarrassed -- they simply change their stories or attempt to rework the facts so that they appear to be consistent with the lie. The results are a series of contradictory statements and a thoroughly confused listener." [Hare]. 

"The psychopath is primarily distracted and impressed by his own grandiose self-representation, which often leads to him unwittingly telling people things that lead to his detection. They often forget the lies they told and tell contradicting tales, which often makes the listener wonder if either the psychopath is crazy, although in this case the psychopath isn't really crazy -- he's just forgotten what lies he's told."

"The most amazing thing, however, is their selective memory. A psychopath might not remember the promises he made to you yesterday, but he will remember something from the past if it suits his purposes in some way. They often do this whenever they're confronted or caught in a lie."

"Most psychopaths are very arrogant and cocky. However, when charming a potential victim, they say all the "right" things and make you believe they are kind-hearted souls; not always, but often enough. The truth is, psychopaths are not altruistic and do not really care about friendships or ties."

"In general, most psychopaths will brag endlessly about their exploits and "bad" things they've done (often called a warning sign, which will ward off careful souls), but more often than not, the woman who is fascinated by him will not listen to reason, even if she is warned by others who know him about his past behaviors.
 
Why? Once again, because the psychopath makes her feel so "special."

"...Histrionic...women are particularly attracted and vulnerable to psychopathic males. The hysteric-personality-disordered female is likely to be enamored of the psychopath...She is able...to reciprocate in this projective-introjective cycle by predominately idealizing the psychopathic character. Her need for attachment and dependency complements his desire for detachment and autonomy; she perceives others as all-giving and benevolent, and he perceives others as all-taking and malevolent. 
 
The hysterical woman is immune to developing a healthy suspicion when details or circumstances don't fit (also relating to the illogicity of his thoughts/behavior) or do not corroborate the psychopath's oral version of his history." [From "The Psychopathic Mind" -- Origins, Dynamics, and Treatment J. Reil Meloy].

"Tim Field, a noted author and researcher of psychopathy, believes that the psychopath picks out people who can see through him: "A bully's (sociopath) apparent self-esteem and self-confidence is actually arrogance, an unsustainable belief of invulnerability honed from his willingness to act outside the bounds of society to ensure their survival. Targets (or victims) are people who can see through the arrogance to perceive the empty shell behind it - and bullies can sense who can see through them, furthering the target's elimination." [Bully OnLine]. This usually happens in the workplace, and in situations where the psychopath has let his mask drop."

"If you try to deal with psychopaths in an ethical manner, you will be in for a shock. Dr. William Higgins claims that you "can't negotiate or bargain with psychopaths.""
 
"The truth - when twisted by good liars, can always make an innocent person look bad - especially if the innocent person is honest and admits his mistakes. 
 
The basic assumption that the truth lies between the testimony of the two sides always shifts the advantage to the lying side and away from the side telling the truth. Under most circumstances, this shift put together with the fact that the truth is going to also be twisted in such a way as to bring detriment to the innocent person, results in the advantage always resting in the hands of liars - psychopaths. Even the simple act of giving testimony under oath is useless. If a person is a liar, swearing an oath means nothing to that person. However, swearing an oath acts strongly on a serious, truthful witness. Again, the advantage is placed on the side of the liar." [Robert Canup]

"This highlights one of the unique things about the psychopath: their seeming inability to conceive of the abstract idea of "the future".
It has often been noted that psychopaths have a distinct advantage over human beings with conscience and feelings because the psychopath does not have conscience and feelings. What seems to be so is that conscience and feelings are related to the abstract concepts of "future" and "others." It is "spatial-temporal." We can feel fear, sympathy, empathy, sadness, and so on because we can IMAGINE in an abstract way, the future based on our own experiences in the past, or even just "concepts of experiences" in myriad variations. We can "predict" how others will react because we are able to "see ourselves" in them even though they are "out there" and the situation is somewhat different externally, though similar in dynamic. In other words, we can not only identify with others spatially - so to say - but also temporally - in time.

The psychopath does not seem to have this capacity.

They are unable to "imagine" in the sense of being able to really connect to images in a direct "self connecting to another self" sort of way.

In short, the psychopath and the malignant narcissist - is a predator. If we think about the interactions of predators with their prey in the animal kingdom, we can come to some idea of what is behind the "mask of sanity" of the psychopath. Just as an animal predator will adopt all kinds of stealthy functions in order to stalk their prey, cut them out of the herd, get close to them and reduce their resistance, so does the psychopath construct all kinds of elaborate camouflage composed of words and appearances - lies and manipulations - in order to "assimilate" their prey.

This leads us to an important question: what does the psychopath REALLY get from their victims? It's easy to see what they are after when they lie and manipulate for money or material goods or power. But in many instances, such as love relationships or faked friendships, it is not so easy to see what the psychopath is after. Without wandering too far afield into spiritual speculations - a problem Cleckley also faced - we can only say that it seems to be that the psychopath ENJOYS making others suffer. Just as normal humans enjoy seeing other people happy, or doing things that make other people smile, the psychopath enjoys the exact opposite."

Colonel Russell Williams, a man placed in charged of Canada's largest military base and top secret military base in the Middle East. 

Steve Raucci, a man placed in charge of the entire Schenectady, New York, School Board Maintenance Department 

If we are serious about wanting to maintain a corruption free, democratic society, is it really a good idea to put psychopaths like these in charge of anything???? 

 

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Assange Statement on the First Day of Manning Trial from WikiLeaks

copied from WikiLeaks

Monday 3rd June 2013, 22:00 GMT

Statement by Julian Assange

As I type these lines, on June 3, 2013, Private First Class Bradley Edward Manning is being tried in a sequestered room at Fort Meade, Maryland, for the alleged crime of telling the truth. The court martial of the most prominent political prisoner in modern US history has now, finally, begun.

It has been three years. Bradley Manning, then 22 years old, was arrested in Baghdad on May 26, 2010. He was shipped to Kuwait, placed into a cage, and kept in the sweltering heat of Camp Arifjan.

"For me, I stopped keeping track," he told the court last November. "I didn’t know whether night was day or day was night. And my world became very, very small. It became these cages... I remember thinking I’m going to die."

After protests from his lawyers, Bradley Manning was then transferred to a brig at a US Marine Corps Base in Quantico, VA, where - infamously - he was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of his captors - a formal finding by the UN. Isolated in a tiny cell for twenty-three out of twenty-four hours a day, he was deprived of his glasses, sleep, blankets and clothes, and prevented from exercising. All of this - it has been determined by a military judge - "punished" him before he had even stood trial.

"Brad’s treatment at Quantico will forever be etched, I believe, in our nation’s history, as a disgraceful moment in time" said his lawyer, David Coombs. "Not only was it stupid and counterproductive, it was criminal."

The United States was, in theory, a nation of laws. But it is no longer a nation of laws for Bradley Manning.

When the abuse of Bradley Manning became a scandal reaching all the way to the President of the United States and Hillary Clinton’s spokesman resigned to register his dissent over Mr. Manning’s treatment, an attempt was made to make the problem less visible. Bradley Manning was transferred to the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

He has waited in prison for three years for a trial - 986 days longer than the legal maximum - because for three years the prosecution has dragged its feet and obstructed the court, denied the defense access to evidence and abused official secrecy. This is simply illegal - all defendants are constitutionally entitled to a speedy trial - but the transgression has been acknowledged and then overlooked.

Against all of this, it would be tempting to look on the eventual commencement of his trial as a mercy. But that is hard to do.

We no longer need to comprehend the "Kafkaesque" through the lens of fiction or allegory. It has left the pages and lives among us, stalking our best and brightest. It is fair to call what is happening to Bradley Manning a "show trial". Those invested in what is called the "US military justice system" feel obliged to defend what is going on, but the rest of us are free to describe this travesty for what it is. No serious commentator has any confidence in a benign outcome. The pretrial hearings have comprehensively eliminated any meaningful uncertainty, inflicting pre-emptive bans on every defense argument that had any chance of success.

Bradley Manning may not give evidence as to his stated intent (exposing war crimes and their context), nor may he present any witness or document that shows that no harm resulted from his actions. Imagine you were put on trial for murder. In Bradley Manning’s court, you would be banned from showing that it was a matter of self-defence, because any argument or evidence as to intent is banned. You would not be able to show that the ’victim’ is, in fact, still alive, because that would be evidence as to the lack of harm.

But of course. Did you forget whose show it is?

The government has prepared for a good show. The trial is to proceed for twelve straight weeks: a fully choreographed extravaganza, with a 141-strong cast of prosecution witnesses. The defense was denied permission to call all but a handful of witnesses. Three weeks ago, in closed session, the court actually held a rehearsal. Even experts on military law have called this unprecedented.

Bradley Manning’s conviction is already written into the script. The commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces, Barack Obama, spoiled the plot for all of us when he pronounced Bradley Manning guilty two years ago. "He broke the law," President Obama stated, when asked on camera at a fundraiser about his position on Mr. Manning. In a civilized society, such a prejudicial statement alone would have resulted in a mistrial.

To convict Bradley Manning, it will be necessary for the US government to conceal crucial parts of his trial. Key portions of the trial are to be conducted in secrecy: 24 prosecution witnesses will give secret testimony in closed session, permitting the judge to claim that secret evidence justifies her decision. But closed justice is no justice at all.

What cannot be shrouded in secrecy will be hidden through obfuscation. The remote situation of the courtroom, the arbitrary and discretionary restrictions on access for journalists, and the deliberate complexity and scale of the case are all designed to drive fact-hungry reporters into the arms of official military PR men, who mill around the Fort Meade press room like over-eager sales assistants. The management of Bradley Manning’s case will not stop at the limits of the courtroom. It has already been revealed that the Pentagon is closely monitoring press coverage and social media discussions on the case.

This is not justice; never could this be justice. The verdict was ordained long ago. Its function is not to determine questions such as guilt or innocence, or truth or falsehood. It is a public relations exercise, designed to provide the government with an alibi for posterity. It is a show of wasteful vengeance; a theatrical warning to people of conscience.

The alleged act in respect of which Bradley Manning is charged is an act of great conscience - the single most important disclosure of subjugated history, ever. There is not a political system anywhere on the earth that has not seen light as a result. In court, in February, Bradley Manning said that he wanted to expose injustice, and to provoke worldwide debate and reform. Bradley Manning is accused of being a whistleblower, a good man, who cared for others and who followed higher orders. Bradley Manning is effectively accused of conspiracy to commit journalism.

But this is not the language the prosecution uses. The most serious charge against Bradley Manning is that he "aided the enemy" - a capital offence that should require the greatest gravity, but here the US government laughs at the world, to breathe life into a phantom. The government argues that Bradley Manning communicated with a media organisation, WikiLeaks, who communicated to the public. It also argues that al-Qaeda (who else) is a member of the public. Hence, it argues that Bradley Manning communicated "indirectly" with al-Qaeda, a formally declared US "enemy", and therefore that Bradley Manning communicated with "the enemy".

But what about "aiding" in that most serious charge, "aiding the enemy"? Don’t forget that this is a show trial. The court has banned any evidence of intent. The court has banned any evidence of the outcome, the lack of harm, the lack of any victim. It has ruled that the government doesn’t need to show that any "aiding" occurred and the prosecution doesn’t claim it did. The judge has stated that it is enough for the prosecution to show that al-Qaeda, like the rest of the world, reads WikiLeaks.

“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people," wrote John Adams, "who have a right and a desire to know.”

When communicating with the press is "aiding the enemy" it is the "general knowledge among the people" itself which has become criminal. Just as Bradley Manning is condemned, so too is that spirit of liberty in which America was founded.

In the end it is not Bradley Manning who is on trial. His trial ended long ago. The defendent now, and for the next 12 weeks, is the United States. A runaway military, whose misdeeds have been laid bare, and a secretive government at war with the public. They sit in the docks. We are called to serve as jurists. We must not turn away.

Free Bradley Manning.


No copyright has been asserted for this document. Julian Assange has entered it into the public domain.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Police Corruption and the State Machine


Disclaimer:

Please note that I am not ‘anti-police’, ‘anti-medicine’ or ‘anti-government’.

This article is not intended to malign these institutions as a whole. It is intended to explore the issue of individual police officers, medical and psychiatric personnel, and government bureaucrats who are corrupt and abuse their power to further career, personal or other agendas.

I don’t doubt that the vast majority of police officers, medical and psychiatric personnel, and government bureaucrats are honest, decent, hard-working people with difficult jobs to do and do them ethically and exceedingly well.

The few that are corrupt, especially those in high places can do a great deal of damage not only to the targets of their corruption but to the institutions of policing, medicine, psychiatry and government as well. So this is a matter that should be of concern to those institutions as well as every individual member of those institutions.

I’ve been writing a lot about corruption lately. Probably because it really does permeate every aspect of our society.

Here in Canada, in my opinion, it’s gone to such extremes that we are now moving in line with the third world where it’s simply accepted and a given.

The only exception to this appears to be Quebec where some standards apparently do exist and recent attempts to engage in bribery and corruption have been exposed.


Whether anything substantive comes out of these exposures in Quebec or whether they will simply fizzle out, allowing the corrupt to return to business as usual, remains to be seen but at least something is happening there.

Ontario, on the other hand ….


The reality is that much of this activity is already illegal. The problem isn’t that these acts aren’t recognized as illegal and often criminal acts.

The problem is that the processes in place are abused by those that society has provided with special trust like certain individual police officers, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, government bureaucrats, politicians, intelligence agents, etc. And they are abused to further corporate, political and even personal agendas of the members of the wealthy elite and their associates, agents of influence, et al.

You and I can’t abuse these processes. We’d get caught and go to jail. But the right people with the right connections and enough money, resources to back up their demands, certainly can and have done as evidenced by the articles provided.

We are also moving in line with some of the most fascist and authoritarian states in history and the strategies they used to keep the populace from rebelling against the injustices heaped on them with impunity. Note that these strategies were also used by members of the elite to target individuals for personal reasons.


For example, one well known and respected social activist in Toronto, has been explicitly told by a member   of the TPS that they are mentally ill. Why? Because they’re engaging in legitimate dissent. Although I’m sure the individual officer making that vile claim won’t give that as the explanation. Irrespective how they rationalize it, such claims effectively take the position that it’s ‘delusional’ to think that we have some serious problems in the political and social system we live in that are crying out to be resolved.

I don’t doubt that those particular members of the TPS who advocate this fascist and rather authoritarian position would love to do the following and we may yet see that happen in Canada, if it hasn’t happened already without our knowledge:


A new psychiatric disorder has even been invented to deal with the ‘problem’ of social activists engaging in legitimate dissent, called Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

No doubt that anyone who disputes a police officer’s testimony in a court room must be delusional or mentally ill because a police officer would never perjure themselves on the stand or provide unreliable testimony for any reason now would they? And if they did we would hold them accountable for that criminal act and for betraying the special trust we’ve provided to them wouldn’t we?


According to this article, yes some police officers do lie under oath and no we don't always hold them accountable.

A police officer would never threaten citizens with frame-ups and false arrests now would they?

Apparently they would and no doubt this has actually happened to others by police officers who were lucky enough not to have been exposed on video.

Despite this reality, our Justice System, when dealing with anything from the most serious crimes to the most minor traffic infractions takes the police officer’s word as gospel when there’s a direct conflict between what the police officer says and what the defendant says.

Just like the Medical and Psychiatric system takes the word of it’s professionals as gospel when there’s a direct conflict.

Or, the government bureaucracy takes word of it’s civil servants as gospel when there’s a direct conflict.

One can argue that the defendant should have evidence to support their claims. This is true.

However, how does one defend themselves (by getting that evidence) when the police officer lies in court and the defendant is unaware that they are going to do this? Or, when Medical/Psychiatric professionals and government bureaucrats lie in Hearings and the defendant is unaware that they are going to do this?

Even if the defendant is aware that lies will be told, unless the defendant knows what lies will be told how are they to get the evidence and be properly prepared to defend themselves?

Under those circumstances, they can’t. The other side, the side that’s lying, has the unfair advantage in this system no matter which bureaucracy one is dealing with.

And since one is dealing with professionals who are lying and know the system far better than their victims, one can be sure they’ve done what they think they need to do to cover their tracks. Or, at least try to cover their tracks.

One can also argue that those professionals should also have evidence to support their claims but our system doesn’t require that they do and if they do provide evidence our system doesn’t require that it be vetted in circumstances where the word of the professional contradicts the word of the defendant.

One can hire a lawyer to ensure that evidence is provided and is vetted but even that doesn’t protect the defendant if the lawyer also doesn’t know what lies will be told and what evidence will be fabricated. The lawyer has the same disadvantage the defendant has.

As a result, it’s rare for any kind of corruption to be exposed in Canada because the state machine itself is corrupt. When it is exposed, I suspect that it’s probably because some member of the wealthy elite is ticked off at another member of the wealthy elite so out of pure spite or revenge they reveal the other’s dirty laundry. They are the only one’s who could do this and get away with it without any repercussions. Whichever one has the better connections wins. Or, a deal is negotiated behind the scenes and the scandal conveniently disappears from the air waves while the state machine looks for a way to rationalize it’s way of the situation.

Seriously. How many Canadian scandals have just disappeared into the woodwork suddenly and nothing more is heard about them? There is no follow up on how the issues were resolved assuming they were or not. This occurs no matter how irrefutable the evidence is or how strong the case is.

The solution to this sort of systemic corruption is quite simple. The professional's word should not be accepted as gospel under any circumstances. When there is a conflict in testimony there should be an automatic investigation into both the claims made by the professional and the claims made by the defendant. 

A process like this would protect everyone's rights because it would deter liars who would then also have to fabricate evidence and it would protect those telling the truth who can back up their claims. 

That won't stop evidence and witness tampering, etc. but those things would harder to set up and it would be easier for the liars to get caught in their lies when the evidence is being vetted rather than just accepted as automatically true because a police officer, doctor, mental health professional, government bureaucrat, etc. says so.

A process like this would give the ordinary citizen a fighting chance at standing up to corrupt professionals who abuse their power.

I have recently run into a personal situation where precisely the above has occurred and the entire drama is circulating around a minor traffic ticket I was issued for an offence I didn’t commit.


Details about that story in tomorrows blog.


“There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.” ― Mario Savio

I'm not advocating that we shut the machine down. I still think it can be fixed. I hope I'm right.


Monday, May 06, 2013

Abuse of Power and the Corruption of Justice

There's a saying that 'power corrupts'. I don't believe that is the case. 

History has shown that people do exist who are not only not corrupt but when they attain power they respect the populace and exercise the power entrusted in them judiciously. 

This honorable aspect of human history is best enshrined by our Whistleblowers. The people who often are in positions of power, attempts are made to corrupt them or they are pressured to 'go along to get along' and they resist by exposing the corruption.

The corrupt and morally bankrupt consider those who expose their wrongdoings 'rats'.

However, the difference between the 'rat' and the whistleblower is fundamental.

A Rat is a person who is corrupt and morally bankrupt and who abuses his/her position to inflict harm where no wrongdoing has occurred. Their 'exposures' are most often lies intended to blackmail or bully others into silence or submission or create smokescreens that divert attention from the real issue.

A Whistleblower is a person who has ethical standards and will expose wrongdoing often at their own expense because the Rats are then called on to attack the Whistleblower and create a smokescreen to cover up and divert attention from the wrongdoing.

The reality is that the corrupt and morally bankrupt are attracted to positions of power because their intent from the start is to abuse their power.

The only way this can succeed is if the other halls of power like the Justice system has also been corrupted and allows them to engage in these abuses of power with impunity.

We've seen this partnership of the corrupt with the corrupted justice system and how it operates first hand in the way that the legal cases involving Julian Assange, Aaron Schwartz, Jeremy Hammond, and Bradley Manning are playing out and the impact that these abuses have had on their personal lives.

We've also seen the silence of the traditional media in the face of the outrageous violations of the civil rights of each and every one of these people.

The only way that these injustices can be stopped is by those who are ethical taking our power back.

This can be done in various ways.

Assange is running for election in Australia. Make sure he gets elected.

Don't vote for parties or politicians with a lot of money backing them who have obviously been corrupted. No the deals aren't written down. That would be illegal. The agreements are implicit and acknowledged by both sides.

Pay attention to the courts and judiciary and what they are doing. Require that all proceedings be televised and monitored so that back door injustices are reduced.

There are unethical members of the Psychiatric and Psychology communities who are starting to promote fabricated mental illnesses like 'oppositional defiance disorder' or intentionally misdiagnosing social activists as 'mentally ill'. Pay attention to this development. 

To be continued ....