15. september 2003

Ritual abuse, by rogue therapists Therapists who believe in so-called repressed memories have been able to implant seriously sick people with the belief that they were sexually or otherwise abused by Satanic cults, the freemasons, the CIA, illuminati or even extra-terrestrials. Before repressed memory syndrome had been thoroughly discredited by more sober researchers, like Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, court and police investigations ruined the lives of many innocents as well as sick people who did not get the help they should have had. Here is a very good newspaper article showing how groups of "abuse survivors" have developed into a tragic quasi-religious sect of sadly dysfunctional people. Needless to say, this sect has a lot of adherents, as these angry letters to the editor demonstrates. One of the letters refer to the archives of Karen Curio Jones, aka Diane Napolis, to somehow provide a credible witness for these claims. Ms Napolis, a frequent poster of satanic conspiracy material on the Net, under countless names, at one point got the idea that Steven Spielberg supposedly was a member of the Satanic conspiracy and had her equipped with a brain implant. She then started publicly harassing the filmmaker and another artist, Jennifer Love Hewitt, to "confront" them about their alleged abuse. Here is her own testimony in the court case against her. It speaks sadly for itself. You can find extensive information about "Satanic Ritual Abuse" here. Maybe the most damaging aspect of this craze has been how much it hurts prosecution of real sexual predators and the care for victims of abuse. 9:45:12 PM    comment []  trackback []

California recall election postponed A three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a shock ruling postponing the California governor recall election, because the voting machines in several counties were outdated. "The inherent defects in the system are such that approximately 40,000 voters who travel to the polls and cast their ballot will not have their vote counted at all," the three-judge panel concluded. The court decision stays for seven days to allow the Supreme Court to decide on the matter (and I, for one, expect them to overrule it). If postponed, the election originally scheduled for October 7 is likely to take place in March, coinciding with the Democrat party primaries. So whose responsibility is it that the voting machines are outdated? It should not happen to be Governor Davis' fault? 8:57:53 PM    comment []  trackback []

Election day Norway is just about to finish local elections today. For a small country, we have an amazing three levels of elected representatives: parliament, county (fylke) level and municipal/city level. Today, we had elections for city and county. I've been in doubt, but I ended up voting as I did last time: conservative (Høyre; lit. 'right'). Here in Bergen, a formerly successful businessman, Herman Friele, is the mayor candidate for the conservatives, and I think I want to give him a chance. I know experience matters, but on the other hand I think politics is far too important to leave to pureblood politicians. The local newspapers are too busy following a football game to tell me how the election is going. 8:25:49 PM    comment []  trackback []

The Jews did it! Bill Herbert's CointelPro blog has directed me to an interesting ADL report (pdf) on anti-Semitic conspiracy theories related to 9/11. You may well have heard the claim that 4000 Jews (or Israelis) did not turn up to work at the World Trade Center on 9/11-01, allegedly warned by Mossad to stay away from work that day. This is just one of hundreds of wacky theories around. As we have seen in this blog lately, the various conspiracy theories related to 9/11 are starting to make an appearance even on the mainstream left, but this report deals with the originals: the fantasies propagated by neo-nazis and Islamic extremists who accuse the Jews of being behind the whole thing. 8:41:40 AM    comment []  trackback []

Saudi clerics opposed to giving women freedoms A powerful group of 130 Saudi sheikhs and academics have issued a statement condemning any move to give women more freedom in the Islamic extremist state. Islamic laws protected women and their rights, the statement said, 'contrary to some...who do injustice to women and deprive them of their rights openly or in cunning ways, like those who call for looking after the affairs of women and call for their liberalisation of the (Islamic) legal boundaries so that they catch up with the Western infidel women'. In these calls, it added, 'they are aided by the enemies of Islam, especially in these days, when the Muslim nation is subjected to a vicious campaign from its enemy, led by the American government, to divert it from its faith'. [...] The statement said equality between men and women was not possible under Islam, but cited verses from the Quran explaining how Islam protected women. 'Any calls for absolute equality is an illegal and illogical call,' the statement said. 'The biggest gate through which attempts were made to westernise the Muslim woman by unveiling her and pushing her to mingling (with the other sex) is modern education,' the statement said, adding that the curricula for modern schools were devised by Westerners. The statement said that allowing women to drive, a repeated request in the kingdom, would lead to 'many evils'. 'Evils' like these Wahhabist fanatics being run over, I would hope. 5:43:47 AM    comment []  trackback []

Study: Lesbians are fatter A California study has confirmed one stereotype by concluding that lesbians are on average fatter than straight women. Dr Stephanie Roberts and colleagues at the University of California San Francisco questioned an equal number of lesbian and heterosexual women about their weight. They found that on average lesbian women had a higher body mass index, larger waist and bigger waist to hip ratios compared with the other women. A high body mass index - a measure of body fat based on height and weight - is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and severe chest pain.  Leaving aside that the BMI is a crude instrument, it makes sense that lesbians would feel less pressured to be thin. It is perhaps good that they feel more happy about their bodies, but it comes with a health penalty. 5:35:02 AM    comment []  trackback []

Sweden says NEJ to Euro In today's euro referendum, a decisive 56.1% of Swedes said no against 41.8% yes. This means Sweden will remain outside the European Union's single currency. Only two other EU countries, Denmark and the UK, have not yet joined, and opponents in both countries will be encouraged by this vote. All the major political parties, as well as business interests, supported a yes-vote. Opinion polls had been consistently negative to the euro until the murder of foreign minister Anna Lindh, herself an outspoken euro-supporter, and many pundits suggested this event would lead to many sympathy yes-votes. An opinion poll also suggested the two sides were even, adding the pollsters to the rank of disappointed failures today. 1:51:10 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.10.2003; 02:24:43.