http://www.prisonguardtoday.com Do you want to become a corrections officer? Here's a discussion about it. Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:35:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/10/haunted-lighthouses-point-lookout-light/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/10/haunted-lighthouses-point-lookout-light/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:39:54 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/10/haunted-lighthouses-point-lookout-light/ The Point Lookout Lighthouse sits on a peninsula that marks the entrance to the Potomac River in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. The area was known as a pleasant vacation place prior to the Civil War. It was originally part of St. Michael’s Manor, which was owned by the first governor of Maryland. The point had been used as a summer resort, complete with beach cottages and a wharf. The addition of the lighthouse had served to add to the charm of the region.

In 1825, the Federal Government determined that a light needed to be built at Point Lookout to warn ships of the shoals and to mark the entrance to the Potomac River.

The lighthouse was constructed in 1830 as a one-and-a-half story wood and masonry building. This first lighthouse was of little use in navigation since the lantern stood only 24 feet off the ground. It was rebuilt in 1883 as the current two-story structure and the light was raised to 40 feet.

A fog bell tower was added in 1872 and then upgraded in 1889. In 1883, the second story was added to the house to enable the dwelling to house two keepers and their families. In 1927, the house was enlarged to its present size and turned into two separate apartments, each with six rooms and a bath. Electricity was also added around the same timeframe.

Civilian keepers continued to tend the light full-time until 1979, even though it had been transferred to the Coast Guard back in 1939. In 1951, the Navy started buying and building up the property around the lighthouse. In 1965 the light was deactivated and the structures completely turned over to the navy.

The Civil War completely transformed the point from a pleasant vacation spot to a place scarred with permanent reminders of what had occured on the landscape. Hammond General Hospital was constructed in 1862 to care for wounded Union soldiers. The next year, the Union began holding Confederate prisoners at the hospital. As a result, Camp Hoffman, the civil war’s largest prison camp, was constructed near the hospital. The prison camp held as many as 20,000 prisoners at one point. The prison grounds were filthy, very overcrowded and quickly became a breeding ground for disease.

When all was said and done, nearly 4,000 men had died at the camp from disease, starvation or exposure. Their bodies were buried in various locations on or near the lighthouse grounds. In later years when these gravesites were threatened by erosion, they were relocated to a spot just north of Point Lookout.

The trauma and death associated with the prison camp may help explain the many strange, paranormal events that have been reported by lighthouse keepers and visitors over the years, thus earning it the title of “America’s most haunted lighthouse”.

In the years following the end of the war, the onslaught of reports of paranormal occurances in the area began. There were reports of strange noises such as footsteps, snoring, foul odors, lights going on and off, and disembodied voices carrying on conversations, laughing, singing happy tunes or even calling for help. One woman was reportedly awakened in the middle of the night to someone calling her name, but no one was there. Some of these strange sounds have actually been recorded by paranormal investigators over the years.

In addition to the sounds, there have also been numerous reports of apparitions. The most popular of the appartions reported is that of the first lighthouse keeper, Ann Davis, who has been seen standing at the top of the stairs wearing a long, navy blue skirt and white shirt, her normal daily attire.

There have also been reports of transparent figures, possibly in civil war uninforms, moving around in the basement and roaming the grounds outside the lighthouse seemingly searching for their graves that were moved more than a century ago.

Paranormal investigations have been going on for years at Point Lookout. As previously mentioned, some of the investigators have recorded audio proof of other-worldly goings-on. Audio evidence presents twenty-four distinct voices eminating from various locations in the lighthouse. The voices were of both men and women speaking and singing. One voice, believed to be that of a union guard at the prison camp, was recorded saying: “fire if they get too close to you”. Another appears to be that of the former keeper Ann Davis saying: “My house”.

In 2002, the Navy set in motion a complete restoration of the lighthouse exterior. The structure was painted in accordance with it’s color scheme from 1927. The lighthouse was turned over to the State of Maryland in 2006. A few months later, the Point Lookout Lighthouse Preservation Society was founded to raise funds to restore the lighthouse and making it accessible to the public by turning it into a museum.

The lighthouse remains on Navy property and is currently fenced off and not openly accessible to the public. Around Halloween, the location is occasionally open in the daytime for open houses and sometimes in the evening for limited night-time paranormal investigations.





By: Denise Villani ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/10/haunted-lighthouses-point-lookout-light/feed/ 0 http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/09/the-hauntings-of-alcatraz/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/09/the-hauntings-of-alcatraz/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:27:56 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/09/the-hauntings-of-alcatraz/ Located in San Francisco Bay with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco, you’ll find perhaps the most famous prison in the world. Alcatraz, nicknamed “The Rock”, was originally known as “La Isla de los Alcatraces” or “The Island of the Pelicans” because of its appearance as a barren white rock. The white was caused by pelican droppings, hence the name. It served as a lighthouse, then a military fortification, then a military prison followed by a federal prison until 1963, when it became a national recreation area. Today it is maintained by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and nearly a million visitors per year stop by to check the place out.

The island, believed to be an evil place by Native Americans, has seen centuries of death from accidents, murders, and suicides. With this dark history, it’s no wonder Alcatraz is said to be one of the most haunted places in the nation. If ghosts return to haunt the places where they suffered traumatic experiences when they were alive, then Alcatraz must be bursting at the seams with spirits.

For years there have been reports of mysterious happenings on Alcatraz Island. These reports come from visitors, former guards, former prisoners, and national park service employees. From the original lighthouse reappearing on occasion to clanging, screaming, and sobbing, there are too many tales to put into this short article. It would definitely take a book to tell them all. Some of the strange occurences are recounted in the following paragraphs.

The Lighthouse – There have been several reports that on foggy nights the old lighthouse, built in 1854 and torn down after it was damaged in the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, will suddenly appear, accompanied by an eerie whistling sound and a flashing green light that makes its way slowly around the island and then vanishes as suddenly as it appears.

The Grounds – Many guards and park rangers have reported experiencing unexplainable crashing sounds, cell doors mysteriously closing, unearthly screams, and intense feelings of being watched. A number of guards from 1946 through 1963 experienced something out of the ordinary at one time or another. There have been reports of sounds of sobbing and moaning, horrible smells, phantom cannon shots, gun shots, and screams. Once in a while, groups of phantom prisoners and soldiers appear in front of startled guards, guests, and the families who lived on the island. None of these occurances have ever been explained.

The door and the corridor – Behind a door in Cellblock C that looks as if it has been welded shut, lies the utility corridor where Bernard Coy, Joseph Cretzer and Marvin Hubbard were killed by grenades and bullets during the bloodiest escape attempt in Alcatraz’s history in 1946. Additionally, the attempt took the lives of two guards and injured 18 others. The trial afterward resulted in the execution of two more convicts who took part in the aborted escape. Behind this door can sometimes be heard loud clanging along with the sounds of people running as if trying to escape and disembodied voices. Others have reported seeing the apparitions of men wearing fatigues at the site of the riot that left the three prisoners dead. As a result, this utility corridor is recognized as one of the most haunted spots in the prison.

The laundry room – Also in Cellblock C is the laundry room that is said to hold an unseen presence. The story is told that a hit man named Butcher was killed in the laundry room. The room is said to occasionally emanate a strong odor of smoke, as if something was on fire. The sensation of the choking smoke would drive guards out of the room, only to return a few minutes later, the area now completely smoke free.

The most haunted area on Alcatraz is Cellblock D, or solitary, as it was often called. D-Block, which became known as the Treatment Unit was made up of 42 cells with varying restrictions. None of the prisoners put in D-Block was able to have contact with the general population. These inmates were not allowed to work or go to the mess hall to eat; they had to eat in their cells. They were allowed one visit to the recreation yard and two showers a week. These cells faced the Golden Gate Bridge, from which fierce cold winds often blew and one guard who worked D-Block was notorious for turning on the air conditioning to make it even colder for those confined on the block.

Five of the cells in D-Block, cells 9-14, are known as “The Hole,”. These cells contained only a sink and toilet, had no windows and only one light with a low-wattage bulb that could be turned off by the guards on a whim. The darkness made it seem like a hole in the ground. Reserved for the most serious prison rule breakers, these cells were located on the bottom tier, the coldest place in the prison. All mattresses were taken away during the day and the prisoners were not allowed time in the yard, showers, or reading materials. Inmates could be sentenced to up to 19 days in the hole, completely isolated from the rest of the world.

Needless to say, these horrible conditions led to misery, anger, and possibly even insanity. That ambiance seems to linger to this day. Most people who go to Cellblock D get feelings of sudden intensity and a feeling of cold in certain cells, especially cell 14-D. This cell is often reported to be 20 degrees colder than the rest of the cells on the block. Psychics who have visited the area reported picking up on the feelings of torture, misery, and abuse that were left behind by 29 years’ worth of prisoners who were forced to stay there. These cells are so eerie that some national park service employees refuse to go there alone.

A guard who worked at the prison in the 1940’s reported that guards often saw the ghostly presence of a man dressed in late 1800’s prison attire was often seen walking the hallway of “The Hole”. Perhaps the strangest event occured when an inmate locked in a cell in “The Hole” immediately began to scream that someone with glowing eyes was in there with him. The spectral prisoner had become so much of a practical joke among the guards that the convict’s cries were ignored. The inmate’s screams continued well into the night, and then suddenly stopped. When the guards inspected the cell, the convict was dead with a terrible expression on his face and noticeable handprints around his throat. The autopsy revealed that the strangulation could not have been self-inflicted.

At the time, many believed the inmate was strangled by a guard who got tired of hearing the inmate scream, but no one ever admitted to the strangling. Most believed the prisoner was killed by the restless, evil spirit of the nineteenth century prisoner who was so often seen wandering the corridors.

As a footnote to this tale, when the guards lined-up the convicts for the daily count, there was one too many convicts in the line-up. At the end of the row, stood the recently strangled convict. As everyone looked on in stunned silence, the ghostly figure vanished.

As the years go by, ghost hunters, authors, crime buffs and curiosity-seekers continue to visit the island hoping to have their own encounter with the ghosts of Alcatraz. Although most encounter nothing, they do have a tendancy to leave with a feeling of uneasiness. The majority of the ghostly experiences of Alcatraz have been reported by former guards and national park service employees who often spend hours alone on the island. Many claim not to believe in the supernatural but occasionally, one of them will admit that weird things happen here that they cannot explain.





By: Denise Villani ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/09/the-hauntings-of-alcatraz/feed/ 0 http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/my-day-in-ramallah/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/my-day-in-ramallah/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:53:50 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/my-day-in-ramallah/ On January 5, 2005 I traveled to the Ramallah Headquarters of ADDAMEER [Arabic for CONSCIENCE]for an interview with its Coordinator, Ala Jaradat. Jarardat is a slightly built man who spoke in a soft voice of the brutal reality of life for Palestinians in the Holy Land.

“Since 1967, 650,000 to 700,000 Palestinians have been arrested and detained. That totals 20% of the total population and 80% of all adult Palestinian males have been arrested. Most of these arrests occur after midnight when large numbers of IDF [Israeli Defense Force] storm into neighborhoods or refugee camps, horrifying everyone and arresting anyone 14 years or older. Sometimes they storm into business offices and arrest the breadwinners of the families without any charges.

“These arrests and detentions are based on military orders; we live under a kind of Marshall Law which rules every aspect of Palestinian life: where we live, our license plates that restrict our movement and limited voting rights. Under these military orders the Israeli government is free to hold anyone eight days without accusations or charges. They can hold anyone up to 180 days for interrogation and up to 60 days without benefit of a lawyer.

“The Israeli government never agreed to the Second Geneva Convention, the Knesset never ratified it, and when it comes to the Occupied Territories they totally ignore it. Israel is the only State that approved torture of detainees. I know there are dictators who use torture, but Israel is the only State that supported torture until 1999. That is when International, Israeli and Palestinian pressure groups forced the issue and Barack was confronted about it when he visited the United States.

“The IDF will round up and arrest family members and use threats against their relatives to force confessions. The interrogations lead to Military Trials which is theoretically like court with three Judges presiding but only one is required to have an education and a law degree is not at all necessary. The Military Commander appoints the translators, issues all orders, assigns the judges, and has total control. One appeal is allowed, but if the judges are settlers the Palestinian is in deep shit!

“Administrative Detentions are issued by the Military Commander for a period of six months and the reason is always labeled ‘Security’ and the charges can be renewed indefinitely. One Palestinian spent eight years under Administrative detention and hundreds have endured four or more years. Today fifty are being held for the past four years. They may be released for a day or two and then they are rearrested because they are social or political activists but reasons are not given by the Israeli government.

“At any given moment 10% of those in prison are under Administrative Detention. There are currently 8,000 prisoners and 800 of them are under Administrative Detention. The government does not have to inform anyone about these arrests except the Red Cross and only if they are imprisoned over two weeks, but most arrests go unreported.

“Any Palestinian under the age of 16 is tried as an adult, but for an Israeli Jew it is 18 years of age. Under 12 years old the child can be arrested but not detained. Over 12 they can be arrested, detained, interrogated, prosecuted and sentenced for throwing stones.

“Most of the Israeli Jews that are imprisoned are in for violent crimes against society and they are mixed in with the Palestinian population. The guards encourage them to do what ever they want to do against the Palestinian population. This is an open invitation by the Israeli government to incite violence and terror in the prison system. We have sworn affidavits from Palestinians claiming it was the guards who encouraged the violence inflicted upon them.

“In August 2004 the Palestinians went on a hunger strike to raise awareness of this problem and the Minister of Health who is responsible for them stated publicly: ‘Our hospitals are off limits to them they can all starve themselves to death.’

“No human rights organizations are allowed access to the prisoners. Only lawyers and the Red Cross can visit them but have no access to the facilities where they are detained.

“The methods and photos from Abu Grahib and Guantanamo were no shock to any Palestinian who had been in prison between 1967 and the ’80’s. All the methods used in Abu Grahib were normal procedures against Palestinians. In 1999 Internationals, Palestinians and Israelis for human rights threatened a boycott against Israel and that is what forced the Supreme Court to address the torture issue. They did not ban torture and the General Prosecutor can choose not to prosecute those who still use it.”-Ala Jaradat





By: Eileen Fleming ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/my-day-in-ramallah/feed/ 0 http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/is-the-quran-quoted-from-the-bible-40-chapter-40%e2%80%93-a-the-first-part/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/is-the-quran-quoted-from-the-bible-40-chapter-40%e2%80%93-a-the-first-part/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:53:32 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/is-the-quran-quoted-from-the-bible-40-chapter-40%e2%80%93-a-the-first-part/ Comparative Study between the Bible versus the Quran (40)

Chapter by Chapter and Verse by Verse;

(Chapter 40:1-10)

The Old Testament Verses from 1-10 are talking about the butler and the baker of Pharaoh put into the prison where Joseph was bound. Both of them dreamed and Joseph interpreted their dreams.

The New Testament Verses from 1-10 are talking Jesus spoke by parable; a man planted a vineyard (See: B: The second part)

The Noble Quran Verses from 1-10 are talking about many subjects e.g., Allah is the only forgiver of sins and the only acceptor of repentance (See: C: The third part)

=========

Old Testament:

Chapter 40 in the Old Testament is Genesis 40; it is composed of 23 verses.

Verses from 1-10 are talking about the butler and the baker of Pharaoh put into the prison where Joseph was bound. Both of them dreamed and Joseph interpreted their dreams.

Genesis 40 (King James Version)

1] And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.

2] And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.

3] And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.

4] And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.

5] And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.

6] And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.

7] And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?

8] And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

9] And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;

10] And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:

=========

I will postpone my question: “Is the Quran quoted from the Bible?” until you read the second and the third parts of this article.





By: Prof.dr. Ibrahim Khalil ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/07/is-the-quran-quoted-from-the-bible-40-chapter-40%e2%80%93-a-the-first-part/feed/ 0 http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/06/birth-of-lord-krishna/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/06/birth-of-lord-krishna/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:32:35 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/06/birth-of-lord-krishna/ Birth of lord Krishna happened with significant and divine incidents. The incidents related Krishna’s birth actually starts from the marriage of his mother. From that day onwards people were expecting a miracle boy’s birth that will save them.

Marriage of Devaki:

 Devaki was the sister of a cruel king called Kamsa or kansa in hindi. He arranged her marriage with vasudevar. But as the marriage possession was going, they heard an anonymous prophecy voice from the sky telling that “Hey kamsa your sister’s 8th son will kill you”. An angry kamsa immediately imprisoned Vasudevar and devaki. In the imprisonment devaki has given birth of 6 boys whom kamsaon has killed immediately. He has done this since he does not want any brothers to protect the 8th child who is supposed to be his killer.The 7th one was balarama who was saved by moving the boy to another women’s womb by divinly. 

Janmashtami:

As Devaki become pregnant for 8th time kamsa become more vigilant. He arranged special guards for the prison. However on the midnight of the 8th day after the full moon of sravana month of hindu calendar, Lord Krishna was born. But on this time all the guards who is suppose to be awake was slept because of divine effect. And Outside there was heavy rain and thunderstorm, so that the people were afraid to come out of their house.

After the birth of lord Krishna, Vasudevar was advised by divine voice to take the kid to the house of nandagopar and exchange the kid with the baby girl who was also born at the same to the nandagopar’s wife yesoda. The doors of the prison were opened in front of him in miracle.

When the vasudevar came out of the prison with the kid the huge snake known as ananthan appeared with his hood flattened so that the kid and vasudevar will be protected from the heavy rain going on outside. Ananthan followed them up to the gokulam and back with his hood flattened like an umberla and protecting them from rain. In the house of nandgopar everybody was asleep due to the divine power. Vasudevar exchanged the baby as per the instruction he got through divine voice and came back to the prison with the girl child. Once he was reached back the doors of prison was closed back and the guards got up awake from their sleep.

 When Kamsa was informed about the birth of the 8th child he came to kill the child. He was astonished since it was a girl child and not the boy child as per the anonymous voice he heard on his sister’s wedding. However He tried to kill the child immediately by holding the leg of the infant girl and hitting it on the big stone he specially made to kill his sister’s kids. But the infant slipped from his hand and told him “Hey kamsa the kid who supposed to kill you is already in a safe place. But the sin you acquired by trying to kill an innocent infant girl will always follow you and surely you will be punished for this sinful act. By this the girl disappeared into the sky. The girl turned out to be the goddess who was born in earth to help lord mahavishnu to take the form of Lord Krishna.

Summary:

 The above incidents happened on the night of Krishna’s birth clearly tell us Lord Krishna was not an ordinary man. People celebrate his birthday on 8th day after the full moon in sravana month. The star of that day is supposed to be rohini, so people call this day as astami-rohini (ashtami  means 8th day after the moon) or janmashtami (birthday on 8th day after full moon).

Celebrations in India:

 In India people celebrate the janmashtami in a great way. All temples will do special prayer for Krishna, Krishna songs will he sung in all temples, special speech will be conducted about Krishna and his life. The orrganizations will be conducting the janmashtami shobayatra where the little boys will be dressed like Krishna and little girls will be dressed like gopikas (the female friends of Krishna on his child hood) will participate.

Janmashtami cards:

1.       365greetings.com : You can find lot of Janmashtami or Krishna jayanthi greetings cards with 365greetings.com. These cards are available with janmashtami cards section.





By: Prasad Cheruvannur ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/06/birth-of-lord-krishna/feed/ 0 http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/06/orwell-meets-vanunu-and-the-industrial-military-media-securitysurveillance-complex/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/06/orwell-meets-vanunu-and-the-industrial-military-media-securitysurveillance-complex/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:00:36 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/06/orwell-meets-vanunu-and-the-industrial-military-media-securitysurveillance-complex/ Recently Senator John McCain erroneously claimed Iran is training and supplying al-Qaeda in Iraq. McCain corrected himself after Senator Joseph Lieberman [of whom it has been whispered holds dual USA and Israeli citizenship] whispered in his ear, “You said that the Iranians were training al-Qaeda. I think you meant they’re training in extremist terrorism.”

McCain prefaced and ended with an apology “the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda, not al-Qaeda. I’m sorry.”

Robert Dreyfuss, investigative reporter whose latest article in The Nation is entitled, “Hothead McCain” explains, “If you thought George Bush was bad when it comes to the use of military force, wait ’til you see John McCain.”

McCain thinks that the Vietnam War could have been won if we had just stayed another five, ten or fifteen years, and he is gleefully prepared to do the same in Iraq, despite the fact that Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad’s blows the doors off the US military surge by traveling into the belly of Baghdad: an open air prison which divides Sunni and Shia populations behind 12ft high walls.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/mar/17/baghdad.city.of.walls

Those concrete walls in Baghdad are dwarfed by the 30ft high concrete ones in the ‘Holy’ Land; which is in pieces, Bantustans. Both builders of those walls claim to be democracies and that the walls are for Security. Both builders of those walls exhibit the schizophrenic discipline of thinking two contradictory truths at the same time. Coined by Orwell as doublethink, the Ministry of Peace wages war, the Ministry of Truth fabricates lies and the Ministry of Love tortures and kills any it deems threatening. Most threatening for Big Brother are those with independent thought.

In 2007, Naomi Klein, in her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, argued that at the height of the 2003-07 economic boom, the military industrial complex was driving Israel’s tremendous economic growth, and Israel had the largest GDP growth of any Western country.

Klein theorized that the source of Israel’s tremendous economic growth in the past five years cannot be attributed simply to its encouragement of high tech entrepreneurship and basic science. Its success must be understood, rather, as a product of its ability to use the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank as a laboratory for defense industry innovation — and to showcase their wares.

“Young Israeli computer scientists and engineers gain their training in the military, and then go on to start the kind of technology companies that have proliferated wildly in Israel and whose products are much sought after abroad. The entire Israeli hi-tech sector and not just military technology per se, is thus an outgrowth of Israel’s hyper militarization. The Israeli economy’s tech sector grew by 20% in 2006 alone, and Israel is now the foreign country with the second most US stock exchange-listed companies. Klein’s point that Israel’s military-derived technologies are an economic growth-driver because they can be tested in situ is correct, but it is insufficient for describing the magnitude of the military’s tremendous penetration of the country’s economy. Palestinians under occupation can indeed be seen as human “guinea pigs” and not just merely military targets, as Klein claims, but the society’s militarization is far more profound than even she suggests.” [1]

After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Israel’s economy was devastated, but then came 9/11, and “suddenly new profit vistas opened up for any company that claimed it could spot terrorists in crowds, seal borders from attack and extract confessions from closed-mouthed prisoners…Many of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs are using Israel’s status as a fortressed state, surrounded by furious enemies, as a kind of twenty-four-hour-a-day showroom–a living example of how to enjoy relative safety amid constant war…Israel now sends $1.2 billion in “defense” products to the United States—up dramatically from $270 million in 1999…That makes Israel the fourth-largest arms dealer in the world…Much of this growth has been in the so-called “homeland security” sector. Before 9/11 homeland security barely existed as an industry. By the end of this year, Israeli exports in the sector will reach $1.2 billion–an increase of 20 percent. The key products and services are …precisely the tools and technologies Israel has used to lock in the occupied territories. Israel has learned to turn endless war into a brand asset, pitching its uprooting, occupation and containment of the Palestinian people as a half-century head start in the “global war on terror… Israel’s policy of erecting walls and checkpoints to seal off the occupied territories are also “laboratories where the terrifying tools of our security states are being field-tested Palestinians–whether living in the West Bank or what the Israeli politicians are already calling “Hamasistan”–are no longer just targets. They are guinea pigs…” [2]

Poster-boy for Israel’s Industrial Security/Surveillance Complex is the Christian convert from Judaism, Mordechai Vanunu. Every email Vanunu has ever written, snail mail received, phone call conversation and walk he has ever taken through east Jerusalem, has potentially been monitored 24/7, since his release from an Israeli prison in 2004.

During my first trip to east Jerusalem in June 2005, Vanunu told me that during the first two years of his 18 years in jail [most all in solitary confinement] a light shone above his head 24/7 in a tomb sized cell. When ever he closed his eyes a guard would come in and shine a brighter light into his face and say, “Just checking if you had committed suicide yet.”

A few weeks ago, and thirty odd years from my first time, I reread Orwell’s 1984, that was published in 1949. I was struck at how much Vanunu reminded me of Winston Smith, Orwell’s man with an independent thought that Big Brother; The Party incarnate found so threatening they tortured him beyond his endurance in order to break him, brainwash him and strip him of his humanity.

In 1987, in Ashkelon Prison, Vanunu wrote, I had “no choice. I’m a little man, a citizen, one of the people, but I’ll do what I have to. I’ve heard the voice of my conscience and there’s nowhere to hide…yes, it’s there all right. I’m all right. I do see the monster. I’m part of the system. I signed this form. Only now I am reading the rest of it. This bolt is part of a bomb. This bolt is me…Who else knows? Who has seen? Who has heard?” [3]

“A working prophet, is able to see deeper than most of us into the human soul. Orwell in 1948 understood that despite the Axis defeat, the will to fascism had not gone away…the irresistible human addiction to power were already long in place…the means of surveillance in Winston Smith’s era…[are] primitive next to the wonders of computer technology…most notably the Internet.” [4]

“Universal peace and justice are the goals of man, and the prophets have faith that in spite of all errors and sins…[and] although under the illusion of fighting for peace and democracy…all the fighting nations lost moral considerations…the unlimited destruction of civilian populations…atomic bombs…can human nature be changed so that man will forget his longing for freedom, dignity, integrity, love-can man forget that he is human?” [5]

The “Fabric of Life Road” in occupied Palestine is in reality an apartheid road; separate and unequal. Palestinians must travel through sewage and tunnels, but Israelis ride on only well maintained contiguous highways. At the checkpoint from Jerusalem to the little town of Bethlehem in occupied territory, the Ministry of Tourism draped a thirty foot high doublespeak sign that proclaims: “Peace be with you” a loose translation of “War is Peace.”

In Orwell’s epic, Winston Smith played the role of the archetype of all threats to Big Brother; an individual with an open and free mind, independent thought, memory of history, a voice of dissent and willing to take bold action. Orwell’s Big Brother tortured all threats in order to get inside their head and then to brainwash them into accepting doublethink as truth.

The atomic bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a baby step compared to the 21st century slaughter that can be achieved by thermonuclear weapons with capacities to wipe out 100% of a country within minutes. The Industrial Military Complex cranks out new weapons about every five years and soon the minds driven mad with doublethink-”war is peace”- will create 100 or 1,000 megaton bombs.

“Orwell demonstrates the illusion of the assumption that democracy can continue to exist in a world preparing for nuclear war…leaders…have only one aim, and that is power…and power means to inflict unlimited pain and suffering to another human being……how can a minority of one be right?…we spend a considerable part of our income and energy in building thermonuclear weapons, and close our minds to the fact that they might go off and destroy one third or one half of our population and that of the enemy…another example of doublethink-from a Christian standpoint” is the evil of killing any other. [Ibid]

Vanunu threatens Israel in 2008, far more than he did in 2004.

Vanunu has not only continued to speak out for a nuclear free Middle East, he has also become a spokesperson regarding the Christian Exodus from east Jerusalem, where he has lived these last four years. [7]

Over the last four years of house arrest, Vanunu has met thousands of tourists and pilgrims. Everyone of them understands that the only way Vanunu can hurt Israel is with bad PR.

If Israel had practiced justice and mercy, they would have let Vanunu go in 2004, and chances are, that by now Vanunu would have faded into a footnote in history, instead of keep making it.

In Israel’s 60th anniversary year, Vanunu exposes how the Jewish state is a democracy in name only, for it continues to forbid him-an Israeli Christian the right to speak to a sister or brother in Christ if they happen to be from a foreign country.

Today’s Big Brother: The Industrial Military Media Security/Surveillance Complex, has not yet found the way to stop the flow of independent thought streaming through the world wide web.

Last week, Vanunu was scheduled to return to court on Easter Sunday, fighting a six month jail sentence, handed down in July 2007 that was rendered because Vanunu spoke to professional foreign media in 2004. He also was being punished for attempting to travel by cab the five miles into the little town of Bethlehem; occupied territory, on Christmas Eve 2004, but he ended up in a jail cell that night too.

From emails Vanunu wrote to me, March 24-27, 2008:

“Court hearing postponed to May 13, 2008-the appeal against 6 month prison sentence for speaking to foreign media. I found out about the change a few days before Easter, but not until Easter Day, did I learn about the day for the next hearing. My lawyer and prosecutor want to move it to different day.

“……I think the hearing was postponed because, from the beginning of the trial until now, they really don’t know what they want. All was a game to try to put me under new pressure to see if they can gain something by holding me here…

“All this means is that Israel just continues what they have done since my release in 2004, delaying and holding me here…instead of sending me for real freedom…they want me very poor and angry, but I am surviving…One thing is very clear: my case is over. They should let me go free…

“…My lawyer is very busy with the trial of the previous president…Kasav. He was accused of rape and sexual harassment by many women in his office, while as a minister office many years ago, and again in his palace as president. But the turmoil here is that the prosecutor made a deal with him; no trial no prison sentence, just a symbolic punishment. So today he will go to court with my lawyer to get his deal and be totally free…

“…There is a lot of suffering here…Israel wants to hide so much because it is not good for its image as a democracy and a friend of America…

“1984, yes I read it many times and many years ago.1984 is here in 2008.”

1. Lincoln Shlensky, Jewish Peace News editor, email March 28, 2008, to subscribe: http://www.jewishpeacenews.net

2. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070702/klein

3. http://www.vanunu.com/

4. Thomas Pynchon, Foreword, Centennial Edition 1984

5. Erich Fromm, Afterword, Centennial Edition 1984

6. Ibid

7. “30 Minutes with Vanunu” “13 minutes with Vanunu” freely streaming @ http://www.wearewideawake.org/





By: Eileen Fleming ]]> http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2009/06/orwell-meets-vanunu-and-the-industrial-military-media-securitysurveillance-complex/feed/ 0 http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2008/12/vanunu-on-faith-before-final-court-date-of-2-%c2%bd-year-long-freedom-of-speech-trial/ http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2008/12/vanunu-on-faith-before-final-court-date-of-2-%c2%bd-year-long-freedom-of-speech-trial/#comments Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:07:42 +0000 admin http://www.prisonguardtoday.com/2008/12/vanunu-on-faith-before-final-court-date-of-2-%c2%bd-year-long-freedom-of-speech-trial/ [East Jerusalem] On July 8, 2008, the final act in Mordechai Vanunu’s current trials plays out, when Israel either puts Vanunu behind bars for six more months, or “something else” as Vanunu wrote.

Mordechai Vanunu’s historic freedom of speech trial began in January 2006.

In July 2007, Israel convicted him on 14 [out of over a hundred interviews with foreign journalists] counts of violating the court order prohibiting him from speaking to any foreigners since his 2004 release from 18 years in prison for exposing Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program in 1986.

A possible something else that had been hoped for, was that Israel would be led by true friends to accept the Norwegians offer of asylum http://www.vanunu.org/ and allow Vanunu to leave the state which is all he has wanted to do since he emerged from Ashkelon prison on April 21, 2004.

On July 1, 2008 I received the following email reply from Norway:

Subject: Reply on your email concerning Vanunu

Dear Ms Fleming

Thank you for your email dated 12 July 2008 addressed to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre concerning Mordechai Vanunu.

The Norwegian authorities have been following Mr Vanunu’s case for many years, and will continue to do so.

Norway has on several occasions raised the case of Mr Vanunu in bilateral talks with Israel and has emphasised that he must not be subject to any form of injury or insulting behaviour. We have also stressed that his human rights, including his rights of speech and movement, must be respected.

When Mr Vanunu was released from prison in 2005, a number of restrictions were placed upon him following decisions by Israeli judges. Norway recognises the Israeli juridical system and will act in accordance with their decisions.

Mr Vanunu’s application for asylum to Norway was sent by letter from Israel. As it is not possible to apply for asylum from abroad, his application was turned down on 21 May 2008 on formal grounds.

There are no restrictions on the part of Norway that prevent Mr Vanunu from visiting the country if it should be appropriate for him to do so.

Yours sincerely

Thomas Rem Berdal

Middle East Section

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The first time I crossed paths with Vanunu was in the courtyard of St. Georges Cathedral in June 2005, during my first of five trips to Israel Palestine. The last time I crossed paths with Vanunu was July 2007, nearby St. Stephen’s Dominican Church on Nablus Road.

Vanunu smiled when he told me,” This is the spot where they stoned to death the first Christian martyr for freedom of speech.”

It had been two weeks since Vanunu received the bad news of a six month sentence for speaking to foreign media –he is allowed to speak to Israeli journalists- but he wasn’t talking to any media because, “All the interviews I have given haven’t helped me.”

In 2005, the first of my three video interviews with Vanunu addressed the fact that President Bush could find WMD’s in Israel and not Iraq and how his faith helped him endure 18 years in jail for telling the truth.

Vanunu also told me stories that I wrote down about his childhood in an orthodox Jewish home in Morocco, adolescent rejection of the faith, the misery he saw as a sergeant in the IDF, university activism for Palestinian human rights, and how he happened to be baptized a Christian just days before being kidnapped, clubbed, drugged and locked up for 18 years because of the photographic evidence he provided of Israel’s secret underground nuclear weapons program in the Negev. [1]

Vanunu can be articulate, funny, and patient and a moment later; detached, distant and withdrawn. It is an honor to me that he continues to respond to my questions and what follows are his replies from June 2008, slightly edited for clarity.

E: Now that North Korea seems serious about foregoing its nuclear weapons what do you say in light of Israel’s secret nuclear activities?

V: The time is now for the US and the entire world to speak very clear and loudly about Israel’s ’secret’ nuclear weapons. They locked me up for 18 years for exposing them, but they get away with nuclear ambiguity because the world is afraid they will be accused of anti-Semitism.

But any movement such as North Korea is doing is good news, because now, Israel must be led by the international community to follow the same world policies, the IAEA inspections and regulations and human rights and international law.

Also the Dimona is ancient and last week, the Israeli Ambassador visited the office of IAEA, Mohamed Elbaraede and the news reports that he complained about Iran. So, maybe now, Israel will also report in secret to the IAEA, about the future of Dimona?

Also Isreal wants to build or have Reactors for energy so they must accept and adhere to the NPT and all IAEA authorization and inspections.

The world is waiting for Israel to move as Korea is and South Africa did.

If Israel claims they don’t have nuclear weapons, then they must open up the Dimona or destroy it.

Israel’s atomic weapons cause every state in the M E to want them and the only way out is for Israel to sign the NPT or close down the Dimona.-vmjc

Previously Vanunu told me, “The Dimona is 46 years old; reactors last 25 to 30 years. The Dimona has never been inspected and Israel has never signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty but all the Arab states have…Twenty years ago when I worked there they only produced when the air was blowing towards Jordan ten miles away. No one knows what is happening now.

“The Israelis have 200 atomic weapons and they accuse the Palestinians and Muslims of terrorism. The world needs to wake up and see the real terrorism is the occupation and the Palestinians have lived under that terror regime for 40 years.

“Israel propaganda portrays all Palestinians as Muslim extremists and Hamas terrorists and neglect that Palestinian Christians are following the true message of Jesus Christ with nonviolent resistance. We need all Christians to come and see the truth for themselves.

“I really had no clue what I was doing by getting baptized a Christian; I just felt like I had to do it. It was my way to become a new being. It wasn’t until after my trial that I started to read the New Testament. While I was in prison, I would read aloud for a half hour, twice a day. I would read the entire New Testament and begin it again when I finished the Book of Revelation. I did this for myself, as well as for my captors–not so much the prison guards, but the ones who watched me on camera twenty-four hours a day. Once I covered up the camera that spied on me and was punished with one month in solitary, without any books or radio; no contact with anyone anywhere was allowed. It was just them, the Shen Beet, you know, like the FBI and the Mossad, like your CIA— they were watching me.

“They tortured me by keeping a light on in my cell constantly for two years. They told me it was because they were afraid I would commit suicide, and the oppressive camera was for my safety. They recruited the guards and other prisoners to irritate me. They would deprive me of sleep by making loud noises near my cell all night long.

“I chose to read them 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, instead:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with THE TRUTH! It always protects, it always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.

“For the first five years, twice a day I would loudly pray by reading Bible verses. I would also read the Anglican service from the Book of Common Prayer. I did it twice a day, everyday, for five years. I began to see I had become like a machine. I knew if I continued I would lose my mind. So after that, I only prayed in silence. Although I knew I was driving them nuts with my loud praying, it was driving me nuts, too. I changed my routine. I was allowed outside every day for two hours; I had been jogging around in circles for the two hours, but now I changed my routine. I began to alter that and all my routines so I would not be like a machine. I refused to eat when they brought my food in. I would decide everyday what time I would eat and what I would eat. I chose a different time everyday to do anything. The camera was there to learn my behavior so they could manipulate me. I knew I had to constantly change my routine. I began reading more books about health, nutrition, history, philosophy, and literature, and kept my prayer life quiet.” [IBID]

From a June 2008 email:

E: On April 19, 1995, you wrote:

“The real reason for this solitary is to make me into a fundamentalist religious man…Peres and Rabin want to silence me by engaging me with religious prayers…They portray them [Arabs] as religious fundamentalists, while the truth is that the Jews here in Israel are the real religious fundamentalists. They still believe that they are a superior race here in Israel, and that the Arabs are second class. The Arabs don’t have equal rights. This is the reason why. Israel doesn’t want a real peace, because they don’t want to give equal rights to the Arab peoples. That is the reason for Israel wanting to keep its racial superiority by force over all the Arabs. And to justify it they need Islamic fundamentalism.”[3]

Can you comment on why people choose fundamentalism other than a lack of hope and cultural influences?

V: When people lose all hope to be free and liberated, but are under occupation, they have no power to change the situation. Israel keeps putting them under increasing pressures, so many cling to a connection with God. It is like a conspiracy; a conspiracy of hopelessness and poverty that conspire to attract people to fundamentalism.

E: Do you see connections between fundamental Jews and Muslims and the judgmental and escapist theology promoted in Christian Zionism?

V: Without fundamentalist religion in the government, the Jews could live in real peace. Christian Zionist are being used to fight Islam and the Muslim are holding onto God as their last hope while fundamentalist Jews, cling to Zionism.

E: You wrote in 1995 that you “stopped being interested in religion and stopped reading religious books” but you continued to identify with Jesus. How do you relate to Jesus in 2008?

V: Since my release from jail in 2004, my religion has also become my political statement. I am living among Palestinian Christians; they are real Christians living under military occupation, just like Jesus did. Church is a place for social meetings and for sharing political experiences.

E: Do you think 21st century man understands JC any better than in the first century?

V: If they have adopted his ideas to support the poor and not make wars, and understand there is no super race, no people who are more chosen than any other.

E: What do you think about the fact that JC was never a Christian, but that he was born, lived and died a Palestinian Jew under military occupation, and do you identify with him that way?

V: Yes, it is same today here in Jerusalem but with a different army.

I once wrote an Op-ed and called Vanunu a prophet. When he read the piece, he emailed me and in bold letters wrote: “DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

I won’t to his face, but in the spirit of freedom of speech, I cannot help myself. Prophets do NOT predict the future-as much as they point out impending doom. Vanunu pointed the way to the weapons of mass destruction program underground in the Negev desert, and yet, not one IAEA inspection has been allowed, nor demanded by the USA.

The Hebrew prophet Jeremiah also spent much of his life under house arrest in Jerusalem, for being a truth teller. We know more about the personal life and struggles of Jeremiah than any other Hebrew prophet. Jeremiah, which translates as “The Lord throws”-as in hurling, had few friends and is considered primarily a prophet of doom.

Jeremiah was intensely introspective, self-critical, timid by nature but honest and open about his feelings. Jeremiah never married and began prophesying in Judah from 604-586, a time of storm and stress when the doom of entire nations-including Judah itself-was being sealed. Jeremiah had been the king’s friend and confident, but the prophet soon entered a dreary round of persecution and imprisonment, alternating with only brief periods of freedom, and lived under virtual house arrest.

Jeremiah was also labeled a traitor by many for speaking the brutal truth, “I cannot keep silent…Disaster follows disaster; the land lies in ruins…My people are fools; they do not know me.”-Jeremiah 4:19.

1. Memoirs of a Nice Irish-American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory, Chapter 7: Brother V, Eileen Fleming

2. IBID

3. Letters From Prison to Father Dave, available in PDF by email from Fr. Dave @

dave@fatherdave.org





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