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E-voting given go-ahead despite flaws [via follow me here] "A US electronic voting system which sparked alarm in July when experts suggested it could subvert an election outcome, has been given the go-ahead. Faulty software underpinning a touch-screen voting system used in past US elections has been revamped substantially and will be used by Maryland voters in the next US elections, says a report published by the Governor's Office of Maryland on Wednesday. But the lead researcher on the original study showing that serious bugs in the software might allow one person to cast many votes, was sceptical." —New Scientist / [By hook or crook, boy king will get his way...] the price of victory (Audio/video) by the bbc. click on video link under Panorama. it is about an hour long. an excellent piece of journalism.[via my friend ham] UltraSonics? Now here' this! The helping hands of Halliburton made A whistleblower has come out of the Pentagon? You've no doubt heard some moderate stink about how Halliburton (Dick Cheney's old company) got all the lucrative contracts in Iraq -- both for rebuilding the infrastructre (mostly the oil infrastructure, that is), and through its Kellogg Brown & Root subsidiary, for logistical support of the troops themselves. Well, that story just got twice as good... no, three times as good. You see, there wasn't really much evidence that the government was particularly playing favorites with Halliburton, it could just be a matter connecting two dots that look close but aren't linked... until now: the Bechtel Group, a company with a long history of enjoying a favorably close relationship with Washington when it comes to bidding on assorted contract jobs, is now complaining that the bidding process for Iraq is so tilted towards Halliburton that there's no point in them even competing for contracts any more. That pretty much tells you how bad it is. I mean, this is not an outfit that would want that kind of issue raised under ordinary circumstances. But if you think that's bad, here's the really awful part: it turns out that the Halliburton people who are supposed to be supporting the troops aren't doing their jobs! Increasingly, their people have simply been unwilling to go into the areas where the soldiers have no choice but to go, due to the possible dangers to life and limb. So we are paying billions for these clowns to do nothing, while the young people who put their asses on the line for freedom and democracy (at least, they hope that's what it's for) are left with no fresh food or no toilet paper or no landing strip for the aircraft that's supposed to be coming in tomorrow, or no shelter. They end up living in squalor because the modular buildings they were supposed to live in went undelivered. They end up begging their families or visiting reporters for such things as a box of nails to hold a wall up. This shift to civilian support contracts is part of Donald Rumsfeld's campaign to modernize the military so it's "more agile". via August 16, 2003 'the helping hands of Halliburton' an oldie but goodie care of the rattler More Gatto please... How public education cripples our kids, and why=====Inglis breaks down the purpose - the actual purpose - of modem schooling into six basic functions, any one of which is enough to curl the hair of those innocent enough to believe the three traditional goals listed earlier: 1) The adjustive or adaptive function. Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority. This, of course, precludes critical judgment completely. It also pretty much destroys the idea that useful or interesting material should be taught, because you can't test for reflexive obedience until you know whether you can make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things. 2) The integrating function. This might well be called "the conformity function," because its intention is to make children as alike as possible. People who conform are predictable, and this is of great use to those who wish to harness and manipulate a large labor force. 3) The diagnostic and directive function. School is meant to determine each student's proper social role. This is done by logging evidence mathematically and anecdotally on cumulative records. As in "your permanent record." Yes, you do have one. 4) The differentiating function. Once their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best. 5) The selective function. This refers not to human choice at all but to Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to what he called "the favored races." In short, the idea is to help things along by consciously attempting to improve the breeding stock. Schools are meant to tag the unfit - with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments - clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes. That's what all those little humiliations from first grade onward were intended to do: wash the dirt down the drain. 6) The propaedeutic function. The societal system implied by these rules will require an elite group of caretakers. To that end, a small fraction of the kids will quietly be taught how to manage this continuing project, how to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor. Are you a Micropiece? Hooray, for the Human Spirit! I was once told the word "emotion" is latin, it means to 'move'...and this article did move me. [via clairewolfeblog] When 'reform' means 'censorship' House Majority Leader Dick Armey recently made headlines when he was caught tailoring legislation to penalize a newspaper that criticized his son. VERICHIP IS "INCREASING ITS WASHINGTON, D.C., PRESENCE." That's the PC way of saying it's just hired an old political hand to aggressively promote subdermal ID chips to federal agencies. So which agency will be the first to require implanted chips? Will the FBI or CIA demand them for their agents? HUD for their tenants? DHHS for welfare recipients or hospital patients? IRS for taxpayers? The ATF for gun owners? Probably it'll be the Pentagon marking soldiers. For Their Own Good. Followed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. For Our Own Safety. Whichever agency goes first, you can bet half the bureaucrats in DC are having orgasms this minute fantasizing over the new possibilities for control. Fry those chips, folks. Fry those chips. Some excerpts from the Quarterly Review of Doublespeak For years Lutz has waged a battle against "doublespeak," the use of convoluted, evasive, deceptive, misleading, and deliberately ambiguous language. However, any look at the front page of a newspaper or, better yet, at the Federal Register will suggest that Lutz's cause might be a lost one. He is already the author of two books on the topic, and he edited the National Council of Teachers of English Quarterly Review of Doublespeak for 14 years. This year he was contracted by the Securities and Exchange Commission to write instructions on writing stock prospectuses in "plain" English. The resulting booklet is 58 pages. Doublespeak Defined, though, is essentially a thesaurus. Under 14 categories, such as education, the workplace, job titles, and sex and sexes, Lutz lists terms and their doublespeak counterparts. Included are sidebar press reports documenting doublespeak's pervasive reach, and cartoons lampooning its effects. Some examples are amusing and some are silly. Many, though, raise real concerns about the potential dangers of irresponsible and misleading language. Eternal Fascism? This is a very interesting piece.(this is just the first page. click on page two link for the rest) The Military Brain Chip Interface Think the post below is bs? then read this (Above)Or for that matter: this and while mulling these things over think Like a Duck in a Noose" Brave New 1984 Bladerunner? DARPA,PNAC and the Perfect Killing Machine/Where we're headed you wont believe... Duck tape your windows! Julian Borger Names Karl Rove "Several of the journalists are saying privately 'yes it was Karl Rove who I talked to.'" Guardian audio report above (about 1:20 in) The Falling Man Warning: not for the weak....fantastic writing about the promise and problems of photography as the author tries to track down the identity of a person pictured falling from the world trade center -- in essence, to do the thing we all do with photographs: to name, to define. it's a long story, but be sure to read through to the end. the secrets of the precious rectangles will be revealed.[via consumptive] Presently topping my list of scary/surreal commercial applications for GPS technology: [via boing boing]Next summer, Coca-Cola plans to use satellites to find U.S. buyers who happen to purchase special cans of Coke products. They will be winners in a giveaway that will feature Hummer H2 sport-utility vehicles. The giant vehicles will be presented in person, using satellites to locate the recipients." Outsourcing War [via follow me here] An inside look at Brown & Root, the kingpin of America's new military-industrial complex:"...The military police pried its driver, Fred Bryant Jr., from the wreckage and raced him to a military field hospital. Bryant, 39, died en route, the first KBR combat casualty since the Texas contractor was founded in 1919. Bryant's death underscores the U.S. military's heavy reliance on private military companies, or PMCs, to wage war in Iraq. By most estimates, civilian contractors are handling as much as 20% to 30% of essential military support services in Iraq. Scores of PMCs are active all across the country, but KBR in particular has become indispensable to the global projection of American military might in this unsettled age. 'It is no exaggeration to say that wherever the U.S. military goes, so goes Brown & Root,' says P.W. Singer, a Brookings Institution fellow and author of Corporate Warriors. Widely known as Brown & Root, KBR is a unit of oil-services giant Halliburton Co. (HAL ) -- Dick Cheney's old company." —BusinessWeek R.I.S.E.- Radio Internet Story Exchange helping you to ask questions, find answers and distinguish the truth from the lie. Paul Krugmans daily death threats ... Pentagon's call to mercenaries or as Jello Biafra says "Privatise everything!" Jason is taking part in military training in rural Pennsylvania. But he is a mercenary, not a government soldier, and this is America's latest boom industry. The president's real goal in Iraq The official story on Iraq has never made sense. [via Information Clearing House] also see :this from information clearing house Wounded US soldiers pay to eat / or starve in military hospitals Attention troops injured in Iraq: Uncle Sam wants you . . . to reimburse the government for food you consumed while in the hospital. /Support the troops! ...off the kuff remark/thought:I wonder who foots the bill for the Whitehouse staff food bill. P.s. I had a can tomato soup and half a peanut butter sandwhich for dinner w/ramen noodles and I was damn thankful. PD-16 and the constant blackouts Are the neocons in the Pentagon targeting electrical grids? Oh, and btw,lets not forget "Homeland security" took their computers off line three to four hours before the New York eastcoast Blackout Apocalypse Soon? [Blackout attacks next target -- Spain?] or anywhere the powerful meet and decide your future... The blackouts bare the Achilles Heel of our our "information society" Why would master do this? Note:this is just to damn good to not post...[via The Poor Man via Eschaton] A Real Scandal - Where's the Press? That Liberal Media Let's make something clear. According to the Washington Post one "senior administration official" has accused two "top White House officials" of each committing a felony. Even if we allow for the possibility that the accuser is full of it (basically impossible here, but just for sake of argument), we still have a SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICAL accusing TWO TOP WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS of each committing a serious felony. This is a story of mammoth proportions. This is a front page GIANT SCREAMING FONT story. This is a 24/7 wall to wall coverage story. They can even drag out the gaggle of blonds from the Barbizon School of Former Prosecutors to tell us what it all means. Where the hell is the coverage? The NYTimes has got zilch and CNN's got it buried halfway down the page. We've got a treasonous betrayal by White House officials of U.S. national security interests and the so-called liberal media sits around twiddling their thumbs and writing about Arnold. Bravo, bravo. While we wait for them to start doing their damn jobs, Kos, Atrios, Billmon, TPM, and others seem to be on top of things on the web. All hail the Internet! [via medley] The "Governance" of Imposed Scarcity: The "Governance" of Imposed Scarcity: Money, Enclosures and the Space of Co-optation.===To have fear of scarcity in a world of plenty like ours, scarcity must be produced. Vanishing Act It's a shell game, with money, companies and corporate brands switching in a blur of buy-outs and bogus fronts. It's a sinkhole, where mobbed-up operators, paid-off public servants, crazed Christian fascists, CIA shadow-jobbers, war-pimping arms dealers - and presidential family members - lie down together in the slime. It's a hacker's dream, with pork-funded, half-finished, secretly-programmed computer systems installed without basic security standards by politically-partisan private firms, and protected by law from public scrutiny. It's how the United States, the "world's greatest democracy," casts its votes. And it's why George W. Bush will almost certainly be the next president of the United States - no matter what the ***people*** of the United States might want.... TSA-appointed "passenger advocate" in cahoots with CAPPS II contractor Bill Scannell -- the whistle-blower who caught Jet Blue violating its own policies by handing over its customers' records to defense-contractors for a TIA-like aviation spy-program -- has caught one of the CAPPS II vendors with its hand in the cookie-jar. The TSA has appointed David S. Stempler, head of the "Air Travelers Association," to serve as the "passenger advocate" in the CAPPS II process. CAPPS II, the suspicion-generating system intended to automatically determine which passengers are likely to be guilty of crimes and hence liable to search and grounding, is supported by Cedant Corporation, a defense contractor that stands to profit if CAPPS II is enacted. And it looks like Cedant Corportation and the "Air Travelers Association" are run by the same people. Some "passenger advocate." No wonder he says that CAPPS II is a fine idea and "(w)hatever's going to be done will have to be done in secret". # Stempler's 'Air Travelers Association' website reads like an infomercial for Cendant's Travelers Advantage program. # Both Stempler's website and the site of Cendant Travelers Advantage are owned and managed by the Trilegiant Corporation, a Cendant subsidiary. [via boing boing] Where's my yak sack? A friend sent me this... [see above] I kept hoping this was a parody site, I kept looking through it. My stomach was turning and I was just about to quit, when I came to the little clickable square that said "needhim.org" Jesus H. Christ, how bad can that one be? I wondered. So, of course, I went there too. And it went from bad to worse, until I came to this page: God's solution. Dead man on a stick. What are the words for this? Insanity doesn't seem sufficient to me anymore. It's beyond that it seems. "Solution" does not equal death. Death does not equal solution. And what was the problem exactly? By now, it's hard to fathom that I spent the better part of my life believing this lie. Murderers and war criminals playing of the emotions of the sleeple? sheeple? Body Bags Filled with GI Joe and Jane: No Homecoming Trumpets for the fallen? Did Uncle Sam always have such a cold, black heart? Or did Sammy's heartstrings lose their chromatic charm and warmth when the Bush cartel dipped it into an oozing barrel of Texas Tea imported from the Middle East? Paying for Dick... Fully one-third of the $3.9 billion per month cost of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq is going directly to Halliburton. A pretty good return on an investment of $630,000 or so to the Republican party. Whatever Dick Cheney says, he has a financial interest in Halliburton. And I bet his buddies do too. Duh... If any one of that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue bunch told me it was dark out and my watch read midnight; I'd still go outside to check... [When USA Today tells us not to be afraid of something, watch your back?] [via follow mw here]========= Don't fear new bar codes "''The risk it poses to humanity is on a par with nuclear weapons,'' Katherine Albrecht says. The deadly new threat Albrecht, the founder of Consumers Against Shopping Privacy Invasion and Numbering, is talking about: the latest development in retail technology, a new generation of bar codes called electronic product codes (EPC). These tiny bar codes send and receive data using radio waves, eliminating manual scanning. This new technology will lower prices, improve selections and supplies, eliminate counterfeits (especially prescription drugs) and reduce theft. Eventually, it will help customers maintain and replace products from a carton of milk to the refrigerator that holds it. The first generation of bar codes has helped do that for nearly 30 years. But if misguided privacy alarmists have their way, the benefits of the next generation of bar codes may be denied or delayed. Privacy advocates are concerned that retailers and manufacturers will use EPC (also called radio frequency identification tags) to track our every purchase, monitor products after they leave the store and use that information without our knowledge." — USA Today Rummy Deceives Congress, Destroys Army TAMPA - The U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base inflated budget proposals at the Pentagon's request last year to hide $20-million from Congress, according to documents obtained by the St. Petersburg Times. Special Operations officials divided the money among six projects so the money would not attract attention. They also instructed their own budget analysts not to mention it during briefings with congressional aides, the documents show. The Pentagon's inspector general has launched an investigation. House Appropriations Chairman C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo, said he will ask Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a hearing Tuesday whether the Pentagon intentionally deceived Congress. "That doesn't set well with me," Young said. "We don't operate like that." ... It is unclear what the Pentagon intended to do with the $20-million, or what became of the money. Young surmised that the money could have been used as a contingency fund, available to Rumsfeld to use at his discretion. While $20-million is relatively modest in a Pentagon budget of almost $400-billion, Young said, if all the armed services are doing it the amount could grow significantly.====== Part 2, from the author of We Were Soldiers Once...: WASHINGTON - Armies are fragile institutions, and for all their might, easily broken. It took the better part of 20 years to rebuild the Army from the wreckage of Vietnam. With the hard work of a generation of young officers, blooded in Vietnam and determined that the mistake would never be repeated, a new Army rose Phoenix-like from the ashes of the old, now perhaps the finest Army in history. In just over three years, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and his civilian aides have done just about everything they could to destroy that Army. -[via Atrios over at Eschaton] Remember-bombing children is ok, providing abortions is murder! Holy Crap What a weekend. Rumsfeld really really needs to resign: Franks and most of the Pentagon (news - web sites) were focused on winning the war, which they did. But, the newsweekly said, the occupation was a second thought. One example is the Coalition Provisional Authority. "CPA stands for the Condescending and Patronizing Americans," a Baghdad diplomat told Newsweek. "So there they are, sitting in their palace: 800 people, 17 of whom speak Arabic. One is an expert on Iraq." What happened to the Iraq experts? According to Newsweek, Rumsfeld ordered 16 of the 20 Pentagon staffers picked to go to Baghdad be cut because they were "Arab apologists," had positive opinions of the United Nations (news - web sites) or other opinions not acceptable to the neo-conservatives running the US government. Rumsfeld's interference "got so bad that even doctors sent to restore medical services had to be anti-abortion," a member of the original team said. From the state.gov website, Press Remarks with Foreign Minister of Egypt Amre Moussa (cache that puppy before it disappe "We had a good discussion, the Foreign Minister and I and the President and I, had a good discussion about the nature of the sanctions -- the fact that the sanctions exist -- not for the purpose of hurting the Iraqi people, but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq, and these are policies that we are going to keep in place, but we are always willing to review them to make sure that they are being carried out in a way that does not affect the Iraqi people but does affect the Iraqi regime's ambitions and the ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and we had a good conversation on this issue." -Colin Powell, February 24, 2001 [via stavrosthewonderchicken over at metafilter] Number of People Living in Poverty in U.S. Increases Again Number of People Living in Poverty in U.S. Increases Again Poverty rose for a second straight year in 2002 as 1.7 million more people dropped below the poverty line, according to Census Bureau estimates released Friday that provided fresh evidence of the struggling economy's effect on Americans' pocketbooks. The poverty rate was 12.1 percent last year, an increase from 11.7 percent in 2001 even though the last recession ended in November 2001. That meant nearly 34.6 million people were living in poverty. Before the two years of increase, poverty had fallen for nearly a decade to 11.3 percent in 2000, its lowest level in more than 25 years. Bureau estimates showed poverty increased significantly for several segments of the population that could be crucial in the 2004 presidential election: blacks, married couples, suburbanites and people in the Midwest. [more] id: drmenlo password: samizdat Of course, the Bush administration releases this info on a Friday before the weekend so that the Americans they work so full-time to deceive will not notice, so spread the word, eh? Bush to America: If you're not a millionaire, then fucking die already. Die in Iraq, die in the States, but just fucking die. [Via American Sam] No Treason - The Constitution of No Authority was written in 1870, and considered a most seditious document of its time. "The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the roadside, and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets. But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful." "A man is none the less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years. Neither are a people any the less slaves because permitted periodically to choose new masters. What makes them slaves is the fact that they now are, and are always hereafter to be, in the hands of men whose power over them is, and always is to be, absolute and irresponsible." Lysander Spooner [via abuddhas memes] What is the Matrix? [not what you think...] It's an interstate version of the Pentagon's Total Terrorism Information Awareness infamous(TIA) program being run by Seisint Inc., a Florida company founded by an accused drug smuggler, and funded by the federal government to the tune of $12 million. The database project, created so states and local authorities can track would-be terrorists as well as criminal fugitives, is being built and housed in the offices of a private company but will be open to some federal law enforcers and perhaps even U.S. intelligence agencies. Dubbed Matrix, the database has been in use for a year and a half in Florida, where police praise the crime-fighting tool as nimble and exhaustive. It cross-references the state's driving records and restricted police files with billions of pieces of public and private data, including credit and property records. ...As a dozen more states pool their criminal and government files with Florida's, Matrix databases are expanding in size and power. Organizers hope to coax more states to join, touting its usefulness in everyday policing. It gives investigators access to personal data, like boat registrations and property deeds, without the government possibly violating the 1974 Privacy Act by owning the files. ...Aspects of the project appear designed to steer around federal laws that bar the U.S. government from collecting routine data on Americans. For instance, the project is billed as a tool for state and local police, but organizers are considering giving access to the Central Intelligence Agency, said Phil Ramer, special agent in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's intelligence office. In the 1970s, Congress barred the CIA from scanning files on average Americans, after the agency was cited for spying on civil rights leaders.[via American sam] Fucking criminal...672k PDF Link Bush's heavy-weather FUD is whistle-blown by EPA leak Stefan sez, "The fossil fuel industry and their ideological brown-nosers have done a great job of spreading FUD about Global Warming. This leaked internal EPA memo details the Bush Administration's own contribution to the effort." This is a disheartening and enraging document.[via boing boing]The moral of the story is if your rich and powerful you can get by with what you or me would go to prison for... Immunity for Iraqi Oil Dealings Raises Alarm. "An executive order signed by President Bush more than two months ago is raising concerns that U.S. oil companies may have been handed blanket immunity from lawsuits and criminal prosecution in connection with the sale of Iraqi oil." The article is over a month old, but EarthRights International has a new analysis of Executive Order 13303. ---But...but...but...Bush would NEVER do anything like that! Not for his old buddies! Especially while he's out trying to raise $200 million dollars for his new campaign to finally get elected to office! How dare anyone print this! This should be a top secret document and Ashcroft should put any traitors found reading it in Gitmo!! [comments via nofundy, over at warfilter.com] Don't be fooled...just change the name or do it another way they use the law, to by pass the Constitution Yes. Although apparently the TIA initiative (buying supercomputers and using them to process tons of credit, etc., data on U.S. citizens) has been blocked, indirectly at least some of these things will still happen -- just by the companies themselves. It's called "Patriot Act compliance" and if you google on that phrase + the word "software", you find stuff like this and this So far these seem to be focused on detecting money laundering "patterns" and making sure your customers are who they say they are -- and checking whether they appear on any government "suspected terrorist" list. But as you probably know, Ashcroft et 0al are pushing for expanded Patriot Act powers under what's been dubbed Patriot Act II. And ChoicePoint (the lucky new owners of the company behind the 2000 election Florida felon voter roll scandal) lists further capabilities (see bottom of page): this page---- On a related note, there's the recent JetBlue story: (source: here-- see here to bypass their required registration) By the way..."FUCK THE ACLU" "The Union agrees with the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment. Except for lawful police and military purposes, the possession of weapons by individuals is not constitutionally protected." ~ACLU policy statement #47, 1986 "TO THOSE GOVERNMENT AGENTS WHO READ MY EMAIL." The Idaho Cabin Hermit thinks I wrote this marvelous (and horrifying) piece of satire. I tell ya, Hermit, I only wish I had. My hat's off to the author, "From Name on File." [via clairewolfe blog] Warning! be on notice, The shrug poll has taken a dive... what does that mean? ..be alert for a terrorist attack...when the poll slumps the cod piece dumps... Just a matter of time before this happens here? haha...it already has in texas and other states...look through my archives./An apology has been issued The marines set up check points to civilians caught up in an incident involving armed soldiers taking part in a Nato exercise in south west Scotland. more TIA lies... TIA is shutting down but read the second paragraph. They'll just rename it and launch it against us after the next terror attack...hell, ther're already doing it read the post several above this one. Sane vs Unsane in Israel? 27 Israeli Pilots have been grounded by the military after refusing to take part in airstrikes carried out in the occupied territories. Some active, some retired, they were accused of "making cynical use of the Israeli air force to express a civilian view," but in a joint letter to their command, they spoke out against "air force attacks in civilian population centers." Either way, Edward Said may be resting a little easier, at least tonight. [via metafilter] the future of voting as we now at Accelerated Democracy. With all the underreported and ignored and omitted news going on, on the diebolt vote fraud reports here at unknownnews.net front page, lets take a slight turn and check this link out... (SEE ABOVE)and for those whom don't know,go to the right on this page and check out the mom and pop of this joint...the people whom made mobythor what it is...here at mobythor.pitas we're just the behind the scenes news, do ck out the primary... ---------------> News The Qui Tam? The Qui Tam Information Center is a place for whistleblowers and attorneys to gain information and help in pursuing qui tam actions. An Open Invitation To Election Fraud Open invitation Part l Israel A Danger? Much like Merica (bushspeak) Interview with former British Minister Michael Meacher n an exclusive cooperation, GlobalFreePress arranged an Interview with former British Minister Michael Meacher, which will be broadcasted by INN News Report on Friday, 6PM EST on U.S. Television. Meacher explained, that both Wars against Iraq and Afghanistan were planned in Advance before 9/11; he spoke about the role of PNAC, Oil and Cheney's controversial Energy Task Force in 2001. The PATRIOT Act’s Assault on the Bill of Rights Fuck...gotta love the government ISSUE FORUM HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES: THE UNFINISHED STORY CURRENT POLITICAL PRISONERS - VICTIMS OF COINTELPRO PART 2 : THE LEGACY OF WOUNDED KNEE follown up to an old story? : Odigo says workers were warned of attack Odigo, the instant messaging service, says that two of its workers received messages two hours before the Twin Towers attack on September 11 predicting the attack would happen, and the company has been cooperating with Israeli and American law enforcement, including the FBI, in trying to find the original sender of the message predicting the attack. Micha Macover, CEO of the company, said the two workers received the messages and immediately after the terror attack informed the company's management, which immediately contacted the Israeli security services, which brought in the FBI. "I have no idea why the message was sent to these two workers, who don't know the sender. It may just have been someone who was joking and turned out they accidentally got it right. And I don't know if our information was useful in any of the arrests the FBI has made," said Macover. Odigo is a U.S.-based company whose headquarters are in New York, with offices in Herzliya. As an instant messaging service, Odigo users are not limited to sending messages only to people on their "buddy" list, as is the case with ICQ, the other well-known Israeli instant messaging application. Odigo usually zealously protects the privacy of its registered users, said Macover, but in this case the company took the initiative to provide the law enforcement services with the originating Internet Presence address of the message, so the FBI could track down the Internet Service Provider, and the actual sender of the original message. "Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President" In a scathing critique of the Iraq war, former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland compares President Bush to Lyndon Johnson -- and blasts his lack of service in Vietnam. Editor's note: Former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland lost both legs and and an arm during active duty in the Vietnam War, and in 1968 was awarded both the Bronze Star and a Silver Star for his service. The following Op-Ed was first published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sept. 18. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Max Cleland Sept. 22, 2003 | The president of the United States decides to go to war against a nation led by a brutal dictator supported by one-party rule. That dictator has made war on his neighbors. The president decides this is a threat to the United States. In his campaign for president he gives no indication of wanting to go to war. In fact, he decries the overextension of American military might and says other nations must do more. However, unbeknownst to the American public, the president's own Pentagon advisers have already cooked up a plan to go to war. All they are looking for is an excuse. Based on faulty intelligence, cherry-picked information is fed to Congress and the American people. The president goes on national television to make the case for war, using as part of the rationale an incident that never happened. Congress buys the bait -- hook, line and sinker -- and passes a resolution giving the president the authority to use "all necessary means" to prosecute the war. The war is started with an air and ground attack. Initially there is optimism. The president says we are winning. The cocky, self-assured secretary of defense says we are winning. As a matter of fact, the secretary of defense promises the troops will be home soon. However, the truth on the ground that the soldiers face in the war is different than the political policy that sent them there. They face increased opposition from a determined enemy. They are surprised by terrorist attacks, village assassinations, increasing casualties and growing anti-American sentiment. They find themselves bogged down in a guerrilla land war, unable to move forward and unable to disengage because there are no allies to turn the war over to. There is no plan B. There is no exit strategy. Military morale declines. The president's popularity sinks and the American people are increasingly frustrated by the cost of blood and treasure poured into a never-ending war. Sound familiar? It does to me. The president was Lyndon Johnson. The cocky, self-assured secretary of defense was Robert McNamara. The congressional resolution was the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. The war was the war that I, U.S. Sens. John Kerry, Chuck Hagel and John McCain and 3 1/2 million other Americans of our generation were caught up in. It was the scene of America's longest war. It was also the locale of the most frustrating outcome of any war this nation has ever fought. Unfortunately, the people who drove the engine to get into the war in Iraq never served in Vietnam. Not the president. Not the vice president. Not the secretary of defense. Not the deputy secretary of defense. Too bad. They could have learned some lessons: -- Don't underestimate the enemy. The enemy always has one option you cannot control. He always has the option to die. This is especially true if you are dealing with true believers and guerrillas fighting for their version of reality, whether political or religious. They are what Tom Friedman of The New York Times calls the "non-deterrables." If those non-deterrables are already in their country, they will be able to wait you out until you go home. -- If the enemy adopts a "hit-and-run" strategy designed to inflict maximum casualties on you, you may win every battle, but (as Walter Lippman once said about Vietnam) you can't win the war. -- If you adopt a strategy of not just pre-emptive strike but also pre-emptive war, you own the aftermath. You better plan for it. You better have an exit strategy because you cannot stay there indefinitely unless you make it the 51st state. If you do stay an extended period of time, you then become an occupier, not a liberator. That feeds the enemy against you. -- If you adopt the strategy of pre-emptive war, your intelligence must be not just "darn good," as the president has said; it must be "bulletproof," as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed the administration's was against Saddam Hussein. Anything short of that saps credibility. -- If you want to know what is really going on in the war, ask the troops on the ground, not the policy-makers in Washington. -- In a democracy, instead of truth being the first casualty in war, it should be the first cause of war. It is the only way the Congress and the American people can cope with getting through it. As credibility is strained, support for the war and support for the troops go downhill. Continued loss of credibility drains troop morale, the media become more suspicious, the public becomes more incredulous and Congress is reduced to hearings and investigations. Instead of learning the lessons of Vietnam, where all of the above happened, the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense and the deputy secretary of defense have gotten this country into a disaster in the desert. They attacked a country that had not attacked us. They did so on intelligence that was faulty, misrepresented and highly questionable. A key piece of that intelligence was an outright lie that the White House put into the president's State of the Union speech. These officials have overextended the American military, including the National Guard and the Reserve, and have expanded the U.S. Army to the breaking point. A quarter of a million troops are committed to the Iraq war theater, most of them bogged down in Baghdad. Morale is declining and casualties continue to increase. In addition to the human cost, the war in dollars costs $1 billion a week, adding to the additional burden of an already depressed economy. The president has declared "major combat over" and sent a message to every terrorist, "Bring them on." As a result, he has lost more people in his war than his father did in his and there is no end in sight. Military commanders are left with extended tours of duty for servicemen and women who were told long ago they were going home. We are keeping American forces on the ground, where they have become sitting ducks in a shooting gallery for every terrorist in the Middle East. Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President. Sorry you didn't go when you had the chance. How very sad Yes, in the days where so many jobs are lost and companies leaving the US like rats fleeing a sinking ship, this is almost too much to bear. The saddest part of this, I think, is this: "his 36-year career ruined " Yes, ladies and gentleman. Ruined. What can he do to pay the bills and put food on his family? Israel MUST Be Declared A Terrorist State! Now, before you jump up and down,no where in the title did I say "all" jews are terrorists or that "all" jews are bad.I do believe our Merican (Bushspeak)and the Israeli Governments are Terroristic.If your a king with a navy your a good guy,but if your a pirate then your a bad guy...wonder why that is? Get it? Cash and Carry Oil services firm paid Cheney as VP Somehow I have a feeling that this is all Clinton's fault. [Via my friend Ham] Impatience Over WMD Report Oh where, oh where can they be? And when will that report be released? Oh yeah, right after the spin machine runs non stop for a week or two, or three, or four.....or until you get so sick of it you tune it all out.That's my bet. More accurate numbers? America's hidden battlefield toll I hope that they have begun to construct their wall. I am sure that there will be quite a few names to put on it at the end of this fiasco. Condi's "Make believe" History - Sorry, Dr. Rice, postwar Germany was nothing like Iraq. The administration rewrites history to excuse the Iraq debacle. I have nothing else to say about this incredible story except that it is a wonder they think they can get away with such baldfaced lies. They insult either their own intelligence or, more likely, that of the American Classified Spending On the Rise [Via Follow me here] Report: Defense to Get $23.2 Billion: ' "Black," or classified, programs requested in President Bush's 2004 defense budget are at the highest level since 1988, according to a report prepared by the independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. (...) "It's puzzling. It sets the mind to wondering where the money's going and what sort of politically controversial things the administration is doing because they're not telling anybody," said John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a research group in Alexandria that has been critical of the administration's defense priorities. Pike said part of the surge in the classified budget probably can be explained by increases for the Central Intelligence Agency's covert action programs, which are central to the war on terrorism. Traditionally, Pike said, much of the funding for the CIA is hidden in Air Force weapons procurement accounts. But unlike the 1980s, when it was widely known that the "black" budget was going to the development of stealth aircraft such as the B-2 bomber and F-117 fighter, the uses of the classified accounts today are far murkier, Pike said.' Washington Post The Great Unraveling Here's a brief discussion from the Toronto Star, of a recent book by NYT columnist, Paul Krugman: "The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way In The New Century." This collection of past columns exposes the fraudulence of the Bush neofascist infestation and its financial, Constitutional, and social impact on all of us. To the Righties on this list: Take a look at the exposed failures of your corrupt political fanaticism. We , The People, and our descendents, will be paying for this national betrayal for years to come. IF Mericans (Bushspeak) only knew... "I promote using a bicycle instead of a motor vehicle because doing so is kind to the environment, good for the bod Ken Kifer, the author of the above statement and much other excellent advice will no longer be updating his lauded web page. Ken was killed while cycling last saturday night by a drunk driver who had been released from jail only 4 hours earlier. The suspect had been incarcerated for a separate drunk driving incident. ------ From the comment section over at metafilter :"I lost a close friend (on a bicycle) to some bozo driving under the influence. So the irony is kind of lost on me — and the other 17,000 annual alcohol-related traffic fatalities. (At the very least, a conviction ought to disqualify you from elective office.) Anti-terror laws increasingly used against common criminals Well, who woulda thunk it...(dripping sarcasism) 2003 Associated Press (09-14) 22:32 PDT PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells but on people charged with common crimes. Mis-leader short nuggets? Nuggets for the chicken hawk..known to some as Bush. Thought unk fans would find this interesting... or not...but,you can sign up to have a daily email sent to you giving you all the most recent misleading statements and outright lies by Bush and an explanation of why they are either misleading or totally false. The University of Carol Ann Registration and Orientation:I'd like to welcome you all to UCA's Southwestern campus. [thunderous applause, cheers, whistles, more applause] Today we are going to explore and endeavor to answer one of natures most urgent, yet hitherto enigmatic questions. I don't think I overstate the significance of the question, or the momentous necessity for correct answers. [Silent anticipation spreads across the hall. Then all quiet] How we answer this question could mean the difference between a life much like that which preceded September of 2001, and a more despairing reality on a planet turned into a sheet of glass -- when there's nothing left but roaches and Madonna. What Americans Know I don't post many articles from this site,but this one is a showstopper of a read if read in the right frame of mind...from the article:With His Six-year-old Son Enrolled in Californian State School, Andrew Gumbel Finds its Roots in a Conformist Education System Ill at Ease with Dissent or Critical Thought Note:It seems to me the author has a clear perspective on the condition of the public education system here in the U.S., and he is willing to go to great lengths to describe its shortcomings. Yet, he has, for whatever reason, enrolled his son in the very system he decries. I wonder if he was forced to do so, or if it was of his own volition... Either way, I find his commentary interesting and informative, to say the least. Speechcodes.org - Speech codes web site A searchable educational database that chronicles the state of freedom at America's colleges and universities. Lots of information for prospective students, parents, educators, journalists -- anyone with an interest in freedom in academia. Bold Leadership nuff said... if this is true and i would think it likely ... or at least it wouldn't suprise me if true .. then god we're fucked up The coming first world debt crisis Anomalies in new 9/11 footage New footage of the WTC planes has been released. Apparently the man who made the video didn't realise what he had. The New York Times has released a redacted version of the footage, but one of the frames is very intriguing. Methamphetamine is now a WMD? [VIA METAFILTER/Note go there and read the comments after the article] Well, I guess we should've seen it coming. According to this Salon article, prosecutors across the country are now using the Patriot act to prosecute drug crimes, fraud, and anything involving a bomb. This means any of these people may be detained indefinitely without an attorney. I don't like trailing questions, but I would like to see some constructive and creative posts about what can be done to protest this. It's so blatantly unconstitutional, it's not funny anymore, and I for one am not willing to welcome our new overlords. Hmmmmmmmm. Possible UFO sighting in New Jersey was a "military operation."??? Besides, If you don't know (most do not)This is, A) where all the black hole money goes i.e. Trillons OF YOUR CABBAGE that's w/a "T" for Trillions and --B)The military is always 30 to 40 years ahead in technology than what the general public knows about...no need of any tin foil hats... Buzzflash interviews Paul Krugman BUZZFLASH: As a professor, if you were giving a lecture and you had to define the economic policy of the Bush administration, could you get your arms around it? How would you define it? KRUGMAN: There is no economic policy. That's really important to say. The general modus operandi of the Bushies is that they don't make policies to deal with problems. They use problems to justify things they wanted to do anyway. So there is no policy to deal with the lack of jobs. There really isn't even a policy to deal with terrorism. It's all about how can we spin what's happening out there to do what we want to do. Now if you ask what do the people who keep pushing for one tax cut after another want to accomplish, the answer is they are basically aiming to create a fiscal crisis which will provide the environment in which they can basically eliminate the welfare state. Also: A loooong Krugman article on the Bush admin. tax cuts can be found. [Via American sam] From the "ya don't say, dept"... It's all part of the plan.And what a Glorious plan Slice of VICTORY introduced in House [Via Libertythink] The Antiterrorism Tools Enhancement Act of 2003 was introduced in the House on September 9, a day before President Bush, in a bit of Orwellian theater called for tools to fight terror and named administrative subpoenas as one of these powers. The "Antiterrorism Tools" bill would grant this power. Although it goes about amending the US Code in a different way, this is the same provision as Section 303 of the latest draft of the VICTORY Act exclusively published by Libertythink. The other police-state measure in this realtively short bill provides for judge-shopping for "terrorism" search warrants. The VICTORY Act featured judge-shopping for wiretaps. The bill was introduced by Rep. Tom Feeny (R-Fla.), who was Jeb Bush's running mate in his first race for governor in 1994 and became the Florida State House Speaker in the middle of the 2000 election saga. The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003 Via American Samzidat It's here most the sleeple just don't know it yet,but you will... The following was scooped by me from the comments over at metafilter in regards to this "On Saturday morning, two U.S. Customs agents showed up unannounced at the Washington, D.C., home of nuclear physicist Cochran, blocking his driveway as he and his wife were about to go shopping, Cochran told ABCNEWS. "They pulled up and blocked my driveway so that I couldn't pull the car out," said an angered Cochran. "They didn't call me up, they didn't knock on my door, they just swooped in and stopped my exit from the driveway."" What this tells me is that the Patriot Act and Homeland Security have taken away your freedom. You are considered guilty till proven guilty. From center for constitutional rights and electronic frontier foundation, as a reminder what Americans [and Blue Train] have given up. Guarding borders is one thing, but it's the threat from within is what concerns me. What if it wasn't ABC News or a nuclear physicist? Who's next? The police state is already here, in your "homeland". When the coffee takes effect, it'll be too late, if you don't know by now. High-Tech Heroin? [Via Follow me here...] Richard Forno: "Dostoevsky once wrote that 'in the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us,'Make us your slaves, but feed us.' His prophecy is relevant when examining the modern Information Age -- a dark, corporate-controlled society predicted by such artistic legends as Bruce Sterling, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, and William Gibson – and is the focus of this article." Compassionate Conservative! Here's your king and all the kings men at work H.R.163: Title: To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Rangel, Charles B. [NY-15] (introduced 1/7/2003) Cosponsors: 13 Related Bills: S.89 Latest Major Action: 2/3/2003 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Executive Comment Requested from DOD. Feds: N. Korea Missile Could Reach U.S. Play nice FOR tommorow OIL! While to Bush crime family plays cowboy in Iraq look whats happening over east way... The Blair/ Bush project. Not for all tastes, the following article makes a (not too subtle) point about media coverage of the war. Sort of relevant to recent CONVERSATIONS I have had with friends in that how it's not so funny that the only "real" coverage or news you get is on the comedy channel by and about comedy/comedians. The author is a novelist. I doubt that anything remotely like this would be published in a mainstream organ without the "comedy" context. (You can safely ignore the Brit-specific bits - eg first paragraph - and replace the name "Blair" with "Bush"). Ahhh, I guess the wacko's were right all along...Why else would there be a fucking bill and what about those 1972 s U.S. House of Representatives, Bill Referencing Mind Control "The bill which was originally H.R. 2977, of the United States House of Representatives was to be extremely important to the fight to expose and stop psycho-electronic or 'psychotronic' mind control experimentation on involuntary citizens. The importance is that in this draft bill, the terms 'PSYCHOTRONIC' and 'MIND CONTROL' were clearly referenced. The ORIGINAL bill is presented first below." New technology from 'black world' Welcome to black world technology -- the discrepancy in the defense budgets no-one can explain, and the programs which politicians and officials have the right to deny even exist.[via post-atomic] The fourth world war What are these quiet Americans doing in the capital of Mauritania, a nation that has never made the front pages and sits a continent and a half removed from the immediate interests of the United States? And what are their colleagues in a dozen other far-flung regions doing, handing out money and guns and hard-won secrets to governments and warlords and military men in the southern islands of the Philippines, on the steppes of Uzbekistan, in the dense jungle between Venezuela and Brazil? The guys in the sunglasses have a name for this not-so-secret campaign. They call it World War Four(...) We have become used to a "war" being something that lasts a few months at most, possibly only days. This one could last a lifetime -- and there is no question, given the enormous shifts in manpower and geographic focus, that the United States is preparing for just that. "Our enemies see this conflict as an epic struggle that will last years, if not decades," Mr. Hoffman said. "The challenge therefore for the U.S. and other countries enmeshed in this conflict is to maintain focus, and not to become complacent about security or our prowess." For the harried commanders in Washington, that will indeed be the challenge. For the rest of the world, the far more difficult challenge will be understanding what is really going on in this lifelong, worldwide conflict -- what is right and what is wrong in this morally and strategically fraught new world. ..................................................................... Or, to put it another way, to permanently extend the looting and pillaging that keeps the money silos of the Bush Crime Syndicate bursting at the seams at the expense of the 99.9999% of the population without a secret decoder ring. [via woods lot] The Incredible Shrinking Product strikes again! Funny I just the other day noticed this going on with something I buy regularly...From clairewolfe's blog: I PICKED UP A COUPLE OF JARS OF PREGO YESTERDAY. Picked them up. Hefted them. Something seemed different. So I read the label: "1 lb., 10 oz." Hm. Sure enough, when I got home and checked the lifetime supply of Prego already in my cabinets (to heck with rice & beans; I'm eating spaghetti through the next disaster), it was as I remembered. The jars I bought a few months ago held 28 ounces -- two ounces more. But of course, the price was the same. The Incredible Shrinking Product strikes again! I guess we should be used to this by now. The Incredible Shrinking Candy Bar was a blight of my childhood, inspiring waves of indignity as I opened the great big wrapper to expose the great big cardboard tray, on which sat an ever and ever smaller lump of chocolate goo. If this trend has continued, I expect that the candy bars of my childhood now look like shriveled raisins on their giant trays, and that soon they'll be smaller than the RFID chips all our corporate Little Brothers want to attach to them. I no longer buy Mountain Bars (shudder, the very thought), so I can't say for sure. And at least Prego didn't, for example, add an extra inch of glass at the bottom of the jar to make it look like buyers were getting the same amount. But notice the way they expressed the weight. Not "26 ounces," which any dummy could spot. But "1 lb, 10 oz." -- which sounds even bigger than 28 mere ounces. "Yeah, Myrtle. Look, they usta only got ounces in there. Now theys got pounds of the stuff." I understand that corporations have to make a profit. And shrinking the jar looks to them like a better option than raising the price. But you know darned well if they increased the size of the jar they'd have taken up half the label screaming about NEW and MORE and BONUS and FREE. So it stands to reason that if they shrivel the product up on us, they oughta at least mention that, too, somewhere in the fine print. "Dear customers: Americans are obese. So for your own good, we're giving you less to eat. But we're still charging you the same because you deserve to pay a penalty for your gluttony, you little porker, you." But no ... Okay, guess it's time to go back to canning my own. That's it, Prego. I'll survive the collapse of Western Civilization without you. CASPIAN NEEDS YOUR HELP! At least some "sleeple" care... CASPIAN plans a protest against radio-frequency tracking chips (RFID), to be held outside McCormick Place in Chicago. Inside McCormick Place on that day, the spychip industry will be formally announcing its consumer-tracking network. Because of the weekday and the limited time to organize, CASPIAN is having trouble getting local activists to stand with them. We must raise a public-media ruckus about this evil plan, and not just chat about it on the Net. If you're in Chicago or know activists there, please plan to attend or urge others to attend. Contact Katherine Albrecht at kma@nocards.org to offer your help. In the Loot ... er, Loop I found this over at dailykos this AM : WaPo's Al Kamen pens a very punchy In the Loop this morning, starting with the unveiling of international business law heavyweight Zell, Goldberg & Co.'s "task force dealing with issues and opportunities relating to the recently ended war with Iraq" (link): Interested parties can reach the law firm through its Web site, at www.fandz.com. Fandz.com? Hmmm. Rings a bell. Oh, yes, that was the Web site of the Washington law firm of Feith & Zell, P.C., as in Douglas J. Feith ... now undersecretary of defense for policy and head of -- what else? -- reconstruction matters in Iraq. In other developments, CIA's "Alan Foley ... recently head of the Weapons Intelligence, Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Center, is calling it quits next month". Embedding the yellowcake connection in a triple negative, Foleys admits (or denies ... we report, you decide) "I can't deny that the pressures of the past few months have not weighed heavily in my mind". State Dept. INR (intel) chief Carl Ford is also "said to be moving on". By my reckoning, Mr. Kamen's comings-and-goings beat is in for a career year.Jenga , anyone? All US Air Passengers to be Profiled, and 1% Will be Banned from Boarding. In the most aggressive -- and, some say, invasive -- step yet, the federal government and the airlines will phase in a computer system next year to measure the risk posed by every passenger on every flight in the United States. Up to 8 percent of passengers who board flights will be coded "yellow" and pulled for additional screening. An estimated 1 to 2 percent will be labeled "red" and will be prohibited from boarding. These passengers also will face police questioning and may be arrested. [More Inside....] (Via metafilter)Welcome to the Machine. Banned Israeli Spymaster Back in U.S. Despite having been ordered to never again enter the United States, a notorious Israeli spy boss is here again - and FBI agents are unable to touch him. Disparity in wealth is killing democracy, scholar warns:Political system awash in corporate money As Americans begin to tune into another presidential campaign season, they might assume that democracy is alive and well. But one scholar argues that representative democracy is effectively dead – done in by the biggest shift of income and assets to the super-wealthy since the 1920s./Resonates w/me what about you? Oil oil oil.... I don't hold out any hope for this; it's a nice idea,but the gangsters that run the show will never let this happen. It would be against National Security.Them thar are turrists (BushSpeak)!Don't cha know. Your privacy gone. "I love the Internet. It has opened up so many wonderful doors of communication that we never thought possible. Unfortunately, there's a price to be paid--loss of privacy. Camera watch is part of a larger project that looks at who is tracking whom on the Internet. Web cameras are constantly on in public places and you may not even know it. You'll see people on the street in New York, being booked in jail or out on the beach. So, if you call in sick and go to Ocean City, MD, be careful! Your boss may see you catching some rays." State of Art article on energy emergency We are well into the unfolding energy emergency -- our dependence on oil from the Middle East, where we have imposed our military and political presence and culture, has spawned increasing terrorism and tumultuous unrest. As we dangle from an oil-soaked lifeline, thousands of people in the Islamic world are struggling to apply a lighted match. Terrorism against a vast, complex, interlinked industrial society such as ours is very cheap and relatively easy to accomplish; defense against terrorism is fabulously expensive, compromises our civil liberties, and is not very effective. The best way to minimize the threat of terrorism is to eliminate our most vulnerable and provocative activities, the first of which is our heavy use of imported oil. us diplomacy US derides 'chocolate makers' for EU military headquarters plans? Apocalypse This Way comes interesting piece - somewhat obsessed with the damn Marxists hiding under the bed - missing the realization that all greedy oligarchs act in the same way, so his historical analysis in this respect is weak - but his understanding of our economic malaise seems interesting...not that I believe it,hell, I don't even believe what I believe. Culture of Make Believe "We are members of the most destructive culture ever to exist." Invisible in the eyes of God and Bush . more than 20 million Americans work, but still can't satisfy basic needs of food and shelter. (NPR audio) Happy labor day fellow serfs. It's all about control...of fucking everything! From cradle to grave they want it all...Is that what America was suppose to be? Looks like the "sleeple" are not sleeping so well is someone starting to wake up? To show their disdain, the Vogels have hung a sign outside their business, Assured Staffing, on Main Street, stating: "Proud of our soldier! Ashamed of our president!" Vogel just attended the funeral of a 40-year-old reservist from Aaron's unit, a Wisconsin man who was killed and whose three children are fatherless after the truck he was driving in convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. 280 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and over 1200 have been wounded, but Bush has yet to attend a single funeral for one of the slain soldiers. Instead he has cut their imminent danger pay, their family-separation allowance, their Veterans and Health Care benefits and he has exploited their sacrifices in 120 degree heat, to enrich Dick Cheney’s Halliburton firm… Cannon fodder for P.N.A.C.? Rarely do I get angry at the complete and total bullshit that the government In general does,I just shake my head and laugh at the sheep, But this just makes me see red as in blood It makes me so livid I could bite somebodies* juggler out!-mobythor ---She collapsed in 130-degree heat. She had heart failure, went into a coma and was flown to a military hospital in Germany. "Going down the hallway, I can hear the guy saying, 'This soldier's not going to make it,' " Turner told ABCNEWS. "And I'm trying my best to tell them, 'Don't let me die; I'm going to make this.' I was trying to move my fingers and toes to tell them, 'Don't let me die.' " Because the Army doctors thought Turner, 41, was going to die, they gave her a medical discharge But then Turner recovered. When she got out of the hospital, however, she found herself out of the Army, out of a job and out of her home. "My life was on the line in Iraq," said Turner. "I almost died. I was in a coma for two days. And I come back and I'm living on a couch? That's not right." And that's not all. When she asked the Army to ship her personal belongings back from the base in Germany, they told her she'd have to pay her own way back to collect them. Ron Conley, national commander of the American Legion, says these are not isolated incidents. "This is a problem occurring with all veterans," said Conley. "Current veterans that we're making today are facing the same problem that previous veterans are facing. One of the messages that we sent to President Bush and the members of Congress is: We appropriate money to fight a war; there's an additional cost to that war and that's the health care of the men and women that fight that war." BILL to let corporate crooks off the hook - retroactively (ENRON!) President Bush Urges Senate to Support Retroactive 'Enron Escape' Even Rehnquist opposes this baby! Legislation to be Debated on Senate Floor September 9th 'Class Action Fairness Act Empowers Those Who Looted Enron & Worldcom to Evade Accountability,' Says Alliance For Justice Fool. Rules don't apply to us Would-be investor runs afoul of Patriot Act OMG! This is just sooo fucked up I'm speechless.So now you have to be "homeland" approved to open an account or a business? Has anybody seen America? I think it's missing. War Pigs Listen to this little anecdote. One of my cousins works in a prominent engineering company in Baghdad- we’ll call the company H. This company is well-known for designing and building bridges all over Iraq. My cousin, a structural engineer, is a bridge freak. He spends hours talking about pillars and trusses and steel structures to anyone who’ll listen. As May was drawing to a close, his manager told him that someone from the CPA wanted the company to estimate the building costs of replacing the New Diyala Bridge on the South East end of Baghdad. He got his team together, they went out and assessed the damage, decided it wasn’t too extensive, but it would be costly. They did the necessary tests and analyses (mumblings about soil composition and water depth, expansion joints and girders) and came up with a number they tentatively put forward- $300,000. This included new plans and designs, raw materials (quite cheap in Iraq), labor, contractors, travel expenses, etc. Let’s pretend my cousin is a dolt. Let’s pretend he hasn’t been working with bridges for over 17 years. Let’s pretend he didn’t work on replacing at least 20 of the 133 bridges damaged during the first Gulf War. Let’s pretend he’s wrong and the cost of rebuilding this bridge is four times the number they estimated- let’s pretend it will actually cost $1,200,000. Let’s just use our imagination. A week later, the New Diyala Bridge contract was given to an American company. This particular company estimated the cost of rebuilding the bridge would be around- brace yourselves- $50,000,000 !! U.S. 'Executive Mercenaries God, it must be nice to be able to hookwink American citizens into paying for your Private army, to reap all the benefits and spoils and not have to share it with the people who paid for it...that's the Tax payers Like you and me.The Vinnell Corporation is a Northrop Grumman Company which has a major presence in all Homeland Security mission agencies and activities.Northrop Grumman supports Homeland, national, regional, state and local security operations.This shell game of companies is confusing and thats just the way they want it. Good old-fashioned mercenaries. Secret Burials in the Desert Did the Pentagon order the assassination of a journalist in order to cover up secret mass burials of dead U.S. soldiers and U.S.-contracted mercenaries in the deserts around Baghdad? Nah, of course not...thats just some kinda conpiracy theory right? Right!? Halliburton's Deals Greater Than Thought No Kidding, I'm shocked, Shocked I tell ya! Halliburton's gitmo no-bid contract sweetheart deal! Halliburton's Grand deal. The size and scope of the government contracts awarded to Halliburton in connection with the war in Iraq are significantly greater than was previously disclosed and demonstrate the U.S. military's increasing reliance on for-profit corporations to run its logistical operations. Independent experts estimate that as much as one-third of the monthly $3.9 billion cost of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq is going to independent contractors. Via metafilter more comments and info over there. "Our first responsibility is to the blah blah blah....release the goddamned tapes! I'm so sick of the secrecy of this stinking Nation.This has been the most secret and closed Administration in history. The Mental State of the Union "It is no sign of mental health to be well adjusted to a sick society." Requiring an internal passport for domestic travel is unconstituional Just when you thought that someone in the Department of Homeland Security got 'round to reading the Bill of Rights, you're proved wrong. Censored SNL Animation about Corporate ownership of media. Here is the song that was removed from the re-airing of a Saturday Night Live show from March. Most likely, NBC's owner, the $80B GE corporation, didn't like the truth being told on its own network. I typed this in from my printed copy of the The Nation. How does the Pentagon spend its yearly $400 Billion? Every year, the Pentagon is allocated Tyranny Tech: College Offers Homeland Security Degree Be the first on your block to be a trained and educated SS officer! This cop show script is getting out of hand. Crime in America is business which is run by (and for profit of) those whom create the law. The system is now set where you're either a criminal or a policeman. Binary logic of the same fucked up coin.Welcome my friends to the Machine. Total Surveillance Equals Total Tyranny HOMELAND SECURITY (A TERM THAT STILL MAKES ME WANT TO SHOUT "ACHTUNG!") is now a full-fledged, capital-I Industry -- complete with trade associations and 444 registered lobbyists. Lobbyists. We're doomed. But then, we knew that. Let's get outa here before it's too late.(Via Claire wolfe) The prison formerly known as America: Enemy of the State America is slowly becoming something of a prison whether many choose to realize it or pass it off as a conspiracy theory. The following article is an attempt to place the entire topic in perspective to give an understanding to why some may feel this country is becoming something of a police state. Included in the write-up is information on the USA PATRIOT act, and statistics that should not be taken lightly, coming from an everyday citizens perspective. How the Bush family made its fortune from the Nazis Note: This article's author, John Loftus, is a former U.S.Department of Justice Nazi War Crimes prosecutor, the President of the Florida Holocaust Museum and the highly respected author of numerous books on the CIA-Nazi connection including The Belarus Secret and The Secret War Against the Jews, both of which have extensive material on the Bush-Rockefeller-Nazi connection. CIA files disclose Nazis on U.S. payroll More on our Psychotic Foreign Relation Policy Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) started a crusade in 1994 to declassify U.S. intelligence documents on the Holocaust and America's postwar dealings with ex-Nazis. Follow up : U.S. Recruiting America's recruitment of Marriage Specialists at Welfare Offices in San Francisco [coming to a town near you?] Welfare offices are now recruiting marriage and life specialist counselors for the poor. This article reviews these counselors qualifications for teaching "life skills." God Bless America! Sarcasm fails me ... Follow-up: W speech corrected on the Web White House minions are editing history. After President Bush said last week that combat continues in Iraq, someone changed all the headlines and captions on the White House Web site from May 1 that had read, "President Bush announces combat operations in Iraq have ended." All the references to Bush's globally televised aircraft carrier address now read, "President Bush announces major combat operations in Iraq have ended." The addition of the word major is actually correct: That is what Bush said in his speech. But the old headlines were not changed until Monday - just before a Washington Post story comparing Bush's statements. A White House spokesman said: "There was a mistake made and it was caught. It was noticed that the headline was incorrect. The change was not made for any other reason."/ Oh and remember,Oceania was at war with Eastasia: Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia. U.S. Recruiting Hussein's Spies U.S.-led occupation authorities have begun a covert campaign to recruit and train agents with the once-dreaded Iraqi intelligence service to help identify resistance to American forces here after months of increasingly sophisticated attacks and bombings, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. /Whats that old saying "when you hunt monsters, be careful not to become them" or something to that effect.Will we ever learn? This sounds like the 'documented' story of the CIA recruiting Nazi intelligence officers to become new members of CIA. Ya,gotta love Murika! Letters from the front Lefty blog steve gillard has a slew of letters from our brave men in Iraq: I'm not writing to complain or whine like so many soldiers do. I'm writing because I served my country and then some. I'm also losing money — $40,000, to be exact — because my military pay doesn't compare to my civilian pay. As a result, I'm about to lose my home. As a civilian, I work for the Department of Justice. I feel I could better serve my country working there than as a soldier. Spc. Walter Smith Iraq Offshore company captures online military vote Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE) is the system and Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting of Enron bankruptcy fame) is the company. And although Accenture has not been officially implicated in the Enron scandal, they have created a reputation of their own that is already raising eyebrows. On their board of directors is Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO and known to many as Bad Boy Ballmer for his ruthless, if not illegal, business practices. NAZI INFLUENCE ON MODERN WORLD TOLD IN UC SANTA BARBARA PROFESSOR'S THREE-VOLUME HISTORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS Though many would prefer to distance the 21st-century world from the legacy of Nazi rule in Germany, Laurence Rickels, a professor of German at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says there is little about modern life that wasn't affected by Adolph Hitler's fascist regime. FBI confirms: Airline Ticket for a 9/11 Hijacker Was Purchased from the OU Library Computer The University of Oklahoma is in Norman, where I reside. In the fall of 2001, I was talking to an OU library employee who told me that she was present when an FBI agent was interviewing her colleague. The agent was interested in the fact that the OU library computer terminal had been used for an online purchase of an airline ticket for a 9/11 hijacker who was on the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania.(via libertythink)Go there and watch the video by greg palast it's a showstopper. Who's a Revisionist, Again? Adam over at Likely Story catches the Dubya web team revising old documents so, that instead of saying 'combat operations are over' they now say 'major combat operations are over.' What freakin' goofballs. Holy historical revisionism Batman! The WH has changed the title of the Lincoln speech posthumously. The WaPo article gives the title as 'combat operations' and now the WH gives it 'major combat operations'. Never fear, google has the play by play. How telling that the only folks supporting the WH version are the freepers. Hilarious. I don't know why the WH is so concerned over the word 'major' as it is absolutely evident that both 'major combat operations' and 'combat operations' have not ended. Bush loses either way. And he has screenshots. Good job, Adam. (via Medley blog) SOME THOUGHTS ON THE NATIONAL SOCIALIZATION OF CHILDREN and a wake-up call for the sleeping minds of freedom-inspired parents. In the past 75-100 years two ideas came insidiously into American political life in the shadow arena of public policy-making. One, the notion that common people thinking for themselves constitute a crisis of governance; the other, that local control of education must be stamped out and transferred through a series of progressively remoter masking layers to a small centralized élite of decision makers. "Thus is the road to the national socialization of children being paved. It is a road running through every state's Department of Education these days, filled with buses carrying children to a collective destiny planned by experts without names. And it will continue to happen until each one of you begins to ask what your country wants to nationalize the education of children for. And says NO to it, and NO, and NO, and NO." Economic Fascism "The state and its academic apologists are so skilled at generating propaganda in support of such schemes that Americans are mostly unaware of the dire threat they pose for the future of freedom. The road to serfdom is littered with road signs..." (via abuddhas memes) The Imperial Bluster of Tom Delay by Edward Said If you haven't read it, his book Culture and Imperialism is an awesome lens for understanding gloablization and post-colonialism. (via postmodernpotlatch) you are getting very sleepy...hehe We are engulfed in war. Not simply a war fought with guns and bombs "somewhere out there." The skirmishes take place in the region of one's own mind. The less one is aware of the invisible war, the more receptive one is to its ongoing process of demoralisation, for the insensate human is vulnerable, malleable, weak and ripe for control. Invisible warfare allows its victims to wallow in their sense of choice and freedom while actually feeling weak and ineffectual. I've outlined a few pertinent facets of these weapons, for comparisons of their intended effect on one's own environment, body and emotions. Avenues for infection are everywhere. "Bombs" are falling on our doorsteps every day. Supermarket tabloids, radio, TV, the internet, cinema - all these are catechisms of demoralisation. Turn Yourself In and Get It Over With (PDF) Turn Yourself In and Get It Over With By Diane Harvey merak@sedona.net Official Notice From: The U.S. Department of Permanent Investigation To: Selected U.S. Citizens US names the day for biometric passports "A senior US government official has laid out detailed plans for the timing and form of US government issued biometric passports. Frank Moss, deputy assistant secretary for Passport Services, presented his organisation's plans to evolve to a new, more secure 'intelligent document' from today's paper-based passports at the Smart Card Alliance's Government Conference and Expo conference last week. 'Our goal is to begin production by October 26, 2004,' Moss announced." ---- The fed owns you. U.S. Trails Va. Muslim Money, Ties Clues Raise Questions About Terror Funding Carlyle's way Making a mint inside "the iron triangle" of defense, government, and industry. Investigative Reporter Greg Palast Speech Reporter Greg Palast on the Real Reasons for Blackout 2003, Elections Past and Present and Disenfranchised Voters-----------Enron's Kennyboy,*Important letters,War w/Iraq and all kinds of cronyism fun. You really wanna hear this... you really wanna hear this... Update:MORE ON "HOMELESS MANAGEMENT" SYSTEMS. The Electronic Privacy Information Center added a fact sheet about HUD's new plan to track the homeless. We serfizens have until September 22 to comment. Contact info is included in EPIC's documents. However, in another of those do-we-laugh-or-cry ironies of dealing with the fedgov, HUD -- the superagency that wants every street wino electronically tracked -- won't allow comments by either e-mail or fax. Snail-mail only. (VIA CLAIRE WOLFE BLOG) Holy Wars: The Truth About Evangelicals and Compassionate Conservatism (via woods lot)...the rise of evangelical conservatives to American political leadership represents the formation of a very dangerous and unholy cabal within modern Christendom and poses a direct threat to progressive democracy. It is clearly one of the most ominous trends to emerge in American politics because it cuts against the grain of the democratic tradition. Moreover, their regressive political objectives run counter to the spiritual and progressive ethos of mainline Christian doctrines that has their origins in the social gospel movements of the early 20th Century, and in the liberation theology ideal that played a major role in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.... (more) Brief Intelligence What brand of lunacy makes you think you’re not going to some treacherous circle of hell when you vote to appropriate federal money for stupid, wasteful pet projects, instead of making sure that the U.S. government makes good on its promise to give veterans the medical care they earned? Our veterans and our national honor got upstaged by the desire to fund projects like a statue of the Roman god Vulcan in Alabama, a bike trail in North Dakota, and a Nevada helicopter company that performs Elvis impersonator weddings. A statue of a Roman god, have these people lost their damned minds? Since when did a bike trail become a federally funded project? I can’t even comprehend the notion of using federal funds on Elvis impersonator weddings.(via woods lot) Overview of Changes to Legal Rights What rights have we lost? Feds Want to Track the Homeless A mandate which will force local agencies that receive federal funds to register and track homeless people has been called too invasive by privacy and community activists. In an attempt to grasp the scope of the United States' homeless problem, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is requiring local government and nonprofit organizations receiving grants for homeless programs to keep detailed files on their clientele. Data to be tracked ranges from Social Security numbers to HIV statuses to mental health histories." (via FmH)/They want to control every thing that moves, control and power is their drug.I love murika! Sensational Memos Lift the Lid on News Control If they are authentic, these memos represent the most important revelation of government deception since the Pentagon Papers, and suggest the "news" is little more than mass psychological control. CAPPS II Back From the Dead Galileo Will Be Opening Up A Dossier On You U.S. Will Ask U.N. for Move to Widen the Force in Iraq About 6 months too late if you ask me. What isHouse Bill 1509 (pdf)...? Really. (Via http://www.guerrillafunk.com/) Distributive Justice - It's an art project with both an interactive web exhibit and an installation at the American Effects exhibit currently showing at The Whitney Museum in NYC. In the words of the artists: "Distributive justice is not only a central issue of moral and political philosophy, but also an object of common-sense moral reasoning. Everyone is sensitive to the question of his/her share of the common good. Even those who get the best peace of the social pie are in need to justify the actual model of distribution. It has become a truism that most people (especially in the transition countries) experience their own social position as "unjust", relying on certain intuitive principles of distributive justice... All the parts of the project would later on be integrated on a web-portal. The actual or potential participants would thus gane a virtual space of their own designed for exchange of information and opinions (mailing list, forum, chat), creating archives etc. In this manner the project would eventually develop into a permanently open forum." (via Metafilter.com) Ad Campaign for a New American Foreign Policy Virtually unreported to the public at large, the Bush administration is preparing to build new nuclear weapons and resume nuclear testing. Their official “Nuclear Posture Review” lowers the threshold for using nuclear weapons and calls for developing “more usable” nuclear weapons to employ in "certain battlefield situations." For the first time in US history, the administration has committed us to threatening non-nuclear countries with nuclear weapons.... (more) Energy companies contributing heavily to GOP. SURPRISE SURPRISE! The Military records of George Walker Bush The following documents were obtained using the processes outlined in the Freedom Of Information Act (via American Samizdat) Most call this a War some call it entrapment. Fake checkpoints OK in search for illegal drugs, court says Associated Press Aug. 17, 2003 DENVER (AP) — Colorado police can set up fake checkpoints in hopes of sniffing out illegal drugs, an appeals court ruled in a case in which camouflage-clad officers spied on fans during a bluegrass festival in 2000. Police at the Telluride festival had posted signs along the road saying, "Narcotics checkpoint, one mile ahead" and "Narcotics canine ahead." Officers wearing camouflage hid on a hill and watched for any people who turned around or appeared to toss drugs out of their windows after seeing the signs. Police pulled over Stephen Roth, 60, for littering after they found a marijuana pipe tossed from his window. Two other pipes and mushrooms were found in a search of his car. The appeals court ruled last week that while drug checkpoints are illegal — because motorists are stopped at random and without reasonable suspicion of committing a crime — the discovery of the first pipe gave the officers probable cause to stop Roth's vehicle.OK in search for illegal drugs, court says Associated Press Aug. 17, 2003 DENVER (AP) — Colorado police can set up fake checkpoints in hopes of sniffing out illegal drugs, an appeals court ruled in a case in which camouflage-clad officers spied on fans during a bluegrass festival in 2000. Police at the Telluride festival had posted signs along the road saying, "Narcotics checkpoint, one mile ahead" and "Narcotics canine ahead." Officers wearing camouflage hid on a hill and watched for any people who turned around or appeared to toss drugs out of their windows after seeing the signs. Police pulled over Stephen Roth, 60, for littering after they found a marijuana pipe tossed from his window. Two other pipes and mushrooms were found in a search of his car. The appeals court ruled last week that while drug checkpoints are illegal — because motorists are stopped at random and without reasonable suspicion of committing a crime — the discovery of the first pipe gave the officers probable cause to stop Roth's vehicle. Brian Eno, Political Pundit? And a damn fine one too... In the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, it now seems clear that the shock of the attacks was exploited in America. According to Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber in their new book Weapons of Mass Deception , it was used to engineer a state of emergency that would justify an invasion of Iraq. Rampton and Stauber expose how news was fabricated and made to seem real. But they also demonstrate how a coalition of the willing - far-Right officials, neo-con think-tanks, insanely pugilistic media commentators and of course well-paid PR companies - worked together to pull off a sensational piece of intellectual dishonesty. Theirs is a study of modern propaganda. What occurs to me in reading their book is that the new American approach to social control is so much more sophisticated and pervasive that it really deserves a new name. It isn't just propaganda any more, it's 'prop-agenda '. It's not so much the control of what we think, but the control of what we think about. When our governments want to sell us a course of action, they do it by making sure it's the only thing on the agenda, the only thing everyone's talking about. And they pre-load the ensuing discussion with highly selected images, devious and prejudicial language, dubious linkages, weak or false 'intelligence' and selected 'leaks'. Corporate Influence on Government? Hell, they don't even try to hide it anymore... Israeli [Mossad Control]Center Opened In Baghdad??? Why is it that the majority of common people in Israel much like the majority of common in people of America don't want war.And why is it that the governments of both countries do. What could that mean? Do you think, maybe that the uncommon people of both countries are Businessmen. Businessmen who only look out for themslves and people who profit with them? Again, what could that mean? Massive military contractor's media Again, you have to go out of thr country to get any real news. Zionism in Microcosm Zionism Financially Thrives By Creating False Pathos Of Global 'Anti-Semitism' Nazis and Jews Leftwinger and Rightwinger rethuglican and demoncrate black/white us/them And after all we're only ordinary men. We have to wake up and get beyond this dual Aristotle box. Two Nations, Under God..... Nice graphic on the upper left..... (Via my friend Ham) George Bush hasn't put a name to his political philosophy, but we can. Where Barnes comes out fully in favor of fascism? A Senate Committee Probes the FBI's Secret Campaign Against the New Left, Q: Will it happen again? A: it never stopped.---Chicago 1968 - This month marks 35 years since the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Hope was at a low ebb in the wake of a turbulent year that saw the assassinations of MLK and RFK. Peace activists and yippies took to the streets to protest the Viet Nam war and to nominate a pig for president. Police responded with shocking brutality. The ensuing Chicago Seven Trial was theatre of the absurd, with a colorful and prominent cast of characters. So what's changed in 35 years? Can next year's conventions be expected to generate outrage or apathy? [via metafilter.com] A serenade for Bush The serenade of Marylin Monroe at John F. Kennedy's birthday is legendary. The "Un-President" George W. Bush has to deal with other kinds of serenades: "Bushflashs" The Bush-Administration of the United States of America hasn't made a lot of friends since its assumption of office. George W. Bush personally provides a lot of points to attack for critics and satirists. Whole books about the verbal gaffes of the mightiest man of the world, in which Bush leads the "War on English language", have been published. Fresno council member wrote of using 'dirty bomb' to kill liberals. If I were to publicly say about these officials what they freely say about "civilians", I would be in jail awaiting interogation at gitmo by now.------- Fresno residents and community leaders, outraged by an e-mail message in which City Council Member Jerry Duncan wished he had a "dirty bomb" to kill every liberal in Fresno, called Thursday for his resignation, recall or reprimand. A crowd that gathered in City Hall also chastised City Council Member Brian Calhoun and his chief assistant, Ann Kloose, who wrote in an e-mail that police should "Cap" members of the Human Relations Commission. Losing our Liberty in the Name of Fighting Terrorism I know believe me, I see articles about this so often I tend to bypass them but this had some bite and should not be discounted. For your files... The author of this piece is a conservative and a bit edgy...however, he makes many very good points and hands out quite a few informative political points regarding the current battle over civil liberties vs "the fight against terrorism" in this country. This article deals with the patriot act and "patriot act II" ....soon coming to a government near you. Warning...it's a bit scary, but this is real legislation that is currently going through the senate The Stanford Prison Experiment: Still powerful after all these years How long must we endure this mental plantation? Cutting the straps of the straight jacket of true/false aristotelian logic- When will people realize that there is no difference between the so-called "left" and the "right"? That the political parties are simply two sides of the same coin? White House for Sale Tracking the influence of private money in President Bush's re-election campaign. Arnold's secret meeting with Kenny Boy If you're compiling a list of public figures even less popular in California than Gray Davis, one name is likely to top it: former Enron chairman Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay. Voters in the Golden State are behaving like sheep these days, but even the dimmest of them can probably remember how Enron and the other corporate vultures descended on them during the electricity "crisis" of 2001. What California voters may no longer remember, however, is that after the third wave of rolling blackouts hit their state, Kenny Boy quietly summoned a select group to the Beverly Hills Hotel on May 11, 2001. And they may also have forgotten that one of the prominent Republicans who showed up at Lay's request was Arnold Schwarzenegger. (scroll down about a third of the page) [Thanks via maruthecrankpot.blogspot.com] A Horrifying View into The Agenda Rarely do I link to or even read counterpunch,but this article is a JACKHAMMER must read.A slamming indictment (and IMHO justly deserved) describing the megalomaniac's who are leading us to- "all war all the time".(TM) A fascinating and horrifying view into the agenda of the current mis-ministration, with historical perspectives and near term future projections. Not for the weak of heart. Do you think todays Eastcoast Blackout had anything to do with this? Excerpt: The Baker energy task force produced a report titled, "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century", ( Tones of P.N.A.C. anyone?) dated April 2001. There is no mistaking the fact that reasonable, detailed and important expert advice is meted out to the new president. However, this amazing 107-page report strikes a drumbeat for action that grabs the reader as it propels a picture of a naked, energy-scarce nation, subject to energy shortages and price fluctuations, across its pages. Contrasting the state of what is, against what should be, and mercifully making powerful recommendations that will “save our economy,” it offers warnings such as: a sharp rise “in oil prices preceded every American recession since the late 1940s.” A haunting familiarity exists between the Baker energy report and another policy paper anyone wanna guess what that might be? surely other states could suffer similar shortages. A Bigger, Badder Sequel to Iran-Contra (Via Follow me here blog) "The specter of the Iran-Contra affair is haunting Washington. Some of the people and countries are the same, and so are the methods – particularly the pursuit by a network of well-placed individuals of a covert, parallel foreign policy that is at odds with official policy. Boiled down to its essentials, the Iran-Contra affair was about a small group of officials based in the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that ran an "off-the-books" operation to secretly sell arms to Iran in exchange for hostages. The picture being painted by various insider sources in the media suggests a similar but far more ambitious scheme at work. Taken collectively, what these officials describe and what is already on the public record suggests the existence of a disciplined network of zealous, like-minded individuals. Centered in Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith's office and around Richard Perle in the Defense Policy Board in the Pentagon, this exclusive group of officials operates under the aegis of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney." AlterNet Democracy might be impossible, US was told US intelligence officials cautioned the National Security Council before the Iraq war that the American plan to build democracy on the ashes of Saddam Hussein's regime -- as a model for the rest of the region -- was so audacious that, in the words of one CIA report in March, it could ultimately prove "impossible."/ Ye haw! I love cowboys! Texass is Fine Bush is Jesus! And Remember, kids: a democracy that does not suit the interests of the United States is not a democracy. Israeli Plan to Shoot Down British Jet? Then blackmail the world into buying 200 billion dollars worth of useless “Anti-Missile” systems! The other war... Afghanistan? didn't we win that war already? Homeless families in a jobless economic "recovery" Families with children are among the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. The Conference of Mayors found that 41% of the homeless are families with children, up from 34% in 2000. The Urban Institute reports about 23% of the homeless are children. / As bush vacations for the third time this year. The real WMD: Gamma-ray weapons could trigger next arms race: "An exotic explosive that blurs the distinction between conventional and nuclear weapons could shift the global balance of power." (via Follow Me Here blog) Bu$h, Enron's Lay boy, Former sec of state James Baker,The California Recall, Pete wilson/karl rove/Schwarzenegger, connect the dots... Axis of Evil, take 2 Mars must be getting closer...these fuckers really do want total war. Political_Conservatism_as_Motivated_Social_Cognition.pdf Thanks to steve for the White Paper of the article below :Study of Bush's psyche touches a nerve Study of Bush's psyche touches a nerve Now watch for a National Science Foundation and National Institues of Health funding smack down.Needless to say, this didn't go over well with Congress.(via Steve Gilliard blog) Timeline of Treason: Fair and Balanced. Congress to restrict use of Special Ops But what does it really mean? We the people will never know of course. $20,000 bonus to official who agreed on nuke claim check out the story on their frontpage about the Dep't of Energy official paid a $20,000 bonus once he'd overruled his intel staff and rubber-stamped Bushco's take on the aluminum tubes. The guy had no experience in intel--he'd worked in personnel (!) before the Bushies appointed him. Once the war was a sure "Go," he took his loot and stepped down. Lots of nice details, like him telling staff members who knew the tube story was bogus to "shut up and sit down" at a crucial meeting. Is there any agency of the US gov't the Bushies haven't corrupted? And where are the D senators. clamoring for an inquiry? I don't know who infuriates me more--the loathesome Rs or the scaredy-cat, impotent Ds. The one party system pretending to be a two party system. Funny. I thought we had something called the First Amendment. Then how come the appalling case of Jesus Castillo is being ignored except by a few bloggers? The story: Jesus Castillo worked in a Texas comic book store. He was busted for selling an erotic comic to an undercover officer. These facts have not been disputed: Castillo is an adult. The cop was an adult. The comic was displayed in a separate Adults Only section of the store. The cop was under no compulsion from Castillo to acquire that particular comic. (An excellent, appropriately disgusted recap, comes from Franklin Harris' Pulp Culture column. I cannot recommend this article highly enough.) The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund provided expert witnesses to attest to the artistic and literary qualities of the comic in question. The DA told the jury that none of that mattered, because comic books have "always" been for children and the "adult" comic was therefore obscene by definition. The jury bought the argument and convicted, the trial judge let it stand and, last week, the US Supreme Court declined to review the case.(via Eschaton - Fair and Balanced) P.s. Is this case insignificant compared to the Mike Diana case a few years back? Diana was convicted of obscenity for his comics, and the court forbade him from drawing comics, or even owning drawing materials. This is unconstitutional Prior Restraint. Of course the Comic Book Legal Defense people were all over this, and it did not help one bit.The first Amendement took a hit. Fair and Balanced? No one else seems to have the balls to write this, so it looks like I'll have to. Found this little rant thought you might enjoy. The controversial RFID tag technology is being taken to the dry cleaners Whats next, you ask? How bout this: ID chips pressed into laundered clothes. Today We Face Another 'Watergate' Mitchell testified before the Senate Watergate Committee that he would have "done anything" to get Richard Nixon re-elected. "Anything?" asked a senator. "Would that include murder?" Mitchell puffed on his pipe and replied, "That's a tough question, Senator.":This lesson of Watergate is particularly pertinent now. In responses to terrorists' attacks on our country that threaten our national security, President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft have sought and obtained from an acquiescent Congress unprecedented powers that are inconsistent with the Bill of Rights' protections. (via political junkie) Polish up the war machine , we've got a date in Iran! The New York Times is running an article today (a few days ago) that essentially trumpets the case for unilateral American invasion of Iran. I'm sure that the PNAC crowd which has been salivating over the idea of invading Iran is pleased to know that the "liberal" NYT is on their side. Iran is democratizing, and they're doing it the right way: slowly, internally, and absolutely. To depose the mullahs now would only assure that they will be replaced by people who are equally imperfect in their representation of Iranians, and it will also disrupt the subtler democratic changes that are occuring there. Iranians are building alternative press, they're blogging, and they're getting educated in the West then bringing ideas home with them. But let's put aside the issue of whether or not this is good for Iran. Is it a good idea for us? Will it be affordable? What would be our goals? Because if we again start blowing shit up for "freedom," without so much as a suggestion as to how the explosions will bring "freedom," then it will prove that Americans learned nothing from the Iraq war.(Via postmodernpotlatch) Note:use "unknews" login and password if need be. The Surveillance Bill of Rights It's time has come.Amendment 1) SV of all types is primarily used to watch for chaos or the planning of chaos.This reminds me of the terror stockmarket recently introduced.To bad America don't have a "champion of the people" to spearhead the Surveillance Bill of Rights ; Seems like all we have these days are wolves in sheep clothing. Transparent Society? Surveillance is increasing whether we like it or not! It can be in the form of the government watching us (one way surveillance), or alternatively, we can all watch each other with no one group holding the power (universal transparency). We propose a transparent and open society as a proactive way to provide security and prevent Orwellian futures. In the modern age, we face serious challenges to our way of life such as the threat of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, we are experiencing exponential technological innovation, which can be used for both good or bad purposes. In light of these trends we feel, unfortunately, that the use of Surveillance is INEVITABLE. Surveillance will play an increasingly important part in our lives and can be implemented in many different ways. All of us are very concerned about Orwellian outcomes, so we are taking a proactive approach and proposing variations on Universal Transparency as a way to prevent totalitarian control. Universal Transparency means allowing everyone to see most everything, no one group holds the power of surveillance - it is distributed in a democratic way! Today, governments want to watch us (surveillance), we ask to be able to watch the government and also each make society safe. The seeds of this idea come from a few different sources. Science Fiction writer David Brin who wrote the Transparent Society Postal ID plan creates privacy fears (From CNET News.com via libertythink) A government report that urges the U.S. Postal Service to create "smart stamps" to track the identity of people who send mail is eliciting concern from privacy advocates. The report, released last month by the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service, issued . . . [o]ne recommendation . . . that the USPS "aggressively pursue" the development of a so-called intelligent mail system. Though details remain sketchy, an intelligent mail system would involve using barcodes or special stamps, identifying, at a minimum, the sender, the destination and the class of mail. . . The report proposes a broad expansion of the concept to all mail for national security purposes. It also suggests USPS work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop the system. [...] USPS already has been investigating intelligent mail technology for at least two years. [...] The commission that released the report is overseen by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and was established by an executive order from President Bush last year. It’s led by Harry Pearce, chairman of Hughes Electronics, a subsidiary of General Motors, and James Johnson, vice chairman of Perseus, an investment banking firm. Major high-tech companies, including Canon, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Pitney Bowes, Symbol Technologies and Stamps.com, are pushing the Postal Service to adopt intelligent mail systems. . . ./Man, just fuck it we are going to live in a panopticon no matter, but quis custodiet ipsos custodes (Who will guard the guards?) "Techonolgy is just a tool they say,it's not good or evil" but it seems to me that we are past having a code of ethics where technology is concerned.-mobythor "Knowing this, what type of loyalties and decisions do you think George W. Bush will make - those that benefit everyday American citizens, or those made by his puppet-masters?" A complete guide to major statements by senior Bush Administration officials on Iraq WMDs from 2002-2003 The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Via woods lot) Seeing what you want to see... Accusations have emerged that the Bush administration has persistently manipulated scientific data to suit its ideology. The administration has "manipulated the scientific process and distorted or suppressed scientific findings" on issues ranging from oil drilling in Antarctica and global warming to sex education in schools and the planned missile defense programme, and stacked boards with unqualified officials or industry representatives: ''The administration's political interference with science has led to misleading statements by the president, inaccurate responses to Congress, altered Web sites, suppressed agency reports, erroneous international communications and the gagging of scientists,'' the report added. A Whitehouse spokesman has dismissed the report.Of course. There's a privatization problem? It worked so well for the airlines and the Californy energy "market." The Bush administration is determined to hand over at least 850,000 federal jobs to private, for-profit contractors. That's roughly one-half of the federal workforce! Whores! I Have a Problem When suicide bombings in Israel get front page (web page) attention in the NYT but the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq do not. Note this isn't a comment on the media paying too much attention to Israel - it's about them not paying enough attention to our own goddamn dead. Vampires! Even though the fog of war lingers in Iraq, the business opportunities available are becoming crystal clear. In the effort to rebuild Iraq, U.S. corporations seem to be the sole beneficiaries of reconstruction contracts.I'm just so proud of my country! We liberate and spread mcDemocracy!In Bushco we trust!Bush is jesus! Watching the system eat itself or Private Sector Profits For the War Machine Military privatization, like military penny-pinching, is part of a pattern.-One of the nasty little secrets with so many of these services that are being "privatized" these days is we seem to be getting a lot less service for a lot more dollars-A reserve Air Force colonel who told me the communications gear on which his job depends is entirely maintained by civilian employees of the manufacturer (he wouldn't tell me which). ''We had a problem in the middle of the night and called down for the contractor; they told us he doesn't come in until 9 a.m.,'' the officer told me. ''We're fighting a war, and the contractor doesn't come in until 9 a.m.!'' /This would be funny if lives were not at stake... CIA 'loots' villa where Saddam's sons died I'm just so Goddamned proud of This just War. And even prouder that we are liberating Iraq.We're Hero's don'tcha Know. Truth justice and the American way! God is on our side!Praise Bush!Bush is jesus! Bush the almighty!HoilY is his name amen! IMPEACHMENT IS NOT ENOUGH. HE LIED, HIS STAFF LIED, HIS VICE PRESIDENT LIED, HIS WHOLE ADMINISTRATION IS GUILTY OF MASS MURDER OF THE OCCUPANTS OF TWO NATIONS WHOSE PEOPLE HAVE COMMITTED NO CRIME EXCEPT BEING AN IMPEDIMENT TO THE BUSH FAMILY OIL OLIGARCHY. Everytime I think it can't get worse, it does. When Patriot II was first leaked, it was suggested it was to get a sense of what public reaction would be to such an Orwellian scheme. In general the reaction was not favorable. Now They are trying to trying to sneak Patriot II through piecemeal. The first major chunk is called the Victory Act. TalkLeft gives a brief overview of it's intent. The creepiest aspect is the obvious redefinition of drug dealers as terrorists…and yo can bet they'll charge medical marijuana distributors under this bill if it [passes. The reaction to this slightly smaller piece of garbage is about what you'd expect.( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22victory+act%22+ashcroft ) Spread the word. Make noise about this. As We May Incinerate “Ah. They destroyed all the napalm in 2001, you see,” writes Jill Walker. “What they dropped on Iraq wasn’t napalm, it was Mark 77. Well, yes, it does has the same effect but the chemical structure is slightly different. Really!” Gillette boycott on as RFID-complex says "For The Homeland!" Email sent from CASPIAN today: CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) is calling for a worldwide boycott of Gillette products since the company failed to renounce a Gillette Mach3 "smart shelf" spy system. The Premature War Ahhh, this is a must read and to many links to add here so click on over to American Sam (above).And scroll down just a tad. CIA and DoD Attempted To Plant WMDs CIA and DoD Attempted To Plant WMDs in Iraq — and Failed July 2, 2003 Pentagon Whistleblower Reveals CIA/DoD Fiascos According to a stunning report posted by a retired Navy Lt. Commander and 28-year veteran of the Defense Department, the Bush administration's assurance about finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was based on a CIA plan to "plant" WMDs inside the country. Nelda Rogers, the Pentagon whistleblower, claims the plan failed when the secret mission was mistakenly taken out by "friendly fire." Ian Clarke is leaving America As an Irish citizen living in the US - I have decided that it is time to leave this country - it is starting to look, smell, and act as Germany did during the 1930s. I wish you Americans luck in regaining civilized justice in your broken country, if not, I hope that the EU will be accepting of political refugees from this brave but failed experiment. Ian Clarke has decided -- in the wake of Mike Hawash being railroaded into copping a "terrorism" plea for donating money to the wrong nonprofit -- that he must leave the US. I share his frustration and his anxiety. Sure, we're both white, educated technical immigrants, and thus relatively well-insulated from the excesses of the US's new immigration scapegoating, but every time I hear a story about a fellow immigrant to the US being terrorized by the immigration system, I get my own case of horrors. Wolfowitz Admits Iraq War Planned Two Days After 9-11 Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, both of whom spent the better part of the past decade advocating the use of military force against Iraq, put the issue to rest once and for all. Judging by recent interviews Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz gave to a handful of media outlets during the past week, the short answer is yes, the public was misled into believing Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States. Both admit that the war with Iraq was planned two days after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.But will this get any media play besides blogs? You bet your ass it wont. AN APPRAISAL OF THE TECHNOLOGY OF POLITICAL CONTROL Chaos Communication Camp 2003 Regarding the article below. Welcome to Brainwashington DC Lecture delivered at the Chaos Communication Camp yesterday - 'If we look a little more closely, we have to notice that until today the criminal case of the 9-11 attacks has remained entirely unsolved. Investigations by police and authorities utterly failed, none of the real backers and preparators of these attacks were found, also no hard evidence and no terrorist was captured. In fact, after 18 months we do not know more than we knew 48 hours after the attacks, when that list of the 19 hijackers had been published. So the results of the greatest police operation in history amount to virtually nothing'(via also not found in nature blog) Update: The Valerie Plame Affair CIA disclosure is dangerous: The Bush administration's decision to expose the wife of Joe Wilson as an undercover CIA operative involved with the fight to curtail WMD, is receiving new media attention. The Seattle Post Intelligencer is reporting on a cancer inside the Bush administration. The inevitable comparisons to the UK's David Kelly tragedy have begun. BushCo Was Warned of Lengthy Guerrilla War by CIA The Boston Globe is reporting that before the war the Bush administration was warned multiple times, the end result of an Iraqi invasion would likely be a lengthy and torturous guerrilla war. The administration chose to ignore these warnings in favor of the rosy predictions heralded by Ahmed Chalabi and friends. Yet another damning indictment of the Bush administration's passion for ideological zealotry in the face of all reason, logic, and fact. I believe this is the central tenet of the Bush administration. Reality be damned, they absolutely refuse to let the facts mess up their bury-head-in-the-sand-faith-based approach to governing the country. We've seen this time and time again from subjects as diverse and enormous as the Clear Skies, Enron, Alaska oil drilling, global warming, international diplomacy, economic policy, Iraq, Afganistan... You name it and I can point to the Bush administration's proclivity for idealogy ruling their inner reality with zeal worthy of a dictator's iron fist./Not that any of this means shit to the P.N.A.C. Gang. Support the Troops...and fuck em when they die. Josh Neusche was a healthy young soldier on June 26, 2003, when he reported that he was going to serve on the secret hauling mission, by July 1, 2003, he was in a coma, and that day was suddenly classified by the military, as medically retired from the Army without Josh or his family's consent. Josh did not die until July 12, 2003. Among other problems that this new classification created was that the DOD was no longer obligated to assist the family in getting to Germany to be with their son as he lay in a coma. Because the DOD would not provide even so much as plane or taxi fare for the Neusche family, all 650 members of the 203 Engineer Battalion each contributed $10.00 to make the family's final visit possible. Just how often does it happen that the DoD reclassifies a soldier as "medically discharged" without consent from the soldier or family? How many involuntary medical discharges have there been during this Iraq occupation? Fry 'em without warning out of a clear blue sky. (via schism matrix) Boeing, U.S. military complex hold a class in war profiteering I'm speechless... Not that he has a snowballs chance in hell...but, Damn!Also you and I both know they would shoot him dead if he ever got the people's nod. :As President, I will cancel NAFTA and the WTO, restore our manufacturing jobs, save our family farms, create full employment programs, create new jobs by rebuilding our cities and schools. As President, I will repeal the Patriot Act to regain for all Americans the sacred right of privacy in our homes, our libraries, our schools. "...determined to keep the idea before the public as it built its case for war" Kudos to the Washington Post for keeping on top of the Niger uranium/Bush-lied-in-the-SOTU story, while seemingly every other media outlet has moved on to more "pressing" matters (like Kobe's case and the recall circus in California). The Post's Walter Pincus reminds us that there was a concerted effort to push the Niger uranium claim, even when everyone in the administration likely knew it was dubious.(via thoughts on the eve of the apocalypse blog) 911 Alex jones video: The Road To Tyranny 9/11: The Road To Tyranny~all two hours. I suggest watching it with an open mind. Alex is a nut, but he has some very interesting info. Bring us home': GIs flood US with war-weary emails Also David Hackworth The Retired Colonel calls Donald Rumsfeld an "Asshole" Whose Bad Planning Mired U.S. troops in an Ugly Guerrilla Conflict in Iraq. His Sources? Defiant Soldiers Sending Dispatches from the Front. This should make you proud to be American! yeah yeah I know give the G.I.'S Some slack, they make mistakes --but,HOW MANY GOODAMNED MISTAKES DO YOU MAKE BEFORE YOU REALIZE THAT MAYBE IT'S NOT MISTAKES! American Troops Sacrificed on the Altar of Oil: As U.S. Economy is Fleeced & Siphoned What it has boiled down to, boys and girls, in this new-millenium "Planetary Survival" challenge is the United Corporations of America and their massive military versus the United Nations ideals and processes. Test this on your neighbors: which side do you stand on: the unilateralist "Terminator" Bush or the United Nations peacekeeping process? At this point, either way we'll likely be paying for Bush's blood-soaked "embezzlement" for a very long time...if we make it through the killing fields. New Security Woes for E-Vote Firm [Diebold] Following an embarrassing leak of its proprietary software over a file transfer protocol site last January, the inner workings of Diebold Election Systems have again been laid bare. A hacker has come forward with evidence that he broke the security of a private Web server operated by the embattled e-vote vendor, and made off last spring with Diebold's internal discussion-list archives, a software bug database and more software. [more](via American Sam) The EPA was instructed to just make shit up after 9/11. Of course we don't want to alarm anyone...that is until it suits our purpose- Bushco./An investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general has found that White House officials instructed the agency to be less alarming and more reassuring to the public in the first few days after the Sept. 11 attacks, The New York Times reports in its Saturday editions. The investigation specifically cites official statements about air quality after the collapse of the World Trade Center. The agency "did not have sufficient data and analyses" to make a "blanket statement" when it announced seven days after the attack that the air around ground zero was safe to breathe, the Times quotes the report as saying./How many lies will J.Q.Public swallow? Michael Ledeen Michael Ledeen is a believer in "total war" through "creative violence." DNA FROM FINGERPRINTS? You are fucked now. THEY WILL SOON BE ABLE TO EXTRACT YOUR DNA FROM FINGERPRINTS. In 15 minutes. Besides: Because the method is so simple and cheap, with far less overhead required than needle-based DNA sampling, experts say this could help make DNA gathering a commonplace activity ... PROGRESS. THE TSA HAS FINALLY ADMITTED WHAT EVERYONE KNEW. According to this British news story found on Free-Market.net, civil-liberties and anti-war activists are indeed being targeted for extra scrutiny at airports (read strip searches and brutal questioning), and in some cases being denied permission to fly, solely because of their opinions. (via clairewolfe blog) The CIA and State Dept. have exposed a functioning neoconservative conspiracy in the Pentagon to destabilize US relations w/Iran, ultimately aiming for a war and "regime change". The White House was apparently left out of the loop. The Pentagon office of Douglas Feith is involved, Feith is a member of the Project for a New American Century. It would appear that the old Iran-Contra arms dealer has been recontacted via Michael Ledeen, and "unauthorized negotiations" took place. Note: Be sure to cruse my archives on Michael Ledeen and the P.N.A.C. gang plans.Why isn't this being investigated! Tragic milestone reached in Iraq CNN, John King, just reported from Crawford, the President will commemorate the "100 days since the end of heavy combat in Iraq" and will claim significant victories and accomplishments.Here's some accomplishments for you: CENTCOM has announced the death today of yet another servicemember in Iraq, this one a soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division. It's an unexeceptional death, as far as these things have gone. The media will likely ignore it, as it's wont to do these days. But the killing is significant. We have now officially lost more people after Bush's "mission accomplished" speech than before. The total is now 257 Americans lost, and 301 if you include the Brits. 53 Americans have been killed since Bush's "bring them on" moment. And military families are now organizing against Bush. Anonymous Tip Line Have you noticed a friend behaving strangely? Or maybe a neighbor engaging in unusual activity? Before things get out of hand, report it here. Does G.I. George pillage and rape Burqua Barbie too? Get em while you can!(i.e.before the next world war). 'Dr Strangeloves' Meet to Plan New Nuclear Era (Via American sam) US government scientists and Pentagon officials will gather today behind tight security at a Nebraska air force base to discuss the development of a modernised arsenal of small, specialised nuclear weapons which critics believe could mark the dawn of a new era in proliferation. The Pentagon has not released a list of the 150 people at the secret meeting, but according to leaks, they will include scientists and administrators from the three main nuclear weapons laboratories, Los Alamos, Sandia and Livermore, senior officers from the air force and strategic command, weapons contractors and civilian defence officials. Requests by Congress to send observers were rejected, and an oversight committee which included academic nuclear experts was disbanded only a few weeks earlier. [more] Now They Tell Us: Privatisation Is No Panacea (PDF) Article highlighting a recent World Bank report (PDF) that seemingly concedes that 'letting the private sector run things does not always produce better results than leaving them in public hands. For an organisation that has spent two decades pushing privatisation with something akin to religious zeal, this amounts to a crisis of faith'Also have a look see at: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0806-08.htm Steve Chapman: Something else is still missing in Iraq "The missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have embarrassed the Bush administration, which had assured the world they would be about as hard to find as moisture in Seattle. But the controversy has had one clear benefit to the president: distracting the American people from an even bigger fraud." Chicago Tribune Chapman reminds us that not only were there no WMD but there was no connection to the WoT®.(via FmH) And now from the people that brought us Afghanistan.... Yes, that bright and shining exemplar of corporate responsibility and above board ethics. Former employer of Hamid Kharzi, the Quissling leader of Afghanistan (protected full time by DynCorp mercinaries because he is so beloved by his people) who only want to do what God has chosen them to do. Rape nations and make money. Yep, here is a bit on Unocol. May there be some justice. Oh, but what a surprise. The White House has filed an amicus curiae on behalf of Unocol. You see, prosecuting them for human rights abuse would damge the, "War on Terrorism". Of course, it seems to me that Terrorism is what Unocol was engaged in. But then, I am just a blue collar guy trying to figure it all out and am probably wrong. Encore: Use a Firewall, Go to Jail Little by little the nets are closing... the bastion of global community freedom is being, behind the scenes, corralled, and jailed by the rules and regulations of those who seek to limit free speech. Israel costs America 1.6 Trillion Having a bit of trouble making ends meet last year? This year? Last month? Last week? Here is why! Bomb in Jakarta Hotel Was American/Israeli Someone in Washington has a lot of explaining to do! An insider's point of view? Insider fires a broadside at Rumsfeld's office Welcome to the [real] Matrix In 1791, English philosopher Jeremy Bentham proposed an architectural innovation designed to lead to safe, humane prisons. He envisioned a prison space constructed as a circular array of inward-pointing cells. Solid walls between the cells would prevent any communication between prisoners, and a small window in the back of the cell would let in light to illuminate the contents. At the center of the ring of cells, Bentham placed an observation tower with special shutters to prevent the prisoners from seeing the guards. This "all-seeing place," or panopticon, was designed to provide complete observation of every prisoner. Bentham's central goal of the panopticon was control through both isolation and the possibility of constant surveilance. A prisoner will constrain his own behavior with the knowledge that some guard may be observing every action, regardless whether anyone is watching at a given moment. Bentham found this Utilitarian ideal of oppressive self-regulation to be appealing in many other social settings, including schools, hospitals, and poor houses, although he achieved only limited success in promoting the idea during his lifetime. Michel Foucault seized on this idea of a controlling space and applied it as a metaphor for the oppressive use of information in a modern disciplinary society. In Discipline and Punish, Foucault observed that control no longer requires physical domination over the body, but can be achieved through isolation and the constant possibility of observation. In modern society, our spaces are organized "like so many cages, so many small theatres, in which each actor is alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible" (Foucault, 1979). We are seen without seeing our controllers -- information is available on us without any communication. Foucault realized that oppression in the information age is no longer about physical domination and control, but rather the potential for complete knowledge and observation. "Without any physical instrument other than architecture and geometry, [the Panopticon] acts directly on individuals; it gives 'power of mind over mind.'" (Foucault, 1979) Physical intimidation is hardly even relevant in an information society where people need to regulate their own behavior to escape the constant threat of detection. This idea has since become the darling of postmodern cyber-libertarians, who see the oppressive observation of corporate and governmental organizations as the fulfillment of Foucault's vision. The "all-seeing" comes in the form of literal observation through cameras in public spaces and electronic monitoring of workers, but it also has a more figurative element in the data-monitoring of credit agencies and insurance companies. Their view is that a society is being constructed where all behavior will be sharply regulated through the fear of theoretical observation by some oppressive entity. (via dailykos) TO ALL GOOD NAZI'S To all good nazi's come their rewards. Sort of like a long time ago in a galaxy far away around 1945 when the majority of Nazi war criminals were punished by being admitted into our security agencies, political parties (the gop) acadamia and science community. It is good to see this tradition maintained. I think the surprise, deception and shock... ...will be pretty much passe after this piece. Yes, may we live in interesting times. What will be interesting is seeing how the US weasles out of it's stated commitment to Taiwan if this comes about. I see similarities between Taiwan/China and Kuwait/Iraq. I wonder if the the coaliton of the selectively indignant will get their panties in a wad over this sandbox tussle. Probably not. I don't think that China is quite the paper tiger that Iraq was. We know that between Clinton handing over guidance systems and the Bush clan providing them with state of the art sattelite technologies that they probably do have the capacity to ruin the day's of some folks in Maui, Kobe, and San Diego. You are now hereby Owned by the State. SIX YEARS AGO, IN THE SAME BINGE OF BIG-BROTHER LEGISLATION that gave us the Deadbeat Dad's Database (i.e. database of all employed Americans), the SSN-based national-I.D. drivers license, and the unique medical identifier (so far thwarted by Ron Paul and our few friends in Congress), the Congress of the Republican Revolution authorized a pilot program involving our social security numbers and our ability to work. In the pilot program, applicants would have to get the government's permission before being allowed to take a job. That is, the Social Security Administration would have to approve their SSN. Only after that would Americans be "permitted" to work in their own country. I hadn't heard a word about the pilot program since viewing the 1996 legislation & was hoping (foolishly, I know) that no news was good news. Tonight that pilot program popped up casually in an NPR report on "Protecting Social Security Numbers." Don't bother with the printed article at this link. It's a bore. But give a listen to the broadcast story linked from that page. NPR and the government are thinking in terms of better ways to "protect" your SSN while at the same time giving more government agencies and private businesses access to your Social Security Administration files, the better to cement your national ID in place. Turn the story upside-down, however, and it contains a few tips for how freedom-loving people can outfox them. (via clairewolfe) Mission-creep It's Not Just Terrorists Who Take Advantage: Someone will propose new "Antiterrorism" legislation. It will be full of things off of bureaucrats' wish lists. They will be things that wouldn't have prevented these attacks even if they had been in place yesterday. Many of them will be civil-liberties disasters. Some of them will actually promote the kind of ill-feeling that breeds terrorism. That's what happened in 1996. Let's not let it happen again. Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity When Vice President Dick Cheney comes out of seclusion to brand critics 'irresponsible,' you know the administration is in trouble. Bush Executive Orders on Iraq President Bush has issued an Executive Order, so far completely unreported, that purports to grant broad legal immunity to oil companies operating in Iraq. The Order is, on its face, outrageous, and should be investigated. Halliburton Iraq contract queried The Houston-based firm has been given reconstruction contracts worth almost $500m so far, according to a US congressman. The Grand Old Party are true Patriots they believe in America...well, at least they want you to think that. Get this, y'all: The GOP is outsourcing its fundraising boiler room to India:The US Republican Party now has a band of young and enthusiastic fund-raisers in Noida and Gurgaon. HCL eServe, the business process outsourcing arm of the Shiv Nadar-promoted HCL Technologies, has bagged a project to undertake a fund-raising campaign for the US Republican Party over the telephone. Kinda tacky, what with US unemployment being what it is, doncha think?Gee, you would think the GOP could hire a few young and enthusiastic fund-raisers in America. But then they would have to pay decent wages and maybe even give benefits and all that is wasteful. Besides, no one will know that they are taking potential jobs from Americans who could use them. A list of U.S. backed brutal dictators "The purpose of this site is not slander, but simply to "prove" that America is NOT, and NEVER HAS BEEN, the defender of freedom and democracy. While this site is highly opinionated nothing untrue has been knowingly published. If you can prove anything here to be false please do so!" Go ahead. Refute them all.(via chapel-perilous) This should tell you something... A) that your are a serf B)that the powers that be will do anything in there power to keep you that way. June 2003. Number of states in which Wal-Mart is the largest employer : 21. Twenty fucking one and growing...if that doesn't shock you like it shocked me then you are comatose.American great and dutyful! It's official the lunatics are now running the asylum Democrat's and bounty hunters: NM Gov. Bill Richardson has given the D's a security detail and promises to arrest anyone who messes with them on kidnapping charges. How ya like these apples? Despite warnings that Al Qaeda might try to hijack other flights and despite the fact that air security is still vulnerable, the Transportation Department is cutting the number of air marshals on international and some national flights. Unbelievable....the expense... of staying overnight... in hotels... is somehow more important than protecting airliners against terrorists.Un-fucking-believable. This should get your panties in a bunch as well FEDS ANNOUNCE $230B BOND BUMMER By PAUL THARP July 29, 2003 -- The stage was set yesterday for a make-or-break showdown over the White House's handling of the economy. The U.S. Treasury said it would try to pull off its biggest ever borrowing deal in weeks ahead to manage the government's record $455 billion budget deficit. $111 billion borrowed in the first quarter. This is old but very relevant : Why The Dots Were Never Connected Three weeks after taking office, George W. Bush signed a National Security Presidential Directive that restructured the National Security Council. It included this command: "The existing system of Interagency Working Groups is abolished." The Counter-Terrorism Security Group, Critical Infrastructure Coordination Group, Weapons of Mass Destruction Preparedness, Consequences Management and Protection Group, and the interagency working group on Enduring Constitutional Government were all abolished, to be reconstituted at some time in a new incarnation. "Except for those established by statute, other existing NSC interagency groups, ad hoc bodies, and executive committees are also abolished as of March 1, 2001" No wonder they couldn’t connect the dots. They were too busy redrawing the org chart and demoting Clinton-era appointees to actually work together to protect the country from terrorism. Remember also that after the al Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in October of 2000, Sandy Berger and the NSC developed a detailed war plan for attacking Osama bin Laden. Berger presented the plan to incoming NSC chief Condoleeza Rice, but the Bush adminstration never acted on it, preferring to have Dick Cheney devise its counter-terrorism plans. Bush held up plan to hit Bin Laden The Bush administration sat on a Clinton-era plan to attack al-Qaida in Afghanistan for eight months because of political hostility to the outgoing president and competing priorities, it was reported yesterday.http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,769398,00.html The plan, under which special forces troops would have been sent after Osama bin Laden, was drawn up in the last days of the Clinton administration but a decision was left to the incoming Bush team. However, a top-level discussion of the proposals took place only on September 4, a week before the al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington. In the months in between, the plan was shuffled through the bureaucracy by an administration distrustful of anything to do with Bill Clinton and which appeared fixated on national missile defence and the war on drugs, rather than the struggle against terrorism. As I said... No wonder they couldn't connect the dots. (via likelystory blog) Responses to Bush's 2003 "State of the Union" Address put together by the folks at IPA expands the analysis of the (via metafilter) Lies go down a lot smoother if you follow them with an oil "chaser! US critics call for MI5-style spy agency How many goddamned spy agencies do we friggin need? You do realize don't you, that when they talk of us or Americans that they don't mean me or you. They only consider you if your of the elite (read monied) or a politician. 16 Words and 28 Pages "All of the answers, all of the clues allowing us to dismantle Osama Bin Laden's organization, can be found in Saudi Arabia." - Former FBI deputy director, John O'Neill Remembering Pvt. Lynch, forgetting the dead Sgt. Walters Language The Educational System Was Designed to Keep Us Uneducated and Docile I've been hawking the likes of John Taylor gatto's work for years...do yourself a favor and find out who he is after reading the above. Kidnapping women and children is a justifiable action,says Col. David Hogg Fuck the Geneva Conventions and Protocols we're at WAR boy. "Investing in Terrorism"? Rumsfeld: "Terror attacks are up 2 and a quarter in heavy trading this week.I can only shake my head...words fail me...This has got to be a hoax... "The Pentagon is setting up a stock-market style system in which investors would bet on terror attacks, assassinations and other events in the Middle East."I seem to remember someone collecting *bigtime* on those "stocks" placed on airlines after planes crashed into the WTC...furthermore,This futures market for terrorists is done by the Pentagon group headed by Adm. Poindexter (yes, *that* Adm. Poindexter) who last year brought us the Orwellian "Total Information Awareness" program. (Since then the name has changed but the song's the same.) CIA probe finds secret Pentagon group manipulated intelligence on Iraqi threat A half-dozen former CIA agents investigating prewar intelligence have found that a secret Pentagon committee, set up by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in October 2001, manipulated reams of intelligence information prepared by the spy agency on the so-called Iraqi threat and then delivered it to top White House officials who used it to win support for a war in Iraq. Military Wife Scolded After Mass E-Mail Susan Peacock thought that the 400th Military Police Battalion Family Readiness Group was there to provide solace and support for spouses of soldiers shipped to Iraq.-Watch what you say what you do. I ain't gonna work on Bremers farm no more... This has prolly already been covered but... Interesting take on the council. It sounds as if micro managing from Washington coupled witht the absolutely fucking zero plan for what to do now is going to take it's toll. The rank amateurism of this group behing the invasion is astounding. Oh well, it is only costing tax dollars and blood. I am sure it is worth it for the ultimate prize of.....Oil? water? gas? Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy Corporations are the dominant force in modern life, surpassing even church and state. The largest are richer than entire nations, and courts have given these entities more rights than people. To many Americans, corporate power seems out of control. According to a Business Week/Harris poll released in September 2000, 82 percent of those surveyed agreed that “business has too much power over too many aspects of our lives.” And the recent revelations of corporate scandal and political influence have only added to such concerns. Where did this powerful institution come from? How did it get so much power? In Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, author Ted Nace probes the roots of corporate power, finding answers in surprising places. Overcoming Terror ...the Department of Homeland Security's site is just one example of a national warning system that in the end stirs up more anxiety than it quells. Loaded with scientific terminology, yet woefully bereft of any tangible data, the U.S.' early-warning mechanism has transformed us into a nation of worriers, not warriors. ...the day after Revere took his midnight gallop, the Colonial militia trounced the redcoats at Concord. Not a shred of duct tape was needed. (via post-atomic) Cultural and Technological Incubations of Fascism ...fascism's instability renders all efforts at a global explanation and definition difficult, or at the very least, tends to oblige all such accounts to declare a particular variant (usually the Italian or German) as normative, and to gauge all other varieties according to their greater proximity or distance from this norm. By favoring the metaphor of "incubations" in the organization of the seminar, and in the selection of essays contained in this volume, we have opted for a contrasting approach, which rather than attempting to theorize fascism's "essence," reinserts fascisms-in-the-making within the complex cultural-historical continuum of the first decades of the twentieth century. (Via woods lot) Eric Margolis Nails It: Terms of Engagement - Herewith, Definitions to Keep on Top of Current Events This kicks ass...Being as the robbers baron's often use language as a weapon I.E.double speak, newspeak etc. Example:Orwell wrote "If thoughts corrupts language,language can therefore corrupt thoughts" Political speech is an attempt to cloud meaning,make the lie a truth and promote euphemisms.(Via American sam) Ethical shopping aid? A gadget that combines corporate ethics records and a barcode database to allow shoppers to scan supermarket products to get geiger counter like feedback as to how 'hot' a product manufacturers history is. A gadget that combines corporate ethics records and a barcode database to allow shoppers to scan supermarket products to get geiger counter like feedback as to how 'hot' a product manufacturers history is. web.media.mit.edu/~jpatten/cfd/ I haven't checked if it's a scam, so you'll need to look deeper if you're interested. Probably won't be available for very long if it's genuine. I haven't checked if it's a scam, so you'll need to look deeper if you're interested. Probably won't be available for very long if it's genuine. Ayatollah Robertson's supreme fatwah and Bush's desperate attack on America: they only hate out of their love for jesus. makes sense to me.... When the GOP change America's Name to Texas we will look just like this... This site disturbs me. It kind of weirds me out that it's an official site because of the almost fetishistic amount of information. It definitely falls under the category of "too much information", seeing as how I can view a list of everyone executed in Texas, with their final statements and even their final meals. If there's anything you wanted to know about death row - a history of executions in Texas, the how (lethal injection), the cost per execution for drugs used ($86.08) - it's all here. And yet, I gotta say, it's strangely fascinating. And, hey look! Never miss an execution again because there's a section for "Scheduled Executions"! Did I mention that this site disturbs me? (via fearmongers.com) Free Speech TV: 30 min video about Patriot Act Check out Clark Kissinger of Refuse and Resist analyzes Bush and Congres measures to destroy many legal safeguards to civil liberties in name of fighting terrorism wish this kind of stuff made it into mainstream TV. Chicken legs and chickenshit... A Borders Books & Music store has banned a Baltimore singer-songwriter from performing there after she made an unflattering comment about President Bush (news - web sites)'s physique during a concert at the store last week. Julia Rose, who is also a fitness advocate, told the audience, "George Bush has chicken legs. He needs to pump some iron." How To Rig An American Election Detailed information about the corrupted american vote-counting system. this is an amazing article with lots of details and links to even more details and references about the manipulation of electronic voting systems: Researchers help define what makes a political conservative I know some are going to hate me for this...being as it's from berkeley. Caveat:I would assume this is more likely the neo-conservative,but what do I know. U.S. Taxpayers Blindly Funding Post-War Corporate Profiteering and Cronyism Hear ye hear ye...calling all serfs...(That means you) House Passes White House Plan To Deprive Millions of Workers Overtime Pay I like secret meetings don't you... KLEPTOCRATS ACTING IN SECRET - REFUSE TO INCLUDE THE PEOPLE IN THE PROCESS "Bechtel: Privatizing Iraq's water" Water, oil, gas whatever, what we have is a "Resource war"! for anyone brave enough to go through my archives you will see all the articles I posted in the past with regards to WATER.I laughed hysterically when I read this,not because it is funny,but because if I can see whats really going on why can't anyone else...THIS WAR IS FOR THE PROFIT OF Bussiness men PERIOD IBM and the holocaust In his Guerrilla News directorial debut, Paul Shore interviews the author and deploys GNN's trademark design aesthetic in what is sure to be one of the most controversial documentaries about U.S. corporate complicity with the Nazi regime. President Bush and the Christian Zionist lobby Need I say more? Antichrist politics? I love it when zealots run the show...don't you? Praise Allah! er...I mean jebus! The art -- now science -- of the platitude[ or manipulation?] Lies go down a lot smoother if you follow them with an oil "chaser! but remember... Hitler is said to be a genius of politics. That alone should tell us what politics really is. - Wilhelm Reich, "Mass Psychology of Fascism", 1933 A Guide To Pratical Holography perhaps? I marvel at the technology that "we the people" have...(dripping sarcasm) Of all the worlds bs, this must bee the worse to horrible to comment on. Who knows anymore... America's Uday and Qusay Conjuring Trick Latest White House lies reveal larger hidden untruths THE PROZAC WARS For too many months, a worried world has wondered why an administration professing Christian values refuses to heed calls to desist from such a disastrous course. Unprecedented worldwide protests, even appeals from the Pope and other national leaders, have been met with a baffling intransigence from Bush and his closest advisers, who continue to enjoy wide support among Americans with children as precious and innocent as those they are about to kill. Death dealers... Someone asked me "why do you post to propaganda media like moscow times" my reply was "as if ours is not"?--- More than 50 times, Rumsfeld was approached with mission plans likely to leave at least 30 innocent people vaporized and mutilated by unstoppable high-tech weaponry crashing down on them without warning, without the slightest chance of escape. More than 50 times, Rumsfeld signed his name to these multiple death-warrants... I like charts... Since most Americans are fed a diet of soundbites and readers digest type prose in our A.D.D culture. We like to think we are the "get to the point" types... America ( I use to love her,but I had to kill her) Qais al-Salman is just the sort of guy the US ambassador Paul Bremer and his dead-end assistants need now. He hated Saddam, fled Iraq in 1976, then returned after the "liberation" with a briefcase literally full of plans to help in the restoration of his country's infrastructure and water purification system. He's an engineer who has worked in Africa, Asia and Europe. He is a Danish citizen. He speaks good English. He even likes America. Or did until 6 June this year.Via American Samizdat) Poll shows many Germans see U.S. behind Sept 11 Well, well... How you like the New America? Having fun yet? IBM Flushing More Programming Jobs to India, Elsewhere,Boeing cuts another 5000, Ford to axe 2000 Microsoft just sent 5000 tech jobs to India too...GOD BLESS AMERICA! The Bush Empire How four generations of arms, oil, fascism, and US Govt. defiance made America's First Family This was entered into the public record This was entered into the public record a couple of months ago ... now you'd have thought something like that would be newsworthy wouldn't you ... hmmm/ First public hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States Social development has halted in US since 1980' I ask this at least 50 times a week..."why do you have to go outside the country to get news about inside the country? "/WASHINGTON: Social conditions in the United States have not improved since 1980, putting the world's only superpower on a par with Poland and Slovenia in the latest edition of an index that measures development in 163 countries. Archives for Mobythor's guide... Perhaps I should be apologizing. After all, I didn't take those words out of the SOTU either. I'll skip the part about the release of this being all too convenient on the same day Saddam's sons got whacked.Boy, those guys in the White House. Still looking for someone to take the fall for Bush's 16-words. So now it's Rice's deputy at the NSA, Stephen Hadley. | ! $ |
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