Exploring aspects of the “counter-culture” of the 1960’s against the background of the CIA and military’s experimentation with mind-altering substances and various mind-control techniques, this program asks the question: “Was it really good?”
Key Points of Analysis and Discussion Include:
1.–Details concerning SPAN, the operational code-name for the dosing with LSD of the entire town of Pont St.-Esprit in Southern France.
2.–The story of William Hayward, the director of the ’60s cult film Easy Rider. Hayward was the victim of psychiatric confinement by elements associated with the intelligence community.
3.–The monitoring of Ken Kesey’s LSD events by members of the intelligence community.
4.–Former OSS agent Gregory Bateson’s stewardship of the introduction of Ken Kesey to LSD.
5.–Sourcing for the information about the Bateson/Kesey dynamic and discussion of CIA and military experiments with mind-altering substances at the University of Vermont.
6.–CIA operative George Hunter White’s surreptitious dosing of unwitting subjects with LSD.
7.–George Hunter White’s arrest of jazz singer Billie Holiday for opium possession in 1949. Drug arrests destroyed Holiday’s ability to work in establishments that served alcohol.
8.–The story of a San Francisco event featuring the cream of the psychedelic bands of the time. The event benefitted the Hare Krishna cult.
9.–Discussion of the fascist philosophy of the leader of the Hare Krishna cult.
10.–The biography of John Perry Barlow, former campaign manager for Dick Cheney and lyricist for the Grateful Dead. Barlow’s role with the EFF, an organization with many worthy members and reputation but one which, nonetheless, has worked for the intelligence community.
11.–Barlow’s interaction with the CIA and NSA and an examination of the possibility of his stewardship of social media.
Transformed into something of an icon during the “Psychedelic Era” of the 1960’s, Sandoz’s Albert Hoffman’s political affiliations are fundamentally different from his “Peace and Love” persona minted during that time.
The reality of that time is fundamentally different from the surviving cultural and political narrative.
This program sets forth disturbing facts about Hoffman, his relationship with the CIA and the Sandoz firm’s activities in World War II.
“. . . . In the same interview [Gordon] Wasson said that Albert Hofmann ‘worked in some way with the CIA’ and that Hoffman’s ‘discoveries were imparted in whole by Sandoz to the U.S. government. Sandoz wanted to be on the right side of things.’ Hofmann’s connection to the CIA has never been officially confirmed by the CIA, which maintains a policy of not commenting on or revealing information on foreign citizens who find their way into its employment. Former agency officials have commented anonymously that several Sandoz scientists and officials, including Hofmann, maintained a close relationship with the CIA, but the ‘Agency never fully trusted the Swiss’ and ‘always held a dual insurance policy with Sandoz’ by vetting and placing covert employees within the firm’s laboratories and administration. . . .”
Elements of Discussion and Analysis Include: The World War II indictment of Sandoz for collaborating with Nazi Germany; Hofmann’s work for the CIA; the presence of U.S. biological warfare personnel in France at the time of the disastrous Pont St.-Esprit ergot/LSD outbreak; Hofmann’s presence in Pont St.-Esprit in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak; Hofmann’s misrepresentation of the cause of the outbreak, attributing it to the use of a mercury compound used to preserve seeds: ” . . . . ‘The mass poisoning in the southern France city of Pont-St. Esprit in the year 1951, which many have attributed to ergot-containing bread, actually had nothing to do with ergotism. It rather involved poisoning by an organic mercury compound that was utilized for disinfecting seeds]’ . . . .”; Hofmann’s discussion with doctors investigating the outbreak in the immediate aftermath of the event–a discussion in which the mercury poisoning theory was dismissed: ” . . . .The doctors at the meeting agreed that mercury poisoning was not evident in any manner, specially because of the persistent lack of kidney or liver damage. . . .”; an account of the Pont St.-Esprit outbreak.
In FTR #991, we detailed the esoteric fascist/Nazi philosophy of Hare Krishna cult founder and head guru A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. On 1/29/1967, Prabhupada and his cult were the beneficiaries of monies generated by a concert and dance featuring the leading San Francisco psychedelic-era rock bands. The event also featured participation by LSD guru Timothy Leary. Leary’s activities and career are inextricably linked with the CIA. All of the contents of this website as of 12/19/2014–Dave Emory’s 37+ years of research and broadcasting–as well as hours of videotaped lectures are available on a 32GB flash drive. Dave offers his programs and articles for free–your support is very much appreciated. All of the contents of this website as of 12/19/2014–Dave Emory’s 37+ years of research and broadcasting–as well as hours of videotaped lectures are available on a 32GB flash drive. Dave offers his programs and articles for free–your support is very much appreciated.
In FTR #854, we noted John Perry Barlow’s background as Dick Cheney’s campaign manager and George Wallace supporter in 1968. In FTR #895, we discussed the fact that the Electronic Frontier Foundation embraced technologies developed by CIA-linked institutions. Barlow founded the EFF. It turns out that Barlow was invited to CIA headquarters in 1992 and advanced concepts that may well have lead to the development of social media–”. . . Let’s create a process of information digestion in which inexpensive data are gathered from largely open sources and condensed, through an open process . . . The entity I envision would be small, highly networked, and generally visible. It would be open to information from all available sources . . . It would rely heavily on the Internet, public media, the academic press, and an informal worldwide network of volunteers–a kind of global Neighborhood Watch–that would submit on-the-ground reports. . . . It would use off-the-shelf technology, and use it less for gathering data than for collating and communicating them. Being off-the-shelf, it could deploy tools while they were still state-of-the-art. . . .”
Previously, we have mused about GOP promotion for the Burning Man Arts Festival and the possibility that “Haight Ashbury II”–as we dubbed it–might actually be another “op” with elements of the intelligence community and organized crime collaborating to experiment on the unwitting adherents of the so-called counter-culture. Now, we learn that none other than Grover Norquist is planning on attending this year’s gathering.
Decades ago, we undertook to chronicle the frightening mind control programs that U.S. and other intelligence services have implemented. As readers peruse the items excerpted below, they should remember that military and intelligence establishments are almost always way ahead of the civilian sector in cutting-edge scientific research and development. New research has permitted scientists to successfully implant faulty memories in test animals. Portable brain scanning devices are being marketed for casual consumer use. Suffice it to say, that we are entering into a technological age which will not only render constitutional democracy obsolete, but will change and negate the very concepts underlying our physical and cognitive existence and civilization.
WikiLeaks inextricably linked with intelligence services around the world; A founder of the group says they act like “spies”; WikiLeaks’ Swedish base of operations overlaps the Swedish fascist political milieu portrayed in the Stieg Larsson books and movies.
WikiLeaks kingpin Assange appears connected to powerful mind-control cult; Australian intelligence involved with the cult? Members die their hair blonde, have multiple identities, passports, birthdates. Possible Third Position orientation of the group.
Listen: Side 1 | Side 2 Highlighting an aspect of “the Unabomber” case that has attracted comparatively little attention, this program documents convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski’s participation in an experiment at Harvard while an undergraduate. This experiment may very well been part of the intelligence community’s psychological experimentation and mind control programs. 1. Shortly before […]
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