Generation of kids was washed away
In country after country, children have emerged as the biggest victims of Sunday's quake-born tidal waves -- thousands and thousands drowned, battered and washed away by huge walls of water that have decimated an entire generation of Asians.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
TSUNAMI STRANGENESS
Baby floats to safety on mattress in tsunami
A 20-day-old baby sleeping on a mattress has survived the tsunamis triggered by an earthquake off the Indonesian coast.
The girl floated to safety after Malaysia's Penang island was hit by the killer waves, according to local media reports.
S Tulasi was sleeping in a room behind her father's food stall on Penang's popular Batu Ferringhi beach when the waves hit.
[Deigo Garcia military base unaffected by tsunamis
The key United States military base in the Indian Ocean has been unaffected by the tsunamis which have devastated parts of Asia, The Washington Post has reported.
Diego Garcia, a British territory about 1,500 kilometres south of India, hosts about 3,200 US military personnel and civilian contractors and many US long-range bombers and Navy ships.]
Earthquake man-made?
What is interesting about this is that the same place where the whale beachings have been taking place over the last 30 days is the same general area where the 8.1 Australian earthquake took place, and this is the same area where they are doing these seismic tests. Then 2 days after the Australian tectonic plate shifted, the 9.0 earthquake shook the coast of Indonesia. A great deal of interest and seismic testing has been taking place in this area
SOYLENT GREEN
Saudi Government Daily accuses US Army of harvesting organs of Iraqis
In the Saudi government daily Al-Watan, an article from Brussels written by Fakhriya Ahmad charges that, based on alleged secret European military reports, the U.S. military in Iraq is harvesting and selling human organs. The following day, the story was also published in the Iranian daily Jomhouri-ye Islami, as well as the Syrian daily Teshreen. The following are excerpts from the article:
'Secret European military intelligence reports indicate the transformation of the American humanitarian mission in Iraq into a profitable trade in the American markets through the practice of American physicians extracting human organs from the dead and wounded, before they are put to death, for sale to medical centers in America. A secret team of American physicians follow the troops during their attacks on Iraqi armed men to ensure quick [medical] operations for extracting some organs and transferring them to private operations rooms before they are transferred to America for sale.'
In the Saudi government daily Al-Watan, an article from Brussels written by Fakhriya Ahmad charges that, based on alleged secret European military reports, the U.S. military in Iraq is harvesting and selling human organs. The following day, the story was also published in the Iranian daily Jomhouri-ye Islami, as well as the Syrian daily Teshreen. The following are excerpts from the article:
'Secret European military intelligence reports indicate the transformation of the American humanitarian mission in Iraq into a profitable trade in the American markets through the practice of American physicians extracting human organs from the dead and wounded, before they are put to death, for sale to medical centers in America. A secret team of American physicians follow the troops during their attacks on Iraqi armed men to ensure quick [medical] operations for extracting some organs and transferring them to private operations rooms before they are transferred to America for sale.'
EARTH CHANGES
Quake biggest natural disaster to date
An earthquake, the fourth largest recorded since 1900 and measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, occurred after a rupture on the Indian Ocean seabed caused by the violent grinding of two tectonic plates. Huge waves swept some 7000 kilometres as far as Africa. The overall death toll currently is estimated at near 30,000. Man more people are expected to die of epidemics in the wake of the tsunami.
Indonesia's Aceh province bore the brunt of the temblor, hit at point-blank range and then battered by a tsunami.
Earth's axis altered
The quake was so powerful it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map, US geophysicists said today. The temblor may have moved small islands as much as 20 metres, according to one expert.
"That earthquake has changed the map," US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut told AFP.
"Some of the smaller islands off the south-west coast of Sumatra may have moved to the south-west by about 20 metres. That is a lot of slip."
The north-western tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra may also have shifted to the south-west by around 36 metres, Hudnut said.
In addition, the energy released as the two sides of the undersea fault slipped against each other made the Earth wobble on its axis, Hudnut said.
"We can detect very slight motions of the Earth and I would expect that the Earth wobbled in its orbit when the earthquake occurred due to the massive amount of energy exerted and the sudden shift in mass," Hudnut said.
All the planet is vibrating
"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.
An earthquake, the fourth largest recorded since 1900 and measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, occurred after a rupture on the Indian Ocean seabed caused by the violent grinding of two tectonic plates. Huge waves swept some 7000 kilometres as far as Africa. The overall death toll currently is estimated at near 30,000. Man more people are expected to die of epidemics in the wake of the tsunami.
Indonesia's Aceh province bore the brunt of the temblor, hit at point-blank range and then battered by a tsunami.
Earth's axis altered
The quake was so powerful it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map, US geophysicists said today. The temblor may have moved small islands as much as 20 metres, according to one expert.
"That earthquake has changed the map," US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut told AFP.
"Some of the smaller islands off the south-west coast of Sumatra may have moved to the south-west by about 20 metres. That is a lot of slip."
The north-western tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra may also have shifted to the south-west by around 36 metres, Hudnut said.
In addition, the energy released as the two sides of the undersea fault slipped against each other made the Earth wobble on its axis, Hudnut said.
"We can detect very slight motions of the Earth and I would expect that the Earth wobbled in its orbit when the earthquake occurred due to the massive amount of energy exerted and the sudden shift in mass," Hudnut said.
All the planet is vibrating
"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.
Sunday, December 26, 2004
EARTH CHANGES
Arctic lights blamed on climate change
Eskimos and scientists report a strange 'lightness at noon' that is turning the usual all-day darkness of the high Canadian Arctic into twilight, apparently in defiance of natural laws. Canadian government officials say it may be the result of an unusual atmospheric phenomenon caused by global warming.
Inuit hunters are telling the government's weather station at Resolute Bay - Canada's second most northerly village, 1600 kilometres from the North Pole - of a new light in the sky.
And Wayne Davidson, the Canadian government official who runs the station, says he believes it it caused by climate change.
Eskimos and scientists report a strange 'lightness at noon' that is turning the usual all-day darkness of the high Canadian Arctic into twilight, apparently in defiance of natural laws. Canadian government officials say it may be the result of an unusual atmospheric phenomenon caused by global warming.
Inuit hunters are telling the government's weather station at Resolute Bay - Canada's second most northerly village, 1600 kilometres from the North Pole - of a new light in the sky.
And Wayne Davidson, the Canadian government official who runs the station, says he believes it it caused by climate change.
EARTH CHANGES
Massive earthquake felt in Tasmania
The world's biggest earthquake in almost four years has struck 800 km off the coast of Tasmania
'If it happened underneath a population centre in Australia, this would probably have destroyed a whole city,' seismologist Cvetan Sinadinovski said.
'In terms of size, this could have been more than 30 times stronger than the Newcastle event of 1989.'
[On December 28, 1989, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Newcastle, causing extensive damage and killing 13 people.]
The world's biggest earthquake in almost four years has struck 800 km off the coast of Tasmania
'If it happened underneath a population centre in Australia, this would probably have destroyed a whole city,' seismologist Cvetan Sinadinovski said.
'In terms of size, this could have been more than 30 times stronger than the Newcastle event of 1989.'
[On December 28, 1989, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck Newcastle, causing extensive damage and killing 13 people.]
Thursday, December 23, 2004
FEAR FACTOR
In US, 44 per cent say restrict Muslims
Nearly half of all Americans believe the US government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans, according to a nationwide poll.
The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.
Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim Americans.
The survey showed that 27 percent of respondents supported requiring all Muslim Americans to register where they lived with the federal government. Twenty-two percent favored racial profiling to identify potential terrorist threats. And 29 percent thought undercover agents should infiltrate Muslim civic and volunteer organizations to keep tabs on their activities and fund-raising.
Cornell student researchers questioned 715 people in the nationwide telephone poll conducted this fall. The margin of error was 3.6 percentage points.
Nearly half of all Americans believe the US government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans, according to a nationwide poll.
The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.
Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim Americans.
The survey showed that 27 percent of respondents supported requiring all Muslim Americans to register where they lived with the federal government. Twenty-two percent favored racial profiling to identify potential terrorist threats. And 29 percent thought undercover agents should infiltrate Muslim civic and volunteer organizations to keep tabs on their activities and fund-raising.
Cornell student researchers questioned 715 people in the nationwide telephone poll conducted this fall. The margin of error was 3.6 percentage points.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
HISTORY REPEATS
45 per cent of Britons never heard of Auschwitz killings
Nearly half of Britons (45 per cent) have never heard of Auschwitz, according to a new poll conducted among 4000 adults.
The survey uncovered shocking levels of ignorance about the Holocaust, and among women and the under-35s the figure is as high as 60 per cent.
The research was commissioned by the BBC in advance of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Nearly half of Britons (45 per cent) have never heard of Auschwitz, according to a new poll conducted among 4000 adults.
The survey uncovered shocking levels of ignorance about the Holocaust, and among women and the under-35s the figure is as high as 60 per cent.
The research was commissioned by the BBC in advance of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
OUR ALIEN MASTERS
September 11 conspiracy theorist offers prize
Millionaire activist Jimmy Walter, 57, is so convinced of a government cover-up he is offering a $100,000 reward to any engineering student who can prove the World Trade Centre buildings crashed the way the government says.
Walter insists there had to be explosives planted in the twin towers to cause them to fall as they did, and also rejects the official explanation for the damage done at the Pentagon.
"It wasn't 19 screw-ups from Saudi Arabia who couldn't pass flight school who defeated the United States with a set of box cutters," he said. He dismissed the official September 11 commission report, saying, "I don't trust any of these 'facts'."
Walter has spent millions of dollars to bolster support for his case, running full-page ads in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and Newsweek, as well as alternative newspapers and 30-second TV spots.
Millionaire activist Jimmy Walter, 57, is so convinced of a government cover-up he is offering a $100,000 reward to any engineering student who can prove the World Trade Centre buildings crashed the way the government says.
Walter insists there had to be explosives planted in the twin towers to cause them to fall as they did, and also rejects the official explanation for the damage done at the Pentagon.
"It wasn't 19 screw-ups from Saudi Arabia who couldn't pass flight school who defeated the United States with a set of box cutters," he said. He dismissed the official September 11 commission report, saying, "I don't trust any of these 'facts'."
Walter has spent millions of dollars to bolster support for his case, running full-page ads in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and Newsweek, as well as alternative newspapers and 30-second TV spots.
FLASHBACK
Another time, another Bush
Bush was saying things like 'Keep America moving' and 'We are the change.' Nearby were several homeless people who had to keep moving and hadn't changed in weeks. The irony was not lost on one of them.
Bush was saying things like 'Keep America moving' and 'We are the change.' Nearby were several homeless people who had to keep moving and hadn't changed in weeks. The irony was not lost on one of them.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
SOMA STATE
'God gene' discovered by scientist
After comparing more than 2,000 DNA samples, an American molecular geneticist has concluded that a person's capacity to believe in God is linked to brain chemicals.
His findings were criticised last night by leading clerics, who challenge the existence of a 'god gene' and say that the research undermines a fundamental tenet of faith - that spiritual enlightenment is achieved through divine transformation rather than the brain's electrical impulses.
Bush proposes MANDATORY Mental-health screening of children
President Bush Proposes Screening the U.S. Population for Mental Illness
In an innocent looking attempt to help the poor, whose childrens' problems with ADD and such often go undiagnosed, Bush again assists his corporate donnors such as Eli Lilly (Prozac)
He proceeds to make it into law, despite misgivings by his own FDA that prescribing anti-depressants for kids may INDUCE suicide FDA panel seeks strong warning on antidepressants for minors.
After comparing more than 2,000 DNA samples, an American molecular geneticist has concluded that a person's capacity to believe in God is linked to brain chemicals.
His findings were criticised last night by leading clerics, who challenge the existence of a 'god gene' and say that the research undermines a fundamental tenet of faith - that spiritual enlightenment is achieved through divine transformation rather than the brain's electrical impulses.
Bush proposes MANDATORY Mental-health screening of children
President Bush Proposes Screening the U.S. Population for Mental Illness
In an innocent looking attempt to help the poor, whose childrens' problems with ADD and such often go undiagnosed, Bush again assists his corporate donnors such as Eli Lilly (Prozac)
He proceeds to make it into law, despite misgivings by his own FDA that prescribing anti-depressants for kids may INDUCE suicide FDA panel seeks strong warning on antidepressants for minors.
Monday, December 06, 2004
DEMOCRACY DEAD
Not a pretty picture: American born, addicted to happiness
The Bush coup of shamelessly rigged elections in November, 2000 paved the way for illegal mid-term “elections” throughout the country in 2002 and the most recent chapter in the overthrow of the American republic, the psuedo-election of 2004. These events ended democratic elections in the United States and guaranteed that within the next decade we will see the neocon agenda and all its horrors unleashed on the world and on the American people. It will be anything but a pretty picture.
The Bush coup of shamelessly rigged elections in November, 2000 paved the way for illegal mid-term “elections” throughout the country in 2002 and the most recent chapter in the overthrow of the American republic, the psuedo-election of 2004. These events ended democratic elections in the United States and guaranteed that within the next decade we will see the neocon agenda and all its horrors unleashed on the world and on the American people. It will be anything but a pretty picture.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
THE GOOD GUYS
Red Cross accuses Bush administration of torture
The Red Cross has accused President George Bush's administration of overseeing the intentional physical and psychological torture of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.
Rumsfeld sued for war crimes over Abu Ghraib
American human rights lawyers began an attempt in Germany to prosecute Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes yesterday. A case against the US Defence Secretary could embarrass Gerhard Schröder's coalition government.
Peter Weiss and Michael Ratner of the Centre for Constitutional Rights said they had submitted evidence to Germany's federal state prosecutor in connection with torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
He said: "Torture at Abu Ghraib has not been properly addressed by the US courts. The point is to make sure that people who torture have nowhere to hide." His action aims to use a 2002 law which lets prosecutors bring charges against those suspected of war crimes irrespective of nationality or where the crimes were committed.
The Red Cross has accused President George Bush's administration of overseeing the intentional physical and psychological torture of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.
Rumsfeld sued for war crimes over Abu Ghraib
American human rights lawyers began an attempt in Germany to prosecute Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes yesterday. A case against the US Defence Secretary could embarrass Gerhard Schröder's coalition government.
Peter Weiss and Michael Ratner of the Centre for Constitutional Rights said they had submitted evidence to Germany's federal state prosecutor in connection with torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
He said: "Torture at Abu Ghraib has not been properly addressed by the US courts. The point is to make sure that people who torture have nowhere to hide." His action aims to use a 2002 law which lets prosecutors bring charges against those suspected of war crimes irrespective of nationality or where the crimes were committed.
DEMOCRACY DEAD
Voters to challenge US election
George Bush's victory in the US presidential election will be challenged in Ohio's supreme court today, when a group of Democratic voters will allege widespread fraud.
Voting Machines Count Backwards in Oklahoma
57 Rural Counties Affected - Vote Fraud Suspected
Rural Oklahoma Voting machines know how to count backwards. That looks like what the secretly programmed machines did for Sen. Kerry in President Bush's easily won Presidential Election victory in Oklahoma.
The conservative Tulsa World newspaper reported Nov 3rd that Kerry was winning in 57 of the states's rural counties., with 70 per cent of the vote counted. Turns out that the famous November 3rd report was probably not supposed to be printed.
The 'official' State of Oklahoma Election Board vote totals released later show Kerry not winning; but, losing in all the state's 77 counties, including the 57 rural counties.
George Bush's victory in the US presidential election will be challenged in Ohio's supreme court today, when a group of Democratic voters will allege widespread fraud.
Voting Machines Count Backwards in Oklahoma
57 Rural Counties Affected - Vote Fraud Suspected
Rural Oklahoma Voting machines know how to count backwards. That looks like what the secretly programmed machines did for Sen. Kerry in President Bush's easily won Presidential Election victory in Oklahoma.
The conservative Tulsa World newspaper reported Nov 3rd that Kerry was winning in 57 of the states's rural counties., with 70 per cent of the vote counted. Turns out that the famous November 3rd report was probably not supposed to be printed.
The 'official' State of Oklahoma Election Board vote totals released later show Kerry not winning; but, losing in all the state's 77 counties, including the 57 rural counties.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
CHRISTIAN, RIGHT?
Thanksgiving in a culture of death
"As TV and radio talking heads waxed poetic about the high-tech 500-pound bombs that would be dropped to "soften" human beings and "break the back of the insurgency," I felt that growing sense of dread that is by now familiar to anyone who doesn't rely on mainstream U.S. news sources. This dread, this feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop, tightens the stomachs of those who were raised to take seriously 'Thou shalt not kill' … that dusty old law around which the Bush administration has found a thousand loopholes." - Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
"As TV and radio talking heads waxed poetic about the high-tech 500-pound bombs that would be dropped to "soften" human beings and "break the back of the insurgency," I felt that growing sense of dread that is by now familiar to anyone who doesn't rely on mainstream U.S. news sources. This dread, this feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop, tightens the stomachs of those who were raised to take seriously 'Thou shalt not kill' … that dusty old law around which the Bush administration has found a thousand loopholes." - Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
FEAR AND LOATHING
'Security services foil 9/11 attack in UK'
UK security services report they have thwarted four or five September 11-style attacks on targets including Canary Wharf and Heathrow Airport.
The 'plots' include a number of attacks planned by al-Qaeda since 9/11 that have come to nothing after the authorities intervened, the reports - which cite top security sources - claim.
The disclosure comes as the Government prepares to unveil a series of tough law-and-order Bills in this morning's Queen's Speech, setting out the legislative program for what is expected to be the final session of the current Parliament.
Blunkett plans tough new terror laws
UK Home Secretary David Blunkett said officials were looking at a range of measures - from jury-less anti-terror courts to allowing wire-tap evidence in trials - which could be implemented if Labour is re-elected at the General Election.
UK security services report they have thwarted four or five September 11-style attacks on targets including Canary Wharf and Heathrow Airport.
The 'plots' include a number of attacks planned by al-Qaeda since 9/11 that have come to nothing after the authorities intervened, the reports - which cite top security sources - claim.
The disclosure comes as the Government prepares to unveil a series of tough law-and-order Bills in this morning's Queen's Speech, setting out the legislative program for what is expected to be the final session of the current Parliament.
Blunkett plans tough new terror laws
UK Home Secretary David Blunkett said officials were looking at a range of measures - from jury-less anti-terror courts to allowing wire-tap evidence in trials - which could be implemented if Labour is re-elected at the General Election.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Joe Broadhurst's INTL NEWS site mysteriously shut down after Diebold-US election criticism
Joe Broadhurst's "INTL News" blog has contributed much over the past few years to the dissemination of the truth about the double dealing and deception of politicians and government officials.
It appears then that the day has finally arrived where the mere act of posting a link which highlights government mendacity is enough to warrant direct censorship and infringement of the much touted "free speech" - a central tenet of the "freedom and democracy" that the US government is determined to impose on the world.
" [...] As soon as I posted a story directly linking a Diebold employee to manipulating votes in Gaston, N.C. I got a note from my host, ServerFly, that my credit card wasn't being excepted. I checked with my bank and all was fine, I even went out and used the card TWICE to make sure it was fine. Then I posted that I was being shutdown and 45 minutes later I was. They even said I would have to post an APOLOGY if I wanted to reinstate the account. I have since found out that "ServerFly" is based in Houston."
INTL News old site is: http://intlnews.typepad.com/intlnews/
Feds seize Indymedia servers
The FBI yesterday seized a pair of UK servers used by Indymedia, the independent newsgathering collective, after serving a subpoena in the US on Indymedia's hosting firm, Rackspace. Why or how remains unclear.
Rackspace UK complied with a legal order and handed over hard disks without first notifying Indymedia. It's unclear if the raid was executed under extra-territorial provisions of US legislation or the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). Provisions of RIPA make it a criminal offence to discuss warrants, so Rackspace would not be able to discuss the action with its customer Indymedia, or with the media.
Joe Broadhurst's "INTL News" blog has contributed much over the past few years to the dissemination of the truth about the double dealing and deception of politicians and government officials.
It appears then that the day has finally arrived where the mere act of posting a link which highlights government mendacity is enough to warrant direct censorship and infringement of the much touted "free speech" - a central tenet of the "freedom and democracy" that the US government is determined to impose on the world.
" [...] As soon as I posted a story directly linking a Diebold employee to manipulating votes in Gaston, N.C. I got a note from my host, ServerFly, that my credit card wasn't being excepted. I checked with my bank and all was fine, I even went out and used the card TWICE to make sure it was fine. Then I posted that I was being shutdown and 45 minutes later I was. They even said I would have to post an APOLOGY if I wanted to reinstate the account. I have since found out that "ServerFly" is based in Houston."
INTL News old site is: http://intlnews.typepad.com/intlnews/
Feds seize Indymedia servers
The FBI yesterday seized a pair of UK servers used by Indymedia, the independent newsgathering collective, after serving a subpoena in the US on Indymedia's hosting firm, Rackspace. Why or how remains unclear.
Rackspace UK complied with a legal order and handed over hard disks without first notifying Indymedia. It's unclear if the raid was executed under extra-territorial provisions of US legislation or the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). Provisions of RIPA make it a criminal offence to discuss warrants, so Rackspace would not be able to discuss the action with its customer Indymedia, or with the media.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
FLASHBACK
Union Carbide's pesticide factory in India killed 8000, poisoned thousands more
"I am trying to make visible the invisible -- trying to show that there are boundary lines being violated daily by toxic substances. Corporations are making a profit on the invasion of my personal space, my biology. They are not controlling the full costs of their operation, and we are picking up the tab for their externalities in form of disease, illness, lower immunity, altered reproduction, birth defects, cancer. That's not right. That's a mortal trespass, an unforgivable transgression that must be stopped. We are certainly not calling on consumers to ask that companies be forgiven -- quite the opposite. They need to be prosecuted. Companies like Dow are getting away with biological trespass daily."
To coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, Doyle is out with Trespass Against Us: Dow Chemical and the Toxic Century (Common Courage Press, 2004).
"I am trying to make visible the invisible -- trying to show that there are boundary lines being violated daily by toxic substances. Corporations are making a profit on the invasion of my personal space, my biology. They are not controlling the full costs of their operation, and we are picking up the tab for their externalities in form of disease, illness, lower immunity, altered reproduction, birth defects, cancer. That's not right. That's a mortal trespass, an unforgivable transgression that must be stopped. We are certainly not calling on consumers to ask that companies be forgiven -- quite the opposite. They need to be prosecuted. Companies like Dow are getting away with biological trespass daily."
To coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, Doyle is out with Trespass Against Us: Dow Chemical and the Toxic Century (Common Courage Press, 2004).
FIRST CASUALTY
Why people won't see
I think there is no question in anyone's mind at this moment that America has no integrity. Certainly the mainstream American media has absolutely no integrity, in that it's obvious to everyone the real stories about the Iraq war, depleted uranium, public corruption, fixed elections, and on and on ad infinitum are never mentioned on the TV "news".
But the larger question is: Do WE have integrity? I'm talking about you and me.
Are we willing to look at the truth as we perceive it and try to identify and admit our own complicity in all these atrocities, as the American government runs around the world shooting innocent women and children in the head over reasons we KNOW are lies. I mean, we're supposed to be fighting terrorists, right, but we KNOW these terrorists are not Muslim malcontents, and that most likely they are CIA/Mossad-contracted mercenaries assigned to kill Iraqi aid workers, behead innocents and blow up churches and mosques in order to inflame the situation to kindle support from the braindead public, who then mindlessly cheer the genocidal tactics of George W. Bush and pretend not to notice that not only did America CREATE the terrorists and start the war with phony evidence, we now continue the war as viciously as we can, continually murdering innocents and turning our own troops into raging psychopaths. Why? Increased profits for the military contractors, of course, which means increased under-the-table payments for our elected officials.
[I believe that religions are ultimately debilitating to the spirit, because they try to make us believe things that we know are not true, and in accepting the tenets of any religion, we leave ourselves open to a pattern of behavior that accepts things on faith, without examining them rationally. And this process habituates us to accepting lies as truth, as long as they emanate from an authority figure we have conditioned ourselves to respect.
Once you are willing to accept something that deep in your psyche you know goes against what you perceive to be rational truth — e.g., Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead — THEN YOU CAN BE MADE TO BELIEVE ANYTHING, whether it is true or not, as long as it comes from an authority figure to whom you have given credibility in your mind.
I believe this is a central component in the phenomenon of a majority of the American people believing the government’s bogus story about 9/11, and in their willingness to accept the psychotic carnage in Iraq as being somehow relevant to their own well-being. ]
I think there is no question in anyone's mind at this moment that America has no integrity. Certainly the mainstream American media has absolutely no integrity, in that it's obvious to everyone the real stories about the Iraq war, depleted uranium, public corruption, fixed elections, and on and on ad infinitum are never mentioned on the TV "news".
But the larger question is: Do WE have integrity? I'm talking about you and me.
Are we willing to look at the truth as we perceive it and try to identify and admit our own complicity in all these atrocities, as the American government runs around the world shooting innocent women and children in the head over reasons we KNOW are lies. I mean, we're supposed to be fighting terrorists, right, but we KNOW these terrorists are not Muslim malcontents, and that most likely they are CIA/Mossad-contracted mercenaries assigned to kill Iraqi aid workers, behead innocents and blow up churches and mosques in order to inflame the situation to kindle support from the braindead public, who then mindlessly cheer the genocidal tactics of George W. Bush and pretend not to notice that not only did America CREATE the terrorists and start the war with phony evidence, we now continue the war as viciously as we can, continually murdering innocents and turning our own troops into raging psychopaths. Why? Increased profits for the military contractors, of course, which means increased under-the-table payments for our elected officials.
[I believe that religions are ultimately debilitating to the spirit, because they try to make us believe things that we know are not true, and in accepting the tenets of any religion, we leave ourselves open to a pattern of behavior that accepts things on faith, without examining them rationally. And this process habituates us to accepting lies as truth, as long as they emanate from an authority figure we have conditioned ourselves to respect.
Once you are willing to accept something that deep in your psyche you know goes against what you perceive to be rational truth — e.g., Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead — THEN YOU CAN BE MADE TO BELIEVE ANYTHING, whether it is true or not, as long as it comes from an authority figure to whom you have given credibility in your mind.
I believe this is a central component in the phenomenon of a majority of the American people believing the government’s bogus story about 9/11, and in their willingness to accept the psychotic carnage in Iraq as being somehow relevant to their own well-being. ]
Thursday, November 18, 2004
NEW WORLD ORDER
Peace and the new corporate liberation theology
"The invasion of Iraq will surely go down in history as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought. It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, rounded on a poor nation, falsely accused it of having nuclear weapons, used the United Nations to force it to disarm, then invaded it, occupied it and are now in the process of selling it. I speak of Iraq, not because everybody is talking about it, but because it is a sign of things to come."
The 2004 Sydney Peace Prize lecture delivered by Arundhati Roy, at the Seymour Theatre Centre, University of Sydney.
"The invasion of Iraq will surely go down in history as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought. It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, rounded on a poor nation, falsely accused it of having nuclear weapons, used the United Nations to force it to disarm, then invaded it, occupied it and are now in the process of selling it. I speak of Iraq, not because everybody is talking about it, but because it is a sign of things to come."
The 2004 Sydney Peace Prize lecture delivered by Arundhati Roy, at the Seymour Theatre Centre, University of Sydney.
TIANAMEN II
Tanks menace anti-war protest in LA
Two armored tanks showed up at a Los Angeles anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood.
The tanks circled the block twice then stopped in the street directly in front of the area where most of the protesters were gathered.
Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the tanks, but police quickly cleared the street. The people continued to protest the presence of the tanks, but about ten minutes later the tanks drove off.
It is unclear as to why the tanks were deployed to this location. [video 6.8mb]
Two armored tanks showed up at a Los Angeles anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood.
The tanks circled the block twice then stopped in the street directly in front of the area where most of the protesters were gathered.
Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the tanks, but police quickly cleared the street. The people continued to protest the presence of the tanks, but about ten minutes later the tanks drove off.
It is unclear as to why the tanks were deployed to this location. [video 6.8mb]
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Israeli 'mole' in the office of US under secretary of defense for policy
Federal appears to have agents involved in an investigation into an alleged Israeli 'mole' in the office of Douglas Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy.
Early reports suggested that the FBI had wiretap evidence that a veteran Iran analyst working in Feith's office at the Defense Intelligence Agency, Larry Franklin, may have passed a classified draft of a National Security Presidential Directive on Iran to an official working for the pro-Israel lobbying organization, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Federal appears to have agents involved in an investigation into an alleged Israeli 'mole' in the office of Douglas Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy.
Early reports suggested that the FBI had wiretap evidence that a veteran Iran analyst working in Feith's office at the Defense Intelligence Agency, Larry Franklin, may have passed a classified draft of a National Security Presidential Directive on Iran to an official working for the pro-Israel lobbying organization, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
MARCH OF FASCISM
CIA plans to purge its agency
The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.
The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.
Monday, November 15, 2004
EQUAL TIME
Schools to teach more than evolution
School officials have revised the science curriculum to allow the teaching of creationism, prompting an outcry from more than 300 educators who urged that the decision be reversed.
Members of Grantsburg's school board believed that a state law governing the teaching of evolution was too restrictive. The science curriculum 'should not be totally inclusive of just one scientific theory,' said Joni Burgin, superintendent of the district of 1,000 students in northwest Wisconsin.
School officials have revised the science curriculum to allow the teaching of creationism, prompting an outcry from more than 300 educators who urged that the decision be reversed.
Members of Grantsburg's school board believed that a state law governing the teaching of evolution was too restrictive. The science curriculum 'should not be totally inclusive of just one scientific theory,' said Joni Burgin, superintendent of the district of 1,000 students in northwest Wisconsin.
Monday, November 08, 2004
TALIBAN IN SUITS
From Justice Scalia, a chilling vision of religion’s authority in America
"The reaction of people of faith to this tendency of democracy to obscure the divine authority behind government should not be resignation to it, but the resolution to combat it as effectively as possible"
"The reaction of people of faith to this tendency of democracy to obscure the divine authority behind government should not be resignation to it, but the resolution to combat it as effectively as possible"
DEMOCRACY DEAD
Electronic voting machine woes reported
In many cases, voters said they intended to select John Kerry but when the computer asked them to verify the choice it showed them instead opting for President Bush, the group said.
After 10 minutes trying to change her selection, one Pinellas County resident said she called a poll worker and got a wet-wipe napkin to clean the touch screen as well as a pencil so she could use its eraser-end instead of her finger. Harvey said it took about 10 attempts to select Kerry before and a summary screen confirmed her intended selection. Election officials in several Florida counties where voters complained about such problems did not return calls Tuesday night.
In many cases, voters said they intended to select John Kerry but when the computer asked them to verify the choice it showed them instead opting for President Bush, the group said.
After 10 minutes trying to change her selection, one Pinellas County resident said she called a poll worker and got a wet-wipe napkin to clean the touch screen as well as a pencil so she could use its eraser-end instead of her finger. Harvey said it took about 10 attempts to select Kerry before and a summary screen confirmed her intended selection. Election officials in several Florida counties where voters complained about such problems did not return calls Tuesday night.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Bush to reporter: "Obviously, you didn't listen to the will of the people"
REPORTER: Mr. President -- thank you. As you look at your second term, how much is the war in Iraq going to cost? Do you intend to send more troops or bring troops home? And in the Middle East, more broadly, do you agree with [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair that revitalizing the Middle East peace process is the single most pressing political issue facing the world?
BUSH: Now that I've got the will of the people at my back, I'm going to start enforcing the one-question rule. That was three questions [laughter].[...]
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. How will you go about bringing people together? Will you seek a consensus candidate for the Supreme Court if there's an opening? Will you bring some Democrats into your Cabinet?
BUSH: Again, he violated the one-question rule right off the bat. Obviously, you didn't listen to the will of the people.
[In case you think he was joking, watch him speak here.]
REPORTER: Mr. President -- thank you. As you look at your second term, how much is the war in Iraq going to cost? Do you intend to send more troops or bring troops home? And in the Middle East, more broadly, do you agree with [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair that revitalizing the Middle East peace process is the single most pressing political issue facing the world?
BUSH: Now that I've got the will of the people at my back, I'm going to start enforcing the one-question rule. That was three questions [laughter].[...]
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. How will you go about bringing people together? Will you seek a consensus candidate for the Supreme Court if there's an opening? Will you bring some Democrats into your Cabinet?
BUSH: Again, he violated the one-question rule right off the bat. Obviously, you didn't listen to the will of the people.
[In case you think he was joking, watch him speak here.]
MARS MYSTERY
Mars rover gets mystery power boost
One of NASA's Mars rovers has unexpectedly gained power recently.
The rover Opportunity recently experienced an unexplained rejuvenation from what can so far be described only as two or three significant "cleaning events," said Jim Erickson, the rover project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
"Now we're assuming they're cleaning, but all we can really say is that overnight the solar panels produced between two and five per cent additional power immediately," he said.
BIG PHARMA
California firm will make recombinant drug for strategic national stockpile
Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services Tommy G. Thompson has announced an $877.5 million contract to VaxGen to produce 75 million doses of a new recombinant anthrax vaccine. VaxGen—a spin-off of the biotech firm Genentech—is receiving the first contract under the 2004 Project Bioshield Act. To prevent cost overruns, HHS has negotiated a fixed-price award with the company.
Secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services Tommy G. Thompson has announced an $877.5 million contract to VaxGen to produce 75 million doses of a new recombinant anthrax vaccine. VaxGen—a spin-off of the biotech firm Genentech—is receiving the first contract under the 2004 Project Bioshield Act. To prevent cost overruns, HHS has negotiated a fixed-price award with the company.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
GREAT BALLS OF ICE
Chilling mystery hits Kent
Its a "chilling" mystery -- how did chunks of ice wind up in an 8-year-old's bed in Kent?
Troy Hualte and his family came home Thursday night around 6 p.m. from their daughter's ballet practice and weren't prepared for what they saw.
There was a hole in the ceiling. On her bed were grapefruit-sized ice balls.
"I climbed up on the roof and noticed that there was one very large hole and must have busted whatever it was up on impact," Troy said.
...
Troy called the FAA and was told the ice probably did not come from a plane. The ice in his daughter's room was clear. Ice chunks that fall from passing planes are blue.
Its a "chilling" mystery -- how did chunks of ice wind up in an 8-year-old's bed in Kent?
Troy Hualte and his family came home Thursday night around 6 p.m. from their daughter's ballet practice and weren't prepared for what they saw.
There was a hole in the ceiling. On her bed were grapefruit-sized ice balls.
"I climbed up on the roof and noticed that there was one very large hole and must have busted whatever it was up on impact," Troy said.
...
Troy called the FAA and was told the ice probably did not come from a plane. The ice in his daughter's room was clear. Ice chunks that fall from passing planes are blue.
BIG BROTHER
Hi-tech scans eyed at border
US officials are testing cutting-edge technology to scan information from travellers as they leave the U.S.
Travellers will be required to report to border agents as they exit the U.S.
The US-VISIT program requires everyone except Canadian citizens to be photographed and finger-scanned before they're allowed into the United States.
"This applies to anyone who requires a visa," he said. "It is a simple process that enhances the security of the U.S."
The new measures take about 15 seconds, officials said. The fingerprints will be compared against 1.2 million in U.S. police databases, Mocny said.
US officials are testing cutting-edge technology to scan information from travellers as they leave the U.S.
Travellers will be required to report to border agents as they exit the U.S.
The US-VISIT program requires everyone except Canadian citizens to be photographed and finger-scanned before they're allowed into the United States.
"This applies to anyone who requires a visa," he said. "It is a simple process that enhances the security of the U.S."
The new measures take about 15 seconds, officials said. The fingerprints will be compared against 1.2 million in U.S. police databases, Mocny said.
EARTH CHANGES
Mt. St. Helens lava dome grows 100 metres higher in nine days
The new lava lobe inside Mount St. Helens' crater has sprouted a piston-like protrusion the size of a 30-story building - glowing red at night.
"The magma is pushing the plug upward. It's going high in the sky," said hydrologist Carolyn Driedger of the U.S. Geological Survey at the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, about 50 miles from the southwest Washington mountain.
One section of the new lobe has risen by 330 feet in the past nine days, Driedger said.
The new lava lobe inside Mount St. Helens' crater has sprouted a piston-like protrusion the size of a 30-story building - glowing red at night.
"The magma is pushing the plug upward. It's going high in the sky," said hydrologist Carolyn Driedger of the U.S. Geological Survey at the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, about 50 miles from the southwest Washington mountain.
One section of the new lobe has risen by 330 feet in the past nine days, Driedger said.
Monday, November 01, 2004
SCIENCE SUBVERTED
Governments chief climate advisor warned off global warming topic by NASA
The Bush administration's well-deserved reputation for tailoring scientific information to fit its political agenda was reinforced last week when James Hansen, the government's pre-eminent climatologist, said that he had been instructed by Sean O'Keefe, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, not to discuss publicly the human contribution to global warming. The charge came as part of a broader indictment, delivered in a speech in Iowa, of the administration's refusal to confront the consequences of climate change or to do anything meaningful about reducing the industrial emissions that contribute to it.
Scientists Against Bush: In February of this year, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a policy statement deriding George Bush and his administration for its ideology-driven science programs and its cynical manipulation of science for raw political ends.
The Bush administration's well-deserved reputation for tailoring scientific information to fit its political agenda was reinforced last week when James Hansen, the government's pre-eminent climatologist, said that he had been instructed by Sean O'Keefe, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, not to discuss publicly the human contribution to global warming. The charge came as part of a broader indictment, delivered in a speech in Iowa, of the administration's refusal to confront the consequences of climate change or to do anything meaningful about reducing the industrial emissions that contribute to it.
Scientists Against Bush: In February of this year, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a policy statement deriding George Bush and his administration for its ideology-driven science programs and its cynical manipulation of science for raw political ends.
LOOSE THREAD
Karl Rove behind latest Bin Laden tape, says veteran newsman
Former CBSNEWS anchorman Walter Cronkite believes Bush adviser Karl Rove is possibly behind the new Bin Laden tape.
Cronkite made the startling comments late Friday during an interview on CNN.
Somewhat smiling, Cronkite said he is 'inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing.'
Interviewer Larry King did not ask Cronkite to elaborate on the provocative election eve observation.
Former CBSNEWS anchorman Walter Cronkite believes Bush adviser Karl Rove is possibly behind the new Bin Laden tape.
Cronkite made the startling comments late Friday during an interview on CNN.
Somewhat smiling, Cronkite said he is 'inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing.'
Interviewer Larry King did not ask Cronkite to elaborate on the provocative election eve observation.
REALITY BITES
Welcome to the cult of Neoconservative reality
A White House 'senior adviser' to president Bush, The New York Times reported, explained the cult of Bush's regime to author Ron Suskind in the heady pre-war days of 2002.
The top Bush insider mocked the journalist and all those 'in what we call the reality-based community' i.e., people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' Suskind's attempt to defend the principles of reason and enlightenment cut no ice with the Bush-man.
'That's not the way the world really works anymore. We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality,' he said. 'And while you're studying that reality, we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'
A White House 'senior adviser' to president Bush, The New York Times reported, explained the cult of Bush's regime to author Ron Suskind in the heady pre-war days of 2002.
The top Bush insider mocked the journalist and all those 'in what we call the reality-based community' i.e., people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' Suskind's attempt to defend the principles of reason and enlightenment cut no ice with the Bush-man.
'That's not the way the world really works anymore. We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality,' he said. 'And while you're studying that reality, we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'
Thursday, October 28, 2004
FEELING A DRAFT
Dover Air Force Base insider puts the lie to Bush’s 'no draft' promise
“In the months before the war, we knew it was coming. The morgue usually keeps a few hundred body bags on hand and in a matter of weeks we had received nearly 5,000. Now obviously we still have a lot of those, but then last week another shipment of at least that many more arrived. I was talking with some buddies and we figure the morgue is now stocked with enough materials to handle another 9/11 and all the causalities so far in Iraq, times two!.
Well obviously somebody thinks we’re going to see a sharp rise in the number of bodies coming back. But that’s not everything. The whole base is ramping up like we’re either getting ready for a second war or we’re going to be deploying a whole lot more troops to Iraq."
“Bottom line, the brass around Dover all had these funny smirks last week after Bush promised that he would not reinstate the draft. I saw regulars (Air Force Personnel) cleaning up some old barracks. Either we’re getting a shitload of new recruits or… "
“In the months before the war, we knew it was coming. The morgue usually keeps a few hundred body bags on hand and in a matter of weeks we had received nearly 5,000. Now obviously we still have a lot of those, but then last week another shipment of at least that many more arrived. I was talking with some buddies and we figure the morgue is now stocked with enough materials to handle another 9/11 and all the causalities so far in Iraq, times two!.
Well obviously somebody thinks we’re going to see a sharp rise in the number of bodies coming back. But that’s not everything. The whole base is ramping up like we’re either getting ready for a second war or we’re going to be deploying a whole lot more troops to Iraq."
“Bottom line, the brass around Dover all had these funny smirks last week after Bush promised that he would not reinstate the draft. I saw regulars (Air Force Personnel) cleaning up some old barracks. Either we’re getting a shitload of new recruits or… "
Saturday, October 23, 2004
CRYPTOZOOLOGY
The animal's blue-grey skin is almost hairless and appears to be covered with mange. A closer look at the animal's jaw line reveals a serious overbite and four huge canine teeth, and a long, rat-like tail curls behind the animal's emaciated frame.
Another Texas Chupacabra?
Local animal experts are having a hard time identifying a strange looking animal killed in Angelina County on Friday.
Large dogs in the yard "went nuts" and alerted the family, but would only whine and wouldn't go under the house with the animal. Soon after being shot it was necrotic, its tissue just rotted -- like something that had been dead for a month or so. It had no hair, a severe overbite and its claws were entirely too long for a dog. The animal's front legs were much smaller than it's hind legs, and that despite it's overall ghoulish appearance, it's extremely long canine teeth were in excellent condition. Also, despite having been shot, there was virtually no blood seeping from the animal's carcass. The animal's ear also "broke like a cookie" when it's head was held up for a photograph. The animal was male and weighed between 15 and 20 pounds.
an animal that looks eerily similar to the as yet unidentified 'Elmendorf Beast' killed near San Antonio earlier this year.
A rancher from Elmendorf, located southeast of San Antonio, killed the animal after 35 of his chickens disappeared in one day. The animal was also almost hairless, with blue-grey coloring and four large fangs. The station reported that tissue from the animal has been sent for DNA testing, and that it will be several more weeks before the tests are completed.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
CONSPIRACY CORNER
Video shows kidnapped aid worker
A video of a senior charity worker who has been kidnapped in Baghdad has been broadcast on al-Jazeera TV station.
Margaret Hassan has dual Iraqi and British nationality and is married to an Iraqi.
She has lived in the country for 30 years and was abducted by an unnamed group on her way to work as head of Care International's work in Iraq.
Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the kidnapping and said ... "I think it shows you the type of people we are up against, that they are prepared to kidnap somebody like this," he said.
CONSPIRACY ANGLE: Is the Kidnapping of CARE's Margaret Hassan a CIA-Mossad Op?: Since no one has taken responsibility for the kidnapping it has been proposed that the kidnapping is part of a counterinsurgency operation devised to make the resistance look bad and thus turn world opinion against it. ... more.
A video of a senior charity worker who has been kidnapped in Baghdad has been broadcast on al-Jazeera TV station.
Margaret Hassan has dual Iraqi and British nationality and is married to an Iraqi.
She has lived in the country for 30 years and was abducted by an unnamed group on her way to work as head of Care International's work in Iraq.
Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the kidnapping and said ... "I think it shows you the type of people we are up against, that they are prepared to kidnap somebody like this," he said.
CONSPIRACY ANGLE: Is the Kidnapping of CARE's Margaret Hassan a CIA-Mossad Op?: Since no one has taken responsibility for the kidnapping it has been proposed that the kidnapping is part of a counterinsurgency operation devised to make the resistance look bad and thus turn world opinion against it. ... more.
'LIVE' FROM PALESTINE
The Days of Penitence: Gaza sinks in a sea of blood
It smells unbelievably bad here. To walk down any street, if you dare to, you skirt, or sometimes unavoidably walk through, pools of blood.
There are shreds of human flesh, some of them unrecognizable as human remains -- all over, on rooftops, plastered to broken windows, on the street.
The stench of rotting blood mixes with the more acrid odor of flesh burnt to black char by the rockets fired by the Israeli Army's American-made Apache helicopters.
It smells unbelievably bad here. To walk down any street, if you dare to, you skirt, or sometimes unavoidably walk through, pools of blood.
There are shreds of human flesh, some of them unrecognizable as human remains -- all over, on rooftops, plastered to broken windows, on the street.
The stench of rotting blood mixes with the more acrid odor of flesh burnt to black char by the rockets fired by the Israeli Army's American-made Apache helicopters.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
OILY BUSINESSMEN
The neo-cons tiny revolution
Apparently you just need 8 positions to take over the US government: Chief, Near East and South Asia division of the Department of Defense; Undersecretary of Defense for Policy; Deputy Secretary of Defense; Secretary of Defense; Undersecretary of State for Arms Control; Chairman, Defense Policy Board; Vice President; Chief of Staff to the Vice President; and Deputy National Security Adviser.
Of course, it only works if you have a president who needs radio signals to be told what to say and do. If you don't know who held the positions mentioned during 2002-2003, do look them up on google.com, and then compare the holders of these offices to the members of the Project for a New American Century and the signers of the 1996 policy statement done for Israel's Likud Party, "A Clean Break." Both "A Clean Break" and the PNAC documents insisted back in the 1990s on a war against Iraq.
Apparently you just need 8 positions to take over the US government: Chief, Near East and South Asia division of the Department of Defense; Undersecretary of Defense for Policy; Deputy Secretary of Defense; Secretary of Defense; Undersecretary of State for Arms Control; Chairman, Defense Policy Board; Vice President; Chief of Staff to the Vice President; and Deputy National Security Adviser.
Of course, it only works if you have a president who needs radio signals to be told what to say and do. If you don't know who held the positions mentioned during 2002-2003, do look them up on google.com, and then compare the holders of these offices to the members of the Project for a New American Century and the signers of the 1996 policy statement done for Israel's Likud Party, "A Clean Break." Both "A Clean Break" and the PNAC documents insisted back in the 1990s on a war against Iraq.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
ABDUCTEE PASSES OVER
Woman who gained fame on claim of being abducted by UFO has died
Betty Hill of Portsmouth, who along with her late husband in 1961, had the first publicized and best-documented UFO experience in the White Mountains, died Sunday in her sleep after a battle with lung cancer. She was 85.
On a return trip from Canada, the Hills said they were abducted for two hours by a UFO on Sept. 19, 1961. After going public with their story, the two gained worldwide notoriety.
Their story became the subject of a book and later, a made-for-TV movie starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons.
They traveled across the country and made numerous television and radio appearances telling their story.
When her husband, Barney, died in 1969, Ms. Hill continued the job alone.
More: Betty Hill of Portsmouth, other half of UFO couple, dies at 85
Thursday, October 14, 2004
FOOLS AND KINGS
The Dunce
'Bush showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him.' When asked to explain a particular comment, said a former Harvard professor Tsurumi, Bush would respond, 'Oh, I never said that.'
'Bush showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him.' When asked to explain a particular comment, said a former Harvard professor Tsurumi, Bush would respond, 'Oh, I never said that.'
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Conspiracy theories flourish on the Internet
The video, "9/11: Pentagon Strike", suggests that it was not American Airlines Flight 77 that slammed into the Pentagon, but a missile or a small plane.
...
Williams created a Web site for the video, then e-mailed a copy to Laura Knight-Jadczyk, an American author living in France whose books include one on alien abduction. Williams, 31, a systems analyst, belongs to an online group hosted by Knight-Jadczyk that blends discussions of science, politics and the paranormal.
On Aug. 23, Knight-Jadczyk posted a link to the video on the group's Web site, www.Cassiopaea.org. Within 36 hours, Williams's site collapsed under the crush of tens of thousands of visitors. But there were others to fill the void.
...
For 2 1/2 years, the attack on the Pentagon has been discussed and researched by members of Knight-Jadczyk's online group, the Quantum Future School.
The group's talks formed the basis for articles in which Knight-Jadczyk argues that after the attack on the World Trade Center, eyewitnesses at the Pentagon were predisposed to see a large airliner. She believes that the Pentagon was attacked by a smaller plane and that members of the Bush administration were somehow complicit because it was beneficial for war-profiteers and Israel.
Interviewed by telephone from outside Toulouse, where she lives with her Polish physicist husband and five children, Knight-Jadczyk acknowledged that her group is considered "fringe."
Knight-Jadczyk, 52, a Florida native, has been a psychic and a channeler. She is now involved in experiments in what she calls "superluminal communication," which she described as involving "time loops" that would enable people to communicate with their former selves.
Knight-Jadczyk said she never imagined anyone outside her group would ever view "Pentagon Strike".
The video, "9/11: Pentagon Strike", suggests that it was not American Airlines Flight 77 that slammed into the Pentagon, but a missile or a small plane.
...
Williams created a Web site for the video, then e-mailed a copy to Laura Knight-Jadczyk, an American author living in France whose books include one on alien abduction. Williams, 31, a systems analyst, belongs to an online group hosted by Knight-Jadczyk that blends discussions of science, politics and the paranormal.
On Aug. 23, Knight-Jadczyk posted a link to the video on the group's Web site, www.Cassiopaea.org. Within 36 hours, Williams's site collapsed under the crush of tens of thousands of visitors. But there were others to fill the void.
...
For 2 1/2 years, the attack on the Pentagon has been discussed and researched by members of Knight-Jadczyk's online group, the Quantum Future School.
The group's talks formed the basis for articles in which Knight-Jadczyk argues that after the attack on the World Trade Center, eyewitnesses at the Pentagon were predisposed to see a large airliner. She believes that the Pentagon was attacked by a smaller plane and that members of the Bush administration were somehow complicit because it was beneficial for war-profiteers and Israel.
Interviewed by telephone from outside Toulouse, where she lives with her Polish physicist husband and five children, Knight-Jadczyk acknowledged that her group is considered "fringe."
Knight-Jadczyk, 52, a Florida native, has been a psychic and a channeler. She is now involved in experiments in what she calls "superluminal communication," which she described as involving "time loops" that would enable people to communicate with their former selves.
Knight-Jadczyk said she never imagined anyone outside her group would ever view "Pentagon Strike".
Monday, October 11, 2004
MYSTERY FIRE
No smoke, no embers pose fire death mystery
"I've never heard anything like it," said Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department spokesman Tom Francis. "There's no smoke. There's no smoldering embers. There's nothing."
While fire investigators had not found what caused the fire, they had also not determined what put it out, Francis said.
An apartment fire that burned a couch, blistered walls and likely killed an 86-year-old Jacksonville woman -- while remaining unnoticed by neighbors -- has baffled firefighters who sifted through the scene.
"I've never heard anything like it," said Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department spokesman Tom Francis. "There's no smoke. There's no smoldering embers. There's nothing."
While fire investigators had not found what caused the fire, they had also not determined what put it out, Francis said.
An apartment fire that burned a couch, blistered walls and likely killed an 86-year-old Jacksonville woman -- while remaining unnoticed by neighbors -- has baffled firefighters who sifted through the scene.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
US military bows to the rule of law
Even the US military appears ready to accept the formerly inviolable principle that a democratic state that cannot sustain charges against individuals must release them. The deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay has said most of the remaining 550 detainees (more than 150 have been freed) will be released or transferred to their own countries because "most of these guys weren't fighting" and "we don't have a level of evidence to feel that we can be confident to prosecute them". They are now said to be "of low intelligence value and low threat status".
[At first, all the detainees held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay were "the worst of the worst", US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, who deserved to be "dealt with as people who have engaged in mass murder".]
Even the US military appears ready to accept the formerly inviolable principle that a democratic state that cannot sustain charges against individuals must release them. The deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay has said most of the remaining 550 detainees (more than 150 have been freed) will be released or transferred to their own countries because "most of these guys weren't fighting" and "we don't have a level of evidence to feel that we can be confident to prosecute them". They are now said to be "of low intelligence value and low threat status".
[At first, all the detainees held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay were "the worst of the worst", US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, who deserved to be "dealt with as people who have engaged in mass murder".]
Friday, October 08, 2004
BRAIN DEAD?
Death at hospital ruled a homicide
Montrose County Coroner Mark Young said Montrose Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital did not follow “accepted medical standards” last month in determining William Rardin, 36, brain dead after shooting himself.
“A test was done on him at St. Mary’s hospital that was not conclusive if brain death had occurred,” Young said. “Everyone is hounding me because I’m not a doctor, but I had an independent neurosurgeon look at it, and he agreed it wasn’t done as well.”
“There’s six tests that can be done to determine if someone is brain dead,” Young said. “Only one was done in this case, and that test wasn’t successfully passed. A confirmatory test should have been completed.”
Montrose County Coroner Mark Young said Montrose Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital did not follow “accepted medical standards” last month in determining William Rardin, 36, brain dead after shooting himself.
“A test was done on him at St. Mary’s hospital that was not conclusive if brain death had occurred,” Young said. “Everyone is hounding me because I’m not a doctor, but I had an independent neurosurgeon look at it, and he agreed it wasn’t done as well.”
“There’s six tests that can be done to determine if someone is brain dead,” Young said. “Only one was done in this case, and that test wasn’t successfully passed. A confirmatory test should have been completed.”
Thursday, October 07, 2004
MY GOD IS BIGGER
Frank Rich: Bush's crusade for the White House
A Newsweek poll shows that 17 percent of Americans expect the world to end in their lifetime. To Karl Rove and company, that 17 percent is otherwise known as the base.
-- NYT columnist Frank Rich.
Bush feels divinely entitled to keep his job even as we stand on the cusp of an abyss in Iraq. In this pious but not humble worldview, faith, or at least a certain brand of it, counts more than competence, and a biblical mission, or at least a simplistic, blunderbuss facsimile of one, counts more than the secular goal of waging an effective, focused battle against an enemy as elusive and cunning as terrorists. That no one in this documentary, including its hero, acknowledges any constitutional boundaries between church and state is hardly a surprise. To them, America is a "Christian nation," period.
A Newsweek poll shows that 17 percent of Americans expect the world to end in their lifetime. To Karl Rove and company, that 17 percent is otherwise known as the base.
-- NYT columnist Frank Rich.
Bush feels divinely entitled to keep his job even as we stand on the cusp of an abyss in Iraq. In this pious but not humble worldview, faith, or at least a certain brand of it, counts more than competence, and a biblical mission, or at least a simplistic, blunderbuss facsimile of one, counts more than the secular goal of waging an effective, focused battle against an enemy as elusive and cunning as terrorists. That no one in this documentary, including its hero, acknowledges any constitutional boundaries between church and state is hardly a surprise. To them, America is a "Christian nation," period.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons
The US Air Force has forbidden its employees from publicly discussing a new antimatter research program. However, details on the program have come to light in numerous Air Force documents distributed over the Internet prior to the ban.
These include an outline of a March 2004 speech by an Air Force official who, in effect, spilled the beans about the Air Force's high hopes for antimatter weapons.
Kenneth Edwards, director of the 'revolutionary munitions' team at the Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida was keynote speaker at the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) conference in Arlington, Va. In that talk, Edwards discussed the potential uses of a type of antimatter called positrons.
With present techniques, the price tag for 100-billionths of a gram of antimatter would be $6 billion, according to an estimate by scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and elsewhere, who hope to launch antimatter-fueled spaceships.
The US Air Force has forbidden its employees from publicly discussing a new antimatter research program. However, details on the program have come to light in numerous Air Force documents distributed over the Internet prior to the ban.
These include an outline of a March 2004 speech by an Air Force official who, in effect, spilled the beans about the Air Force's high hopes for antimatter weapons.
Kenneth Edwards, director of the 'revolutionary munitions' team at the Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida was keynote speaker at the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) conference in Arlington, Va. In that talk, Edwards discussed the potential uses of a type of antimatter called positrons.
With present techniques, the price tag for 100-billionths of a gram of antimatter would be $6 billion, according to an estimate by scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and elsewhere, who hope to launch antimatter-fueled spaceships.
SUFFER THE CHILDREN
10-year-old Palestinian school girl murdered at her desk
In the early morning of a sunny day, the 10 -year-old year girl, Raghda al-Assar, left her house heading to school in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khanyounis. After less than hour, she was receiving medical treatment in emergency room of Nasser Hospital after having been struck with an Israeli gunshot in the head while she was in her classroom listening to her English teacher. Raghda died yesterday (Wednesday) of her critical wounds she sustained two weeks ago.
Gaza's tragic classroom casualties
During an English lesson girls in the class heard firing outside. They dived for cover, but when the shooting was over, they found their classmate Raghda al-Assar slumped over a desk up at the front, covered in blood. She had been shot through the head.
"We didn't hear the sound of the bullet when it came," says Alaa Assad, who was sitting a few places away from Raghda. Alaa says Raghda was one of the brightest pupils in the class.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
HOWARD'S WAY
Sleepwalking with John Howard - Election 2004
'Prime Minister,' a journalist asked at a press conference at the Brisbane Sheraton on Tuesday, 'Tony Blair has told a meeting of the Labour Party in Britain that politicians aren't always able to tell the truth. Do you agree with this statement?'
In a sublime moment, the great organist pulled his head up and replied authoritatively: 'I always tell the truth.'
And as he said it, he slowly scanned the journalists around him, as if daring someone to take issue with him. No one did. For a moment there was a hint of something at the edges of his mouth - was it a smirk, a smile? - but Howard is too disciplined to allow himself any public displays of smugness, and within a question he had the conference on to Medicare and from there, in half a sentence, to interest rates.
'Prime Minister,' a journalist asked at a press conference at the Brisbane Sheraton on Tuesday, 'Tony Blair has told a meeting of the Labour Party in Britain that politicians aren't always able to tell the truth. Do you agree with this statement?'
In a sublime moment, the great organist pulled his head up and replied authoritatively: 'I always tell the truth.'
And as he said it, he slowly scanned the journalists around him, as if daring someone to take issue with him. No one did. For a moment there was a hint of something at the edges of his mouth - was it a smirk, a smile? - but Howard is too disciplined to allow himself any public displays of smugness, and within a question he had the conference on to Medicare and from there, in half a sentence, to interest rates.
DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR
Bush retreats into a substitute reality
During their first debate Kerry touched on Bush's most ambivalent relationship, the father he recently called 'the wrong father,' compared to the 'Higher Father'.
In flustered response, Bush simply insisted on his authority. 'I just know how this world works ... there must be certainty from the US president.' He reverted to his claim that September 11 justified the invasion of Iraq because 'the enemy' - Saddam Hussein - 'attacked us.'
A stunned but swift-footed Kerry observed: 'The president just said something extraordinarily revealing and frankly very important ... he just said, 'The enemy attacked us'. Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us.'
In his effort to banish all doubt, Bush had retreated into a substitute reality, a delusional version of Iraq, ultimately faith-based.
During their first debate Kerry touched on Bush's most ambivalent relationship, the father he recently called 'the wrong father,' compared to the 'Higher Father'.
In flustered response, Bush simply insisted on his authority. 'I just know how this world works ... there must be certainty from the US president.' He reverted to his claim that September 11 justified the invasion of Iraq because 'the enemy' - Saddam Hussein - 'attacked us.'
A stunned but swift-footed Kerry observed: 'The president just said something extraordinarily revealing and frankly very important ... he just said, 'The enemy attacked us'. Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us.'
In his effort to banish all doubt, Bush had retreated into a substitute reality, a delusional version of Iraq, ultimately faith-based.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
Small chance of a big upset in Bennelong
Andrew Wilkie, the former intelligence officer who resigned from the Office of National Assessments (ONA) last year, says he gives himself a small chance of creating a big upset on election day.
Mr Wilkie resigned from his position in March last year and is now contesting John Howard's seat of Bennelong as a Greens candidate.
He told a meeting that although he is known for his resignation over the Government's stance on the Iraq war, he is involved in bigger issues.
'I'm linked very much to the Iraq war, that was how I came to public attention when I resigned over the war about 18 months ago,' he said.
'But in some ways the Iraq war is now a symptom of much broader issues that I'm campaigning on, issues such as the Howard Government's dishonesty [and] the Howard Government's accountability.'
Andrew Wilkie, the former intelligence officer who resigned from the Office of National Assessments (ONA) last year, says he gives himself a small chance of creating a big upset on election day.
Mr Wilkie resigned from his position in March last year and is now contesting John Howard's seat of Bennelong as a Greens candidate.
He told a meeting that although he is known for his resignation over the Government's stance on the Iraq war, he is involved in bigger issues.
'I'm linked very much to the Iraq war, that was how I came to public attention when I resigned over the war about 18 months ago,' he said.
'But in some ways the Iraq war is now a symptom of much broader issues that I'm campaigning on, issues such as the Howard Government's dishonesty [and] the Howard Government's accountability.'
Monday, September 27, 2004
WEIRD SCIENCE
Putting things in perspective
Why exactly does parapsychology have such a bad rep? I am not talking about the "study" of UFO's and Bigfoot sightings. I am talking about the statistical analysis of data collected in legitimate, controlled scientific experiments. Modern-day parapsychology experiments involve electromagnetic shielding, Random Event Generators based on quantum processes, computer-randomized image selection and many other rigorous protocols employed throughout the sciences.
They yield evidence that is extremely statistically significant (evidence that wouldn't be questioned if it appeared in a psychological or pharmacological context). They yield evidence of a phenomenon in nature that cannot be explained away by our current body of knowledge—a phenomenon for which there is not yet a paradigm.
Why exactly does parapsychology have such a bad rep? I am not talking about the "study" of UFO's and Bigfoot sightings. I am talking about the statistical analysis of data collected in legitimate, controlled scientific experiments. Modern-day parapsychology experiments involve electromagnetic shielding, Random Event Generators based on quantum processes, computer-randomized image selection and many other rigorous protocols employed throughout the sciences.
They yield evidence that is extremely statistically significant (evidence that wouldn't be questioned if it appeared in a psychological or pharmacological context). They yield evidence of a phenomenon in nature that cannot be explained away by our current body of knowledge—a phenomenon for which there is not yet a paradigm.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Time to recognize State terror
On the atrocity at Beslan, Blair is allowed to say, without irony or challenge, that 'this international terrorism will not prevail.' These are the same words spoken by Mussolini soon after he had bombed civilians in Abyssinia.
"Few of us", wrote the playwright Arthur Miller, "can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied."
The occupation of Iraq is presented as "a mess": a blundering, incompetent American military up against Islamic fanatics. In truth, the occupation is a systematic, murderous assault on a civilian population by a corrupt American officer class, given license by its superiors in Washington. Last May, the US Marines used battle tanks and helicopter gunships to attack the slums of Fallujah. They admitted killing 600 people, a figure far greater than the total number of civilians killed by the "insurgents" during the past year.
The generals were candid; this futile slaughter was an act of revenge for the killing of three American mercenaries. Sixty years earlier, the SS Das Reich division killed 600 French civilians at Oradour-sur-Glane as revenge for the kidnapping of a German officer by the resistance. Is there a difference?
On September 7, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 16 Israelis in the town of Beersheba. Every television news report allowed the Israeli government spokesman to use this tragedy to justify the building of an apartheid wall – when the wall is pivotal to the causes of Palestinian violence. Almost every news report marked the end of a five-month period of "relative peace and calm" and "a lull in the violence." During those five months of relative peace and calm, almost 400 Palestinians were killed, 71 of them in assassinations. During the lull in the violence, more than 73 Palestinian children were killed. A 13-year-old was murdered with a bullet through the heart, a 5-year-old was shot in her face as she walked arm in arm with her 2-year-old sister. The body of Mazen Majid, aged 14, was riddled with 18 Israeli bullets as he and his family fled their bulldozed home.
The truth about Chechnya is similarly suppressed. On February 4, 2000, Russian aircraft attacked the Chechen village of Katyr Yurt. They used "vacuum bombs," which release petrol vapor and suck people's lungs out, and are banned under the Geneva Convention. The Russians bombed a convoy of survivors under a white flag. They murdered 363 men, women and children. It was one of countless, little-known acts of terrorism in Chechnya perpetrated by the Russian state, whose leader, Vladimir Putin, has the "complete solidarity" of Tony Blair.
On the atrocity at Beslan, Blair is allowed to say, without irony or challenge, that 'this international terrorism will not prevail.' These are the same words spoken by Mussolini soon after he had bombed civilians in Abyssinia.
"Few of us", wrote the playwright Arthur Miller, "can easily surrender our belief that society must somehow make sense. The thought that the state has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And so the evidence has to be internally denied."
The occupation of Iraq is presented as "a mess": a blundering, incompetent American military up against Islamic fanatics. In truth, the occupation is a systematic, murderous assault on a civilian population by a corrupt American officer class, given license by its superiors in Washington. Last May, the US Marines used battle tanks and helicopter gunships to attack the slums of Fallujah. They admitted killing 600 people, a figure far greater than the total number of civilians killed by the "insurgents" during the past year.
The generals were candid; this futile slaughter was an act of revenge for the killing of three American mercenaries. Sixty years earlier, the SS Das Reich division killed 600 French civilians at Oradour-sur-Glane as revenge for the kidnapping of a German officer by the resistance. Is there a difference?
On September 7, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 16 Israelis in the town of Beersheba. Every television news report allowed the Israeli government spokesman to use this tragedy to justify the building of an apartheid wall – when the wall is pivotal to the causes of Palestinian violence. Almost every news report marked the end of a five-month period of "relative peace and calm" and "a lull in the violence." During those five months of relative peace and calm, almost 400 Palestinians were killed, 71 of them in assassinations. During the lull in the violence, more than 73 Palestinian children were killed. A 13-year-old was murdered with a bullet through the heart, a 5-year-old was shot in her face as she walked arm in arm with her 2-year-old sister. The body of Mazen Majid, aged 14, was riddled with 18 Israeli bullets as he and his family fled their bulldozed home.
The truth about Chechnya is similarly suppressed. On February 4, 2000, Russian aircraft attacked the Chechen village of Katyr Yurt. They used "vacuum bombs," which release petrol vapor and suck people's lungs out, and are banned under the Geneva Convention. The Russians bombed a convoy of survivors under a white flag. They murdered 363 men, women and children. It was one of countless, little-known acts of terrorism in Chechnya perpetrated by the Russian state, whose leader, Vladimir Putin, has the "complete solidarity" of Tony Blair.
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Seventeen techniques for truth suppression
#3. Characterize the charges as 'rumors' or, better yet, 'wild rumors.' If, in spite of the news blackout, the public is still able to learn about the suspicious facts, it can only be through 'rumors.' (If they tend to believe the 'rumors' it must be because they are simply 'paranoid' or 'hysterical')..
#3. Characterize the charges as 'rumors' or, better yet, 'wild rumors.' If, in spite of the news blackout, the public is still able to learn about the suspicious facts, it can only be through 'rumors.' (If they tend to believe the 'rumors' it must be because they are simply 'paranoid' or 'hysterical')..
QUOTE
Pretender to the throne
"It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master." - Ayn Rand
FEAR AND LOATHING
Totalitarian America: where fear can lead to
One of the major, if not the major, driving forces behind American international behaviour is fear. The United States is afraid of the world, of anything foreign or different. It does not understand that which is different, does not even try to understand otherness.
The US is fast becoming a totalitarian, militaristic society, increasingly intolerant of different economic and political systems. Washington’s policy of pursuing the elusive goal of absolute national security is in fact making both America and the world more and more unstable and dangerous.
The American President George W Bush states: "We want total victory in Iraq; we will get total victory." "You are either with us or against us."
This approach makes any opponent a total opponent, foe and enemy. But it signifies also a self-inflicted predicament and dilemma.
Self-righteousness and bigotry form the psychological basis of the American attitude. Solutions are to be absolute, evil has to be eradicated totally. America has no trust in anybody, not in international agreements, norms, rules, arrangements, nor in international law.
The US attitude is:
* Listen, obey and follow and the future will be of peace, harmony, freedom, democracy, prosperity and happiness forever.
* If you don’t follow we have to force you, show you the way, put you on the right track and bring you the happiness you are unable to provide for yourselves.
The American way of thinking, its basic convictions and ideology are the greatest threat to the freedom, the diversity, the dignity and the self-esteem of people worldwide. This attitude has put the United States on an authoritarian path that may lead to a totalitarian, fascistic paradigm.
Guantanamo Bay highlights American despotism, ruthlessness, cruelty and profound contempt for anything that Western civilisation supposedly stands for. The most frightening thing about all this is that there is almost no opposition in the United States, no public outcry, no large popular groups venting their concerns.
One of the major, if not the major, driving forces behind American international behaviour is fear. The United States is afraid of the world, of anything foreign or different. It does not understand that which is different, does not even try to understand otherness.
The US is fast becoming a totalitarian, militaristic society, increasingly intolerant of different economic and political systems. Washington’s policy of pursuing the elusive goal of absolute national security is in fact making both America and the world more and more unstable and dangerous.
The American President George W Bush states: "We want total victory in Iraq; we will get total victory." "You are either with us or against us."
This approach makes any opponent a total opponent, foe and enemy. But it signifies also a self-inflicted predicament and dilemma.
Self-righteousness and bigotry form the psychological basis of the American attitude. Solutions are to be absolute, evil has to be eradicated totally. America has no trust in anybody, not in international agreements, norms, rules, arrangements, nor in international law.
The US attitude is:
* Listen, obey and follow and the future will be of peace, harmony, freedom, democracy, prosperity and happiness forever.
* If you don’t follow we have to force you, show you the way, put you on the right track and bring you the happiness you are unable to provide for yourselves.
The American way of thinking, its basic convictions and ideology are the greatest threat to the freedom, the diversity, the dignity and the self-esteem of people worldwide. This attitude has put the United States on an authoritarian path that may lead to a totalitarian, fascistic paradigm.
Guantanamo Bay highlights American despotism, ruthlessness, cruelty and profound contempt for anything that Western civilisation supposedly stands for. The most frightening thing about all this is that there is almost no opposition in the United States, no public outcry, no large popular groups venting their concerns.
ENDLESS WAR
The Pentagon's new map: our Government's hellish vision of endless war against hapless Third-Worlders
The entire "Core" has been targeted. To get Australians and New Zealanders on board, the Bali bombing was staged shortly after 9-11. To get even Old Europe on board, and save Aznar's servile government from the righteous wrath of the Spanish people, the Madrid bombs blew, but then politically backfired, badly. And presently, coordinated airplane downings and the horrors of Beslan are warping the minds and hearts of Russians towards war just as 9-11 warped our own, for a while anyway.
The entire "Core" has been targeted. To get Australians and New Zealanders on board, the Bali bombing was staged shortly after 9-11. To get even Old Europe on board, and save Aznar's servile government from the righteous wrath of the Spanish people, the Madrid bombs blew, but then politically backfired, badly. And presently, coordinated airplane downings and the horrors of Beslan are warping the minds and hearts of Russians towards war just as 9-11 warped our own, for a while anyway.
POLICE STATE
Little Guantanamo set up for Republican Convention
Wendy Stefanelli, a 35-year-old TV hair stylist, spent several hours locked in a hot bus--the weather was humid with temperature in the high 80s--with a man whose colostomy bag had burst. 'He was throwing up all over the back of the bus,' she said. 'The entire bus begged the officers present to please get medical attention to this man. They completely ignored us.'
Children, some who happened to be walking down the street when the cops arrested everyone present, were locked up for several days. Police refused to tell their frantic parents where they were. Adding to the misery was a resinous layer of gasoline and toxic cleansers coating the floor. "Everybody was laying in filth," said Cincotta. "Nobody was sleeping. A lot of people were screaming in agony."
"My experience wasn't nearly as bad as other folks'," says Jon Goldberg, 26, of Brooklyn. "There were people roughed up who were not resisting arrest. I saw one person with bruising on his head; he said a cop had kneeled on his head. A lot of people had their cameras destroyed. One had his photos deleted except for one, a new image of a police officer's boots and his hand protruding toward the lens--showing 'the finger.'"
Wendy Stefanelli, a 35-year-old TV hair stylist, spent several hours locked in a hot bus--the weather was humid with temperature in the high 80s--with a man whose colostomy bag had burst. 'He was throwing up all over the back of the bus,' she said. 'The entire bus begged the officers present to please get medical attention to this man. They completely ignored us.'
Children, some who happened to be walking down the street when the cops arrested everyone present, were locked up for several days. Police refused to tell their frantic parents where they were. Adding to the misery was a resinous layer of gasoline and toxic cleansers coating the floor. "Everybody was laying in filth," said Cincotta. "Nobody was sleeping. A lot of people were screaming in agony."
"My experience wasn't nearly as bad as other folks'," says Jon Goldberg, 26, of Brooklyn. "There were people roughed up who were not resisting arrest. I saw one person with bruising on his head; he said a cop had kneeled on his head. A lot of people had their cameras destroyed. One had his photos deleted except for one, a new image of a police officer's boots and his hand protruding toward the lens--showing 'the finger.'"
POLICE STATE
Convention detention
A graduate student at Columbia University, Alex Pincus, 28, and a friend rode their bikes over to the Second Avenue Deli on Friday evening to buy dinner. As they were waiting, they saw that the block had filled with bicyclists. These, they later learned, were some of the 5000 people who had taken part in the Critical Mass ride, pedaling through Manhattan streets shouting anti-Bush slogans.
When Pincus and his pal, Isa Wipfli, 29, went to retrieve their own bikes, they found that police had cordoned off the block at both ends. Pincus approached a nearby officer. 'I said, 'Hi. We're just here buying dinner. We're not involved. How do we get out of here?' ' Pincus said the cop led them down the street and then called two other police officers over, and shouted, 'These guys!'
Pincus and Wipfli were immediately seized. "We tried to show them the bags of food and the receipt. We said, 'Look, it's still warm.' They wouldn't listen."
What Pincus was more worried about was his chronically ailing shoulder as cops pulled his arms back and placed him in plastic flex-cuffs. "I tried to tell them I can't put it in that position, that it will dislocate. Instead, they pulled my shoulder out of its socket. The pain was tremendous."
A graduate student at Columbia University, Alex Pincus, 28, and a friend rode their bikes over to the Second Avenue Deli on Friday evening to buy dinner. As they were waiting, they saw that the block had filled with bicyclists. These, they later learned, were some of the 5000 people who had taken part in the Critical Mass ride, pedaling through Manhattan streets shouting anti-Bush slogans.
When Pincus and his pal, Isa Wipfli, 29, went to retrieve their own bikes, they found that police had cordoned off the block at both ends. Pincus approached a nearby officer. 'I said, 'Hi. We're just here buying dinner. We're not involved. How do we get out of here?' ' Pincus said the cop led them down the street and then called two other police officers over, and shouted, 'These guys!'
Pincus and Wipfli were immediately seized. "We tried to show them the bags of food and the receipt. We said, 'Look, it's still warm.' They wouldn't listen."
What Pincus was more worried about was his chronically ailing shoulder as cops pulled his arms back and placed him in plastic flex-cuffs. "I tried to tell them I can't put it in that position, that it will dislocate. Instead, they pulled my shoulder out of its socket. The pain was tremendous."
FASCISTS MARCH
Germany agonizes over neo-Nazis' resurgence
Neo-Nazi parties took seats in German legislatures this week for the first time in 36 years. The top-selling film in German movie theatres was a controversial new drama that portrays a sensitive, human Adolf Hitler. And protests from Jewish groups and German activists failed to stop the display of a collection allegedly assembled from the Nazi slave-labour fortunes.
It was a bizarre and disquieting week in Germany, full of dark echoes of the 1920s and featuring several bizarre spectacles. Whenever the newly elected fascists were asked questions on TV news shows, politicians from major parties got up, took off their microphones and stormed out of the studios. A 35-year-old woman cartwheeled across an art-gallery floor before kicking apart major works of modern art in a protest against owner Friedrich Christian Flick, grandson of a Nazi war criminal.
Neo-Nazi parties took seats in German legislatures this week for the first time in 36 years. The top-selling film in German movie theatres was a controversial new drama that portrays a sensitive, human Adolf Hitler. And protests from Jewish groups and German activists failed to stop the display of a collection allegedly assembled from the Nazi slave-labour fortunes.
It was a bizarre and disquieting week in Germany, full of dark echoes of the 1920s and featuring several bizarre spectacles. Whenever the newly elected fascists were asked questions on TV news shows, politicians from major parties got up, took off their microphones and stormed out of the studios. A 35-year-old woman cartwheeled across an art-gallery floor before kicking apart major works of modern art in a protest against owner Friedrich Christian Flick, grandson of a Nazi war criminal.
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
How to avoid becoming an anti-American
Arabs don't really care much that we've starved, strangled, tortured, beaten, bombed, bulldozed, killed, and maimed them directly or indirectly for decades, because - unlike us - they don't place much value on human life. The real reason they hate us is because of their mindless, reckless hatred of everything that's good in the world (that's us), because we are free, democratic and virtuous.
Arabs don't really care much that we've starved, strangled, tortured, beaten, bombed, bulldozed, killed, and maimed them directly or indirectly for decades, because - unlike us - they don't place much value on human life. The real reason they hate us is because of their mindless, reckless hatred of everything that's good in the world (that's us), because we are free, democratic and virtuous.
DA BOMB
Twisting Dr. Nuke's arm
If a nuclear weapon destroys the U.S. Capitol in coming years, it will probably be based in part on Pakistani technology. The biggest challenge to civilization in recent years came not from Osama or Saddam Hussein but from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb. Dr. Khan definitely sold nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, and, officials believe, to several more nations as well.
But, amazingly, eight months after Dr. Khan publicly confessed, we still don't know who the rest of his customers were. Mr. Musharraf acknowledged as much in an interview.
If a nuclear weapon destroys the U.S. Capitol in coming years, it will probably be based in part on Pakistani technology. The biggest challenge to civilization in recent years came not from Osama or Saddam Hussein but from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb. Dr. Khan definitely sold nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, and, officials believe, to several more nations as well.
But, amazingly, eight months after Dr. Khan publicly confessed, we still don't know who the rest of his customers were. Mr. Musharraf acknowledged as much in an interview.
Friday, September 24, 2004
THOU SHALT NOT
Disgraced Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart threatens to kill gays
'I'm trying to find the correct name for it ... this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. ... I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died.'
The remarks were met with applause from his congregation.
'I'm trying to find the correct name for it ... this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. ... I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died.'
The remarks were met with applause from his congregation.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
OUR COSMOS
Mysterious signals from light years away
Astronomers involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) pointed the massive radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, at around 200 sections of the sky.
The same telescope had previously detected unexplained radio signals at least twice from each of these regions, and the astronomers were trying to reconfirm the findings. The team has now finished analysing the data, and all the signals seem to have disappeared. Except one, which has got stronger.
Astronomers deny ET signal report
The giant Arecibo telescope is used to scan the skies
Astronomers have moved swiftly to quell speculation they may have received a deep-space radio signal from ET.
"It's all hype and noise," said SETI chief scientist, Dr Dan Wertheimer. "We have nothing that is unusual. It's all out of proportion."
Dr. Paul Horowitz of Harvard has informed reporters that it is not being investigated further.
CLOAK AND DAGGER
US government accused of carrying out 9/11 and racketeering: but will it get to court?
INTERVIEWER: They had drills on 9/11, that’s why NORAD stood down. Cheney was in control of the whole thing. Stanley Hilton has now gotten documents about how Bush ordered the whole operation. And I’ll tell you right now, his life is in danger.
STANLEY HILTON: Individuals that work in NORAD as well as the Air Force have stated this, off the record, but the point is, yes, this was not just five drills but at least 35 drills over at least two months before September 11th. Everything was planned, the exact location
[The MP3 of this interview is available here.]
INTERVIEWER: They had drills on 9/11, that’s why NORAD stood down. Cheney was in control of the whole thing. Stanley Hilton has now gotten documents about how Bush ordered the whole operation. And I’ll tell you right now, his life is in danger.
STANLEY HILTON: Individuals that work in NORAD as well as the Air Force have stated this, off the record, but the point is, yes, this was not just five drills but at least 35 drills over at least two months before September 11th. Everything was planned, the exact location
[The MP3 of this interview is available here.]
FREE SPEECH COSTLY
Saudi professor sentenced for speaking out
A Saudi court sentenced a university professor to five years in prison Sunday on charges of sowing dissent after he compared U.S. killings of Iraqi civilians to Osama bin Laden's terror attacks.
Saeed bin Mubarak al-Zaeer, a 57-year-old university professor, was sentenced by the court in the capital Riyadh. The sentencing took place without the presence of a lawyer representing al-Zaeer.
Al-Zaeer was detained by security forces in April after he appeared on the Al-Jazeera television station and made the comparison.
A Saudi court sentenced a university professor to five years in prison Sunday on charges of sowing dissent after he compared U.S. killings of Iraqi civilians to Osama bin Laden's terror attacks.
Saeed bin Mubarak al-Zaeer, a 57-year-old university professor, was sentenced by the court in the capital Riyadh. The sentencing took place without the presence of a lawyer representing al-Zaeer.
Al-Zaeer was detained by security forces in April after he appeared on the Al-Jazeera television station and made the comparison.
POLICE STATE
FBI has anti-terror 'October Plan'
An internal e-mail advisory to supervisory agents this week from the FBI's "'04 Threat Task Force" said the purpose of the counter-offensive is "to foster the impression that law enforcement is focused on individuals who may be a threat."
Specifically, the plan calls for "aggressive - even obvious - surveillance" techniques to be used on a short list of people suspected of being terrorist sympathizers, but who have not committed a crime. Other "persons of interest," including their family members, may also be brought in for questioning, one source said.
One element of the FBI plan calls for addressing what it fears could be a wave of protests from Arab-Americans and civil libertarians once the so-called "October Plan" kicks off.
An internal e-mail advisory to supervisory agents this week from the FBI's "'04 Threat Task Force" said the purpose of the counter-offensive is "to foster the impression that law enforcement is focused on individuals who may be a threat."
Specifically, the plan calls for "aggressive - even obvious - surveillance" techniques to be used on a short list of people suspected of being terrorist sympathizers, but who have not committed a crime. Other "persons of interest," including their family members, may also be brought in for questioning, one source said.
One element of the FBI plan calls for addressing what it fears could be a wave of protests from Arab-Americans and civil libertarians once the so-called "October Plan" kicks off.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
PLANE SIGHT
9-11 Mysteries all over the place
American Free Press visited Somerset County to look into some of the questions surrounding United Airlines Flight 93, which allegedly turned over and crashed in a refilled strip mine between Lambertsville and Shanksville, Pa., taking 44 lives with it.
Many local residents believe the plane was shot down, which they say would explain why parts of the plane and its contents were found strewn over a large area.
One question, “is what happened to the physical wreckage of the plane?”
“There was no plane,” Ernie Stull, mayor of Shanksville, told German television in March 2003.
American Free Press visited Somerset County to look into some of the questions surrounding United Airlines Flight 93, which allegedly turned over and crashed in a refilled strip mine between Lambertsville and Shanksville, Pa., taking 44 lives with it.
Many local residents believe the plane was shot down, which they say would explain why parts of the plane and its contents were found strewn over a large area.
One question, “is what happened to the physical wreckage of the plane?”
“There was no plane,” Ernie Stull, mayor of Shanksville, told German television in March 2003.
LAW IS AN ASS
Widow fights back-door attempt to dismiss 911 suit against GW Bush and co
The Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) lawsuit filed by New Hampshire widow Ellen Mariani (wife of 9-11 victim Neil Mariani) against President Bush and other high-ranking officials could be jeopardized by her step-daughter Lauren Peters' recent actions after meeting with an attorney from a Florida-based law firm with multiple close ties to the Bush administration. Miami's Greenberg-Traurig firm was hired by George W. Bush to represent his legal interests in the Bush-Gore 2000 election recount.
Since her meeting in the Greenberg-Traurig offices, Peters has been attempting to assume administrative and financial control of Neil Mariani's estate, accusing Mariani of incompetence in her capacity as estate administratrix because she refused to accept a settlement from the 9-11 Victims' Compensation fund.
The Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) lawsuit filed by New Hampshire widow Ellen Mariani (wife of 9-11 victim Neil Mariani) against President Bush and other high-ranking officials could be jeopardized by her step-daughter Lauren Peters' recent actions after meeting with an attorney from a Florida-based law firm with multiple close ties to the Bush administration. Miami's Greenberg-Traurig firm was hired by George W. Bush to represent his legal interests in the Bush-Gore 2000 election recount.
Since her meeting in the Greenberg-Traurig offices, Peters has been attempting to assume administrative and financial control of Neil Mariani's estate, accusing Mariani of incompetence in her capacity as estate administratrix because she refused to accept a settlement from the 9-11 Victims' Compensation fund.
EARTH CHANGES
Natural disasters 'on the rise'
More and more people are being caught up in a growing number of natural disasters, a UN agency said on Friday.
The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said the increase in numbers vulnerable to natural shocks was due partly to global warming.
It said 254 million people were affected by natural hazards last year - nearly three times as many as in 1990.
The assessment comes as the Caribbean and the US are being hit by a series of devastating hurricanes.
More and more people are being caught up in a growing number of natural disasters, a UN agency said on Friday.
The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said the increase in numbers vulnerable to natural shocks was due partly to global warming.
It said 254 million people were affected by natural hazards last year - nearly three times as many as in 1990.
The assessment comes as the Caribbean and the US are being hit by a series of devastating hurricanes.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
No gold stars, just handcuffs
Sue Niederer, 55, of Hopewell, N.J., got handcuffed, arrested and charged with a crime for daring to challenge the Bush policy in Iraq, where her son, Army First Lt. Seth Dvorin, 24, died in February while attempting to disarm a bomb.
She came to a Laura Bush rally last week at a firehouse in Hamilton, N.J., wearing a T-shirt that blazed with her agony and anger: 'President Bush You Killed My Son'.
Mrs. Niederer tried to shout while the first lady was delivering her standard ode to her husband's efforts to fight terrorism. She wanted to know why the Bush twins weren't serving in Iraq 'if it's such a justified war,' as she put it afterward.
The mother of the dead soldier was boxed in by Bush supporters yelling 'Four more years!' and wielding 'Bush/Cheney' signs. Though she eventually left voluntarily, she was charged with trespassing while talking to reporters.
The moment was emblematic of how far the Bushies will go to squelch any voice that presents a view of Iraq that's different from the sunny party line, which they continue to dish out despite a torrent of alarming evidence to the contrary.
Sue Niederer, 55, of Hopewell, N.J., got handcuffed, arrested and charged with a crime for daring to challenge the Bush policy in Iraq, where her son, Army First Lt. Seth Dvorin, 24, died in February while attempting to disarm a bomb.
She came to a Laura Bush rally last week at a firehouse in Hamilton, N.J., wearing a T-shirt that blazed with her agony and anger: 'President Bush You Killed My Son'.
Mrs. Niederer tried to shout while the first lady was delivering her standard ode to her husband's efforts to fight terrorism. She wanted to know why the Bush twins weren't serving in Iraq 'if it's such a justified war,' as she put it afterward.
The mother of the dead soldier was boxed in by Bush supporters yelling 'Four more years!' and wielding 'Bush/Cheney' signs. Though she eventually left voluntarily, she was charged with trespassing while talking to reporters.
The moment was emblematic of how far the Bushies will go to squelch any voice that presents a view of Iraq that's different from the sunny party line, which they continue to dish out despite a torrent of alarming evidence to the contrary.
FEEL A DRAFT?
US runs low on soldiers
'If Bush gets in I think a draft is a distinct possibility,' says Eric Ellis, a Vietnam veteran. He isn't alone.
Officially, the draft is a non-starter. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ruled it out. The Selective Service Agency, the federal body that would run a draft, doesn't 'foresee anything on the horizon'. Neither Bush nor his presidential rival, Senator John Kerry, have mentioned it.
But this could change quickly. Should Washington give the go-ahead, America's 1980 draft boards, staffed by 11,000 volunteers, are 'ready to do business'.
Currently, there are two private members' bills in Congress, one in the House and one in the Senate, to re-enact the draft.
"Once the presidential election is done I think there will be strong pressure on Congress to look at the draft," says Professor Don Zillman, a expert on the subject at the University of Maine in Portland.
"I think at this stage it would be unpopular. But if we have another terrorist attack closer to home, all bets are off."
'If Bush gets in I think a draft is a distinct possibility,' says Eric Ellis, a Vietnam veteran. He isn't alone.
Officially, the draft is a non-starter. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ruled it out. The Selective Service Agency, the federal body that would run a draft, doesn't 'foresee anything on the horizon'. Neither Bush nor his presidential rival, Senator John Kerry, have mentioned it.
But this could change quickly. Should Washington give the go-ahead, America's 1980 draft boards, staffed by 11,000 volunteers, are 'ready to do business'.
Currently, there are two private members' bills in Congress, one in the House and one in the Senate, to re-enact the draft.
"Once the presidential election is done I think there will be strong pressure on Congress to look at the draft," says Professor Don Zillman, a expert on the subject at the University of Maine in Portland.
"I think at this stage it would be unpopular. But if we have another terrorist attack closer to home, all bets are off."
Sunday, September 19, 2004
MACHINES TAKE OVER
Smelly robot eats flies to generate its own power
British scientists are developing a robot that will generate its own power by eating flies.
The idea is to produce electricity by catching flies and digesting them in special fuel cells that will break down sugar in the insects' skeletons and release electrons that will drive an electric current.
'Called EcoBot II, the robot is part of a drive to make 'release and forget' robots that can be sent into dangerous or inhospitable areas to carry our remote industrial or military monitoring of, say, temperature or toxic gas concentrations,' New Scientist magazine reported.
British scientists are developing a robot that will generate its own power by eating flies.
The idea is to produce electricity by catching flies and digesting them in special fuel cells that will break down sugar in the insects' skeletons and release electrons that will drive an electric current.
'Called EcoBot II, the robot is part of a drive to make 'release and forget' robots that can be sent into dangerous or inhospitable areas to carry our remote industrial or military monitoring of, say, temperature or toxic gas concentrations,' New Scientist magazine reported.
UNCONVENTIONAL REPUBLIC
The new Homeland Security State
On the third night the Republican Convention was in town, I attended a modest demonstration against the imperial broadcast media.
The 'march,' which you might want to imagine as a serpentine creature heading south on New York's Sixth Avenue, had actually been chopped into a series of one-block long segments by the New York Police Department. Each small segment was penned on its sides by moveable wooden barricades and on either end by the wheel-to-wheel bikes of a seemingly endless supply of mounted policemen backed up by all manner of police vehicles. Though the photographing of protestors is an old practice, it once had a somewhat surreptitious quality to it. Not here (or anywhere else in the city that week) -- police in uniform were openly videoing the crowd. To 'march,' that is, actually meant to step from pen to pen, hemmed in everywhere, your protest at the mercy of the timing, tactics, and desires of the police. It was one of many sobering moments that week.
No Patriot Act victims? Tell that to Ms Starr: The RNC's 'Little Guantanamo'
My 21-year old daughter disappeared from NYC last Tuesday afternoon when walking with friends through a park where no protest was being held -- and was held prisoner -- without being charged -- by the NYPD for three days.
The first day and night she spent in an unsafe and inhumane facility at Pier 57 ("Little Guantanamo") provided by the Republican Party. Yes, it was managed by the Republican National Committe. It was leased by the RNC to hold political dissenters who disagreed with the Bush administration. The second two days, my daughter was in a city jail in Manhattan, where her treatment improved.
The notorious Pier 57 (owned by the HudsonRiver Trust--a city/state consortium) was dubbed "Little Guantanamo" by reporters who also got caught up in police sweeps and who said it looked like the Guantanamo Bay prison built by the USA to hold the Al Qaeda terrorist political prisoners in Cuba.
[Maui news article.]
On the third night the Republican Convention was in town, I attended a modest demonstration against the imperial broadcast media.
The 'march,' which you might want to imagine as a serpentine creature heading south on New York's Sixth Avenue, had actually been chopped into a series of one-block long segments by the New York Police Department. Each small segment was penned on its sides by moveable wooden barricades and on either end by the wheel-to-wheel bikes of a seemingly endless supply of mounted policemen backed up by all manner of police vehicles. Though the photographing of protestors is an old practice, it once had a somewhat surreptitious quality to it. Not here (or anywhere else in the city that week) -- police in uniform were openly videoing the crowd. To 'march,' that is, actually meant to step from pen to pen, hemmed in everywhere, your protest at the mercy of the timing, tactics, and desires of the police. It was one of many sobering moments that week.
No Patriot Act victims? Tell that to Ms Starr: The RNC's 'Little Guantanamo'
My 21-year old daughter disappeared from NYC last Tuesday afternoon when walking with friends through a park where no protest was being held -- and was held prisoner -- without being charged -- by the NYPD for three days.
The first day and night she spent in an unsafe and inhumane facility at Pier 57 ("Little Guantanamo") provided by the Republican Party. Yes, it was managed by the Republican National Committe. It was leased by the RNC to hold political dissenters who disagreed with the Bush administration. The second two days, my daughter was in a city jail in Manhattan, where her treatment improved.
The notorious Pier 57 (owned by the HudsonRiver Trust--a city/state consortium) was dubbed "Little Guantanamo" by reporters who also got caught up in police sweeps and who said it looked like the Guantanamo Bay prison built by the USA to hold the Al Qaeda terrorist political prisoners in Cuba.
[Maui news article.]
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
BUSH BASHING
Don't mess with the Bushes
Bestselling author Kitty Kelley's withering portrait of the Bush dynasty, The Family, is landing in bookstores on Tuesday - more than 720,000 copies of it. And the White House is already on high alert.
While Bush's Camp David coke party is getting most of the headlines, Kelley's book is filled with many other tawdry stories about the Bush dynasty.
Here is a family that looks 'like The Donna Reed Show, and then you see it's The Sopranos', Kelley tells Salon.
[S:] What do you think W will do if he loses in November? Will he happily go back to baseball?
[KK:] No. You know something that I have found out from this family after four years - he doesn't plan to lose. They know how to win - no matter what.
[S:] What does that mean?
[KK:] That means these people can put the Sopranos to shame.
[S:] Does that mean vote stealing?
[KK:] That's a bit overt. But nothing will stand in the way of these people winning. Nothing.
As one of W's Yalie frat brothers tells Kelley, it's not the substance abuse in Bush's past that's disturbing, it's the "lack of substance ... Georgie, as we called him, had absolutely no intellectual curiosity about anything. He wasn't interested in ideas or in books or causes. He didn't travel; he didn't read the newspapers; he didn't watch the news; he didn't even go to the movies. How anyone got out of Yale without developing some interest in the world besides booze and sports stuns me."
Bestselling author Kitty Kelley's withering portrait of the Bush dynasty, The Family, is landing in bookstores on Tuesday - more than 720,000 copies of it. And the White House is already on high alert.
While Bush's Camp David coke party is getting most of the headlines, Kelley's book is filled with many other tawdry stories about the Bush dynasty.
Here is a family that looks 'like The Donna Reed Show, and then you see it's The Sopranos', Kelley tells Salon.
[S:] What do you think W will do if he loses in November? Will he happily go back to baseball?
[KK:] No. You know something that I have found out from this family after four years - he doesn't plan to lose. They know how to win - no matter what.
[S:] What does that mean?
[KK:] That means these people can put the Sopranos to shame.
[S:] Does that mean vote stealing?
[KK:] That's a bit overt. But nothing will stand in the way of these people winning. Nothing.
As one of W's Yalie frat brothers tells Kelley, it's not the substance abuse in Bush's past that's disturbing, it's the "lack of substance ... Georgie, as we called him, had absolutely no intellectual curiosity about anything. He wasn't interested in ideas or in books or causes. He didn't travel; he didn't read the newspapers; he didn't watch the news; he didn't even go to the movies. How anyone got out of Yale without developing some interest in the world besides booze and sports stuns me."
TRUTH A CASUALTY
Dozens killed in massive Baghdad blast
Instead of three hours after the ambush, when the people on the scene were mainly curious locals and journalist, the US says the helicopter strike was at 0730, 40 minutes after the Bradley was attacked at 0650.
In the first explanation of events offered by the US military early on Sunday evening, the helicopter was said to have blown up the wrecked Bradley "to prevent looting and harm to the Iraqi people".
ENDLESS CRUSADE
Why West is losing
The definitive book on terrorism has appeared that should be mandatory reading for every thinking person. It's called Imperial Hubris: Why The West is Losing the War on Terror.
The cover simply identifies the author as "Anonymous," but he's already been widely identified in the American media as Michael Scheuer, a senior terrorism analyst for the CIA.
None of bin Laden's reasons for waging war on the U.S., writes Scheuer, "have anything to do with our freedom, liberty, and democracy (as President George Bush claims), but everything to do with US policies and actions in the Muslim world," notably unlimited support for Israel's repression of the Palestinians and the destruction of Iraq.
The definitive book on terrorism has appeared that should be mandatory reading for every thinking person. It's called Imperial Hubris: Why The West is Losing the War on Terror.
The cover simply identifies the author as "Anonymous," but he's already been widely identified in the American media as Michael Scheuer, a senior terrorism analyst for the CIA.
None of bin Laden's reasons for waging war on the U.S., writes Scheuer, "have anything to do with our freedom, liberty, and democracy (as President George Bush claims), but everything to do with US policies and actions in the Muslim world," notably unlimited support for Israel's repression of the Palestinians and the destruction of Iraq.
CLOAK AND DAGGER
911 in Plane Site: video and photographic evidence of the largest cover-up in modern day history
What "911 In Plane Site" accomplishes that no other video expose' on September 11th has to date, is it exposes the viewer to a barrage of news clips from a majority of the mainstream news outlets. The official story of that day was told on live TV by reporters, policemen, firefighters, and other on-the-scene eyewitnesses, however, that footage was shown only once on live television broadcasts in the first hours of the attacks and then… it was never repeated. The stories changed, information was enigmatically omitted, and what can only be described as officially prescribed propaganda took the place of indisputable reality.
What "911 In Plane Site" accomplishes that no other video expose' on September 11th has to date, is it exposes the viewer to a barrage of news clips from a majority of the mainstream news outlets. The official story of that day was told on live TV by reporters, policemen, firefighters, and other on-the-scene eyewitnesses, however, that footage was shown only once on live television broadcasts in the first hours of the attacks and then… it was never repeated. The stories changed, information was enigmatically omitted, and what can only be described as officially prescribed propaganda took the place of indisputable reality.
Friday, September 10, 2004
CINEMA IN CAMERA
In a secret Paris cavern, the real underground cinema
Police in Paris have discovered a fully equipped cinema-cum-restaurant in a large and previously uncharted cavern underneath the capital's chic 16th arrondissement.
Officers admit they are at a loss to know who built or used one of Paris's most intriguing recent discoveries.
'We have no idea whatsoever,' a police spokesman said.
'There were two swastikas painted on the ceiling, but also celtic crosses and several stars of David, so we don't think it's extremists. Some sect or secret society, maybe. There are any number of possibilities.'"
Police in Paris have discovered a fully equipped cinema-cum-restaurant in a large and previously uncharted cavern underneath the capital's chic 16th arrondissement.
Officers admit they are at a loss to know who built or used one of Paris's most intriguing recent discoveries.
'We have no idea whatsoever,' a police spokesman said.
'There were two swastikas painted on the ceiling, but also celtic crosses and several stars of David, so we don't think it's extremists. Some sect or secret society, maybe. There are any number of possibilities.'"
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
CLOAK AND DAGGER
Leading Russian journalist 'poisoned'
Alarm bells are ringing in Russian media circles after the alleged poisoning of Anna Politkovskaya, one of the most outspoken critics of Vladimir Putin's policy on Chechnya, and the apparent sacking of the editor of Izvestia today.
Politkovskaya, who writes for the current affairs magazine Novaya Gazeta, was on her way to the siege in Beslan from Moscow when she collapsed mysteriously.
According to the Moscow Times today, "Politkovskaya was flying from Vnukovo Airport to Rostov-on-Don and fainted on the plane.
Immediately after landing, she was taken to a local hospital, where doctors found she had been poisoned, Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists."
Alarm bells are ringing in Russian media circles after the alleged poisoning of Anna Politkovskaya, one of the most outspoken critics of Vladimir Putin's policy on Chechnya, and the apparent sacking of the editor of Izvestia today.
Politkovskaya, who writes for the current affairs magazine Novaya Gazeta, was on her way to the siege in Beslan from Moscow when she collapsed mysteriously.
According to the Moscow Times today, "Politkovskaya was flying from Vnukovo Airport to Rostov-on-Don and fainted on the plane.
Immediately after landing, she was taken to a local hospital, where doctors found she had been poisoned, Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists."
DEMOCRACY DEATH
California to sue Diebold over false claims
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said on Tuesday he would sue electronic voting machine maker Diebold Inc. on charges it defrauded the state with false claims about its products.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has said Diebold deceived California with aggressive marketing that led to the installation of touch-screen voting systems that were not tested or approved nationally or in California.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said on Tuesday he would sue electronic voting machine maker Diebold Inc. on charges it defrauded the state with false claims about its products.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has said Diebold deceived California with aggressive marketing that led to the installation of touch-screen voting systems that were not tested or approved nationally or in California.
DOCTOR IN THE BIG HOUSE
Online lessons for doctors on how to deal with prisoner abuse
Experts are concerned that doctors become inured to a culture of abuse at a prison and subsequently help to sustain it.
"They get into an atrocity-producing culture," said Sverre Varvin, a researcher at the University of Oslo and Norwegian expert on ethics and human rights in jails.
Now a course has been developed by the Norwegian Medical Association (NMA) -- following studies in Turkish jails -- to help doctors address dual loyalty to the country holding the inmates captive and to their ethical code.
[An article in the British medical journal The Lancet recently accused US army doctors at Abu Ghraib jail outside Baghdad of failing to report deaths caused by beatings and helping to design abusive interrogation methods.]
Experts are concerned that doctors become inured to a culture of abuse at a prison and subsequently help to sustain it.
"They get into an atrocity-producing culture," said Sverre Varvin, a researcher at the University of Oslo and Norwegian expert on ethics and human rights in jails.
Now a course has been developed by the Norwegian Medical Association (NMA) -- following studies in Turkish jails -- to help doctors address dual loyalty to the country holding the inmates captive and to their ethical code.
[An article in the British medical journal The Lancet recently accused US army doctors at Abu Ghraib jail outside Baghdad of failing to report deaths caused by beatings and helping to design abusive interrogation methods.]
Monday, September 06, 2004
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
The beginning of history
Fahrenheit 9/11 proposes that the White House and Pentagon were taken over in the first year of the millennium by a gang of thugs so that US power should henceforth serve the global interests of the corporations: a stark scenario which is closer to the truth than most nuanced editorials.
To denigrate the film as propaganda is either naive or perverse, forgetting (deliberately?) what the last century taught us. Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast. Propaganda invariably serves the long-term interests of some elite.
This single maverick movie is often reflectively slow and is not afraid of silence. It appeals to people to think for themselves and make connections. And it identifies with, and pleads for, those who are normally unlistened to. Making a strong case is not the same thing as saturating with propaganda. Fox TV does the latter; Michael Moore the former.
Fahrenheit 9/11 proposes that the White House and Pentagon were taken over in the first year of the millennium by a gang of thugs so that US power should henceforth serve the global interests of the corporations: a stark scenario which is closer to the truth than most nuanced editorials.
To denigrate the film as propaganda is either naive or perverse, forgetting (deliberately?) what the last century taught us. Propaganda requires a permanent network of communication so that it can systematically stifle reflection with emotive or utopian slogans. Its pace is usually fast. Propaganda invariably serves the long-term interests of some elite.
This single maverick movie is often reflectively slow and is not afraid of silence. It appeals to people to think for themselves and make connections. And it identifies with, and pleads for, those who are normally unlistened to. Making a strong case is not the same thing as saturating with propaganda. Fox TV does the latter; Michael Moore the former.
Friday, September 03, 2004
EARTH CHANGES
Major temperature rise recorded in Arctic this year: German scientists
German scientists probing global warming said Friday they had detected a major temperature rise this year in the Arctic Ocean and linked this to a progressive shrinking of the region's sea ice.
Temperatures recorded this year in the upper 500 metres (1,625 feet) of sea in the Fram Strait -- the gap between Greenland and the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen -- were up to 0.6 C (1.08 F) higher than in 2003, they said in a press release received here."
German scientists probing global warming said Friday they had detected a major temperature rise this year in the Arctic Ocean and linked this to a progressive shrinking of the region's sea ice.
Temperatures recorded this year in the upper 500 metres (1,625 feet) of sea in the Fram Strait -- the gap between Greenland and the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen -- were up to 0.6 C (1.08 F) higher than in 2003, they said in a press release received here."
DOUBLESPEAK
Changing tack, Bush says terror war winnable
President Bush said the war on terror could be won by America and explained away an earlier comment that it could not be by blaming his lack of articulation.
As he prepared to address the Republican Party convention in New York on Thursday, Bush found himself forced to adjust his message in a central issue for his re-election campaign.
FLASHBACK: Bush says war on terror can't be won
President Bush said that he did not think America could win the war on terror but could make terrorism less acceptable around the world, a departure from his previous optimistic statements that the United States would eventually prevail.
President Bush said the war on terror could be won by America and explained away an earlier comment that it could not be by blaming his lack of articulation.
As he prepared to address the Republican Party convention in New York on Thursday, Bush found himself forced to adjust his message in a central issue for his re-election campaign.
FLASHBACK: Bush says war on terror can't be won
President Bush said that he did not think America could win the war on terror but could make terrorism less acceptable around the world, a departure from his previous optimistic statements that the United States would eventually prevail.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
CLOAK AND DAGGER
New spy scandal comes as major blow to Israel, AIPAC
Washington was rocked late last week by allegations that a Pentagon policy analyst on Iran, Laurence A. Franklin, had passed classified information to Israel through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby group in the US. He is also said to have had extensive meetings with Naor Gilon, head of the political department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and a specialist on Iran's nuclear weapons program.
While both AIPAC and the Israeli government have issued categorical denials of any espionage activities, most observers say that law enforcement officials would not leak the accusations if they did not have the evidence to prove their charges. Franklin is said to have provided the Israelis with a secret presidential directive on Iran related to its ongoing nuclear program.
The New York Times reported on Aug. 30 that, "news reports about the inquiry compromised important investigative steps, like the effort to follow the trail back to the Israelis".
Washington was rocked late last week by allegations that a Pentagon policy analyst on Iran, Laurence A. Franklin, had passed classified information to Israel through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby group in the US. He is also said to have had extensive meetings with Naor Gilon, head of the political department at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and a specialist on Iran's nuclear weapons program.
While both AIPAC and the Israeli government have issued categorical denials of any espionage activities, most observers say that law enforcement officials would not leak the accusations if they did not have the evidence to prove their charges. Franklin is said to have provided the Israelis with a secret presidential directive on Iran related to its ongoing nuclear program.
The New York Times reported on Aug. 30 that, "news reports about the inquiry compromised important investigative steps, like the effort to follow the trail back to the Israelis".
Monday, August 30, 2004
FACT OR FAITH
A quantum leap of faith
Christopher Bader, a sociology professor at the conservative Baptist Baylor University, has a particular interest in people who say they are UFO abductees or victims of religion-linked ritual abuse.
His study of the two groups was published in a recent issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Bader, a Presbyterian, was able to get 55 of the UFO folks and 51 ritual-abuse survivors to anonymously fill out forms detailing their ages, education levels and other demographic information.
Of the 51 UFO abductees, 32 were women; 48 said they were white, six identified themselves as Native American (three chose both categories), 34 attended some college and 29 were white-collar workers. Most said they found some positive aspects to their experience.
Of the 48 ritual-abuse survivors, all were white women; 44 had attended college; and of the 21 then employed, 18 were white-collar workers. This was an unhappy population, and most reported that they had dozens of personalities.
Christopher Bader, a sociology professor at the conservative Baptist Baylor University, has a particular interest in people who say they are UFO abductees or victims of religion-linked ritual abuse.
His study of the two groups was published in a recent issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
Bader, a Presbyterian, was able to get 55 of the UFO folks and 51 ritual-abuse survivors to anonymously fill out forms detailing their ages, education levels and other demographic information.
Of the 51 UFO abductees, 32 were women; 48 said they were white, six identified themselves as Native American (three chose both categories), 34 attended some college and 29 were white-collar workers. Most said they found some positive aspects to their experience.
Of the 48 ritual-abuse survivors, all were white women; 44 had attended college; and of the 21 then employed, 18 were white-collar workers. This was an unhappy population, and most reported that they had dozens of personalities.
EARTH CHANGES
Earth faces sixth mass extinction
The Earth may be on the brink of a sixth mass extinction on a par with the five others that have punctuated its history, suggests the strongest evidence yet.
Butterflies in Britain are going extinct at an even greater rate than birds, according to the most comprehensive study ever of butterflies, birds, and plants.
There is growing concern over the rate at which species of plants and animals are disappearing around the world. But until now the evidence for such extinctions has mainly come from studies of birds. "The doubters could always turn around and say that there's something peculiar about birds that makes them susceptible to the impact of man on the environment," says Jeremy Greenwood of the British Trust for Ornithology in Norfolk, and one of the research team.
Now there is concrete evidence that insects - which account for more than half the described species on Earth, are disappearing faster than birds.
"If we can extrapolate that pattern of the British butterflies to other British insects, and indeed to invertebrates across the planet, we are obviously looking at a very serious bio-diversity crisis," says team member Mark Telfer of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Bedfordshire, UK.
FLASHBACK: Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
· Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
· Threat to the world is greater than terrorism
The Earth may be on the brink of a sixth mass extinction on a par with the five others that have punctuated its history, suggests the strongest evidence yet.
Butterflies in Britain are going extinct at an even greater rate than birds, according to the most comprehensive study ever of butterflies, birds, and plants.
There is growing concern over the rate at which species of plants and animals are disappearing around the world. But until now the evidence for such extinctions has mainly come from studies of birds. "The doubters could always turn around and say that there's something peculiar about birds that makes them susceptible to the impact of man on the environment," says Jeremy Greenwood of the British Trust for Ornithology in Norfolk, and one of the research team.
Now there is concrete evidence that insects - which account for more than half the described species on Earth, are disappearing faster than birds.
"If we can extrapolate that pattern of the British butterflies to other British insects, and indeed to invertebrates across the planet, we are obviously looking at a very serious bio-diversity crisis," says team member Mark Telfer of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Bedfordshire, UK.
FLASHBACK: Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
· Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
· Threat to the world is greater than terrorism
ARCHAEOLOGY
Rock Lake's ancient underwater structures may be part of huge copper-mining enterprise
In North American Archeological circles, one of the great enigmas is who mined the millions of tons of pure raw copper from Michigan's upper peninsula and Isle Royale in the time period between 3000 BC and 1200 BC. Indigenous use of copper was limited to small scale utilization and does not account for the prodigious amounts mined.
In European and Middle Eastern Archeological circles, one of the enigmas is where did all the copper come from to sustain the copper and bronze age cultures in the time period between 3000 BC and 1200 BC. Local sources were not sufficient and of the quality necessary to supply these large scale cultures.
The Rock Lake research Society's book The Dragon in the Lake, which documents the four years of research at Rock Lake, will be available soon. Another book, The Lost Pyramids of Rock Lake: Wisconsin's Sunken Civilization, by Frank Joseph is available here.
In North American Archeological circles, one of the great enigmas is who mined the millions of tons of pure raw copper from Michigan's upper peninsula and Isle Royale in the time period between 3000 BC and 1200 BC. Indigenous use of copper was limited to small scale utilization and does not account for the prodigious amounts mined.
In European and Middle Eastern Archeological circles, one of the enigmas is where did all the copper come from to sustain the copper and bronze age cultures in the time period between 3000 BC and 1200 BC. Local sources were not sufficient and of the quality necessary to supply these large scale cultures.
The Rock Lake research Society's book The Dragon in the Lake, which documents the four years of research at Rock Lake, will be available soon. Another book, The Lost Pyramids of Rock Lake: Wisconsin's Sunken Civilization, by Frank Joseph is available here.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
CLOAK AND DAGGER
FBI investigates aide to No. 3 Pentagon official accused of spying for Israel
The FBI is investigating whether an analyst for the Pentagon's No. 3 official acted as a spy for Israel, giving the Jewish state classified material about secret White House deliberations on Iran, two U.S. law-enforcement officials said Friday.
No arrests have been made, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. But a third law-enforcement official, also speaking anonymously, said an arrest in the case could come as early as next week.
Israeli Spy in Pentagon Linked to American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The FBI is investigating whether an analyst for the Pentagon's No. 3 official acted as a spy for Israel, giving the Jewish state classified material about secret White House deliberations on Iran, two U.S. law-enforcement officials said Friday.
No arrests have been made, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. But a third law-enforcement official, also speaking anonymously, said an arrest in the case could come as early as next week.
Israeli Spy in Pentagon Linked to American Israel Public Affairs Committee
WAR IS PEACE
Increased terrorism alert based on political needs, uses outdated info
The increased terror alerts in New York, New Jersey and Washington are based more on President George W. Bush's political campaign needs than any actual threat and the information used to justify the alerts is three years old, intelligence pros complain.
The alerts, planned weeks ago, came right after the Democratic National Convention in Boston as a carefully-orchestrated attempt to play on Bush’s strengths in the war against terrorism and blunt any momentum challenger John F. Kerry might have coming out of the convention.
Much of the "new" information cited as reasons for raising the alert dates back to 2001.
“The only real ‘increased chatter’ we’re seeing lately is between the White House and the Bush campaign headquarters in Arlington,” mutters one Homeland Security operative who spoke to Capitol Hill Blue only on condition of anonymity. “There’s no greater threat today than there was six months ago."
“Al Qaeda is regrouping. We know that,” says an agent with the National Security Agency. “We’ve allowed them to rebuild because we diverted our attention from their activities in Afghanistan so we could invade Iraq. That was a strategic error and, somewhere down the road, we will pay for it. But they are not ready yet to launch another coordinated attack on the level of September 11, 2001."
Washington police Chief Charles Ramsey complained bitterly to his staff that he and other police agencies have become “taxpayer-supported campaign workers for the Bush re-election campaign.”
Sources within the Department of Homeland Security say DHS Secretary Tom Ridge argued against raising the terror alert and going public with a list of specific buildings but Attorney General John Ashcroft overruled him.
Ridge has told aides he will quit his job even if President Bush is re-elected, saying he is tired of seeing politics take precedence over security. Ridge also complains about having to deal with Ashcroft, a Bible-quoting zealot who has Bush’s ear.
“This whole alert game is a cosmetic saber-rattle, a show of force to try and convince the American public that we’re on top of things,” says one FBI agent. “Sadly, we’re not. When the next attack comes, it will be when we least expect it and when we don’t have an increased alert.”
The increased terror alerts in New York, New Jersey and Washington are based more on President George W. Bush's political campaign needs than any actual threat and the information used to justify the alerts is three years old, intelligence pros complain.
The alerts, planned weeks ago, came right after the Democratic National Convention in Boston as a carefully-orchestrated attempt to play on Bush’s strengths in the war against terrorism and blunt any momentum challenger John F. Kerry might have coming out of the convention.
Much of the "new" information cited as reasons for raising the alert dates back to 2001.
“The only real ‘increased chatter’ we’re seeing lately is between the White House and the Bush campaign headquarters in Arlington,” mutters one Homeland Security operative who spoke to Capitol Hill Blue only on condition of anonymity. “There’s no greater threat today than there was six months ago."
“Al Qaeda is regrouping. We know that,” says an agent with the National Security Agency. “We’ve allowed them to rebuild because we diverted our attention from their activities in Afghanistan so we could invade Iraq. That was a strategic error and, somewhere down the road, we will pay for it. But they are not ready yet to launch another coordinated attack on the level of September 11, 2001."
Washington police Chief Charles Ramsey complained bitterly to his staff that he and other police agencies have become “taxpayer-supported campaign workers for the Bush re-election campaign.”
Sources within the Department of Homeland Security say DHS Secretary Tom Ridge argued against raising the terror alert and going public with a list of specific buildings but Attorney General John Ashcroft overruled him.
Ridge has told aides he will quit his job even if President Bush is re-elected, saying he is tired of seeing politics take precedence over security. Ridge also complains about having to deal with Ashcroft, a Bible-quoting zealot who has Bush’s ear.
“This whole alert game is a cosmetic saber-rattle, a show of force to try and convince the American public that we’re on top of things,” says one FBI agent. “Sadly, we’re not. When the next attack comes, it will be when we least expect it and when we don’t have an increased alert.”
AGONY AUNT
When the Feds come knocking
The FBI or local police ring your doorbell. They've come to ask a few questions, they say. Just part of a routine investigation or community outreach program.
You freak out. Perhaps you've publicly suggested that Mr. Bush's Iraqi mission was less than accomplished, or questioned which God Mr. Bush talks to, and in which tongue. Maybe you plan to attend an anti-war demonstration, just to see friends, of course. Worse, you get your news from a politically dubious website, or you've committed that most heinous crime, PWM - Protesting While Muslim. What should you do?
The FBI or local police ring your doorbell. They've come to ask a few questions, they say. Just part of a routine investigation or community outreach program.
You freak out. Perhaps you've publicly suggested that Mr. Bush's Iraqi mission was less than accomplished, or questioned which God Mr. Bush talks to, and in which tongue. Maybe you plan to attend an anti-war demonstration, just to see friends, of course. Worse, you get your news from a politically dubious website, or you've committed that most heinous crime, PWM - Protesting While Muslim. What should you do?
Friday, August 27, 2004
OIL WARS
UK MPs seek to impeach Blair
A group of British parliamentarians plans to invoke a parliamentary procedure last used more than 150 years ago to impeach Prime Minister Tony Blair over the invasion of Iraq.
Eleven members of parliament, mainly Scottish and Welsh nationalists who opposed the war, plus two opposition Conservatives, want to use the dated practice to force Blair to defend himself at Westminster over his decision to go to war.
'Although no one voted in this country for george Bush, we have fought his war and followed his disastrous foreign policy,' said Angus Robertson, and MP with the Scottish Nationalist Party.
A group of British parliamentarians plans to invoke a parliamentary procedure last used more than 150 years ago to impeach Prime Minister Tony Blair over the invasion of Iraq.
Eleven members of parliament, mainly Scottish and Welsh nationalists who opposed the war, plus two opposition Conservatives, want to use the dated practice to force Blair to defend himself at Westminster over his decision to go to war.
'Although no one voted in this country for george Bush, we have fought his war and followed his disastrous foreign policy,' said Angus Robertson, and MP with the Scottish Nationalist Party.
PHREAK PHONE CALL
Woman saved by mysterious phone call
A woman says her life was likely saved when she answered a hang-up phone call.
Mary Dhume was watching television Monday night when the phone in the next room rang. She got up to answer it, but there was no one at the other end of the line.
Suddenly, she heard breaking glass and saw her living room wall collapse onto the chair where she'd been sitting.
A woman says her life was likely saved when she answered a hang-up phone call.
Mary Dhume was watching television Monday night when the phone in the next room rang. She got up to answer it, but there was no one at the other end of the line.
Suddenly, she heard breaking glass and saw her living room wall collapse onto the chair where she'd been sitting.
MARTIAL LAW
Federal forces have new rights to use deadly force to quash dissent
A civil disturbance in the US by any resistance group, religious organization, or other persons considered to be non-conformist may now be dealt with by any Federal force.
All such bodies will have total power over the situation if local and state authorities cannot put down said dissenters.
Operation Garden Plot defines tax protesters, militia groups, religious cults, and general anti-government dissenters as Disruptive Elements. This calls for deadly force to be used against any extremist or dissident perpetrating any and all forms of civil disorder.
A civil disturbance in the US by any resistance group, religious organization, or other persons considered to be non-conformist may now be dealt with by any Federal force.
All such bodies will have total power over the situation if local and state authorities cannot put down said dissenters.
Operation Garden Plot defines tax protesters, militia groups, religious cults, and general anti-government dissenters as Disruptive Elements. This calls for deadly force to be used against any extremist or dissident perpetrating any and all forms of civil disorder.
MY GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOURS
Pentagon general parades on the pulpit
A Pentagon inquiry has concluded that Lt. Gen. William Boykin preached a grossly offensive gospel at 23 churches, pronouncing Satan the mastermind of the terrorists because "he wants to destroy us as a Christian army".
The deputy secretary of defense for intelligence -- the ranking general charged with the hunt for Osama bin Laden -- has been parading in uniform on Christian pulpits, preaching that God had put George Bush in the White House and that Islamic terrorists will only be defeated "if we come at them in the name of Jesus".
[To access this site without having to register, visit BugMeNot.com]
A Pentagon inquiry has concluded that Lt. Gen. William Boykin preached a grossly offensive gospel at 23 churches, pronouncing Satan the mastermind of the terrorists because "he wants to destroy us as a Christian army".
The deputy secretary of defense for intelligence -- the ranking general charged with the hunt for Osama bin Laden -- has been parading in uniform on Christian pulpits, preaching that God had put George Bush in the White House and that Islamic terrorists will only be defeated "if we come at them in the name of Jesus".
[To access this site without having to register, visit BugMeNot.com]
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