On Friday and Saturday, if you didn’t notice, the entire world stood still. Two protests against programs occurred in two different locations that were lead by two very different people. The first protest, and the 12th one by Deprogrammed and her legion, took place against the Pathways Family Center in Milford Ohio. The second protest, lead and performed by the solo protestor act.da took place at a Peninsula Village Regional Parent’s conference at the Countryside Inn in Raleigh North Carolina. Despite the geographical separation, the difference in programs, the protests both sought, among other things, to expose to those around them the truth about the danger of the protested programs.

Peninsula Village, a treatment center or so they claim, is located in Tennessee. Survivors of the program have made allegations of physical abuse, mental abuse, and neglect of numerous types. More information about Peninsula Village can be found here http://www.isaccorp.org/documentsnz.asp#peninsula. Another source of information regarding Peninsula Village can be found this interview viewtopic.php?f=52&t=21438. Facing Pegler, one of the administrators of Peninsula Village, and the parents of the children being abused in Peninsula Village demonstrates a turning point in the evolution of the active, but entirely legal, resistance to Peninsula Village. Before Saturday the majority of the resistance to Peninsula Village was internet based. As of Saturday Act.da has demonstrated the willingness to take it beyond the realm of the internet in such away not all could ignore it.

While Pegler seemed content to ignore Act.da, others did not. Act.da managed to capture on film (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p4k5iVz8bc) a parent asking why he was still present after the police were called to make him leave. It is interesting to note that the police did in fact arrive. Even more so it is interesting to note that the police officer who responded was somewhat annoyed that his time was being wasted responding to such a trivial call. The officer was not in the least bit annoyed with Act.da. The police officer informed those who made the complaint that Act.da was in no violation of the law and he, the police officer, couldn’t believe he was being called over one person. While act.da was tightening a noose of truth around Peninsula Village’s neck on Saturday Deprogrammed was once again beating Kid’s Helping Kids with small legion of protesters on Friday.

Deprogrammed, a former resident turned staff member of the Kid’s Helping Kids program, has been instrumental in leading a long series of protests against the KHK programs in their various guises.The KHK program having transformed itself into the Pathways Family Center has a long history of abuse. Please see this link for more information http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp. The first protest against Pathways Family Center occurred last year earned local media interest with this article http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.p … ping_kids/. The activities of the protesters have been well documented on blogs, screenplays, and youtube videos.

The lunchpail blog, http://onlinelunchpail.blogspot.com/200 … ation.html, gives a somewhat amusing retelling of an interaction with a program supporter. One can see the intellectual powers of the program supporter clearly were not present at the time. This youtube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_xHGwyC … re=related, shows one of the protesters signs being stolen. The November 30th protest of 2007 can be viewed here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQenxwq7 … re=related, displays the determination of the Pathways protesters. Friday’s protest had an attendance of twelve participants, including some first time protesters and a police presence.

Like most program protests the police were called. Of course, like most program protests the police left after determining that the protesters were not violating any of the local ordinances. This must have come as a relief to the first time protesters in the crowd due to their age. Deprogrammed reports that these protesters were teen agers who have never been part of the Pathways program, but wanted to speak out. Hopefully they’ll continue speaking out against abuse of any sort in the future as they do not appear to be the atypical teens. The success of both protests can be measured and weighed by one standard.

Television coverage, radio coverage, or newspaper articles not being factored the protests are a success to the people who participated in them. Protesting is the physical act of defying the authority of another. Act.da and Deprogrammed with her small legion are physically defying the authority and power of the programs who’d love to silence them. The programs use the intimidation of calling the police, misinformation given to their clients and parents, and out right intimidation from program supporters to protesters. The programs failed on Saturday and Friday to silence the one thing the program’s hate the most, the truth. This is the standard of success the protesters measure themselves by, their unwillingness to be silenced. No matter how many times the police are called, no matter how many people show up or don’t show up, no matter how many program supporters accuse them of being drug addicts, no matter how many signs are stolen by program supporters, these protesters will not be silenced.

Posted by Aaron Seymour

On February 22, 1943 Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, and Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason against Germany. The three were beheaded the same day. They were condemned as traitors for producing and distributing leaflets titled - Leaflets of The White Rose - the name of their loosely knit group. Those leaflets clearly and passionately explained the crimes being committed against millions of innocent people in Europe and Russia by politicians acting in the name of the German people. The leaflet was the sixth in a series that had been distributed over a period of a little less than a year by various means throughout Germany.

The White Rose movement was intended to trigger an awakening by the German people to their ability to positively influence society to become more humane. Their rallying cry was “Freedom and Honor!” The White Rose advocated that German’s proactively work towards creating such a society by rising up and refusing to passively go along with the government that was staining the good name of the German people. For daring to suggest that German’s act on their conscience instead of mindlessly following the government’s directives, the people of The White Rose were targeted by the German government to be ruthlessly hunted down, In addition to the Scholls and Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, Professor Kurt Huber and Hans Leipelt were executed.

http://www.forejustice.org/

Posted by Ginger McNulty

Group Plans Campaign Against G.O.P. DonorsBy MICHAEL LUO
Published: August 7, 2008
Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week.

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Tom Matzzie, the leader of Accountable America, an outside left-wing group.

The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall.

Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions.

“We want to stop the Swift Boating before it gets off the ground,” said Mr. Matzzie, who described his effort as “going for the jugular.”

The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.

The group is also hoping to be able to respond if an outside conservative group broadcasts a television advertisement attacking Senator Barack Obama, or another Democratic candidate, by running commercials exposing the donors behind the advertisements.

Judd Legum, who was the research director for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, has signed on to play the same role for Accountable America.

The group has raised only $200,000, but Mr. Matzzie said he expected to collect more than $500,000 by next week, with an ultimate goal of $2 million.

Mr. Matzzie said he had decided to focus exclusively on conservative donors because such an effort could be done cheaply.

“It’s targeted,” Mr. Matzzie said. “We don’t need $25 million.”

Mr. Matzzie recently served as one of the leaders of Progressive Media U.S.A., a group that was intended to lead a left-wing media effort in the presidential election, but the group folded several months ago after it failed to raise enough money, partly because of signals from the Obama campaign that donors should not give to outside groups.

Mr. Obama and other Democratic officials have issued warnings about possible activities by outside groups like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which helped sink Senator John Kerry’s presidential bid in 2004. But activity among outside conservative groups has been decidedly low-level.

Still, Accountable America has singled out some major Republican donors, including Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino mogul, and Mel Sembler, a former ambassador and real estate magnate, both major donors to Freedom’s Watch, a conservative group.

Calls to Mr. Sembler and Mr. Adelson were not returned, but Ed Patru, a spokesman for Freedom’s Watch, scoffed at Mr. Matzzie’s plan.

“This idea sounds even more sloppily thought out than his last venture, which, of course, went belly-up for lack of financial support,” Mr. Patru said.

“I doubt anyone will be intimidated by him,” he said, “but if it gives anyone pause, they are always welcome to give to Freedom’s Watch - all of our donors are entitled to complete anonymity by law.”

Indeed, anonymity is a potential obstacle to the group’s efforts. Outside political groups organized as 501(c)4 entities, including Accountable America, do not have to disclose the names of their donors.

Chris LaCivita, a Republican strategist who helped organize the Swift Boat effort, said Mr. Matzzie’s group was likely to have the opposite effect on potential donors, firing them up instead of discouraging them.

“They’re not going to be intimidated by some pipsqueak on the kooky left,” Mr. LaCivita said.

Source

$100,000 Reward!

“Accountable America is offering a $100,000 reward for information that is material to either a criminal conviction for committing a felony or a misdemeanor, or a final and unappealed judicial or administrative determination of civil liability that entails the imposition of fines or penalties of at least $10,000, for a violation of federal campaign finance, tax or other statutes or regulations by an organization that operates or purports to operate under Internal Revenue Code Sections 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6) or 527 and that primarily serves business or ideologically conservative interests.”

Check it out!

Posted by Ginger McNulty

Former anti-marijuana lobbyist switches sides

By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 08/14/08 11:51 AM [ET]

The last time the House debated medical marijuana, David Krahl trod the halls of Capitol Hill lobbying against the legislation as deputy director of the Drug Free America Foundation.

Now, he’s ready to lobby for allowing medicinal use of marijuana, and do anything he can to support it.

So far, no one has asked him for help, but in a recent letter to medical marijuana bill sponsor Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), he proclaimed that he’d reversed his position on whether cannabis can be a medicine.

“I’m saying, ‘Here I am, an individual who had one point of view, and now I have a different one,’ ” Krahl said in an interview.

Krahl left the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based foundation in October, and has returned to teaching. He declined to name the college where he is teaching, but said the topic is “drugs, deviance and crime.”

“Being away from the Drug Free America Foundation allowed me an opportunity to take a fresh look at the issue,” Krahl said. “I don’t have skin in the game anymore.”

He had joined the foundation in July 2006. At the time, the foundation’s executive director, Calvina Fay, noted his 25 years of experience in criminal justice and human services and said, “His anti-drug philosophies, along with his experience, will be a great fit.”

Krahl had previously been a grants manager for the YMCA.

“When I joined that group the question of medical marijuana was not entirely settled,” Krahl said. “I was looking at it from the issue of ‘does it have a medical benefit?’ There’s evidence both ways.”

His letter to Hinchey lays out seven points that revolve around states’ rights to regulate marijuana and the physician-patient relationship.

“In our nation today, we need less interference by the federal government on any issue such as this,” Krahl wrote.

Foundation officials were caught off guard by Krahl’s reversal, saying they hadn’t heard of the letter until a reporter called about it. But they said they’re happy that lawmakers still aren’t trying to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

“I don’t believe one person changing their position gives any credibility to the other side on this,” said foundation spokesman John Pastuovic.

A medical marijuana measure likely won’t come up in this session, because it would be an amendment to the Commerce-State-Justice Appropriations bill and Democratic leaders have all but junked the appropriations process for the year.

Posted by Ginger McNulty

SPRINGDALE, AR - If Sen. Sue Madison had her way, the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center in Alexander would be closed and bulldozed.

She called the juvenile prison in southwest Pulaski County a “grim” place while discussing child welfare issues during a meeting of the Arkansas Kids Count Coalition on Thursday.

It’s a place where the state is “warehousing juveniles because someone is mad at them, either the juvenile judge or school officials,” Madison said.

The state’s challenge is finding the money to replace the treatment programs with community-based programs that are more effective, she said.

Reform of Arkansas’ juvenile justice system is one of a laundry list of issues the Coalition supports to improve the welfare of children across the state, said Paul Kelly, a senior policy analyst with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

The juvenile justice system relies too heavily on confined incarceration of children who may have family or mental health issues rather than criminal behavior.

The Kids Count Coalition recommends greater attention on preventive measures, placing children in smaller therapeutic environments and expanded community services to better serve children rather than shipping them off to secure confinement, away from their schools or families.
Madison, a Fayetteville Democrat, was joined by Reps. Jim House, D-Fayetteville; Lindsley Smith, D-Fayetteville; and Mark Martin, R-Prairie Grove, as well as representatives-elect Debbie Hobbs of Rogers and Uvalde Lindsey of Fayetteville.

The meeting was one of four statewide to raise awareness about how to keep Arkansas families moving forward.

Discussion also centered on child welfare, child health, early childhood care and education and economic self-sufficiency.

FAST FACTS

Issues

The Arkansas Kids Count Coalition says numerous issues affecting children’s welfare in Arkansas need attention from state legislators, including:

• 182 children in Benton County and 164 children in Washington County were removed from their homes from April 2007 to March 2008 and placed in foster care because of neglect or abuse.

• 77 percent of children statewide were involved in neglect allegations, many because of parents going through a stressful period, such as a job loss, limited income or no support system.

• 32 percent of children who were maltreated in 2007 were involved in physical and sexual abuse allegations.

• 11 percent of Arkansas children has no health insurance which accounts for 70,000 children statewide. Of those, 44,000 are eligible for ArKids First state insurance but various barriers, including the number of participating doctors, prevent the program from growing.

• Arkansas sends almost 6,000 children to bed-based care annually rather than treating them in their communities.

• Arkansas children die in motor vehicle accidents at twice the national average.

Source: Arkansas Kids Count Coalition

Original article located here:  http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/08/08/news/080808szkidscount.txt

Posted by Hurrikayne

Fade In:
Ext. Driveway PAthway Family Center, Ohio evening
ANGLE ON:
Ext. Driveway PAthway Family Center, Ohio evening
POV Protester number one Female
We see a gold-like colored compact 4 door sedan car coming up the driveway towards Branch Hill- Guinea Pike. An Adult person is driving the passenger vehicle with three minors in the back seat. Three children are seen in the back seat of the car writing in confession journals, noticing one boy on the back left side writing something furiously.
Cut to:
Ext. Across the Driveway Pathway Family Center, Ohio Evening
Angle on:
Pov Protester number Two Female
She is facing inward looking down the driveway, and watches a car PULL UP the driveway towards her and Branch Hill- Guinea Pike. The car is a metallic gold in color. In the back of the car she notices a boy with sandy blonde hair on the left hand side in the back seat wiggling about and turns around quickly.
Cut to:
Ext. Across from the driveway Pathway Family Center, Ohio evening

Posted by Ginger McNulty

Hurrikayne: What is the name of the facility you were in?
Alex: Boulder Creek Academy, in Idaho.

When were you there & how long did you stay?
I was there from June 22, 2007 to June 21, 2008.

Their website states that “Boulder Creek Academy is a safe refuge for at-risk troubled teens.” Do you feel that you were “at-risk” or “troubled”?

I feel that I was troubled, but not ‘at-risk’, whatever that means (assuming you mean cutting, drugs, sex, etc).  I was mildly depressed and had mood swings because of my medication.  Basically, my parents didn’t want to wait out me being on new medication.

They also describe typical students as, “Capable but discouraged by academic struggle; Isolated, low self-esteem; Unable to see consequences of actions; Experimented with drugs and alcohol.” Do you feel these generalizations accurately describe how you were at the time you entered the program?

I would say about 1/3 of the student body is as they described. Some of the people there are INCREDIBLY intelligent.  One kid was doing college calculus from Stanford before he was 18; another is reading books about string theory.

Most kids there, however, are not isolated.  I heard so many stories about crazy shit that happened at their homes and whatnot with their friends.  From what I saw, some of those kids had pretty good self-esteem.  Most of the students there have done drugs, but not all of them.

The rest are idiotic, immature simpletons.  They fail classes (which are not hard to pass), can’t see that A+B=C, and are total druggies.  Most of the kids who saw the website made jokes about how the kids had ‘an IQ of over 90′, because some of the kids were so stupid. One of the kids said that all the buildings in Tokyo were made of bamboo, and another believed that Japanese tiger eggs existed.

Whose idea was it for you to go to this facility?
It was my parents’ idea.

Why did your parents feel that a therapeutic boarding school would be better than a ‘normal’ boarding school?

I honestly don’t know why my parents thought it was better, but I’m guessing it had to do with a lot of one-sided misinformation.  They learned about this school from an Education Consultant, Molly Baron, and then my therapist at Second Nature, Jay Huffine, and took a tour at BCA with Shaunale Wilson.  My mom really is easy to get bought into all of this crap, and I’m honestly surprised that my dad was sucked into it.  Apparently, my dad looked at normal ones too, but he said at the time it seemed like the right thing to do, but now he seems to regret his decision.

Were you included in the decision?
No, I was not included whatsoever.  I wanted to go to a normal boarding school, but they sent me to a wilderness.

How did you get there?
I was transported to wilderness, and then to the school

What do you mean by ‘transported’ and what kind of wilderness were you taken to?

I was woken up at 5 AM at home by two men, who talked to me about a program called Second Nature in Bend, Oregon.  I was excited, and thought it was a (normal) boarding school.  I was allowed to take a shower and grab my Nintendo DS to use on the trip there. Then I was handed off to two people from Second Nature at the Airport in Richmond, OR. They took me to a doctor to get a physical, then to the headquarters of the place where I had to strip naked and show that I didn’t have any ‘contraband’ on me, (luckily no cavity search), and then got shipped off to the middle of nowhere.

Posted by Hurrikayne

Patricia Ruland of the Austin Chronicle has just published her second in depth investigative report into the Synanon cult’s operations inside the criminal justice system.http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=645915In it, she details recent inmate testimony, perspective from a couple of Seed/Straight line veterans and a fair amount of background information about the organization.

Language and practices straight out of Elan/Abraxis.Now look to the Martin Lee Anderson story. You remember Martin, right?

Guy TunnellFounder of the Bay County Boot Camp, longtime BOA member DFAF (just like Andrea), appointed by Steve Meadows, state attorney for the 14th Judicial Circuit, to be a coordinator of cold case squads in the 14th judicial circuit’s six counties.
Frank McKiethen Still sheriff of Bay County”If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to contact our Public Affairs Specialist at (850) 747-4700 Ext. 2117″http://www.bayso.org/Florida Sheriff’s Bootcamp programRenamed Star Academies, handed over from one faction of the toughlove hategroup to another and funding doubled.http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/053106BootCamps.htmlMartin Lee Anderson Still deader than hell. May your soul rest easy and your tragic death not be forgotten or in vain.

Posted by Ginger McNulty

Source: Cincinatti BeaconStraight, Inc. and KHK survivors protest locally

Posted by Media Release

Numerous Straight, Inc. and Kids Helping Kids survivors, along with other concerned activists, traveled from 5 different states and the Greater Cincinnati area to participate in the July 11, 2008 protest in Milford, Ohio. The group protested Kids Helping Kids, a Pathway Family Center (aka Pathway Family Center, PFC and/or KHK), a behavior modification teen treatment facility which is not only the current renamed version of Straight, Inc, it also still uses the STRAIGHT, Inc. treatment modality. 

The protesters’ mission was to express opposition and to educate local residents about the “treatment methods” used by PFC, methods which this group believes pose a substantial risk of harm to children. Specifically, the protesters strongly object to, among other things, the use of coercive thought reform, isolation from parents, peers and society, unlicensed host homes, unqualified peer staff, unnecessary and/or disproportionate punishments, and the denial of basic human rights such as total bathroom privacy. Additionally, the demonstrators are extremely concerned about children having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other serious mental health issues caused by their ordeal in Pathway. Repeated reports to state agencies of systematic abuse and other improprieties have also been ignored for years.  

This protest comes on the heels of the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming approval of H.R. 6358, The Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008. Recent congressional investigations uncovered thousands of allegations of abuse, neglect and youth deaths in private teen behavior modification facilities in the United States. This legislation aims to protect youth in all private treatment facilities, including Pathway Family Center.

The rocky start of the protest itself did not deter the determined activists from sharing their message. One Pathway official (Monica Mertens, according to Pathway insiders who spoke with protesters) displayed unprofessional conduct by confiscating one of the protestor’s signs. PFC officials also summoned Miami Township police twice. The first time was to remove protesters from the far side of the driveway who occasionally crossed it without blocking incoming traffic. The second time, participants were later told, was an attempt to stop protesters from videotaping the public event. Demonstrators did comply with law enforcement’s request to stay off to the sides of Pathway’s entrance but were never asked to stop filming. In spite of these incidents, the peaceful protest resumed without further confrontation.

At the demonstration itself, protesters carried and displayed numerous signs including “Coercive Thought Reform is Not Treatment,” “KHK Tortured Me,” and “Close PFC Now”. Many drivers showed solidarity either by honking, giving the thumbs up or by shouting “Thank you! My friend (or relative) was in there. This place stinks!” In addition, many passersby stopped, took literature and were given the free DVD set of the congressional hearings and KHK news footage. Even former clients of Straight and KHK, with no previous knowledge of our protests, no prior contact with activist survivors, saw the protest and stopped to speak with survivors. Both supported our efforts.

As the event was winding down, current PFC peer staff/graduates initiated peaceful discussions. At times the talks became a bit heated and emotional. Certainly there was much disagreement. But for the most part, both sides remained civil. 

At the end of the day, the exhausted survivors unanimously agreed that this event was nothing less than a smashing success and felt rejuvenated by the interest from the community. All participants vowed to continue their quest to educate the community about the harmful Straight Inc treatment model used by Kids Helping Kids, a Pathway Family Center. Their mission is to protect children from these harmful treatment methods. 

Posted by Michael "Psy" Crawford