Huffington Post: Melvin Morse, Pediatrician Accused Of Waterboarding Stepdaughter, Says He Is Victim Of State Hysteria

Randall Chase
The Huffington Post
Oh, this is gonna be good. And by "be good", I mean I'll be lucky if my screen isn't broken by the end of it.


DOVER, Del. — A Delaware pediatrician who achieved national recognition for his research into near-death experiences involving children may have been experimenting on his 11-year-old stepdaughter by waterboarding her, police said in court documents.

The possible link between Dr. Melvin Morse's research and the waterboarding allegations was revealed in an affidavit for a search warrant for Morse's computers. The document was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. And, you know, from a frightened eleven-year-old girl!

According to the affidavit, Dr. Melvin Morse brought the girl "to a possible near death state from the simulation of drowning."

"This `waterboarding' that he has performed ... would fall into the area of study he practices," police said in the affidavit. "It is logical that he has therefore written about and/or researched the topic of `waterboarding.'"

Joe Hurley, an attorney for Morse, said the idea that Morse was experimenting on his own daughter is "the sheerest of speculation." Because an eleven-year-old girl whose face was repeatedly held under the faucet is the "sheerest of speculation." Way to go, Attorney Hurley.

Morse, who faces a preliminary hearing Thursday on felony child endangerment and conspiracy charges, has authored several books and articles on paranormal science and near-death experiences.

He has appeared on "Larry King Live" and the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to discuss his research on out-of-body experiences. His Web site, , is strewn with commentary about God, love, family and death. http://spiritualscientific.com

Morse told AP in a telephone interview Monday that the charges against him are an overreaction from authorities who were criticized in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal involving another pediatrician.

Morse said he is the victim of "post-Bradley hysteria," a reference to pediatrician Earl Bradley, who was convicted a year ago and is serving 14 life sentences for sexually abusing scores of his young patients over more than a decade. This is something I've noticed a lot in parties who later get the guilty verdict: "Waaaaaaa! I'm the victim here, everyone else is so meeeeeeean! They don't understaaaaaand meeeee!"

Following Bradley's arrest in December 2009, state officials ordered investigations into how he was allowed to continue practicing medicine for years despite suspicions that he was molesting his patients. Lawmakers passed several new laws toughening requirements for police, health care workers and others to report suspected child abuse.

The allegations of waterboarding came after Morse was accused of grabbing his 11-year-old stepdaughter by the ankle in July  and, as her 6-year-old sister watched, dragging her across a gravel drivewaywhich is fucking despicable in its own right. He was arrested July 13 on misdemeanor endangerment and assault charges and released on bail.

When the older girl was interviewed last week, she told investigators that her father disciplined her by holding her face under a running faucet at least four times since 2009, a punishment that she said her father called "waterboarding." Maybe it's just me, but I don't think an eleven-year-old would know the term "waterboarding" unless someone called it that. There's always the possibility that she's a news geek, but...

Waterboarding simulates drowning and it has been used in the past by U.S. interrogators on terrorism suspects. Many critics call it torture. BECAUSE IT IS. 

State police said the girl's mother, Pauline Morse, witnessed some of the waterboarding but did not stop it. She is also out on bail.

Melvin and Pauline Morse were both charged with felony child endangerment and conspiracy.

"All of these things are very absurd, except that Delaware has really had the trauma (of Bradley)," Morse told the AP. I'm going to refrain from calling him every single name in my arsenal. This really is too much.

Morse, 58, ended the interview before he could be asked directly about the waterboarding allegations. Me me me me poor me...oh, you want to talk about the things I did? Interview's over!

Hurley, the attorney for Morse, has raised doubts about the girl's claims. He has described the waterboarding description as an "attention-getter" by authorities, based on an allegation from an 11-year-old who he said had made a false abuse claim against a family member before.

"I have no doubt but that the Bradley phenomenon has its fingerprints all over the sensationalization of this situation," Hurley said. I don't like you either, Attorney Hurley. Just so you know. And so I don't have to write a two-thousand-word screed composed purely of profanity.

State officials suspended Morse's medical license after his arrest last week.

Morse, who was released from custody Friday after posting $14,500 secured bail, claimed he was "the first doctor to blow the whistle on Earl Bradley." That's nice. How is it relevant?

Morse said he warned state officials in 2007 that Bradley was using saline solution to give fake vaccines to his patients, though state officials said they never received a report from Morse until after Bradley was arrested in 2009.

"I reported that, and I'm the only Delaware physician who had the courage to testify for the Bradley victims," said Morse, claiming that he gave a deposition in the Bradley case.

Oh right. You're one of those people who is always "the good guy" because you allegedly blew the whistle on "a bad guy" and nothing you say or do can ever be wrong or evil because of that, right? Your sense of responsibility is frightening skewed, Dr. Morse. Please go away. 

The Guardian: Julian Assange will be granted asylum, says official

Irene Caselli
The Guardian, Tuesday 14 August 2012
Presented without comment. I'm too tired and irritated to give any witty insight beyond "You Bond-villain-looking motherfucker go die in a hole".

Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, has agreed to grant Julian Assangeasylum, officials within Ecuador's government have said. The WikiLeaksfounder has been holed up at Ecuador's London embassy since 19 June, when he officially requested political asylum.

"Ecuador will grant asylum to Julian Assange," said an official in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito, who is familiar with the government discussions.

On Monday, Correa told state-run ECTV that he would decide this week whether to grant asylum to Assange. Correa said a large amount of material about international law had to be examined to make a responsible, informed decision.

Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño, indicated that the president would reveal his answer once the Olympic Games were over. But it remains unclear if Assange will be allowed to leave Britain and fly to Ecuador, or amounts to little more than a symbolic gesture.

At the moment he faces arrest as soon as he leaves the embassy for breaching his bail conditions.

"For Mr Assange to leave England, he should have a safe pass from the British [government]. Will that be possible? That's an issue we have to take into account," Patiño told Reuters on Tuesday.

Government sources in Quito confirmed that despite the outstanding legal issues, Correa would grant Assange asylum – a move that would annoy Britain, the US and Sweden. They added that the offer was made to Assange several months ago, well before he sought refuge in the embassy, and following confidential negotiations with senior London embassy staff.

An official with knowledge of the discussions said the embassy had discussed Assange's request. The British government, however, "discouraged the idea", the official said. He described the Swedish government as "not very collaborative".

The official added: "We see Assange's request as a humanitarian issue. The contact between the Ecuadorean government and WikiLeaks goes back to May 2011, when we became the first country to see the leaked US embassy cables completely declassified ... It is clear that when Julian entered the embassy there was already some sort of deal. We see in his work a parallel with our struggle for national sovereignty and the democratisation of international relations."

However, on Tuesday night after the Guardian broke the story Correa wrote on Twitter: "Rumour of asylum for Assange is false. There is still no decision on the subject. I await report from [Ecuadorian] foreign office." Assange retweeted the message.

Assange took refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct. He is said to be living in one room of the diplomatic building, where he has an internet connection.

Ecuadorian diplomats believe Assange is at risk of being extradited from Sweden to the US, where he could face the death penalty. Assange's supporters claim the US has already secretly indicted him following WikiLeaks' release in 2010 of US diplomatic cables, as well as classified Afghan and Iraq war logs.

Correa and Patiño have both said that Ecuador will take a sovereign decision regarding Assange. They say they are seeking to protect Assange's right to life and freedom. On Monday the state-run newspaper El Telégrafo confirmed that a decision had been made, although it did not specify what that decision was. It said senior officials had been meeting to iron out the last legal details.

Two weeks ago Assange's mother, Christine, paid Ecuador an official visit, following an invitation from the foreign affairs ministry. She met with Correa and Patiño, as well as with other top politicians, including Fernando Cordero, head of Ecuador's legislature. Both Patiño and Ms Assange appeared visibly touched during a press conference, which had to be briefly suspended when Ms Assange started crying.

Ms Assange held several public meetings in government buildings, and in one instance she was accompanied by the head of her son's defence team, Baltasar Garzón, the former Spanish judge who ordered the London arrest of Chile's General Pinochet.

Other top political figures in Ecuador have been vocal about the government's support of Assange's bid. "Our comrade the president, who leads our international policy, will grant Julian Assange asylum," said María Augusta Calle, a congresswoman of the president's party, and former head of the Sovereignty, Foreign Affairs and Latin American Integration Commission during the 2008 Constitutional Assembly, during a meeting with Ms Assange.

Over the past year and a half, Assange has remained in touch with Ecuador's embassy in London. In April, he interviewed President Correa for his TV show on Russia Today, the English-language channel funded by the Russian government. The interview, which lasted 75 minutes, included a pally exchange in which Assange and Correa bonded over freedom of speech and the negative role of the US in Latin America. At one point Correa joked: "Are you having a lot of fun with the interview, Julian?" Assange replied: "I'm enjoying your jokes a great deal, yes."

Correa has made international headlines this year for what critics have called a government crackdown on private media. Analysts say that granting the WikiLeaks founder asylum could be a way for him to depict himself as a champion of freedom of speech ahead of the February 2013 presidential elections, in which he is expected to run again.