5 Worst Proven Conspiracies

When you hear the word "conspiracy" what do you think of? Traitors? Crazy nuts? Mel Gibson?

In most cases, the first assumption is correct.

A conspiracy is defined as:

An agreement between two or more persons to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act, as if by sinister design.

But conspiracies aren't always bad; an example of a "good" conspiracy would be the the Underground Railroad. On the other hand, because conspiracies are based on lies and deceit, they're usually so disgusting, terrible, and just plain wrong that they need to be kept secret to prevent public outrage - and to keep the lie going.

Here are 5 of the worst.

(Not to sound like a stereotypical conspiracy nut with tin foil on my head, but isn't it strange that most of these involve a government of some sort?)


Smallpox-Infected Blankets given to Aboriginals

Jeffrey Amherst was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army mid-18th century, and is also believed to be responsible for purposely giving smallpox-infected blankets to American Indians, an early form of germ warfare.

Some people are skeptical about these stories, while others assert that the infected blankets were not intentionally distributed to the Indians, or that Lord Jeff himself is not to blame.

Two hard-to-read letters , however, suggest not only that it happened, but that it was intentional, and that Amherst was responsible – assuming, of course, the letters are authentic:

Colonel Henry Bouquet to General Amherst (13 July 1763) suggests in a postscript the distribution of blankets to "inocculate the Indians"

Amherst to Bouquet (16 July 1763) approves this plan in a postscript and suggests "to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race."

(Image: Nativeweb.org)


“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an anti-Semitic forgery claiming an elaborate plot of Jewish world domination. It was first privately printed in 1897 and was first made public in Russia in 1905, when Nicholas II and his secret police distributed the work and presented it as true.

It was later published in 1920 in a Michigan newspaper started by Henry Ford mainly to attack Jews and Communists. Ford even wrote a book that was heavily influenced by the text —The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem.

Adolf Hitler later used the Protocols to help justify his attempt to exterminate Jews during World War II.

The Protocols have been deemed a hoax for decades, and yet many parts of the world are still taking it as fact and using it to foster anti-Semitism. (Similar to claims that Jews made up the Holcaust.)

(Image: NYTimes.com)

Tuskegee Experiments

Beginning in 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted an experiment on 399 black men who were unknowingly suffering from syphilis. The men were never treated for the disease, but their symptoms and the progression of the disease was studied.

(Experimenters wanted to see how blacks and whites reacted differently to syphilis, but whites were not part of the study.)

By the end of the experiment, 28 of the men had died directly of syphilis, 100 died of related complications, 40 of their wives had been infected, and 19 of their children had been born with congenital syphilis.

Even when penicillin was discovered in the 1940s—the first real cure for syphilis— the study participants were deliberately denied the medication

The experiments ended 40 years later when the story finally broke in the Washington Star on July 25, 1972.

(Image: Brown.edu)


Project MKULTRA

MKULTRA was the code name for a covert CIA mind-control and chemical interrogation research program, run by the Office of Scientific Intelligence. The program began in the early 1950s, continuing at least through the late 1960s - although some argue it’s still being done - and used United States citizens as its test subjects.

These are just some of the other disturbing aims of the CIA’s mind-altering substance studies, aside from creating manchurian candidates:

• Substances which will promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness to the point where the recipient would be discredited in public.
• Substances which will enhance the ability of individuals to withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called "brain-washing".
• A material which…in very small amounts will make it impossible for a man to perform any physical activity whatsoever.
  

Another study of MKULTRA was Operation Midnight Climax - and yes, it was just as perverted as it sounds. Women (prostitutes on the CIA payroll) lured men to apartment hideaways in New York City and San Francisco. They then fed them LSD or marijuana while experimenters watched through two-way mirrors and recorded the sounds.

(Image: Anomalyarchives.org)


Abu Ghraib Torture and Media Manipulation

In 2004 images began to surface of the abuse, torture, sodomy, and murder of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq in a news report on CBS’s Sixty Minutes II, acts that were committed by personnel of the United States Army.

Then in 2007, long-time CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and Viacom for wrongfully terminating his employment.

With nothing to lose, Rather accused CBS management of sitting on the Abu Ghraib story, the evidence for which was discovered in early 2004 by Mary Mapes, a producer for 60 Minutes II with over 20 years experience.

To top it all off, Rather claimed CBS refrained from publicizing the story to appease the Bush administration, which was, according to Rather, a regular occurrence at CBS.

(Image: Crooksandliars.com)

But I Love my Gun!

OMG Obama wants to take away the Second Amendment! What are we going to do?

I’ll be doing nothing, being Canadian and all, but Americans in general and the National Rifle Association in particular definitely aren’t happy about Obama’s relatively recent support for banning assault weapons, so says The New York Times and many others.

By strange coincidence, or just plain strangeness, this concern has caused gun lovers to start loading up on even more weapons; gun-makers Smith & Wesson's order backlog now stands at $48 million, making them believe their revenue will double in the next three years.

Am I crazy, or are guns really that important?

Some people, like Big Brother Crusher thinks so:

“I can't believe Obama! Obama is a silver tongue dirty snake. Why does this worthless sob want to take away my firearms? The second amendment was put in place as a checks and balance to big government. Which is exactly why Obama wants to take away a persons right to bear arms.”

And Katrina S argues,

“No one has a right to take away guns, gun control is a way of dissarming the people so they can't build a resisitence against the gov't. Its your right carry it and if anyone tries to take that away from you don't feel discouraged. They will meet some heavy resistence in the center of the country. I suggest he keeps his agenda in the bi-costal areas, if he wants to avoid a full scale war.”




It seems the people who are so keen on guns are the ones who supported a government that probably should have been overthrown.

Furthermore, when someone says gun control is bad because it takes away the people’s ability to resist government, they basically say guns are the be-all and end-all of government resistance. Ever heard of peaceful measures down there?

And if anyone tries to take your gun there will be a full-scale war? What the F will that do besides amp up America's pro-war image even more?

As for the "silver tongue" comment, Obama didn't even lie when he said he wouldn't ban guns; he HAS mentioned limiting CERTAIN gun rights:

“...a lot of law-abiding citizens use it for hunting, for sportsmanship, and for protecting their families. We also have a violence on the streets that is the result of illegal handgun usage.

And so I think there is nothing wrong with a community saying we are going to take those illegal handguns off the streets...We can have reasonable, thoughtful gun control measure that I think respect the Second Amendment and people’s traditions.”


Maybe it’s because I’m a Canadian (who has never held a gun or seen one other than in its holster on a police officer) that I don’t understand the importance of gun ownership.

And yeah, you could say, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”

But isn’t it a problem that guns make it way easier?



Go here for stats on gun-related deaths and comparisons between Canada and US stats.

City in the Sea: The Venus Project

The future is sea bound!


The Venus Project, founded nearly 50 years ago by 93-year-old social engineer, futurist, architect, and idealist Jacque Fresco, is still one of the coolest (and dare I say, best) ideas for the future of human life.

This is what it's about:

The Venus Project presents a vision not of what the future will be, but what it can be if we apply what we already know in order to achieve a sustainable new world civilization.

It calls for a straightforward redesign of our culture in which the age-old problems of war, poverty, hunger, debt, and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but as totally unacceptable.

Anything less will result in a continuation of the same catalog of problems found in today’s world.”





That's some good theorizing. But how long do you think it would take for it to become a reality?

Warning: No Journalists Allowed

A Canadian journalist who was kidnapped in Pakistan last November, and is still being held hostage for US $375,000 (although some reports say $2 million), said this is a new video made by her captors:

"I am going to be beheaded just like the Polish engineer [Peter Stanczak], probably by the end of the month. The deadline is by the end of March, and that's basically, I don't know, 18 days or 16 days.”

"I'm not quite sure how long that is but the time is very short and my life is going to end."

Beverly Giesbrecht converted to Islam after the 9/11 attacks and now runs Jihad Unspun, a website which claims to provide "a clear view of the U.S. war on 'terrorism'" and information that is "devoid of the constraints of mainstream media." She now prefers to be called Khadija Abdul Qahaar (although many of the articles on her kidnapping use her former name).


These are some of the harsh comments from a CTV article and a Globe and Mail article on the video’s release. There weren’t many on each (only 10 comments all together), but there seemed to be a trend towards blaming Qahaar for her own kidnapping:


George
As a journalist she put herself in harms way in order to obtain a story that would be considered a scoop. She knew the risks that she was taking what the consequences would be should she be captured, hoping that she could beat the odds, and collect a sizeable payment for doing so. Now that she has been kidnapped the expectation is for our federal government to come to the rescue at great expense to the taxpayers and to negotiate with her captors for her release. She took her chances and lost,end of story. it was her own doing.

GDR
As a journalist, she has put herself in harms way and has become an author of her own misfortune. I would not pay any ransom as that encourages other pseudo journalists to act so irresponsibly.

Alysha
…this woman put herself in harms way for the sake of writing a story and being a journalist! Actions like this sometimes have consequences and now the people are expected to bail her by paying a ransom. Another load unto the taxpayers!

Eat Your Weedies
I am sad for her. It's tough to watch someone plead for their life. However, it's also sad to watch a fool make foolhardy decisions. She had no business going there in the first place. Whatever her name, she's a blond Canadian dealing with illiterate, ignorant, hot heads.

Bill Williams
Bye Bye Babe. You made the decision to go there, now suffer the consequences. Bad choice on your part, but, hey, that's the type of decisions idealist bleeding hearts make. Why should the rest of us be responsible for her well being.


Of course the woman had a choice not to go to such a dangerous area, but blaming her for getting herself kidnapped just for a story isn’t only an insult to her, but to journalists who actually are willing to report from such dangerous areas, Stanczak, the engineer who was kidnapped for ransom in September 2008 and murdered by Pakistani Taliban last month (the key word here is engineer, not journalist), and the area's citizens, who are also victims of these kidnappings and executions.

Blaming Qahaar for going somewhere she knew was dangerous also ignores the idea that because it is so dangerous it almost necessitates journalists going there to expose exactly what’s happening.

Isn’t that was journalists do?

When a firefighter is killed on the job, no one says, “Oh well, he knew what he was getting into.” Definitely not. I realize there might be more of an immediate need to put out fires, but why is it different for journalists when they're harmed or killed for doing their job? Isn't the truth important too?

As some of the commentators already mentioned, Qahaar knew the stakes and is now asking for help from them, which I guess seems contradictory.

But to just say the hell with her doesn’t make us (“the innocent taxpayers”) any less “ignorant” or criminal than those who are literally holding her life in their hands. It also gives me a sick feeling in my stomach.

Big Surprise: Police Brutality Protest ends in Violence

What’s wrong with this sentence?

“Seventeen people arrested during an anti-police brutality demonstration that turned into a riot are facing charges including mischief, theft, assault and possession of weapons...”

So, they were protesting police brutality by engaging in violence...that sounds about right.

According to the Toronto Star:

“Police were pelted with bricks, bottles and food during the annual protest, organized by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, a Montreal group.”

There was also vandalism done to police cars, other cars, and store windows, with a grand total of $200,000 in damages.

But unfortunately, the Toronto Star article doesn’t mention the event leading up to the protest.


About a week before, in the same park where the protest was held, 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva was killed and two other men were shot and wounded when police attempted to make an arrest.

A CBC article states:

“The park [where the first shooting occurred] is in a predominantly Haitian neighbourhood where tensions between police and young people run high, according to residents. ‘The police are always creeping around here, hassling people,’ one unidentified youth told CBC News as he stood in front of a looted butcher shop.”

I don’t know what’s more ironic: being arrested for assault while participating in an anti-police brutality protest, that police brutality seems to occur more in places where people are already suspicious of (and under suspicion by) police, or, that people who are supposed to uphold the law don't appear to be subject to it themselves.


Just recently, surveillance footage was released of two police officers using excessive force on a 15-year-old girl.

Deputy Paul Schene defended himself by claiming the girl kicked her shoes off at him, causing "bruising, bleeding, and pain" as well as a "blood filled pocket." You tell me if his reaction was understandable (although I seriously doubt you will).





Obviously, not all police officers like to use their power to beat people up for no reason, but how the hell can they be police officers if they do!?


And if they're the police, who will police the police?
(Question care of The Simpsons.)

Equilibrium

What a wonderful surprise, on a Sunday night when nothing else is on, to find Equilibrium (2002) on TV. Hooray for the Space channel!

If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I seriously recommend it.

Based on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), and starring Christian Bale – which should tell you right there that it’s good – Equilibrium is about a futuristic “ideal” society where it’s illegal for people to feel, or even own anything that could incite human emotion, such as art and music.

The whole idea is that human emotion is the cause of all war, so by eliminating emotion, they can end war forever...only hunting down and killing people who feel is just a new kind of war.

Kind of reminds me of that famous but very wrong phrase all the way from WWI. You know, how it was supposed to be “The war to end all wars”?

Maybe that was Huxley’s inspiration...

Design your Own Baby?

Thanks to The Fertility Institute, children of the future will actually be able to blame their parents for everything that’s wrong with them. Can you imagine? “Mom, I have a zit! Why didn’t you design me so I wouldn't have acne?”

That’s right... DESIGN. The Fertility Institute in New Orleans uses science called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), which not only allows doctors to eliminate certain diseases like Down Syndrome and muscular dystrophy, but gives parents the option to choose their baby’s sex, eye colour, hair colour, and even skin colour. Creepy!

What’s next? Putting calculators and CD Roms in their brains? How about wings? No, no! The ability to live forever! Muahahaha!

Actually, come to think of it, if you could be born without any defects (well, at least that’s the hope), that would probably mean living a lot longer.

But design your own baby? That sounds like some kind of sick Frankenstein creation, and we all know how well that turned out. Not that I wouldn’t want to be able to fly or anything; the whole thing is just really weird. And isn’t it a slap in the face to all of us who were born like normal people, with flaws and quirks and all that? What, we’re not good enough?

And, now that I think of it (while watching a make-over show no less), with the standard “ideals” our society holds, wouldn’t everyone be born – or, emerge from a glass jar – looking and acting the same?

Yep, that’s one giant leap for semi-humankind.

(Image: Sebastian Niedlich (Grabthar) How perfect is that?)

Questions for Pro-Lifers

The other day when I went grocery shopping I spotted some pro-life protesters across the street waving “Stop abortion” and “This hospital kills babies in the womb” signs.(Image: NewsPick.) I had one immediate response when I saw this: What exactly do they mean by “Stop Abortion”?


But the questions didn’t stop there.

Does stopping abortions mean all abortions, no matter the reason or circumstance?
Does this also include rape victims?
What about 13-year-olds who, at 13, simply aren’t ready to become parents?
Are the people protesting for abortion bans the same people who oppose safe-sex education in schools? (Because if so, that would be messed up.)
Isn’t the world already over-populated?
What about the recession? What if the would-be parents can't afford a child?
Aren’t couples who have abortions heartsick by their decision? Why should it be made any harder for them?
What if the mother has health problems and the pregnancy threatens her life?
What about violent pro-life protesters? Doesn’t violence negate the pro-life cause?
Would banning abortions cause private “clinics” to be set up?
Why not let people make their own decisions?
Would denying people that option deny them certain freedoms?
Why aren’t people more sexually responsible?
Would banning abortion result in less unwanted pregnancies?
Will this debate ever end?

So many questions. Please share your thoughts.

Check out The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform and Stats Canada for abortion statistics.

Get Down with Rise Against

Lyrically-awesome, politically-charged, makes-you-want-to-get-up-and-jump-around Rise Against deserves a tip o the hat, even if it's just from me. Why, you may be wondering? They’ve recently been given PETA’s Best Animal Friendly Band Award!

But I guess it’s not that surprising, seeing as how the members of RA are strict vegetarians and proud PETA-supporters. C’mon, it would be like leather-bound Marilyn Manson not winning the Most Frequent Cow-Wearer Award. (Image: RiseAgainst.com – Isn’t it kind of strange that it looks like it says, “Rise Against Vegetarians”?)

Wait – there’s more…

Besides their in-your-face music, RA’s videos are chock-full of truth. Their PETA-inspired video for “Ready to Fall” condemns animal cruelty by taking aim at sport-hunting (pun intended), environmental pillaging and pollution, “efficient” mass-processing technologies, and our general ignorance of the issue.

And just as PETA uses shocking, disturbing, nightmare-inducing images to create awareness, “Ready to Fall” will make you think twice about where your food comes from – and then make you want to kick your own ass for not thinking about it before.



True to their name, Rise Against goes against the mainstream by using music to expose violence rather than exploit it (50 Cent comes to mind here) and by using their fame to encourage change.

Aside from their PETA-friendliness, RA has teamed up with Vans to create a line of skate shoes that are not only vegan-appropriate, but slave-labour-free. (Yeah, apparently such things DO exist.) However, their video for “Prayer of the Refugee” shows this particular fight is far from over.

Set in what looks like a Wal-Mart, “Prayer of the Refugee” slams slave labour by exploring the histories of the products sitting on the shelves, and the lives of the workers who make them. Suddenly rollback prices don’t look so good.



And with their latest album, Appeal to Reason, RA has already begun to tackle the “hot” topics of today. Illegal immigration, the war in Iraq, gay marriage, Gitmo, and the silencing of truth by those in power are fair game in RA’s new video, “Audience of One.”

Like “Ready to Fall” and “Prayer of the Refugee,” “Audience of One” is a reflection of our world, and of what needs to be fixed. An appeal to reason, perhaps?

The video shows a little boy playing with a model world, and by playing I mean destroying. I'm pretty sure the boy is supposed to be George W. Bush.

Did I mention I love these guys?

P.S. Rise Against Canada and US tour dates have been announced. I guess I know where I’ll be July 31, 2009!

Human Rights Can be Funny Too

Since I seem to be on some sort of free-speech kick, let’s just keep it going with a spoof article I came across called, “Human rights lawyer sues himself.” At first I didn’t understand why it was supposed to be funny, other than the idea of a human rights lawyer suing himself.

But the lawyer in the story is named Richard Warman. That’s not quite funny enough do be made up, so who exactly is Richard Warman? (And am I the only person who's never heard of him until now?)

Apparently he's a Canadian human rights lawyer who has made more complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission than, well, anyone else. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing; it’s not like there aren’t human rights violations happening right now that need to be complained about.


But among his complaints about white supremacists on the internet, he’s also focused a lot of his energy on suing conspiracy theorist David Icke (more on him to come), and requested that British Columbia libraries remove all copies of Icke’s book, “Children of the Matrix,” from their shelves. Warman isn’t exactly known for leaving (mainly conservative) bloggers alone either.

Oddly enough, all this information can be found at RichardWarman.com. Even weirder is the fact that it’s not even his site. There’s a disclaimer at the bottom that says, “This site is to document the actions of Richard Warman. Richard Warman has no association with this site.”

Now that is hilarious.


(Chart: RichardWarman.com)

Just to be Fair: Rathergate

Since I’ve been giving FOX so much flak for its right-wing biases, racial stereotyping, fear-mongering, cluelessness about the definition of “fair” and “balanced,” and its unwavering support for the Bush Administration (to name a few), it’s only fair to mention that FOX isn’t the only network guilty of spinning the news – and in some cases, ignoring it completely.

While researching editorial cartoons for a school project – My topic was conspiracies. Go figure – I came upon something especially disturbing regarding CBS.

In 2007 CBS made headlines of its own after the network released long-time Evening News anchor Dan Rather, which prompted him to fire back with a $70 million lawsuit.

But he didn’t stop there.

For one, Rather accused CBS of purposely sitting on the Abu Ghraib story, the evidence for which had been discovered months before the images were released in April 2004.

As an even larger blow, Rather claims this - as well as many other skewed reporting - was done simply to placate the Bush Administration.

And it was only when a journalist at the New Yorker was about to scoop the story that CBS reacted and reluctantly unveiled the horrible truth about the US Military’s actions at Abu Ghraib.

Above is a cartoon (GoalsForAmericans.org) based off an actual photograph of the kind of torture being administered at Abu Ghraib. A prisoner was connected to a series of wires and told to stand on a box; he was told that if he fell off he would be electrocuted. As you can see from this image, the victim is Liberty.


Read Bill Van Auken's article if you want to know more details of Rather’s accusations.


(Trial still pending.)