GENEVA (AP) - Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery inspired—and arguably corrupted—millions in the 1960s hippie generation, has died. He was 102. Hofmann died Tuesday at his home in Burg im Leimental, said Doris Stuker, a municipal clerk in the village near Basel where Hofmann moved following his retirement in 1971.

For decades after LSD was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention.

“I produced the substance as a medicine. … It’s not my fault if people abused it,” he once said.

Albert Hofmann, father of drug LSD, dies in Switzerland

Covert Ops: “Blogs and Military Information Strategy” - Blogger …

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blogs and military information strategy

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S Blogs and Military Information Strategy

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S Blogs and Military Information Strategy

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PsiOp Radio » PsiOp Radio 12 - 070710

U.S. Special Operations Command - SourceWatch

Military Report: Secretly ‘Recruit or Hire Bloggers’ | Free Press

Information and News About Blogging Culture From Blogging Tips and …

Covert Ops: “Blogs and Military Information Strategy” - Blogger News Network - Google Search

ANYONE who has watched the military analysts hired by TV networks has heard rosy assessments of the war in Iraq. The similarities between their judgments and the Pentagon’s are not coincidental. As The New York Times demonstrated by suing the Pentagon to obtain 8,000 pages of documents, those analysts were enlisted by the Defense Department in a psychological warfare operation targeting the domestic audience. And, as the newspaper reported Sunday, many of the retired military officers appearing on news shows were using their access to the Pentagon and the airwaves to procure lucrative contracts for some 150 defense contractors, which employed them as consultants, board members, lobbyists, or executives.

Propaganda at home - The Boston Globe

Saturday 4/5/2008 at the Texas State Capitol

Part 1/18: Jack Motley and Friends

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Police said that victim, who taught at a Southwest Austin middle school, may have committed suicide.

By Tony Plohetski, Sue Banerjee
Friday, April 18, 2008
Austin American-Statesman

Austin police said Thursday that they are leaning toward a ruling of suicide in the death of a middle school teacher and activist whose body was found Wednesday in Lady Bird Lake with his hands and legs bound and tape over his eyes.

Police identified Riad Hamad, 55, at a news conference Thursday and said the binding of his limbs and the placement of the tape was consistent with Hamad having done it himself.

Austin police homicide Sgt. Joe Chacon said family members told investigators that the Clint Small Jr. Middle School teacher had “several stressors” in his life and had talked about possibly killing himself. Police said that they think Hamad walked from his car to the lake, based on evidence they gathered at the scene.

“The car was found on the south shoreline with no signs of mysterious activity,” Chacon said.

Police said that they found Hamad’s car along Lady Bird Lake on Tuesday and searched but did not find him.

Joggers found Hamad’s body about 2 p.m. Wednesday near Comal Street and Nash Hernandez Sr. Road. Investigators said they found no signs of trauma or a struggle.

Debbie Russell, president of the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, sent an e-mail Thursday to dozens of activists throughout the city saying that Hamad’s death had been ruled a homicide. Russell said in a later interview that she wrote that e-mail after she thought she had heard media reports that Hamad had been killed.

She said in the e-mail that Hamad had recently been under investigation by the FBI — federal officials confirmed the investigation — and described him as “NOT a terrorist but a peaceworker.” Hamad was serving as an official for the Austin chapter of the Palestine Children’s Welfare Fund.

FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said that Hamad had been a “person of interest” in a criminal investigation but that he could not elaborate.

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Feds to collect DNA from every person they arrest - Yahoo News

The Chinese guards of the Olympic flame seen fending off protesters in London and Paris are elite members of the paramilitary units which crushed dissent in Tibet, it has been disclosed.

By Richard Spencer in Beijing
April 9, 2008
telegraph.co.uk

Officially described as “volunteers” by Beijing, the 30 blue track-suited guards were recruited from specialist squads in the People’s Armed Police (PAP), a one-million strong force dedicated to maintaining public order.

The PAP has moved into Tibet and Tibetan-settled areas since the protests against Chinese rule began last month. It has been accused by Tibet support groups of opening fire on demonstrators.

The Free Tibet Campaign called on Britain to explain why PAP forces were allowed to take charge of the torch relay operation.

The hand-picked members of the “The Olympic Holy Flame Protection Unit” are all above 5ft 9in and underwent a rigorous training programme at the PAP special police academy in Beijing last August.

Each has the rank of lieutenant apart from their commanding officer, a major, and each scored highly in military and “political tests” - the latter a euphemism for ideological training.

“According to the customs of the past Olympic Games, the flame has to be given some protection measures,” a spokesman said. “The mission of the attendants is to protect the safety of the flame.”

But images of Chinese security forces directing operations on the streets of London have caused alarm. Lord Coe, chairman of the London Olympic Committee, was overheard by Channel 4 News saying: “They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English… I think they were thugs.”

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In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.

The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of “combined” interrogation techniques — using different techniques during interrogations, instead of using one method at a time — on terrorist suspects who proved difficult to break, sources said.

Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects — whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.

The high-level discussions about these “enhanced interrogation techniques” were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed — down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.

The advisers were members of the National Security Council’s Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy.

At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Sources: Top Bush Advisors Approved Enhanced Interrogation

Jimmy Hall for msnbc.com

U.S. troops in Afghanistan this month will receive a new tool that the Pentagon says will help them root out potential terrorists — a hand-held lie detector.

New U.S. weapon: Hand-held lie detector - Terrorism- msnbc.com

World’s smallest girl proud of her tiny size

By Kate Day

At just 1ft 11 in tall, she is dwarfed by her neighbour’s baby, but Jyoti Amge is 15 years old.

The teenager, who is the world’s smallest girl according to the Indian Book of Records, has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia. Now fully grown, she weighs just 11 lb.

Worlds smallest girl proud of her tiny size - Telegraph