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.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
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]
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Ordered to just walk away
The national guardsman peering through the long-range scope of his rifle was startled by what he saw unfolding in the walled compound below. From his post several stories above ground level, he watched as men in plainclothes beat blindfolded and bound prisoners in the enclosed grounds of the Iraqi Interior Ministry. He immediately radioed for help. Soon after, a team of Oregon Army National Guard soldiers swept into the yard and found dozens of Iraqi detainees who said they had been beaten, starved and deprived of water for three days.
In a nearby building, the soldiers counted dozens more prisoners and what appeared to be torture devices -- metal rods, rubber hoses, electrical wires and bottles of chemicals. Many of the Iraqis, including one identified as a 14-year-old boy, had fresh welts and bruises across their back and legs.
The soldiers disarmed the Iraqi jailers, moved the prisoners into the shade, released their handcuffs and administered first aid. Lt. Col. Daniel Hendrickson of Albany, Ore., the highest ranking American at the scene, radioed for instructions. But in a move that frustrated and infuriated the guardsmen, Hendrickson's superior officers told him to return the prisoners to their abusers and immediately withdraw. It was June 29 -- Iraq's first official day as a sovereign country since the U.S.-led invasion.
The national guardsman peering through the long-range scope of his rifle was startled by what he saw unfolding in the walled compound below. From his post several stories above ground level, he watched as men in plainclothes beat blindfolded and bound prisoners in the enclosed grounds of the Iraqi Interior Ministry. He immediately radioed for help. Soon after, a team of Oregon Army National Guard soldiers swept into the yard and found dozens of Iraqi detainees who said they had been beaten, starved and deprived of water for three days.
In a nearby building, the soldiers counted dozens more prisoners and what appeared to be torture devices -- metal rods, rubber hoses, electrical wires and bottles of chemicals. Many of the Iraqis, including one identified as a 14-year-old boy, had fresh welts and bruises across their back and legs.
The soldiers disarmed the Iraqi jailers, moved the prisoners into the shade, released their handcuffs and administered first aid. Lt. Col. Daniel Hendrickson of Albany, Ore., the highest ranking American at the scene, radioed for instructions. But in a move that frustrated and infuriated the guardsmen, Hendrickson's superior officers told him to return the prisoners to their abusers and immediately withdraw. It was June 29 -- Iraq's first official day as a sovereign country since the U.S.-led invasion.
PULL MY CHENEY
Pentagon says it can't document $1.8 billion
Pentagon auditors have found that Halliburton Co. cannot properly document more than $1.8 billion worth of work done under its contracts in Iraq and Kuwait, US Army officials said yesterday. The latest setback for the Houston-based oil services company came in an audit by the Defense Contract Auditing Agency, which also found that the company's system for generating cost estimates used in negotiations with the government was ''inadequate."
Pentagon auditors have found that Halliburton Co. cannot properly document more than $1.8 billion worth of work done under its contracts in Iraq and Kuwait, US Army officials said yesterday. The latest setback for the Houston-based oil services company came in an audit by the Defense Contract Auditing Agency, which also found that the company's system for generating cost estimates used in negotiations with the government was ''inadequate."
BIG BROTHER
Biometrics extending into everyday life
Stuffing something in a public locker is not usually a memorable experience. You drop a coin, take the key and move on. 'Biometric seemed the most logical choice... people don't lose their finger.' But at the Statue of Liberty, recently reopened after a two-year closure, stashing a package offers a glimpse into the future. To rent and use lockers, visitors touch an electronic reader that scans fingerprints. 'It's easy,' Taiwanese visitor Yu-Sheng Lee, 26, said after stowing a bag. 'I think it's good. I don't have to worry about a key or something like that.'
Stuffing something in a public locker is not usually a memorable experience. You drop a coin, take the key and move on. 'Biometric seemed the most logical choice... people don't lose their finger.' But at the Statue of Liberty, recently reopened after a two-year closure, stashing a package offers a glimpse into the future. To rent and use lockers, visitors touch an electronic reader that scans fingerprints. 'It's easy,' Taiwanese visitor Yu-Sheng Lee, 26, said after stowing a bag. 'I think it's good. I don't have to worry about a key or something like that.'
INTIMIDATION RULES
FBI goes knocking for political troublemakers
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been questioning political demonstrators across the country, and in rare cases even subpoenaing them, in an aggressive effort to forestall what officials say could be violent and disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention in New York.
But some people contacted by the F.B.I. say they are mystified by the bureau's interest and felt harassed by questions about their political plans.
"The message I took from it," said Sarah Bardwell, 21, an intern at a Denver antiwar group who was visited by six investigators a few weeks ago, "was that they were trying to intimidate us into not going to any protests and to let us know that, 'hey, we're watching you'."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been questioning political demonstrators across the country, and in rare cases even subpoenaing them, in an aggressive effort to forestall what officials say could be violent and disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention in New York.
But some people contacted by the F.B.I. say they are mystified by the bureau's interest and felt harassed by questions about their political plans.
"The message I took from it," said Sarah Bardwell, 21, an intern at a Denver antiwar group who was visited by six investigators a few weeks ago, "was that they were trying to intimidate us into not going to any protests and to let us know that, 'hey, we're watching you'."
NEW WORLD ORDER
CIA may soon operate withing US borders
Porter Goss, President Bush's nominee to head the CIA, recently introduced legislation that would give the president new authority to direct CIA agents to conduct law-enforcement operations inside the United States—including arresting American citizens.
The legislation, introduced by Goss on June 16 and touted as an "intelligence reform" bill, would substantially restructure the U.S. intelligence community by giving the director of Central Intelligence (DCI) broad new powers to oversee its various components scattered throughout the government.
[The Goss bill would also redefine the authority of the DCI in such a way as to substantially alter—if not overturn—a 57-year-old ban on the CIA conducting operations inside the United States.]
Porter Goss, President Bush's nominee to head the CIA, recently introduced legislation that would give the president new authority to direct CIA agents to conduct law-enforcement operations inside the United States—including arresting American citizens.
The legislation, introduced by Goss on June 16 and touted as an "intelligence reform" bill, would substantially restructure the U.S. intelligence community by giving the director of Central Intelligence (DCI) broad new powers to oversee its various components scattered throughout the government.
[The Goss bill would also redefine the authority of the DCI in such a way as to substantially alter—if not overturn—a 57-year-old ban on the CIA conducting operations inside the United States.]
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
BANKING WORLD
The Herman Daly farewell speech
A decade ago, Herman Daly, Senior Economist in the Environment Department of the World Bank resigned after six years of work at the institution. He invited a number of World Bank economists and the press to a farewell speech in which he prescribed that the Bank take 'a few antacids and laxatives to cure the combination of managerial flatulence and organizational constipation giving rise to such a high-pressure internal environment' and to improve interactions with the external world he prescribed 'new eyeglasses and a hearing aid.'
A decade ago, Herman Daly, Senior Economist in the Environment Department of the World Bank resigned after six years of work at the institution. He invited a number of World Bank economists and the press to a farewell speech in which he prescribed that the Bank take 'a few antacids and laxatives to cure the combination of managerial flatulence and organizational constipation giving rise to such a high-pressure internal environment' and to improve interactions with the external world he prescribed 'new eyeglasses and a hearing aid.'
Thursday, August 05, 2004
ALERT AND ALARMED
Reports that led to terror alert were years old, officials say
Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.
Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, said on Monday in an interview on PBS that surveillance reports, apparently collected by Qaeda operatives had been "gathered in 2000 and 2001.'' But she added that information may have been updated as recently as January.
["But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror, the reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan." -- from a news conference by Homeland Security Cheif Tom Ridge]
Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.
Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, said on Monday in an interview on PBS that surveillance reports, apparently collected by Qaeda operatives had been "gathered in 2000 and 2001.'' But she added that information may have been updated as recently as January.
["But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president's leadership in the war against terror, the reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan." -- from a news conference by Homeland Security Cheif Tom Ridge]
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
NEW WORLD ORDER
Silencing dissent in America
The 'disorderly conduct' arrest will stay on my record forever. My prints are now in the 'system,' whatever that is. My name is on some shit list somewhere (it probably was before this anyway). My neighbors think I'm crazy, and I've spent many hours writing, talking and agonizing over this arrest. These are all part of the price I pay and continue to pay for speaking my mind in this fascist, fear driven country.
We hear a lot of simplistic rhetoric about how our soldiers are in Iraq protecting our freedoms. The simple truth of the matter is, Iraq never threatened our freedom. Neither did Osama bin Laden, for that matter.
Our freedoms can only be denied by those who hold direct power over us, our own leaders, our own police, and our courts.
Our freedoms can only be protected by standing up to bullies and petty tyrants, whether uniformed or flag draped. That's how freedoms are gained, and that's how they must be maintained. To do otherwise is a dereliction of revolutionary duty.
The 'disorderly conduct' arrest will stay on my record forever. My prints are now in the 'system,' whatever that is. My name is on some shit list somewhere (it probably was before this anyway). My neighbors think I'm crazy, and I've spent many hours writing, talking and agonizing over this arrest. These are all part of the price I pay and continue to pay for speaking my mind in this fascist, fear driven country.
We hear a lot of simplistic rhetoric about how our soldiers are in Iraq protecting our freedoms. The simple truth of the matter is, Iraq never threatened our freedom. Neither did Osama bin Laden, for that matter.
Our freedoms can only be denied by those who hold direct power over us, our own leaders, our own police, and our courts.
Our freedoms can only be protected by standing up to bullies and petty tyrants, whether uniformed or flag draped. That's how freedoms are gained, and that's how they must be maintained. To do otherwise is a dereliction of revolutionary duty.
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
THE OTHERS
Extraterrestrial visitor dies in Russian province
An alien given the name Aleshenka, found in the Ural region had a tiny onion-shaped head that looked like it was composed of five petals.
The 25cm high creature had no ears, huge slanting catlike eyes that occupied most of its face.
The elderly woman who found the creature took it to her home where she started examining the alien.
The body of Aleshenka was plump and was swaying like jelly. The skin on the body was gray and with dark spots in brown on the head. No hair, small holes instead of ears. Small flat nose enabled the creature to breath. Dark-gray eyes. No eye-lids. The vertical pupils of the eyes were constantly narrowing and expanding.
The creature died of neglect when its finder was hospitalised.
When its body finally discovered, doctors claimed the mummified creature has minimum 20 features distinguishing it from a human being.
Medical experts rejected the idea that Aleshenka could be a mutant child. The town of Kyshtym is situated in the area contaminated after the accident at a secret facility near the town of Chelyabinsk-40 in 1957. After the accident, birth defects have been occurring from time to time.
Monday, August 02, 2004
CHAINS OF COMMAND
Soldier's lawyers plan to summon top US officials
Attorneys representing Army Pfc. Lynndie England, charged in the torture-and-abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, said yesterday they plan to call Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as witnesses in her preliminary hearing this month.
During a news conference in Denver, the defense team said it had assembled a list of 136 people to summon when England, 21, appears June 22 before a military Article 32 hearing in Fort Bragg, N.C. The hearing, similar to a grand jury, will determine whether there is enough evidence to prosecute her. If she is tried and convicted on charges of abuse, conspiracy and discrediting the armed forces, England, who is five months pregnant, faces 15-1/2 years in prison.
Her lawyers acknowledge they can't force Cheney or Rumsfeld to show up, because there is no subpoena power for Article 32 hearings. The best they can hope for is the pair might be required, as public servants, to come if called.
Attorney Rose Mary Zapor said she believes the chain of command ordered England and at least six other prison guards at Abu Ghraib to 'soften up' Iraqi detainees before interrogation. One guard, Army Spc. Jeremy Sivits, pleaded guilty last month to abusing prisoners and was sentenced to one year in prison.
England is not in custody and is doing clerical work at Fort Bragg.
Excerpt from an interview aired on the Australian ABC Radio network Text in square brackets may contain transcript errors due to poor quality of recording.
ENGLAND: I was instructed by a person in a higher rank to stand there, hold this leash, they took the picture, [first aisle, and that's all I know].
INTERVIEWER: [You had an] intention of using that picture in some type of psychological operation [that they're inmates].
PRESENTER: Private England was asked if she thought there was anything wrong with what she was doing.
ENG: Oh I mean they were for psyop reasons and the reason was ... I mean ... and so ... to us we were doing our job which meant we were doing what we were told and the outcome was what they wanted. They'd come back and they'd look at the pictures and they'd state, "that's a good tactic, keep it up, that's working, this is working. Keep doing it. Gettin' what we need".
PRES: She didn't name names, but said repeatedly that she was acting under orders.
ENG: We don't feel like we were doing thing that we weren't supposed to, because we were told to do ... we think everything was justified because we were instructed to do this and to do that.
INT: Did things happen in this prison to those Iraqi prisoners worse than [garbled] than being photographed.
ENG: Yes
INT: Can you tell me about that.
ENG: No.
PRES: There are still many questions about what that worse treatment may have involved.
Attorneys representing Army Pfc. Lynndie England, charged in the torture-and-abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, said yesterday they plan to call Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as witnesses in her preliminary hearing this month.
During a news conference in Denver, the defense team said it had assembled a list of 136 people to summon when England, 21, appears June 22 before a military Article 32 hearing in Fort Bragg, N.C. The hearing, similar to a grand jury, will determine whether there is enough evidence to prosecute her. If she is tried and convicted on charges of abuse, conspiracy and discrediting the armed forces, England, who is five months pregnant, faces 15-1/2 years in prison.
Her lawyers acknowledge they can't force Cheney or Rumsfeld to show up, because there is no subpoena power for Article 32 hearings. The best they can hope for is the pair might be required, as public servants, to come if called.
Attorney Rose Mary Zapor said she believes the chain of command ordered England and at least six other prison guards at Abu Ghraib to 'soften up' Iraqi detainees before interrogation. One guard, Army Spc. Jeremy Sivits, pleaded guilty last month to abusing prisoners and was sentenced to one year in prison.
England is not in custody and is doing clerical work at Fort Bragg.
Excerpt from an interview aired on the Australian ABC Radio network Text in square brackets may contain transcript errors due to poor quality of recording.
ENGLAND: I was instructed by a person in a higher rank to stand there, hold this leash, they took the picture, [first aisle, and that's all I know].
INTERVIEWER: [You had an] intention of using that picture in some type of psychological operation [that they're inmates].
PRESENTER: Private England was asked if she thought there was anything wrong with what she was doing.
ENG: Oh I mean they were for psyop reasons and the reason was ... I mean ... and so ... to us we were doing our job which meant we were doing what we were told and the outcome was what they wanted. They'd come back and they'd look at the pictures and they'd state, "that's a good tactic, keep it up, that's working, this is working. Keep doing it. Gettin' what we need".
PRES: She didn't name names, but said repeatedly that she was acting under orders.
ENG: We don't feel like we were doing thing that we weren't supposed to, because we were told to do ... we think everything was justified because we were instructed to do this and to do that.
INT: Did things happen in this prison to those Iraqi prisoners worse than [garbled] than being photographed.
ENG: Yes
INT: Can you tell me about that.
ENG: No.
PRES: There are still many questions about what that worse treatment may have involved.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
NOTHING NEW
Meet Iraq's new boss...same as the old boss?
According to eyewitnesses, Iraq's new Prime Minister Iyad Allawi pulled a pistol and executed several suspects in a courtyard. The two eyewitnesses were tracked down by the Sydney Morning Herald and both gave their testimony without payment and without the knowledge of each other's existence. Their stories were nearly identical and both included the presence of several American security agents and vehicles.
More at AlterNet.com.
[Reports also said Allawi chopped the hand off another of the prisoners.]
According to eyewitnesses, Iraq's new Prime Minister Iyad Allawi pulled a pistol and executed several suspects in a courtyard. The two eyewitnesses were tracked down by the Sydney Morning Herald and both gave their testimony without payment and without the knowledge of each other's existence. Their stories were nearly identical and both included the presence of several American security agents and vehicles.
More at AlterNet.com.
[Reports also said Allawi chopped the hand off another of the prisoners.]
Thursday, July 29, 2004
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The death of truth, the end of greatness
Today, our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America—based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world. Truth is the foundation of our global leadership, but our credibility has been shattered and we are left increasingly isolated and vulnerable in a hostile world. Without truth—without trust—America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between the president and the people.
Ex-President Carter speaks at 2004 Democratic National Convention
Today, our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America—based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world. Truth is the foundation of our global leadership, but our credibility has been shattered and we are left increasingly isolated and vulnerable in a hostile world. Without truth—without trust—America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between the president and the people.
Ex-President Carter speaks at 2004 Democratic National Convention
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
ANOTHER WHITE VAN
Man Sought for Photographing Texas City Refineries
Law enforcement officials are looking for a man seen taking pictures of two Texas oil refineries about 30 miles south of Houston.
The three refineries seen being photographed include the largest U.S. plant operated by BP, which is the third-largest U.S. refinery, processing 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The man was seen taking pictures outside the refineries, all located on the same highway, said Bruce Clawson, emergency management and homeland security director for Texas City.
While it is not illegal to take pictures of a refinery from a highway or street, officials would like to talk to the man to find out his reason for taking the photographs.
'This is based on the idea that al Qaeda does its homework,' Clawson said. 'That's not to say we don't have enough home-grown idiots already who might want to do something.'
The man was seen driving a white van.
Law enforcement officials are looking for a man seen taking pictures of two Texas oil refineries about 30 miles south of Houston.
The three refineries seen being photographed include the largest U.S. plant operated by BP, which is the third-largest U.S. refinery, processing 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The man was seen taking pictures outside the refineries, all located on the same highway, said Bruce Clawson, emergency management and homeland security director for Texas City.
While it is not illegal to take pictures of a refinery from a highway or street, officials would like to talk to the man to find out his reason for taking the photographs.
'This is based on the idea that al Qaeda does its homework,' Clawson said. 'That's not to say we don't have enough home-grown idiots already who might want to do something.'
The man was seen driving a white van.
DRAFT DODGER
Talk of military draft persists despite denials: mandatory service on the horizon
Michigan's sons and daughters could soon be plucked without warning from their college dorms or their first full-time jobs to serve in Iraq. Or not.
Rumors about a possible draft have been circulating for months, fueled in part by Web sites such as StopTheDraft.com, which claims the draft is just "five minutes" away.
Lawmakers say it is unlikely Congress would call for compulsory service in an election year, and that the Bush administration has taken steps in the short term to shore up gaps in troop strength.
Michigan's sons and daughters could soon be plucked without warning from their college dorms or their first full-time jobs to serve in Iraq. Or not.
Rumors about a possible draft have been circulating for months, fueled in part by Web sites such as StopTheDraft.com, which claims the draft is just "five minutes" away.
Lawmakers say it is unlikely Congress would call for compulsory service in an election year, and that the Bush administration has taken steps in the short term to shore up gaps in troop strength.
WAILING WALL
UN vote demands Israel tear down barrier
The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand Israel obey a World Court ruling and tear down its West Bank barrier, but Australia has joined Israel and the United States in opposing the resolution.
The vote in the 191-nation assembly was 150-6, with 10 abstentions. The tiny Pacific states of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau also voted 'no'.
The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to demand Israel obey a World Court ruling and tear down its West Bank barrier, but Australia has joined Israel and the United States in opposing the resolution.
The vote in the 191-nation assembly was 150-6, with 10 abstentions. The tiny Pacific states of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau also voted 'no'.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
MAD BUTCHER
Surgeon slices patient's penis in three
A Romanian surgeon underwent a fit of madness while operating on a patient's testicles and instead cut off the man's penis and sliced it into three pieces, hospital officials said on Friday.
The surgeon, Naum Ciomu, was described as a senior member of the hospital staff and a professor of anatomy.
He had been operating on a 34-year-old man for a testicular malformation when he committed the act, the officials said.
'We are shocked by what has happened. It is the first time we have had such a case,' said Sorin Oprescu, head of the Bucharest emergency hospital where the patient was rushed for emergency reconstructive surgery.
The operations have been entrusted to a highly respected Romanian plastic surgeon, Ioan Lascar, who said he would try to restore the man's urinary function but that he was unlikely to recover normal sexual activity.
A Romanian surgeon underwent a fit of madness while operating on a patient's testicles and instead cut off the man's penis and sliced it into three pieces, hospital officials said on Friday.
The surgeon, Naum Ciomu, was described as a senior member of the hospital staff and a professor of anatomy.
He had been operating on a 34-year-old man for a testicular malformation when he committed the act, the officials said.
'We are shocked by what has happened. It is the first time we have had such a case,' said Sorin Oprescu, head of the Bucharest emergency hospital where the patient was rushed for emergency reconstructive surgery.
The operations have been entrusted to a highly respected Romanian plastic surgeon, Ioan Lascar, who said he would try to restore the man's urinary function but that he was unlikely to recover normal sexual activity.
Monday, July 19, 2004
CRYPTO HUMAN
Giant human skeleton found in Saudi Arabia
An enormous human-like skeleton has been uncovered by a gas exploration team in Saudi Arabia, according to a Bangladeshi independent news source.
Workers from the Saudi national oil company Aramco made the discovery in the deserts of south east Saudi in a region called Rab al-Qalee or Empty Quarter.
It has been reported that Saudi military have closed off the area allowing only Aramco personnel throught the perimeter.
EXPLANATION: The image first surfaced as an entry in an October 2002 Photoshop contest run by Worth1000.com. It was created by manipulating an actual photo of a Cornell University excavation of a mastodon skeleton.
The text, which is obviously bogus (apart from the loosely synopsized Qur'an story of the Prophet Hud and the people of Aad), was created much later and first found circulating with the photo in March 2004.
Sunday, July 18, 2004
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS
Seven new-borns found dead in bins
Seven newborn babies were dumped dead in two wayside dustbins in the Bangladeshi capital, provoking outrage and concern among the city dwellers.
Ramna Police recovered six bodies from the dustbins near a playground.
The body of another newborn baby was also found in a dustbin at Sankar by Dhanmondi Police.
Seven newborn babies were dumped dead in two wayside dustbins in the Bangladeshi capital, provoking outrage and concern among the city dwellers.
Ramna Police recovered six bodies from the dustbins near a playground.
The body of another newborn baby was also found in a dustbin at Sankar by Dhanmondi Police.
LAPSED REASON
Mormons, witches, the Playboy centrefold model and some grizzly murders
This week, a jury in Martinez, a small town outside San Francisco, will retire to consider the bizarre, brutally violent cult surrounding one Glenn Taylor Helzer, a lapsed Mormon accused of bludgeoning and dismembering five people in an elaborate extortion racket intended to hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Helzer, a former stockbroker who has already pleaded guilty and faces the death penalty, exerted a charismatic hold over an eclectic group of followers including his younger brother, a former girlfriend turned Playboy centrefold model, and a self-described "good witch" who once offered to raise money for Armageddon by appearing in porn films.
The first two victims were elderly former clients of Helzer's, who were forced to write cheques for $100,000 (?55,000) while being tortured and held under the influence of the date-rape drug rohypnol. The third victim was Selina Bishop, 22-year-old daughter of the blues guitarist Elvin Bishop, who was initially part of the gang but was then slaughtered to ensure that she did not testify against the others. Her mother, Jennifer Villarin, and her mother's boyfriend were the fourth and fifth victims.
The star witness in the trial was a former housemate of Helzer's, Dawn Godman, who calmly described how she held up the severed heads of three of the victims while another member of the gang bashed their teeth out with a hammer and chisel to make them harder to identify.
This week, a jury in Martinez, a small town outside San Francisco, will retire to consider the bizarre, brutally violent cult surrounding one Glenn Taylor Helzer, a lapsed Mormon accused of bludgeoning and dismembering five people in an elaborate extortion racket intended to hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Helzer, a former stockbroker who has already pleaded guilty and faces the death penalty, exerted a charismatic hold over an eclectic group of followers including his younger brother, a former girlfriend turned Playboy centrefold model, and a self-described "good witch" who once offered to raise money for Armageddon by appearing in porn films.
The first two victims were elderly former clients of Helzer's, who were forced to write cheques for $100,000 (?55,000) while being tortured and held under the influence of the date-rape drug rohypnol. The third victim was Selina Bishop, 22-year-old daughter of the blues guitarist Elvin Bishop, who was initially part of the gang but was then slaughtered to ensure that she did not testify against the others. Her mother, Jennifer Villarin, and her mother's boyfriend were the fourth and fifth victims.
The star witness in the trial was a former housemate of Helzer's, Dawn Godman, who calmly described how she held up the severed heads of three of the victims while another member of the gang bashed their teeth out with a hammer and chisel to make them harder to identify.
Saturday, July 17, 2004
LAW IS AN ASS
Free Mike Moore!
If Fahrenheit 9/11 shows up on broadcast, cable, or satellite TV after July 30, Michael Moore may well be in big trouble unless he financed the movie himself. If a corporation financed the movie, Moore will have broken the law.
If Fahrenheit 9/11 shows up on broadcast, cable, or satellite TV after July 30, Michael Moore may well be in big trouble unless he financed the movie himself. If a corporation financed the movie, Moore will have broken the law.
UGLY AUSTRALIAN
Russell Crowe has yobbo episode in Toronto
Movie star Russell Crowe groped a string of women during a drunken night out in Canada, it has been reported. Crowe is alleged to have upset several women in a bar in Toronto by making lewd suggestions and trying to touch and kiss them, according to the Daily Star. He then ripped off his shirt and started yelling abuse at the women, the paper says. One said: 'He was hitting on anything that moved... the guy is a complete loser'.
Movie star Russell Crowe groped a string of women during a drunken night out in Canada, it has been reported. Crowe is alleged to have upset several women in a bar in Toronto by making lewd suggestions and trying to touch and kiss them, according to the Daily Star. He then ripped off his shirt and started yelling abuse at the women, the paper says. One said: 'He was hitting on anything that moved... the guy is a complete loser'.
COUNTER INTELLIGENCE
Chess champ Fischer held in Japan
Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has been detained by immigration authorities in Japan.
Fischer, 61, is wanted in the United States for attending a 1992 chess match in Yugoslavia in violation of international sanctions imposed during the Balkan wars.
Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has been detained by immigration authorities in Japan.
Fischer, 61, is wanted in the United States for attending a 1992 chess match in Yugoslavia in violation of international sanctions imposed during the Balkan wars.
TRUE COLOURS
Iraqi PM Allawi shot inmates, says witnesses
Iraqi PM shot inmates, says witnesses
There are allegations that the Iraqi Interim Prime Minister shot seven and killed six Iraqi insurgents in the week leading up to the handover of sovereignty last month.
Two unnamed people, who are alleged to have witnessed the shootings, told Australian journalist Paul McGeough that Iyad Allawi allegedly shot the insurgents in a courtyard adjacent to a maximum security cell in Baghdad.
Iraqi PM shot inmates, says witnesses
There are allegations that the Iraqi Interim Prime Minister shot seven and killed six Iraqi insurgents in the week leading up to the handover of sovereignty last month.
Two unnamed people, who are alleged to have witnessed the shootings, told Australian journalist Paul McGeough that Iyad Allawi allegedly shot the insurgents in a courtyard adjacent to a maximum security cell in Baghdad.
IDENTITY CRISIS
Poll suggests ID card backlash
The UK government could face a public backlash to its proposals on ID cards a new survey has found.
Up to 5 million people (28%) would demonstrate against ID cards the survey conducted by online research firm YouGov found.
One million would be prepared to go to prison rather than register for a card.
The survey paints a different picture to the recent MORI poll which found that 80% of UK citizens were in favour of cards.
UK considers electronic borders
Government agencies collaborate on plans to track every UK arrival and departure.
The government is working on plans to electronically track every person crossing UK borders to help fight crime, terrorism and illegal immigration
The UK government could face a public backlash to its proposals on ID cards a new survey has found.
Up to 5 million people (28%) would demonstrate against ID cards the survey conducted by online research firm YouGov found.
One million would be prepared to go to prison rather than register for a card.
The survey paints a different picture to the recent MORI poll which found that 80% of UK citizens were in favour of cards.
UK considers electronic borders
Government agencies collaborate on plans to track every UK arrival and departure.
The government is working on plans to electronically track every person crossing UK borders to help fight crime, terrorism and illegal immigration
POLITICAL MANIPULATION
Brussels lifts EU ban on GM food
The European Union defied public opinion and green campaigners by effectively lifting a five-year-old ban on bio-engineered food.
The EU's executive commission endorsed an application by Swiss biotech company Syngenta to import a genetically modified (GM) sweetcorn, BT-11, into the 25-nation bloc.
Syngenta was given approval to import the GM tinned sweetcorn into the 25-nation bloc for 10 years, provided the cans are clearly labelled as containing GM products.
A number of other companies are hoping to follow the trail blazed by Syngenta. The EU is analysing another 33 applications for the breeding or cultivation of GM crops in Europe.
The European Union defied public opinion and green campaigners by effectively lifting a five-year-old ban on bio-engineered food.
The EU's executive commission endorsed an application by Swiss biotech company Syngenta to import a genetically modified (GM) sweetcorn, BT-11, into the 25-nation bloc.
Syngenta was given approval to import the GM tinned sweetcorn into the 25-nation bloc for 10 years, provided the cans are clearly labelled as containing GM products.
A number of other companies are hoping to follow the trail blazed by Syngenta. The EU is analysing another 33 applications for the breeding or cultivation of GM crops in Europe.
FALSE FLAG
Alleged Mossad agents imprisoned: Men convicted of trying to obtain fraudulent passports in New Zealand
The prime minister of New Zealand angrily denounced Israel and imposed diplomatic sanctions on it after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for trying on false grounds to obtain a New Zealand passport.
The plot, which involved obtaining a passport in the name of a tetraplegic man -- who had not spoken in years -- provoked a furious reaction. The Mossad plot was uncovered in March when a passport officer noticed that a passport applicant was speaking with a Canadian or American accent. The clue led to the uncovering of a complex conspiracy involving up to four Israeli agents, who had attempted to create a false identity for 36-year-old fugitive Zev Barkan using a fraudulent birth certificate, a fake voicemail message and letter box, and concocted medical symptoms.
Urie Zoshe Kelman, 30, and Eli Cara, 50, both admitted to the passport charges at an earlier hearing. They had faced a maximum sentence of five years.
Both men had gone to elaborate steps to conceal their identities: Kelman appeared at the court wearing a balaclava and covered his face throughout the two-hour hearing, while Cara had changed his hair colour, complexion and build since his first court appearance in March.
Mr Barkan and a fourth man believed to have been connected to the plot are still on the run. Mr Barkan lived in a house just a few hundred metres from his target, a wheelchair user who has not been named for legal reasons. Cara set up a false travel agency in Sydney to aid the deception. A birth certificate was obtained using details of the man's mother, who now lives in England
Lawyers for the two men told the court there was no evidence to suggest their clients were members of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. "That allegation has never formed part of the prosecution case," defending lawyer Stuart Grieve said.
He said Cara -- a former Israeli air force pilot -- ran a bona fide tourism business in Sydney and that he only came to New Zealand on business and holidays.
However, Clark was clear about whom she blamed for the case.
"The Israeli agents attempted to demean the integrity of the New Zealand passport system and could have created considerable difficulties for New Zealanders presenting their passports overseas in future," she said.
This is not the first time Israel had sought fraudulently to obtain passports from another country. "Israeli agents caught in an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997 were found to be carrying fraudulent Canadian passports," Clark said.
The prime minister of New Zealand angrily denounced Israel and imposed diplomatic sanctions on it after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for trying on false grounds to obtain a New Zealand passport.
The plot, which involved obtaining a passport in the name of a tetraplegic man -- who had not spoken in years -- provoked a furious reaction. The Mossad plot was uncovered in March when a passport officer noticed that a passport applicant was speaking with a Canadian or American accent. The clue led to the uncovering of a complex conspiracy involving up to four Israeli agents, who had attempted to create a false identity for 36-year-old fugitive Zev Barkan using a fraudulent birth certificate, a fake voicemail message and letter box, and concocted medical symptoms.
Urie Zoshe Kelman, 30, and Eli Cara, 50, both admitted to the passport charges at an earlier hearing. They had faced a maximum sentence of five years.
Both men had gone to elaborate steps to conceal their identities: Kelman appeared at the court wearing a balaclava and covered his face throughout the two-hour hearing, while Cara had changed his hair colour, complexion and build since his first court appearance in March.
Mr Barkan and a fourth man believed to have been connected to the plot are still on the run. Mr Barkan lived in a house just a few hundred metres from his target, a wheelchair user who has not been named for legal reasons. Cara set up a false travel agency in Sydney to aid the deception. A birth certificate was obtained using details of the man's mother, who now lives in England
Lawyers for the two men told the court there was no evidence to suggest their clients were members of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. "That allegation has never formed part of the prosecution case," defending lawyer Stuart Grieve said.
He said Cara -- a former Israeli air force pilot -- ran a bona fide tourism business in Sydney and that he only came to New Zealand on business and holidays.
However, Clark was clear about whom she blamed for the case.
"The Israeli agents attempted to demean the integrity of the New Zealand passport system and could have created considerable difficulties for New Zealanders presenting their passports overseas in future," she said.
This is not the first time Israel had sought fraudulently to obtain passports from another country. "Israeli agents caught in an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997 were found to be carrying fraudulent Canadian passports," Clark said.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
FBI admits to Bali warning delay
A US intelligence agency has admitted it received warning of a possible terrorist threat in Indonesia prior to the Bali bombings, but did not immediately inform Australia.
The FBI told ABC Television's Lateline program it had gleaned the information from interrogated al-Qaeda suspect Mohommad Mansour Jabara in the lead-up to the attacks on October 12, 2002.
A US intelligence agency has admitted it received warning of a possible terrorist threat in Indonesia prior to the Bali bombings, but did not immediately inform Australia.
The FBI told ABC Television's Lateline program it had gleaned the information from interrogated al-Qaeda suspect Mohommad Mansour Jabara in the lead-up to the attacks on October 12, 2002.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
NEW WORLD ORDER
Vote held open so Republicans can keep Patriot Act alive
An effort to bar the government from demanding records from libraries and booksellers in some terrorism investigations fell one vote short of passage in the House on Thursday after a late burst of lobbying prompted nine Republicans to switch their votes.
The vote, a 210 to 210 deadlock, amounted to a referendum on the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act and reflected deep divisions in Congress over whether the law undercuts civil liberties. Under House rules, the tie vote meant the measure was defeated.
The outcome led to angry recriminations from House Democrats, who accused Republicans of 'vote-rigging' by holding the vote open for an extra 23 minutes to get enough colleagues to switch votes. Frustrated Democrats shouted 'Shame, shame!' and 'Democracy!' as the voting continued, but Republicans defended their right as the majority party to keep the vote open to 'educate members' about the dangers of scaling back government counterterrorism powers.
Librarian's stand against US Patriot Act
An effort to bar the government from demanding records from libraries and booksellers in some terrorism investigations fell one vote short of passage in the House on Thursday after a late burst of lobbying prompted nine Republicans to switch their votes.
The vote, a 210 to 210 deadlock, amounted to a referendum on the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act and reflected deep divisions in Congress over whether the law undercuts civil liberties. Under House rules, the tie vote meant the measure was defeated.
The outcome led to angry recriminations from House Democrats, who accused Republicans of 'vote-rigging' by holding the vote open for an extra 23 minutes to get enough colleagues to switch votes. Frustrated Democrats shouted 'Shame, shame!' and 'Democracy!' as the voting continued, but Republicans defended their right as the majority party to keep the vote open to 'educate members' about the dangers of scaling back government counterterrorism powers.
Librarian's stand against US Patriot Act
Monday, July 05, 2004
MYSTERY CONTINUES
Man says he shot dingo that killed Azaria -- body may be buried in Melbourne
An elderly Melbourne man has said he shot the dingo that killed Azaria Chamberlain 24 years ago and then retrieved her body from its jaws.
Frank Cole, 78, has said that that Azaria's body may have been buried in a Melbourne backyard by one of his mates.
Azaria disappeared from a campsite at Uluru in central Australia on August 17, 1980, but her body was never found.
After two inquests and a trial, her mother, Lindy Chamberlain, was jailed in 1982 for murder, only to be pardoned in 1986.
Mr Cole said he had felt "pretty lousy and guilty" when Ms Chamberlain was jailed but he couldn't do anything by then, and had promised his mates he would stay silent.
Bert Fraser, a neighbour of Frank Cole, said Mr Cole had seen a Gladstone bag in his home, prompting him to reveal the 24-year-old secret to his neighbour.
"I had one (a Gladstone bag) in here and he said, 'That's the same bag that they put the child in when they found the baby,'" Mr Fraser told ABC radio.
"Well, I asked him questions and he told the story: "He said, 'I had to tell someone because I'm getting older' and he said the rest of the chaps have died, the three people, and he'd hate to take it to his grave."
He said he and his three friends, who had since died, decided not to take the body to police immediately, fearing they would be punished for illegally using a firearm in a national park.
He said the group later agreed to take the body to authorities, but never did. Mr Cole said one of his friends might have buried the body in a Melbourne backyard.
PROPAGANDA CENTRAL
Is al-Zarqawi a false flag operative?
If Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader credited with the beheading deaths of Nick Berg and Kim Sun-Il, did not exist it would be necessary for the United States to invent him. That may well be what the CIA has done. What? Really? Is that credible?
Would an intelligence and espionage service really murder its own people, or neutrals, or citizens of an allied country? Would it cynically kill harmless civilians with terrorist-style bombings? Would it snuff out the lives of innocents to make a political point or create a climate of fear?
If Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader credited with the beheading deaths of Nick Berg and Kim Sun-Il, did not exist it would be necessary for the United States to invent him. That may well be what the CIA has done. What? Really? Is that credible?
Would an intelligence and espionage service really murder its own people, or neutrals, or citizens of an allied country? Would it cynically kill harmless civilians with terrorist-style bombings? Would it snuff out the lives of innocents to make a political point or create a climate of fear?
Friday, July 02, 2004
REVERSE SPEECH
Berg video: clues to its origin or mere paranoid delusion?
Reversed speech recordings -- in which unconscious statements are believed to be found in recordings that are played backwards -- are being shared privately, via e-mail and CDs sent by post. Apparently there is a growing sense of outrage among 'RS' practitioners who monitor national events, and the murder of Nick Berg as an American propaganda stunt may have been the proverbial last straw.
Because the amazingly amateurish intelligence team in Baghdad decided to 'go Hollywood' they inadvertently provided target-rich material for RS analysis.
The Berg video contains five minutes of recorded speech that provides a treasure-trove of information about what actually happened. Of course, the perpetrators will never be required to pay for their crime. That is the nature of the world we now live in. There is no reason, though, that you shouldn't at least know the truth.
The initial discovery that Berg's killers are Americans was made by an RS researcher who reversed the final moments of audio looking for evidence that what was shown on screen was in fact happening. The stunning discovery that the hooded man reading the prepared statement was unconsciously broadcasting his thoughts and feelings in a continuous stream of "American" English, prompted others to download the video as well, and go to work.
Reversed speech recordings -- in which unconscious statements are believed to be found in recordings that are played backwards -- are being shared privately, via e-mail and CDs sent by post. Apparently there is a growing sense of outrage among 'RS' practitioners who monitor national events, and the murder of Nick Berg as an American propaganda stunt may have been the proverbial last straw.
Because the amazingly amateurish intelligence team in Baghdad decided to 'go Hollywood' they inadvertently provided target-rich material for RS analysis.
The Berg video contains five minutes of recorded speech that provides a treasure-trove of information about what actually happened. Of course, the perpetrators will never be required to pay for their crime. That is the nature of the world we now live in. There is no reason, though, that you shouldn't at least know the truth.
The initial discovery that Berg's killers are Americans was made by an RS researcher who reversed the final moments of audio looking for evidence that what was shown on screen was in fact happening. The stunning discovery that the hooded man reading the prepared statement was unconsciously broadcasting his thoughts and feelings in a continuous stream of "American" English, prompted others to download the video as well, and go to work.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
OUR COSMOS
Black hole as heavy as all the matter in our Milky Way galaxy
A team of astronomers have found a colossal black hole 12.7 billion light-years away which is so ancient, they're not sure how it had enough time to grow to its current size, about 10 billion times the mass of the Sun.
Sitting at the heart of a distant galaxy, the black hole -- known as a blazar -- appears to be about 12.7 billion years old, which means it formed just one billion years after the universe began and is one of the oldest supermassive black holes ever known.
The black hole, researchers said, is big enough to hold 1000 of our own Solar Systems and weighs about as much as all the stars in the Milky Way.
The supermassive black hole, dubbed Q0906+6930, is a blazar. This refers to a type of quasar, a bright galaxy with an active supermassive black hole at its core. Like quasars, blazars have particle jets, only the jets -- by chance alignment -- are pointed directly in Earth's direction. Blazars are strong gamma ray emitters.
A team of astronomers have found a colossal black hole 12.7 billion light-years away which is so ancient, they're not sure how it had enough time to grow to its current size, about 10 billion times the mass of the Sun.
Sitting at the heart of a distant galaxy, the black hole -- known as a blazar -- appears to be about 12.7 billion years old, which means it formed just one billion years after the universe began and is one of the oldest supermassive black holes ever known.
The black hole, researchers said, is big enough to hold 1000 of our own Solar Systems and weighs about as much as all the stars in the Milky Way.
The supermassive black hole, dubbed Q0906+6930, is a blazar. This refers to a type of quasar, a bright galaxy with an active supermassive black hole at its core. Like quasars, blazars have particle jets, only the jets -- by chance alignment -- are pointed directly in Earth's direction. Blazars are strong gamma ray emitters.
EARTH CHANGES
Aral catastrophe recorded in DNA
Fresh fears have been raised about the health of populations living near the shrinking Aral Sea in central Asia.
A new study has now found high levels of DNA damage that could explain the region's abnormally high cancer rates.
This comes as the latest estimates say the Aral Sea is receding so rapidly it could vanish within the next 15 years.
Once the world's fourth largest inland body of water, the sea has been drained by a poorly managed irrigation system that supplies water to cotton crops.
Rice yields dip as planet warms
There is a strong link between increasing night temperatures and decreasing rice yields
Global warming could have a severe effect on rice production, say scientists working in the Philippines.
The researchers studied 12 years of rice yields and 25 years of temperature data, to work out how they are linked.
Yields dropped by 10% for each degree of warming, an alarming trend since rice is the staple diet for most of the world's expanding population, they say.
Fresh fears have been raised about the health of populations living near the shrinking Aral Sea in central Asia.
A new study has now found high levels of DNA damage that could explain the region's abnormally high cancer rates.
This comes as the latest estimates say the Aral Sea is receding so rapidly it could vanish within the next 15 years.
Once the world's fourth largest inland body of water, the sea has been drained by a poorly managed irrigation system that supplies water to cotton crops.
Rice yields dip as planet warms
There is a strong link between increasing night temperatures and decreasing rice yields
Global warming could have a severe effect on rice production, say scientists working in the Philippines.
The researchers studied 12 years of rice yields and 25 years of temperature data, to work out how they are linked.
Yields dropped by 10% for each degree of warming, an alarming trend since rice is the staple diet for most of the world's expanding population, they say.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Mark 77: New, improved and more lethal son of napalm
The Pentagon no longer officially uses the brand-name 'Napalm', but a similar sticky, inflammable substance known as 'fuel-gel mixture', contained in weapons called Mark-77 fire bombs, was dropped on Iraqi troops near the Iraq-Kuwait border at the start of the war.
'I can confirm that Mark-77 fire bombs were used in that general area,' Colonel Mike Daily of the US Marine Corps said.
Colonel Daily said that US stocks of Vietnam-era napalm had been phased out, but that the fuel-gel mixture in the Mark-77s had 'similar destructive characteristics.'
On March 22nd, correspondent Lindsay Murdoch, who was travelling with the US Marines, had reported that napalm was used in an attack on Iraqi troops at Safwan Hill, near the Kuwait border. Murdoch's account was based on statements by two US Marine Corps officers on the ground.
Lieutenant-Commander Jeff A. Davis, USN, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Defense (Public Affairs) had called Murdoch's story "patently false".
"The US took napalm out of service in the 1970s. We completed the destruction of our last batch of napalm on April 4, 2001, and no longer maintain any stocks of napalm," Commander Davis said. He was apparently referring to Vietnam-era Napalm-B, which consisted of inflammable fuel thickened with polystyrene and benzene.
The inflammable fuel in Mark-77 fire bombs is thickened with slightly different chemicals, and is believed to contain oxidizers, which make it harder to extinguish than Napalm-B.
Neither weapon technically contains napalm. The chemical mixture that became known as 'napalm' - a combination of naphthalene and palmitate - was used only in the earliest versions of the weapon. Napalm was banned by United Nations convention in 1980, but the US never signed the agreement. Use of Mark-77 fire bombs is considered legal by the US military.
The Pentagon no longer officially uses the brand-name 'Napalm', but a similar sticky, inflammable substance known as 'fuel-gel mixture', contained in weapons called Mark-77 fire bombs, was dropped on Iraqi troops near the Iraq-Kuwait border at the start of the war.
'I can confirm that Mark-77 fire bombs were used in that general area,' Colonel Mike Daily of the US Marine Corps said.
Colonel Daily said that US stocks of Vietnam-era napalm had been phased out, but that the fuel-gel mixture in the Mark-77s had 'similar destructive characteristics.'
On March 22nd, correspondent Lindsay Murdoch, who was travelling with the US Marines, had reported that napalm was used in an attack on Iraqi troops at Safwan Hill, near the Kuwait border. Murdoch's account was based on statements by two US Marine Corps officers on the ground.
Lieutenant-Commander Jeff A. Davis, USN, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Defense (Public Affairs) had called Murdoch's story "patently false".
"The US took napalm out of service in the 1970s. We completed the destruction of our last batch of napalm on April 4, 2001, and no longer maintain any stocks of napalm," Commander Davis said. He was apparently referring to Vietnam-era Napalm-B, which consisted of inflammable fuel thickened with polystyrene and benzene.
The inflammable fuel in Mark-77 fire bombs is thickened with slightly different chemicals, and is believed to contain oxidizers, which make it harder to extinguish than Napalm-B.
Neither weapon technically contains napalm. The chemical mixture that became known as 'napalm' - a combination of naphthalene and palmitate - was used only in the earliest versions of the weapon. Napalm was banned by United Nations convention in 1980, but the US never signed the agreement. Use of Mark-77 fire bombs is considered legal by the US military.
VOICE OF REASON
Attack Iran, US chief ordered British
America's military commander in Iraq ordered British troops to prepare a full-scale ground offensive against Iranian forces that had crossed the border and grabbed disputed territory, a senior officer has disclosed.
An attack would almost certainly have provoked open conflict with Iran. But the British chose instead to resolve the matter through diplomatic channels.
America's military commander in Iraq ordered British troops to prepare a full-scale ground offensive against Iranian forces that had crossed the border and grabbed disputed territory, a senior officer has disclosed.
An attack would almost certainly have provoked open conflict with Iran. But the British chose instead to resolve the matter through diplomatic channels.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
