Freethought: Scientific pursuit of the truth.

Chicago’s Abu Ghraib: A police Lt. supervised the torture of more than 100 men with electric shocks, suffocation, and mock executions. One of his victims spent over 20 years in prison based on a "confession" obtained after he was subjected to repeated electric shocks to his testicles.

Fri, 28 May 2010 08:55:01 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to Corruption
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Chicago’s Abu Ghraib: A police Lt. supervised the torture of more than 100 men with electric shocks, suffocation, and mock executions. One of his victims spent over 20 years in prison based on a "confession" obtained after he was subjected to repeated electric shocks to his testicles.

Fri, 28 May 2010 08:54:23 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to conspiracy
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Chicago’s Abu Ghraib: A police Lt. supervised the torture of more than 100 men with electric shocks, suffocation, and mock executions. One of his victims spent over 20 years in prison based on a "confession" obtained after he was subjected to repeated electric shocks to his testicles.

Fri, 28 May 2010 08:46:47 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to politics
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In-house fraud investigators at some of the nation's biggest banks and lenders go on the record about how these institutions failed to police themselves in the lead-up to the subprime crisis.

Fri, 14 May 2010 10:53:14 -0700

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In-house fraud investigators at some of the nation's biggest banks and lenders go on the record about how these institutions failed to police themselves in the lead-up to the subprime crisis.

Fri, 14 May 2010 10:50:48 -0700

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As more details emerge about the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon, it has become clear that the single-minded drive for profit and a total lack of regulation created the disaster.

Fri, 14 May 2010 06:48:43 -0700

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As more details emerge about the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon, it has become clear that the single-minded drive for profit and a total lack of regulation created the disaster.

Fri, 14 May 2010 06:47:51 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to environment
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winstonsmith on Not 5,000 barrels a day. 70,000 barrels a day.

2010-05-13T18:58:48.343639-07:00-0700

["The equivalent of one Exxon Valdez tanker every four days."](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/wheres-the-oil-your-gover_n_575647.html)

winstonsmith on Not 5,000 barrels a day. 70,000 barrels a day.

2010-05-13T18:53:08.230156-07:00-0700

https://preview.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126809525&sc=nl&cc=brk-20100513-1917 > The volume of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig may be at least 10 times higher than previously estimated, NPR has learned. > > The U.S. Coast Guard has estimated that oil was gushing from a broken pipe on the Gulf floor at the rate of 5,000 barrels a day. > > But sophisticated scientific analysis of seafloor video made available Wednesday by the oil company BP shows that the true figure is closer to 70,000 barrels a day, NPR's Richard Harris reports. > > That means the oil spilling into the Gulf has already far exceeded the equivalent of the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker accident in Alaska, which spilled at least 250,000 barrels of oil. > > The analysis was conducted by Steve Wereley, an associate professor at Purdue University, using a technique called particle image velocimetry. Harris tells Michele Norris that the method is accurate to a degree of plus or minus 20 percent. That means the flow could range between 56,000 barrels a day and 84,000 barrels a day. > > Another analysis by Eugene Chiang, a professor of astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, calculated the rate of flow to be between 20,000 barrels a day and 100,000 barrels a day. > > Even the most conservative of those estimates is much higher than what the Coast Guard has so far said. > > But the pipe is spewing both oil and gas and it's not clear in the BP video how much is oil and how much is gas. > > BP disputes these results, and maintains there is no reliable way to calculate the flow of oil from a broken pipe. > > But, Harris said, the uncertainty could be reduced if BP would share more information with the scientists.

Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of a massive police operation in Philadelphia that culminated in the helicopter bombing of the headquarters of a radical group known as MOVE. The fire from the attack killed six adults and five children and destroyed sixty-five homes.

Thu, 13 May 2010 12:12:49 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to history
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winstonsmith on Two astoundingly corrupt Pennsylvania judges who convicted innocent children in order to send them to a for-profit detention facility in exchange for kickbacks have been caught on tape discussing those kickbacks and making plans to commit perjury. (Link to partial transcript in comments)

2010-05-13T11:49:35.032932-07:00-0700

>Conahan last month agreed to plead guilty to a federal racketeering charge. Ciavarella has maintained his innocence and is awaiting trial.

winstonsmith on Two astoundingly corrupt Pennsylvania judges who convicted innocent children in order to send them to a for-profit detention facility in exchange for kickbacks have been caught on tape discussing those kickbacks and making plans to commit perjury. (Link to partial transcript in comments)

2010-05-13T10:46:14.121575-07:00-0700

Right. If you have the dvd, the scene is called "Jail a Kid for Profit".

winstonsmith on Two astoundingly corrupt Pennsylvania judges who convicted innocent children in order to send them to a for-profit detention facility in exchange for kickbacks have been caught on tape discussing those kickbacks and making plans to commit perjury. (Link to partial transcript in comments)

2010-05-13T09:29:48.624142-07:00-0700

[The partial transcript begins on page 17 (pdf).](http://www.wnep.com/media/acrobat/2010-05/53723133.pdf) Edit: A partial transcript is also [here](http://standardspeaker.com/news/powell-judges-in-their-own-words-1.784065) in html.

winstonsmith on Two astoundingly corrupt Pennsylvania judges who convicted innocent children in order to send them to a for-profit detention facility in exchange for kickbacks have been caught on tape discussing those kickbacks and making plans to commit perjury. (Link to partial transcript in comments)

2010-05-13T09:29:29.963846-07:00-0700

Two astoundingly corrupt Pennsylvania judges who convicted innocent children in order to send them to a for-profit detention facility in exchange for kickbacks have been caught on tape discussing those kickbacks and making plans to commit perjury. (Link to partial transcript in comments)

Thu, 13 May 2010 09:23:16 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to conspiracy
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Two astoundingly corrupt Pennsylvania judges who convicted innocent children in order to send them to a for-profit detention facility in exchange for kickbacks have been caught on tape discussing those kickbacks and making plans to commit perjury. (Link to partial transcript in comments)

Thu, 13 May 2010 09:22:25 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to Corruption
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winstonsmith on Two astoundingly corrupt Pennsylvania judges who convicted innocent children in order to send them to a for-profit detention facility in exchange for kickbacks have been caught on tape discussing those kickbacks and making plans to commit perjury. (Link to partial transcript in comments)

2010-05-13T09:15:40.448531-07:00-0700

[The partial transcript begins on page 17 (pdf).](http://www.wnep.com/media/acrobat/2010-05/53723133.pdf)

Two astoundingly corrupt Pennsylvania judges who convicted innocent children in order to send them to a for-profit detention facility in exchange for kickbacks have been caught on tape discussing those kickbacks and making plans to commit perjury. (Link to partial transcript in comments)

Thu, 13 May 2010 09:13:07 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to politics
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A loophole in a 37-year-old federal law allows makers of perfumes, colognes and body sprays to conceal the chemicals that comprise the fragrances -- and some of those chemicals may be harmful to public health.

Wed, 12 May 2010 11:00:48 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to Health
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winstonsmith on US citizen faces a lifetime of solitary confinement in a Colorado supermax prison for a conviction based on a confession tape OBTAINED UNDER TORTURE in Saudi Arabia. Evidence of torture was not allowed to be presented at trial.

2010-05-12T07:19:42.494950-07:00-0700

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Omar_Abu_Ali:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Omar_Abu_Ali) >**Pretrial hearings** >Abu Ali went to trial in the fall of 2005. The government's evidence was focused on a detailed confession Abu Ali had made while in Saudi custody. Abu Ali challenged the admissibility of the confession, claiming: (1) the confession was involuntary due to alleged torture he had suffered at the hands of the Saudis; and (2) he should have been given certain constitutional protections (including Miranda warnings), because the interrogations were a joint venture between the FBI and Saudi authorities, rather than a purely Saudi interrogation, which would not have been subject to the same scrutiny under the U.S. Constitution. >After an extended pre-trial suppression hearing, in which Abu Ali himself testified,[9] Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, who presided over the case, ruled that Abu Ali's confession to Saudi agents was admissible.[10][11] >**Abu Ali’s testimony regarding his torture** >Abu Ali testified that on the first day, his interrogators asked him whether he knew specific people and whether he knew about bombings in Riyadh. At one point, his blindfold was taken off. Abu Ali said he then saw the bruised face of a man through a window in the door to the room. The man was asked if he knew Abu Ali, and he shook his head no, then was taken away. Abu Ali was not fed this day. The Saudis hit him, slapped him, punched him in the stomach, and pulled his beard, ears, and hair. He was not allowed to use the bathroom, even when Abu Ali asked to wash up for prayers. The next day, the Saudis continued hitting him. At one point, he was taken from the chair in which he was sitting, and his handcuffs were handcuffed to a chain or other handcuffs in the floor, leaving him with his knees to his chest on the ground, hunched over with his head on his fists, and his feet shackled. Then someone began to strike him on the back and to yell, “confess!” He does not know what he was hit with, or how many times. Although he was blindfolded, Abu Ali said he could hear four different voices in the room, and that he thinks he was assaulted by only one person. Abu Ali said it was “very painful” and that it was the “first time I felt extreme pain.” While he was being hit on the back, people in the room kept telling him to “confess.” When the beating began, he was clad in an undershirt and long underpants. At one point, his undershirt was torn off and he was struck on his bare back. Eventually, Abu Ali told them he would cooperate. The beating stopped, and he was taken back to his cell.[12] >**Marks on Abu Ali’s back** >There were several marks on Abu Ali’s back which the defense presented as physical evidence that Abu Ali had been tortured. The prosecution claimed that these marks were not the result of torture but merely “pigment discolorations.” >The defense expert was Dr. Allen Keller, the director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture. Dr. Keller physically examined Abu Ali and said that he observed about seven to ten scars on Abu Ali’s back which evince scars from the whipping Mr. Abu Ali claims he suffered during interrogation in Medina. >The government expert was Dr. Robert Katz, a dermatologist. He did not physically examine Abu Ali but viewed photographs that the court had taken. Dr. Katz stated that, in his opinion, the marks depicted on Abu Ali’s back in the photograph were not scars, but “pigment discolorations.” >The judge sided with the prosecution. [12]

US citizen faces a lifetime of solitary confinement in a Colorado supermax prison for a conviction based on a confession tape OBTAINED UNDER TORTURE in Saudi Arabia. Evidence of torture was not allowed to be presented at trial.

Wed, 12 May 2010 07:12:56 -0700

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winstonsmith on ITAP of my cat, Dennis

2010-05-11T09:29:43.381389-07:00-0700

[My name is winstonsmith and I compulsively manipulate other people's (very nice!) photos.](http://i.imgur.com/Kgrpe.jpg)

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar helped BP quash environmental challenges to Gulf drilling.

Tue, 11 May 2010 04:44:14 -0700

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Adolf Eichmann, who as a high-ranking official in Germany’s Nazi government had played a prominent role in the extermination of millions, was seized by Israeli Mossad agents in Buenes Aires, Argentina, on May 11, 1960 and spirited out of the country to Israel.

Tue, 11 May 2010 04:29:12 -0700

submitted by winstonsmith to history
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The company that operated the drilling rig that sank in the Gulf of Mexico has been the subject of about 75 percent of all federal safety investigations.

Tue, 11 May 2010 04:01:44 -0700

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