Someone can cause a entire system to shutdown, bring a company like Microsoft to its knees and cause them millions in revenues but somewhere I like that an individual has now go more power with the advent of the Internet.

Why did the CIA do this?

he Agency poured millions of dollars into studies probing dozens of methods of influencing and controlling the mind. One 1955 MK-ULTRA document released by the CHurch Commission in 1975 gives an indication of the size and range of the effort; this document refers to the study of an assortment of mind-altering substances described as follows:

1. Substances which will promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness to the point where the recipient would be discredited in public.

2. Substances which increase the efficiency of mentation and perception.

3. Materials which will prevent or counteract the intoxicating effect of alcohol.

4. Materials which will promote the intoxicating effect of alcohol.

5. Materials which will produce the signs and symptoms of recognized diseases in a reversible way so that they may be used for malingering, etc.

6. Materials which will render the induction of hypnosis easier or otherwise enhance its usefulness.

7. Substances which will enhance the ability of individuals to withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called “brain-washing”.

8. Materials and physical methods which will produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use.

9. Physical methods of producing shock and confusion over extended periods of time and capable of surreptitious use.

10. Substances which produce physical disablement such as paralysis of the legs, acute anemia, etc.

11. Substances which will produce “pure” euphoria with no subsequent let-down.

12. Substances which alter personality structure in such a way that the tendency of the recipient to become dependent upon another person is enhanced.

13. A material which will cause mental confusion of such a type that the individual under its influence will find it difficult to maintain a fabrication under questioning.

14. Substances which will lower the ambition and general working efficiency of men when administered in undetectable amounts.

15. Substances which promote weakness or distortion of the eyesight or hearing faculties, preferably without permanent effects.

16. A knockout pill which can surreptitiously be administered in drinks, food, cigarettes, as an aerosol, etc., which will be safe to use, provide a maximum of amnesia, and be suitable for use by agent types on an ad hoc basis.

17. A material which can be surreptitiously administered by the above routes and which in very small amounts will make it impossible for a man to perform any physical activity whatsoever.

Historians have asserted that creating a “Manchurian Candidate” subject through “mind control” techniques was a goal of MK-ULTRA and related CIA projects.

The possible control or discrediting of serious contenders for candidacy are also obvious.

In this connection the timing of Chappiquidick and the subsequent confusion of Teddy Kennedy about the affairs of that evening are interesting. Especially when one looks at the dates;

July 16, 1969 – launch of Apollo 11

July 18, 1969 – Teddy Kennedy meets with Mary Jo Kopeckne – California Campaign manager for Bobby Kennedy who was killed June 6, 1968 – to prepare a statement following the expected moon landing. The events of that evening resulted in the death of Ms. Kopeckne, and confused testimony indicted Senator Kennedy in the public mind.

July 20, 1969 – Man landed on the moon

Now, here’s a conspiracy theory – that has some meat to its bones. JFK was killed. Popular imagination is constrained by mad theories and crazy proponents which marginalize any reasonable criticism. This too is a technique of political control. Why don’t people look at the pattern? JFK is killed in 1963, LBJ became president and ran for election in 1964 and won. He did not seek another term as our president in 1968. RFK, who was attorney general under JFK would certainly have gotten to the bottom of any conspiracy if he were elected. RFK would likely have been elected too, looking at the polling data during the California primaries. The MOMENT RFK won California, and on to Ohio – he was killed. 13 months later, while Apollo astronauts were on their way to the moon, Teddy Kennedy is discredited after meeting with RFKs campaign manager, and that campaign manager is dead.

I find it interesting that we focus on clearly mad conspiracy theories and ignore more reasonable patterns over time that suggest wrong-doing.

The ‘truthers’ are mentioned in connection with this article. Truthers make it very difficult to discuss the role of the CIA and the Reagan Doctrine in the creation, funding, and training of an international fundamentalists radical muslim movement dedicated to the violent overthrow of non-muslim states. Its hard to say this and not sound like a truther – in this way truthers actually help cover the CIA’s culpability in this matter, and help hide the truth.

At the end of the Civil War people who worried about the Republic sought to institute controls of public discourse so radical differences would not lead to another Civil War. Henry Ford rose to popularity and promoted the Ford way where industrialists took a measure of social responsibility. He also opposed World War I and World War II – saying we would do far better focusing on production instad of destruction. Switzerland avoided both wars, and emerged as one of the most stable nations on Earth. We shared with the rest of the world in the great depression. Ford was marginalized in what appeared to be a pogrom against him. He was useful, and avoided the fate of Huey Long, and his every man a king campaign – which echoed Ford in many respects.

At the end of world war two there was the development of nuclear weapons. We could not suffer a nuclear Pearl Harbor. So, we organized our affairs accordingly, and arranged things so that in the interests of national security, the range of public discourse would be constrained yet again. The nature of science changed, and the nature of society changed – and the range of discourse narrowed with the rise of mass media. Meanwhile soaring arrest rates, spreading illicit drug use, eliminated the voting rights of millions of poor and economically enslaved tens of millions more at a time when the poorest of us should have enjoyed unprecedented freedom following LBJs civil rights successes.

There is no question that the CIA created the heroin epidemic during the Vietnam war

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Politics_of_Heroin_in_Southeast_Asia

and that this was expanded into cocaine during the Reagan Administration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Committee_report

A pattern of abuse is clear. The reason is clear also. The US could not afford its war machine needed to survive in the nuclear age, AND pay for an agressive space program or even to BE the Great Society envisioned by LBJ. So, something had to be done. The CIA did it.

Crazy conspiracies promoted by the media – why does everyone know of the magic bullet theory but no one sees the connection between Chappaquidick and Apollo 11, Mary jo Kopeckne and RFKs California campaign? – this suggests but certainly does not prove – that the CRAZY conspiracy theories are a cover for a more mundane operation that hides safely beyond what is routinely shown the public.

None of this proves the conspiracies suggested here. But, since the end of the Civil War we have no longer relied on democratic processes to create a great nation – we have sought to manage the excesses of liberty – and the mechanisms by which these operate are largely unknown, or when known, their capacities marginalized in the public mind by whacko theories. As our capacities improve, with computer based control of the global information environment, with the ability to model the personality of the top 50,000 journalists, with the ability to monitor everyone’s e-mail traffick and so forth – we will see a demise in whacko theories, as those who manage discourse to keep us serenely in control of a world facing serious challenges – since our epistemology will be easily managed without them.

Yes, people get sick from Influenza A. Every year, Inf.A. contributes to tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. alone. Somehow, people don’t seem to care too much about this fact unless it is linked with some wacky conspiracy theory.

Get the flu shot this year!