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Is Cassiopaea a Cult, or under attack by COINTELPRO AGENTS?
COINTELPRO is at work in the New Age!
COINTELPRO was the FBI's secret program to undermine the popular upsurge which swept the country during the 1960s. Though the name stands for "Counterintelligence Program," the targets were not enemy spies. The FBI set out to eliminate "radical" political opposition inside the US. When traditional modes of repression (exposure, blatant harassment, and prosecution for political crimes) failed to counter the growing insurgency, and even helped to fuel it, the Bureau took the law into its own hands and secretly used fraud and force to sabotage constitutionally – protected political activity. Its methods ranged far beyond surveillance, and amounted to a domestic version of the covert action for which the CIA has become infamous throughout the world.
In recent years, the FBI and other agencies have tried to clean up their image. They have engaged in careful concealment of post-COINTELPRO domestic counterintelligence operations. This effort has sold the "new FBI" to some of the most prominent critics of earlier COINTELPRO. University professors and congressional committees that helped to expose the domestic covert action of the past now deny its persistence in the present. Because of their credentials, these respectable "objective" sources do more damage than the FBI's blatant right- wing publicists. Left uncontested, their sophistry could disarm a new generation of activists, leaving them vulnerable to government subversion.
In addition to political activists, it seems that COINTELPRO has particularly targeted groups that are seeking the truth about the interactions between the US government and Ultra Terrestrials, or so-called "aliens." That a long-time cover-up of these matters has been in effect is certainly evident to any careful researcher. The problem is, discovering the truth of what is being concealed.
Many readers have written to us complaining that we are being diverted from our path by the actions of the COINTELPRO agents. However, by studying the history of such operations, any well-informed reader will soon realize that action is needed, and it is needed as soon as the discovery of the operation is made. The COINTELPRO files show the U.S. government targeting a very broad range of religious, labor and community groups opposed to any of its agendas, and it would be foolish to not realize that this very operation extends to the US coverup of its "alien agenda." The presence of a COINTELPRO operation also goes far in explaining why, when the sincere researcher enters this field, he or she discovers only lies, lies, and more lies. Confusion and disinformation. And it is clearly deliberate, promulgated by Metaphysical Mavens and New Age Impresarios – COINTELPRO agents, all of them.
The objective seems to be to attack and "neutralize" those who are seeking the answers.
As we have delved deeper into our investigation of the series of attacks launched against us personally, and our work and our discussion/research group, the reality of continuing COINTELPRO-type attacks on progressive thinking became more and more evident. As we published these files, we received further information from other researchers that they, too, had been subjected to identical operations.
Ongoing domestic covert action is more than amply documented by The COINTELPRO Papers, Agents of Repression and War at Home. What we are discovering is that the targets are not limited to the opponents of U.S. political policies. Oh, no! They have developed COINTELPRO to an all new level of Social Shaping, Cultural Brainwashing, and this includes virtually anyone who is seeking the truth about the shifting realities of our world.
The cases of COINTELPRO activities agains political groups are no more than the tip of the iceberg, given that the great bulk of COINTELPRO – type operations remain secret until long after their damage has been done. By all indications, domestic covert operations have become a permanent feature of U.S. politics, and Social Programming.
The implications of this are truly alarming. Those who manage to get close to the truth of these matters, despite the many obstacles in their path, face country wide covert campaigns to discredit and disrupt their research and reputations.
Clearly, COINTELPRO and similar operations under other names work to distort academic and popular perceptions of the problems facing our world. They have done enormous damage to the search for the Truth.
These COINTELPRO operations are clearly formidable and dangerous. Yet, with networking, sharing of information, and exposure of the agents, such covert action is not insurmountable. Knowledge Protects.
"Terrorism is changing. New adversaries, new motivations and new rationales have surfaced in recent years to challenge much of the conventional wisdom…" Dr. Bruce Hoffman, Director of RAND, Washington
The only problem is, the reader is largely unaware of the definition of "new adversaries" that might be implied in his remarks. A careful reading of Richard Dolan's book, will immediately reveal what Dr. Hoffman really meant in his remarks about "terrorism."
Based on the documents assembled by Dolan, it is obvious that the governments of the world do indeed see the UFO problem as a very, very serious matter. In the course of assembling the documents and reporting the events, Dolan came to the inescapable conclusion that there exists an "Above Top Secret" group with access to all available UFO data, and that this group "straddled" the worlds of government, military, and industry. The evidence proves that the military created a complete fiction for public consumption designed to convince the masses that the UFO problem was "nonexistent." They were assisted in pulling the wool over the eyes of the public by "heavy handed official media and culture," and they were obviously under orders to consistently and repeatedly "debunk" the idea that aliens were ensconced in our world. What seems to be true is that most of our elected officials are as much victims of the debunking as anybody else. And the same is true about mainstream science. Dolan writes:
Next to the bureau, the military intelligence services became the most important component of the domestic intelligence scene. Army intelligence had nearly unlimited funds, extensive manpower, specialized personnel, deep planning and training resources, and the most sophisticated communications and data processing capability. […] The army's intelligence surveillance did not focus on tactical and reconnaissance data, but on political and ideological intelligence within the United States. (This was wholly illegal.) […]
Then there was the CIA. By the late 1960s, there were more spies than diplomats in the State Department, or employees in the Department of Labor. […] When the Weather Underground, a radical splinter of the SDS, had an "acid test" to detect agents provocateurs, they had no idea that the CIA had been tripping on LSD throughout the 1950s, creating a special caste of "enlightened agents" for precisely these occasions. [Based on this, we wonder about "agents provocateur" in the New Age and UFO community who are "specially trained?"]
The agency continued its work on mind control. Following the work of Dr. Jose Delgado [experiments in] Electrical Stimulation of the Brain [were conducted.] This involves implanting electrodes into the brain and body, with the result that the subject's memory, impulses, and feelings could all be controlled. Moreover, ESB could evoke hallucinations, as well as fear and pleasure. "It could literally manipulate the human will at will," [said Dr. Robert Keefe, a neurosurgeon at Tulane University.]
In 1968, George Estabrooks, another spook scientist, spoke indiscreetly to a reporter for the Providence Evening Bulletin. "The key to creating an effective spy or assassin, rests in creating a multiple personality with the aid of hypnosis," a procedure which he described as "child's play."
By early 1969, teams within the CIA were running a number of bizarre experiments in mind control under the name Operation Often. In addition to the normal assortment of chemists, biologists, and conventional scientists, the operation employed psychics and experts in demonology.
Over at the NSA, all one can say with certainty is that its budget dwarfed all others within the intelligence community. [UFOs and the National Security State, Richard Dolan, Ph.D.]
Dolan documents how the intelligence organizations of the United States – and very likely other countries who are working in concert with them, though outwardly they may pretend to be oppositional – have conducted terminal mind-control experiments, biological spraying of American cities, human plutonium and syphilis injections, illegal communications interception, and nationwide domestic surveillance of private citizens, political assassinations and coups, ongoing media manipulation and outright public lying on a continual basis, most especially in regards to UFOs. The above organizations, via any and all means available, made sure that, to the public at large, UFOs and aliens were a "dead issue."
Scientist and UFO disclosure advocate James McDonald said in 1969: "I am enough of a realist to sense that, unless this AAAS symposium succeeds in making the scientific community aware of the seriousness of the UFO problem, little response to any call for new investigations is likely to appear." McDonald presented a brilliant paper entitled "Science in Default: Twenty-two Years of Inadequate UFO Investigations." Dolan comments that it was "perhaps the most damning statement about UFO research ever made." Speaking before the convention at Boston's Sheraton Plaza Hotel, McDonald came down hard on everyone: Condon, Menzel, Hynek, and finally the scientific establishment itself. He said:
No scientifically adequate investigation of the UFO problem has been carried out during the entire twenty-two years that have now passed since the first extensive wave of sightings of unidentified aerial objects in the summer of 1947. …In my opinion, the UFO problem, far from being the nonsense problem that it has often been labeled by many scientists, constitutes a problem of extraordinary scientific interest. The grave difficulty with essentially all past UFO studies had been that they were either devoid of any substantial scientific content, or else have lost their way amidst the relatively large noise content that tends to obscure the real signal in the UFO reports. [Quoted by Dolan]
This high noise to signal ratio is, based on the evidence, the direct product of the frenzied activities of the "National Security State" in their promulgation of the New Age/Human Potential smoke and mirrors magic show. What is also clearly evident is that this noise is the fundament of the prevailing scientific doctrine. What we see is that the Scientific Community – though they claim to be seekers of advanced scientific truth – have been as easily duped as Joe Sixpack and Shirley Seeker of Truth. The former is interested in little more than his truck, his dog, and his weekend football game, while the latter is generally looking for a lifestyle of higher "experiences." What I also suspect is that even the lower echelons of the intelligence and military organizations must be included in this rather large grouping of the duped and deceived sheep.
An example of this duping of those investigating the matter from the "bottom up," is Andrew Tully who wrote The Super Spies, supposedly an early report on the NSA. He, and many who have followed him, suggest that the UFO is an "intelligence" device and that it evolved out of Nazi Secrets brought to the US under Project Paperclip.
Dolan lays out the evidence and disabuses us of the notion that the UFO activity could be human, technological breakthroughs as such naive conspiracy theorists propose. As he says, "all of the indicators point to a definitive NO." He then points out that, every single person who actually studies the UFO problem [yours truly included – who began as a flaming skeptic] – becomes convinced that it IS a problem of Alien invasion of our planet. Every official study of UFOs persuaded the researchers that aliens were the explanation for the data. But that data has been denied, and when denial no longer worked, it was obscured by the noise, the smoke and mirrors that prevail today in UFO research and the New Age and Human Potential movements. Do we think that this is coincidence?
Another evident production of "noise" is the nonsense that passes today as "channeling" or "alien contacts". Indeed, our own work involves channeled material, but as we have noted repeatedly, it is not your usual channeled info, nor do we treat it as such. For us, a controlled channeling experiment is the 10% inspiration that must be matched by the 90% perspiration of real research. With a broad historical awareness of the facts, a firm grounding in the realization that most of what is out there is deliberate disinformation, the individual who surveys the plethora of "alternative information" in books and on the internet, can easily recognize the "noise" factor produced by the Secret State. Dolan tells us:
By the early 1970s, there were already means available to alter the moods of unsuspecting persons. A pocket-sized transmitter generating electromagnetic energy at less than 100 milliwatts could do the job. This is no pie-in-the-sky theory. In 1972, Dr. Gordon J.F. McDonald testified before the House Subcommittee on Oceans and International Environment on the issue of electromagnetic weapons used for mind control and mental disruption. He stated:
[T]he basic notion was to create, between the electrically charged ionosphere in the higher part of the atmosphere and conducting layers of the surface of the Earth, this neutral cavity, to create waves, electrical waves that would be tuned to the brain waves. …About ten cycles per second. …You can produce changes in behavioral patterns or in responses.
The following year, Dr. Joseph C. Sharp, at Walter Reed Hospital, while in a soundproof room, was able to hear spoken words broadcast by 'pulsed microwave audiogram.' These words were broadcast to him without any implanted electronic translation device. Rather, they reached him by direct transmission to the brain. [Dolan]
Consider the above in terms of "chemtrails." And note the comments of our own channeled material regarding the above- not from "aliens," but rather from "us in the future."
Q: (L) But, the fact still remains, in my opinion, that there are a LOT, LOT, LOT of planes flying above us in the past few years! Whether they are dumping anything on our heads, or what, there are an extreme number of planes flying in these upper level criss-cross patterns. Now, whether they are just playing war-games, or they are spy planes, they are doing SOMETHING! What is the reason for all of this upper level flying that results in these criss-crossed contrails that everybody is seeing?A: A lot of it is "training maneuver" oriented.
Q: Why are they training so many pilots? What are they preparing for?
A: Military budgets must be justified, you know. Review "Military-Industrial Complex 101."
Q: So, this is just training flight, justification of budget, and nothing more than that?
A: Well, we would not say "not anything more to it than that," but, when you say "M-IC," you have said a lot!
Q: Are you implying that there is a build-up of the Military-Industrial Complex for a reason?
A: To preserve status quo during "peacetime." This peace business is not very profitable, you know.
Q: Does that suggest that they are building up to set off a war so they can make more money?
A: Maybe if indeed, and if the populace can be hoodwinked. But, fortunately, the public is less hoodwinkable. Maybe the real enemy is "out there, " rather than "over there." Was it not always?
Q: Does any of this increased aircraft activity have anything to do with the increased awareness and activities of aliens in and around our planet?
A: As always. But, this awareness is factionalized and compartmentalized.
The C's comments take on a whole new meaning in light of the present situation – 9-11 and all that – as well as Bush's drive for "war." We also note the most interesting remark that "awareness of the activities of aliens in and around our planet" is "factionalized and compartmentalized." And this is where we come to the COINTELPRO function of creating bogus organizations to attack or disrupt bona fide groups.
We have already noted the fact that research in Electrical Stimulation of the brain could produce hallucinations. If you put hallucinations together with words, you can produce just about anything in the way of "noise" to obscure the truth that you want – including the "shape-shifting reptoids-as-humans," or a "gray dude in the bathroom," or a "Guardian Alliance," or a "Nibiruan Council," or an "Ashtar Command," or talking whales and dolphins, etc. You name it – they can produce it via voices in the head and hallucinations and transmissions of frequencies that produce ecstatic states, healings, or whatever. And so it is that the human element of the Cosmic COINTELPRO operation manages their many "agents" of disinformation – pied pipers leading the masses of New Age seekers – so that whatever the real truth is, remains their secret. And that's exactly the way they want it.
Notice the dates in the above quote from Dolan's book telling us that in the early 70s certain technologies were being developed that could "broadcast" signals over the entire nation. We certainly suspect that this technology was developed further in the subsequent years. The question is: what did they do with it?
What strikes me as an essential turning point in this COINTELPRO operation was the beginning of the "expose" of two particular items that hold sway in certain "conspiracy" circles to this very day: Alien Abduction and Satanic Ritual Abuse.
The Gray alien scenario was "leaked" by Budd Hopkins. Whitley Strieber's alien abduction books, including Communion followed a few years after . Prior to the publication of these books, the ubiquitous "Gray aliens" had never been seen before. In fact, a review of the history of "contact" cases show that the type and variety and behavior of "aliens" around the world is quite different across the board. But, along came Budd, followed by Whitley and his glaring alien on the cover, and suddenly the Grays were everywhere.
In respect of Whitley and his Grays, allow me to emphasize one of Dolan's comments quoted above: "By early 1969, teams within the CIA were running a number of bizarre experiments in mind control under the name Operation Often. In addition to the normal assortment of chemists, biologists, and conventional scientists, the operation employed psychics and experts in demonology." This, of course, brings us to the parallel event of that period of time: Satanic ritual abuse. SRA is the name given to the allegedly systematic abuse of children by Satanists.
As it happens, keeping our timeline in mind, it was in the mid to late 1970s that the allegations of the existence of a "well-organized intergenerational satanic cult whose members sexually molest, torture and murder children across the United States" began to emerge in America. There was a panic regarding SRA triggered by a fictional book called Michelle Remembers. The book was published as fact but has subsequently been shown to be a hoax by at least three independent investigators. No hard evidence of Satanic Ritual Abuse in North America has ever been found just as no hard evidence of abductions by Gray aliens has ever been found. Nevertheless, the allegations were widely publicized on radio and television talk shows, including Geraldo Rivera's show.
Religious fundamentalists promoted the hysteria and, just as during the Inquisitions, endless self-proclaimed "moral entrepreneurs" both fed the fires of prosecution and earned a good living from it. Most of the early accusations of satanic/ritual abuse were aimed at working-class people with limited resources, and with a few exceptions, the media and other groups that are ordinarily skeptical either remained silent or joined in the feeding frenzy of accusations. The few professionals who spoke out against the hysteria were systematically attacked and discredited by government agencies and private organizations.
The question has to be asked: If there are thousands of baseless accusations of SRA and thousands upon thousands of cases of unverifiable alien abductions, how do they originate?
Most of the SRA cases are said to originate with children. Since there is a widespread belief that children wouldn't make up stories of eating other children or being forced to have sex with giraffes after flying in an airplane while they were supposed to be in day care, the stories are often taken at face value by naive prosecutors, therapists, police officers and parents. Researchers have found that children are unlikely to invent stories of satanic ritual abuse on their own. So, where do the stories come from?
Accusing the therapists, district attorneys, police and parents of inducing such stories from children doesn't seem to be a very productive answer. Yes, it may happen in some cases, but certainly doesn't seem likely in the vast number of cases.
Now, let's go back and think about our timeline. As it happens, Michelle Remembers was published in 1980, co-written by Michelle Smith and Lawrence Pazder, M.D. Budd Hopkins finished "Missing Time" in December of 1980, with an "afterward" by Aphrodite Clamar, Ph.D.
It's looking pretty "coincidental" from where I sit.
What is occurs to me – putting the pieces of the puzzle together – is that there is some general kind of imagery being widely broadcast in the "neutral cavity" described above, and that it depends a lot on the individual and their cultural programming how it "takes." When we consider the fact that Operation Often employed "the normal assortment of chemists, biologists, and conventional scientists AND "psychics and experts in demonology," we begin to think that electronic COINTELPRO includes a whole supermarket of new "beliefs" – Gray aliens and "alien contacts" for the New Age crowd and a whole range of "sexual/ritual abuse" scenarios" for those who are NOT open to the alien shtick.
Is the whole thing beamed out as some sort of "free-formal imaging," and based on the conscious acceptance of one or another version, it takes on its individual characteristics? In other words, is it picked up by the subconscious in alpha states or in sleep, perceived as traumatic in a general scenario that can then be interpreted by the individual belief systems in terms of either being examined and or sexually manipulated by aliens on a table or "raped on an altar" by Satanists? Are the public productions – books by Hopkins, Strieber, and the SRA scandals, just the closing of the circuit by the conscious mind accepting some scenario as the explanation for the constant bombardment of such signs as described in Dolan's book? Is it the job of COINTELPRO to create "bogus organizations" that produce various "explanations" to close the circuit and "make it real" in the person's mind?
One has to wonder about the name of the program: Operation Often in terms of the claims of abductees – victims of repeated and "often" abductions – as well as the claims of those who suggest the SRA explanation. In either case, the believer is being "herded" into a "response camp" of either faith in alien saviors, or faith in Jesus to save from the demonic/satanic Illuminati, Jews, Pagans – take your pick.
Let me make it clear that I am in no way suggesting that "abductions" or some whacked out Satanic rituals do not take place somewhere, under some circumstances. What I am suggesting is that the Gray Alien and SRA phenomenon most certainly was not restricted in any way by COINTELPRO, and may indeed be the smoke and mirrors that hides a far more insidious state of affairs.
In essence, Dolan's book shows us the history of how the many levels of society have been duped and deceived – or directly controlled – from the average citizen, to the seeker of higher truths, to the scions of science and industry, to the, hallowed halls of government. Each "type" has been targeted in the way most likely to "manage" them best. Those who cannot be "managed" generally die, as scientist James McDonald – and others – did. But all the while, the UFOs kept coming, and people kept seeing them, and they kept asking questions.
McDonald had been described as a man who was "afraid of nothing." What seems to be so is that this was why he was destroyed. Hynek had written that McDonald was considered by the Air Force to be an "outstanding nuisance."
With the mind control arsenal that has been described at their disposal, we have a good idea of what "they" can do to the mind. Even the strongest. Courage and integrity, it seems, are no protection. We would like to note another curious death – that of Edward Ruppelt. After years as an advocate of disclosure, he suddenly did an about face – re-wrote his book recanting his belief that UFOs were extraterrestrial craft, and was dead within a year at a very young age. It looks to me as though, if they can't corrupt you, they kill you, and if they CAN corrupt you, they still kill you so you won't have a chance to change your mind and recant your recantation like Jacques de Molay did when the Templars were destroyed. Those who get close to the belly of the beast are generally subjected to a new "approach" it seems. And that approach is the biggest betrayal of all.
Many important and influential people have attested to the reality of the UFO phenomenon as an "alien reality." Within the military organizations, those who affirm the "alien hypothesis" are widespread and numerous. But, as Dolan shows us, they cannot discuss those views without risking the penalties of imprisonment and stiff fines.
In the present day, we have Steven Greer's "Disclosure Project." Based on the mail I get, it seems that many in the New Age/UFO community think that this is a great and novel idea. However, history shows that it has been tried before. The one thing about Greer's effort that suggests it is just more and better COINTELPRO, is his attachment to the "aliens are here to help us" idea which is directly contradicted by history, though widely promoted by most "contactees." Even Linda Howe, for a long time the most reputable of careful researchers – and no stranger to the machinations of the Secret State – seems to have fallen for this one – or COINTELPRO. It is also now being promoted in Fate Magazine by Rosemary Guiley, who has the odor of COINTELPRO about her with her notable connections to military "agents." Jerome Clark, a practiced "debunker" is also a regular contributor to Fate.
Dolan documents the failure of civilian groups in their efforts to really "end UFO secrecy." NICAP had prominent and active members, connections to Congress and the military, and their effort continued for over ten years. NICAP fought diligently for congressional hearings, and yet every time they got "close" to bringing it to the table for public consideration, the congressional sponsorship "backed off" and reversed their support.
What kind of group is it that can control our government officials in this way? An even deeper question might be: What kind of group is it that can control the media, the military, the CIA, the FBI, NSA, and even the President? What do they do to intimidate and dominate ethical and substantial persons in positions of authority? Whatever it is, we would certainly like to know because it suggests that they are hiding something so significant that even hints of it behind closed doors can send the most powerful congressmen running with their tails tucked between their legs.
And whatever it is, it seems that we, here at Cassiopaea, must be stepping on some tender toes to have so dedicated a group of COINTELPRO agents hounding us and calling a scientific approach to the mysteries of our world a "Cult."
At the present time, there are "agitators" and "disinformation artists" and promoters of certain ideas, all of which are designed to create a certain mindset among the public, most especially the wide-open market of the New Age public, so that everything that occurs on the world stage will be interpreted according to this mindset. These are loose "cults" with no direct or evident "leader," though once an investigation into the matter is undertaken, the same names keep popping up over and over again, and we have many questions as to who is really behind it all.
Many of the key ideas these folks are promoting are those of the Philadelphia Experiment, the Montauk Experiments, Satanic Ritual Abuse, Sacred Geometry, New Physics, and on and on. Is this the new "cover" for COINTELPRO?
Cassiopaea does, indeed, have much to say about these matters, even in the sense of seeing them as some sort of secret activity, but our perspective is QUITE different from that which is generally being promoted and has been explored in some detail in the Wave Series , and this series will be completed when and if we stop having to spend all our time defending against libel, slander, defamation, threatened lawsuits, and the wide-scale promotion by these COINTELPRO agents of the idea that we are a Cult. Regarding this planned, deliberate, and ongoing series of assaults (most of which we do not discuss on the site, but we will chronicle it in detail at some point), a member of our Discussion Group notes:
We live in a world where many believe it is their right to impose their control onto others whether it is right or wrong. People are expressions of their governments and so if people are controlled they too seek to control. Therefore all that 'breaches' what can be deemed the boundaries of control will be targeted as dissidents by 'all'.
By 'all' I mean that there are three types of people in this world – the controllers, the controlled and the free.
In a world governed by control, the free are not idolised but are targeted as they are a risk to the 'system'. Targeted firstly by the controllers and then by the controlled. So freedom being the 'enemy' of the state, all that embroiders freedom is attacked and 'dealt with'. Free speach, has been contaminated with political correctness, etc. So to talk freely a perimeter must be set up to ensure that the 'system' cannot enter and contaminate the group with it's own repressive idealogies.
Now, just to let you know a little bit about what we are discovering, let us just say that there are links between many so-called "New Age" groups and drugs, gun trafficking, pedophilia, and a host of unsavory and perverted activities, all of which may be connected to a broad and expanding spider web of psychological and spiritual terrorism being currently utilized to exploit a rich market of New Age seekers who are seen as just a herd of sheep ready for the shearing. Schools, workshops, seminars, conferences, "workings" and just a whole host of fun activities are utilized to part the individual from his money, his sanity, his free will, and in some cases, even his life.
Following the events of the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in March of 1995, and the Heaven's Gate massacre, not to mention the mass suicides of Jonestown and the Solar Cult in Europe, there exists a very real fear of Cults, and with good reason.
The only problem is, the REAL cults are sending out "disinformation artists and deceivers" who play on the vulnerabilities of Seekers of Spiritual Paths. The question is: are these cults really just cover for COINTELPRO operations?
Beliefs in the "End of the World," the coming of the "New Jerusalem," the boom of the Gloom and Doom market has produced rich psychological ground for the planting of the seeds of the general expectation for the return of SOMETHING, and thus, the need to PREPARE. And they are all ready to sell you the right technique, the right workshop, the right school course, the right rituals and accoutrements, to make sure that YOU are among the CHOSEN.
It's one thing for a group to believe this, it is quite another for them to seek to deceptively convert others to their ideas, and to insist that if the others do not bow to their wishes, that they will destroy them by accusing them of being a "cult," or of the very activities of which they, themselves are guilty.
Is the COINTELPRO objective to discredit or just embarrass the honest researchers, or legitimate mystics? Or, does it go deeper? Do they wish to produce effects among some of these groups so as to make any such activity seen to be dangerous and therefore worthy of being legislated agains?
Cassiopaea has a somewhat different view.
Indeed, we see vast changes in our future, but our perspective is that self-development in a natural way, in a normal environment is, and has always been, the only preparation needed for anything. As we have noted on this website:
We are of the mind that politics and religion and in general all widely promulgated 'truth' is heavily laced with manipulation and disinformation. We further think that this is so in order to keep mankind ignorant and controllable and engaged in perpetual internal conflict.
This statement of what we perceive to be our reality, backed up by much research and fact, is followed by our statement of what we see as the thing to DO about it:
We believe in enabling people to think and decide freely to the extent such freedon is at all possible in this world. We believe a broad informational base is a prerequisite of exercising what freedom of mind may be humanly attainable and providing such information and analysis to the interested is what we consider our service.
We are not in the business of converting people and do not believe in a one-size-fits-all solution or dogma to the concerning the challenges of our time. The spiritual evolution of man may only proceed individual by individual and do so at the individual's choosing. In this sense we indeed believe in a personal choice which our times demand of us and we see the choice as being between expanding knowledge on one side and settling into a fixed pattern of control on the other.
And that is the full extent of what we think and do and believe.
Indeed, we present channeled material. But we make it very clear that channeled material is only as good as the research that goes into discovering its validity and possible applications! And we are most definitely NOT into predicting anything that is not based on scientific research and speculation.
However, in recent years, we have been subjected to the determined and repeated efforts of obvious COINTELPRO agents, who have made efforts to invade our lives, to gain control of our work, to damage us financially, and a possible agent was even sent to our home, in the guise of a sincere seeker and friend, to destroy a tape and steal papers.
The main rant of these COINTELPRO agents is that we are a "cult" with "political objectives," which is so nonsensical that it almost does not deserve response except for the fact that it is being spread far and wide. This is a serious issue. How many people will simply not read our material at all if they are conditioned to think, automatically, that we are a Cult? By being manipulated to think this, they are being dominated, and their free will is denied them. While we have no interest in preaching, we do have an interest in being available to any seeker without the pre-formed opinion that we are a Cult!
What is a CULT?
The line between CULT and religion is a very hotly debated topic, so getting a hard and fast definition to fit is difficult at best. But, the major indication of a CULT is that it employs INFLUENCE TECHNIQUES and DECEPTION.
According to Kelton Rhoads, a writer who specializes in cults which exploit the more unsavory of influence techniques, the number of destructive cults alone currently functioning in the US is 3000 with total membership of around 4 million.
Now, the discussion group at Cassiopaea has been accused of being a cult.
Because we ejected individuals from the discussion who were discovered to be using INFLUENCING TECHNIQUES and DECEPTION. Once they were ejected, they began to us Psychological Terrorism including threats of lawsuits, defamation, and even implications of direct harm. We have responded to these threats with a clear statement of what these individuals attempted and failed to do with our large and active discussion group.
WHY do we insist on the privacy of our discussion group? IS IT A CULT?
Well, some people think that a cult is based on a "hermetically sealed community tied to a single leader."
As it happens, even that does not apply at Cassiopaea.
What we are conducting is an Internet School, and we have the right to maintain order in the classroom.
We have a right to eject those who are not there to learn, and those who are bullies and cheaters.
As noted above, we believe in enabling people to think and decide freely and this necessitates a broad informational base as a prerequisite for exercising what freedom of mind may be humanly attainable. We further believe in researching, as a group activity, and sharing such information and analysis to those who ask. Anyone who enters this environment and is discovered to be using scare tactics, information that does not check out factually, who lies and misrepresents themselves, or is caught violating the privacy of the group, is EJECTED.
That's it.
Has nothing to do with any or all of the members following anybody or any belief system. It has strictly to do with interacting with people who are TRUSTWORTHY by DEMONSTRATION, so that when any member reveals personal information within the group, we can be confident that it will not be used against them in some kind of psychological or spiritual terrorism.
Rather than having a "religious confessor/leader who is the only one privy to all secrets, we have created a different idea for our group discussions. Yes, indeed, there are those who are the "hosts, guardians of the privacy and decorum," but all the interaction within the group is on an equal footing between members. And the main thing we wish to protect against is individuals who are deceitful, who have a hidden agenda, or who use manipulative tactics.
Of course, because the group is closed, many people see that as a "cult" type thing. And that can certainly be a characteristic of cults in general, but that is only when a hierarchy is involved.
We have no hierarchy. We don't want one.
But since such a thing as we are doing has never been done before, those who are accustomed to hierarchies don't understand it.
And then, of course, because it's closed, because they have been excluded, because they have proven untrustworthy either in terms of deception or agendas, they have to validate themselves by destroying what does not permit them to run their agendas. Because of our wish to protect the "confessional privacy," they think that means we are a bunch of "true believers." They think that we think that everyone out there is "us or them," and that is not our issue.
Our issue is "confessional privacy" and that excludes people who have a record of lying and manipulation. Let the members of the group speak on this one:
A Member Speaks
Well, it seems that people often post some very personal stuff here, because they know they can trust the group — perhaps somewhat equivalent to speaking with your doctor or a psychologist. Many things that we share in the interests of health/wellbeing (mental, spiritual, or physical) aren't necessarily things that we want anyone to have access to (especially when there *are* people who will use whatever they can to hurt us in our progress).
From a New Member (2 days!)
Since I'm new to the group, I can perhaps offer a bit of an objective opinion about some of the charges Most levels against this list.
I've never been a member of any kind of church, nor have I ever subscribed to any one particular belief. I don't belong to any kind of discussion group like this (certainly not this "M" list–I don't even know what it is!). Believe me when I say that if I felt this group had any sort of cultish leanings, I'd be outta here like a shot.
To me, just from the postings I've gotten yesterday and today, coupled with reading over some of the past couple of months' archived posts, you all seem anything *but* a cult. (Either that, or you're a really, really inept cult!–kidding.)
Mostly what I sense is caring and respect for one another. Someone apparently recently had a bit of a tiff with other members, but today he is warmly welcomed back. Somehow I doubt that would happen on a true cult's list.
I was interested to see what you all had written around 9/11, so I looked; it seemed most of the posts expressed concern for listmembers involved directly or indirectly, along with a healthy dose of skepticism about mainstream news coverage. Seems like a true cult would have been calling for members to head for the bunkers or worse.
Nobody on the list seems interested in forcing a particular belief pattern on anyone–if anything, the group seems more interested in questioning belief patterns. Again, not consonant with what I know about cults.
I really don't think a PayPal "tip jar" kind of arrangement is equal to demanding members' life savings, as you often see with cults.
Clearly, the "leaders" (if you really want to call them that) of this group, Laura and Ark, are quite accessible and in no way domineering in the discussions. People seem to look to them for their wisdom and experience, but I haven't sensed any sort of, well, untoward devotion to either of them.
I've seen mostly serious discussion, but members do seem to have a sense of humor.
Count by count, Mr. Most' accusations don't stand up to examination.
For me, this episode has been an exercise in critical thinking…I'm just sorry it has been so emotionally trying for those of you personally involved.
Words from Still Another Member
I was raised in a Christian sect that believed that it was the one and only true church, that all others would be condemned. There were just a set of things one had to do and you were in on the salvation department. Any questioning of this church's beliefs was considered blasphemy. Their version of God would broker no dissent. It collected a lot of people who were anxiety ridden and fearful of not being accepted. It made them feel good to be on the inside, to have the scoop on everyone else.
After that experience I want to question everything. Every single one of my assumptions must be examined. This is an enormous task. I would do it on my own if I had to. After joining the C group I discovered that there are people willing to do just that, on an every day basis.
There is no "must have" belief system, or giving everything over to a higher power, and waiting around for results. No calling upon the elements or mysterious ophanic intelligences to come down and open windows in the sky without really knowing what is on the other side.
The C group just shares our questions, research, and personal observations. Some have joined with an idea that was a part of their identity. To take that idea apart, to question it, to disparage it any way, was perceived as an attack on them. A few have joined with the concept of hijacking the group to their agenda. Sort of like joining a group that exchanges apple pie recipes and demanding they start exchanging curry recipes.
When there is a goal to question everything and to assume nothing it is necessary for everyone to be in agreement on that one point . Everything else is open for discussion.
Another Member Writes
This group is no cult.
All are free to come and go where members are asked to provide nothing except respect and privacy.
Privacy is often necessary as part of a learning process for a variety of reasons that include limiting distractions, setbacks, waste of time in repetition, unnecessary hestitation and uncertainty, etc. Respecting privacy is also a simple test of character.
When people are trying to recover from cult-like programming (instilled false-beliefs, wishful thinking, repetitious programmatic behavior, etc.) the last thing they need are still more cult- minded people hanging arou nd trying to confound thought processes. It's hard work trying to sort out complex ideas, especially when those ideas are the very basis of how we think from second to second. So respect, privacy, and patience are ne cessary in order for real knowledge to become recoverable.
Privacy is about respect of request. The ability to respect privacy is the ability to resist malicious action, it's about the ability to comprehend and offer sanctity of life itself. It's about being able to live and let live without a wish to intervene.
It's important to maintain privacy of the group because change is often very scary–it leaves a person feeling alone, naked, and vulnerable. People who don't respect privacy, for all intents and purposes, feed happily off the emotions of those who wish to have their privacy respected. People who violate privacy are for all intents and purposes are predators.
That's what I think.
A Long Time Member Writes
I greatly appreciate privacy for this list or else posters would stop by for a bit, post a few flaming messages and then be gone which all requires time and energy for those seriously trying to follow most posts.
This group's discussions are on-going and require a basic set of pre-read material before jumping in. We have focus here and that can easily be messed with by those who have not read the basic material.
There's no flaming, no disrespect, and no constant rehashing of material. None of this would be possible without privacy. Such cohesion is indeed rare on public lists.
Comments from an International Member
As I see it , the main idea of this group is research – the understanding of the matrix mechanism . In this case many aspects of this research are based on our own experiences those we will be able to share only in a trustful environment .
In my opinion there is no base in such claim that we are some kind of cult because in the cult there is no such thing as a free will or respect to others or their opinions. And the fact that one of the most important group rules is to respect other believes and opinions already refutes the "cult" theory.
All the people in this group decided to be here because they wish to learn to understand the infinite layers of our reality And it's an enormous and very hard work . Most of the people don't like to work hard and looking for a shortcuts or in the worst case looking to destroy or sabotage . There were several people that tried this tactic in our group . It didn't work and they were throw out of this group .
Now I understand the anger and frustration of those people that couldn't complete their task if they had any agenda at all. (which is obvious that they had). They didn't have any success from the inside so in hopeless attempt they will try anything from the outside including this ridiculous claim as us being a cult . Any intelligent and reasonable person can join this group and see for himself . There is no secrets in this group, only the secrets we are still working to uncover .
A Long Time Working Member Speaks
Another very important and integral aspect for exercising what to some malcontents and others is an "unwanted control," is the atmosphere of decorum. None of us who choose to be here are here to inflate our ego. Most of us strive very diligently to "leave that at the door" because it hampers and distracts from our purpose of being here. That purpose is to gain a knowledge that we can convert to an awareness within our individual being.
This is a process that involves an immense amount of diligence and perserverence and that simply cannot be accomplished in an atmosphere which does not reflect the goals of the participants within this group.
Discussions? Yes, we have discussions – very serious ones. That is part and parcel of the process here. Debates? No we do not have debates for the most part. A good debater is capable of taking either side of an issue, hence winning a debate has nothing to do with right/wrong, correct/incorrect, helpful/not helpful; the only thing winning a debate is about is ego. As we are all in this together, there is no room here for ego. There are no winners and losers here, either we all come out winners, or we all end up as losers.
Unfortunately, this is a position a few are not developed enough to grasp, understand or participate in. We wish them well. They are free to do as they please in a different venue, but we cannot tolerate, nor should we be obligated to tolerate their disruption.Tearing down the sacred cows of illusion is difficult enough, to attempt to do this in an advesarial or carnival-like atmosphere is folly.
Another Long Time Member Says
Why do we insist on the privacy of this group? Because it creates an atmosphere of family and safety. Freedom to discuss and learn without restraints. Yes, tha'ts right, by creating a closed area we allow each other the freedom of honesty and comfort in our research without fear of sabotage.
Is it a cult? LOL, Hell no! I have the freedom to leave this group at any time I wish without fear of being damned. There are no requirements of monetary commitment to Ark and Laura. And I am free to disagree, believe and to discover what I myself see as truth. I have freedom to choose what I read and what I contribute to.
Returning now to our COINTELPRO problem, as we have dug deeper into these matters, we have found many, many VERY strange connections… a vast and spreading network of predators upon the New Age community with links to the underworld of REAL terrorism COINTELPRO terrorism. We don't know how deep it will go, or where it will end. But we are committed to pursuing every thread, every clue that the readers send us.
From what we have seen so far, the exposure of a COINTELPRO operation being perpetrated on the New Age community is, in our opinion, a worthwhile expenditure of time and money. We hope you agree.


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Home | Reviews | Extras | Forums |
Kanashimi no BelladonnaSynopsisJeanne is a beautiful young woman who is married to a kind and loving man. The two of them share an idyllic life on a farm by the French countryside. Jeanne's life comes crashing down when she is raped by a corrupt official and is cast aside by her grief stricken husband. Saddened by her humiliation and angered by her lack of power, the young woman runs off into the wilderness; there she learns the ways of nature and obtains the power to heal the sick and bring happiness to all who meet her. But her newfound power is all for naught, because it soon leads to her being hunted down as a witch by the government. ReviewThe only word I can use to describe such a film as Kanashimi no Belladonna is strange. However, there are enough intriguing ideas to keep the film afloat, but sometimes just barely. This anime is simultaneously captivating and perturbing. Visually speaking there is nothing quite like this film that I have seen in anime. Granted, films like Yellow Submarine and Pink Floyd's The Wall share the same cerebral surrealistic art style, but in Japanese animation such a production was - and still is - a rarity. In both artistry and in music, Kanashimi no Belladonna is ubiquitous with the 70s; complete with music that seems to belong more in a rock opera than in a period piece based off of a nineteenth century novel. When this movie does have animated sequences, they can be so overbearing in colorization and "edgy" imagery that it looks as though Max Fleischer has vomited all over the screen, or that we are watching a Ralph Bakshi flick and not something by Mushi Productions. All in all, it looks rather dated. Also to add to the subject of animation and visuals, there are a lot of points in this film which could not even be considered animation. This anime is filled with still shots and paintings, but not a lot of animation - which kind of defeats the purpose. Kanashimi no Belladonna is heavy with symbolism, especially when it came to the rape scenes. Instead of showing the rape happening, the viewer is given distrubing symbolism of Jeanne being ripped apart. It was all very hard to take, and more effectively done than any rape-laden hentai could ever hope to achieve. The film also has a habit of using music to tell the entire story, a female vocalist narrates a lot of what is going on. This is not a bad thing, but when most of what we see is obvious, there really is not much of a need to remind us -through song - what is happening on the screen. But, the themes of rape, female vulnerability, religious persecution, and the occult, are all presented here in unique ways, so at least the story can maintain attention. Jeanne also evokes a real sense of pathos in the viewer, that it is impossible for the viewer to not feel her pain and sympathize with what she has to go through. Another strong point of this anime is its proto-feminist message that is implemented within the plot. This is because the anime never makes the viewer feel like they are being preached to, or that the film takes the usual feminist film route of misandry. But this seems to fall apart towards the end of the film when the creators decided to throw in some final thoughts about "girl power". I am all for female empowerment, but the final throw together of tidbits of hard hitting feminism seem kind of lazy and slapped on in hindsight. Is this a bad film? Not necessarily. But it certainly is a misguided film and the only one of three animerama films which is not directed by Osamu Tezuka. If this film was directed by Osamu Tezuka, I believe that he would have handled it better in the long run. Kanashimi no Belladonna is interesting, unique, and, at times, intelligently captivating. But it is also dated, lazily done, and could have been better than it was. It comes as no surprise that this film was a flop when it first came out. A trippy film that has some good ideas and unique visuals that try to reach for the sky, but end up falling short. A three star film that is worthy of at least a mention due to its desire to try something different. — Dallas Marshall Recommended Audience: Not at all for children! Full of erotic art, rape, and other iffy material for kids. This is a film for the adults in the crowd. Version(s) Viewed: Digital source Review Status: Full (1/1) Kanashimi no Belladonna © 1973 Mushi Production |
© 1996-2015 THEM Anime Reviews. All rights reserved. |

subset: commoncrawl


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Inside the hollow area of the bones is a spongy core called bone marrow. It is here that stem cells are produced. Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into components of blood: red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the body; white blood cells or lymphocytes, which fight infection; and platelets, which help blood to clot.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow produces too many lymphocytes. The term "chronic" means the cancer cells multiply slowly, and the disease takes a long time to develop. In CLL, the lymphocytes produced are abnormal and are not able to fight infection. As the number of these abnormal lymphocytes increase in the blood and bone marrow, fewer healthy white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets are produced. This can cause the symptoms of fatigue, recurring infection, anemia, and easy bruising.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia usually does not produce symptoms in the early stages. Treatment and prognosis depend on the stage and extent of the disease. Standard therapy includes "watchful waiting," chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and monoclonal antibody therapy. Bone marrow stem cell transplantation is another type of therapy that is being tested in clinical trials. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is the second most common leukemia in adults, and most often develops after middle age. CLL is not common in children.
Your doctor is the best source of information regarding treatment for your condition. It is important to discuss with your doctor which therapy, if any, is most appropriate for you.


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My contribution to this talk was always about the NYT making him look gay, and I'm sure people at the Times are aware of this criticism. In that light, what do you make of the selection of that pie picture? I find it nearly impossible to believe they didn't know what they were doing. I'd guess they find it hilarious and perhaps justified by the failure of conservatives to do enough for gay people. And the deniability is intact as ever. It's just three men with a pie... and a mustache... and a glow.
The Times article is well worth reading, though, so don't just get distracted by the picture and the many mysteries that tempt you in. The articles tells what it was like to be a conservative on campus in the early 1970s:
"There was a 'Boy Named Sue' quality to being a libertarian or conservative at Harvard," said Mr. Norquist, referring to the Johnny Cash song and Shel Silverstein poem ("Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,/ My fist got hard and my wits got keen.") Conservatives at Harvard, he suggested, learned to be "tougher than anyone else." Unlike students on the left, he said, they were constantly being challenged.
"There was this cowardice of the center to criticize the left," Mr. Norquist said. "Somebody would make some left-wing comment and no one would challenge it, whereas if you made some right-wing comment, you'd get 20 questions. We grew up and we built tougher, smarter, better advocates on the right than the left did. You see this all the time: The left gets frustrated if somebody asks a second question."
Hmmm.... that's a thesis with a lot of explanatory power.
I was at the University of Michigan in the early 70s, and I can tell you that conservative students were untouchables.
IN THE COMMENTS: Many readers tell of the way conservatives acted and were treated at their colleges.


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Here's a thought experiment for you: If someone told you you had to drink just one kind of alcoholic beverage for the rest of your life, and you wanted that life to be long and healthy, what would you pick? Wine, right? After all, you've probably heard about the scientific studies showing that drinking wine is associated with better health in general, and a longer life span in particular. Give jocks their beer and lushes their hard liquor; the drink of robust, long-lived people is wine.
But you have probably not heard about another study, released during the media dead zone just after Christmas last year, that questioned wine's reputed health effects. Researchers at Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin examined a group of Americans aged 55 to 65 and compared their drinking habits with how they fared over the course of 20 years. The scientists found that moderate drinkers lived longer than abstainers, and that wine drinkers did indeed live longer on average than people who consumed other kinds of alcohol. But they also found that wine drinkers were less likely to smoke, to be male, and to be sedentary; all of these are factors associated with dying earlier.
The Stanford-Texas team concluded that drinking wine might be an indicator of a healthy lifestyle rather than the cause of that good health. If so, wine is the drink of the healthy, all right—the already healthy.
That finding highlights what is arguably science's greatest enemy, the confounder. Science is at heart a reductionist process: Take a complicated system, identify various factors that affect the system, and measure the effect of each factor one at a time. Confounders are devilish hidden connections that make it more difficult to isolate the factors you want to measure, like the fact that wine drinkers tend also to be nonsmokers.
Researchers are continually trying to root out confounders and account for them in their data. Their most powerful tool in this job is the randomized controlled trial, a type of experiment in which researchers separate participants into two or more groups and subject some of them to the intervention to be studied, like a new drug or surgical procedure.
New medical interventions must be proven safe and effective in a randomized controlled trial before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will approve their use. Though seen as the gold standard of medical research, such studies—even ones involving thousands of participants—may be too small to ferret out rare risk factors or side effects. And when it comes to claims about food, randomized trials may never be conducted at all. Few Bud or bourbon drinkers will switch to burgundy for 20 years just for the sake of research and a bit of cash.
In 2009 epidemiologists at Harvard Medical School developed a way for scientists to account for the invisible connections that were confounding their studies. The new approach uses an algorithm that automatically identifies and adjusts for confounders as well as or better than the most knowledgeable scientist can, says Jeremy Rassen, one of the algorithm's creators.
Wine may be an indicator of a healthy lifestyle rather than a cause of good health. If so, it is the drink of the already healthy.
Called the high-dimensional propensity score algorithm (hd-PS), it is a tool for improving not randomized clinical trials but broader observational studies, in which researchers watch a large pool of participants and look for correlations—like the fact that wine drinkers live longer than other drinkers. Observational studies are cheaper and easier than clinical trials. Unfortunately, the data they yield are rife with confounder problems, but researchers can improve the data by adjusting for suspected confounders and removing the bias they introduce. In the recent observational study on wine and longevity, for instance, after the researchers accounted for smoking, gender, and activity level, they found that beer and hard liquor were just as life-extending as wine.
And this is where hd-PS shines. While a shrewd researcher with decades of experience might adjust for a few dozen confounders, Rassen's algorithm can easily identify 500 of them. To use hd-PS, a researcher downloads the program from the Harvard site, connects it to one of the data software packages widely used in epidemiology, and imports to the system a wide range of health information on each study subject, ranging from basics like blood pressure and age to smaller, more esoteric factors like whether the individual saw a doctor in the past six months.
Then hd-PS ingests all this information—"it's a data-hungry algorithm," Rassen says—and churns away on some heavy number-crunching. At the heart of the crunching is a process called propensity score matching. The algorithm sorts through all the variables in the data and isolates ones that seem to be risk factors for a particular health problem. It combines those risk factors into one summary score, and compares two groups that have identical summary scores but also one key difference. Beer-drinkers and wine-drinkers with the same summary scores, for instance, differ in their preferred drink but are otherwise at exactly the same risk level. The computer by itself accomplishes the key task of isolating each variable and measuring its effect.
In a paper published last January, Rassen and Sebastian Schneeweiss, another Harvard epidemiologist and cocreator of the algorithm, put hd-PS to a test to see if it could analyze complicated health data as well as human experts. They ran the findings from some previously published observational studies through hd-PS and confirmed that it drew conclusions similar to the ones done the old-fashioned way, by expert scientists picking confounders one by one. In one run, they plugged in a heap of data comparing the safety of COX-2 inhibitors (a popular class of pain relievers, such as Celebrex) and nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or ns-NSAIDS (like ibuprofen and naproxen), among an older group of patients in Pennsylvania.
The raw data showed that taking COX-2 inhibitors correlated with a 9 percent higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeds, a potentially life-threatening side effect—a surprise, since a raft of clinical studies had previously shown that those drugs were less likely to cause gi bleeds. In fact, that was one of the main reasons COX-2 inhibitors were created. The huge confounder here is that doctors prescribe those drugs especially to people at higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeds. When the raw, misleading data were plugged into hd-PS, the algorithm quickly teased out confounders and computed that COX-2 inhibitors were associated with a 13 percent lower chance of GI bleeds compared with ns-NSAIDS, a figure close to the results seen in a randomized trial.
The performance of hd-PS "is really very encouraging," Rassen says. "The algorithm is finding more things than the investigators themselves, which is what we'd expect."
Many scientists are understandably skeptical about letting a computer program take over the analysis of their precious data. "The first reaction is: 'This can't possibly work. We have 50 years of history about how studies are done, and this is not how they are done,' " Rassen says. But when researchers further consider hd-PS, they usually come around to recognizing its value—even if it wounds a few egos by finding a wider range of confounding variables than they would on their own.
The algorithm could prove particularly useful when researchers have enormous datasets and almost unending questions about what kinds of findings could be lurking therein. That is the challenge inherent in the Sentinel Initiative, being developed by the FDA to monitor pharmaceuticals after they reach the market. To get through the FDA's demanding approval process, drug companies must demonstrate their product's safety and efficacy in costly randomized clinical trials. But then the drugs go through a second, uncontrolled kind of trial when the public starts using them.
Confounders are hidden connections that make it harder to tell whether a drug really works or if the results of a study are correct.
Sentinel will treat the consumer market like one giant observational study to make sure the drugs are as safe and effective as believed. Studies of drugs in the wild are in some ways better than the clinical trials. For one thing, there are typically far more subjects taking the drugs, so post-approval studies can turn up problems that were too rare to show up before. Moreover, trials are often designed as best-case scenarios to show a drug's potential; in patients' hands, the drug may not work as well.
In the uncontrolled real world, riddled with invisible connections, the Harvard researchers' algorithm could be the best tool for making sense of complicated data. Rassen has analyzed the information available from the public use of Vioxx, a COX-2 inhibitor that was pulled off the market in 2004 because it increased the risk of heart attack and stroke. He says his algorithm would "definitely" have detected problems early on.
Randomized clinical trials will undoubtedly remain the primary mechanism for how drugs are approved; they are just too powerful, and too entrenched. But hd-PS should serve up invaluable additional information about how to use drugs once they are on the market—and could save the lives of people taking drugs that turn out to have lethal side effects. Richard Platt of Harvard Medical School, leader of the ongoing Mini-Sentinel pilot program (a testing ground and warm-up for the larger Sentinel Initiative), hopes that hd-PS will accurately sniff out health concerns, or else put them to rest. "We plan to test it within the next few months," he says.
If hd-PS does prove useful for post-approval drug review, will algorithms eventually take over researchers' jobs? Will the scientists of the future be computers? Rassen is convinced that much of the investigator's role is safe. "We think a lot about the design of research projects. I doubt that's something a computer could ever do," he says. Deciding what kind of experiment to perform and how to set it up is too particular to each situation to give it over to an algorithm.
Until computers can handle real-world complexity as well as the exquisite human mind, scientists will still be in demand. But they should probably get used to the idea that computers may already be better than people at finding needles of truth in enormous haystacks of data.


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This is a Joint Notice of Privacy Practices for: Coast Florida, P.A., (Adam Diasti, DDS, DN12490) Coast Dental of Georgia, P.C., (Adam Diasti, DDS, DN11634) Coast Dental of Texas, PC (Adam Diasti, DDS, Lic. 32327) (collectively referred to as "Coast")
Purpose: This Joint Notice of Privacy Practices ("Notice") presents the information that federal law requires us to give our patients regarding our privacy practices.
In accordance with federal law, we must provide this Notice to each patient beginning no later than the date of our first service delivery to the patient, including service delivered electronically, after April 14, 2003. We must make a good faith attempt to obtain written acknowledgement of receipt of the Notice from the patient. We must also have the Notice available at the office for patients to request to take with them. We must post the Notice in our office in a clear and prominent location where it is reasonable to expect any patients seeking service from us to be able to read the Notice and on our website. Whenever the Notice is revised, we must make the Notice available upon request on or after the effective date of the revision in a manner consistent with the above instructions. Thereafter, we must distribute the Notice to each new patient at the time of service delivery and to any person requesting a Notice. We must also post the revised Notice in our office as discussed above.
Coast is required to provide you with this Notice pursuant to the privacy regulations implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA") ("Privacy Rules"). Coast consists of the entities listed above. These entities are "affiliated covered entities" and an "organized health care arrangement" within the meaning of the Privacy Rules. This Notice applies to all Coast dental practice locations and their affiliates in Florida, Georgia and Texas.
We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your health information. We are also required to give you this Notice about our privacy practices, our legal obligations, and your rights concerning your health information. We must follow the privacy practices that are described in this Notice while it is in effect. This Notice takes effect April 14, 2003, and will remain in effect until we replace it.
We reserve the right to change our privacy practices and the terms of this Notice at any time, provided such changes are permitted by applicable law. We reserve the right to make the changes in our privacy practices and the new terms of our Notice effective for all health information that we maintain, including health information we created or received before we made the changes. Before we make a significant change in our privacy practices, we will change this Notice and make the new Notice available to you when you first receive services from us after the date the revised Notice becomes effective or upon request.
You may request a copy of our Notice at any time. For more information about our privacy practices, or for additional copies of this Notice, please contact us using the information listed at the end of this Notice.
We use and disclose health information about you for our treatment, payment, and health care operations. For example:
Treatment: We may use or disclose your health information to a physician or other health care provider providing treatment to you.
Payment: We may use or disclose your health information to your health insurer to obtain payment for services we provide to you.
Health Care Operations: We may use and disclose your health information in connection with our health care operations. Health care operations include quality assessment and improvement activities, reviewing the competence or qualifications of health care professionals, evaluating practitioner and provider performance, conducting training programs, accreditation, certification, licensing or credentialing activities. For example, we may use or disclose your health information in order to conduct an internal assessment of the quality of care we provide.
Persons Involved In Care: We may use or disclose health information to notify, or assist in the notification of (including identifying or locating) a family member, your personal representative or another person responsible for your care, to the extent necessary to help with your health care or with payment of your health care, if you agree that we may do so. We may also advise these persons of your location, your general condition, or death. If you are present, then prior to use or disclosure of your health information, we will provide you with an opportunity to object to such uses or disclosures. In the event of your incapacity or emergency circumstances, we will disclose health information based on a determination using our professional judgment disclosing only health information that is directly relevant to the person's involvement in your health care. We will also use our professional judgment and our experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of your best interest in allowing a person to pick up filled prescriptions, medical supplies, x-rays, or other similar forms of health information.
Disclosures Permitted or Required by Law: We are permitted and in some cases required, by law to make certain other disclosures of health information without your consent. We may disclose your health information, if appropriate, to the following entities under the following circumstances:
Appointment Reminders: We may use or disclose your health information to provide you with appointment reminders (such as a voicemail messages, text messages, e-mails, postcards, or letters) or information about treatment alternatives or other health-related benefits and services that may be of interest to you.
Marketing Health-Related Services: We will not use your health information for marketing communications without your written authorization.
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DNA of good bacteria drives intestinal response to infection
A new study shows that the DNA of so-called "good bacteria" that normally live in the intestines may help defend the body against infection.
The findings, available Oct. 2 online in the journal Immunity, are reported by Yasmine Belkaid, Ph.D., and her colleagues in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
A person normally has 300 to 500 species of beneficial bacteria, known as commensals, in their intestines. These bacteria are not harmful and, in fact, help an individual maintain his or her digestive health. Typically, the immune system does not attack gut commensals, even though they are bacteria.
"Within the body of a healthy adult, microbial cells vastly outnumber human cells. Research to understand these microbial communities is an exciting scientific frontier," says Anthony S. Fauci, MD, NIAID director. "Among many opportunities related to the so-called 'microbiome,' targeting beneficial bacteria may offer new avenues for therapy against infectious and immune-mediated diseases."
Just how commensals protect against harmful bacteria, known as pathogens, is a complex question. "Pathogens often behave similarly to gut commensals," Dr. Belkaid says. Because the body needs commensals but also has to rid itself of disease-causing microbes, the immune system must distinguish the good bugs from the bad ones.
One mechanism of protection is through the interaction between the commensals and certain immune cells in the intestines. This interaction occurs through the binding of the commensals to receptors on the T cells known as Toll-like receptors (TLRs).
In healthy individuals, some intestinal T cells (known as Tregs) play a regulatory role, recognizing commensals and keeping the immune system from attacking them. During an infection, however, T cells shift into attack mode to fight the infection. The factors controlling this shift from defense to offense have not been well understood.
Dr. Belkaid's team describes a novel way in which the Tregs are regulated to facilitate an immune response to a pathogen. They found that during an infection, the DNA of the body's beneficial bacteria binds to a specific receptor on the intestinal immune cells, called TLR9. The binding of commensal DNA to TLR9 in the presence of a pathogen prevents the generation of Tregs in favor of the generation of protective T cells. These protective T cells can then clear the body of the invading pathogen.
In effect, the commensal DNA acts as a natural adjuvant by boosting the activity of T cells so they can destroy the invading pathogen.
"There is a balance of regulatory immune signals in the body," notes Dr. Belkaid. "During an infection, we've found that commensals can break this balance in favor of an infection-fighting response."
While the immune system must react to invading pathogens to maintain health, an immune response to commensals can cause problems. For example, certain inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease, are thought to be caused in part by immune reactions against commensal bacteria.
Understanding how commensals interact with the immune system opens up the possibility of using beneficial bacteria as targets for future oral therapies against infections or autoimmune diseases.
Source: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases


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No panhandling they say it isn't a job
Oh but I disagree ya ignorant slob
But there may come a day, when yer found down & out
And the hateful replies will fill ya with doubt
Ya might be a squatter, ya might be a punk
Just give us a quarter so we can get drunk
Thank you for shopping and please come again
You suffer to know, try even harder to see
Making sense of yer life in a fucked reality
From decatur st. Up to avenue A
From El Guadelupe in texas to the san francisco bay
Ya turned a spangin' job into a life long career
For a tin A' tabacco and a forty of beer
Now yer drinkin' & yer thinkin' is my bad luck runnin' out?
Yer stopped by the cops & ya hope & ya wish
& yer askin' real nice for them to letcha go
So they ask if they were shot in the street
Would ya laugh in their face and ya can't say no
After all of the times that ya barely scraped by
With the lice in yer hair and the gleam in yer eye
Now yer drinkin' and yer thinkin' is my bad luck runnin' out?
With the cobra we drank and the shit we were talkin'
In the tenderloin gutter we were crack city rockin'
Yeah when we were alive we were wicked and young
With the good times we had and the songs we sung
Now it's sad that you died and I wish you would stay
But I sold all my stamps at the end of the day
And now I'm drinkin' and I'm thinkin' is my bad luck runnin' out?
(yeah bad luck man, plenty of that to go around
My good friend gone was always there to share it with me)
After all of the times that ya barely scraped by
With the lice in yer hair and the gleam in yer eye
Now yer drinkin' and yer thinkin' is my bad luck runnin' out?
I got assualted by officer friendly
On the 4th of july stick a needle in my eye
I said "i didn't do nothin'" & "what's this all about?"
He said "resisting arrest" as his pulled his baton out
Spitting bile and blood as they left me for dead
My thoughts leaked out through a fissure in my head
And the last one left is: is my bad luck running out?


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The Santa Monica College Women's soccer team (3-2-3) lost their first league game on Friday 2-1 to the Citrus College Fighting Owls (6-0-2) at home in a game that wasn't forgiving for the Corsairs with the game ending on a failed penalty kick by Corsairs Yennifer Baca for a chance to tie the game.
Aaron Benditson, SMC Head Coach of the women's soccer team, thought the Corsairs had the opportunity to tie up a very good Citrus team.
"We had opportunities to score goals and goals against quality opponents are hard to come by," said Benditson. "We had the opportunity to get a draw against against a really quality opponent and team that hasn't lost a game all season long but I was happy with the girls response."
The Corsairs are part of the Western State South Conference and entered league play last week tying their first game against Canyons and now losing to Citrus to give them a league record of 0-1-1.
Tim Tracey, Head Coach of the Citrus Fighting Owls, thought that the game was a typical Santa Monica Citrus match-up.
"They play very hard and very aggressive and when we had some chances we finished," said Tracey. "They put us on our heels."
Julia Wills scored the first goal for the Fighting Owls in the first half and Beth Johnson scored on a penalty kick in the second half to put Citrus up 2-0.
Santa Monica College's Meg Pierce kicked a straight shot on a penalty kick to sneak the ball past Lozano late in the game to make the score 2-1.
Yennifer Baca had her chance at the end of the game to score on another penalty kick, but Lozano prevented the score.
"They're good and they pressure hard," said Tracey. "They deny the opportunity for us to play possession which is good. That's their game plan and I like it."
The Corsairs will get their chance at retribution in a couple of weeks at Citrus College when they play the Fighting Owls again on Oct. 23.
Next game for Santa Monica College is at home against West Los Angeles College Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m.


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Advice for all non Chinese speaking visitors to the China Aviation Museum; bring a guide! Second tip, read all you can about China's aviation history before you go, including Gregory Crouch's China's Wings. Third and last; wear comfortable shoes.
Like Arizona's Pima Air and Space Museum, a little multi-seat, battery-powered trolley carries (mostly older) visitors through the museum and across several acres of tarmac where a large number of airplanes sit. With those comfortable shoes, you can walk rather than ride and get some exercise in the wonderfully cool, 2,000 by 131 foot three story-high mountain cave that now serves as the indoor exhibit space.
Few of the aircraft on display have placards. Even fewer have English translations. This makes understanding all you see a bit of a challenge. Hence, the importance of tips number 1 and 2.
My guide, Jasmin Wang, remembers coming to the museum when she was a little girl - in truth not that long ago. She accompanied me courtesy of Kensington Tours a Canadian company that specializes in creating custom-designed itineraries for travelers with special interests. This explains how I happened to be the only non-Chinese, non senior-citizen visiting the museum on Wednesday afternoon. Jasmin translated a lot of the boards, throwing in her knowledge of "new China" history, but she was learning right along with me about some of China's unique history in plane and missile building and air transport.
I could appreciate the unique role China had in civil aviation, because for the weeks before leaving for China, I was totally absorbed in Crouch's excellent book. And trust me you will be absorbed, too, even without a visit to the country. Two other books recommended to me which I did not have the time to read; The Flying Tiger by Jack Samson tells how U.S. General Claire Chennault trained China's fighter pilots for World War 2, and James Fallow's new book, China Airborne. Both are going on my nightstand as soon as I return home.
So with the full disclosure that China Aviation Museum is a former military facility, it is to be understood that short shrift is given to the civil side while fighters, trainers, helicopters and airborne weaponry are there in abundance.
Still, a life-sized model of Feng Ru's 1911 biplane, holds an attention-grabbing position in the first hall of the museum. Feng is considered the father of China aviation, and in addition to the fruit of his own trial and error attempts to fly, which cost him his life in 1912, he is also responsible for the less sexy but equally vital task of translating into Chinese the reports of what other aviation pioneers were learning in America and France. This could be interpreted as setting a pattern of behavior for the nation that continues to this day as some argued in a story I wrote last month for the International Herald Tribune.
You can see what airplanes captured the interest of Chinese designers; the Y-5 made by Nanchang Aircraft Company was based on the Antonov 2, has a place in the museum for being the vehicle by which Premier Zhou Enlai's ashes were scattered.
A Soviet-produced flying boat, the BE-12 dwarfs the little lake on which it sits. The red carp swimming nearby add to the charm of this display.
But the airplane that appeals to girly-me is the teeny-tiny gyrocopter. It sits prettily lined up next to a Chinese helicopter prototype, never built and a Chinese hobbyist's do-it-yourself reproduction of the massive American Apache war copter that is darned impressive and a sure-fire boy-pleaser.
A monumental stone sculpture to the founding of the Air Force by the Chinese People's Liberation Army and which is guarded by soldiers and an eternal flame, dominates one side of the museum and one can't help but appreciate the fact that the long drive into the place is along an airplane runway. How's that for getting into the spirit before even walking in the door? And for that, no translation is required.
For more non-aviation news on my visit to China, click here.
Special thanks to Zach Naimon for his help posting to Flying Lessons while I am traveling in China.


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The BBC is embroiled in a scandal that one of its veteran correspondents has called its worst crisis in nearly 50 years -- over its response to allegations that have turned a beloved on-air personality into one of the most reviled figures in the UK.
Since his death a year ago at age 84, Jimmy Savile, the popular TV host, disc jockey and charity fundraiser has been knocked off his perch as a national treasure, accused of being a predatory pedophile who used his fame and position to abuse youngsters, sometimes on BBC premises.
The corporation has been widely criticized for its handling of the crisis. British police say more than 200 possible victims have now been identified in what one officer Commander Peter Spindler said was 'alleged abuse on an unprecedented scale.'
But who was Jimmy Savile and how did he become the eccentric star -- a cigar-smoking, jewel-encrusted, larger-than-life character who was rewarded with a knighthood for his charitable work?
He mixed with British high society, and his death was greeted with sadness by many, including Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. He was buried with customary glitz in a gold-colored coffin and with a green beret presented to him by the Royal Marines -- but his life began amid much humbler surroundings.
Savile was born in Leeds in northern England on Halloween in 1926 and as a teenager conscripted to work as a coal miner during World War II -- these young wartime miners were known as the Bevin Boys. He was one of the surviving Bevin Boys who received an award from the then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2008 for helping to keep the mines operational during the conflict.
Savile suffered serious spinal injuries in a mine explosion and left the colliery but it doesn't appear to have stopped him from lifelong participation in sport.
In the 1950s he took up wrestling and cycling, and he appeared regularly on British television running in marathons for charity even into his 70s.
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper in 2000 he spoke of his love of sport. 'If you look at the athletics of it,' he told the newspaper, 'I've done over 300 professional bike races, 212 marathons and 107 pro fights.' He proudly announced that he lost 35 of his first 35 fights.
'No wrestler wanted to go back home and say a long-haired disc jockey had put him down. So from start to finish I got a good hiding. I've broken every bone in my body. I loved it.'
Cycling Weekly reported last year that he also had been a semi-professional cyclist and competed as Oscar 'The Duke' Savile in the 1951 Tour of Britain, and supported cycling charities most of his life.
His broadcast career took off in the early 1960s but he said he had been playing records in dance halls from the mid-1940s, later claiming that he was the first to use the double-deck turntable, though commentators have pointed out that they were available decades earlier.
He recalled selling just 12 tickets for his first show but said he enjoyed creating what he referred to as the 'atmosphere.'
'There was this amazing effect: what I was doing was causing 12 people to do something,' he told DJHistory.com in 2004. 'My thrill is looking at them, and they're all doing what they're doing because I've just put this thing on. It's a hell of a thing,' he said.
He joined the independent station Radio Luxembourg as a DJ in 1958, but his big break came in 1964 when the BBC approached Savile to be the first host of 'Top of the Pops' -- a show that became a huge hit for the BBC. It also began a 30-year TV career that was a showcase for his extravagant dress, yodels and catchphrases like 'Now then, now then, and 'How's about that then.'
The BBC gave him his own show between 1975 and 1994 in which he helped hundreds of hopefuls, mostly children, fulfill their dreams to meet famous people and take part in stunts. 'Jim'll Fix It' aired in the prime teatime slot on a Saturday, and at the height of its popularity, the BBC said it was receiving 20,000 requests a week. Famous fixes included an encounter with boxing legend Muhammad Ali and the boy scouts who wanted to eat their packed lunches on a roller coaster, resulting in a predictable mess.
Generations of Britons also remember him for a string of public information films including a road safety promotion that encouraged motorists to use their seat belts -- a campaign that started before wearing belts became compulsory in the UK. Savile's closing catchphrase 'clunk click every trip' was instantly memorable and caught on with the watching public. He also promoted the national rail network in a campaign dubbed 'This is the age of the train.'
Savile was knighted in the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honors for 'charitable services,' adding to the OBE (Order of the British Empire) he received in the 1970s, and he set up the Jimmy Savile Charitable Trust.
Savile was well-known for raising money through charity runs but also worked as a volunteer hospital porter and had a close association with the Stoke Mandeville Hospital spinal injuries unit.
Stoke Mandeville's Jimmy's Café, named after the TV personality, has now been changed since the sex abuse scandal surfaced and following specific allegations widely reported in the British press that one of his alleged victims Caroline Moore, now 53, was sexually assaulted by Savile in a Stoke Mandeville corridor in 1971, when she was a 13-year-old patient.
He told the BBC in 2000 that he had raised £40m ($64 million) for charity during his lifetime.
In 1988 Savile was appointed to a senior role at Broadmoor Hospital -- a high security psychiatric hospital in England that treats some of the most dangerous men in the country -- a role that is now being investigated by the UK's Department of Health.
The department says that in hindsight he should not have been appointed.
Although he was perceived as an odd and eccentric character, the British public has been shocked by the allegations. The Savile family had his tombstone removed from his burial site out of 'respect to public opinion.'
Dominic Sandbrook, author of a series of histories of modern Britain, told CNN: 'Because he was associated with the BBC, people trusted him and thought of him as a family-friendly face. He was a massive presence in the living rooms of millions of British families.'
But when Jimmy Savile died, fellow BBC disc jockey Tony Blackburn hinted that he was an isolated figure, telling the BBC: 'He was just a complete one-off. I think he was a bit of a lonely character as well. In the privacy of his own life I don't think he had very many friends.'
Film-maker Louis Theroux perhaps gained more of an insight into what many would regard as odd behavior. In a documentary made in 2000 he interviewed Savile in a flat where his mother had lived but still kept her clothing hanging in the wardrobe 27 years after her death. In the same program he also revealed that he only took a single pair of underpants with him when he went away and washed them in the sink every night.
Despite hosting a children's show, Theroux asked him why he hated youngsters and he replied: 'We live in a very funny world and it's easier for me as a single man to say I don't like children because that puts a lot of salacious tabloid people off the hunt.'
And when he was confronted about sexual abuse allegations in a 2007 radio interview, he brushed it off with a laugh, saying: 'What's the point of responding to something that's not true?'
The extensive investigations into Savile's behavior are only just beginning, but it appears his reputation as a fun-loving host of pop and a tireless charity worker are already ruined.
- The innovation business is apparently the quickest developing vocation decision in most creating countries.Home your own home.
- Buying a new laptop is a not an easy adventure since there are a vast variety of laptops in the market.
- Sargeant is understood to have taken his own life, CNN affiliate ITN and the UK Press Association re
- The minister said Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, had had no record of making militant statements and