HELP FIGHT THIS BITCH. DONATE TO PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
David "Chemtrail" Morrison has hit the jackpot and
is living high on the gravy train!
June 20th, 2012 COREY PEIN | News
Wireless Waste
Portland schools have had to spend $172,000 fighting a parent's lawsuit over Wi-Fi.
One year ago, the parent of a Portland Public Schools
student sued the district with claims a new Wi-Fi network in his
daughter’s middle school was poisoning her and potentially harming other
students.
As WW reported, there’s no scientific evidence for such claims (see “Wi-Fi Woo-Woo,” WW,
July 13, 2011). The parent, David Mark Morrison, who works as a
rare-book dealer, is part of a pseudo-scientific movement that claims
Wi-Fi and related technologies cause everything from brain cancer to
infertility to digestive complaints.
Most studies that
adherents cite as evidence haven’t been published or peer-reviewed in
reputable scientific journals. Some anti-wireless websites sell
literature and protective charms, including amulets and crystals.
Morrison’s case might have been easy to label as frivolous and, it seems, might have been headed for an early dismissal.
Not so. Portland Public Schools officials tell WW
they have already spent $172,559 in public money to defend the district
against Morrison’s claim that PPS’s Wi-Fi network has harmed his
daughter.
The case against PPS
has dragged on in U.S. District Court in Portland, with hundreds of
hours billed by PPS’s outside counsel, the law firm Miller Nash.
“The fact that the
plaintiffs have so many purported experts, all of whom we had to
research and depose, really added to the cost, as did the extensive
discovery requests,” PPS general counsel and board secretary Jollee
Patterson told WW in an emailed response to questions.
The legal expense
comes at a time when PPS is strapped, and the City of Portland recently
diverted $7.1 million to help bail out the district.
Morrison did not return WW’s message. Nor did his attorney, Shawn E. Abrell of Camas, Wash. Last year, Morrison told WW he thought studies contradicting his beliefs were corrupted by industry.
One
Morrison expert PPS attorneys have had to depose is Barrie Trower, who
claims he worked on a “stealth” microwave warfare program for the
British Navy (noting he had no rank because he refused promotions) and
was assigned to a secret British prison housing “spies, dissidents,
international terrorists [and] gangland killers.”
Trower claims a
bachelor’s degree in physics earned in night classes, has been
repeatedly turned down by Ph.D. programs, and says he recently traveled
to consult with “the king in South Africa” on Wi-Fi dangers. (South
Africa abolished the monarchy in 1961.)
PPS has its own $400-an-hour expert, Brown University professor of epidemiology David Savitz.
“In the case of Wi-Fi
exposure,” Savitz writes in his declaration, “there is no epidemiologic
evidence whatsoever that counters the lack of biological support for a
potential health hazard.”
The school district’s
attorney, Bruce Campbell, argued in court filings that Morrison’s
experts present “fringe views outside the mainstream of science by
witnesses who are not qualified to offer their opinions.”
In a written response
to Campbell’s motion to strike his testimony, Trower concludes flatly
that “Wi-Fi uses a similar frequency to a microwave oven.”
Sadly, though, you can’t make popcorn with a Wi-Fi router.
$172,000? Are you shitting us? That's gotta buy a lot of chemtrail CD's.
In the comments, Richard Frager takes a break from UFO watching to defend Morrison, implying a commenter is an "agent":
06.22.2012 at 10:03
Bruce, whom exactly do YOU work for? This answer would be very revealing.
06.23.2012 at 05:06
falseflagusa: "Oh, this guy disagrees with me, he probably works for SuperMegaEvil Corp.!"
Frager alerts the group
through the list:
Hit piece on David Morrison in this weeks Willamette Week
Richard Frager <science@...>
falseflagusa
Comments with lulz:
Morrison Bawling:
06.21.2012 at 01:16
i smell a bit of a rat here as well. georgeiii who posted
that hit website and the WW are perhaps in concert to discredit this
case by putting together a blog of which at least 60 percent is not
true. that will become a slander law suit now that we have the source.
interesting the lengths that the corporate world will go to. other
people involved in this from scientists have been threatened, killed,
had their houses burned down, etc. Is that the company that the WW
wants to keep.
06.21.2012 at 01:11
"Mr" Morrison sir, you are a nut.
If Wi-Fi is an
issue, then we are all doomed by the sun. The power of a wireless signal
is 1/10,000 of a radio wave from a broadcast station and 1/100,000 of a
television station.
All of which are dwarfed by the EM
generated by our own Sun and that is dwarfed by the magnetosphere that
protects us from the rest.
Want to know science? Read a science
book. No I said a SCIENCE book, not a journal written by a discredited
sociologist who is in need of donations from Internet users. If you knew
real physics, mathematics you would not have an issue.
This is
not to say Wi-fi does not generate any EM field, but the EM of a power
pole transformer is greater and likely more damaging. Do you live in the
industrialized world? Then the house you live in actually generates
more EM than a Wi-fi router does.
I assume you have walked
around with a magnetometer and figured this all out right? No? Why not? I
refer to my opening statement.
If you have such an issue, maybe the Amish way of life is better suited to you.
06.21.2012 at 06:40
A question I don't see answered is has Mr Morrison pulled
his daughter out of that school? If he has not, he's clearly pulling a
scam. Nobody would keep their child in an environment they truly felt
was dangerous.
The other question I don't see answered - what doctors
have examined Mr Morrison's daughter to determine she has been harmed?
And how was this quantified? Are her brainwaves abnormal? Does she
exibit some kind of learning disability? If he claimes she has been
harmed, he must be basing this on some kind of measurement.
In my
opinion, the school district could save a lot of money by having Mr
Morrison's daughter sport a tin foil hat throughout the day. The cost
would be just pennies, and I'm sure it would be great for her social
life. She could match it to her outfit each day - pirate hat one day,
captians hat the next, etc. Problem solved.
Morrison Bawls again:
06.23.2012 at 12:30
i would bet that the defense attorney or someone on the
school board called the ww to do this hit piece at this critical time
for the case. right out of the republican play book. prostitution is
not limited to the sex trade. good work
06.23.2012 at 04:13
Or, Mr. Morrison, just like the judge and/or jury will likely do, your fanciful suit was showed to be so by a reporter.
06.22.2012 at 12:01
for those that would like to actually find out about the
case and review the witness declarations to find out why this case was
filed on behalf of our children check out website
www.wirelesswatchblog.org
most of the cruel, nasty comments are from paid telecom shills that
come out whenever there is an article or case like this. they write the
same incendiary stuff and the hit web page they posted was created soon
after the case was filed, possibly by WW staff. it is too coincendal
that it was posted immediately in the first comment.
06.22.2012 at 12:31
@David Morrison
Exactly how much are you asking for in your lawsuit? What kind of renumeration and/or compensation are you demanding from PPS?
Morrison ignores this question, instead posting a tl;dr screed, which is, of course, blown out of the water by the following comment:
06.23.2012 at 04:21
Mr. Morrison, it looks like the only PPS document from the
case you have linked to is of a Dr. David Ortiz. It pretty much slices
and dices your case apart -- no biological evidence, all extrapolation,
and no epidemiological basis for the claims.
Owned and pwnned.
A year ago he was interviewed on TV wearing his bet conspiracy chic:
Parent sues to get Wi-Fi removed from Portland schools
[video at link]
PORTLAND, Ore. - A parent of a Portland Public Schools student is suing
the district claiming Wi-Fi in the schools has alarming effects on
children.
David Morrison wants the district to pull Wi-Fi out of the schools immediately and filed a federal lawsuit Friday.
He says not only are there harmful health effects but that it’s a constitutional issue as well.
Last year Morrison took his daughter out of a private school because he
said it put a cell tower on campus. Now his 13-year-old goes to Mount
Tabor Middle School which is the very school where parents signed
petitions just last year to keep a tower from going up next to the
school’s playground.
After researching the issue for a year, Morrison said he found
concerning information about health effects from radiation, especially
around kids.
“The case is a constitutional issue – freedom of choice for safe environment for my daughter,” he said.
Morrison said he feels he’s got a pretty good chance in court. He’s got several health experts prepared to testify.
A similar case happened in Chicago in 2003. At the time the district
there said they were complying with all government regulations for
wireless networks.
When asked what he’ll do if he doesn’t win his case, Morrison said he’ll
likely pull his daughter out of Portland Public Schools.
KATU News contacted the district but hadn’t heard from it by airtime Wednesday night.
Morrison spammed comments copiously under his "jailbush" nick, tinfoil laden as always:
Morrison's been porking out at this trough for a year:
Wi-Fi Woo-Woo
Pseudo-science strikes again in a parent’s lawsuit against Portland Public Schools.
The parent of a student at Mount Tabor Middle School has
sued Portland Public Schools, claiming that its use of Wi-Fi is
“genotoxic, carcinogenic, neurotoxic and otherwise…harmful” to his
daughter.
Yes, this is the same
kind of Wi-Fi that provides wireless Internet connections in public
buildings, coffee shops and homes across America.
There’s virtually no
scientific basis for the belief that Wi-Fi is a health threat. But the
federal civil suit against PPS is the latest expression of anxiety by a
growing community of Wi-Fi-phobic and self-diagnosed “electrosensitive”
individuals who believe a laundry list of physical ailments can be
traced to the proliferation of consumer electronics.
Last year in Santa
Fe, N.M., a man sued his neighbor over her use of an iPhone, claiming it
interfered with his digestion. Earlier this year in Portland, a group
of neighborhood activists monkey-wrenched Clearwire’s plans to install
new towers to expand its 4G wireless Internet service, citing health
concerns. Wi-Fi fears have spawned a cottage industry around the sale of
protective amulets and field-disruptors.
To many physicists,
radio engineers and psychiatrists, all this is quackery. “Nobody has
ever claimed, as far as I can see—a legitimate organization with
legitimate credentials—that Wi-Fi was dangerous,” says Sam Churchill, a
Pearl District resident whose blog, dailywireless.org, tracks the
wireless industry.
In his suit filed
June 17 against the Portland schools, David Morrison doesn’t want money.
He just wants to publicize what he says is the threat Wi-Fi, cellphones
and cell towers pose to us all. “The telecom companies know this,”
Morrison says. “They will someday be sued like the tobacco companies.”
Morrison,
a bookseller with no science background, says he went down the “rabbit
hole” of online research after the private school where he used to send
his daughter allowed a cell tower to be installed on its grounds. He
later enrolled his daughter at Mount Tabor only to learn the school used
Wi-Fi; he filed his suit after the school district declined to rewire
its computer systems.
On June 30, U.S.
District Judge Michael W. Mosman denied Morrison’s request for an
injunction barring the district’s use of Wi-Fi. PPS has yet to file a
response.
A district spokesman says Morrison is the first parent to complain about the Wi-Fi. “The majority of the evidence says there’s not adverse health impacts,” Robb Cowie says.
There’s
no proof Wi-Fi makes people sick. Advocates like Morrison cite many
studies that experts say are flawed by design and often are not
peer-reviewed. But neither can scientists say with absolute certainty
that exposure to low-level radio-frequency electromagnetic field, or RF
EMF, radiation has no long-term health effects. The key, experts say, is
proximity, intensity and duration of exposure. Federal Communications
Commission guidelines put RF EMF exposure from cell towers and Wi-Fi
routers well within the safety zone.
Still, the
anti-wireless activists have been emboldened by a June decision from the
World Health Organization. After reviewing a large body of research,
WHO classified EMF radiation, such as that emitted by cell phones and
wireless routers, as a “possible carcinogen,” like welding fumes or
coffee.
But
Wi-Fi signals are a long way from being a proven carcinogen as
identified by the WHO—such as cigarette smoke, plutonium-239, the X-rays
used at dentists’ offices and airport security checkpoints, and solar
radiation (i.e., sunlight).
Morrison bawls:
07.13.2011 at 07:51
This guy that interviewed me is entirely ignorant of the
science as well as the controversy on the subject. The recent WHO
classification of WI FI radiation as a class 2B "possible" carcinogen is
no small matter. The WHO has been compromised by industry money and
has been carrying water for the telecoms for years but couldn't do it
any more as thousands of studies now confirm that yes-- wi fi is a
dangerous technology. The author is compromised by his own addiction to
technology and undoubtedly is generationally challenged so that his
knowledge base and his belief system have sealed him into a state of
denial. The WHO classification is no small matter. It is huge and will
open the gates for thousands of law suits in the wings. Blind faith in
industry has lead us to population control by default through tobacco,
asbestos, our friend the atom, plastics, ddt (they used to spray it on
kids to show it was safe), lead (the same classification as wi fi).
Europe is way ahead of the united states as they are removing wi fi from
schools and libraries.
07.13.2011 at 10:26
Mr. Morrison (not Doctor...),
You accuse the author of this article for being "ignorant of
science," yet you yourself have no formal scientific background. You
claim that there are real and valid studies that show Wi-Fi is
dangerous, when, in fact, you have no professional or academic basis to
judge the validity of these studies.
You waste our time and tax dollars with this frivolous lawsuit. The
benefits of Wi-Fi and cell technology far outweigh the risk of my brain
being flouresced when a lab tech injects me with dye. If you want to
link to a peer-reviewed study peformed (and reviewed) by reputable
scientists, go ahead. Show me a source that says "Europe" is removing
Wi-Fi from its schools and libraries.
07.13.2011 at 12:06
Smart
Also, we never landed on the moon. Airliners aren't consencing air into water when the fly overhead, they're spraying ddt on us. I've been probed by aliens. 9/11 was an inside job. Let's see, what have we missed?
07.13.2011 at 01:01
MaxRedline
Similar hysteria to that promulgated by Morrison was ascribed to crt display screens, once upon a time.
07.13.2011 at 05:01
Robert
Translation: "I am far more educated than the average person on the issue. Research from the sources I have selected prove I am right. Large institutions are conspiring to cover up the truth if they don't agree with me. I am extremely afraid. I do not understand science/mathematics."
Interestingly the Pew Center has found this exact belief pattern in Tea Partiers on the debt ceiling. Perhaps it's not their fault, but of our education system and sensational framing by media outlets clutching at pageviews and Nielsens.
How unfortunate Mr Morrison is so driven by the above world view that he needs to cause likely 100's of thousands or more of public dollars to be spent in the courts.
And shame on his counsel.
The hot wife wieghs in:
07.13.2011 at 10:24
Louanne
Excuse me, but of what should Mr. Morrison's counsel be ashamed? These delcarations of defensive, narrow-minded denial only drive the issue further into the ground. I have tremendous respect for a concerned parent who has dedicated this degree of effort and research to such a hotbed of controversy, and has the courage to commit wholeheartedly to his caring convictions despite their unpopularity.
It is Mr. Fein and Willamette Week who ought hang their heads in shame, allowing such a blindly damning assault into public view without nary a breath of journalistic investigation or sensibility.
Mr. Morrison must suffer the cruel slings and arrows of outrageous ignorance. I applaud him for his pioneering drive and his parental devotion. It is clear what matters to him.
There is no such agenda evident in this lazy 'article' or these mocking Comments.
07.13.2011 at 08:24
Robert
Biological insults commenters mention: tobacco, DDT, plastizers, lead, etc., participate in the chemical reactions of the body. Ionizing radiation sources: ultraviolet light, radioactive decay particles and x-rays, knock electrons off of molecules in the body, leading to unwanted chemical reactions. If you remember from school, chemical reactions are reactions between the electron shells of atoms.
The reason scientists are skeptical of claims radio waves are harmful is that there is no known mechanism. The wavelengths don’t correspond to anything in the body, nor do the frequencies. They don’t have enough energy to ionize, and they don’t participate in chemical reactions. The body is salt water, so the skin blocks radio waves from penetrating, especially at high frequencies, like WiFi. The only known mechanism is heating. Unless you are in the military repairing active radar, you are not going to get detectable body heat from radio waves, including WiFi.
But there is solid evidence that self induced stress, over issues like this for instance, weakens your immune system. That immune system is responsible for removing cell faults caused by purely random mutations - those that occur in the absence of any actual hazards, every day, even in children (who hopefully are learning science).
07.14.2011 at 10:48
Ben Waterhouse
If electro-magnetic fields are deadly, how is it that we've managed to survive 200,000 years living on what amounts to a 5.9722 × 10^24 kg magnet, with a field extending thousands of miles into space? The Earth's magnetic field is strong enough to make compasses possible, but my wireless router isn't even strong enough to cover my whole back yard. Why worry about wifi and not shortwave radio, which has after all been around for nearly a century with no ill health effects reported?
07.14.2011 at 06:30
jockitch
"The Earth's magnetic field is strong enough to make compasses possible, but my wireless router isn't even strong enough to cover my whole back yard."
Do you have a cell tower on top of your house? If you're so confident that it's safe I'm sure you could find a company willing to lease your roof space. As an added bonus, we could use you as a guinea pig. Oh I get it now, you're just really concerned about the childrens' ability to get good reception.
07.15.2011 at 10:33
jr43
@Jockitch:
Anyone who is serously afraid of cell tower RF output should be delighted to have a transmitter on top of their house since the signal gets spread outward in the so-called "fountain effect" and very little is directed below. It's far better than being across the road from a tower if RF exposure is your fear.
07.14.2011 at 11:31
Joe Gallegos
The whole thing is absurd. I'm from New Mexico myself and I remember when the news story came out in Santa Fe that they referenced above. The guy ended up losing the suit because there is absolutely no scientific evidence to prove it. The World Health Organization did a study on that stuff and found no causal link whatsoever.
If you're curious, here's a link to the article on the story in the Santa Fe Reporter from January of last year. It also mentions the WHO study. http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-5135-iphoned-home.html
07.14.2011 at 04:46
Ben Waterhouse
So are you saying it's the frequency of the radiation that matters, regardless of dose? Why is the UHF band dangerous when it's used by cell towers but not by television stations? Why, for that matter, is the SHF band, which includes microwave ovens and WLAN, dangerous regardless of intensity (wifi is very low, your microwave is very high), but not the much higher-frequency infrared?
07.15.2011 at 12:45
Robert
A scientist would say if there were any effect, it would be frequency, intensity, duration and even modulation or polarization specific. That's why critics who lump all radio waves together have zero credibility.
Much of the paranoia has been created by multi-level marketers, like BioPro. Expert witnesses, like those involved so far in this case, and "non-profits", are supporting themselves economically from it as surely as the Sizemores have from their issues.
Now we get the real story:
Much of the paranoia
has been created by multi-level marketers, like BioPro. Expert
witnesses, like those involved so far in this case, and "non-profits",
are supporting themselves economically from it as surely as the
Sizemores have from their issues.
In other words, it's another SCAM.
Cuz if selling a photo at $20 a piece is fraud, then sucking 172 grand from teachers and students in a frivolous lolsuit sure as fuck is.
For moar hilarity:
Reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/vhx48/portland_schools_have_had_to_spend_172000/
http://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/vj2t4/wireless_waste_portland_schools_have_had_to_spend/
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/wweek/posts/379716185411078
HELP FIGHT THIS BITCH. DONATE TO PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
DONATE DONATE DONATE
Note on payment: For Wifi Lawsuit
For other scams pushed by group members>
HERE
In the wake of bad press
Morrison tried to change his tune at Facebook:
In the interest of raising money for PPS legal fees, which I am all for, why not have a debate between Cory Pein and David Morrison
about the biological effects of pulsed radio frequency microwave
radiation and the safety of wi fi in public schools. This event could
be sponsored by the City Club and lots of high rollers would turn out in
support of the school. I bet the entire 140,000.00 could be raised to
pay for this round of the law suit.
Since Cory Pein is expert
enough to put his reputation on the line about the subject by writing an
article dismissing any biological effects of cell phones, wi fi and
phone masts, he must be willing to debate the subject in a public forum.
Sincerely,
David Morrison
http://www.wirelesswatchblog.org/
Wireless Watch
www.wirelesswatchblog.org
Wireless Watch -
What a pompous faggot. Go to his Facebook page and tell him so:
David Morrison
David Morrison likes:
UPDATE: Sanity prevails.
Morrison Pwned by Federal Judge:
Wi-Fi lawsuit against Portland Public Schools dismissed by federal judge
By
Helen Jung, The Oregonian
on July 20, 2012 at 4:41 PM, updated July 20, 2012 at 5:33 PM
A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to force
Portland Public Schools to remove Wi-Fi installations from its schools.
The lawsuit, filed last year by Southeast Portland parent David Mark
Morrison, argued that Wi-Fi exposes children to unacceptable levels of
radiation over prolonged periods of time and impacts their health.
But U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman found that the lawsuit, while
aimed at Portland Public Schools, also challenges the safety standards
set by the Federal Communications Commission. The radiation levels
emitted by its Wi-Fi networks are below the limits established
by the FCC, Portland Public Schools argued.
Mosman said the FCC, not his court, has the authority to consider such a challenge or change to its rules.
Morrison's
attorney Shawn Abrell argued that the agency does not deal with issues
in a timely manner. He also called the FCC "an agency so tied up with
telecommunications companies, it's ineffective."
But Mosman said "that fact, if I accepted it as true, doesn't confer jurisdiction on me."
The
judge did not address the merits of the lawsuit and did not rule on
motions by both sides to strike the expert opinions of the opposing
side.
Morrison said he intends to appeal the decision.
