Friday, August 7, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gop-debate-2015-presidential-candidate-scott-walker-trump-comments-about-women/

No criticism of Trump's "fat pigs" comment from Walker
By JASON KASHDAN CBS NEWS
August 7, 2015

Photograph -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker participates in the Republican presidential primary debate on August 6, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES


When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker had the opportunity to denounce Donald Trump's history of offensive comments about women - brought up during Thursday's debate by moderator Megyn Kelly - he stuck to his debate approach and stayed out of the fray.

"Certainly Donald Trump can speak for himself," he said Friday on "CBS This Morning."

GOP debate: Trump throws punches, but other candidates stand tall
The real estate mogul and Republican candidate fired back at Fox News host Megyn Kelly for her question about past comments he's made in reference to women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals."

"I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct," Trump said. "...Frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry."

Walker would only say it's not the kind of language he'd use.

"To me, I think even those I disagree with, I'm going to be respectful," Walker said.

Walker's efforts not to confront his fellow GOP nominees and stay out of the headline-making fights may also be keeping him from standing out in the large field, though.

Donald Trump takes aim at Scott Walker: "Finally, I can attack."
Scott Walker's presidential announcement: "I know how to fight and win." A recent CBS News poll revealed 55 percent of those surveyed held undecided views of Walker or hadn't heard of him. While some of the other candidates were more aggressive during the debate, the Wisconsin governor maintained a noticeable distance from the brawling nominees, and went after the Democratic frontrunner.

Five things to know about Scott Walker

"The real opponent in this race is ultimately going to be Hillary Clinton," Walker said. On Thursday night he criticized her on issues ranging from foreign policy to abortion.

"I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there...Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defended Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out," he said.

While candidates like Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul stole the spotlight with their pointed exchanges, Walker took a milder approach, even describing himself as "aggressively normal" Thursday evening.

Friday morning Clinton was still the only candidate he was singling out. "I said she would be a good 'deceiver-in-chief' but she certainly wouldn't be a good commander-in-chief. We can't trust her to do that and that's what we should spend our time focusing on the real contrast between what Republicans have to offer and what we get with Clinton presidency," Walker said.

Pitted against Clinton in a July Quinnipiac University poll, Walker trails Clinton by only one percent, 43 to 44.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness

Political correctness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Political correctness (adjectivally, politically correct, commonly abbreviated to PC) is a pejorative[1][2][3][4][5] term used to criticize language, actions, or policies seen as being excessively calculated to not offend or disadvantage any particular group of people in society. The term had only scattered usage prior to the 1990s, usually as an ironic self-description, but entered mainstream usage in the United States when conservative author Dinesh D'Souza used it to condemn what he saw as left-wing efforts to advance multiculturalism through language, affirmative action, opposition to hate speech, and changes to the content of school and university curriculums.[6] The term came to be commonly used in the United Kingdom around the same period, especially in periodicals such as the Daily Mail, a conservative tabloid that became known for the trope "political correctness gone mad."

Scholars on the political left have said that conservatives and right-wing libertarians such as D'Souza pushed the term in order to divert attention from more substantive matters of discrimination and as part of a broader culture war against liberalism.[7][8] They have also said that conservatives have their own forms of political correctness, which is generally ignored.[9][10][11]

History of the term[edit] ….

FOR AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT THE TERM “POLITICALLY CORRECT” SEE THE “THOUGHTS AND RESEARCHES” ITEM CALLED “Origins of a Right Wing Term of Scorn “Politically Correct” Comments by Lucy Warner, August 7, 2015.That website is “manessmorrison2.blogspot.com.”




“GOP debate: Trump throws punches, but other candidates stand tall
The real estate mogul and Republican candidate fired back at Fox News host Megyn Kelly for her question about past comments he's made in reference to women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals." "I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct," Trump said. "...Frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. ….” "To me, I think even those I disagree with, I'm going to be respectful," Walker said. …. Walker's efforts not to confront his fellow GOP nominees and stay out of the headline-making fights may also be keeping him from standing out in the large field, though. …. Scott Walker's presidential announcement: "I know how to fight and win." A recent CBS News poll revealed 55 percent of those surveyed held undecided views of Walker or hadn't heard of him. While some of the other candidates were more aggressive during the debate, the Wisconsin governor maintained a noticeable distance from the brawling nominees, and went after the Democratic frontrunner.”

I did look on Wikipedia for background information on Walker. He may be more gentlemanly than Trump, but he has done some things as Governor of Wisconsin that to me are too far to the right, such as signing legislation to limit union bargaining rights and being an active member of ALEC which has been involved in writing model laws for state legislatures that bring in some radical right legislation. Those things have been popping up across the country limiting voting rights, education spending, and social services. The Democrats tend to go for federal laws while the Republicans tighten up the budgets, women’s rights, voting rights, etc. on the state level. He may be quieter than Trump, but he’s no better.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-child-diagnosed-with-plague/

Child in California diagnosed with plague
CBS NEWS
August 7, 2015

Photograph -- Water flows down Yosemite Falls, in Yosemite National Park in California. A child from Los Angeles County was diagnosed with plague following a camping trip in the park. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

LOS ANGELES -- A child in Southern California is recovering after contracting a rare case of plague. It's the first time the disease has been diagnosed in the state in almost a decade, authorities said Thursday.

CBS Los Angeles reports the child -- who was identified only as a resident of Los Angeles County -- became ill and was hospitalized following a visit to Stanislaus National Forest and camping at Crane Flat Campground in Yosemite National Park in mid-July, according to California Department of Public Health spokeswoman Anita Gore.

Health officials are continuing to monitor the child's family and treatment providers, but no other members of the child's camping party reported symptoms. The child is recovering, Gore said.

As part of the investigation, officials are conducting an environmental evaluation in the Stanislaus National Forest, Yosemite National Park and the surrounding areas.

Plague is an infectious bacterial disease that is carried by squirrels, chipmunks and other wild rodents and their fleas. When an infected rodent becomes sick and dies, its fleas can carry the infection to other warm-blooded animals or humans.

A person who contracts plague may have symptoms that start off similar to the flu: fever, chills, weakness, swollen and painful lymph nodes and sometimes pneumonia. The disease can be treated with antibiotics if it's caught early, but without quick treatment it can cause serious illness or death.

The last reported cases of human plague in California occurred in 2005 and 2006 in Mono, Los Angeles and Kern counties. In all three cases, the patients survived following treatment with antibiotics, according to Gore.

There have been no known cases of human-to-human infection in California since 1924.

In 2014, non-human plague activity was detected in animals in San Diego County, Santa Barbara County, and five other counties in the state.

Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an average of seven cases of plague are reported each year, mostly in Western states.

There have been two deaths from plague this summer in Colorado. An adult who contracted the disease died earlier this week in Pueblo County, and a 16-year-old boy in Larimer County died in June.




“Health officials are continuing to monitor the child's family and treatment providers, but no other members of the child's camping party reported symptoms. The child is recovering, Gore said. As part of the investigation, officials are conducting an environmental evaluation in the Stanislaus National Forest, Yosemite National Park and the surrounding areas. …. A person who contracts plague may have symptoms that start off similar to the flu: fever, chills, weakness, swollen and painful lymph nodes and sometimes pneumonia. The disease can be treated with antibiotics if it's caught early, but without quick treatment it can cause serious illness or death. The last reported cases of human plague in California occurred in 2005 and 2006 in Mono, Los Angeles and Kern counties. In all three cases, the patients survived following treatment with antibiotics, according to Gore. There have been no known cases of human-to-human infection in California since 1924. …. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an average of seven cases of plague are reported each year, mostly in Western states. There have been two deaths from plague this summer in Colorado. An adult who contracted the disease died earlier this week in Pueblo County, and a 16-year-old boy in Larimer County died in June.”

Knowledge of the way the disease spreads and of the proper treatment with antibiotics have changed this disease to one that rarely kills now. The two people who did die probably failed to seek treatment until it was too late. Anytime I get a fever of as much as 1 degree I look for symptoms and watch my condition for a day or two. If I have a fever and a sore throat or neck stiffness I will go to a doctor immediately. Many diseases ranging from pneumonia to rabies start that way. If I were to find a dead or sick rodent or bat in the house I hope I would think to put it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer, to later take it to the local health officials for examination. A local news report several years ago showed a large brown bat hanging upside down on the curtain rod in a woman’s kitchen. Dangerous and spooky!

See the Wikipedia article below.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague

Bubonic plague
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bubonic plague is a zoonotic disease, circulating mainly in fleas on small rodents, and is one of three types of bacterial infections caused by Yersinia pestis (formerly known as Pasteurella pestis), that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae. Without treatment, the bubonic plague kills about two thirds of infected humans within four days.[citation needed] In 2013 there was about 750 documented cases of plague which resulted in 126 deaths.[1]

The term bubonic plague is derived from the Greek word βουβών, meaning "groin". Swollen lymph nodes (buboes) especially occur in the armpit and groin in persons suffering from bubonic plague. Bubonic plague was often used synonymously for plague, but it refers specifically to an infection that enters through the skin and travels through the lymphatics, as is often seen in flea-borne infections.

Bubonic plague—along with the septicemic plague and the pneumonic plague, which are the two other manifestations of Y. pestis—is commonly believed to be the cause of the Black Death that swept through Europe in the 14th century and killed an estimated 25 million people, or 30–60% of the European population.[2] Around the Mediterranean Region, summers seemed to be the season when the disease took place. In northern Europe, the disease had its most frequent outbreaks in the autumn.[3] Because the plague killed so many of the working population, wages rose with the demand for labor. Some historians have seen this as a turning point in European economic development.[4][5]





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-city-cabbie-faces-possible-25000-fine-for-turning-away-black-passengers/

NYC cabbie may have to pay $25K for snubbing black passengers
AP August 7, 2015

Photograph -- A taxi is viewed on September 4, 2012 in New York City. SPENCER PLATT, GETTY IMAGES

NEW YORK -- A taxi driver may have to pay $25,000 after a judge said the cabbie refused to pick up passengers because they're black, passing them over for white riders while they watched.

Cabbie Baqir Raza "discriminated based on race and color" when he turned away Cynthia Jordan and her two daughters in October 2013, Administrative Law Judge Richard Kramer wrote in recommending the fine last month. It's subject to city Human Rights Commission approval.

Jordan, an accounting executive, and her adult and teen daughters were trying to get to a family birthday party when they spotted Raza's cab in midtown Manhattan. They testified at an administrative trial in February that the cab's "available" light was on, but Raza told them he was going off duty, according to the judge's recap.

Then Raza picked up two white women just 25 feet down the block, they said.

"Are you kidding me?" Jordan ran up and exclaimed, adding some coarse language out of anger, she testified.

"When someone just doesn't want to pick you up because of what you look like, it's not a good thing for my daughter to see," she testified. "(To) have to deal with things like this is not right."

Raza told the rights agency in a written response that the white women simply got in when another rider got out.

"It is unfair that I am in this current situation because of something I personally had no control over," he added, according to a filing earlier in the case.

But his own trip log showed the dropoff and pickup were about two minutes apart, and he admitted violating city taxi rules against unjustly refusing passengers and paid a $200 fine, Kramer noted. Local news site DNAInfo first reported his ruling.

No working telephone numbers for Raza's or Jordan's homes could immediately be found Thursday evening, and Raza didn't immediately respond to an email.

Complaints about race-based taxi refusals have percolated for years in New York and elsewhere.

"Lethal Weapon" actor Danny Glover filed a 1999 complaint with New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission saying several available cabs had passed him by. Hundreds of cabbies were accused of refusing passengers based on race, gender or other improper factors in a subsequent undercover crackdown.

Just last year, the taxi commission in Washington, D.C., launched a similar effort and said 84 passengers were improperly turned away.




“Cabbie Baqir Raza "discriminated based on race and color" when he turned away Cynthia Jordan and her two daughters in October 2013, Administrative Law Judge Richard Kramer wrote in recommending the fine last month. It's subject to city Human Rights Commission approval. Jordan, an accounting executive, and her adult and teen daughters were trying to get to a family birthday party when they spotted Raza's cab in midtown Manhattan. They testified at an administrative trial in February that the cab's "available" light was on, but Raza told them he was going off duty, according to the judge's recap. Then Raza picked up two white women just 25 feet down the block, they said. …. Complaints about race-based taxi refusals have percolated for years in New York and elsewhere. "Lethal Weapon" actor Danny Glover filed a 1999 complaint with New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission saying several available cabs had passed him by. Hundreds of cabbies were accused of refusing passengers based on race, gender or other improper factors in a subsequent undercover crackdown. Just last year, the taxi commission in Washington, D.C., launched a similar effort and said 84 passengers were improperly turned away.”

This definitely is not new, but prosecutions on it may be. Years ago when I lived in DC a driver explained to me that he just doesn’t want to drive into a “ghetto” area, where he feared robbery or even murder. There are many taxi drivers robbed and shot every year in major cities like DC. Drivers carry sizable sums of cash and have little self-defense unless their taxi is equipped with a plastic divider separating them from the back seat. When it’s time to pay they open it, and the driver can talk to them through a grid. The view that black people are either dangerous personally or will want to be taken to an area that the driver fears is understandable, but unfair, considering that they need rides, too.

Assuming black people are violent is not really based in fact. Most individuals of any color are non-violent. I was standing in a crowd waiting for a bus when a black man beside me asked me for a sexual favor. I said, “Go to hell” in a quiet, level tone. He said “What did you say?” and I repeated it louder. He just said “Oh!” and left me alone. If he had been violent he might have slugged me with his fist for that, but he just accepted it. I figured that is the way a black woman would respond to such a come on, and he knew it was fair. Men who do things like that to perfect strangers are not really wanting sex. They want to harass and intimidate. It’s like big dogs that run out of their yard barking and showing their teeth. Never run from them. Turn toward them, assume an angry stance, look directly at their face, point your finger at them and shout in your deepest voice something like “Go back in your yard. Get away! Back! Back!” I have done that twice and both times the dog turned around and ran. Bullies don’t really want to deal with people who fight back.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rohnert-park-police-officer-under-review-after-video-shows-him-pulling-gun-on-unarmed-man/

Cop on leave after video of him pulling gun goes viral
CBS/AP
August 7, 2015

Video -- In the video, the officer gets out of his car, approaches the man with his gun drawn and tells him to take his hand out of his pocket.
YOUTUBE

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. -- A Northern California police officer who was caught on video drawing his gun on a man who was not accused of a crime has been placed on temporary paid administrative leave.

KNTV reports Friday that Rohnert Park Assistant City Manager Don Schwartz said in a statement that the incident on the video was not a "typical interaction" between police and the public.

CBS San Francisco reports that the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety canceled Thursday's scheduled "Coffee with a Cop" event with community members in the wake of the video's release. The video posted on Facebook July 29 by the resident, Don McComas, has gone viral and is drawing heated reaction from citizens on social media sites.

The Coffee with a Cop event was scheduled Thursday at a McDonald's restaurant on Commerce Boulevard before the department announced its cancellation.

"We have information that individuals from outside the community have voiced an interest in using this event to cause a disturbance, potentially putting our community as risk," the department said in a statement Thursday morning.

In the five-minute video posted by McComas, the officer arrives in a patrol car at a residence and remains in his car while McComas records the contact on his cellphone.

The officer gets out of the car after about 90 seconds, approaches McComas with his gun drawn and tells McComas to take his hand out of his pocket.

McComas objects and tells the officer he has done nothing wrong and tells the officer to go away.

"You guys have done enough to my family," McComas says, and accuses police of being corrupt.

When the officer asks why McComas is recording the incident, McComas replies "to protect myself from you."

"Are you some kind of constitutionalist crazy guy?" the officer asks at one point.

The video had been viewed more than 190,000 times by Friday morning.

Rohnert Park Mayor Amy Ahanotu and City Manager Darrin Jenkins said in a statement Tuesday that they are aware of the matter and are taking it seriously. They said they are conducting an internal review to verify if appropriate protocols were followed.

"We will also review our protocols because we want to make sure we are using the best practices for the highest level of safety for both our officers and the community," Ahanotu and Jenkins said.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-nearly-a-decade-iconic-lizard-man-reappears-in-south-carolina/

Legendary "Lizard Man" reappears in South Carolina
CBS NEWS
August 7, 2015

Photograph -- Mythical creature Lizard Man is once again popping up around a South Carolina town. CBS AFFILIATE WCSC

BISHOPVILLE, S.C.--After nearly a decade without a sighting, the mythical beast "Lizard Man," is once again popping up around a South Carolina town, reports CBS affiliate WCSC.

Lizard Man -- or a person in a lizard costume -- is a local legend and is described as being seven feet tall with red eyes and scales. WCSC reports that as the legend goes, in 1988 at Scape Ore Swamp, Christopher Davis stopped to change a tire, that's when he came face-to-face with the creature.

Davis claimed without warning, a seven-foot-tall "lizard man" left from the swamp and took a bite out of his car.

Last weekend photos and iPhone video taken by witnesses on two separate occasions, claim to show the legendary Lizard Man popping up around town once again.

Though the legend became popular and even attracted national attention in the late 1980s, the Bishopville Cotton museum has sightings documented all the way back to Native American times, reports WCSC. The museum keeps an exhibit of Lizard Man lore on display.

"How many things that we've taken as, 'Oh, that's a story that can't be' has been proven true," said Jason Cox of the museum. "So as I tell people, You have to believe. You have to believe that there could be a lizard man out there."




There is one thing I have always loved about rural/small town life. People do things to entertain themselves that are humorous and free of charge, like telling stories, the spookier the better. Imagine a small country store with a room full of chairs set up around a pot-bellied stove. There is a lot of laughter, some whiskey which could even be moonshine, and half a dozen off duty farmers. The person who can tell the best story gains a certain status, of course, and no one takes it seriously. That is the environment in which Lizard Man and similar creatures come to life. That kind of thing has gone on down through human existence, and always will. At an urban cocktail party, again with some alcohol, “urban legend” stories will be traded. Playful conversation is a great thing.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/07/430361597/psychology-group-votes-to-ban-members-from-taking-part-in-interrogations

Psychology Group Votes To Ban Members From Taking Part In Interrogations
Dina Temple-Raston
Counterterrorism Correspondent
August 7, 2015

The American Psychological Association voted Friday in favor of a resolution that would bar its members from participating in national security interrogations.

The resolution by the country's largest professional organization of psychologists passed overwhelmingly. The only dissenting vote came from Col. Larry James, a former Army intelligence psychologist at Guantanamo.

The council of representatives' vote took place at the group's annual convention in Toronto, Canada — the APA's first meeting since its leadership was found to have helped the CIA and Pentagon develop an interrogation program in the months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The APA has been roundly criticized for allowing the harsh interrogations to continue by keeping its ethics policies in line with the Defense Department's interrogation program.

An APA spokeswoman told NPR that the resolution provides a clear prohibition that prevents psychologists from working at so-called black sites, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, or any setting that the United Nations has declared to be in violation of international law. The one exception, the spokeswoman said, is that APA members are allowed to be in those locations if conducting psychological assessments or offering treatment to soldiers. There was a friendly amendment from the floor that said psychologists could offer consultation as long as it was not related to specific national security interrogation or detention conditions.

The APA has some 122,000 members — 85,000 of whom are psychologists. The spokeswoman said that while the resolution now sets the APA's policy, there has been no change to the organization's code of ethics. If an APA member is found to have violated this policy, the spokeswoman said, someone could bring an action to have them investigated.




“The American Psychological Association voted Friday in favor of a resolution that would bar its members from participating in national security interrogations. The resolution by the country's largest professional organization of psychologists passed overwhelmingly. The only dissenting vote came from Col. Larry James, a former Army intelligence psychologist at Guantanamo. The council of representatives' vote took place at the group's annual convention in Toronto, Canada — the APA's first meeting since its leadership was found to have helped the CIA and Pentagon develop an interrogation program in the months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The APA has been roundly criticized for allowing the harsh interrogations to continue by keeping its ethics policies in line with the Defense Department's interrogation program. …. The one exception, the spokeswoman said, is that APA members are allowed to be in those locations if conducting psychological assessments or offering treatment to soldiers. There was a friendly amendment from the floor that said psychologists could offer consultation as long as it was not related to specific national security interrogation or detention conditions. …. The spokeswoman said that while the resolution now sets the APA's policy, there has been no change to the organization's code of ethics. If an APA member is found to have violated this policy, the spokeswoman said, someone could bring an action to have them investigated.”

Politics as a whole has become so unethical that it is appalling. It is even worse for professional psychologists to go along with their tactics in a situation like this. I am glad to see that they have finally come to the point of “cleaning up their act.” Physicians have to promise to uphold an oath to “do no harm,” though that hasn’t always followed out in daily practice, either. I wonder what sort of pledge or other guidelines psychology observes? Just as with physicians, I think some psychologists are just out to make money, and as much as possible. They charge in some cases a very high price for therapy sessions and the monitoring of medication, and in college settings they often use students as volunteers to be guinea pigs for experimental purposes. I signed up for one of those, and I won’t describe it, but it left me furious at the man. I don’t think being mentally abusive is harmless. Luckily it was only a one hour test. It wasn’t as bad as the things the US did to captives in Iraq to “break” them, of course. I would have complained to the university administration if that had been the case. The following is about the APA’s stated guidelines.



http://criticaltherapy.org/do-no-harm-american-psychological-association-and-torture/

Do No Harm – American Psychological Association and Torture Uncategorized | By CTCAdmin | No comments - See more at: http://criticaltherapy.org/do-no-harm-american-psychological-association-and-torture/#sthash.Ac4dMf3O.dpuf
January 28, 2014

Uncategorized | By CTCAdmin | No comments


The American Psychological Association’s Principle A: Beneficence and Nonmaleficence states that “psychologists strive to benefit those with whom they work and take care to do no harm.” In fact, all doctors, psychologists, psychotherapists and clinical social workers are well aware of Primum non nocere, the Latin phrase meaning “first, do no harm.” We learn it, and abide by it. However, what we say we believe in, and what our profession says it believes in, and what it does, seems to be very different.

This past week the American Psychological Association (APA) wrote in a letter that John Leso, a former U.S. Army reserve major and psychologist, would not be rebuked for participating in the post-9/11 torture of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, including the harsh and most brutal interrogations of Mohammed al-Qahtani in November 2002.

The APA did not deny Leso’s involvement in the brutal interrogation of Mohammed al-Qahtani, whose treatment the Pentagon official overseeing his military commission ultimately called “torture,” however the APA said that it had “determined that we cannot proceed with formal charges in this matter.” Consequently the complaint against Dr. Leso “has been closed.” It is more accurate to say that the APA has chosen not to proceed, not that it cannot, and in taking this position it has chosen to stand with torturers and against the oppressed and the marginalized. To be clear – torture is wrong. Whether or not Mr. al-Qahtani was guilty or innocent is not the issue here. Rather, it is important to note that how we treat prisoners says a lot about the type of society we have become.

Dr. Leso’s involvement surfaced in 2005, when documents mentioned that Leso (identified as “MAJ L”) was present while Qahtani was forcibly given liquids, denied use of bathrooms, resulting in him urinating on himself, subjected to loud music, and repeatedly kept awake while being “told he can go to sleep when he tells the truth.” Further, Dr. Leso’s role in the use of torture at Guantánamo was further proved by a series of documents presented at a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee torture inquiry that highlighted his involvement with a special team at the prison that crafted torture techniques. Leso’s name, rank and membership on the team were cited in minutes of a Guantánamo meeting that was published by the committee.

Further, Dr. Leso also helped to write a 2002 memorandum detailing the use, at Guantánamo, of “stress positions,” sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation, isolation and exposure to extreme cold. This memo was used by U.S. army by applying the same abusive techniques to detainees at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison in 2003.

The APA spokesperson, Rhea Farberman, told The Guardian that its investigation could not meet the burden of finding “direct unethical conduct” by Leso, and said it was “utterly unfounded” to fear the organization has condoned professional impunity.

Psychologist Erich Fromm believed that an authoritarian and undemocratic society results in alienation leading to more emotional problems and a sick society. Fromm was concerned about mental health professionals helping people to “adjust” to that society, while ignoring the very structures that contribute to dehumanization and total control over one’s life. Today, his words are a constant reminder of how treatment can become oppressive. And how as clinicians we should ask ourselves whether we are we helping our patients to conform to oppressive systems, or are talking with them about liberation and democracy?

The Critical Therapy Center (CTC) unequivocally is speaking out against the APA decision not to pursue charges against Dr. Leso. Standing alongside the oppressed and the marginalized, while advocating for a better world, we are ashamed of APA decision, while speaking out against torture and the role of psychologists in the practice of that torture. In the spirit of psychologist author/activist Ignacio Martin-Baró we urge you to join us as we continue to ask – is psychology contributing to the needs of the established power structure?

CTC does not support APA’s assistance in interrogation/torture in Guantánamo and elsewhere. Although we recognize that there are many psychologists and other practitioners of social science that help people every day, we are also painfully aware that the association that purports to represents us is failing. Committed to the stance of “doing no harm’, CTC urges clinicians to stop contributing to the APA – be it in dues, journal writings or conference attendance, and we urge all of you to continue to speak against torture and oppression, as in the words of Martin Luther King Jr. “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

APA and Torture
- See more at: http://criticaltherapy.org/do-no-harm-american-psychological-association-and-torture/#sthash.Ac4dMf3O.dpuf

For more about the torture scandal — how psychologists and physicians implemented and covered up the torture of detainees in US controlled military prisons – watch the documentary Doctors of the Dark Site by Martha Davis. - See more at: http://criticaltherapy.org/do-no-harm-american-psychological-association-and-torture/#sthash.Ac4dMf3O.dpuf